Game's that you could 'lose'

chocolate pickles

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Apr 14, 2011
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What i mean by that it is, what games had a ending where you could end up failing your quest, dooming the world, killing more people than you saved, did more harm than good or just straight up failing?

EDIT: games with multiple endings count.
 

tippy2k2

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Mar 15, 2008
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Uh.....huh......hmmmmmm.....

You know, I can only think of one:
Mass Effect 2

Unless you count "bad endings" (see Silent Hill), there really are not many games where you can go through the entire game and have your ending be a loss without it being your direct choice.

In a twisted sort of way, you could count Spec-Ops: The Line as well I suppose.
 

Aris Khandr

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Fable 3. If you are a nice person and keep your promises, you'd better have a LOT of money of your own lying around, because the ending of the game literally comes down to your castle's bank account at the end. Oh, and you get a countdown clock that skips like 120 days. Have fun.
 

shrekfan246

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May 26, 2011
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So I'll assume we're talking games with multiple endings here.

Games with multiple endings, there are plenty. Especially depending on how loosely you interpret "doing more harm than good", because then pretty much every visual novel ever written could be included. Granted, a lot of people don't consider them to be true 'games', so...

I'm stalling for time here, because tippy2k2 already said Mass Effect 2 and Spec Ops: The Line.

Oh. Persona 4.

Possibly XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

Morality-based RPGs (like Fable, Dragon Age).

Oh, oh, I know!

The Assassin's Creed franchise. Hah!
 

janjotat

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You were the one which caused everything horrific that happened, the ending just asks you can you live with yourself knowing you doomed an entire city.
 

Melon Hunter

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Rack up another vote for Spec Ops: The Line. Also, the evil path of Fallout 3 with Broken Steel. By the end, the Capital Wasteland's only clean water source is irrevocably contaminated with a deadly virus, the Brotherhood of Steel has been virtually wiped out by the orbital bombardment of the Citadel, the largest town for miles around is nothing more than a smoking, radioactive crater, the one organism that could have made the Wasteland green again is dead... Admittedly, this is via conscious choice rather than making bad decisions, but it's still very much a losing scenario.
 

Fractral

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Feb 28, 2012
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Near the end of Persona 3 you could make a choice to do nothing. It is pretty obviously the wrong choice, and the game all but outright tells you that you shouldn't do it, but it is possible. There's a little clip showing what happens.
Also I think devil survivor. Some of the endings do involve very bad doo-doo happening. There's a 'fake' ending early on which results in the entire population of Tokyo being exterminated, but then you go back to the main menu and can try again. The game does make it fairly obvious that it isn't the ending you should want.
 

Sp3ratus

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Planescape: Torment has at least three endings, where you end up failing your quest:
First, there's accepting the throne of the Silent King. Then there's getting killed by that wizard who kidnaps Morte. I don't remember the name, but he's one of the few beings on the Planes, who have the power to permanently kill you. Another being the Lady of Pain, which is a third end.
 

Proverbial Jon

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Heavy Rain - A single mistake can mean the death of someone who would have helped you later on. It might not mean the world ends but it does mean a pretty poor ending if you play badly enough.

Halo Reach seems like an obvious one.
 

krazykidd

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No one said chrono trigger yet? And this is THE gaming forum ?

Other than that . Most smt games have a clip as to what happens if you fail . The worst ending in Nocturne is if you didn't make a choice and nothing happens .

Street fighter and mortal combat when you lose all your continues .
 

scorptatious

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May 14, 2009
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Well there's XCOM Enemy Unknown. If eight countries leave the council, the XCOM project gets shut down and the world surrenders to the alien invaders. And you have to start the whole game over again.

Particularly devastating on an Iron Man playthrough.
 

The Wykydtron

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Sep 23, 2010
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Persona 3 wins the award for the most unnecessary addition of a bad ending. Every single person in the game decides that they all want to fight the final boss, yet you get given the choice to give up and live in peace for one month before the ENTIRE WORLD ENDS. It's less of a failure state and more of a player deciding he doesn't have the time and he can call the game "finished" if he stops there.

Pretty much EVERY story arc in BlazBlue CS Extend, in particular Noel's as she gets destroyed in every single dialogue path I swear. There's even a little skit between her and another character about how badly she can get owned even in her own story missions.

"You're the type of character who can die from even ONE wrong decision"

All the story stuff i've seen so far (which is only Ragna's Rachel's and Noel's to be honest) is literally fighting a few people then you get to watch the final boss instakill you and therefore end the world. I hit 99% in Noel's path (which is a complete piss take) so I guess you need to go through some other characters first.

There is some fun to be had in listening to Hazama's fucking amazing voice work while you die though.

"You'll have a front row seat... TO THE END OF THE WORLD!"
 

Tom_green_day

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Any strategy game I guess. War of the Ring in Battle for Middle Earth 2 did this well, on the hard difficulty I used to get owned when I first started, lost so much and had to re-load old saves.
 

FFP2

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FF 13-2. You spent the entire game trying to save the universe or something, and end up "accomplishing" it. Then you die and the world gets eaten by Chaos. Pulls that shit right out it's ass too.

The bad ending in Dishonored.

Far Cry 3's "alternate" ending with Citra. Not gonna spoil it.
 

Blazingdragoon04

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In Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door, you can join forces with the final boss. She just straight up is impressed that you made it that far and asks you if you want to join her. If you do, you basically doom the world, and the screen just goes to a game over screen.
 

Abomination

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The Fallout games all have different endings depending on your actions, especially New Vegas.

Lone Survivor has a good ending and a VERY bad ending.

Baldur's Gate series can have some Toril-shattering consequences.
 

Nouw

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Dawn of War: Dark Crusade to Dawn of War 2: Retribution you could lose the campaign. Unless you're playing on the higher difficulties, it's not that hard to avoid being killed because your last defense is a badass stronghold in which you have units and buildings already laid out for you.
 

Longstreet

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Dishonored comes to mind.

Either knock everyone out and get rid of your targets in a less lethal way and you get a nice ending.

Kill everyone and you got one homicidal girl.
 

Ankh

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I am surprised no one has said Golden Sun, because near the beginning of the game after you get through Sol Sanctum and you talk to the old guy in the sanctuary he asks if you accept this quest (to save the world) and you say no, and if you do and walk out the door it says "and the world slowly drifted to its destruction". I mean come on how much worse can an ending get if you get it at the beginning of the game?
 

ABLb0y

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Bioshock 2: If you harvest all the little sisters and kill Holloway, Poole and Alexander, you find out Eleanor was watching you, and wants to be just like her daddy: A hedonistic serial killer.