Games you can't win (Spoilers within)

[Maximum Bert]

I have never played it but I think some of the Drakengard games have just you lose endings but in different ways. One I really liked was Shadow Hearts 2

Spoiler: very brief summary of story

You are hit with a weapon at the start that is slowly killing you and you are told there is no way to stop it but you go on a quest to find a way. In the end you find that your death is inevitable just like you were told and die

Love that game.

Shadow Hearts is actually my favorite RPG series of all time.

However there are actually two endings. The one you're describing is the "bad" ending.

Spoiler: discussion of good ending

I forget some of the details such as how you actually get the good ending, since it's been a long time since I was able to play the game but the gist of it is that in the good ending everyone gets a final wish after defeating the final boss. We only get to see the results of two though. Karin winds up in a small town somewhere, Russia or Japan I think, and sees a man who looks suspiciously like Yuri's father, seen in the first game and i believe a flashback in number 2, cementing that she WAS falling for Yuri and implying to many that she may actually be his Mother.

Yuri meanwhile winds up on a train platform about to board the train where the first game began. Giving him another chance to save Alice. That Makes it maybe the biggest victory in a game I've ever seen.

Though to be fair the game kind of leaves things up to the player to interpret so none of this might be canon or all of it might be.

Shadowhearts 3, being as detached from the first two as it was narratively didn't ever provide concrete answers.

With all these remakes and sequels lately I'd preorder immediately if this series came back in some form.

I did actually get the good ending and I see your point in that it could be construed as a win in a way. I did think of another one however and that is Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core you cannot win the final battle even if you are damn near invincible like I was.

Edit: Ah Vidrenne already mentioned it. Arent there loads of survival games that are impossible to get good endings for though and its just about surviving as long as possible until your inevitable doom.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

Sorta-kinda 'Planescape: Torment":

Spoiler

No matter what you do, your character is still dead at the end. Except that dying is the point of the game, because your character is immortal, so that's good, because now you're re-united with Deionarra...unless you now love Annah, in which case it's bad. You also go to hell, which is good because your character must pay for his many sins, but bad because, well, you're in hell. Whatever, go play "Planescape Torment".

Heh, I'd argue the other ending was the better one. The one where that doesn't happen because you simply cease to exist by force of will. Fuck the blood war, I'll take sweet, silent oblivion. Wis > 24 required.

Holy shit I didn't even know that was an ending! And damn, wisdom 24?!

Do you have a link to the video of this ending? I'm trying to find one on youtube and I can't.

 

[Mike000]

Once upon a time that was the default "mode" of video games. You could never "win." Pitfall springs to mind. Galaga, Space Invaders, Pac-Man... they never ended. So that really doesn't count. The one from that era that does is the one where never being able to win, was the point. Where the point of the game is that the only way to win is not to play. Missile Command.

Actually, supposedly Pitfall did have an ending - there were something like 7 treasures to find within the time limit. I don't know of anyone outside of the developers who ever saw it though.

 

[Fox12]

Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core

Spoiler

{Zach+Cloud get kidnapped by the guys they were working for, experimented on. They manage to escape, but Shinra soldiers catch up and Zach gets into an unwinnable fight, dying to save Cloud.You go through all the heartache with Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth. You level Zach up, get him all the materia, all the summons and all the friend roulette things. But, in the back of your mind, you know it is ultimately futile, because we know Zach dies at the end. It makes it all the more poignant when the moment comes.}

I would go a step further, and say the original FF7. In fact, it has one of the most depressing endings in the series when you stop and think about it. Most people don't realize that.

Budenhagen flat out says that the planet will die, no matter what you do. Even if you stop every reactor, and defeat Sephiroth, it STILL won't matter. The world is going to die, and there's nothing you can do about it. The only thing you can do is buy some time and hold off the inevitable. It's basically the same as the ending to Dark Souls.

 

[Pyrian]

Most of the FEAR campaigns.

F.E.A.R. 2 in particular. That's probably the biggest eff-eww ending I've ever played. Truly awesomely wrong.

 

[sageoftruth]

I'd say at least one Metal Gear Solid game.

Spoiler

Metal Gear Solid 3. Not only do you kill Boss but it turns out that her death was meaningless. One meaningless loss among many others in the game. Definitely the most depressing ending in the series.

Spoiler

I wouldn't call it meaningless. It was a complete and utter farce, but that farce prevented a cold war from escalating into a hot one. Regardless of whether or not the guys up top deserved to be called out on their shenanigans, this farce saved a ton of lives. Still, sucks to be Snake.

 

[sageoftruth]

I'm not sure if this counts, but there's the classic arcade games from pre-90s era, where getting a happy ending was impossible because there was no ending. You just kept playing, racking up as many points as possible and facing bigger and bigger challenges until your character kicked the bucket.

 

[hermes]

Surprised nobody mentioned the last Prince of Persia.

Spoiler

That is a game were, in order to save someone you get to know during the game, you have to destroy everything that you saved, and the bad guy rules the ashes of what remains. Think of it like Okami except, in the last 10 minutes, you have to set the entire world on fire so that Orochi wins...

 

[Scarim Coral]

Halo: Reach. The best you can do is slow the Covenant long enough for key personnel to evacuate. You really feel the weight of the Covenant onslaught, as every minor victory is almost immediately followed by a catastrophic defeat. It ultimately culminates with the level "Lone Wolf:"

Spoiler

I had a sinking suspicion when the only objective was "survive," but a part of me held out hope. It was only when my shields dropped and the first cracks in the helmet appeared that I realized it was a "supposed to lose" scenario. Didn't stop me from taking as many of them with me as possible, though. The ground was littered with Elite corpses by the time I finally perished.

This come to my mind aswell.

I know it was a prequel to Halo Combat Evolve and all (especially when Master chief is the last Spartan) and since he didn't exactly vanish in the planet downfall but it still suck that we couldn't saved him.

 

[distortedreality]

What about The Stanley Parable?

Admittedly, I haven't played it in a while, and only experienced a handful of the "endings", but don't think there's any real satisfying win possible.

 

[snave]

Papers Please?

Don't think I've ever gotten an ending that I would consider as a "win".

There are one or two alright ones in Papers Please, I've also found the ones where they execute you but the rebels rescue your family to fall under the definition of acceptable.

This all boils down to context. In the context of our world, all the endings are terrible, but in the context of the world of Papers, Please, these two are pretty good. Consider this: if you side completely with the rebels or the regime, does your character's station in life improve by the end? Definitely. That makes them good endings. Trying to play both sides naturally is a negative ending, and the failsafe George Costanza ending is fairly neutral (there are some losses, some gains).

Surprised nobody mentioned the last Prince of Persia.

Spoiler

That is a game were, in order to save someone you get to know during the game, you have to destroy everything that you saved, and the bad guy rules the ashes of what remains. Think of it like Okami except, in the last 10 minutes, you have to set the entire world on fire so that Orochi wins...

I see no reason why turning the game off after the credits roll cannot be seen as an equally canonical ending.

 

[sky pies]

I really, really loved Deus Ex: Invisible War... It was nowhere near as bad as everyone thinks it was... But I have to say I didn't find any of the potential endings appealing. As such I just gave up on the game after completing it and just chose a random option.

 

[CeeBod]

Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville fits that category for me. I got right to the end of the campaign, had a bad-ass well-armed group of survivors that could fight off any zombies and clear the map pretty easily, but the final level had something of a surprise ending

Spoiler

I turned into a super zombie, achieving a bad end by not having picked up enough of the zombie research plots before the final map - was impressed but bummed out by that ending!

 

[kuolonen]

Really? Nobody has mentioned Far cry 2 yet?

Spoiler

Game ends with you ending yourself with either explosives or a pistol, because a dude with a messiah complex says you are bad and you should feel bad. Apparently after working as mercenary with body count high enough to populate a small country, you suddenly develop a conscience. I swear it was the dumbest shit I ever saw in video game.

Such storytelling! Much logic! Thank god from Far cry 3 onwards endings, or at least not all of them, haven't been as craptastic.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Call of Duty and Dragon Age I think. No matter what happens, you lose by simply playing that

other than that, Fallout 3 I suppose?

I don't know about Call of Duty, but for Dragon Age and Fallout 3, it depends if you consider heroic sacrifice "losing."

 

[Karadalis]

Cataclysm Dark days Ahead comes to mind.

A survival roguelike in a post apocalyptic setting. Main enemies are different kind of zombies, but you will also face robots, wildlife, mutated wildlife (bloody giant earthworms!) even fantasy creatures like the jabberwocky and if you want other survivors (who can be allies or your worst enemies)

Thing is all you can do is survive, there is no endgoal but surviving aslong as possible. You can create your own fortified home with barriers and spiked holes in the ground. Or create your own murder death automobile complete with spikes and turrets.

You can mutate yourselfe or augment yourselfe with bionics (but beware... most mutations have negative side effects)

Also the monsters arent your only enemies, you have to scavange for food and water, or start raising crops on your own.

You can learn and raise your skills from books you find and add new recipes to the massive crafting system, reaching from a rock in a sock to building your very own grenade launcher.

But again... this game is not winnable. In the end you will die one way or another.

What makes it different from project zomboid is the massive amount of content and diverse enemies you can encounter. However this all comes at a price ofcourse since like any roguelike it is either ASCI graphics or a tile based presentation.

 

[Schadrach]

Sorta-kinda 'Planescape: Torment":

Spoiler

No matter what you do, your character is still dead at the end. Except that dying is the point of the game, because your character is immortal, so that's good, because now you're re-united with Deionarra...unless you now love Annah, in which case it's bad. You also go to hell, which is good because your character must pay for his many sins, but bad because, well, you're in hell. Whatever, go play "Planescape Torment".

Heh, I'd argue the other ending was the better one. The one where that doesn't happen because you simply cease to exist by force of will. Fuck the blood war, I'll take sweet, silent oblivion. Wis > 24 required.

Holy shit I didn't even know that was an ending! And damn, wisdom 24?!

Do you have a link to the video of this ending? I'm trying to find one on youtube and I can't.

It's literally just a different dialog option that appears with the Transcendent One if your Wis is over 24 (I always pump Wis/Cha in Torment because of how many options it opens to you). You basically will yourself out of existence in the dialog, and the Blood War video is skipped. That's all that's really different. I didn't go to the Blood War, because there was no me to go to the Blood War.

It's sort of like the Adahn thing but in reverse. If you don't know what I mean, if you mention Adahn enough times to enough people (including introducing yourself as him), the belief that Adahn exists causes him to and you can encounter him. He doesn't exist if you don't seed the idea that he does, though. Just don't tell him you imagined him into existing. =p

 

[Evonisia]

Call of Duty and Dragon Age I think. No matter what happens, you lose by simply playing that

other than that, Fallout 3 I suppose?

I don't know about Call of Duty, but for Dragon Age and Fallout 3, it depends if you consider heroic sacrifice "losing."

CoD 4 ends on a really ambiguous note if you don't play Modern Warfare 2.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I'm not sure if this counts, but there's the classic arcade games from pre-90s era, where getting a happy ending was impossible because there was no ending. You just kept playing, racking up as many points as possible and facing bigger and bigger challenges until your character kicked the bucket.

Or playing until the game loops back on itself, then its an existential crisis nightmare of realization that everything you do is pointless and you're doomed to do it over and over again, and its costing you money.

 

[Something Amyss]

It's been a while since I played it but as I recall you get ending A then B then have the choice of C or D (C and D are both proper final endings whereas A and B are just the bits leading up to them) so it's possible to choose D without seeing C.

However

Spoiler

The game does warn you before it deletes your files, giving you a chance to back out. I actually think thematically it would've been awesome if the game just did it without warning. But of course that would most likely have resulted in a lot of enraged players.

Part of me thinks it'd be brilliant and part of me thinks I'd just never play the game again.