Most surprising story twists in gaming (Spoilers)

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Just finished Fire Emblem Awakening today, and...

Spoiler

Your avatar, the character for whom you chose the appearance, clothing, stats, gender, name and voice at the start of the game, is not just Prince Chrom's trusted tactician. He/she also became the main villain in an un-altered timeline that they became the ruler of, and that version of you has travelled back to make sure that you do the same thing in this timeline. And when you say no, they decide to just rule two timelines.

Not exactly original, but pretty gutsy for a series that is normally fairly straightforward and obvious in who the villains and heroes are. Since there is a point at the end where you are forcibly mind-melded with 'evil-future-you' and dragged back from the brink by your bonds with your allies, I wonder if there's a bad ending to be had if you don't develop any relationship values.

What's funny is I used the name of a particularly vicious villainess from a book I like without knowing the truth.

 

[EHKOS]

I have to say for me the "would you kindly" gottcha' from the original Bioshock. though it wasn't smart of poor Andy to order his own murder to prove a point.

While we're on the subject, when Frank claims he was a China-man for six months, do you think he was Chen Lin from Columbia? I did some math, he would have to be around 70. I know it's a bit of a stretch, but maybe he delayed his aging with ADAM.

Just throwing that thought out there.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Soul Nomad

Spoiler

Levin's betrayal and identity as a World Eater

Lost my shit when that twist unfolded.

 

[The Madman]

I don't really like 'twists' in story. It's a gimmicky writing element that's used all too often by shoddy writers to try and compensate for having nothing else memorable about their plot or characters...

But with that said this is still my favourite:


Completely predictable, but the execution was just so well done I don't care. The entire scene just oozes style and ambiance.

The twist in System Shock 2 was also really good. Again predictable but the way in which it was done made for one hell of a killer reveal.

 

[EyeReaper]

You know what? I'm still on a monster girl quest kick here, So I'll just say... that ending, wow
So, the Great Goddess Illias teams up with the spawn of Satan, Black Alice. Black Alice betrays her, and eats the goddess to gain all those nummy god powers, but then you step in and fight a multi-round "final Boss battle" Yay! the day was saved!.. but then...

Spoiler: spoilered!

Bam, arising from the corpse of Alice, Illias arrives, smirking. Everything went according to her plan. She teamed up with B. Alice because she would be betrayed, she sent you off on your Hero Quest to slay Alice, and she let herself be eaten so she could absorb those Devil powers from the inside, Making her even more powerful. Cue real final boss battle.

Also, another vote for Fire Emblem: Awakening. Did not see that coming

Captcha: little sister. Catcha! were you watching my anime again?

 

[Black Reaper]

Fullmetal Daemon Muramasa, as awesome as it is, is an eroge at its core, eroge are games where you can shag the heroine at some point in the story, and it is a popular feature to use a relationship meter, if a particular heroine's meter gets high enough, you usually go into her route in an eroge

Spoiler

But not in Muramasa, on the early game, you have access to 2 routes, and 2 heroines, but you end up killing the one with the highest value, and going into the other's route, this is due to the next plot twist

This is practically common knowledge if you have ever heard from this game before, so i won't spoiler it
The main character has a sweet mecha, but said mecha comes with a curse
Every time he kills someone he hates, he has to kill someone he loves

Spoiler: another Muramasa twist

The villian is actually the protagonist's daughter, she constantly talks about finding her father, and the protagonist tells her he's sure she will find him someday
The protagonist had to have a child with his mother because his (adoptive) father was sterilized due to an accident in the war, and when she is born, the mother says something like:
"this is not your child, you are not allowed to love her", you assume she's talking to the father, but she's actually talking to the protagonist

I don't know if it counts as a twist, but the Daemon route had an awesome ending

Spoiler

The protagonist has basically been a villain protagonist/anti hero due to his curse up until now, but a regretful one
In this ending, the protagonist admits he is a villain, ill just transcipt what happens here since i suck at explaining things

A girl I knew all too well stood before me, showered by the rays of dusk and accompanied by a Tsurugi of deep indigo hue.

The gaze she threw at me was one heavy with anger, sorrow and determination.

Even without exchanging any words, I could feel the tension of an imminent battle.

I looked at her bitterly, my lips curling downwards.

?

No, this will not do.

This is hardly the face of a villain about to plunge himself into battle. From this day on, I vowed to devote myself to the way of the battlefield: a path of my own choosing. There is no need to lament such a thing.

No, a villain's expression should be akin to... indeed, something like this.

 

[Nouw]

Ever 17's true ending just drops twist after twist so I'm going to say: all of it; not many twists in anything had me stand up and walk around for a while because of how much my mind was blown.

 

[RandV80]

Aeris in FF7 got me the most as a kid. I'd never had a game do that to me. There was always a way to get them back, as part of the main story or a sidequest. Sometimes it was a "clone" replacement, but you always got something.

Nope. She's dead, said FF7. Here, keep finding her gear and limit breaks as you progress through the story. It's cool, I'm just gonna keep reminding you of her once in awhile for the next 100 hrs.

Hah, back in my days it was FFVI (or FFIII at the time) and rumours of how you can get General Leo back from the dead.

Anyways, the most 'shocking' one for me, while I guess I should have seen it coming, was from Xenosaga when Id is fully revealed. That really blew my mind!

 

[Reaper195]

The end of the first chapter of The Darkness. That was brutal and incredibly surprising.

Spoiler

I was expecting a majority of the game being about Jackie trying to get Jenny back from Paulie, not to have her face blown out in front of you.

And until my dying days, I still consider that game to have the best voice acting in anything.

I cba to write spoiler tags so I won't actually say it, but anyone who's played Black Ops 1 to the conclusion- Victor Resnov. Biggest 'oh shit' story moment in a game came from a Call of Duty.
EDIT: Also, not so much a story twist but a genre twist, that bit half way through Uncharted 1 where it stops being an adventure game and starts being an Indiana Jones game.

Yup. While looking back it it, it does seem incredibly obvious (It's not like Fight Club), but that was still amazing. That scene in the lab was absolutely perfect (And seeing it from two different perspectives was even better). I wish Infinity Ward would take a page from the single player story of Treyarch and make good ones instead of flashy, shiny ones. It was amazing to see that perfected in BLOPS 2. Cannot wait for the next CoD developed by Treyarch.

 

[megasilly]

All though this may not count to most folks on here.
But for me, the most memorable twist occurred in Command and Conquer (the first one).

http://youtu.be/QOWw2Iu2a4M (I can't workout the YouTube embed function here)

 

[debtcollector]

When I was a kid, and I more or less worshipped Zelda games, the mid-game twist for Wind Waker

Spoiler

Tetra=Zelda

caught me way the fuck off guard. I knew Zelda could be Sheik, but I never considered that anyone was really any more than they seemed in that game. For the record, I was like 12, so I have an excuse for not catching it beforehand.

More recently, in a game I can't stop praising, Xenoblade Chronicles. You get three characters more or less off the bat: Shulk, Reyn and love interest Fiora. You have boring adventures until your hometown undergoes its inevitable crisis (In this case, robots). You fight your way through the town, until you meet the robot boss.

Spoiler

And then Fiora fucking dies. The robot boss fucking kills her. Just. Like. That. That shocked me, to say the least. And then

Spoiler: spoilerception

She comes back fused to a new robot. Also, there were a bunch of other plot twists that I never could have seen coming, like the main character actually had the bad guy living inside of him the whole time, the evil robot god was only misguided, and the angel people were really eldritch horrors, but the Fiora twists were the most surprising for me.

 

[DSD12]

Dragons Dogma's ending is what I think of good especially who the dragon was and what happens when you lose at the end.

 

[DementedSheep]

Aside a few of the things already mentioned when playing Dungeon siege 3 I wasn't expecting

Spoiler

the accusation of the Legion killing the previous King (he was apparently a monster according to his granddaughter, although aside from trying to disband the Legion I'm not sure what else he did) to actually be true and the genuine reason the antagonist was after the Legion, not a power play.

It was surprising to me because I was expecting the typical "false accusation to take over" route and when it was presented that way didn't question it.

 

[A-D.]

This is tough, i mean i was never really suprised by sudden plottwists. Some you see coming, they are foreshadowed so it takes a bit of the suprise out of it when the big reveal finally happens. Exampletime.

KOTOR, i wasnt actually suprised when it turned out you were the big bad, i didnt see it coming exactly, but something was off the moment you got to Dantooine, so it wasnt like the game didnt drop hints, specifically how some masters talked and the very odd behavior in certain moments made you rethink the whole dream-business, so it turning out you are the dark lord isnt suprising, but a nice twist in the story because it explains basicly everything. You saw the twist coming, but not exactly what the twist was.

Bioshock, this one is more subtle really. You dont really get the big twist until you get to Ryan and its plainly spelled out for you and then in retrospect you notice all the hints, all the foreshadowing throughout the game, it makes it a twist alright, but its also not a suprise because the game didnt actually pull it out of nowhere.

Proper plottwist was for me Spellforce Order of Dawn, because nothing in the game indicates what the ending is going to be, it follows basic rpg-like story structure, i.e. you have a mentor who eventually dies while on your quest to stop the big bad. So far so good, but the reveal as to who the big bad is comes as a suprise because nobody ever casually mentions any connection, you dont see it coming so its more of a suprise.

Suppose thats the big difference, i mean you cant be suprised by a plottwist if you know its coming, if you know there will be a plottwist somewhere down the line its just that you are prepared for it, you know something is going to happen, you might not know what exactly but it doesnt come completely out of left field. Suprising Plottwists are really rare and if they happen rarely ever done well either, since it takes a bit of skill to suddenly introduce some factor near the end of the game that you didnt see coming, while not ruining the story at the same time. Good example of a suprise twist done well, Vader being Luke's Father, it isnt foreshadowed, so when it happens it is actually a suprise for both the characters and the audience, on the other hand, Palpatine's giving the death star plans to the rebels to make them come to endor wasnt a suprise, it was foreshadowed by the simple fact that such luck doesnt exist, even with the force on your side.

 

[Whateveralot]

Spoiler: My biggest twists would be...

The deaths of Kaidan/Ashley in Mass Effect 1, as well as those of Mordin, Thane, and Legion in Mass Effect 3. Apparently, I look at those heroic sacrifices, and I can't help but look at the Season One finale of Sailor Moon, where all four of the Inner Senshi drop like flies one by one, until only Sailor Moon was the sole survivor. That moment was also when Sailor Moon was forced to grow up. Normally, she relies too heavily on her friends to save her, and is afraid of fighting on her own. But when her friends die, she was forced to shake off her dependence on them, and become a responsible, independent adult and hero, even if she has to die along the way.

The difference, though, was that the deaths of the four Mass Effect squadmates were permanent, while the deaths of the Inner Senshi was only temporary, before Usagi magically resurrects herself and all her friends at the expense of their memories. Another difference was the way Sailor Moon and Shepard each handled their deaths. Whereas Shepard's reactions to their deaths was dependent on the player's dialogue choices, Usagi handled her friends' deaths by originally breaking down emotionally, only to get herself back up so that she could shake off her dependence on them.

Granted, I could have just as easily picked Sovereign's revelation as a fully bonafide Reaper, or even the ending to Mass Effect 3, where I learn about the Catalyst, the true leader of the Reapers, and his motivations and backstory. But I chose the deaths of Ashley/Kaidan, Mordin, Thane, and Legion because I look at those, and I can't help but think about Usagi being forced to grow up and shake off her dependence on her friends once they die escorting her to the final battle with Queen Beryl.

PLEASE, post what game you are spoiling outside of the spoiler.

This way, it is of no use.
Though, even if Shepard lost those four squadmates, at least he/she had fifteen left to spare, and the ratio of fifteen living squadmates to four dead ones is pretty high when you think about it. Hell, those fifteen squadmates, plus Joker, Traynor, and Cortez, could even be invited to Admiral Anderson's apartment for Shepard's party, so that they could celebrate their friendship and team-spirit!

Edit:
"fear not, your post has not been lost" < LIES.

Anyway, what I meant to say was, PLEASE post what game you are spoiling OUTSIDE of the spoiler area. This way, it is of no use.

 

[Zeraki]

Spoiler: Mass Effect Spoilers(first game only)

The revelation that Sovereign was a Reaper actually shocked me. I probably should have seen that coming, because the game drops enough hints towards it. But it also did enough to make me think it was just some Reaper ship that Saren found.

Another twist that got me in the first game was that part of the conduit was actually the Mass Relay statue in the presidium. I did a lot of wandering around the first time I played the game, and I thought the statue was pretty cool. Never suspected it would be important later on in the game.

And the final mind blow from the first game that honestly surprised me the most, was the purpose behind the Keepers. I had actually forgotten about them when I had gotten to that point near the end of the game, so when Vigil revealed what their actual purpose was it just floored me.

There are times I wish I could start the trilogy over again without any knowledge of what's going to happen in it. Just so I can experience it for the first time again.

Spoiler: Final Fantasy VI spoilers

Kefka destroys the world half way through the game. That blew my mind as a kid. I just remember sitting there saying "did... did the bad guy just win? Can he do that"!?

 

[The Hero Killer]

Another one for the Revan twist in KOTOR. Also, for some reason I was surprised at Captain Schwann's identity on Tales of Vesperia.

 

[StormShaun]

Add me to the Dragon's Dogma pile.
The gameplay was great and the story was meh ...

Until the ending that is, for all that know the ending.
Sure you could poke things at it and all, but it made me think, and I like that about it.
So that is mine, I hope that they make a sequel and improve on a whole load of things about it.

I guess honorable mentions go to Mass Effect too, but that didn't really have the same effect, just a moment.
Dragon's Dogma made me get up and walk around for a while.

Which comes to this quote ...

Ever 17's true ending just drops twist after twist so I'm going to say: all of it; not many twists in anything had me stand up and walk around for a while because of how much my mind was blown.

You have been mentioning that a lot lately, heck you have even won me over. (I'm also guessing your avatar is from it too. >.<)
I'm going to play it at one point now, even if I don't usually like Visual Novels with multiple protagonists. :/

Better add "ef - A fairy Tale of the Two" on there as well.
So much to catch up on. XD

 

[Furbyz]

The most recent one that I can think of is the ending (so far) of Broken Age. The events of the story up until that point all suddenly had to be viewed from an entirely different angle that only starts to reveal just how deep the layers of deception in Shay's story go.

 

[Poppy JR.]

Chrono Trigger spoilers, here.

Spoiler

The first one that comes to my mind is the death of the main protagonist, Crono, in Chrono Trigger. It wasn't a HUGE twist, but I love how open ended the game is about it. You assume the role of any of your party members, and you can save Crono from death at the hands of the evil giant planet parasite. If you want to, that is. That's right, folks. You heard right. You don't even HAVE to bring Crono back. You can let him stay dead and beat the game as the other characters. But, leaving him will change the ending, usually for the depressing. Plus you'll miss the lovely ending where Crono and Marle get married.