Bittersweet Ending/Video Games: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

** The good ending to the original game sees Cole having stopped Kessler, but having to prepare for The Beast alone, what with his girlfriend dead, his best friend turned a traitor, and the whole disaster pinned on him by Moya.

** The good ending of the second game is even more bittersweet. On activating the RFI, Cole stops The Beast once and for all, at the cost of [[The Hero Dies|his own life]], and the lives of every other conduit on Earth. However, the plague that would wipe out humanity is gone, and the town of New Marais hails Cole as a patron saint. Also, the very last moment of the good ending implies [[Not Quite Dead|Cole might not be dead]].

* ''[[Trinity Souls of Zill Oll]]'': In order to defeat Lord Balor, the only sword that can defeat him will wipe Areus from existence and no one will remember him.

* Many of the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' and other Square games attempt this.

** Even worse than ''FFI'', ''[[Final Fantasy II (Video Game)|Final Fantasy II]]'' ends with Leon leaving the heroes, saying too much had happened, and that things couldn't go back to the way they were. Dawn of Souls furthers this by showing off all of the dead characters from the game watching over the still living characters. Not to mention most of the world population has been killed off due to [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|two superweapons]]. Lest we forget: the world is not irreparably damaged, and the population isn't all that bad off (only one city is well and truly destroyed). Sure, the psychological scars won't heal easily, but they never do.

** The ending of [[Final Fantasy XIII]]-2 goes all over the place with its ending. At first, it is a [[Happy Ending]] with the timeline fixed of all paradoxes, Hope managing to get the New Cocoon to float in the sky, Fang and Vanille's crystal rescued out of the Crystal Pillar before it collapses... and then Serah sees the changes of the timeline and dies in Noel's arms, making this bittersweet... [[The Bad Guy Wins|and then things got worse]].

** ''[[Secret of Mana]]'' ends with the world saved, but at the cost of the source of the world's magic, one of the three companions, the living [[Global Airship]], the life of the female character's love interest, and most of the other connections to the world's deities. The world itself even splinters. ''[[Legend of Mana]]'' spends most of its time trying to simply repair the damage.

** ''Dawn of Mana'' ends with the [[Big Bad]] defeated and a new Mana Tree created, but at the cost of the life of your [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]].

** ''Sword of Mana'' also ends with the [[Big Bad]] defeated, but it is revealed the the Mana Tree is the Heroine's mother, and she in turn becomes the next tree.

** ''[[Front Mission]]'' loves these: In the first, for example, sure, a couple rogue squads from the universe's two key supernations have uncovered and shut down a plot to make computers for [[Humongous Mecha]] from human brains - doesn't mean the third party occupying Huffman Island as a peacekeeping force will make the information public. Or that they'll let the island govern itself free from the corruption of all the military forces that have come through. Or that the player character gets to get his wife back, as he chooses to detonate his wanzer that contains her mind.

* [[Fatal Frame]] lives and breathes this trope. All of the endings are designed to twist your heart, because no matter which ending you get – even the happier ones – someone has still lost or had to do something that has either contributed to their death or given them lasting scars. It's made even worse in that the canon endings to the first two games border on [[Downer Ending]]: neither Miku nor Mio have completely moved on from the events of the previous games, and {{spoiler|Mafuyu and Mayu's deaths have left them with either [[Survivor Guilt]] in Miku's case, or with [[These Hands Have Killed]] and [[My God, What Have I Done?]] in Mio's case}}.

** The ending of the first game has Mafuyu remaining behind with Kirie to keep her company as she keeps the gate closed to prevent the Calamity from happening while Miku escapes, leaving her beloved brother behind.

** Adding to the bitterness of the ending, ''billions'' upon ''billions'' of people are dead on both sides, a good majority of Human colonies have been glassed, and it may take decades to rebuild.

** And by "good majority" we mean "virtually everything but Earth itself". By this point, the total human population in the galaxy is estimated to be around two-hundred million, down from ''tens of billions'' at the begining of the war. [[Word of God]] suggests that ''23 billion'' (out of 30-40 before the war) humans have died.

* ''[[Terranigma]]'' ends with a real [[Tear Jerker]] - hero Ark manages to restore the world and defeat all the baddies... in the process destroying his hometown and himself as well. The final credits sequence shows Ark, in one last gift, flying the skies as a bird. On the other hand, the game's emphasis on reincarnation keeps this from being more of a [[Downer Ending]].

* ''Zelda'' examples:

** ''Klonoa 2'' isn't much better. Sure, the main antagonist is killed and the world is saved, but {{spoiler|the main antagonist turned out to be an [[Anti-Villain]] who only wanted to save his dying kingdom, and despite forming a close romantic relationship with the lead female character, Klonoa can't stay in this world either, and has to leave in an ending almost at heart-wrenching as the first game's.}}

* ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]''

** In the sequel, ''[[Modern Warfare 2]]'', things go from bad to [[It Got Worse|worse]]. Soap and {{spoiler|Price}} manage to disable and kill General Shepherd, but it's a hollow victory at best. The chain of events that started with an undercover agent posing as a Russian terrorist (and subsequently dying after being found out) led to a ground invasion of Russian forces in Virginia and Washington, hundreds of troops being killed, sweeping military powers being authorized and virtually an entire task force of elite troops being decimated before Shepherd was finally brought down. Soap and {{spoiler|Price}} may still be alive, but the U.S. is on course for a major world war with Russia.

** In ''Modern Warefare 3'', by the end of the game the war between U.S. and Russia ends at a heavy cost with {{spoiler|Soap dead by Makarov; Sandman, Grinch and Truck of Delta Force KIA}} and during the final mission {{spoiler|to kill Makarov, Yuri is gunned down by Makarov, but Price manages to strangle Makarov to death with a steel wire and leave him hanging on the roof}}. The Good News is that all the evil men responsible for this are dead, Task Force 141 has been cleared of the bogus charges of treason and terrorism, and relations between the US and Russia finally evolve into peace.

** This is only vaguely implied in the normal game, but the expansion, ''Persona 3: FES'', explains it outright. The story of FES otherwise revolves around one of the party members being unable to accept this and deciding to [[Screw Destiny]].

*** In The Answer, the team is shown what really happened during the final battle -- they witness the protagonist's soul being sealed in stone, becoming the seal that blocked the death monster Erebus from carrying out the fall of the world. After the battle with Erebus, the Abyss of Time dissipates, and the seal locking the party within the dorm disappears. The game ends with Aigis deciding to return to school with the others. However, they have realized that the protagonist has to remain as a seal for eternity, because they can never get rid of humanity's desire to die. He can never return to them, and they can only help him bear the burden by making the most out of their own lives.

** ''[[Silent Hill 3]]'': The Good Ending has Heather finally defeating the cult's summoned god...only for her to break down crying afterward because her adoptive father Harry is dead, and while she's avenged him, he will not come back.

** ''[[Silent Hill 4]]'': The "Death" ending shows Henry stopping Walter's 21 Sacraments from being carried out, and the apartments return to normal. It appears that Henry is the [[Everybody's Dead, Dave|only tenant still alive]], and he is deeply saddened, as he could not save Eileen during the final battle.

* [[Nippon Ichi]] is fond of this trope.

** In ''[[Disgaea]]'', you get different endings based on how you beat the game. In the default ending, which assumes you accidentally kill at least one teammate -- pathetically easy to do due to the large area of effect attacks in the game, -- Laharl, Flonne, and Etna show up to warn Seraph Lamington of Vulcanus's plan, and talk about Demons. He agrees that Demons are capable of love, but because Flonne has "betrayed" Celestia by fighting angels, she has to be punished, so he kills her (by transforming her into a flower). Laharl, enraged at this, attacks. Up to this point, the endings are the same. In the "normal ending", Laharl kills Seraph Lamington, only to have Mid-Boss appear and reveal that it was a test to see if Laharl would forgive Lamington, because he did not, Flonne is doomed. Laharl, distraught, either picks up Flonne's flower and exiles himself (asking Etna to rule in his place) for the rest of his life, or sacrifices his own life to restore her (On a slightly happier note, he comes back as a Prinny). In the good ending, which is considered canon, Laharl knocks Lamington out, but decides that Flonne would not have wanted him to take revenge. As such, Flonne is restored to life as a Fallen Angel -- but is still her ditzy self. As a fallen angel, she can stay with Laharl and Etna, whereas as an Angel, she would have to return to Celestia.

** ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation 02]]'' actually kills off an important playable character. The kind and good [[The Federation|Earth Federation]] was secretly overthrown and replaced by jerks. Also the Inspectors where only a part of an alien menance starting with "Zu-" that the Guest are a part of meaning they will be back. Even Worse? Banpresto made some more Super Robot Wars games meaning that they will adapt even more games into Original Generation games.

*** No, the "even worse" part is that Sony's policy of requiring games released in America to have English audio tracks has [[No Export for You|stonewalled all effort to bring the sequels to the United States]]. The conflict does get resolved, but Dark Brain is only letting the Japanese be privy to the truth.

** Any other ending is much worse, though. The worst is you learning nothing of yourself, killing the [[Big Bad]], leaving your friends' dead bodies behind in a lifeless fortress stuck in an endless void...And ''then'' going to hell to be punished for the crimes of the first incarnation.

* ''[[Fire Emblem]]: The Sacred Stones'' ends up with Eirika and Ephraim defeating the Lord of Terror with the help of their companions, but not before the twins' beloved friend/bitter antagonist Lyon dies in front of them. The last CG of the game has the twins recalling the day they met Lyon. Not to mention the whole issue of Grado falling victim to a catastrophic natural disaster... just as Lyon had predicted and fell into darkness trying to stop. Several charas have to stay behind and help reconstruct the Empire.

** There's an additional one if you got One of Many instead of Okku, and you romance Zafiya. It generally follows the good one, but with one major difference: After you marry Zafiya and return to Faern, One of Many kills her and consumes her soul. In revenge, you hunt him down and eventually kill him as he pleads to spare his life in Zafiya's voice.

* ''[[Mega Man Zero]] 4'': Neo Arcadia is destroyed with heavy casualties, finally freeing humans and reploids of its tyranny. [[Big Bad|Its leader]] [[Complete Monster|Dr. Weil]] is killed as his [[Kill Sat]] burns up in the atmosphere. The war is also over, with the humans and Reploids finally reaching an understanding, breaking the [[Fantastic Racism|boundaries]] between the two races. But Zero couldn't escape Ragnarok in time, because [[Heroic Sacrifice|he chose to stay behind to finish off Weil instead of evacuating the satellite]]. With Zero's tendency to come [[Back From the Dead]], we're treated to a scene of his helmet lying broken on the ground signifying that this time he's [[Killed Off for Real|really gone]].

* If you ignore the stuff that happens after the credits roll in ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]] 2'', it's pretty depressing. Your character basically gets erased out of time because the planet didn't go into paralysis (so no one from the future could have come back, including you) and after your companion returns and tells everyone, the last shot you see is them crying on a friend's shoulder at the place you first met, in pretty similar circumstances too. Except he's all grown up. Considering everything you went through, and the fact that this scene takes place a good couple of months after everything's restored, it's pretty jarring.

** The first game in the PMD series is equally so. When you and your partner are recovering with your good friends, everyone is happy to have you back with them and that the world is saved... until Gardevoir shows up and informs you that your time in this world is over. The last few shots we have of the Pokemon world before the end credits is of everyone moping over your departure, and your partner sobbing uncontrollably.

* ''[[X-COM]]: Terror From The Deep'' - Defeat the boss alien and you save the world, but the alien city explodes and takes all of your soldiers with it.

** It's even worse, because canon dictates that when it exploded, it sent a crapload of pollutants into the atmosphere and basically caused much of the world to need to be abandoned. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]].

* ''Prey'' ends with Tommy defeating the Mother and destroying the Sphere. However his grandfather and his girlfriend, the only people he felt any connection with, are both dead. Neither seems terribly bothered by this and her spirit tells Tommy she will be waiting for him, so it's not so bad.

* At the end of the final mission in ''[[Starcraft]]'' Tassadar sacrifices himself in order to destroy the Zerg Overmind, but Auir is a smoldering ruin and the central Terran government is led by a [[Complete Monster]]. The expansion ''Brood War'' on the other hand has an outright [[Downer Ending]].

* '[[Rule of Rose]]'': If the good ending is achieved, Jennifer wanders the orphanage making nostalgic comments and then goes to the shed to metaphorically lock the puppy version of her dead dog, Brown, away in her heart forever. The game ends with her leaving as he whimpers.

** It signifies that Jennifer has finally regained all her memories, and is more or less in peace with herself.

** Watching that end sequence after having been through the entire game is enough to make someone [[Manly Tears|cry and salute]] at the same time.

*** Although Snake himself doesn't seem too bothered by the fact that he's going to die. He has a year to live his life free of outside influences, and in [[The Stinger]], he even sounds happy that he has that chance.

*** According to a Gamespot interview given before its release, Kojima's original ending for ''MGS4'' would have seen it be closer to a [[Downer Ending]]--Snake and Otacon would have turned themselves in and been executed for crimes they committed in the process of saving the world. Kojima was, [[Protection From Editors|somewhat amazingly]], vetoed in this decison, but the credits song ''Here's To You'' remains a thematic connection to his original vision.

* ''[[Ace Combat]] 5'' has this, along with ''Zero'' and ''6'': in ''5'' Chopper was KIA after crashing, your squadron members are declared traitors and officially recorded as being KIA, and while you gain unofficial recognition as the Ghosts of Razgriz, it will be years before the truth about the war and your achievements is known. In ''Zero'' you lose both of your wingmen, the first to treason and the second to being shot down by the first. ''6'' has quite a few: Ludmilla and Toscha are married in a prisoner of war camp, Viktor Voychek is presumably a POW as well (despite giving up the schematics for the Chandelier superweapon), the valiant Ilya Pasternak was KIA covering his squadron's retreat from Gracemeria only for some of them to be shot down in the final battle, Garuda Two's wife and daughter were killed before he could meet them again, and he is confined to a wheelchair after being shot down during the final battle. Oh, and the fate of the Hartman family's husband/father is left unstated.

** ''Zero'''s Assault Records have what must have been some Bittersweet Endings for some Belkan aces if you shot them down: Robert Gloden Spieler left the Air Force a year after the Belkan War and ended up running a small hotel in San Salvacion by the ocean. (Based on the "FMV" cutscenes taking place at the time of the Usean Continental War in ''Ace Combat 4'', if the same timeframe is assumed for the Assault Records he may have been the unfortunate uncle in that game's cutscenes.) Dietmar Wolf Absender would be tried as a war criminal, although the charges would be dismissed. And Daniel Bierofka Wetterhahn would go from ace pilot to ''automobile salesman'' and ordinary citizen.

** Whether Chopper's death was actually a ''bad'' thing is a [[Your Mileage May Vary|matter of opinon...]]

* ''[[Free Space]] 2'' ends this way as the [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Shivans]] are revealed to be essentially unbeatable due to the magnitude of their warfleets. Upon realizing the futility of further struggle, the GTVA High Command forces a draw, of sorts, by severing all subspace links to Shivan-controlled space. A vital star system (Capella) is lost in the process, along with most of the Terran/Vasudan fleet. It is also heavily implied that the Shivans will eventually [[Sequel Hook|find a way around this obstacle]].

* ''Halo Wars''. The Covenant have been stopped, the Arbiter is dead, the Prophet of Regret has been stopped and the Spirit of Fire is safe...but then Captain Cutter pauses to lay his hand on Sgt. Forges [[Tear Jerker|empty cyro bay.]]

** The only official Half-Life game that didn't have such a bad ending was ''Blue Shift'', where Barney Calhoun successfully escapes Black Mesa, only to be seen in Half-Life 2.

*** Given that the player allready knows Black Mesa is about to be destroyed with all the former coworkers that have not allready be killed by aliens or government troops, it's not really a good ending. Also, in Half Life 2 we learn, that an [[Alien Invasion]] that lays waste to earth is about to happen within the next couple of hours or days.

** Portal 2 has {{spoiler|1=GLaDOS deciding that she's tired of dealing with Chell and releasing her to the surface, along with her Companion Cube (which apparently survived incineration). Of course, this is several hundred years into the future, where the Combine might just still be around.}}

*** {{spoiler|Except the Combine were actively taking Earth's resources on a massive scale.They would have rendered the planet completely inhospitable before the second game even started if they hadn't been stopped.The REAL Bittersweet part is that [[G La DOS]] may actually miss Chell.(And not in a I-get-off-on-seeing-you-get-mauled-by-deathtraps sense either.) Though she has more testers to use.}}

** [[G La DOS]] implies throughout both games that there's definitely a "them" out there. Either the Combine, or ''something''. So even if Chell gets out of the facility, whatever she encounters may not be pleasant.

* ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]'' in its "good ending". Despite beating the [[Big Bad]], the loyal knights of King Willimgard are all dead, his son is dead, the Tiamat race is doomed, and the whole kingdom is in ruins.

** ''Every single ending'' aside from the ones that are [[Nonstandard Game Over|Nonstandard Game Overs]] or just plain [[Nightmare Fuel]] is like this. Let's see:

** If the right choices are made, an after-credits [[The Stinger|stinger]] reveals Ratatosk seperated Emil from himself so he may be with Marta. Doesn't change the fact Ratatosk, Richter and the Centurions are sealed away for 1000 years.

*** Since Ratatosk and the Centurions are at least 10,000 years old at that point and have no limit to their lifespan, 1000 years shouldn't be much of an issue for them. Richter, however, is only 20. 1000 years is a long time even for a half-elf.

** The first game, the original ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'', ends with [[Big Bad|Ansem]] apparently defeated, and the [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong|worlds restored to life]]...but [[The Chick|Kairi]] is now stuck alone on the restored islands that the protagonist called home, [[Rival Turned Evil|Riku]], who has finally [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here|come to his senses]] about [[Evil Is Not a Toy|the darkness]], has locked himself in a dark world along with Mickey, the king [[The Hero|Sora]] and company have been desperately trying to find, and our heroes are left wandering and lost and on [[Foreboding Architecture|Castle Oblivion]]'s doorstep.

** The third game released and also third chronologically, ''[[Kingdom Hearts]] II'', is the one extant game in the franchise with a happy ending, but [[Earn Your Happy Ending|damned if didn't require a hell of a lot of work]].

** Then there's ''Birth By Sleep'', which is not bittersweet...it's a flat out [[Downer Ending|downer.]]

** ''Kingdom Hearts: Coded'', released for cell phones in Japan and later remade for the DS for the US, doesn't have a happy, bittersweet, ''or'' sad ending. It instead ends on a pure [[Sequel Hook]].

* In ''[[My Sims|MySims Agents.]]'' No, really. After getting the Nightmare Crown back, Morcubus suddenly comes in and takes it and is about to open the portal to the Nightmare Realm when Evelyn suddenly comes in and stops him...by sucking them both into the Nightmare Realm. And she had just been reunited with her father. Ouch. And wait, there's more! If you complete all of the dispatch missions, you'll be able to go and save Evelyn. But to save Evelyn, you have to save Morcubus. And when you do, he escapes. [[Sarcasm Mode|Great.]]

* In ''[[World of Warcraft|Wrath of the Lich King]]'': Arthas has been defeated, and the scourge has been destroyed, but many soldiers died, and Bolvar gives up his chance at humanity to contain the scourge.

* The final cases of the first three ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' games kinda end like this. {{spoiler|Phoenix exposes the real killer and wins the day, but either his client or another suspect he was desperate to exonerate still end up imprisoned for lying under oath and interfering with a crime scene.}} The third games is even worse, as {{spoiler|[[Sympathetic Murderer|Godot]] will also have to stand trial for his crime (assuming he even lives that long), and Maya witnessed her own mother's death but has to put on a strong face for Pearl's benefit.}}

* The Neutral ending of [[Shin Megami Tensei I]]. {{spoiler|Humanity has been freed from the constraints of both angels and demons, but the only main characters left alive are the protagonist, the Girl, possibly the protagonist's dog, and an old man who may or may not be the reincarnation of a Chinese philosopher.}}

* [[Digimon World]] ends with Hiro still in the Digital World. He's saved that dimension from total destruction at the cost of never being able to return to the human world. Mind you, he was also taken into the Digital World against his free will in the first place by some cosmic force, so this is also a case of [[Being Good Sucks]]. And since it was such a random teleportation, his parents will come home and find him gone forever with no explanation or note explaining anything.

** I'm afraid it is quite false. Hiro DOES return to the Real world after defeating the ''[[Big Bad]]'' with a smirk in his face, and the game properly ends. However, if you load the 'beaten' save, a cutscene plays of Hiro being again called and teleported to the Digital world (in front of his friends, no less), and though you don't return to the Real world once again after that (the game was already over, after all), it's heavily implied that he can come and go at will from the Digital World. Happy Ending ensues.

* The ending of ''[[Don Pachi]]'', in which the player character joins the elite [[Super Soldier]] force DonPachi Squadron...after having completed training in which he is ordered to kill a massive plurality of allies posing as enemies.

{{quote| "In the end, we were not the ones who made this [[Training From Hell|'mission']] a success, it was the numerous soldiers who lost their lives that contributed to the creation of these super soldiers. Thus came about the elite combat force, [[Title Drop|'DonPachi']]."}}

* ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]''. {{spoiler|Sure, Jack gets revenge for John's murder, but that doesn't change the fact that the man he grew to admire and sympathize with is dead. Furthermore, Jack has become a wandering gunslinger and a broken shell of a man, exactly what his father didn't want for him.}}

** Each spoiler contains the epilogue for each NPC.

** Aerie: {{spoiler|Aerie - Normal Epilogue Aerie continued adventuring after years after leaving my company, often traveling with a larger group but sometimes striking out on her own to use her considerable power to fight against slavery in the Realms. Her compassion grew tainted by revenge, however; revenge for what had been taken from her when she was in chains and could never be restored. She might have lost herself to her vengeance entirely had fortune not smiled upon her. The tale goes that Aerie, filled with a righteous fury, destroyed a slaver enclave in the northern hills of Cormyr single-handedly. She was surprised to find a group of avariel elves that had been held captive there and quickly freed them, and was in turn invited to return to her long-lost home of Faenya-Dail. She learned much while she was there. Most importantly, she learned she was no longer truly one of avariel, and let go forever of the wings that she had lost. Faenya-Dail was no longer her home, and it was with mixed emotions that she bid it farewell. It is said that Aerie eventually became a high priestess in Understone, a gnomish village her mentor Quayle had sometimes spoken of. He had been her true family, and it was among his people that she finally found happiness and the family she had always longed for. It was also said that Aerie prayed for me, each night as the stars revealed themselves in the sky above. She sincerely hoped I had been fortunate enough to find the peace that she had...for without me, it would never have been possible.}}

** Viconia: {{spoiler|Viconia – Normal Epilogue Viconia traveled only for a short time after parting ways with <CHARNAME>, eventually starting a cult dedicated to Shar within the massive city of Waterdeep. One of her followers would eventually turn against her, precipitating a furious Viconia to slaughter the entire cult, herself. Shar did not forgive Viconia this trespass and removed her abilities. Viconia stubbornly refused to atone, however, and instead left Waterdeep to wander the Realms. The dark elf became known as an enigmatic and powerful figure as tales of her spread...and while it was known she no longer worshipped Shar, it was also known that her clerical powers were still great. Who the dark lady now worshipped, however, was her own secret to keep. She reportedly raised an army against the Vaasan Witch-King, viciously attempting to subvert rule over his Kingdom and only barely being defeated after several military failures. Viconia prevented an attempt by the Knights of the Shield to take over Calimport...only to take over the city herself days later and institute a reign of terror and cruelty which is spoken of even years later in shuddered tones. Viconia abandoned Calimport and, it is said, returned to the Underdark from whence she came. Hers was not a gentle return, however, as Viconia would become a conquering force amongst the drow to give even Lolth pause. Her mettle had been tested by both worlds, Viconia said, and proven herself worthy. She would make the drow strong whereas now they were weak. What eventually became of Viconia is unknown and shrouded in rumor...but it is said that even the great Spider Queen does not rest easily any more. }}

** Viconia: {{spoiler|Viconia – Romance Epilogue Viconia and <CHARNAME> continued their adventuring careers for several years, gaining considerable fame after being drawn into central roles in two wars that rocked the Sword Coast. <CHARNAME>'s standing in the Realms grew considerably over time, his dark maiden always at his side. Eventually, Viconia became pregnant with <CHARNAME>'s child, an event that caused much argument and strife between the couple, resulting briefly in their seperation. The birth of <CHARNAME>'s son, however, would change Viconia forever. She would return to <CHARNAME> and convince him to settle finally in Baldur's Gate, dedicating herself utterly to raising their son and teaching him the ways of the drow as well as the ways of <CHARNAME>'s people and marvelling at the power the boy already was demonstrating. Though she delighted at the understanding in her son's eyes, she would not live to see him grow. Viconia was a powerful priestess and all but immune to common poisons, but the venom of the Spider Queen's vengeance was not easily resisted and her reach is far. Poisoned by a servant of the goddess Lolth, <CHARNAME> railed in rage as even the most powerful magics proved ineffective in curing his ailing wife. Viconia's last words were whispered to <CHARNAME>, in private, before she finally succumbed and are unknown...but the tale is well-told of how <CHARNAME> held the body of his dark maiden close to him and wept, while the entire city wept with him, suffering a loss of something precious that they never even truly knew they had. The furious <CHARNAME> left Baldur's Gate and raised his son in secret far away. Tales vary of him, some saying he began a crusade against the drow in the Underdark, some claiming he became a hero in the far-off northlands...and some even saying with surety that <CHARNAME> had waged war against Lolth herself in the abyssal Demonweb Pits...but all agreeing that the former son of Bhaal had been changed forever by his love for the dark maiden. As for the son, tutored by two of the most potent beings in the Realms? He would go on to forge a legend that would rival that of his father. That, however, is a different story...}}

** Coffinwell: {{spoiler|With your help, Dr Phelming was able to seal the sentient disease that place a death curse on the town, but not in time to save his beloved wife. On the plus side, the whole incident causes the originally [[Jerkass]] doctor to man up and actually work for the benefit of his town.}}

** Porth Llaffan: {{spoiler|It turns out that the Lleviathan, who the townsfolk had come to rely on to the point they all became lazy, was actually the spirit of young Jona's dead father. After a tearful farewell, Jonas' father ascends to heaven, and while Jona and the townsfolk resolve to work hard again, its hard to forget just how dependent they were on Lleviathan. Oh, and the whole incident sends the mayor into an [[Angst Coma]] that he doesn't recover from until you complete a sidequest available ''much'' later on.}}

*** Though this game also renders the endings of the first two Prime games a bit sweeter, as Tallon IV is recovering and the Luminoth's civilization is thriving again. So there's that.

** Super Metroid - Samus has killed Mother Brain, but has lost the closest thing she has yet had to a child, as well as her childhood home in the process.

** Metroid Fusion - Samus has destroyed the X parasite, by blowing up a space station and [[Colony Drop|the planet it orbited]], but openly admits she's probably a fugitive, for destroying federation property.

* ''[[Vandal Hearts]] 2'', in three out of four of its endings, which is ''including'' the [[Golden Ending]], is this.

** The first is that, after you lost all of your childhood friends Yuri, Adele, and Clive, you make good on the promise you made to Clive to take care of Rosaly, your [[Not Blood Siblings|adopted sister]], and the ending is that she gave birth to your child.

** The third, arguably best one, is that you become bodyguard to Queen Adele. Despite this, she publicly renounced her intent on marrying since offsrpings will only breed violence due to inheritance and [[Succession Crisis]] (a big, big part of the story in fact) and thus will remain without spouse. Adele does however, sneak a deep kiss outside the public eye with you and while the epilogue says that she never took a consort or bore any child, you are described to be the closest she has to a husband.

** [[Your Mileage May Vary|To expand a little on the "bittersweet" definition]], the fourth ending has you become the King, presumably of Natra. You ruled with an iron fist like a despot, and later in your reign, gets assassinated. The bittersweet part comes that this ending is possible if you select "I want to be the King" when Nicola asks you about your dream early in your childhood intro chapter.

** Even worse, the DS version has an optional bonus dungeon in which you can fight {{spoiler|Dalton, the Zeal Army captain that previously served essentially as a comical character}}. By defeating him, you will learn that he's the responsible of the Fall of {{spoiler|Guardia}}.

* ''[[Target Earth]]'' features the protagonist [[One-Man Army|Rex]] fighting to save Earth and her colonies from an unknown assailant. Throughout the course of the game, Rex learns that the enemy are a group of cyborg humans who traveled into the outer reaches of space as pioneers. He begins to sympathize with them once he learns that they ran into severe problems but their cries for help went unanswered. The reason was that [[Poor Communication Kills|Earth had undergone an apocalyptic world war and had to rebuild from the ground up]]; they were in no shape to send help, even if they did receive the transmission. Rex keeps fighting the good fight, but by the time he kills [[The Dragon]], all he can say is "Another good man dead." Once he defeats the [[Big Bad]], he sets his Assault Suit to self-destruct and symbolically walks away from it.

* The ''[[Ultima]]'' series ends this way. When all is said and done, the Avatar and his companions manage to save Brittania one last time (hopefully for good) by finally defeating the Guardian. Sadly, the Avatar must perform a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to do so because the Guardian is the manifestation of everything the Avatar cast aside after perform the Quest to become the Avatar of Virtue -- as long as the Avatar lives the Guardian will too.

* ''[[Nie R]]'' ends like this in the A and B (and arguably C) paths.

** In ending A, {{spoiler|Nier defeats the Shadowlord and rescues Yonah, ''finally'' ensuring her survival after a five year struggle, but the world is still a slowly dying husk, Facade is in ruins and without a king, Emil (seemingly) died in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], Weiss fades from existence after losing its power, and Kaine, despite her feelings for Nier, has to leave them to attend to "unfinished business".}}

** The Revenge ending of ''IV''. Niko finally kills [[Big Bad]] Dimitri and finally finds some measure of peace in his life, only to see his girlfriend gunned down by Dimetri's vengeful [[The Dragon|dragon]]. Despite this loss, Niko is still able to come to some form of peace after avenging his girlfriend (who was kind of a bitch anyways), his cousin Roman is alive and well (the Deal ending would've had him killed instead of Kate) and is in fact soon to be a father, which is a major step up from the [[Butt Monkey]] status he had throughout the game.

** ''The Ballad of Gay Tony'' ends with Luis nearly killing Tony. They both survive and get out of debt, although they lose the diamonds nearly every gangster in Liberty City had been fighting over. Unlike the main game, however, this is far further on the sweet end of the [[Bittersweet Ending]] spectrum.

* The ending of ''[[Deadly Premonition]]'' definitely counts. {{spoiler|The murderer behind Greenvale's killings, as well as the manipulator behind all the other red seed murders are discovered and defeated and Zach is freed from the Red Room, but Emily and Thomas are both dead.}}

* These are pretty much the standard for the [[Thief]] franchise. In the first game, Garrett loses his eye, but ends up saving the world from {{spoiler|[[God of Evil|The Trickster]]}}. Nevertheless, his accomplishment goes completely unnoticed and uncared for by pretty much everyone. In the sequel, ''Thief 2: The Metal Age'', Garrett saves The City again and possibly the world from {{spoiler|[[Religion of Evil|Karras and the Mechanists]]}}. Not only does the achievement go unnoticed by The City, he loses {{spoiler|the Pagan wood nymph, [[Nature Spirit|Viktoria]]}}, his one true romantic interest, in the process. [[It Got Worse|The kicker?]] He didn't realize how deeply he cared about her until it was too late, and is informed that her loss was [[Kick Them While They Are Down|supposed to happen]].

** {{spoiler|Even worse, Liu Kang, long considered [[The Hero]] of MK, dies firmly believing Raiden, his formerly beloved mentor, betrayed him and all of Earth Realm.}}

* The ''best'' ending of the Kongregate flash game ''[[Immor Tall]]''. The alien saves the human family it befriended {{spoiler|but succumbs to its wounds and dies in the end. The family briefly mourn the death of their new friend before fleeing the scene, and snow slowly buries the alien.}}

* ''[[Breath of Death VII]]''. {{spoiler|The undead heroes save the last human alive and return the crystals to him, which allow him to travel back and time and save the world from the apocalypse. However, this comes at the cost of the very existence of the post apocalyptic time period, including the protagonists. Notable in that unlike literally the entire rest of the game, which is a tongue in cheek, over the top parody, the ending is played completely seriously.}}

* [[Stolen]] has this for an ending. Breeze is (likely) dead, Richard Killian has been arrested for murdering his own goon Night. The previous mayor is back in power. Louie, Anya's partner, puts a [[Lampshade Hanging]] on the trope by saying that nobody is better off, but nobody is worse off either. Louie and Anya's apartment has been blown up, and so the two of them take off on a motorcycle, perhaps to go on vacation.

* In [[The Witcher]] series, though the first game can end on a somewhat hopeful note, the second game ends this way no matter what you do. On one hand, Geralt is reunited with Triss, has recovered much of his memory, and knows Yennefer might still be alive. Unfortunately the seeds of chaos have been sewn across the Northern kingdoms, and [[The Empire|Nilfgaard]] is planning on marching in. Just about everything accomplished in both games has been rendered effectively moot.

* ''[[LA Noire]]'' has Cole Phelps drowned in the sewers saving both Jack Kelso, his not-friend-but-not-enemy, and Elsa Litchmann, his love interest. The game ends with Jack attending Cole's funeral with Elsa and Cole's ex-partner Biggs. While the Suburban Redevelopment Fund is finished, the corruption endemic in the LAPD and Mayor's office, that chewed up and spat out Cole, is allowed to continue, and Roy Earle, Cole's crooked Vice partner and SRF bagman, [[Karma Houdini|gets to deliver Cole's eulogy]]. That Noir for you.

* ''[[Dead Rising 2]]: Case West'' has good news, best news, bad news, and worst news. The good news is that Frank and Chuck escape with proof that Phenotrans is responsible for the Fortune City outbreak and evidence to clear the latter's name; the best news is that the evil company is going down. The bad news is Marian Mallon, the head of Phenotrans, refuses to release the permanent cure as she [[The Social Darwinist|sees only the strong ones will get it]], and escapes with Isabela; the worst news is that nobody will believe of what happened to Phenotrans.

* ''[[Baten Kaitos]] Origins'' ends this way. {{spoiler|[[Complete Monster|Verus]] and [[Humanoid Abomination|Wiseman]] are dead, Tarazed is destroyed, and Sagi and Milly elope, but Guillo is dead, Milly is orphaned, and the empire is in the hands of Geldoblame, who has apparently lost his mind. Also, if you've played ''Eternal Wings'', you know Sagi and Milly die of a plague a few years later and their daughter is behind all the terrible things that happen in that game.}}

* ''[[Corpse Party]]'': {{spoiler|Sachiko is convinced to let go of her rage and she and the other ghost children are finally able to find peace and move on, and the surviving characters are able to escape, but they are literally the only ones who will ever remember that the dead characters even existed.}}

* At the end of ''Ikaruga'', {{spoiler|your ship sacrifices itself to destroy the final boss.}}

* Norman Jayden from [[Heavy Rain]] has not a single unequivocally 'good' ending to call his own. Instead, most of his epilogues fluctuate between [[Bittersweet Ending|bittersweet]] and [[Bad Ending|downright depressing.]] His two best endings fall under the former category. In 'Resignation', {{spoiler|Jayden gives up on the Origami Killer case and resigns from the FBI. He states that he needs time to distance himself from the murders and get in touch with 'the real world' again. He also gives up the ARI, and it is implied that Jayden is putting effort into overcoming his addictions.}} In 'Case Closed', {{spoiler|Jayden saves Shaun Mars and is hailed as a hero by the press, but his overuse of the ARI has caused him to start seeing vivid hallucinations. The epilogue has no spoken dialogue by Jayden, and ends with a shot of his surprised expression before fading to black. It is not revealed whether or not this condition is permanent.}}

* ''[[Heavy Water Jogger]]'': The good news is Mr. Fluke, owner of the biggest, most dangerous nuclear power plant in the USA and jogger, turned the heavy water back on, saved the plant, and got out of there alive. The bad news is the [[No Name Given]] disgruntled employee, who started the whole mess in the first place, has escaped, called the police, and pinned the crime on him. The police arrest Mr. Fluke. Then again, [[Alternative Character Interpretation]] seems to suggest that Mr. Fluke may have been a [[Bad Boss]] and [[Villain Protagonist]], while the employee may be a [[Magnificent Bastard]] who wanted to take down Mr. Fluke. [[Your Mileage May Vary]] on all that!

* ''[[Tenchu]] 2'' ends with the Burning Dawn defeated but Rikimaru & Ayame are the only Azuma ninja still around.

* ''[[Syphon Filter]] 2'' ended with the Agency's conspiracy revealed and its leaders dead but so is Teresa. Fans hated the last part so bad that it got retconned in the sequel.

* ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'' ends with {{spoiler|Asura destroying the source of all mantra, and eventually ending the world's suffering once and for all, but at the cost of his own life. As long as his daughter is safe, however, [[Tear Jerker|That's good enough for him.]]}}

 

{{reflist}}