Dethroning Moment of Suck (Darth Wiki)/Video Games: Difference between revisions

* [[Tropers/Some New Guy|Some New Guy]]: The "reveal" of Dhaos' true intentions in ''[[Tales of Phantasia]]''. Not only does it come [[Ass Pull|completely out of nowhere,]] but the game seems to expect us to believe that it completely justified him launching a genocidal war against mankind. Protip: No, it doesn't. It actually makes Dhaos less sympathetic, since it makes it appear that Dhaos brought his end on himself by never bothering to explain his actions when he had multiple chances to. The Tales series has many sympathetic villains, but Dhaos does not deserve to be one of them. Wanting to help your own world is no justification for wanting to cause the destruction of another.

* [[Tropers/Sahgo|Sahgo]]: ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'', I love you, but I'll never forgive how Anise's betrayal subplot was handled. Let's count the ways; 1) It all begins when Anise was being a spy for [[Complete Monster|Mohs]] for the sake of her parents. A little retarded (since she should know that the party is more than strong enough to take matters into their own hands), but understandable, since she's just a kid, and a desperate one at that. But it all goes to hell when she's asked to bring Ion to Mohs. She knew that he would get rid of him as soon as he read the Score, and she supposedly freakin' loves him! And yet she carries him to his death. 2) After the party kills Mohs for that, they feel sorry for him. Namdai, you're trying to make us feel sorry for [[Complete Monster|Mohs]], that's easier said than done (actually, scratch that; it's not even easy said). 3) After the whole thing, [[Karma Houdini|Anise gets no comeuppance whatsoever]], particularly egregious since Luke got a much harsher treatment after committing a much more justifiable mistake. And 4) When Anise meets Arietta (another who cared deeply for Ion), she doesn't even bother to tell her of his death, and just kills her. There are no words.

* [[Tropers/Monsund|Monsund]]: [[World of Warcraft]] Cataclysm probably has the ultimate Dethroning Moment Of Suck for Thrall. He's just teamed up with the player and a wily goblin called Sassy to defeat their former traitorous Trade Prince Gallywix. What does Thrall do after defeating him, make him racial leader again! This is after Gallywix [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|betrayed the player twice]], enslaved his own goblins in an abusive mine, teamed up with pirates, and right after he personally tried to kill Thrall and the player. Worse is that the player and Thrall [[What Measure Is a Mook?|killed tons of mooks]] to get to Gallywix and other goblins such as Sassy showed themselves to far more capable and caring then Gallywix. This moment totally [[Character Derailment|derailed]] Thrall into a caricature that no no longer resembles his old self.

** [[Tropers/Miltiades Booga|Miltiades Booga]]: Further to the [[World of Warcraft]] example above - what in the sassy Francis with the derailing of Kael'thas and Illidan in ''Burning Crusade''!? ''Wrath of the Lich King'' seduced me back to the fold (fist shaking goes here) but that little bit of WTF had me trying to throttle my keyboard. Blizzard, please don't let people who have never played WCIII write scenarios involving characters from WCIII.

** [[Tropers/Valkir|Valkir]]: Another one from Cataclysm. Not the overall appointment of Garrosh Hellscream, but rather the precise moment they show it in the pre-event. He's suddenly a humble guy that wants what's best for the Horde and is being respectful to everyone. He says things and acts in ways that are radically inconsistent with his previous characterization in Wrath purely for the sake of revisionist history so Blizzard can force him down the player's throat. This moment specifically sets the tone for all future encounters with Garrosh, because it's nothing but shilling the [[Creator's Pet]] from there on out, with him suddenly being a competent badass due to events in Northrend that we as a player never got to see. Garrosh Hellscream, you made me, a fan of Warcraft for over 10 years and a hardcore raider, quit the god damn game.

** [[Tropers/Regu|Regu]]: A minor one from Cataclysm, but one that still made me mad. In the expansion, the Deadmines were completely re-done and even had a storyline in Westfall to explain. After discovering that the daughter of the former end boss has been reviving the defias brotherhood, you are sent in to defeat them. After running through an entire dungeon with completely new bosses, you fight the end boss. Oh but's not who you think it is, it's Cookie, you know that morloc who wasn't even required to down for completion. You can only fight Vanessa in the Heroic version. It's a complete and utter waste of time, and a crappy "twist" to boot.

* [[Tropers/Videogmer 314|Videogmer 314]]: [[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers|Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky]]. The Perfect Apples incident. {{spoiler|You're supposed to go to Apple Forest to collect Perfect Apples because Team Skull ate the stock while the guild was sleeping. Team Skull, being the jerks they are decide to give you a hard time (again) and follow you. When you get there, Team Skull has beaten you to the punch and ambushes you, then steals the apples. Chatot decides this is somehow your team's fault, and he punishes you by making you go without dinner and face the wrath of the Guildmaster, only to find that Team Skull has saved one apple just for Wigglytuff just to rub salt into the wounds. The next morning, [[Ted Baxter]] Chatot pretty much tells you "Don't get your hopes up" when asked about being picked to go on the upcoming expedition. This is what solidifies Chatot's status as [[The Scrappy]] of Time/Darkness/Sky by the way...}}

* [[Tropers/Arcadiarika|Arcadiarika]]: And speaking of ''Pokemon'', its other spinoff series, ''[[Pokémon Ranger]]'', has the infamous Yellow Gem incident in ''Shadows of Almia''. After going through Hippowdon Temple and defeating one of the Gem Masters, Heath shows up and offers the gem for your partner. The kicker when you say "No"? [[But Thou Must!|"Oh? You not care about Keith? Not a very good friend?"]] That's right, you have to give the gem up for your partner despite him/her not being in complete danger. All that hard work ruined. [[Sarcasm Mode|Nice work, GameFreak, Creatures, Inc., etc., for doing such an infuriating scene.]]

* [[Tropers/Lily Nadesico|Lily Nadesico]]: The end of the June mission in ''[[Valkyria Chronicles II]]'', with Cosette {{spoiler|going through a sudden [[Heroic BSOD]] for reasons that, while reasonable, end up seeming contrived and artificial within the plot of the game (she had healed people before, where does that fear of blood come from? And she's a medic who has a fear of blood? What gives?)}} and Avan {{spoiler|shooting himself in the gut just to make a point and motivate her to get over her demons. Thereby irresponsibly removing himself from the chain of command and diverting medical attention from injured civilians and soldiers who needed it more than him. And we're supposed to consider him heroic and admirable for that.}} Geez, and people get all worked up over [[Designated Evil|the infamous]] [[Kick the Dog|Faldio debacle]] in the [[Valkyria Chronicles|first game...]]

* [[Tropers/King Zeal|King Zeal]]: ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' gave me a Dethroning Scene Of Suck. The entire damn Garden War between Balamb and Galbadia gardens prior to actually entering Galbadia garden. Rinoa's [[Distress Ball]] derails almost everything happening concurrently in regards to plot and characterization. Examples? The Garden War scene where she's hanging from the edge and the party comes back to get Squall to rescue her. Keep in mind that, at this point, Squall has been deemed the commander of this war and the life of every Balamb student (SeeD or otherwise) is his responsibility. Squall refuses to go and save ONE student as opposed to the dozens, if not hundreds that need him now—then the party completely disregards what he says and tells him to do it anyway while they make up their own plan. I'm sorry, who was in charge here again? Worse, they use the phrase "Rinoa is one of us" for their justification (as opposed to, you know, the other people in the Garden whom many either grew up with and befriended long before Rinoa came along). Next, when Squall actually mounts his rescue, the means to do so literally drops into his lap through Contrived Coincidence. Third, after he rescues her, he and Rinoa run through an intense battlefield with warriors from both sides killing and being killed mercilessly while they head to defeat the [[Big Bad]] behind the whole war. Then, they suddenly decide to stop and have a cutesy romantic conversation involving Squall's ring—while the people under Squall's command are fighting and dying a few yards away.

** [[Tropers/Manwiththeplan|Manwiththeplan]]: Also from [[Kingdom Hearts II]]: the entire Cloud vs. Sephiroth subplot. Sora, Donald, and Goofy literatelly do nothing to affect it, the fight against Sephiroth and his reasoning about wanting the Keyblade is [[Big Lipped Alligator Moment|dropped and never referenced again]] in favor of a generic showdown between him and Cloud that ends abrubtly with no resolution, and worst of all, the whole thing made no sense. Cloud is [[Flanderization|flanderized]] as his stoic, [[Wangst|Wangsty]] ''Advent Children'' self with no explanation, his obsession with fighting Sephiroth isn't explained other than some weird bullshit about Sephiroth being "his darkness", and Tifa is his light, all the while she is [[Character Derailment|derailed]] into some generic tough girl who single-mindedly seeks Cloud. Ugh, there is just so much wrong with this plotline and it's just [[Filler|so damn pointless]] save for [[Pandering to the Base|pandering to the Final Fantasy VII base,]] just like that damn [[Fan Nickname|Complication...]]....sorry, Compilation.

* [[Tropers/MM Trigger|MM Trigger]]: The ending of the ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' series, thanks mainly due to Capcom's [[Executive Meddling]] keeping this and the preceding two series going on longer than they should've. Not because that {{spoiler|Zero died}}, but because of the implications. Even though the third game revealed {{spoiler|Zero's mind was moved to a clone body, he's still the same Zero we all grew up playing, meaning he's still Dr. Wily's creation. Dr Wily is the one who basically, unintentionally mind you, saved humanity and ushered in a new age whereas Dr. Light ultimately failed to do just that}}. And on top of that, X and the guardians, who were cloned from his DNA data, are barely mentioned in the game. It's like after spending so many years with Rock and X, and following the morals that their games presented in their 20-something games, Capcom, in just four games, basically said "Yeah, that's actually a load of crap, just kill the human villain first chance you get. Let's just forget those Light Bots and acknowledge that Dr. Wily is the real hero."

## His military power: To quote Harpuia "He's bluffing. He can't do anything in his current state." Weil's plan for domination was solely reliant on the use of Omega as a terror tool. Without Omega, he was powerless. Barring an [[Ass Pull]], where did the vile forces and Craft come from. There was no hint of them existing in previous games.

## Weil having full control of energy: What about the Ciel system which was established in Zero 3 to be vastly superior to anything Neo Arcadia had (established by Copy X in his comments on monopoly on both energy and Zero). The development of said system to bring peace to the world was an uber important plot point for the entire series and it got [[Put on a Bus]] in Zero 4 to make Weil seem all powerful.

* [[Tropers/Crazyrabbits|Crazyrabbits]]: For sheer story derailment, the "Arrival" mission for ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' (which is intended as a tie-in to the [[Mass Effect|third game]]) is quite possibly the worst DLC in the franchise. This is due to the fact that many of the gameplay elements and plot points are designed to railroad the player into one choice, and one choice only: {{spoiler|blow up a Mass Relay by ramming it with an asteroid that has 300,000 Batarian colonists living on it}}. Admiral Hackett forces Shepard to go on a solo mission for no other reason than "because the plot says so" - after 10 minutes of sneaking around (which is optional anyway), Shepard's cover is blown and he has to escape with Dr. Benson. Later on, Shepard is knocked out for two days by {{spoiler|the indoctrinated Benson and her research team}}, and instead of killing him and/or dismantling the asteroid so that it won't be used as a weapon for his plan, they sit on their hands and leave him in a cell with two woefully-inept guards, access to a sentry robot and all his gear lying right outside the door. [[Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him|Really]]?

** [[Tropers/Ironballs 16|Ironballs 16]]: There's a bit of [[Fridge Brilliance]] {{spoiler|regarding their decision to merely sedate Shepard, though - the indoctrinated research team was acting at the order of the Reapers, who we know have massive egos from interactions with Sovereign, and a particular hatred/fascination for Shepard himself. So odds are that the Reapers were able to command the research team to keep him "Alive so that we may study him upon our arrival", and they probably didn't have any access to long-term stasis.}} As to the guards, that's a fair point.

** [[Tropers/egregious|egregious]]: {{spoiler|[[Romantic Plot Tumor|Phelps' affair with Elsa]]. There is absolutely nothing to establish Phelps' relationship with his own family beyond a passing comment that he even has a family at all. His initial interaction with Elsa is through questioning about the stolen Army surplus goods and she's rather curt throughout the whole line of questioning. Literally the next thing that happens is the player tailing her cab to her apartment, she and Phelps sleep together, and he is demoted to Arson at the end of The Manifest Destiny case. Considering the game builds Phelps to be a [[By-The-Book Cop]], this is quite a [[Character Derailment|180 degree turn for him]].}}.

** [[Tropers/Regu|Regu]]: {{spoiler|The end off the homicide storyline ended on a very sour note that left a bad taste in my mouth.To eloborate, you spend an entire case figuring out who the Werewolf killer is and where he's hiding. The case itself is thrilling and makes you think by reading excerpts from famous poems to discover the next clue. After going through a maze, walking over the tar pits, climbing a to the very top of the library tower, and most dangerously, tight rope walking to a chandelier that is very high up to find a clue, and then almost falling with it when it collapses, you find the killer at an abandoned church. after a rather lackluster chase, you kill the Werewolf, only to have the Captain Donnoly tell you that his identity can't reveled to the public and the case will be closed... simply because the guy is the half-brother of a influential politician. The only good part is that the people whom you've wrongly accused are set free.}}

{{quote|"Guess you're...fucked."}}

* Strategia: [[Heroes of Might and Magic]] V, the Hammers of Fate expansion. [[Good Is Not Nice]] / [[Light Is Not Good]] was well-established with Isabel and the Griffin Empire in the main game. It got jarring at some points, sure, when Isabel was carrying an Idiot Ball you could crush an elephant with, but that kind of fit with her character. In the first campaign of [[Ho F]], the viewpoint switches to Freyda, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Isabel (minus the ruthlessness and being queen, ofc, and with a whole lot more naïveté), who gets sent off with a bloodthirsty murderer, an archbishop who's downright creepy when he's not being a total jackass, and an army of new, more than a little questionable troops (Griffins whose description hints that their "training" is little more than animal abuse, heavy infantry with horns and spikes all over their armour), to suppress some rebellions. The explanation Freyda is given is that the rebels are demonic cultists, evidenced by random low-level demons appearing out of nowhere, which means you get to murder hundreds of peasants, burn their huts, and then capture and raze entire cities, and watch Freyda's uncle get murdered in cold blood. She has deep misgivings about the whole affair, but continues with it anyway out of sheer bloody-minded loyalty, like someone combined [[Honor Before Reason]] with an [[Idiot Ball]] that would make Atlas proud. That's annoying to be sure, but it only forms part of this DMoS. Playing the scenarios themselves, when I go beyond mere gameplay and stats and think about what it is I'm doing, I get deeply disturbed and disgusted. I'm commanding an army of elite soldiers, ravaging the countryside killing everyone they meet, for trumped-up reasons, in the service of an all-powerful, unquestioned leader of an increasingly zealous empire. I'm roleplaying the fantasy version of a Waffen-SS death squad. There's [[Good Is Not Nice]], there's [[Light Is Not Good]], and there's this - after the first mission or two, there's no justification for what you're doing, and it makes me feel sick just to sit through the cutscenes or burn down another town or two. I can never finish a mission in one sitting. This goes far, FAR beyond establishing that Isabel is not a Good queen, even knowing the reason behind it. I cannot fathom why the developers felt it necessary to stretch that storyline, which could have easily fit in one, maybe two missions, into a whole campaign. Not cool, Nival. Not cool.

* [[Tropers/Jicragg|Jicragg]]: ''[[Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors]]'': While the vast majority of this game is superb, good story, good characters, good puzzles, it was wonderful. The full/True/100% ending had one horrific reveal that ruined this almost perfect game. I am quite happy with the background of the story, that {{spoiler|Young Akane needed to connect with future Junpei so she could save herself in the past from being burnt to death alive.}} What completely destroyed the entire sturdy plot was what held it all together. The reason why {{spoiler|Young Akane ended up in the incinerator in the first place. She, "young" 'Seven' and other people, including her own brother, were escaping from the incinerator and a group of insane maniacs forcing them to do life or death puzzles. She was ahead of them on the stairs when she realised she dropped something... a doll. So she went back down to get... a doll... and got caught by the then [[Big Bad]] and forced to do the puzzle before she burnt to death.}} Seriously! The whole story hinged on a piece of fabric! A meaningless piece of fabric shaped to be {{spoiler|a doll}}! I had absolutely no intention of saving her. All that the other characters had been through (and since you need all the endings to get this one, you see everybody die at least once) because she wanted her {{spoiler|doll}}. The sad music plays over all of this and the final puzzle and you're supposed to care and feel sorry {{spoiler|that a [[Too Dumb to Live]] girl would go back to where she's been running away from to get a doll she got from a friend when another one could be bought easily.}} She even says she mustn't let anybody see her get it back because they would talk her out of it. Of course they would! They're smart! Any feelings I had towards the characters ([[Moe Moe|cute and likeable]]) was replaced with utter disgust. I felt robbed and cheated. I bought this game, spent time on it, expecting something great and wonderful... and it all ended with {{spoiler|a doll}}. And since the game is all about not judging things by its covers I think it worked out ironically for them. The game is great but was shattered by that... one little thing...

* [[Tropers/The Dog Sage|The Dog Sage]]: The ending of ''[[Castle Crashers]]''. You rescue the orange princess and {{spoiler|she removes a veil revealing Tricky The Clown who does a dance during an Acid Trip Sequence. Now, if this was a free flash game, that'd be fine, but not for something I coughed up money for. Honestly, I expected better than that.}} Doesn't stop me from playing the game, but still.