

Spoiler Warning: Memorable RPG Moments

Alex FullerAlex Fuller Managing EditorRPGamer Staff
edited May 2018 in Role Playing Games
This is official companion thread to RPGamer's Spoiler Warning: Memorable Moments from the Past 20 Years . As the native comments system doesn't include easy spoiler marking, and the subject warrants more in-depth discussions, we are moving all relevant comments, chat, etc. to our forums, which does have a handy spoiler button. Here we'd like to hear both your comments as well as your own stories of memorable moments from the RPG sphere that we didn't cover. There are so many RPGs that we won't have come close to getting them all!

This should go without saying, but please be warned that spoilers are a certainty within and ensure you use the [ spoiler ] tags as much as possible :)

[ Feature Link ]
"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."
Final Fantasy XIV: Sevvi Taubemira (Leviathan)


  • DarkRPGMasterDarkRPGMaster A Witness to Destruction Moderators
    edited May 2018
    One of the most memorable RPG moments I've ever had was the ending of Xenoblade Chronicles.
    Here it was, the ending. I spent the entire game doing every side quest, going out of my way so I could help everybody I could, going for every good end to a questline possible. I had saved a child from drowning, rebuilt Colony 6, gotten a few lovers together, no end of good deeds. Zanza was just defeated, and Shulk was given the power to create a universe. He does so, a world where the people of Mechanis and Bionis live in Colony 9 together. People are going about their normal lives, something which fills me with a sense of pride and happiness because it feels like all the sidequests I did led up to this delightful sight, and Fiora (in first person perspective) is looking for Shulk. She stumbles upon Melia, and they have a thoughtful heart to heart while looking at the scenery over the town, but something feels off about it.

    I think nothing of it and continue watching. She leaves Melia and goes by a dock, where Beyond the Sky starts playing as the rest of the team are fishing and a small hilarious scene happens. I'm smiling at this point, and the camera pans to Shulk. Fiora starts talking, and the camera switches back to 3rd person, with Fiora back to normal, no longer mechanical. They have a chat, and eventually it ends with the camera panning out and showing the remains of Mechanis and Bionis serving as the land for this new world. I helped do this, I as the player, helped create this brand new universe and all the joyous sights it gave me in such a short time.

    I still remember the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction I had during this. I remember it well because I hadn't felt it in over a decade, not since the first time I had ever beaten an RPG (Wild Arms).
    "Yes, because apparently blindly jumping headfirst into a firefight without a grasp on the situation or any combat experience is a sign of genius these days."
  • ShayminShaymin The Gratitude Pokemon Halifax, New SealandFull Members
    Since Black and White's ending (as well as Sun and Moon's, in a fashion) were brought up, I'd actually nominate something from 2015... Xenoblade Chronicles X.
    Getting the Skell was enough of a haul, given that you literally had to go all over hell and creation to get the license for it. And it was great for a few chapters, but then they announce the development of the flight pack. The mission to get it working is pretty perfunctory, but completing the mission means it's now on every Skell you have for the rest of the game.

    The first time I got to use it on one of my own Skells was fun enough because it let me go off on a ten hour exploration bender, but then Don't Worry kicks into its chorus and I felt like I won the game on the spot.
  • bbkkristianbbkkristian New Member Full Members
    I do not get very many chances to talk about this game, since so few people have played it. But Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth is my nomination. If you haven't heard of it, it is the third game of the Utawarerumono series. So there will be a spoiler for the end of the second game in my spoiler tag. Be warned!
    What I even start? After a good many hours of goofy and slice of life shenanigans, the game brings itself together and takes itself seriously at the end of Mask of Deception. The main character, Haku, is known for being laziness, drinking, and lack of etiquette. He beginning of the game shows he's immature, but following the death of the country's great leader, a coup erupts and our protagonist must meet his fate. After saving the princess and fleeing the country, Haku's most trusted friend, Oshtor, stays behind to face the mighty warrior that pursues them. Haku is forced to leave the carriage with the princess to chase after Oshtor's little sister, whom has fled to try to help her brother. This proves to be her agonizing moment in her life, as Oshtor sacrifices his life to save the two from his enemy's destructive power. In his dying breath, Oshtor gives one request to Haku: take his name, his mask, and ensure the princess gets her throne.

    Haku wears the mask and returns to his friends as Oshtor, claiming that Haku had perished in battle, and Oshtor's sister, traumatized by what had happened, also is sworn to secrecy. The lazy, immature protagonist that the player has grown accustomed to now has to grow up and discard those qualities of his for the greater good of keeping Oshtor 'alive.'

    Mask of Truth,

    Haku's friends are rightfully depressed about their fallen comrade. And Haku sees his friends suffering, knowing that all he would have to do is take off the mask and their suffering could be eased. But he made a promise, and he must use his smarts to now assemble an army to take back the imperial throne. And over time, the person the player knew as Haku is almost non-existent, as Haku becomes so used to playing Oshtor, that even he questions his identity.

    One of my absolute heart wrenching moments in video games is when our protagonist visits Oshtor's mother, as he normally does. Blissfully unaware of her son's true fate, Haku (as Oshtor) and his sister deceive her into believing the lie... until one day when Haku is set to leave, she asks about Oshtor's death. Haku is crippled by guilt because she knew all along since the day that he arrived, that he was not her son. Instead of any of the things she could do to ruin the fate of this man who had lied in front of her face, she does the unthinkable, and hugs him. She hugs him and says that she had two sons now.

    I'll leave it there, but there is so much context as you could probably tell already. Hope you were able to follow along!
  • TheAnimeManTheAnimeMan Member RPGamer Staff
    Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure.

    I gotta say this is the one game outta the 100 (close to thousands) of games I have played where I actually cry every single time. Where you find out the little fairy doll that is following her around the whole time of the game
    turns out to be caring the soul of her mother to help her become a kind caring woman who then goes to the after life at the end of the game.
    Hits me in the emotions every time.

    28 years of gaming and still going strong

    Winner of the 2015-2016 Fantasy gaming Pool
  • minneyarminneyar Member Full Members
    edited May 2018
    I came in here to talk about Utawarerumono, but you beat me to it. The ending to Mask of Deception is fantastic, and Mask of Truth is an emotional rollercoaster the entire way through. That last scene with Torikori... whew.

    So instead I'll talk about Bravely Second, which overall I don't think was quite as good as Bravely Default -- to be fair, BD was a fantastic game -- but the final boss of BS is on another level. I sat my 3DS down and spent a while wondering what I should do because I was afraid to push any of the buttons, and I haven't had any other game do that to me.
    The original BD has a combat mechanic called "Bravely Second", where over time you accumulate SP ("sleep points"), and at any time during combat -- even in the middle of an enemy's turn -- you can spend SP to interrupt combat and give one of your party members an extra turn. BS actually makes this mechanic into a plot point; there are NPCs in-game who are sleeping in order to accumulate SP in order to power weaponry, and there's a point where you have to use SP to engage in time-manipulation shenanigans in order to beat a particular enemy and continue the game.

    When you finally reach the last boss, he completely breaks the fourth wall and goes on about how he knows that somebody from the Celestial Realm -- that is, the player -- is controlling the party for their own amusement, but he's become powerful enough that he can take control and there's nothing you can do to stop him. That all sounds pretty meaningless until, at some point in the middle of the final battle, he interrupts you while you're going through your menus and uses SP to get an extra turn to attack your party members. It's a shock the first time he does it because up until this point, the ability to interrupt combat has been entirely a player mechanic, and he keeps doing it throughout the rest of the fight; it makes the player scared to even navigate through the menus, because after any button press, he might interrupt you and take another turn. Suddenly, all of the usual expectations of turn-based combat are out the window.

    That's not enough, so he also has an ability he uses where he will issue a commandment to one of your party members -- for example, he might tell Yew to kill Tiz -- and if you don't do it, on the round after that, your entire party dies. There are ways to prepare for that, but it's likely that the first time you encounter it, it will result in a party wipe.

    Then, when you've almost beaten him, he decides he's had enough of it and just resets the game. You get sent back to the title screen and have to reload your game... except when you try to confirm loading your game, the cursor moves to the option to delete your saved game, and every time you push a button, regardless of which button you push, it gets one step closer to confirming the deletion.

    I won't say what happens next so that there's a little bit of mystery left for anybody who hasn't played it, but I've talked to multiple people who simply turned their 3DS off at that point.
  • Alex FullerAlex Fuller Managing Editor RPGamer Staff
    I approve of the Utawarerumono love.
    "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."
    Final Fantasy XIV: Sevvi Taubemira (Leviathan)
  • Cassandra RamosCassandra Ramos Eternal Kyoshi Administrators
    edited May 2018
    I really wanted to write about Bravely Seconds twists, but I felt the game was too new, and a bunch of them are dependent upon Default's reveal.

    As I played the game, I wondered why the Bravely Second mechanic was so important to the story in the sequel, but there was no fanfare to it in Default. Was it just a fun way to preview the mechanic for the updated version? Oh no, there was much more to it than that...
    Bravely second...
    The courage to try again...

    Twitter: BerryEggs

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