True Endings

[Late Bloomer]

Some games have multiple endings. Some of those have "True Endings". Sometimes they are referred to as a secret ending.They are almost always the desired ending. Being longer, tying up loose ends, extra cutscenes are some of the benefits of getting the true ending. JRPG's for whatever reasons really seem to be the dominant force when it comes to true endings. Many times they involve some obscure set of invisible rules the player must complete in often times, a shocking display of randomness. Some games go so far as to not give you the true ending even if the player so much as does one thing out of order or answers a question wrong. Usually though its a complex affair. Many times the only way to be sure you are getting the true ending is to look it up which is inevitably filled with spoilers.

In Persona 4 they call it the Golden Ending. You need to max out a specific characters specific social link. Which unlocks new personas, an extra in game couple of months, and a new lore based dungeon. To be able to do that one must go to a specific room on April 18th. Spend time with the aforementioned character on speicific days unless of course its raining. You must then travel to downtown, have a specific persona equipped for the extra points it nets you. To get this persona you must be level 18, and perform a specific fusion with with three specific characters. There there is a series of conversations topics, 7 to be exact, save for the first one, the 6 following must be answered with the "correct" choices. Expect around 90 hours or more before seeing an ending.

In Octopath Traveler you must start a quest by traveling off the beaten path and challenging a guard to a duel. You then must start another quest outside the first city. Then you must travel to another distant area and talk to the a specific character. This is around an 80 hour game.

In Trails of Cold Steel IV you must complete 6 optional quests to get the 1 quest to see the true ending. After seeing the defaul (fake?) ending you are then told you have not seen the True ending (lol). This is a game that clocks in at 110 hours to beat on average.

Final Fantasy X2 you must 100% the game. Its possible to miss a single CommSphere in chapter and not be able to return. This game varies wildly on length to beat. Took me around 100 hours back in the day.

Valkyrie Profile has an ending that most information says is impossible to get by accident. You must have lowered Valkyries Seal Value by a specific number by a specific chapters. Complete a named tower by the end of chapter 4. Recruit two specific characters in chapter 3. Send a specific character to Valhalla in chapter 5 or 6. There is several guiders on how to achieve this ending. All contain massive spoilers and are extraordinarily comprehensive. About 45 hours to beat the game.

What are your thoughts on true endings?

 

[Jermu]

In Trails of Cold Steel IV you must complete 6 optional quests to get the 1 quest to see the true ending. After seeing the defaul (fake?) ending you are then told you have not seen the True ending (lol). This is a game that clocks in at 110 hours to beat on average.

This was quite tilting since after normal ending credits start to roll and after it you can decide if you want to try the new ending. I missed true ending (realized it later thought) because why would I watch 5min credit screen.

 

[Raghar]

True endings are awesome especially when they need to spend MASSIVE effort and they end as better story.

 

[abnaxus]

What about tr00 endings that get retconned later anyway

 

[Nifft Batuff]

I usually watch the true endings on youtube.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I don't like true endings that can be missed because you had to do to something obscure at a certain point in the game (shit purely done to sell guides), but otherwise it's alright. Guess it depends on if the unlock conditions are fun to do and if the end reward is really worth it.

 

[Tigranes]

True endings are awesome especially when they need to spend MASSIVE effort and they end as better story.

This is exactly why true endings are bad.

It can be fun to put in extra effort to get a secret ending, of course, but the problem is that this encourages the idea the true ending has to be better from a story POV. So what you often get is a masturbatory fanservice Goldilocks deus ex machina festival, where every problem can be solved by waving some magic wand. It cheapens the story to the level of a 11 year old who, unhappy that his favourite anime character died or something, writes a fanfic at home about how superman came and fixed everything so you can be married to all 4 waifus and rule every country.

The most recent example is Triangle Strategy, where you have three endings, all of which are very clearly flawed. The player immediately sees that any ending involves using limited resources to go all in on one thing, giving up two other things that they had fought hard for. There are gameplay costs to your party as well. This fits perfectly with the game's story strengths, which is to show that every faction ideology has its own costs and that your MC cannot magically solve every problem to everyone's satisfaction.

But then, you discover the True Ending, in which you, the underdog faction beset by powerful forces, can suddenly do everything you need to do across the entire world simultaneously and completely overturn the political order of every country and basically end up with "all problems are solved" future. Why is this "better"? This isn't more satisfying for the player unless you happen to like this kind of magic wonderland. It cheapens the existing endings and the story as a whole.

It would be like saying that if you followed a specific convoluted pathway, then you can actually return the water chip to the Vault, you also get the Vault to welcome you home, you become the King of All Vaults to boot, and every city you ever visited also flourishes, and why not you restore Paradise on Earth while you're at it.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

I don't give a fuck if i get the true ending or not, i don't like being told how i have to play a game. You mentioned cold steel iv and i got the true ending in that game because i always talk with everyone in every single rpg that i play so it's quite rare that i miss something.

I don't think it's worth it replaying cold steel iv to get the true ending but you are also a cuck if you look up endings on jewtube.

 

[Viata]

In Persona 4 they call it the Golden Ending. You need to max out a specific characters specific social link. Which unlocks new personas, an extra in game couple of months, and a new lore based dungeon. To be able to do that one must go to a specific room on April 18th. Spend time with the aforementioned character on speicific days unless of course its raining. You must then travel to downtown, have a specific persona equipped for the extra points it nets you. To get this persona you must be level 18, and perform a specific fusion with with three specific characters. There there is a series of conversations topics, 7 to be exact, save for the first one, the 6 following must be answered with the "correct" choices. Expect around 90 hours or more before seeing an ending.

This for Persona 4 Golden, right? Pretty sure I did the best ending for Persona 4 and it was nothing like that.

 

[Silva]

Dark Souls doesn't have a true ending but a true midway and it's called Darkstalker Kaathe my lord and master.

 

[Late Bloomer]

This for Persona 4 Golden, right? Pretty sure I did the best ending for Persona 4 and it was nothing like that.

Look up the "Golden Ending" which for all intents and purposes is their verison of what is being discussed. Or check out this link with spoilers aplenty.

https://www.gameskinny.com/93f3b/persona-4-golden-true-ending-requirements-guide

 

[Viata]

This for Persona 4 Golden, right? Pretty sure I did the best ending for Persona 4 and it was nothing like that.

Look up the "Golden Ending" which for all intents and purposes is their verison of what is being discussed. Or check out this link with spoilers aplenty.

https://www.gameskinny.com/93f3b/persona-4-golden-true-ending-requirements-guide

Yeah, that is for Persona 4 Golden.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

I'm not opposed to true endings or even secret endings that require considerable effort to achieve, but the way they're done in most Japanese games makes them feel heavily masturbatory. Like I guess one should make the ending slightly better, considering that the player has probably done something that improves whatever outcome there may be. Like the Fallout example, not so much turning everything into rainbows and sunshine, but one should at least be able to save a town or two from the super mutant menace, which I think one actually can. Unless the idea is I've literally found a deus ex machina or something it always feels cheap. Like I'm just seeing the dying thoughts of the MC before he succumbs to his wounds.

 

[felipepepe]

I'm not against a true ending that is hard to get, but some games are insane about it. In Yumina the Ethereal you have to beat the entire game three times, once with each waifu AND getting 100% of their events... only then the true ending route opens. It's absolutely impossible without a walkthrough, and even with it you are looking at like 100+ hours of gaming, most of it repeating the exact same things 3 times.

Much rather prefer stuff like Way of the Samurai 4, that is a very short game based around trying different things to get new endings. As you play, you figure out what are the "good things" and then naturally try to do all in a single run to get the best ending.

 

[Late Bloomer]

Yeah, that is for Persona 4 Golden.

How was Persona 4's true ending. Did you get a chance to play Golden?


In late november early december talk friends down about some vigilante justice. You need to choose five specific dialogue options in a row. Failing this gets you a bad ending. After that you must identify the killer from a long list. You get three chances. If you fail you get a different bad ending. When its the final day of the game you cant go hnome. The game tells you to go home. If you follow the games advice you get a bad ending. If you dont go home and have correctly done the above, you get the true ending.

Does that sound about accurate for the original Persona 4?

 

[Viata]

Yeah, that is for Persona 4 Golden.

How was Persona 4's true ending. Did you get a chance to play Golden?

Don't remember right now, but you just need to select the right answers when Yosuke(?) asks you in the hospital, then on the last day, talk to everyone on your social link, denied going home(the game asks you that), then you talk to the first person you met in that town(the guy in the gas station) and then you unlock the last dungeon, fighting Izanami at the end.
As for Golden, no. I found P4 bad enough to give any other Persona n, for n > 2 a try.

 

[sebas]

You need SL maxed with Marie besides the right answers with Yosuke. But the "true ending" is just basically just the japanese creation myth. Pretty lame considering the care needed to get it.

What I really, really moved was the Pathfinder true ending. It redeemed the game's otherwise mediocre to bad writing.

 

[Reinhardt]

I have no problem with true endings. Ususally. But sometimes it's just dumb. I remember missing true ending in Cross Edge twice WITH WALKTHROUGH!

 

[Viata]

You need SL maxed with Marie besides the right answers with Yosuke.

There is no Marie in Persona 4, only on Persona 4 Golden. Which is my whole point.

 

[Kruno]

I've always wondered what the difference is between a true ending and a happy ending!

 

[Reinhardt]

true ending is not always happy

 

[Silverfish]

What about tr00 endings that get retconned later anyway

Covenant makes Yuri look like the biggest retard to ever live. Didn't save Alice, never acquired Seraphic Radiance and has Albert, quite literally, living rent free in his head

 

[hello friend]

True endings are a relic from a time where you couldn't just look things up on the net. An easter egg slipped in by the devs to fuck with that rare .1 percent that just stumbled on it by accident and told his friends who wouldn't believe him. This I can respect. In this current day and age it's some autistic bullshit.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

The thing about Valkyrie Profile is hard mode has something like 70% different content from the normal game, making at least one replay totally worth it. Might as well go for the real ending while you're at it.

Its definitely true though that games like Trails series expect you to spend ridiculous time plumbing their depths for secrets and unlock every detail in the game. There was a time when I could spend that level of effort on a single luxury entertainment product to the detriment of the rest of my life but certainly not for bog-standard anime blather.

 

[dacencora]

Oftentimes the True Ending is a lot more satisfying and it can be fun to go back and unlock the True Ending sometimes. SMT V’s True Neutral ending requirements are a little obscure, but it’s mostly pretty fun to unlock, and AFAIK is the only way to interact with a specific boss.