WARNING! Spoilers ahead for games by BioWare, Atlus, and Square Enix. Players can get attached to the characters they play as in video games. This can happen a lot in RPGs as the genre typically sees a lot of forty-plus-hour games. So spending that much time with an individual is bound to drum up some feelings.
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It’s great to be in a game where the character evolves as well. Cloud from Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a great example as he begins standoffish and the game ends with him being more friendly to the party. It can be even more devastating than when a main character dies which Cloud thankfully doesn’t. There will be spoilers in this discussion involving the biggest protagonist deaths in RPG history.
6 Aya Brea
The 3rd Birthday
The 3rd Birthday
- Released
- December 22, 2010
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix, HexaDrive
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation Portable
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror, Action, Third-Person Shooter, Tactical
Aya was the main character of Parasite Eve, which was a PS1 RPG. In the original, she was a police officer who went after a mutated being named Eve who was infecting New York City’s animal and human population. The sequel made her more into a government agent and changed the gameplay to mirror Resident Evil, ditching most of the big RPG elements. That’s not to say it was bad, but it was an unexpected shift.
The final sequel, The 3rd Birthday, was an even wilder departure. Aya had to go back in time to stop Eve once again and Aya accomplished this by inhabiting NPCs around the city. The big twist was that Aya was Eve all along and to save New York City once more, she sacrificed herself. It was a pretty nonsensical ending and a big reason why this series never continued besides Square Enix losing licensing rights with the novel.
5 Commander Shepard
Mass Effect 3
Mass Effect 3
- Released
- March 6, 2012
- Developer(s)
- BioWare
- Platform(s)
- PC, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii U, PS3
The Mass Effect trilogy deserves a big applause for successfully tying three games together. Not only that but choices made over several years carried over to shape every player’s world differently. It’s cheesy to say but it was the journey and the friends made along the way that made this original trilogy great despite a lackluster ending. A lackluster ending that did indeed kill the main character, Commander Shepard, no matter what players chose in the final moments.
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The ending in Mass Effect 3 was so controversial that BioWare fixed it. It still didn’t make a lot of sense or live up to the expectations of fans. Mass Effect was one of those rare cases where it seemed almost impossible to have a concrete ending that everyone was going to love. Since then, the franchise has been a lost flock of starry-eyed sheep without its guiding Shepard.
4 Makoto Yuki
Persona 3
Persona 3
Makoto Yuki was the canon name given to the hero of Persona 3 which remained true in the recent remake. Like most protagonists in that series, Makoto was special because he could summon multiple Personas instead of just one. One of the reasons was because Death incarnate was sealed inside of his body. After it was freed, some of that residual Death power resided inside Makoto. It gave him great power but it also ate away at his body.
In the end, Makoto almost dies after he seals Death once again as the god Nyx. Months go by and everything seems fine despite memory loss. Then on the day when the SEES members remembered their journey together, everyone besides Aigis failed to say goodbye to Makoto as he died on Aigis’ lap. In the PS2 expansion, Persona 3 FES, Aigis tried to get Makoto’s soul back but it turned out it was keeping more evil gods at bay. So, once again, the party had to let Makoto go for the greater good which was a double gut punch.
3 Clive Rosfield
Final Fantasy 16
Final Fantasy 16
- Released
- June 22, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix
Final Fantasy 16 will begin the block of Final Fantasy-related deaths because this franchise seemingly loves to kill off its protagonists. The one exception was Final Fantasy 10 as Tidus did die in that game but he was eventually brought back in the true ending of its sequel. Perhaps Clive can come back in a sequel too, but it seems like he is definitely dead by the end of Final Fantasy 16. Characters in this game are given the awesome power to both become classic Summons like Ifrit or characters can channel their power.
This comes at a high price point as characters will eventually succumb to a disease that will essentially turn them into statues. After the final fight, Clive pushes himself too far to save his family and friends and thus exhausts his body to the point of no return. One of the last shots in the game showed Clive on a beach slowly succumbing to this petrification.
2 Noctis Lucis Caelum
Final Fantasy 15
Final Fantasy 15
- Released
- November 9, 2016
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix
Final Fantasy 15 was a road trip RPG that saw the hero, Noctis, travel around the land with his three best bros. He was tasked with unearthing powerful weapons from tombs to become stronger in the hopes it would be enough to stop an invading empire. It was an interesting take for the franchise and it had a divisive l reaction from the fans. Toward the end, there was a time jump after Noctis got separated from his bros.
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He woke up to a ruined world and he had gotten older seemingly in minutes. After reuniting with his aged band, the four of them were able to stop the world from ending in a climactic battle. However, they all died in the process. It wasn’t enough for the game to kill off one character. It literally had to kill every playable character. It was a true slap in the face and it may be one of the most controversial endings in the series.
1 Zack Fair
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion
- Released
- December 13, 2022
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix, Tose
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One
Zack was a minor character in Final Fantasy 7 in that he wasn’t in it much other than flashbacks. He was important to the story though as it was eventually revealed that Cloud assumed his identity after Zack died trying to save him. This trauma led to amnesia which then led up to the beginning of the original game. Ten years later, Square Enix made a PSP prequel all about Zack which led up to this climactic moment in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7.
If one thought Aerith’s death was sad, this one was a hundred times worse. Players had an entire game as Zack who was genuinely a bright and shining beacon of hope. He’s right up there as one of the best protagonists in the series. That’s why it hurt more to fight through the credits when his death was inevitable. Players may or may not cry from the other examples, but Zack’s death should definitely produce a waterworks factory.
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