History EndingFatigue / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/SinAndPunishmentStarSuccessor'', already longer than the [[VideoGame/SinAndPunishment first game]], takes about ''2 hours and 40 minutes'' to beat, which feels too long even by ShootEmUp, RailShooter, and RunAndGun standards. You could be watching a movie with a runtime like that. The stages are mostly {{Marathon Level}}s also.

* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4'' isn't a long game to beat level-to-level, but if you want to true ending, which requires OneHundredPercentCompletion, oh boy. You need to collect all 6 gems in every normal level, including the slightly-remixed "alternate timeline" levels, then get all 6 gems in every level's "N-Verted" version (which mostly amounts to playing the exact same levels again, just mirrored and with a graphical filter), get all the Flashback Tapes and complete all of them, do a NoDeathRun of every level (thankfully you don't need to replat this for the N-Verted versions), ''and'' replay every level in time trial mode for all the Platinum Relics. (The previous game only required Gold for the best ending, Platinum was just for bragging rights.) Adding insult to injury, all this unlocks is a seconds-long [[TheStinger Stinger]]. To put this in perspective, [=HowLongToBeat=] estimates a main story time of 10 hours, and a completionist time of ''over 80''.

* For all of it's high quality, not even ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'' is immune to this. After finally rescuing Ciri, and the epic showdown at Kaer Morhn, the game looks to be reaching its climax very soon after. Instead, there's still ''10+ hours'' of story left to go, which brings the momentum from said fight to a screeching halt. Now you have to go back over previously cleared areas of the world with Ciri at your side. With no new parts of the world left to explore, it can make the final few missions feel like they drag on and on, though seeing several key side characters and plot points get resolved does help alleviate this somewhat. Notably, even CD Projekt Red seems to agree that the game went on a bit longer than it needed to, and have stated that the upcoming ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' [[https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-09-20-cyberpunk-2077-will-be-slightly-shorter-than-the-witcher-3-because-players-complained-the-witcher-3s-was-too-long will be shorter than Witcher 3, perhaps to avoid this trope popping up again.]]

** All of Volume 3 really has this problem. Before you fight Ovan you have to deal with Sakaki making a random return to....basically act evil, kick you out of your guild and host a tournament that does nothing really but waste time before you kick his ass again and he's finally removed from the story. The staff was banking on the Ovan reveal being a massively shocking plot twist that was the climax of the game. The director even mentioned they were expecting Evangelion level backlash, death threats and all. They didn't get it as most saw it coming and the others than didn't it wasn't that big a deal to. To make matters worse they had to reveal Ovan in Volume 2 so that people following Roots and people who played the game in Japan would get the reveal at roughly the same time (they tried to do the same in the US, but the US practices of changing timeslots and preempting episodes quickly ruined that plan) so Volume 3 is mostly wasting time before the fight with Ovan, and then Cubia as an epic final threat.

* The second disc of ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' feels like one BigBad fight after another, and it can get ''very'' wearing. It's not helped by the plot infamously collapsing in on itself due to a GambitPileup. First, you fight [=FATE=], who has been built up as the BigBad for the entire game. But then he goes down, and [[spoiler:the six elemental dragons do a FusionDance to become the Dragon God, who promises to ravage the world now that FATE, the thing sealing it away, is dead]]. Then, you go through the MarathonLevel to end all Marathon Levels, kill the new BigBad, and that's it, right? Nope, now you have to [[spoiler:kill the Time Devourer, which is a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere compared to the other enemies you had to fight]]. And if you don't jump through a couple of GuideDangIt laden hoops, then you literally ''do not get an ending'', just [[AWinnerIsYou a little card saying 'Fin']].

* ''VideoGame/EternalSonata'''s endgame devolves into this for some people, possibly because [[spoiler:the BigBad gets killed in a very stupid way two dungeons before the end of the game, forcing the party to climb a ridiculously large tower and fight his right-hand man instead. And then the game throws one last boss fight at you in the form of Chopin himself]]. Add to that a lengthy ending cutscene, not to mention [[CharacterFilibuster the entire cast lecturing you over the end credits]], and you've got a game that seems to go on forever.

** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' has a little [[SubvertedTrope Expectation Subversion]] where Hollow Bastion - now your HubWorld - is attacked by [[SpecificallyNumberedGroup big]] [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness baddies]] of the game - Organization XIII and hundreds of Heartless ([[BigBadassBattleSequence Thousand, to be exact]]). You fight side by side with Franchise/FinalFantasy characters and even Goofy [[DeathFakedForYou almost dying]]. All in all - by the end of the sequence you finally: see [[TheReveal Organization's leader face]], he makes some [[APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil plot twist]], finding out that [[DamselInDistress your friend has been captured]]. And just when you think now it'll be your final confrontation...the game sends you to second trip around worlds, yeah. After all, [[TheSmartGuy Chip and Dale]] finally locate the Organization Headquarters - [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon The World that Never Was]]. You go through ominous city, and then you approach a [[HauntedCastle giant castle]] flying over it. Inside you encounter huge amount of cutscenes and taking down last remaining Organization XIII members. There you also find [[BigDamnReunion both of your friends]], see HeroicSacrifice, and finally confront Xemnas himself. At first, the battle will be just like with the others when you fight him face to face. Then, Xemnas will sit on a giant dragon atop of the castle, from where he'll be throwing buildings at you. After that, you need to beat him in his armor while he sitting on his throne. After that, there's ''another'' dragon battle - firstly you just shoot off his wings and take down another armored figure. And only after all of those you will face the man in final fight.

* ''VideoGame/MightyNo9'' achieves the bizarre feat of having this trope ''and'' a too-''short'' ending. The actual ending is three pictures and TheStinger, but between those is a ''three-hour, fifty-eight-minute credits sequence'', literally the single longest credits sequence in ''any'' form of media ever.

* ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' is a strange example, as the game literally says that you got ending A when you beat the game while playing as 2B. This unlocks route B, which consists of playing through mostly the same game as 9S (with some differences, as you see what happened with 9S when he was separated from 2B). This ends in the same way as the first ending, giving you ending B... and unlocking the ''second half of the game'', route C+D, which is entirely new content. Each of the endings marks a PointOfNoReturn, but you can go back after you get ending C or D (whichever you choose) and replay earlier content in the game, including sidequests which otherwise would have been [[PermanentlyMissableContent unobtainable]]. [[spoiler:Though if you complete ending E, and choose to sacrifice your save data to help other players, you really will lose all your save data and have to start the game over from scratch.]]

* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' has [[spoiler:two epilogue chapters from John Marston's perspective after Arthur Morgan dies, containing perhaps 10 to 15 ''hours'' of more story content, longer than the entire story of many games. The epilogue covers John's attempts to lead a peaceful life and build the ranch at Beecher's Hope after an eight-year TimeSkip, but -- while it does have some touching moments between John, his family, and several surviving gang members -- it doesn't have the kind of drama of the game's six main chapters. The early epilogue missions in particular can be extremely frustrating because of how slow and uneventful they are. Arthur's story ends with a great deal of action and emotion, and almost immediately afterward, the player is essentially required to sit quietly and complete errands that feel far more like a tutorial than something you need to do 80% of the way through a game. Even when John has to fight, it's only against generic thugs, gangs, and bounty hunters until the final mission, when the player finally gets to kill [[HateSink Micah Bell]]]].

** ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'': The main plot seems resolved, the BigBad is defeated, and Estelle is returned to normal... Then [[spoiler:a rift appears in the sky and Sodia stabs Yuri, causing him to fall into the ocean below.]] You then have an entire third of the game left reuniting the party and wrapping up a global warming plot that is only loosely connected to the political intrigue and moral themes of the first two acts. Many people find this last arc to be the weakest part of the game, wishing it was dealt with sooner to avert the anticlimactic nature of it.

* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Trails of Cold Steel II]]'' can take quite a while to finish. Once you beat [[ClimaxBoss Vermilion Apocalypse]], you'd expect the game to end. But then you have to play another (but short) chapter featuring two of the main protagonists of the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Crossbell duology]]. Then you beat that and the epilogue begins, where Rean and the rest of Class VII, as well as the rest of the students, spends their last days together before graduating. Then, you have to do two mandatory sidequests and three optional ones. After reporting them, the final dungeon becomes accessible, where the TrueFinalBoss, [[spoiler: a reskinned version of Loa Erebonius from the first game]], resides. Beating that will officially let you see the ending.

** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' resolved this problem with a creative and very fitting technique: once you destroy all their production facilities, the enemy will instantly sell the rest and then send ''all their remaining units'' against you in a final "blaze of glory" march. Which can be surprisingly effective and might end up destroying your base, but at the same time, it's far more entertaining than the hard way.

* The original ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' has a case of this, due in part to its origins as {{Shareware}}. New enemy types, powerups, and weapons start to get thin on the ground after the end of the first episode (which was the part released for free), which means most of the later levels don't have many options for how to change things up other than "spawn twice as many enemies as the last one." After the Cyberdemon boss fight at the end of the second episode, there's still nine levels left to go, and by that point, the only things there are left to see are the missable, TooAwesomeToUse BFG-9000, and the game's final boss, which is a relative pushover. Part of what made ''VideoGame/DoomII'' so significant was just that it added a ton of new enemies, which meant later levels still had tricks up their sleeve.

** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' features a similar situation to ''Symphonia'', but the first fight against the BigBad is at the end of the second act, rather than two dungeons before the end. It also adds in a lot of {{padding}} and dealing with minor side villains before the central conflict can be resolved. It's still an interesting example because this trope is felt and expressed by the party members, [[TheHero Luke]] in particular. Already gloomy from [[spoiler:his unresolved issues as a [[CloningBlues Replica]]]], he gets more and more depressed as everything the party worked so hard to accomplish falls apart.

* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Trails of Cold Steel II]]'' can take quite a while to finish. Once you beat [[ClimaxBoss Vermilion Apocalypse]], you'd expect the game to end. But then you have to play another (but short) chapter featuring two of the main protagonists of the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Crossbell duology]]. Then you beat that and the epilogue begins, where Rean and the rest of Class VII, as well as the rest of the students, spends their last days together before graduating. Then, you have do two mandatory sidequests and three optional ones. After reporting them does the final dungeon become accessible, where the TrueFinalBoss,[[spoiler: a reskinned version of Loa Erebonius from the first game resides]]. Beating that will officially let you see the ending.

* ''[[VideoGame/TrailsOfColdSteel Trails of Cold Steel 2]]'' is guilty of this. Once you beat [[ClimaxBoss Vermilion Apocalypse]], you'd expect the game to end (and rightfully so, as the ending plays after a very lenghty cutscene), but nope! You have to play another (but short) chapter featuring two of the main protagonists of the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZeroAndTrailsToAzure Crossbell duology]]. Then you beat that and ''the epilogue begins'', where Rean and the rest of Class VII, as well as the rest of the students, spends their last days together before graduating. And then it's over, right? '''Nope!''' You still have one last Free Day with two mandatory sidequests and three optional ones. Then you finish those and the game ends, right? '''''There's more!''''' Once you finish and report everything, '''''the real final dungeon''''' of the game becomes available, where the TrueFinalBoss, [[spoiler:a reskinned version of Loa Erebonius from the first game]] resides. Beating that will ''finally'' allow the player to see the ending.

** ''VideoGame/MakeAGoodMegaManLevelContest 2'''s final stage consists of, in order: a brief intro sequence; a lengthy cutscene; another [[MarathonLevel insanely long maze]] in the vein of ''Rockman 4 Minus Infinity'' with five boss fights scattered throughout; a long battle against a Wily Machine that spends most of its second phase out of your attack range; the FinalBoss fight, bookended by lengthy cutscenes; a PostFinalBoss; one last cutscene; and finally the credits roll. That's eight boss fights and four cutscenes in one stage! [[spoiler:''Then'' the postgame opens up: 12 new stages (including several infamous {{That One Level}}s) with 14 energy elements and 37 [[CollectionSidequest Noble Nickels]] between them, a huge [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon really-final-we-mean-it-this-time stage]] with ''24'' good-sized areas to clear (though thankfully you're only required to do six unless you're going for HundredPercentCompletion) along with three more Noble Nickels and a four-phase BonusBoss. And '''''then''''' it ends for real--unless you want 100% on your save file.]] Whew!

** Reaching the end of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsIntoReeverie'' can take quite a long time before the game is over. [[spoiler:After watching a long cutscene, players are thrust on the fight against Ishmelga Rean with Lloyd and Rean [[RequiredPartyMember required for the fight]]. Then it [[UnexpectedGameplayChange switches to the Soldat fight]] where players have to fight Zoa Gilstein for a total of four times, with Ishmelga Rean dealing a CurbStompBattle on the first three phases after the player depletes his HP to a certain point. It's then followed by a long cutscene and ''then'' the player has to fight the FinalBoss of the game that requires Lloyd to be in the party but takes out Rean, Rufus, and Crow. And just when the player thinks its over, the player has to ''traverse through the final dungeon again'' with Lloyd, Lapis, Swin, Nadia, and Zeit to save Rufus' life while he enacts his ZeroApprovalGambit and then the game is finally over. Thankfully, the last part has no enemies so players can still [[TakeYourTime take their time]] (even though the plot dictates that they must hurry as the whole place is about to get vaporized by a laser beam).]]