History Main / KudzuPlot

** VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII and its sequels also suffers from this pretty badly. The series starts simple as a rebellion against an oppressive government, but it then introduces a lot of common story elements that have complicated names. These story elements end up poorly explained and come with mushroom trip of a backstory that's explained in boring text files. The characters all have histories that they hide from other characters and the audience for much of the series, only to resolve into unnecessary twists. The characters also state they are going to do something and end up doing the opposite. [[spoiler:For instance, they resolve to save Orphan only to decide to kill him mid battle at the end of the first game.]] Then the story adds in timeskips, time travel, and time paradoxes in the second game. It becomes difficult to follow unless you boil it down to its simplest element: [[spoiler:the story is about humanity's fight against their oppressors, including the gods and '''''fate itself,''''' and being reborn on a new world that lacks magic. A world that resembles our real world.]] This ultimate goal isn't made clear into the very last moments of the trilogy [[spoiler:where we see Lightning reborn in a humble countryside that looks like any mundane farmland out of our real world.]] Due to the amount of time it takes to get there, FF13 and its sequels ended up poorly received due to people being completely unable to follow the plot.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'' and its sequel, ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd At World's End]]'' in particular, are infamous for this. In addition to both films being over two and a half hours long, almost every one of the seven or so main characters has their own goal or agenda which they are working towards, resulting in numerous instances wherein they either revise said agenda, [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder betray one of their allies]] or [[EnemyMine compromise with one of their adversaries]]. To boot, {{Deuteragonist}} William Turner wants to [[spoiler:rescue his father from ''The Flying Dutchman'' by obtaining the key to the titular dead man's chest and killing his father's captor, Davy Jones (the chest itself contains the disembodied heart of the latter, and is the only means by which Jones can be killed)]]. The BigBad, Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company seeks to rule over the seven seas by exterminating the various pirate factions that occupy them, while heroine Elizabeth Swann seeks to [[spoiler:avenge her father's death [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness at the hands of Beckett]]]] and settle down into a normal life with Will. Meanwhile, NominalHero Jack Sparrow seems to be juggling ''three separate albeit interconnected agendas at once'' -- get Cutler Beckett off his back, settle his debt with Davy Jones, and [[spoiler:gain immortality (the latter of which might even involve killing Jones and taking his place as ruler of the high seas)]]. A considerable amount of screen time is also devoted to a LoveTriangle between Jack, Will, and Elizabeth that [[RomanticPlotTumor feels completely unnecessary]] after [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl the first film]] already made it perfectly clear that Will and Elizabeth were the OfficialCouple. Nearly half-an-hour of the third film is then devoted to the protagonists' efforts to rescue Jack from limbo (which has its own fair share of MindScrew and [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment Big-Lipped Alligator Moments]]), while an entire subplot revolves around their quest to recruit an esteemed pirate lord, only for [[spoiler:him to be killed off so that Elizabeth can take his place as captain]]. The lattermost of these ties into the broader, overarching plot which sees many diverse factions of pirates (whom also have their own political structure and ''codebook'' that they must adhere to) reluctantly banding together to fend off the British Empire, which also involves a lot of blackmailing and lengthy negotiations between each of the parties involved. James Norrington is also shoehorned into the story at essentially no consequence other than to [[spoiler:steal [[MacGuffin Davy Jones' heart]], thereby allowing Beckett to blackmail Jones into doing his bidding and thus [[TwoPartTrilogy setting up a cliffhanger between the two films]]]]. As if all of this wasn't bad enough, another significant plot thread involves the pirates deciding to [[spoiler:release a sea goddess from her human confines (which also requires an incantation ritual involving ''nine'' MacGuffin pieces)]] for seemingly no other reason than to have [[spoiler:[[MegaMaelstrom a maelstrom]]]] take place during [[BattleInTheRain the climactic battle sequence]]. This is without even mentioning [[spoiler:the kraken (which is anticlimactically killed off between the two films)]], the failed romance between Davy Jones and [[spoiler:Tia Dalma/Calpyso]], [[spoiler:Barbossa's return from the dead as per Calypso's will]], the gradual loss of sanity in [[spoiler:Will's father as he becomes evermore bound to ''The Flying Dutchman'']], or the numerous occasions at which the characters incrementally relay all of this information to each other so that their later behaviours can be adjusted accordingly. Suffice to say, many if not ''most'' viewers were left thoroughly exhausted by the end of it all, while others had already long given up on trying to follow the characters and individual story threads altogether (or simply ignored the plot and [[JustHereForGodzilla only stuck around for the humour and action sequences]]).

* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', the [[SpiritualSuccessor Spiritual Predeccessor]] to ''Franchise/BlazBlue'', is tied up in several ongoing plot strands at once with multiple factions and backstories that need to be understood in order to keep straight the current conflicts. Part of this complication is due to the fact there is a large importance on certain [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]] (particularly "That Man", one of the individuals responsible for the creation of the living weapons known as "Gears"), which can be hard to track in a fighting game where the focus would normally be placed on key playable characters each with their own agendas and goals. The main plot is arguably simple enough (mankind created Gears as the next step in human evolution > the Gears TurnedAgainstTheirMasters and began [[GreatOffscreenWar the nearly century-long Crusades]] > humanity tries to recover as the protagonist attempts to track down That Man while dealing with both a post-war GovernmentConspiracy and his own dark past as [[spoiler:another contributor to the Gear Project]]), though even that can get bogged down as each new game [[{{Revision}} adds more details and context to the overarching story]]. ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear2Overture'' is infamous for a MagiBabble-heavy narrative that seems to be only tangentially related to what's shown in ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGearTheMissingLink GG1]]'', ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGearX X]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGearXX XX]]''[[labelnote:*]]which can be boiled down to "[[NotJustATournament a plot]] to [[SealedEvilInACan unseal]] the leader of the Gears", "the daughter of the Gear leader is discovered, inciting an international incident", and "That Man's [[TheDragon Dragon]] tries to hijack the GovernmentConspiracy to eliminate perceived threats to her master", respectively[[/labelnote]], whereas ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGearXrd Xrd]]'' took these same elements and [[ArcWelding welded them together with the events of the previous games]] while adding even more revelations to the pile. This put anyone who was introduced to the series [[NewbieBoom via]] ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGearStrive -STRIVE-]]'' in [[ContinuityLockout a bit of a predicament]], as that game assumes you're generally up to speed with what happened in the ''Xrd'' saga[[labelnote:*]]''-SIGN-'', ''-REVELATOR-'', and ''REV 2''[[/labelnote]], which in turn had its fair share of [[LateArrivalSpoiler Late-Arrival Spoilers]] (including those for an interquel pachinko title[[labelnote:*]]''Vastedge XT''[[/labelnote]] many players were not aware of). Much like ''[=BlazBlue=]'', ''Xrd'' and ''-STRIVE-'' do at least feature rather comprehensive glossary entries on pretty much every notable character and concept within the setting.

** NoExportForYou makes it even more annoying. For example several plotlines in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' were introduced in the originally Japan exclusive ''Kingdom Hearts II [[UpdatedRerelease Final Mix]]'': [[spoiler:Xemnas and the Chamber of Repose, the Lingering Will's origin, etc.]] Not to mention ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX'', a now-defunct mobile game that not only acts as a prequel to the entire series, but becomes crucial to the current storyline as of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII''. Thankfully, the Final Mix version of ''II'' (as well as the ones for ''I'' and ''Birth by Sleep'') later became available internationally through a series of {{Compilation Rerelease}}s, and the cutscenes and other story information from ''χ'' are easily available to look up online.

* ''WebAnimation/UnforgottenRealms'': Will Sir Schmoopy and Eluamous Nailo be able to [[RandomEncounters defeat the dangerous, non-optical illusion ogre?]] Will Sir Schmoopy [[ForcedTransformation ever get his human body back?]] Will the show ever stick to a plot instead of [[LampshadeHanging introducing a lot of random storyline elements]] [[SelfDeprecation and never explaining them?]] This starts as early as episode five and snowballs from there.

* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' through most of the 90s suffered from this, with so many characters and plot threads being thrown in and focused on that it grew increasingly hard to keep track of them all.

* Partway through ''Film/BeingHands'', Lilith (as herself) addresses the audience and explains that she's lost the plot, as the film is unscripted, and there are multiple subplots. She then proceeds to walk backwards through layers of improvisation until a resolution to the film's main plot is reached, while opening new plotlines through the film's completion.

It's a common result of very heavily planned and lengthy {{Myth Arc}}s; if a writer can't adequately resolve everything he's set up, it will become too difficult for him to resolve everything to the audience's satisfaction. Also, because of the FirstLawOfMetafictionalThermodynamics, there's only a limited amount of energy in any given plot to go around to all the little plot threads, so the more plot threads there are, the less attention will be devoted to any of them.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'', as it is a ridiculously {{Long Runner|s}} at over 1000 chapters with tons of characters-- and thus a ton of plot threads that will take a long time to come together. It's a common expression among fans that "[[MemeticMutation Oda never forgets]]" because it's extremely common for characters or plot devices to be introduced, forgotten about, and then become relevant again hundreds of chapters later.

* ''[[WebVideo/YogscastMinecraftSeries Shadow of Israphel]]'' was CutShort, but in the meantime, it definitely went this way. We have a character who's supposed to be dead (and has ''two'' graves) but is [[spoiler:haunting Old_Peculiar for even longer than he's supposed to have been dead]]. We have ''sand'' as the greatest threat to the world, except it's really [[spoiler:a prison for an evil robot army]]. And we have no explanation for N-Comm Systems (supposedly [[spoiler:from the future]], the Turtle God, [[spoiler:the Sentinels]], the Templar Kings, and how Shiplord_Hubert wound up in the Desert.

* ''WebOriginal/TheWyomingIncident'' is a long-running ARG that started out simple enough -- with a creepy broadcast hijacking by some unknown group and a forum, the Happy Cube, with people engaged in and discussing the practice of [[DeadlyEuphemism "cubing"]]. But as the forum grew, it introduced more and more threads like a malicious god that was responsible for the hijacking, black-eyed children stalking anyone who participated in a mysterious ritual in the forum, a power struggle among rotating moderators resulting in a forum CivilWar at one point, and the Wyoming Incident itself becoming an in-universe ARG with its creators becoming major characters. Combine this with the thousands of threads on the forum, and it became more trouble to follow than its worth. WebVideo/NightMind attempted to explain it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UghBGvPepSQ here]] but eventually gave up after finding the whole thing too hard to follow.

** Orihime has a couple of unresolved references, including the implication that she can do something to destroy the Hougyouku and that Aizen did ''something'' to her that essentially made her his emotional prisoner.

** ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' introduced many arcs, plot elements and ideas from the dimensional counterparts, the existence of four dimensions, the bracelets and Four Dimensional Dragons, the Dragon Boys' special powers, the interdimensional war, Leo's obsession with the Bracelet Girls, where Yusho has been. It adds to the story as the main characters have no idea what is going on and many times they uncover the story with the audience. By the end, pretty much every mystery has been answered, though [[BrokenBase opinions vary]] on how well some of those threads were resolved.

* ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' has a tendency to introduce plot points that slip into RedHerring twists: the Abandoned Dorm in Season 1, the war between the Light of Destruction and the Duel Monsters in Season 2, Yubel being stuck in Judai's head in Season 3, and the entire ending of Season 4 all give hints of being explored and resolved at a later date, but none of them actually are. Season 4's problems in particular could be attributed to the main character's voice actor suddenly leaving, which left a rushed production and half a season.
* ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' introduced many arcs, plot elements and ideas from the dimensional counterparts, the existence of four dimensions, the bracelets and Four Dimensional Dragons, the Dragon Boys' special powers, the interdimensional war, Leo's obsession with the Bracelet Girls, where Yusho has been. It adds to the story as the main characters have no idea what is going on and many times they uncover the story with the audience. By the end, pretty much every mystery has been answered, though [[BrokenBase opinions vary]] on how well some of those threads were resolved.

* [[Music/{{Starbomb}} Starbomb's]] trio of songs titled "The Simple Plot of ---" that occur [[OncePerEpisode once an album]] have the main characters of the games sing about of the complex plots of first ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', then ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' and finally ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' rarely has an arc that doesn't branch off into at least two more by the time it finishes. Probably the most important example involves Loki's invasion of Asgard early in Season 1; its resolution results in [[spoiler:a veritable army of criminals being released, each with their own story, which provides the impetus for the founding of the Avengers]].

* ''Film/TheRoom'' is ''extremely'' guilty of this, throwing in several subplots and never resolving them, including Lisa's mother offhandedly mentioning that she has breast cancer, a character's drug-related debt culminating in a violent confrontation, and the male characters playing football in tuxedos. These events are never mentioned again, but they also don't impact the plot in any way either.

[[caption-width-right:250:The {{Trope Namer|s}} invades [[{{Pun}} another plot of land with its loose ends.]]]]

* The ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' series is infamous for never revealing any answers without raising many other questions in the process. It doesn't help that throughout the entire series (especially the first two games), the player is directly told almost nothing about the plot, and the only hints of any sort of deeper story are only revealed through well-hidden StoryBreadcrumbs. The games' very limited level contact with non-hostile characters and the AnachronicOrder employed by the series have left many, many questions about who certain characters are or may be connected to each other completely unanswered.

* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', the [[SpiritualSuccessor Spiritual Predeccessor]] to ''Franchise/BlazBlue'', is tied up in several ongoing plot strands at once with multiple factions and backstories that need to be understood in order to keep straight the current conflicts. Part of this complication is due to the fact there is a large importance on certain [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]] (particularly "That Man", one of the individuals responsible for the creation of the living weapons known as "Gears"), which can be hard to track in a fighting game where the focus would normally be placed on key playable characters each with their own agendas and goals. The main plot is arguably simple enough (mankind created Gears as the next step in human evolution > the Gears TurnedAgainstTheirMasters and began [[GreatOffscreenWar the nearly century-long Crusades]] > humanity tries to recover as the protagonist attempts to track down That Man while dealing with both a post-war GovernmentConspiracy and his own dark past as [[spoiler:another contributor to the Gear Project]]), though even that can get bogged down as each new game [[{{Revision}} adds more details and context to the overarching story]]. ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear2Overture'' is infamous for a MagiBabble-heavy narrative that seems to be only tangentially related to what's shown in ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGearTheMissingLink GG1]]'', ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGearX X]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGearXX XX]]''[[labelnote:*]]which can be boiled down to "[[NotJustATournament a plot]] to [[SealedEvilInACan unseal]] the leader of the Gears", "the daughter of the Gear leader is discovered, inciting an international incident", and "That Man's [[TheDragon Dragon]] tries to hijack the GovernmentConspiracy to eliminate perceived threats to her master", respectively[[/labelnote]], whereas ''Xrd'' took these same elements and [[ArcWelding welded them together with the events of the previous games]] while adding even more revelations to the pile. This put anyone who was introduced to the series [[NewbieBoom via]] ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGearStrive -STRIVE-]]'' in [[ContinuityLockout a bit of a predicament]], as that game assumes you're generally up to speed with what happened in the ''Xrd'' saga[[labelnote:*]]''-SIGN-'', ''-REVELATOR-'', and ''REV 2''[[/labelnote]], which in turn had its fair share of [[LateArrivalSpoiler Late-Arrival Spoilers]] (including those for an interquel pachinko title[[labelnote:*]]''Vastedge XT''[[/labelnote]] many players were not aware of). Much like ''[=BlazBlue=]'', ''Xrd'' and ''-STRIVE-'' do at least feature rather comprehensive glossary entries on pretty much every notable character and concept within the setting.

** ''Revengeance'', by virtue of being greatly distanced from the Snake([[LegacyCharacter s]])-centric MythArc of its predecessors, arguably manages to sidestep this issue completely. There are {{Continuity Nod}}s to previous events, mentions of Raiden's backstory that play a role in his actions over the course of the game, and one character from previous titles (Sunny from ''[=MGS4=]'') who appears late in the story (and in turn provides some insight about the current status of another character,[[spoiler:her adoptive father]] Otacon), but these details are largely glossed over, often relegated to Codec calls, and can be mostly ignored without consequence. As such, it's very common for people who never played any of the other games to jump right into ''Revengeance'' with little issue. Had the original plan for the game, an interquel between ''[=MGS2=]'' and ''[=MGS4=]'' titled ''Metal Gear Solid: Rising'', not been scrapped due to development difficulties, however, this might have been a different story.

** As an illustration of all this; in one episode of ''WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}}'', video game critic Jim Sterling critiques the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series for precisely this problem and the resulting ContinuityLockout it causes, and made a point of trying to sum up the entire series pre-''Kingdom Hearts III'' from beginning to end in what, as best as could be gathered, was chronological order. According to time stamps on the (many) clips that appear, it took Sterling ten minutes just to get through enough prequels and spin-offs to actually beginning summarising the first canonical main game, and almost a full half-hour before they eventually lost patience and gave up, having made it up to at least ''Kingdom Hearts Coded''.

** ''Revengeance'', by virtue of being greatly distanced from the Snake([[LegacyCharacter s]])-centric StoryArc of its predecessors, arguably manages to sidestep this issue completely. There are {{Continuity Nod}}s to previous events, mentions of Raiden's backstory that play a role in his actions over the course of the game, and one character from previous titles (Sunny from ''[=MGS4=]'') who appears late in the story (and in turn provides some insight about the currnent status of another character,[[spoiler:her adoptive father]] Otacon), but these details are largely glossed over, often relegated to Codec calls, and can be mostly ignored without consequence. As such, it's very common for people who never played any of the other games to jump right into ''Revengeance'' with little issue. Had the original plan for the game, an interquel between ''[=MGS2=]'' and ''[=MGS4=]'' titled ''Metal Gear Solid: Rising'', not been scrapped due to development difficulties, however, this might have been a different story.

** As an illustration of all this; in one episode of ''WebVideo/{{Jimquisition}}'', video game critic Jim Sterling critiques the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series for precisely this problem and the resulting ContinuityLockout it causes, and made a point of trying to sum up the entire series pre-''Kingdom Hearts III'' from beginning to end in what, as best as could be gathered, was chronological order. According to time stamps on the (many) clips that appear, it took Sterling ten minutes just to get through enough prequels and spin-offs to actually beginning summarising the first canonical main game, and almost a full half hour before they eventually lost patience and gave up, having made it up to at least ''Kingdom Hearts Coded''.

* The ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' games are very well known for this. In the end, though, they manage to tie everything up pretty well after numerous {{retcon}}s and {{Mind Screwdriver}}s, but even then one or two holes are left open. The original ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' had a tight script while subtly leaving a door open for sequels. The following title, ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', ''exploded'' with triple-crosses, {{Xanatos Gambit}}s, fevered conspiracy theories, and individual cliffhangers for every character still left alive. The long-awaited ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' (released three years later) flashed back to the [=1960s=] to expose the origins of this conspiracy but wound up being (mostly) self-contained, leaving ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' with the dubious honor of explaining all these plot entanglements and twists with over 9 hours of cutscenes, as the final main game chronologically. Even then, the later-released prequels ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVGroundZeroes'', and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' filled in some gaps in the backstory and expanded on the pasts of important characters, while ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' continued the story of a major character in a spin-off sequel, which is also the chronologically last game overall.
* ''VideoGame/{{Oni}}'' wound up with a Kudzu plot when Bungie rushed its release to prevent it from falling into DevelopmentHell before their merger with Microsoft. The main plot is wrapped up by the end, but there is so much story and information that was left on the cutting room floor...

* The plot of ''Franchise/BlazBlue'' is infamously complex, in part because every single contradictory version of events, across every arcade and story mode in the first three games, is broadly "canon" thanks to a GroundhogDayLoop with a side-order of TimeyWimeyBall and AllThereInTheManual. This is partly because it was originally envisioned and world-built as a JRPG -- a much more story-friendly format than the FightingGame it eventually became.\\
By the time of ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueChronophantasma Chronophantasma]]'', the third game in the core series, plot elements from manga and drama [=CDs=] were so numerous that the "Teach Me, Ms. Litchi" series was dedicated to explaining plot threads from all of it, plus [[VideoGame/BlazBlueCalamityTrigger the previous]] [[VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift two games]]. The fifth episode is loaded with such abstract and unconventional plot elements that ''Makoto is driven insane'' and left catatonic for the entirety of the sixth (and final) episode. By the end of the sixth episode, the same fate befalls Noel as well.\\
By ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueCentralFiction Central Fiction]]'', the fourth game in the core series and the GrandFinale, the plot had grown so complex that at the start of the story mode Kokonoe offers to recap events to her teammates. This recap concerns ''only'' events that happened on the "true" timeline, and ''only'' as they directly pertain to main character Ragna. The game warns you in no uncertain terms that this "recap" will take '''half an hour'''.

* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', the [[SpiritualSuccessor Spiritual Predeccessor]] to ''Franchise/BlazBlue'', is tied up in several ongoing plot strands at once with multiple factions and backstories that need to be understood in order to keep straight the current conflicts. Part of this complication is due to the fact there is a large importance on certain [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]] (particularly "That Man", one of the individuals responsible for the creation of the living weapons known as "Gears"), which can be hard to track in a fighting game where the focus would normally be placed on key playable characters each with their own agendas and goals. The main plot is arguably simple enough (mankind created Gears as the next step in human evolution > the Gears TurnedAgainstTheirMasters and began [[GreatOffscreenWar the nearly century-long Crusades]] > humanity tries to recover as the protagonist attempts to track down That Man while dealing with both a post-war GovernmentConspiracy and his own dark past as [[spoiler:another contributor to the Gear Project]]), though even that can get bogged down as each new game [[{{Revision}} adds more details and context to the overarching story]]. ''Guilty Gear 2'' is infamous for a MagiBabble-heavy narrative that seems to be only tangentially related to what's shown in ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGearTheMissingLink GG1]]'', ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGearX X]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGearXX XX]]''[[labelnote:*]]which can be boiled down to "[[NotJustATournament a plot]] to [[SealedEvilInACan unseal]] the leader of the Gears", "the daughter of the Gear leader is discovered, inciting an international incident", and "That Man's [[TheDragon Dragon]] tries to hijack the GovernmentConspiracy to eliminate perceived threats to her master", respectively[[/labelnote]], whereas ''Xrd'' took these same elements and [[ArcWelding welded them together with the events of the previous games]] while adding even more revelations to the pile. This put anyone who was introduced to the series [[NewbieBoom via]] ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGearStrive -STRIVE-]]'' in [[ContinuityLockout a bit of a predicament]], as that game assumes you're generally up to speed with what happened in the ''Xrd'' saga[[note]]''-SIGN-'', ''-REVELATOR-'', and ''REV 2''[[/note]], which in turn had its fair share of [[LateArrivalSpoiler Late-Arrival Spoilers]] (including those for an interquel pachinko title[[note]]''Vastedge XT''[[/note]] many players were not aware of). Much like ''[=BlazBlue=]'', ''Xrd'' and ''-STRIVE-'' do at least feature rather comprehensive glossary entries on pretty much every notable character and concept within the setting.
* ''VideoGame/HoloFunk'' started as a fairly simple and linear tribute story not unlike other ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'' mods: [[WebAnimation/{{Hololive}} graduated talent Mano Aloe]] decides to get back into music with her friends, and HilarityEnsues despite some prodding from the Dearests trying to ruin it all [[FandomSpecificPlot as they always do]] in ''FNF'' mods. Then it's revealed that in this world, Aloe shouldn't even exist due to being a loose end from a gang war in the {{Yakuza}}. ''Then'' the influence of the rest of the original ''FNF'' cast is revealed which continues to raise some questions, and ''then'' the OriginalGeneration characters with their own slew of problems show up. Did we mention [[VideoGame/{{Yakuza}} Kazuma Kiryu]] [[Fanfic/TheDragonsPizzeria factors into all of this]]?

* The ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series slowly became infamous for this. The [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI original game]] had a very clear plot: monsters are coming from the darkness of people's hearts and invading Creator/{{Disney}} worlds, and the current wielder of a giant key that cuts hearts has to fight them, while he looks for his missing friends. [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Then came Organization XIII]], a new enemy that raises some questions. These are answered in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' -- [[TheChrisCarterEffect while raising]] ''[[TheChrisCarterEffect many]]'' [[TheChrisCarterEffect more questions in the process]]. It all kept snowballing from there. There's a whole ''[[WebVideo/KingdomHeartsInANutshell web series]]'' on Website/YouTube designed just to try and explain the games' plot. Series director Creator/TetsuyaNomura has admitted to basically WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants.

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' is a notable aversion, what with all the characters in turn being a ChekhovsArmy, and how what ''seem'' to be one-shot stories at first feed back into later plotlines.

* ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'' and ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' both fall into this, though they tie up most of their loose ends. This is in part because their storytelling makes [[AnachronicOrder a mockery of chronology]] and in part because they are both adaptations of ongoing light novels (though the extra episodes clear up some lingering questions). They're still positive examples of this trope.