With lore this convoluted, some games get lost in a maze of their own making. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at game franchises that got bogged down by their own complex storylines, confusing timelines, and overly complex worldbuilding.
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00:00Welcome to the first day of your exciting new career.
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 10 video games that got destroyed by their own lore.
00:10Don't worry. Whatever happens, we'll get through this together.
00:14Number 10, Metal Gear series.
00:25We'll admit that it's already tough to keep up with Metal Gear's story and lore,
00:29what with all the different snakes and everything.
00:30However, Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain is where everything fell apart.
00:34Don't get it twisted. This is still a phenomenal game, one of the best that came out in 2015.
00:39But that ending was so rushed and unfinished,
00:41and the fact that the ending that would have been was tied to the collector's edition,
00:45makes the franchise's end kind of annoying.
00:47Even though it does loop things back to the very first Metal Gear, come on.
00:50You can't sit there and tell us this whole series was meant to be stuck in a time loop.
00:54Number 9, Borderlands series.
01:05For the most part, Borderlands is a fairly straightforward series and doesn't get super convoluted with its plots.
01:10Unfortunately, Borderlands 3 is where the franchise jumped the shark by getting way too crazy with super-powered freaks running around.
01:16First, you're throwing in another super-powered version of enemies known as the Anointed.
01:19Next thing you know, Lilith can suddenly use her siren powers to fly into the moon
01:23and explode to stop it from destroying Pandora.
01:26Where was this crazy nonsense when Hanson Jack was terrorizing the planet?
01:29How come none of the other sirens have this absurd amount of potential?
01:32Oh, she's the Firehawk. Give us a break with that cop-out.
01:40Number 8, Assassin's Creed series.
01:48To the hardcore fan, Assassin's Creed might be the mildest defender
01:51when it comes to ridiculous plotlines or continuity issues.
01:54So, what's the issue?
01:55Well, it all lies in the Isu.
01:57Now, most of us can follow the whole advanced human species that created the modern human species bit.
02:02Where it gets convoluted is how the Isu would take on forms of other gods from different religions.
02:06It's way too much wire-crossing to expect players to follow when the franchise has been going on for as long as it has been.
02:12Why Ubisoft threw this wrench into their own story is anyone's guess.
02:15But did we really need to know the creators of the Pieces of Eden?
02:21As is the mind that imagined it.
02:23It could escape the code.
02:25It could do that leap and make possible a decision that defies the order of things that are.
02:31Number 7, The Legend of Zelda series.
02:38Now, we have a feeling many of you are thinking we put Zelda on the list
02:41because of all the different iterations of Link and how the timeline is out of order with the release of each game.
02:45But no, it's gotten more frustrating than that.
02:48As great of a game as Tears of the Kingdom is, it ignores a lot of the plot holes that,
02:52if filled with an ounce of logic, would have kept Ganondorf from taking over Hyrule.
02:56And even though the game is a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild,
02:59Tears of the Kingdom makes little to no reference to its predecessor in any way.
03:03The divine beasts seem to have had no impact on the world,
03:06and the stone tablets just suddenly appeared despite Breath of the Wild not having them.
03:10Yeah, there are a lot of logical and continuity problems being neglected here.
03:14Link, finally you wake.
03:24I've heard a great deal about you from Zelda.
03:27Number 6, Mortal Kombat series.
03:29Ha! That old geezer's the final challenge?
03:33He might as well give me the belt right now.
03:35At one point, Mortal Kombat did have its ducks in a row with the storyline.
03:39MK9 was a necessary reset to reel in the focus,
03:42and MK11 managed to perfectly weave all the games into one story
03:46while leaving the door open for a brand new tale.
03:48And that opportunity was completely wasted with Mortal Kombat 1 in 2023.
03:52Despite NetherRealm Studios selling the game as a new and original story during marketing,
03:56MK1 recycled the timeline nonsense a third time, and it got annoying quick.
04:01Essentially, every character has a trillion different versions of themselves
04:04where they control the timeline, and even if one of them dies,
04:07they can still be brought back from the dead.
04:09It's the MCU of video games, everyone,
04:11and there are no consequences and no high stakes of any kind.
04:34Speaking of timelines and time travel,
04:37there was once a special story about Sora becoming the wielder of the Keyblade.
04:40This title alone made him an important character,
04:43someone who did have the power to control the fates of many, many worlds.
04:46Birth by Sleep demolished this notion by revealing that anyone could wield a Keyblade.
04:50This wasn't something determined by gods or fate or even Mickey Mouse,
04:54just requires training under a mentor.
04:56Dream Drop Distance worsened the franchise's lore by introducing time travel,
05:00which opened up the door for the series to over-explain everything that had happened prior.
05:04And some of us thought the light and darkness sounded like complete nonsense.
05:25Overall, you can enjoy most of the Star Ocean games as if they were standalone series.
05:29However, Star Ocean had its reputation tainted because of one particular game.
05:33Star Ocean Till the End of Time is the most infamous game in the franchise
05:36due to its absurd, ridiculous, and unrealistic plot twist.
05:39Towards the end of the game, everyone discovers that they are actually fictional characters
05:43within a computer simulation being controlled by entities in the fourth dimension.
05:47Yeah, they find out they're in a video game.
05:49Even upon learning this, no one bats an eye at this
05:52nor falls into an instant state of existentialism.
05:55It didn't help that Star Ocean 4 would try to do damage control
05:58by writing off its predecessor as an alternate universe.
06:00Make it make sense.
06:03You just have to believe what you feel in your heart.
06:06Let's choose to believe fate, okay?
06:19Fable had a really neat approach that sort of kept the first two games related to each other
06:22without compromising the player's overall story.
06:24Fable 2 opens with your new character being the child of your character from the first game.
06:28Neat, right?
06:29Ideally, Fable 3 should have followed that blueprint.
06:32Unfortunately, it did not.
06:34You're still the kid of your hero from Fable 2
06:36but you have an older brother who is acting as a king.
06:38This one degree of separation essentially erases whatever direct influence
06:42and continuity you could have had at the start of Fable 3.
06:45On top of that, if you're trying to play evil across all three games
06:48why would Jasper and Walter even consider helping you overthrow your brother
06:52when you're clearly going to be worse?
06:54Keep walking.
06:55Here come the saviors of the people.
06:58Come closer, brother.
07:13Whether you're a casual or hardcore fan
07:15this franchise has some of the messiest lore and continuity imaginable.
07:18So much so that it's given Yakuza Like a Dragon some notoriety within its own fanbase.
07:24You have characters living by certain beliefs
07:26after spending dozens of hours chasing an ambitious dream
07:28characters seemingly outplaying each other in absurd ways
07:31only to pull the dumbest moves that get them killed
07:34and then some scenes where any normal civilian would step in and have some influence in the story.
07:38At some point, you kind of have to abandon all belief
07:41and view these games as soap operas.
07:43Getting caught up in the details is just going to drive you nuts.
07:46Did you see that?
07:47I guess nobody cares about PDA on New Year's.
07:50That reminds me.
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08:08Number 1
08:09Five Nights at Freddy's series
08:19How can the youngest video game franchise on this list
08:21possibly be the worst when it comes to keeping its story in line?
08:24Well, the first 4-5 Nights at Freddy's games
08:26do a decent job at keeping its scenes nice and tight.
08:29But then you get Sister Location
08:31which introduces a whole other branch of Fazbear Entertainment.
08:34Then you've got Fazbear Fanverse games
08:36that add even more Sister Locations on top of that.
08:38Then you have more than 20 novels
08:40that add even more animatronics and variants
08:43of those animatronics and variants
08:44of those variants that came from Sister Locations
08:47of the Sister Locations from different periods of their history.
08:50Way to go, superstar!
08:52I knew you could do it.
08:54You know, this franchise used to be about
08:56just this one restaurant where kids were terrorized
08:59by horrifying animatronics.
09:00Simple and clean.
09:02Which game do you feel ruined its story with convoluted lore?
09:05Did it make our list?
09:06Let us know down in the comments.
09:08Goodbye, Liu Kang.
09:10Neither you nor your timeline will be missed.
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