History AbortedArc / VideoGames

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Tali's recruitment and loyalty missions feature a subplot about dark energy reducing the mass of a star's interior, causing it to age unnaturally quickly. Data on this phenomenon is considered important enough for the quarians to sacrifice whole teams of elite commandos in order to obtain it. Come the third game, this is never mentioned again. [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125213-Mass-Effect-Writer-Reveals-Discarded-Ending-Ideas This was originally set up as a possible motive behind the Reaper cycle]], with use of the [[PortalNetwork Mass Relays]] having caused dark energy (which is what was prematurely aging the star) [[ToxicPhlebotinum to spiral dangerously out of control]], threatening the whole galaxy. The Reapers cull advanced civilizations to stop this from happening. However, the departure of several key dev members (along with the fact that it was just an idea that was never fully developed) caused this arc to not be picked back up in the third game, and the Reapers ended up with a completely different motive in the final product.

* In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', Margaret gives a speech after her OptionalBoss battle about Elizabeth leaving on a journey to free the ''VideoGame/Persona3'' protagonist from his fate at the end of that game. She mentions that "if she couldn't do it alone, she would combine her powers with [[TrueCompanions those who bonded with that soul]] to enact a miracle", which seemed like a hint at a ''Persona 3'' spinoff or sequel. While the game did get a spinoff since then, it was an [[{{Interquel}} interquel]] set during the events of P3. Elizabeth's story was however continued in ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' and its sequal ''VideoGame/Persona4ArenaUltimax'' but they depicted her as alone on her personal quest and despite Persona 3's cast making a rather substantial appearence in the plot, she showed no special interest in trying to interact with them.

* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxterTheLostFrontier'' gave Daxter a [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Eco-powered Evil Side]] just like his buddy Jak. It had interesting story potential since [[spoiler:the AlwaysChaoticEvil Dark Makers were Precursors [[TheCorruption corrupted]] by [[PsychoSerum Dark Eco]], and Daxter was revealed to be a Precursor in ''VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander'']]. This went nowhere.

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}} Episode I'', of which more than '''50%''' of the original Ep. I draft was aborted. ''Episode I'' also forshadowed the possibility of KOS-MOS being used as a weapon against U-DO, which needed to be stopped because the clash would destroy dozens of galaxies.

* The English prototype of ''VideoGame/EarthboundBeginnings'' that eventually was released in Japan in the CompilationRerelease ''MOTHER 1+2'' ends with two {{Sequel Hook}}s: [[spoiler:Giygas/Giegue promises to the hero Ninten that they will meet again and in TheStinger, Ninten's father calls him to inform that "Something new has come up"]]. Neither ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' nor ''VideoGame/Mother3'' address this as they have different main characters and, in fact, aside from [[spoiler:Giygas' origin]], those two games are [[TwoPartTrilogy disjointed from the original]].

* In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', Margaret gives a speech after her BonusBoss battle about Elizabeth leaving on a journey to free the ''VideoGame/Persona3'' protagonist from his fate at the end of that game. She mentions that "if she couldn't do it alone, she would combine her powers with [[TrueCompanions those who bonded with that soul]] to enact a miracle", which seemed like a hint at a ''Persona 3'' spinoff or sequel. While the game did get a spinoff since then, it was an [[{{Interquel}} interquel]] set during the events of P3. Elizabeth's story was however continued in ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' and its sequal ''VideoGame/Persona4ArenaUltimax'' but they depicted her as alone on her personal quest and despite Persona 3's cast making a rather substantial appearence in the plot, she showed no special interest in trying to interact with them.

* ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'', which arguably codified the series and ever game in the franchise thereon, dropped certain important plot points from ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'', such as the presence of an addictive drug that the cult was using to control key members of the town. Arguably justified, as James's issues are far different from Harry's issues.

* In ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2TheShadowAndTheFlame'', the ghost of the Prince's mother tells the story of the Armies of Darkness that [[DoomedHometown razed their hometown]]. The ending has the Prince and Princess being watched through a crystal ball by a Wicked witch, who is implied to be the mastermind behind the Armies as well as Jaffar's BlackMagic powers. Sadly, the originally-planned third game was cancelled, and the actual follow-up, ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia3D'', completely ignored this arc.

* A rather odd example in the Creator/TomClancy-verse video game franchises: ''VideoGame/RainbowSix Vegas'' and ''VideoGame/{{HAWX}} 2'' gave hints that the conflicts in those games were being masterminded by some kind of ultra-powerful international organization hellbent on destroying the United States. ''VideoGame/SplinterCell: Conviction'' then revealed the existence of an AncientConspiracy called "Megiddo" that was bigger than nations, corrupted that game's BigBad, and convinced him to betray his country. But after ''Conviction's'' reveal, Creator/UbiSoft apparently decided to discard this plot device: ''VideoGame/GhostRecon Future Soldier'' (which took place in the same war as ''HAWX 2'') showed that the instigators of that conflict were an arms trafficking group called "Raven's Rock", and ''Splinter Cell Blacklist'' never mentioned Megiddo at all (though it may have brought the idea back vaguely, as the BigBad of that game mentions he is being backed by 12 nations in the ending). ''VideoGame/RainbowSixSiege'' and ''VideoGame/GhostReconWildlands'' are multiplayer shooters with [[ExcusePlot not much plot]], and ''VideoGame/TheDivision'' has a completely different story.

* ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' ended with Shadow and Omega carrying Metal Sonic, which implied something about their similar origins would be touched upon in a future story. ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' ignores this element, with Metal being absent and Omega [[DemotedToExtra having a downplayed role]], which, according to the Final Story, is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

* For the Western audience, ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'''s first attempt at an online Splatfest event ended up as a Postponed Arc. After lots of buildup including elements gradually being added to the plaza, Nintendo decided to delay the event to the following month in order to fix technical issues discovered during the Japanese Splatfest. There was no in-game acknowledgment of the delay, only social media posts, so in game terms all the preparation suddenly disappeared only to restart from the beginning a few weeks later.

*** It's stated in ''Birth by Sleep'' that the reason Xehanort chose to [[GrandTheftMe possess Terra]] is so that he would have a young and strong body to carry out his plans. In this game, however, he's back to his original, old body, with him seeming to have no problem with it. [[spoiler:Terra-Xehanort does appear as one of the 13 Seekers, however]].
*** ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance Dream Drop Distance]]'' implied that the Princesses of Heart would become targets for the 13 Seekers of Darkness in their plan to forge the χ-Blade. In this game, however, only four of the princesses appear, and their importance to the Seekers would instead be relegated to a backup plan.

*** ''Dream Drop Distance'' sets up the plotline that the 13 Seekers plan to use Sora as Xehanort's final vessel. This plot is briefly mentioned in ''III'' when Sora is looking for a way to find Roxas, only for Xemnas and Ansem the Seeker of Darkness to tell him he can give in to his darkness, but this shifts to a backup plan Xigbar brings up, to [[spoiler:recreate Xion to use as their final vessel]].

*** ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts02BirthBySleepAFragmentaryPassage A Fragmentary Passage]]'' ends with Sora heading to [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} Olympus]] to train with Hercules to regain his strength. Once they meet with Herc in this game, he admits he doesn't have any advice to give Sora, and once the world's story ends, Sora returns to Yen Sid with no further ideas on what to do.

** ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]'''s plot is kicked off due to the potential threat the Unversed could pose to the Princesses of Heart. Once the first three worlds of each route is completed, however, this plotline is completely forgotten as the characters' focus shift to their own personal goals.

*** ''Dream Drop Distance'' sets up the plotline that the 13 Seekers plan to use Sora as Xehanort's final vessel. This plot gets next to no mention in ''III'', with the Seekers instead choosing to [[spoiler:recreate Xion to use as their final vessel]].

* Speaking of, ''VideoGame/SplinterCellDoubleAgent'' for the UsefulNotes/GameCube, UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Playstation 2}}, has a mission where you are tasked with either killing [[spoiler:Hamza]] for the JBA or sparing him for the NSA. If you spare him, you get a message which reads "Cancelled: Kill him or fake his death" which implies it's possible to make a middle-road decision to not lose trust with either faction. Ultimately faking his death in this version was never made possible as, unlike the UsefulNotes/{{Playstation 3}} and UsefulNotes/XBox360 versions, the trust meter is a tug-of-war type affair where it's impossible to gain trust with one side without losing an equal amount from the other.

* Capcom left the original ''VideoGame/DinoCrisis'' story hanging, in favor of [[RecycledInSpace Dinosaurs In SPACE In the Future]] for [[VideoGame/DinoCrisis3 the third]] (and [[FranchiseKiller final]]) installment.

*** It's stated in ''Birth by Sleep'' that the reason Xehanort chose to [[GrandTheftMe posses Terra]] is so that he would have a young and strong body to carry out his plans. In this game, however, he's back to his original, old body, with him seeming to have no problem with it. [[spoiler:Terra-Xehanort does appear as one of the 13 Seekers, however]].

** In [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI the first game]], it's explained that there's a rule that Sora, Donald, and Goofy cannot interfere with the affairs of worlds that aren't their own, with Sora decision to occasionally break this rule being set up as a big deal. Later games, however, would drop this idea, with characters taking part in the worlds' affairs with seemingly little issue. ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]'' would later establish that characters ''can'' interact with worlds that aren't their own, so long as they don't reveal the existence of other worlds to that world's inhabitants, but even this rule hasn't amounted to much.

r* Creator/ZapDramatic:

* ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'': After Pit defeats Phosphora in Chapter 14, he tells Viridi that he is coming for her next, but then in the next chatper, the Aurum invade. After the Aurum are defeated, the Chaos Kin arc begins and Viridi becomes an ally of Pit.

* ''[[VideoGame/RomancingSaga3 Romancing [=SaGa=] 3]]'' has the whole deal with Tatyana, a young girl that shows up loitering in different towns and who will force herself into the party if there's a spot to be filled. Everything indicates she's the missing heir of the Rzhyev family from Ryblov but due to her outright refusal to go to her hometown, there's no way to solve this subplot. Until the UpdatedReRelease anyway: [[spoiler: In the [[BonusDungeon Phantom Maze]], Tatyana admits she ran away from home after discovering that two of her older siblings, Vera and Boris, planned to murder her on her birthday after discovering she'd inherit the family mansion. This ends with Tatyana's father finding about the plot and telling Vera and Boris to [{GetOut leave the city and never come back]] and assuring Tatyana that they'll always celebrate her birthday.]]

* ''[[VideoGame/RomancingSaga3 Romancing [=SaGa=] 3]]'' has the whole deal with Tatyana, a young girl that shows up loitering in different towns and who will force herself into the party if there's a spot to be filled. Everything indicates she's the missing heir of the Rzhyev family from Ryblov but due to her outright refusal to go to her hometown, there's no way to solve this subplot. Until the UpdatedReRelease anyway: [[spoiler: In the [[BonusDungeon Phantom Maze]], Tatyana admits she ran away from home after discovering that two of her older siblings planned to murder her on her birthday after discovering she'd inherit the family mansion.]]