Bad endings are the punishable result of the gamer's incompetence, that's the point. Of course you want to try again to get the canonical ending; the idea of a bad ending (not an evil ending, but a bad one) is to leave you unsatisfied, confused or angry.

Thats what the "game over" screen is for.

That'd imply you can simply reload last checkpoint (like in most games' Game Over screen nowadays) and just try again. Where would be the punish there?

Progress lost?

Isn't "You now have to redo it all over, you just wasted your time" a bit overkill?

Progress lost?

Isn't "You now have to redo it all over, you just wasted your time" a bit overkill?

Depends on how the Bad Ending is presented to the player, and the consequences of it.

You have Chrono Trigger as an example. If you lose to the final boss, you trigger the bad ending on which the universe is destroyed. Given that the game ends, your only option is to do again the final section and try again at the boss. It's not that bad, really.

I have to agree with Wright on this. Good and bad endings only add replayability to a game or/and series. Especially if a game starts to arc earlier in different directions. ME series is a good example of this and why it's a good thing.

I guess we aren't talking about the same thing. If its an ending that simply is handed out if you skip the content, i am ok with. My problem is the kind of ending of "oh you made a wrong decision at moment X" so now you have the bad ending and have to start over if you want to know how it really ends. That is think is a waste of time.

In that case i just go and watch the ending on youtube.

What if the "bad ending" in that case is as equally interesting as the normal/true ending? Like, it punishes the player, but you can sense a lot of effort went into it. Not just a cutscene swap at the end, but for example, a different endgame boss/dungeon altogether.

First of all, the bad endings can be canonical as well. (Shadow Hearts 1  for example.)
Also, they can add more depth to the story, like in Persona 4. It wasn't apparant what exactly was bad about some of the bad/non-true endings, but instead made you think and question your choice, and wonder if maybe the real culprit is someone else, and not who you thought it was. Some people thought the "Good" ending was the True ending as well, until they realized that something was off, or read about it online. And there was nothing frustrating about reaching this ending, because it let you save your game and either proceed to the good ending, or to the true final dungeon. (So you don't have to start over.)

Good to hear. I hope someone can confirm that.