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This stems from a conversation I had with a friend a month back. We were discussing how very few endings we liked in games and movies and couldn't really come to a conclusion on one we could agree with cause we both either never played some of our examples of good endings or we just flat out disagreed.
So what games do you feel have great endings, or bad endings, or just WTF endings?
Little Big Planet 2 had a (SPOILER)WTF ending imo. The Negativitron was like; "You can never destroy me, for I exist because of you!" (points to story characters) "I will exist as long as you exist!" Or something like that. Anyway, next thing I know I'm jumping on his head destroying him and everyone lives happily ever after. You said what now?
In terms of RPG endings I like ones that give you a clear sense of closure as to the actual main antagonist force of the game, but still leave you with some items that can be interpreted either way. (and debated about on video game forums) Or put another way: endings that make you feel the narrative is finished, but keep you thinking about it.
FF7
There is talk in game about the possibly that Holy would see humans as evil and want to wipe them all out. After Meteor is destroyed we get a flash, and then... nothing. Just a scene 500 years later featuring a race that was believed to be all but extinct looking over the ruins of a city that was symbolic of .. stuff ... (It's 1 am and I'm no English major). With AC and other compilation jazz answering the question for us, I feel the FF7 ending has moved from good to mediocre.
FFT
Did Ramza die? Was Delitia a sociopathic tyrant, hero of Ivalice or something in between? The fact that we are debating to this day shows the strength of the ending.
-Infamous: the ending where you find out (SPOILER)Kessler is actually Cole from the future completely blew my mind!
-God of War II: Best ending in History! (Or at least for a part 2 of any series!) Totally Epic, (SPOILER)when Kratos rides on the back of Gaia with all the titans scaling Mount Olympus to take down the gods!
-God of War III: I kinda knew that (SPOILER)Kratos was going to kill himself or would make some kinda sacrifice, but still...it left more to be desired!
-Halo Reach: If you know your lore you know (SPOILER)Reach falls and Master Chief is declared the last spartan and whatnot before even playing the game, but it was still a bit sad to see all the Spartans die like that!
That was pretty creative, agreed. Really, Infamous had a pretty good story, my main beef is that it was told poorly. The dialog was largely terrible in the game (I could never take anything Zeke said seriously, and the moral choices were just awkward). Still, the ending totally took me by surprise.Quote:
Originally Posted by nirojan
I didn't have issue with most Dialogue, what hurt the story was the Moral Choice system.Quote:
Originally Posted by ShoebertoThat was pretty creative, agreed. Really, Infamous had a pretty good story, my main beef is that it was told poorly. The dialog was largely terrible in the game (I could never take anything Zeke said seriously, and the moral choices were just awkward). Still, the ending totally took me by surprise.Quote:
Originally Posted by nirojan
When being good or evil has no effect on the plot at all, it weakens the impact of your actions and makes you feel as if your input is pointless. It would have worked so much better had they taken out the moral choices all together. That asside, it was an awesome ending. On a whole it was a great story, and I can't wait for Infamous 2.
For endings in games Final Fantasy IX and X both had great ones to me that gave closure.
Metal Gear Solid 3's was definitely emotional.
I remember liking Halo 1 or 2's ending, but I can't even remember it or which one it was.
Metal Gear Solid 2 had a WTF ending.
Really? I quite liked the moral choices, and it did have an effect on the plot, just not a huge one.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoCrackerI didn't have issue with most Dialogue, what hurt the story was the Moral Choice system.Quote:
Originally Posted by ShoebertoThat was pretty creative, agreed. Really, Infamous had a pretty good story, my main beef is that it was told poorly. The dialog was largely terrible in the game (I could never take anything Zeke said seriously, and the moral choices were just awkward). Still, the ending totally took me by surprise.Quote:
Originally Posted by nirojan
When being good or evil has no effect on the plot at all, it weakens the impact of your actions and makes you feel as if your input is pointless. It would have worked so much better had they taken out the moral choices all together. That asside, it was an awesome ending. On a whole it was a great story, and I can't wait for Infamous 2.
I absolutely loved the way the story was told too, with the comic book style cutscenes, I really hope they bring that back with inFamous 2 - really looking forward to it.
As for game endings, I'd have to chuck in inFamous too. I'd probably also say Kingdom hearts 1, just after you beat the boss and close the door. I thought that was pretty good.
It doesn't effect Coles personality, it doesn't effect the end, it doesn't effect the outcome of any important event, it just came across as feeling irrelevant to anything. I hate when you are given these choices that are made to seem important to the character, but in the grand scheme of things have little to no effect.Quote:
Originally Posted by CropReally? I quite liked the moral choices, and it did have an effect on the plot, just not a huge one.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoCrackerI didn't have issue with most Dialogue, what hurt the story was the Moral Choice system.Quote:
Originally Posted by ShoebertoThat was pretty creative, agreed. Really, Infamous had a pretty good story, my main beef is that it was told poorly. The dialog was largely terrible in the game (I could never take anything Zeke said seriously, and the moral choices were just awkward). Still, the ending totally took me by surprise.Quote:
Originally Posted by nirojan
When being good or evil has no effect on the plot at all, it weakens the impact of your actions and makes you feel as if your input is pointless. It would have worked so much better had they taken out the moral choices all together. That asside, it was an awesome ending. On a whole it was a great story, and I can't wait for Infamous 2.
I absolutely loved the way the story was told too, with the comic book style cutscenes, I really hope they bring that back with inFamous 2 - really looking forward to it.
As for game endings, I'd have to chuck in inFamous too. I'd probably also say Kingdom hearts 1, just after you beat the boss and close the door. I thought that was pretty good.
THat may just be chalked up to personal preference though. :p
I'll also give props to Lufia 2 for an awesome ending, it's not often that a game (SPOILER)straight up kills the main character, as well as his women. It has a really bitter sweat ending to it.
And, while I had my issues with the moral choice system of Dragon Age 2, the last battle feels more epic then anything in DA 1, and I loved the ending. True, it's a huge cliff hanger, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed Xenogears' ending.
The ending of Mass Effect 2 is pretty powerful if you let everybody die who can die. (SPOILER)Your entire team, including Shepard, and the entire Normandy crew save Joker and of course EDI. At the end it's just Joker and Shepard, and Joker's too weak to hold off the swarm AND save Shepard, so he's left all alone. Later you see him in a room full of the crew's caskets. :(
I think that's all that really matters in a game where you invest your time in and genuinely care about what happens; closure.Quote:
Originally Posted by Depression Moon
I'll agree on IX, but I was left kind of empty at the end of X. I dunno, the way the game panned out I wanted to see Tidus & Yuna united in the final scene. It's probably no surprise why I liked the ending of VIII so much.
Hate to say it, but MGS4 had both an (SPOILER)awesome and a WTF ending imo.
The wtf part:
Raiden should have died or at least lost both of his arms. Meryl and Johnny should have died protecting that door. Seriously, how many times did they get hit? I can not understand why Kojima tried to pull off a happy ever after. It just didn't fit imo.
Awesome part:
I buttonbashed my arm off during that tunnel scene. Most intense moment in videogames I've witnessed.
As for the reunion with Big Boss and Zero at the end, that had once again it's awesome and wtf parts. It's too complicated to recall every bit though.
Great ending:
Lunar: SSSC. Hands down, the best ending I've ever seen in an RPG. So many games have mediocre, meaningless endings that if anything are downers after an entertaining game. But this highly emotional ending had me riveted, so much that over the years I have replayed the game several times with a Gameshark just for the story. The ending was a true climax and resolution, rolled into one.
Honorable Mention:
After some thought, I'm going to have to go with FFT. I have to side with VZ here, as the ending for the game was a true complement to the intricate storyline that revealed that the story didn't end there.
Bad Ending:
FF7. In a similar-but-flipped explanation to FFT, FF7's ending was a fitting complement to a shoddy, incomplete storyline.
WTF? Ending:
I don't think any game's ending has made me actually say "what the smurf?"... with the exception of Metal Gear Solid 2. Admittedly it was mostly the "story" as revealed through the gameplay near the end, but seriously. What. The. smurf.
Awesome ending:
Tenchu 2. Just came to mind, but wow. (SPOILER)Different perspectives of the main characters make this one a gem. I really liked the story overall, but the ending was phenomenal imo:
One of your former clan mates lost his memory, fell in love and joined forces with the enemy, killed your master and has plans to take over Japan - only to be stopped by the woman who had once dreamed of marrying him. Ofcourse, the woman (the player) fights and kills him, while the other main character takes care of the lost-memory-dude's new found love and villain.
That's where the different perspectives reached full potential. It's epic stuff that is now very rare in videogames. I'd love to see this game on the PSN by the way.
>>> Valkyrie Profile´s good ending is my fav..:luca:
Bad endings? too many to list, the ff13 one is the first that come to my mind..
Oh wow, how did I not include FFXIII as the ultimate bad ending? My god that was terrible. Fast, incoherent, and vomit-inducingly cheesy.
HOW THE smurf DID THEY FUSE!?Quote:
Originally Posted by Raistlin
Persona 3's True ending had me in tears. (SPOILER)You're a kid in the prime of your life, whose personality you've created. You just sacrificed yourself to save your world and no one will ever know it. Transferring your humanity to Aigis as she cries and declares her (platonic) love to you, finally assuming a true soul was amazing. The art and music along with the stellar voice acting is amazing. Your character was a true hero. He/she felt like you and was who you wanted him/her to be. To die such a death yet make it seem so peaceful, so comforting was gorgeous and gives me the chills to this day. You feel accomplished. Not just by beating a game, but by saving a world the game made you so desperately love. There's sadness, but there's also hope and satisfaction. Comfort and resolution. Pride and passion. All are present in an ending that's equally powerful, tear-jerking, and positive.
The Force Unleashed 2 had not only one, but two awful endings. (SPOILER)If you choose to spare Vader (which btw that entire end duel was a pile of horse:bou::bou::bou::bou:. Vader was already overpowered and damn near immune to every force power in your arsenal, but those smurfing clones were an added bull:bou::bou::bou::bou:!) you imprison him and you never get to find out if you're the real Starkiller or just a clone. If you decide to kill Vader another Starkiller clone appears from nowhere and kills you and everyone else. That's exactly what I smurfing want when I turn to the Dark Side.
Prince of Persia 2008's ending bothered me. I have yet to play the expansion though.
Fable III's ending was retarded
BioShock 2. (SPOILER)I honestly have no idea what even happened. Did he not survive the trip? The fact that there was no final boss fight with Lamb made this ending :bou::bou::bou::bou:.
I really liked FFX's ending. It was pretty emotional despite me not liking Tidus vary much.
Kingdom Hearts is another one I really enjoyed.
FFVII's ending gets me every time, and I find it undiluted by the sequels. In my mind, the '500 years later' sequence was never meant to imply that (SPOILER)humanity had perished. Rather, I find it somehow heartwarming and bittersweet. Half a millennium's passed; Cloud and the others are all long since gone, yet Nanaki's still passing on to his children the tale of his long-dead friends and how they gave their all so that the world could live. The heroes get remembered for what they achieved, and that's just swell to me.
MGS3 is another worthy ending. (SPOILER)Naked Snake/Big Boss gets used, abused and basically shat on by the principles he's been fighting so hard to protect - it makes it understandable just why and how he'd go on to become an enemy to most of the world.
MGS4 ended on an odd mixture of catharsis, over-the-top revelations and truly rampant tying-up of loose ends. I'd probably lump it somewhere in the 'WTF' category.
FFVIII: I really enjoyed this ending purely because it showed how things turned out, something which very few games do these days. They just jump straight to "oh and that's the end of the events so we have no need to tell you what happens with all the characters now." In FFVIII, they effectively told us what we wanted to know.
FFXII: I don't like the game's story much so it's hard to like the ending, but I still appreciate that they did something similar to FFVIII in that they, in some way or another, offered us an 'epilogue'.
FFVII: Just a mention for this as I don't actually rate the ending as a 'best' (it was okay, mind you), but the idea that humans were evil and therefore would be wiped off the face of the planet was always a load of crap for me. The faces of the people they were showing more than any others were those of the good people who were fighting for the planet, so it would not have made sense. Likewise, it would also mean that the bad guy, despite being 'beaten' by Cloud, would also have achieved his intended goal of having meteor hit the planet, which would also be silly. I always knew the people survived, but I always believed it was just a case of Meteor destroying Midgar (and probably any other Mako factory/plant/whatever). So, basically, I agree with Big D. xD
I honestly can't think of that many endings of non-FF games right now. Uncharted games, I suppose. They were okay. Uhm. Man, I'm really drawing a blank. xD
I really hated the ending to FFX, though that could be because the entire game was trash.Quote:
I really liked FFX's ending. It was pretty emotional despite me not liking Tidus vary much.
FFVII's ending was good and bad, but mostly bad. It lacked actual substance and that annoyed me. Especially after fighting Sephiroth for an hour, 50 minutes of which were spent watching his stupid ultimate attack animation.
I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Suikoden 2's "best ending."
Got another one:
Ace Combat Zero. (SPOILER)Over the course of this game your first wingman and 'buddy' defects to another party and in the end he tries to 'reset' the planet using a giant nuke.
In the final mission he shoots down your second wingman and ofcourse, this leads to a very epic final dogfight. Awesome stuff.
FFXII because I felt it left a lot of issues that were supposed to be important unresolved.
FFX-2 normal because it was sooo predictable. The good and perfect endings too because they had so little yuna + tidus time. I played that entire awfully cheesy game to see that and get just a minute of it ??
Xenosaga because it got too weird.
....
Good Ending:
Metal Gear Solid 3
Watching Big Boss shed a tear for The Boss' in the graveyard was a very powerful ending. I swear I was almost in tears the first time I saw it.
Red Dead Redemption
(SPOILER)When John Marston died in a hale of gun fire I was honestly shocked right to my core. Never saw it coming. Thought I failed the mission first time I saw it. Edit: Sorry if I spoiled the ending earlier
Bad Ending:
Final Fantasy XII
I put over 400 hours into this game over 2 save files and the ending really pi$$ed me off! I got so invested in this game I felt the end was just so rushed & I almost felt robbed of an awesome ending I thought I was gonna get.
Final Fantasy VII
Yeah I said it! Sephiroth is defeated, Meteor hits & the Lifestream attacks it & makes it look like the planet they fought to save was smurfed anyway. If Advent Children had never been made this ending would of pissed me even more. If the actual game wasn't so awesome I would elevate this to a mediocre ending.
WTF Ending:
Metal Gear Solid 2
If you've ever played this game I don't need to tell you why lol
Dude, Shattered Dreamer, spoiler your RDR ending. That game's only like a year old, and now I'm kinda sad that I know the ending already :(
Bad ending: the 1st Breath of Fire. I mean, really? The entire thing is basically Ryu saying, "We won! Let's rebuild our world..."
Edit: This is the reason I will never play the game again. I love the gameplay and story, but the end was just that bad.
Braid
(SPOILER)When you find out that you're not the one trying to save the princess, but instead you're the creepy stalker guy scaring the girl. It was the biggest plot twist all year!
Good ending= FFX. I'm a sucker for the game and I may have sheded a tear or few. But they were manly tears. Also Halo Reach ending was pretty epic as is all halo games but reach ending was epic and sad. WTF ending= Assassin Creed Brotherhood. I was Pretty shocked but I think the developers were just implying that there will be a next one. And of course MGS 2.
Just finished inFamous. I didn't expect it to be this (SPOILER)epic and tragic, I like that.
Dragon Age II had a terrible ending. Everything about it. :(
Agreed. Horrible ending to a good game. But even the good ending is pretty bad. :PQuote:
Originally Posted by FFIX Choco Boy
You know, I just finished up Record of the Agarest War, and I must say the ending was underwhelming. The True end is what I witnessed mind you.
Don't get me wrong, great game, wonderful story and gameplay, and the ending wasn't bad. It just doesn't live up to the rest of the game.
Oh, and Mermina = <3
I really like FFVII Crisis Core's ending. I already knew how it ended but seeing it happen is very sad.
I like the Star Ocean 3 ending as well.
Wtf endings:
Silent Hill 2 UFO and Japanese Dog ending
Day of the Tentacle
Twisted Metal: Black all the character endings
Bad endings:
Any Resident Evil game
Metal Gear Solid 2
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (Mostly everything up until the cemetery part was corny and/or over-explained like 90 percent of the game. Seriously, who wrote the script to this game? Iceglow?
Indigo Prophecy Best Ending (The game went from great to The Matrix Revolutions for no reason.)
Great endings:
Silent Hill Mary and Maria ending
Red Dead Redemption
Final Fantasy VII
Heavy Rain (I don't know whichever ending makes the most sense. I didn't see them all.)
I don't even know how bad FFXII and FFXIII's endings are because I never bothered to finish them. It's an inevitable waste of time.
I liked the Ocarina of Time ending. It went on a bit long, but I liked it.
Come on, really?Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiny
Leon: It's up to us... to take out Umbrella!
*Cue awesome slap bass ending theme*
Seriously though:
Emotional:Tales of the Abyss (the theme, overflowing emotions, reunion still manages to bring back bittersweet memories from the end of Luke's path from a snotty seven year old (which he essentially was) to an adult content with his own existance.
It's late, so I'll probably edit more endings in later.
The FF games typically don't have great endings. I didn't really like VII or VIII's endings. The only ones I really liked were IX and VI. VI's ending was very magical in the way it dealt with each character and IX has one of the best happy endings.
Games with great endings include MGS3 and MGS4. Bad endings include MGS2.
When I think of endings I always think of Chrono Trigger because it's the first game I played with multiple endings, and most of them were pretty amusing.
~Star Ocean 4 had a decent ending, though I feel that (SPOILER)edge should've pulled a smurfing commander shepard, faize was a goner anyway you can make that jump you PANSY, also sarah why are you so worthless? You can fly now go rescue faize and let edge jump back to the group! If you did that I would've apologized for wanting to punt you out the nearest airlock for the entire game...
~Kingdom hearts had a great ending, I love how it didn't let everyone end in a cliche "everything works out and everyone is happy" kind of way.
~X had a tear jerker of an ending, I didn't relinquish any tears though because when I saw riku jumping up and down at the end... I about died of laughter.
YouTube - Final Fantasy X - Ending Scene [HQ] (she's at 3:50 all jumping waving and crap)
~I'm neutral to XII's ending, I mean... it wasn't terrible, I just expected more for some reason.
First time i have finished Call Of Duty World At War. I feel much better because first time this game is very hard.
I call bulltrout on that ending. :crying: (SPOILER)He could have Dead Eyed the lot of them fools. Why didn't you get out your Evans Repeater, John? WHY? :(Quote:
Originally Posted by DK
XII was a little bit mellow for me. VIII got away with it because the whole thing was about meeting your destiny etc - and then they had accomplished it at the end. The whole stranded in a desert island was also a fairly obvious, but still nice, analogy of his attitude towards life and it takes Rinoa to save him, both physically (in that scene) and emotionally (throughout the game etc). Whether it's too obvious or too cheesy, but it was a solid way of reinforcing and closing the main theme of the game (which was always Squall and Rinoa).
VII was good. It was dramatic and when Holy turned against the world, it was quite intense. Obviously Aeris coming through at the end was good and reinforced her symbol as a martyr in the game. Quite liked him seeing Aeris' hand reaching out to him and then switching to the real world, where Tifa is reaching out to him - whether it is symbolic of him letting go of his feelings towards Aeris so he can be with Tifa or Squenix just thought it looked cool is debatable though.
IX was again more relaxed, but it was quite a finale of the story. And Garnet and Zidane was quite cute. As much as I hated the design of Zidane so much. So, so, so, so, so much.
X was predictable, but the true emotional impact was realised beforehand, when Tidus decided to fight Yu Yevon & Sin, knowing that he would fade away as a result. I liked the fact that Squenix decided not to cheapen it with some deus ex machina. Until X-2 (although it's sweet that it happened). Actually, the normal X-2 ending is fairly decent in that it shows Yuna moving on from her past while still retaining her memory of it.
This has turned into a modern FF ending dissection, so I might as well finish it with XIII. WTF? I liked the game, but yeah. There was that scene where Barthandelus turns them all into evil zombies (I can't do the 'Cie thing anymore) and then they lose hope before something happens and they regain hope again. Hopefully explained in XIII-2.
MGS4 was over-the-top, dramatic, emotional (the scene with him crawling was intense) and a little bit confusing (although I had not played any MGS before it). Still, better than dull and uninteresting.
I think GTA4 had a very good ending. But it's story was very good throughout. Ballad of Gay Tony is probably more fun, but the original was very well produced.
Couldn't care about Kratos at the end of GoW. I missed GoW2, but I played GoW1 and he was a better character then. In GoW3 he was just a brutal shmuck.
Fallout 3's ending was quite meh. Oblivion was a little better. But Bethesda games are more about the open-world experience, so wasn't too bleak about that.
Vagrant Story's ending was brilliant though. But Vagrant Story has probably one of the best plots in a video game (personal opinion).
Dead Space had the BEST ENDING EVER!
i think uncharted 2 had a nice ending (SPOILER)u see Drake praying at a tibethian-thingy and u first think that Elena is dead, but than she comes and your like 'yaay ^^' .. ... wich ends with a funny discussion about that clowns are scarryer than Elena dying
i hate Assassins creed endings :P not becaus its a bad ending.. but becaus its a cliffhanger and u know u have to wait another year to see whats next xD
Crisis core had a bad ending .. becaus Zack dies :'(
Becaus i wrote this last part in an edit i cant do that spoiler thing.. ...
Just for future reference, anything you want to make a spoiler you do "[s poiler]AERIS DIES![/spoiler]" without the space in [spoiler] of course.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaibana
Not that that would be a spoiler to more than a handful of folks here anyway. :bigsmile:
aaah ok :P ty
Most satisfying ending I'd ever played was Unreal Tournament. Finally beating the crap out of Xan Kriegor in the spaceship.
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey had an awful ending. It just ended on an unworthy cliffhanger. If it had have been a few hours longer it would have made such a huge difference. Imagine the ending of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and you've pretty much got it.
Naw mang, you gotta remember he was a goddamn cyborg and any lost limb could easily be produced and reattached to his body.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete for President
Endings i like, FFX, FFVI, MGS1, MGS2 and MGS3.
Endings I don't like, FFX-2, FFXIII,