Game endings - the good, the bad, and the shocking

[thebear]

So I just played your crappy game and now you're not going to tell me if I won or not?????

[siamesegiant]

Just finished Fable II, probably my most disappointing ending. An epic story, you're presented with a choice at the end. The decision I made led to the biggest damp squib ever of a finish. Damn autosaving means I couldn't go back and try to do things differently too.

[Freestyler]

The revised DLC ending of Fallout 3 showed how endings to games should follow the same logical consistency as the actual game itself, not try to impose some random arbitrary "Conclusion" based on either dramatism or rush-to-retail meddling.

People get invested in their games and other media, so it's jarring when illogic enters, just to reach some conclusion. Like if at the end of the superb Dark Knight movie an Alien Spaceship flies down and stops Joker from exploding the bombs. Yes it'd be a conclusion, and yes it'd be up to the Director/Writers how they end their story, but it wouldn't be satisfying to the watcher. Especially when up to that point you'd been so thoroughly entertained.

Like eating a tube of Smarties only to find the last one was made of turd.

[thebear]

a 50 worst list (not mine) - http://www.complex.com/video-games/2012/02/the-50-worst-video-game-endings/

[Negative Creep]

Halo 1-3 verged on insulting. Gears of War 3 annoyed me in leaving more questions than answers.

Call of Duty 4 was pretty shocking, due to the number of characters you expect to survive but don't

[Grizzly]

Sonic 2's ending was beautiful, and the music medley during the credits was also excellent.

[Nall]

Gryzor on Amstrad is kind of a kick in the you-know-where:

[VinnyM]

I love the endings to:
- Super Mario Land - Gameboy
- Mickey Mouse Castle of Illusion - Megadrive/Genesis
- Creatures 1 and 2 - Commodore 64

I also love Thing on a Spring, and Roland's Rat Race game endings just for the nostalgia.

[look at it sideways]

I was a bit underwhelmed by the Final Fantasy VII ending, and although VII is my favorite in the series, both VIII and IX have superior finishes. IX in particular, as soon as you realize the implication is that a major character has died it becomes rather sad. VIII would have been much better had that major character died, I reckon.

Here are both:

VIII - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmDt-EbFslo
IX - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL5m0U57dXY&feature=relmfu

In the non-Final Fantasy realm, I agree with the Monkey Island 2 fans. I'd love to see a sequel from Gilbert and co to see where they'd have gone next with it. I'm not as big a fan of Portal as others, but even I would admit the ending is brilliant - proof you don't need an epic, long FMV to close a game in a satisfying way.

Here it is, if you wanna relive it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gc1G27Hdj4

Xenoblade Chronicles was a great game, but its ending was absolutely dreadful. Seriously disappointing. I'm undecided on the ending of Limbo.

[Freestyler]

Yeah, the ending to Portal, or more importantly the completely out of the blue song for the credits was utterly amazing. A perfect bookend to an amazing all-round experience.

[SJ_Sathanas]

Halo 1-3 verged on insulting. Gears of War 3 annoyed me in leaving more questions than answers.

Call of Duty 4 was pretty shocking, due to the number of characters you expect to survive but don't

I quite liked the ending to the first Halo.

"No, I think we're just getting started"

[ToxieDogg]

Halo 1-3 verged on insulting. Gears of War 3 annoyed me in leaving more questions than answers.

Ok, it's known that I really don't like the Halo games, but do like Gears Of War....one thing that really annoys me with both of those game series is that in order to fully understand the storylines and everything that goes on, you're also expected to read all the tie in novels and stuff that have been released.

Sorry, don't want to do that, I didn't buy my Xbox/Xbox 360 to read books on. If you can't explain your game's story properly though it's gameplay and cutscenes, then you've failed.

In terms of storyline and ending, Gears 3 was a mess despite the fact that I enjoy playing it.

[PaulEMoz]

Snare on the Commodore 64. Haha.

[crusto]

Halo 1-3 verged on insulting. Gears of War 3 annoyed me in leaving more questions than answers.

Ok, it's known that I really don't like the Halo games, but do like Gears Of War....one thing that really annoys me with both of those game series is that in order to fully understand the storylines and everything that goes on, you're also expected to read all the tie in novels and stuff that have been released.

Sorry, don't want to do that, I didn't buy my Xbox/Xbox 360 to read books on. If you can't explain your game's story properly though it's gameplay and cutscenes, then you've failed.

In terms of storyline and ending, Gears 3 was a mess despite the fact that I enjoy playing it.

Agreed, I like the Assassins Creed storyline too. Although it confuses the hell out of me.

[Freestyler]

Yes indeed. Explain it in the game, expand it with the novels.

I actually liked the downer ending to Half Life: Episode 2 as well. It's Valve at their best. When they're being daring.