On Endings

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

On Endings

Wherein Yahtzee has a tough time finding games that actually have a decent ending.

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[Worgen]

seems like games have always had huge problems with endings, back in the day allot of games just had a splash screen with the words game over, some didnt even have credits

 

[hawk533]

That was one of the reasons I like the stories of most Final Fantasy games. The beginning and ending are usually awesome and epic. I will usually forget the middle bits, but the beginning and ending stick with me.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

endings ARE important, thats why whenever i come up with a story, i have a definite "THE END" at the end, if i want to leave room for a sequel, then i end it with a lot of characters still alive/not changed from what they were in the beginning, but there is still a definite end to the specific story i was trying to tell in the beginning

i hated Halo 2 for leaving me on the damn cliff-hangar it did...

 

[HotFezz8]

there have been more thatn a few games i never actually finished, so i would have said the starts are often more important...

 

[kaijyuu]

Aside on multiple endings:

You're absolutely right that no ending should feel like the "proper" ending. Valkyrie Profile 1 for the PS1 had a incredible ending... if you got the A one. Most people got the B ending (which amounted to about 5 text boxes followed by rolling credits) since the REAL ending required the player to jump through ridiculous hoops.

 

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

I enjoyed the three endings of singularity as well, as I hated MW2 and BF:BC2 endings.
The single player experience is starting lo lack a good proper ending, heck, even the Mario 3 ending that was a cock slap was better than those two I mentioned.

 

[mParadox]

Bioshock had a very satisfying good ending.
Half Life 2 had a creepy ending but good nonetheless
SC Conviction's ending was awesome

AC2's ending was just shallow

Spoiler

you just feel sad for Ezio after what he went through

 

[Sir Prize]

Well, the endings in the Oddworld series were pretty good, with bad endings that were a little lacking but darkly funny and realy ones with humour and a lighter note. The Breath of Fire series nomrally had good endings and there are others. I think that many modern games seem to keep thing open ended, in case of a follow-up.

 

[imnot]

Two words
Halo Reach.
Oh I forgot you hate Halo.
Well play it anyway!

 

[Knifewounds]

I always felt the best endings were the ones that boiled the narrative into prospective, and ended with a sense of closure. I mean you can still have a "to be continued" at the end without it seeming cheap as long as the feeling that you finished something, or feel like the story went somewhere even if it didn't end. After all many movies, and tv shows have done that, and still gave us some form of closure at the end of their run time.(granted there are many exceptions *cough* Lost *cough*)

 

[DTWolfwood]

You know from what i hear from my friends who play singularity they all said you end up being the asshole no matter what you do! XD which sounds totally kickass. I'll have to try it when its out for cheap come christmas on steam

 

[AfterAscon]

I recently completed Mass Effect 2 and it has an amazing ending with a plethora of variables.

Spoiler

Beyond the obvious choice of paragon and renegade endings during the suicide mission, the potential for each character to die during it makes the ending almost feel unique to your game and gives your sctions and decisions real weight, especially knowing that the death of a character will have implications in the sequel thanks to import saves.

 

[archvile93]

seems like games have always had huge problems with endings, back in the day allot of games just had a splash screen with the words game over, some didnt even have credits

That's because they didn't having any plot to put an ending on. They have no excuse now.

 

[Woodsey]

Bioshock had a very satisfying good ending.
Half Life 2 had a creepy ending but good nonetheless
SC Conviction's ending was awesome

AC2's ending was just shallow

Spoiler

you just feel sad for Ezio after what he went through

BioShock just peters out, it doesn't really end.
Agreed.
It was good, but I wouldn't say awesome.

AC2's ending was poignant, not shallow (not sure if you've got a word mixed up there).

OT: Mafia 2's ending is very odd. It needed 5 more minutes and for Vito to bloody say something.

Mafia and The Sands of Time have my favourite game endings.

Just going back to AC2, cliffhangers are perfectly acceptable if they are handled well like they did in it. AC 1 is an example of a very bad cliffhanger.

 

[seditary]

Bioshock had a very satisfying good ending.

Not to have a go at you or anything, but someone actually liked the ending(s) to Bioshock?

 

[Atmos Duality]

It occurred to me to give an example of a fairly mediocre game that nonetheless had a good ending. And for some reason, what came to mind was Singularity. If any game illustrates the "beginning and ending good, middle bit dreary slog" rule, it's Singularity, because I remember quite enjoying the game at the start when things were a bit more BioShock-y and you didn't have fifty game-breaking weapons. But sat the end, while the plot twist was handled a little clumsily, there's three quite satisfying endings depending on your actions in the very last room. You can either shoot the nice scientist and join the evil one to rule the world together; go back in time and shoot yourself to prevent the game's events; or shoot both the scientists and bugger the whole business. Each course of action has a detailed epilogue movie and none of them give the impression of being the "proper" ending, which is how multiple endings should work.

(Excerpt from the article. Naturally.)

Reminds me heavily of Deus Ex's ending(s). Proof that Warren Spector actually did know what the hell he was doing.

 

[Jhales]

What makes PoP: Warrior Within even worse is that the very beginning takes a long hard dump on the ending to Sands of Time.
I haven't played Singularity, but the thought of you actually going back in time to shoot yourself seems interesting. I think good, complicated time travel is something that should be explored in video games.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

Now, I do have a fairly good idea of why so many games have disappointing and cut-down endings. For a lot of studios it would be a resource issue. Towards the end of a development cycle all the money for fancy cinematics and voice acting that seemed like so much eight months ago has dribbled down to an amount that would embarrass the snack machine. The ending will certainly feel the chop before the intro does, because the intro is what suckers the players into parting with their disposable income, and once they have your money producers couldn't give a shit about whether you leave the experience feeling enriched or not. And of course when it comes to make the ending all the actual developers will be tired and miserable and anticipating getting fired once the big project is complete. Well, they are if they live in Brisbane, apparently.

I'm pretty sure it's the sequel monster and it's little brother, the DLC imp, that are to blame. Wrapping things up properly means that there's less incentive for players to buy the next episode. As I was just saying, it's this very thing that stopped me from buying Alan Wake.

 

[mParadox]

Not to have a go at you or anything, but someone actually liked the ending(s) to Bioshock?

Ja. What too weird?

AC2's ending was poignant, not shallow (not sure if you've got a word mixed up there).

Just going back to AC2, cliffhangers are perfectly acceptable if they are handled well like they did in it. AC 1 is an example of a very bad cliffhanger.

Thanks for that. Couldn't find a better word for it.

AC2's ending was fine in retrospect and yes, AC's ending was a horrible cliffhanger with a very long credits list.