Disappointing Games with great endings

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I've never heard of such a thing as a poor game with a great ending. If a game was disappointing throughout, I don't think there's any ending that will make it all better. If a game is generally poor, I probably wouldn't bother playing to the end and if I did it would be too little, too late. The ending is a cap to the story, a reward for the player and the singular opportunity to leave the player with some form of feeling or emotion. If a game is generally poor, the ending isn't going to suddenly be in a different league in terms of quality or satisfaction. It can't rescue a disappointing game.

Good games with shitty endings...now those are a bit more common.

 

[MysticSlayer]

BioShock 2 is the other major one I can think of. I had very high hopes for that game, being the sequel to an absolute masterpiece, but it was incredibly disappointing. The good news is, the ending focused primarily on the only interesting aspect of the game: the relationship triangle between Sophia, Eleanor, and Delta. Personally, I think BioShock 2 had the best ending of all three games.

To be fair, Bioshock Infinite pretty much lifted the ending of 2 wholesale and then added on even more.

Also welcome to the Escapist!

Thanks for the welcome!

As for BioShock Infinite's ending, I think I was expecting too much out of it. I was looking for an ending that would link all the game's ideas together, but it really dropped the commentary on American nationalism flat on its face (to be fair, though, the latter half of the game really didn't seem to care about that commentary to begin with). It was much harder to make an emotional connection when I was waiting for one thing and being given another. It wasn't like BioShock 2, where the ending was everything I wanted it to be. However, I've been meaning to replay through it just to see the ending for what it is rather than for what I wanted it to be. Hopefully I'll enjoy it more the second time.

 

[LetalisK]

I think the degree to which Mass Effect is disappointing depends on what you really focus on... certainly major sections of it are frustrating and obnoxious, like driving the Mako and the obtuse inventory management, and I agree that the main story is pretty damn short (only what, four or five planets?), but the dialogue and actual action in between all of that are still relatively entertaining. Well, to me at least. I'm actually even warming on the combat now with my fourth time through. XD

I get that about the combat every time I play the game too. I'll be thinking to myself "Oh, this isn't as bad as I remember. I mean, my squadmates might as well have their guns up their ass for all the good their shooting is doing me, but at least they can help me with their powers". Then I'll move on to ME2, with its much better squad AI, and look back at Ashley from ME1 and want to scream "What the fuck is wrong with you!?"

That said, I still enjoy the combat, with all of its flaws. I actually wish there was more of it in the game. That reminds me, I need to do a new playthrough of the Mass Effect series as an Infiltrator. I wanna see the new DLC and seeing it with my old character wouldn't seem right, I forgot everything I did with her.

Edit: Btw, anyone else get a craving for Mass Effect after playing XCOM? At this rate I'm never going to finish Skyrim. Or New Vegas.
>.<

 

[PBMcNair]

Dragon Age 2, decent game, good game play, but GREAT ending.

I can see how it might have ended fine for some people, but I personally think there was too much railroading/retconing for it to be a great ending.

Spoiler

And when Meredith pulled that ridiculous sword and started bringing statues to life, I almost stopped playing completly. At least my Assassin got to one-shot Fenris first, that was pretty cool.

 

[shrekfan246]

I get that about the combat every time I play the game too. I'll be thinking to myself "Oh, this isn't as bad as I remember. I mean, my squadmates might as well have their guns up their ass for all the good their shooting is doing me, but at least they can help me with their powers". Then I'll move on to ME2, with its much better squad AI, and look back at Ashley from ME1 and want to scream "What the fuck is wrong with you!?"

That said, I still enjoy the combat, with all of its flaws. I actually wish there was more of it in the game. That reminds me, I need to do a new playthrough of the Mass Effect series as an Infiltrator. I wanna see the new DLC and seeing it with my old character wouldn't seem right, I forgot everything I did with her.

I think what really rubs me the right way about the first Mass Effect is the way it did cover. Sticking to the wrong side of cover and being out in the open for a good five seconds because Shepard moves like a sloth aside, there's much more elegance behind auto-cover systems than context-sensitive button presses, in my opinion. Also, while this is something Mass Effect 3 most certainly fixed, the guns feel a lot more anemic in 2 than they did in the first, which is saying something considering how much like Airsoft guns everything other than the sniper rifles felt like in the first game.

I'm enjoying my current Infiltrator play-through so far, though. Finally managed to make a MaleShep that doesn't look like he's the spawn of Albino Cthulu and Satan, so that's nice...

Thanks for the welcome!

As for BioShock Infinite's ending, I think I was expecting too much out of it. I was looking for an ending that would link all the game's ideas together, but it really dropped the commentary on American nationalism flat on its face (to be fair, though, the latter half of the game really didn't seem to care about that commentary to begin with). It was much harder to make an emotional connection when I was waiting for one thing and being given another. It wasn't like BioShock 2, where the ending was everything I wanted it to be. However, I've been meaning to replay through it just to see the ending for what it is rather than for what I wanted it to be. Hopefully I'll enjoy it more the second time.

I could see how you would feel that way. Infinite definitely had a mixture of two separate tones that it felt like it couldn't decide which one to focus more on until really late in the story.

I still loved every second of it, though. Much better ending than the first game, even if it didn't beat out the more personal ending of the second.

 

[everythingbeeps]

I can't even answer this, because if a game is that disappointing, I usually don't finish it.

There's too many games I want to play for me to waste any time "slogging through" something I'm not enjoying.

 

[Shocksplicer]

Alpha Protocol.
Don't get me wrong, I love Alpha Protocol, but it was a bit disappointing mechanically, and the plot got a bit too convoluted toward the end. But the final level set in the Graybox brought everything together really well, gave good closure based on you decisions, and had your decisions REALLY matter.
Hey Bioware? Obsidian gets it. Why don't you?

 

[josemlopes]

Second Sight
It was the game that Free Radical game made after Timesplitters 2 and while not a bad game it just didnt live up to the awesome Timesplitters.

The ending however...

Spoiler

So basicly you play as a amnesiac guy that wakes up in a hospital that has super powers but as you go along you have flashbacks of a war mission that somehow alter small details of what is going on, yada yada yada... basicly the flashbacks are the present and the amnesiac guy is a possible future that you will have to stop from happening in the end of those flashbacks, you end the game in that time preventing the amnesia and all the other things that have gone wrong (most of your mates from the mission are dead, fugitives or in mental hospitals). It has a very cool "Oh shit" thing to it because it really comes out of nowhere but it all makes sense after that.

 

[TheHatPerson]

I think Spec Ops: The Line had a great ending. The gameplay was rather generic, but the amazing story really kept me playing, and the ending was worth the time, in my opinion.

 

[LetalisK]

I'm enjoying my current Infiltrator play-through so far, though. Finally managed to make a MaleShep that doesn't look like he's the spawn of Albino Cthulu and Satan, so that's nice...

You reminded me of a few things. First, how difficult is using the sniper rifle in the Mass Effect 1 environments? I remember them being cramped and not sure how difficult that would make the use of a sniper rifle. Second, what squad do you normally use? I was thinking going Wrex/Tali. I would go Liara instead of Wrex normally, but I'm purposely not going to pick her up until the end. Third, is it just me or is the guy who portrays default MaleShep really not that attractive? He looks more like a Terminator trying to take on the form of something he had calculated to be a super attractive human male.

 

[shrekfan246]

I'm enjoying my current Infiltrator play-through so far, though. Finally managed to make a MaleShep that doesn't look like he's the spawn of Albino Cthulu and Satan, so that's nice...

You reminded me of a few things. First, how difficult is using the sniper rifle in the Mass Effect 1 environments? I remember them being cramped and not sure how difficult that would make the use of a sniper rifle. Second, what squad do you normally use? I was thinking going Wrex/Tali. I would go Liara instead of Wrex normally, but I'm purposely not going to pick her up until the end. Third, is it just me or is the guy who portrays default MaleShep really not that attractive? He looks more like a Terminator trying to take on the form of something he had calculated to be a super attractive human male.

Using a sniper rifle is fine. The zoom isn't so insane that you lose track of where you're aiming when you scope in, and even most of the indoor areas are still wide enough that you can hang back effectively. They do have much slower firing rates and much higher overheat rates than the other weapons though, so it's always best to make sure the shots count. Overheating enemy weapons is a pretty big life-saver.

As an Infiltrator I've been going Assault Rifle Wrex and Shotgun Tali. I usually use Wrex anyway because he's awesome and not a squad member in any of the other games, but I generally switch between Garrus, Liara, or Tali depending on what class I make Shepard. (>.> I don't think the other humans are all that interesting...)

Also, if you haven't ever rescued Liara after Feros and Noveria before, the dialogue changes are hilarious.

And yeah, DefaultShep looks weird. XD I tried using him, but the haircut and nose just really killed it for me, while the eyes are always weird on CustomSheps.

 

[Best of the 3]

I remember Two Worlds having a fantastic ending.

It meant I could stop playing it.

 

[Gatx]

Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates was an okay game, fun mix of Diablo and Zelda, but didn't really have the character of the first game, so that was a disappointment for me. Ending made me cry though - first videogame to ever do that (I didn't play FFVII or VI).

 

[RyQ_TMC]

Mass Effect 3, of course.

I'm gonna get lynched for this, but here goes.

Planescape Torment.

Even though I enjoyed Baldurs Gate I found the gameplay in this painful. The story is well written but it isn't integrated well enough with the gameplay to really make it enjoyable. But the ending is something else, if you actually work out what's going on and get the important hidden dialogue it's incredibly satisfying.

I'm gonna join you on that. I hated the combat in Torment, and I actually needed a few restarts of the game before I could force myself to go through the Enemies Everywhere (TM) second half of the game.

 

[DoPo]

Second Sight
It was the game that Free Radical game made after Timesplitters 2 and while not a bad game it just didnt live up to the awesome Timesplitters.

The ending however...

Spoiler

So basicly you play as a amnesiac guy that wakes up in a hospital that has super powers but as you go along you have flashbacks of a war mission that somehow alter small details of what is going on, yada yada yada... basicly the flashbacks are the present and the amnesiac guy is a possible future that you will have to stop from happening in the end of those flashbacks, you end the game in that time preventing the amnesia and all the other things that have gone wrong (most of your mates from the mission are dead, fugitives or in mental hospitals). It has a very cool "Oh shit" thing to it because it really comes out of nowhere but it all makes sense after that.

Man, Second Sight was boss. I'm not even sure why you thought the game was disappointing before the ending. OK, sure, wasn't great before it but it had cool gimmick with the psychic powers, looked rather nice (it was the reason I picked it up initially - it was on 1 CD but it had really nice screenshots), and the gameplay was alright. The story took a bit to pick up pace (yeah, wake up, no memory, strange powers - blah, blah, not very original) but once it did start to dip into the mystery it was engaging and everything. I think the defining moment when I though, "Man, I nor really WANT to see how the story unfolds" was when the following happened

Spoiler

The flashbacks were awesome but I the first time you went into a flashback and changed the present, I was hooked. I think it was when the protagonist found Dr. Whatshername who held a vital clue was killed in the past but then he saved her in a flashback and then found her in the "present". It was like, "What? How? I WANT TO KNOW!" And man, oh man, was the answer satisfying.

 

[josemlopes]

Second Sight
It was the game that Free Radical game made after Timesplitters 2 and while not a bad game it just didnt live up to the awesome Timesplitters.

The ending however...

Spoiler

So basicly you play as a amnesiac guy that wakes up in a hospital that has super powers but as you go along you have flashbacks of a war mission that somehow alter small details of what is going on, yada yada yada... basicly the flashbacks are the present and the amnesiac guy is a possible future that you will have to stop from happening in the end of those flashbacks, you end the game in that time preventing the amnesia and all the other things that have gone wrong (most of your mates from the mission are dead, fugitives or in mental hospitals). It has a very cool "Oh shit" thing to it because it really comes out of nowhere but it all makes sense after that.

Man, Second Sight was boss. I'm not even sure why you thought the game was disappointing before the ending. OK, sure, wasn't great before it but it had cool gimmick with the psychic powers, looked rather nice (it was the reason I picked it up initially - it was on 1 CD but it had really nice screenshots), and the gameplay was alright. The story took a bit to pick up pace (yeah, wake up, no memory, strange powers - blah, blah, not very original) but once it did start to dip into the mystery it was engaging and everything. I think the defining moment when I though, "Man, I nor really WANT to see how the story unfolds" was when the following happened

Spoiler

The flashbacks were awesome but I the first time you went into a flashback and changed the present, I was hooked. I think it was when the protagonist found Dr. Whatshername who held a vital clue was killed in the past but then he saved her in a flashback and then found her in the "present". It was like, "What? How? I WANT TO KNOW!" And man, oh man, was the answer satisfying.

Yeah, the game was at its worst mediocre (because of the original concept not looking very creative at start), never a bad game. It just wasnt as good as Timesplitters 2 (not much replay value for example). I still love to watch the cutscenes once in a while, their style is so awesome

 

[DoPo]

Second Sight
It was the game that Free Radical game made after Timesplitters 2 and while not a bad game it just didnt live up to the awesome Timesplitters.

The ending however...

Spoiler

So basicly you play as a amnesiac guy that wakes up in a hospital that has super powers but as you go along you have flashbacks of a war mission that somehow alter small details of what is going on, yada yada yada... basicly the flashbacks are the present and the amnesiac guy is a possible future that you will have to stop from happening in the end of those flashbacks, you end the game in that time preventing the amnesia and all the other things that have gone wrong (most of your mates from the mission are dead, fugitives or in mental hospitals). It has a very cool "Oh shit" thing to it because it really comes out of nowhere but it all makes sense after that.

Man, Second Sight was boss. I'm not even sure why you thought the game was disappointing before the ending. OK, sure, wasn't great before it but it had cool gimmick with the psychic powers, looked rather nice (it was the reason I picked it up initially - it was on 1 CD but it had really nice screenshots), and the gameplay was alright. The story took a bit to pick up pace (yeah, wake up, no memory, strange powers - blah, blah, not very original) but once it did start to dip into the mystery it was engaging and everything. I think the defining moment when I though, "Man, I nor really WANT to see how the story unfolds" was when the following happened

Spoiler

The flashbacks were awesome but I the first time you went into a flashback and changed the present, I was hooked. I think it was when the protagonist found Dr. Whatshername who held a vital clue was killed in the past but then he saved her in a flashback and then found her in the "present". It was like, "What? How? I WANT TO KNOW!" And man, oh man, was the answer satisfying.

Yeah, the game was at its worst mediocre (because of the original concept not looking very creative at start), never a bad game. It just wasnt as good as Timesplitters 2 (not much replay value for example). I still love to watch the cutscenes once in a while, their style is so awesome

I'd agree - it was mediocre at worst. As I said, the concept wasn't original in the beginning and some of the shooting and fighting mechanics were meh. It was the graphics (although, if the game was on more than 1 CD I probably wouldn't have been impressed) and the gimmick that made it fun in the beginning. Just saying, though - I don't think it was disappointing. Then again, I suppose it would be worse than Timesplitters 2 (which I haven't played but I've heard lots of good things about) by comparison.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Dragon Age 2, decent game, good game play, but GREAT ending.

I'll second this. There where two characters in my party that I absolutely hated and I got to kill BOTH of them. One of which the game made me fight in-game and since I kept him out of my party for as long as possible I was able to one-shot him with one satisfying "turn around and stab in the gut with both blades" move, adding insult to brooding emo pussyboy injury.

I mean I don't doubt that the whole thing was a pretty big fluke but it satisfied the hell out of me.

Another one is Halo Reach. Something tells me bungie did the ending and the first 4 missions before running out of money or time and shitting the bed for the middle.