Happy Endings

[Sagacious Zhu]

The cosmic kerfuffle surrounding the ending to the Mass Effect has kicked up some dust regarding "happy endings." A couple of questions regarding happy endings in games:

1)When someone says the words "happy ending" what is you immediate reaction?

2)What makes an ending "happy?" Is it a general sense of fulfillment, a bittersweet accomplishment or is it happily ever after for everyone?

3)Is it so wrong to want a happy ending (or at least the option to have a happy ending) in escapist RPGs? Why are happy endings considered inherently childish?

 

[Lucem712]

1) Immediate naughty thoughts (I'm kidding, mostly)

2) I think a happy endin' is regardless of everything you sacrificed...you still have something worth holding onto.

Spoiler: Here lie MGS4 spoilers

That's how it felt at the end of MGS4, sure it's really bittersweet because Snake gave up his youth to being a soldier but now he's finally going to get to live, really live and that makes it a happy ending

3) I don't think there's anythin' wrong with it. A-lot of people may see 'happy ending's as a cop out, but isn't just killing everything off and fadin' to black just as much, if not more, of a cop-out?

 

[bluepotatosack]

Both happy and sad endings have their place. An ending should be whatever is appropriate for the story. That isn't always the storybook "and they all lived happily ever after" deal.

Imagine if Rick had gotten together with Ilsa at the end of Casablanca. The movie would have had nowhere near the same impact.

 

[Savagezion]

1)"Good guy" wins and/or gets the girl.

2)"Good guy" wins and/or gets the girl.

3)Because this new generation doesn't understand that while they were growing up watching Disney and such, movies were being made where the good guy didn't "win". Thus, they think it doesn't exist because they didn't watch it. What they don't understand is that if you have a protagonist and an antagonist, generally, one of them has to win. Most stories are about overcoming adversity thus it makes sense for the protagonist to win.

 

[Durgiun]

When I hear ''happy ending'' I think ''no sacrifice, no loss (except for the villain), the orphans all get a family, the homeless get homes and jobs, the traumatized people get over their traumas and Uncle Dave wins the lottery without fail for a thousand eons.'' Simply put: I think of a crap ending.

What makes an ending happy is when the good in the end outweighs the bad.

No. But some dark and/or grey as hell endings don't hurt either. Happy endings are considered childish, I'm postulating, because hardly anyone ever gets it and to expect no let-downs is, to some people, indicative of a black-n-white view of the world---which is found in children.

Fuck me, I've gone all analytical there for a second.

 

[Zhukov]

While I quite like happy endings, they do have a way of taking the tension out of a story.

If I already know the hero is going to curb-stomp the villain, save the day and get the girl then there is no tension or drama.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

While I quite like happy endings, they do have a way of taking the tension out of a story.

If I already know the hero is going to curb-stomp the villain, save the day and get the girl then there is no tension or drama.

Very true, but the key to a happy ending is by making it hard to achieve. Don Bluth's philosophy for his films was the notion that a child can handle anything as long as a happy ending is achieved. He puts his characters through hell and back, makes them suffer unimaginable loss, and drives them into the ground, before rewarding them with the ending they deserve.

The harder the obstacle is to overcome, the more satisfying the victory.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Very true, but the key to a happy ending is by making it hard to achieve. Don Bluth's philosophy for his films was the notion that a child can handle anything as long as a happy ending is achieved. He puts his characters through hell and back, makes them suffer unimaginable loss, and drives them into the ground, before rewarding them with the ending they deserve.

The harder the obstacle is to overcome, the more satisfying the victory.

Case in point: The Land Before Time.

And I agree with him; a happy ending is better if the protagonist must go through hell and back to achieve their happiness.

Which is one of the reasons why I loved Muv-Luv:Alternative so much, because the protagonist has to go to hell and back, three times, just to get the "happy" ending. Although, I don't know if I can consider that a completely "happy" ending, it was kind of bittersweet but at the same time happy depending on how you look at it.

 

[twistedmic]

The cosmic kerfuffle surrounding the ending to the Mass Effect has kicked up some dust regarding "happy endings." A couple of questions regarding happy endings in games:

1)When someone says the words "happy ending" what is you immediate reaction?

An extra charge at the 'massage' parlor. The second thing I think, however, is that the bad guy is defeated (though not necessarily killed) and all of the good guys, even the slightly jerkish one, survive unscathed.

2)What makes an ending "happy?" Is it a general sense of fulfillment, a bittersweet accomplishment or is it happily ever after for everyone?

The typical (non-pervy) happy ending is the 'everyone lives happily ever after' type.

3)Is it so wrong to want a happy ending (or at least the option to have a happy ending) in escapist RPGs?

No, it's not wrong to want a happy ending, at least not in my opinion. Having the chance at a happy ending (either depending on character level, morality or non-morality based choices) can lend quite a bit of replay value.

Why are happy endings considered inherently childish?

Mostly because of how many Disney movies have the typical 'bad guy is defeated, prince saves the kingdom and marries the princess' style of happy endings and most Disney movies were for kids (or at least believed to be for kids). Also, many, many of the children's cartoons and anime (Pokemon, Recess etc.) and even live action shows have very formulaic happy endings.