Most Satisfying Epilogues in Video Games

aozgolo

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Let's define some terminology first, not all Game Endings are Epilogues. An Epilogue provides additional narrative or exposition that reveals the fates of the characters and in some cases the world itself. Many game endings often end abruptly or with sequel bait, or simply fail to address what happened after you won; The credits simply roll.

So a game epilogue would be a case where either in the course of the end cutscene or through an actual post-game playable portion we learn what happens after. Maybe we get to go around and talk to all our companions about what happened, maybe it's just a text snippet telling us what became of everyone. Maybe it's a montage cutscene that details the aftermath of our final actions. In some extreme cases maybe we can even explore the entire world in this Epilogue state and get to experience how the world and it's characters were affected by us.

So without further adieu, tell us which game epilogues were the most rewarding for you. Explain why you found them so satisfying. Or, in a more general sense just tell us what makes an epilogue feel truly worth the time investment it took to achieve.
 

CrazyCapnMorgan

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LUNAR 2. After you beat the big baddie and rescue someone who has basically become a goddess, she hangs around for a bit and then proceeds to leave the main protagonist to return to the planet she slept on and was tasked with defending...though, not before telling the main protagonist she loves him and that she hopes he understands her decision.

Sooo, what's a protagonist to do for an epilogue? Travel around the world again, get the band back together, and figure out how in the sweet tits to follow in the goddess' footsteps and travel across planets. And you do it. And then, more credits, an ending cutscene and the outtakes. Loved those outtakes.

"Once I tried to bury the butt, but the butt would not be buried." XDDDD
 

Zhukov

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I wasn't all that taken with Dragon Age: Origins but I'll always remember it for having a good epilogue scene. I liked that your character could make plans for what they wanted to do next. For example, I had my character decide to accompany Sten back home to the Qunari lands, then Zevran and Leliana said they'd come along too. All the other characters mentioned their various plans. Had a nice "... and the adventure continues" feel to it.

Witcher 3 had a nice epilogue too. Traditional, but well executed.
 

Saelune

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Well, Bioshock 1, mainly the "good" ending, cause it straight up details the entirety of the rest of the protagonists life. Im the kind of person who always wonders what happens to people after I no longer know them (real life and gaming), so to have a pretty clear epilogue of what he did with his life was pretty neat. Presumably Tennenbaum goes with you since she narrated it all so personally.
 

Hawki

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Well, I guess I can nominate:

-Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

Not too much to say, but I do consider the "one year later" segment to be an epilogue of sorts. So, yes - Stolos is defeated, it's confirmed that Catleia's lifespan will be of average human length, the dust cloud finally clears, society can rebuild, Ed and Catleia are one screen away from entering the "kiss her you fool!" sequence, and...yeah. Good ending.

-Command & Conquer: Tiberian Twilight

Yes, really...sort of...admittedly I never finished Tiberian Twilight, but I'm more forgiving to it than most. And I do feel that the overall ending (i.e. the ending that's shared by both the GDI and Nod campaigns) is well done - caps off the series, if not the game well.

-Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Not my favorite Fire Emblem game, but if judging it by its epilogue, if not ending per se, then it does rank highly. Magvel's saved, and on the way back to Renais, provided you kept the requisite party members alive, you see them set up shop back at their home kingdoms. Joshua accepts that he's to be king, Innes reaffirms Frelia's alliance with Renais, Eirika and Ephraim arrive back home to rebuild their line, we have a flashback to when Lyon met them the first time, etc. Well done.

-Golden Sun: The Lost Age

As in, past the credits, the whole group arrives back at Mt. Aleph, finding Vale destroyed, but that everyone survived. The theme that played at the very start of the duology* plays, family and friends are reunited, after all this time, the world's been saved and civilization can move forward.

*Duology in the sense that the first two games function perfectly together, whereas Dark Dawn...doesn't

-Halo 3

This is kind of iffy, but if I treat the moment from where we see John and Cortana on what remains of Forward Unto Dawn as an epilogue, then yes, it's well done. We first saw John climbing out of cryo, we last see him climbing into one, safe in the knowledge that the war's over, humanity has been saved, and the Flood neutralized. Similar to the Lost Age, this would have been the perfect place to end the trilogy. Except...

-Halo: Reach

...decided to give us a second epilogue that works just as well, if not even better. Halo 3 capped off John's story. Reach caps off the series as a whole, with Halsey's monologue and seeing life return to Reach. Halo 3 is a good trilogy conclusion, Reach is a good series conclusion. Course Halo 4 had to happen and do what Dark Dawn did (hah hah), but that aside, it's a good ending.

-The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

While not the best Zelda game or ending in my mind (if still damn good), this does have the best epilogue, if we treat the epilogue as everything that happens after Zelda sends Link into the past and he exits the Temple of Time. It's purely on the emotional level, but given the themes of OoT (time, growing up, loss of innocence, etc.), I feel the epilogue sequence conveys this excellently.

-Marathon: Infinity

Never played, admittedly, but holy shit...name one other game that ends with an AI monologuing in the final seconds of the universe before it collapses in on itself (yep, the Big Crunch Theory was correct, who knew?), pondering the final mystery of the player character.

-Super Mario 64

Shadup, the credits tune is fun and catchy, and I got my special cake. Course it counts as an epilogue. ;p

-StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void

As in, everything that goes from Raynor at Joeyray's to the end of the ending slides. I mean...wow. Caps off the game, caps off the trilogy (ending at the same place where Wings of Liberty begins, Tychus notwithstanding), caps off the whole saga. Not that Nova Covert Ops has done a Halo 4/Dark Dawn on me yet, but as I've said more than once, this was the perfect way to end the overall storyline. The galaxy is saved, much is left to the player's imagination, we can rest easy knowing that finally, peace is achieved. Not a peace that lasts long thanks to the DoM, but hey, take what I can get.

-Star Fox 64

As in, everything from where Fox defeats Andross to seeing Great Fox leaving Corneria. Nothing overly thematic or deep, but damn it, I saved the Lylat system, I got to see dear ol dad (well, if I played the hard route that is), Star Fox remains independent, fly off into sunset, see "the end" pop up. Nice touch.

-Xenoblade Chronicles

I'm kind of torn on this, as if anything, the ending is a bit too sappy, hindered by the point where a setting that's absolutely bonkers proves to me that Monolith Soft can do even larger mindscrews to the point that I feel it's to the game's detriment. Still, I'll give it a place. Whatever I feel about the ending, it's an ending that conveys the themes of the story, even if those themes are beaten over the head over and over (and Zanza won't shut up).

Yes, I actually quite like this game, just in case you're wondering.
 

WhiteFangofWhoa

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Earthbound.

You're asked to walk Paula home and then go home yourself to the sad finale music, but nothing's stopping you from messing around for hours and visiting all the now enemy-free cities to see everyone's new 'endgame' text, except the fact that you can't save during it.
 

Casual Shinji

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I really liked the police interrogations in Until Dawn. Whatever members of the group survived just sit infront of the camera all fucked up and in shock, while they're questioned about things that happened in the game. It was a fantastic way to cap off the experience.

Ico and Shadow of the Colossus also have really nice ones. Ico's especially is gripping as you're running along the beach to meet up with the mysterious figure lying in the sand. Both games' end cutscenes have a nice way of keeping you tense till the very end.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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On a very lighthearted note, Ratchet & Clank (first game). The heroes just end up on the couch watching TV and enjoying a break.
 

happyninja42

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Homeworld: Cataclysm. It takes the events of the game, and flesh out what happens to Kith Somtaw for generations to come. It even alters their Kith symbol, to reflect the events of the game. And the imagery, music, and dialogue....they just do it for me...on every level. I get choked up pretty much every time I see it.


The symbol at the very end of this clip, is the altered symbol of their Kith. The sword symbol stabbing down into a clawed maw is what was added. Before, it was just the stylized U shape, with a few designs. But the stuff that makes it look all "metal" and badass, that's after they were dubbed Beastslayers. I just...love that epilogue so much. xD
 

hermes

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Asura's Wrath
The epilogue happens millions of years into the future (which looks like our present), where all the characters are reincarnated as humans and recreate/interact with iconic moments of Capcom's lore.
Hard to describe with words, just enjoy:
 

Sniper Team 4

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I like Final Fantasy VIII's epilogue, where you get to see everyone having a good time at the party. It was nice to know everyone made it out okay and that the respective couples finally got together.
 

Glongpre

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I think Final Fantasy 10 has a really good bittersweet ending. I do not count the after credits scene though, I think it completely destroys everything the ending stands for. Everything up to the credits is gold though. I love when Yuna is giving her speech, and it flashes a few images of things that happened on your adventure. It just tied the game together wonderfully.

Also, I will concur with Zhukov, Dragon Age Origins does a nice job of letting you know what everyone gets up to.
 

Hawki

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Glongpre said:
I think Final Fantasy 10 has a really good bittersweet ending. I do not count the after credits scene though, I think it completely destroys everything the ending stands for. Everything up to the credits is gold though. I love when Yuna is giving her speech, and it flashes a few images of things that happened on your adventure. It just tied the game together wonderfully.
I considered adding FFX. Agree with what you say up above (even if I'm not that averse to Tidus returning), but didn't, as I'm not sure it could be considered an epilogue, as it flows right on from where Sin is defeated. If anything, Tidus's return is more of an epilogue, and that by itself...yeah, doesn't make the cut.
 

Evonisia

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By your criteria I think "Halo: Reach" kinda counts - at least on the "revealing the fate of the character" and "what happens after you won" part. The final mission has you complete a vital objective, the ship escapes but you're just left there on the planet I guess with the knowledge that you did a good job.

Then you are put into a mission which reveals the fate of Noble Six, stranded alone on a quickly dying world, fending off Covenant forces before ultimately being overwhelmed and pretty definitively killed. It's honestly one of my favourite additions to a game despite the overall mediocre time I had with the game, because you feel the consequences of your prior actions.

Little additions like seeing corpses of your teammates as hallucinations (without them being overtly presented as hallucinations, just as corpses you can get ammo off), and cracks appearing in your helmet as you take damage really add to this feeling that this is the end for your character. It's all done through gameplay and visuals, and it's stunningly effective.

Hawki also mentioned a cutscene of sorts, which does add to it, but the standoff I feel is the epilogue after the climactic mission beforehand.
 

Myria

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The "good" ending of Parasite Eve II.

To get the "good" ending several conditions must be met, starting with saving Flint, an old man's dog, from getting stomped by the first big monster that shows up. If you do that, get the teddy bear, save a co-worker who gets himself into trouble, and a few other things, in the end the big bad is defeated, the facility nuked (well, rail-gunned) from orbit, and the government covers the whole mess up.

The epilogue shows Aya and Eve (a child clone of Aya, adopted by Aya as a sister) in a museum, apparently happy and healthy, having recovered from their adventures and with Eve no longer showing any sign of the powers both she and Aya possess. A door opens and in comes Kyle Madigan, a government agent who helped Aya rescue Eve and who has since been off the grid. Happy music, fade to black, the end.


At the time happy endings were almost as unusual as strong female protagonists, I was always glad that they decided to end it on a high note after all the hell Aya Brea went through in PE 1 and 2.
 

Fox12

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bastardofmelbourne said:
Mass Effect 3!

[sub]heh heh heh hehhh[/sub]

[sub][sub]But yeah, Wild Hunt for sure.[/sub][/sub]
Mass Effect had the greatest epilogue of all time. That DLC really gave me what I wanted.

 

pookie101

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Happyninja42 said:
Homeworld: Cataclysm. It takes the events of the game, and flesh out what happens to Kith Somtaw for generations to come. It even alters their Kith symbol, to reflect the events of the game. And the imagery, music, and dialogue....they just do it for me...on every level. I get choked up pretty much every time I see it.


The symbol at the very end of this clip, is the altered symbol of their Kith. The sword symbol stabbing down into a clawed maw is what was added. Before, it was just the stylized U shape, with a few designs. But the stuff that makes it look all "metal" and badass, that's after they were dubbed Beastslayers. I just...love that epilogue so much. xD
that was an amazing epilogue, considering the other kith treat somtaw like shit the entire game, you pretty much define the underdog in that game
 

Kyrian007

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I thought Mega Man 2 and 3 had satisfying "going home" endings. Chrono Cross had several good epilogues. And while I like good epilogues... more games should have "blooper reel" ending credit sequences. I remember a terrible point and click adventure game in the 90's called "Noctropolis." Awful game that sold on the inclusion of 2 topless fmv scenes. And yet it was totally worth it; not for the boobs, but actually for a seriously funny credits sequence that had a bizarre running joke, some good line screw ups, and a bit actor firing up an awesome Don Knotts impersonation talking about seeing Aunt Bee naked in the shower.