Name games with sad endings - Possibly spoilers

[pilouuuu]

OK, there has been a lot of talking about endings recently thanks to Bioware. What do you think about sad endings? As much as I believe in having an artistic vision I think that games are not movies and the whole point is that you can get a different ending according to your performance in the game.

I hope that after this turmoil developers will pay more attention to game endings. In the past I could understand developers not expecting anyone to reach the ending, but nowadays games are so easy that they have to make good and multiple endings!

What's your opinion on the matter? Do you remember many games with sad endings? Another World was pretty bittersweet if I remember correctly.

P.S.: captcha: dog's breakfast. Maybe that's what endings are in games nowadays.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Planescape Torment. Lots of different endings, and none of which I would say are happy. Even the true ending is bittersweet at best.

 

[SajuukKhar]

Half Life 2: Episode 2


Eli Vance, one of the coolest guys in video game history, dies.

 

[Melon Hunter]

Mass Effect 3. Either because it ruined the franchise for you, or because it had some genuinely touching moments, such as

Spoiler

Anderson and Shepard having their father-son talk at the end, and The Illusive Man finally realising he'd been indoctrinated. Not to mention that melancholy piano melody that plays as the Crucible fires.

Also, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers Of Time/Darkness. My goodness.

Spoiler

It turns out you were sent from the future (as a human) to fix the paralysed timeline. On the way, you turn into a Pokemon. At the end, once you have defeated the rampant Dialga/Palkia, the timeline is restored to health. Unfortunately, this means the time you were born into never existed. So the ending scene is you vanishing from existence, with your partner crying and begging you to hold on. You're saved by a timely Deus Ex Machina by Dialga/Palkia, but still. Manly tears were shed.

 

[The Critic]

Sad Endings? I don't think it gets much sadder than the end to Red Dead Redemption....

Spoiler

John Marston ends up getting killed for his past, even though he's done his best to redeem himself and to settle down and start anew. He manages to save the lives of his son and wife, but Abigail dies a couple years after he does, and Jack does what his father most certainly did NOT want him to do: follow in his footsteps.

It's really sad. from just the hopelessness of John's last playable sequence to the sadness of seeing his grave, and then seeing his wife's grave right next to it. But perhaps the saddest thing is going through the game's final quest, leading Jack to finally avenging his father, and just finding out about Edgar Ross (John's killer), and then finally killing him. Even as he falls in the duel, the victory seems hollow, and you don't really feel like you've won, just like you've led Jack to becoming what his father desperately wanted him to avoid: an outlaw, just like dear old dad, back in the day.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Halo: Reach.

I hold this up as an example of how to do a sad ending right because, unlike ME3, despite the sadness you still have a sense of accomplishment. You succeed in the mission. You get Cortana to the Pillar of Autumn and allow the ship to escape Reach. Thus preserving the only chance humanity has for survival against the Covenant. You're arguably just as crucial to the events that you (as the player) know will follow as The Master Chief is. You're a hero, no question.

Then when it hits you, despite how hard you tried and how good you were, that you've just been left behind, alone on a burning world with you're entire squad dead. There's no plan, no options and no help. There's nothing left to do except just see how many more of the genocidal bastards you can take with you before the end; and unlike a lot of other games would have done, or even previous Halo games, you actually get to play it, rather than just watch an extended cinematic as if the game thinks you'll cramp its style and not be quite heroic enough.

Also Red Dead Redemption. Because *see above post* basically.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Metal Gear Solid 3. Manly tears were so very nearly shed.

 

[Volothos]

Along with the ending, but the entirety of the Conqueror path in Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2. Just... damn.

 

[Hazy992]

GTA 4. No matter what ending you choose it's depressing as hell :/

 

[krazykidd]

Final fantasy X has a pretty sad ending . With Tidis dissappearing . Although FFX-2 ruins all that .

I think magna carta 2 has the protagonist dissapear also , added to the fact the population loses the ability to use magic .

Eternal sonata also has a sad ending . Either polka dies and the world loops ( this happens at the begining of the game ), at the end of the game choppin dies .

 

[Harb]

*****Syberia 2, Planescape: Torment and Mask of the Betrayer spoilers*****

Syberia 2 is my suggestion. When you see Hans riding away, there is a mixed feeling of satisfaction and sadness coming with it. Was the whole point of giving up the law career and helping an old man achieving his life-time goal worth it? That's a pretty good question...


Also *Planescape: Torment* - what can change the nature of a man? There really wasn't a "good" ending. Just a few of them were less sad and maybe more satisfying. One way or the other, you got what you deserved based on the sins of your previous incarnations (mainly).


*Mask of the Betrayer* didn't end well if your thoughts were summed up around tearing down the Wall of the Faithless, which I personally wanted to. Curing the hunger can end up well of course, but the "secondary" objective of helping Kaelyn the Dove, which is what I wanted to accomplish, doesn't happen.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Persona 3

Spoiler

After sealing the god of death, Nyx, back into your body, you go about your school life as usual, remembering what others forgot, with the exception of Aigis. The two of you meet at the school roof-top one last day, and you gently fall asleep lying your head in Aigis' lap.

*Your eyes are feeling heavy*
>...
>Close eyes

Doesn't matter what you choose, it's still the end of the game, and the end to your life.

Persona 4

Spoiler

God damn train ride...

 

[snekadid]

I'm gonna have to agree with yahtzee on halo reach, in the end my real regret was not being able to kill each one of them personally.

Fallout 3 ranks high on my sad endings for games, it felt powerful as i walked to my death with a sense of pride in all i accomplished. Of course i had told fawkes to go away before that because i was a sneaky sniper and he was messing with my game so i didn't have the same kind of story jarring moments others described having because he tells you he wont help and you should die.

Though if your looking for the game that made me weep soggy man tears, bioshock good ending is it. Not murdering and eating the insides off all those little girls paid off in the end ^^.

 

[Viptorian]

Sad Endings? I don't think it gets much sadder than the end to Red Dead Redemption....

Spoiler

John Marston ends up getting killed for his past, even though he's done his best to redeem himself and to settle down and start anew. He manages to save the lives of his son and wife, but Abigail dies a couple years after he does, and Jack does what his father most certainly did NOT want him to do: follow in his footsteps.

It's really sad. from just the hopelessness of John's last playable sequence to the sadness of seeing his grave, and then seeing his wife's grave right next to it. But perhaps the saddest thing is going through the game's final quest, leading Jack to finally avenging his father, and just finding out about Edgar Ross (John's killer), and then finally killing him. Even as he falls in the duel, the victory seems hollow, and you don't really feel like you've won, just like you've led Jack to becoming what his father desperately wanted him to avoid: an outlaw, just like dear old dad, back in the day.

Yup. That was the hardest ending I've ever had to deal with in a game. I was genuinely upset.

 

[Erttheking]

Dark Souls, two endings, one painful, one selfish, both unclear.

 

[DirgeNovak]

Spoiler: Final Fantasy X

Sin is destroyed forever, but Tidus fades away... and NO, FFX-2 does not exist I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!

Spoiler: GTA IV

Especially if Roman is the one to die. I had no affection whatsoever for Kate.

Spoiler: Silent Hill 2

The only ending that actually makes sense is In Water, so I consider that one canon. I cry every time even though it's so badly edited.

Spoiler: Heavy Rain

Basically any Ethan ending where Shaun dies, but especially "Tears in the Rain". Say what you want about that game's story deficiencies, but this scene is unbearably sad.