On Endings
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
I'm really sorry, but I have to completely ruin the 'good' ending to Bioshock for you and everyone else.Scyla said:
*Spoiler!*
The protagonist had to be big-daddified to reach the end of the game, and it was said that the process was irreversible. This means the long happy life the protagonist gets in the end is as a (possibly mutated) mute. But the absolutely dreadful thing that must be realized is this- The only reason the 8 or so strange young girls live with and dote upon the main character in the good ending is because the big daddy pheromones he had to incorporate into himself near the end of the game. They're chemically compelled to be his surrogate daughters. It really takes all the sweetness out of that final scene.
Well...I'd be more grateful for the less complaining my friends do. But I suppose the consumer-side benefits would be harder to perceive.EvilYoshi said:
While it was predictable as all hell, Bayonetta had a surpringly good endning I thought. While it had a good story, it never claimed to be particularly deep, and the ending fit the style to a tee, essentially giving the audience one final tongue in cheek hoodwink. That they managed a satisfying ending after you just punched a greater deity into the sun is quite a feat.
THE best ending iv'e ever gotten in a video game; Vampire the Masquerade. I let the villain keep the treasure, and the following ending gave both me, my character and Jack a good laugh. 
The second best ending iv'e ever experienced was Dragon Age, where my character and Alistair had to sacrifice their love to give the city the king it needed. Incredible romantic to be a game, and i usually hate everything naming itself "romantic". Ive even avoided all of bioware's and black isle's romance plots entirely, just because i would never expect a video game to be able to do "romance".
In short; the best endings are the one where you have a REAL choice, and not a good/evil split some random place in the game. The worst endings are the one going against everything the player-controlled character would have done. GTA San Andreas is a good example of this.
The second best ending iv'e ever experienced was Dragon Age, where my character and Alistair had to sacrifice their love to give the city the king it needed. Incredible romantic to be a game, and i usually hate everything naming itself "romantic". Ive even avoided all of bioware's and black isle's romance plots entirely, just because i would never expect a video game to be able to do "romance".
In short; the best endings are the one where you have a REAL choice, and not a good/evil split some random place in the game. The worst endings are the one going against everything the player-controlled character would have done. GTA San Andreas is a good example of this.
I`m actually surprised that Yahtzee didn`t mention another game which he does seem to have finished that has a really interesting ending. Well OK, I`ll qualify that in a second. FARCRY 2.
I don`t want to ruin the ending, but the game is probably too long to really bother finishing it anyway. This is the conversation that I imagine the game designers having:
Lead designer:Ok, we have everything locked up, only 3 weeks to release. The thing is, we forgot to write an ending. I need ideas now people.
Pillock: I know, we kill the antagonist!
Lead designer: Well no, firstly that is the same ending of every game ever, secondly it would just consist of two heavily armed young men shooting each other and thirdly stevee in quality control says that the our playtester (singular) is actually finding the Jackal to be an ok bloke, so the player might not actually want to kill him.
Pillock: Why don`t we make the game so long and tedious that nobody will ever finish it!
Lead designer: World of Warcraft based studies have proven that this is impossible.
An intern who has been quietly plotting Pillocks death since the meeting where Pillock suggested that they have the player be attacked by a gun-jeep after every 30 seconds of travel: Hey, I had this idea that I have been working on for months in which we end it really dramatically by having the Jackal tell the player that both of them are too violent to live and are going to have the commit suicide to help refugees, and that the player can either blow up a bridge while standing on it, or blow their own head off after bribing a guard to open the gate to a neighboring country.
Lead designer: Hmm, that almost caused me to have a human emotion. I don`t like it. But nobody has any better ideas. Pillock, what do you think.
Pillock: Ok, but only if we unnecessarily and inexplicably force the player to fight enemies on the way to completing both objectives, show a short cut scene of the bridge blowing up even though the player is supposed to be dead, and no take out the actual sequence where you have to blow you`re head off, replacing it with a short line of dialogue about how the guard `Hopes you have more to you`re plan than that.`
Lead Designer: Yes, we wouldn`t want the ending seeming deeper than the rest of the game. I`m glad somebody was here to shallow it up for us. You should learn from us Intern who is now attempting to pull off his own ears.
So yeah, good ending, dreadful execution. umm...yes, relevant.
I don`t want to ruin the ending, but the game is probably too long to really bother finishing it anyway. This is the conversation that I imagine the game designers having:
Lead designer:Ok, we have everything locked up, only 3 weeks to release. The thing is, we forgot to write an ending. I need ideas now people.
Pillock: I know, we kill the antagonist!
Lead designer: Well no, firstly that is the same ending of every game ever, secondly it would just consist of two heavily armed young men shooting each other and thirdly stevee in quality control says that the our playtester (singular) is actually finding the Jackal to be an ok bloke, so the player might not actually want to kill him.
Pillock: Why don`t we make the game so long and tedious that nobody will ever finish it!
Lead designer: World of Warcraft based studies have proven that this is impossible.
An intern who has been quietly plotting Pillocks death since the meeting where Pillock suggested that they have the player be attacked by a gun-jeep after every 30 seconds of travel: Hey, I had this idea that I have been working on for months in which we end it really dramatically by having the Jackal tell the player that both of them are too violent to live and are going to have the commit suicide to help refugees, and that the player can either blow up a bridge while standing on it, or blow their own head off after bribing a guard to open the gate to a neighboring country.
Lead designer: Hmm, that almost caused me to have a human emotion. I don`t like it. But nobody has any better ideas. Pillock, what do you think.
Pillock: Ok, but only if we unnecessarily and inexplicably force the player to fight enemies on the way to completing both objectives, show a short cut scene of the bridge blowing up even though the player is supposed to be dead, and no take out the actual sequence where you have to blow you`re head off, replacing it with a short line of dialogue about how the guard `Hopes you have more to you`re plan than that.`
Lead Designer: Yes, we wouldn`t want the ending seeming deeper than the rest of the game. I`m glad somebody was here to shallow it up for us. You should learn from us Intern who is now attempting to pull off his own ears.
So yeah, good ending, dreadful execution. umm...yes, relevant.
"Kane and Lynch 2 ... rather cheekily leave the camerman behind"
rather cheekily leave the camerman behind
leave the camerman behind
the camerman
camerman?
See criticism is making a resurgence this century because the internet gives authority without cost, the power to judge without effort -- it also serves to unite brothers in the luxury of common anger that cures their boredom. But in addition to that Benjamin Yahtzee Sebastian Godzilla Crowshaw is damn damn damn good at writing position pieces, he's going to be remembered as our Meno or perhaps Sartre and I can't stand to see him lose that in spelling errors.
rather cheekily leave the camerman behind
leave the camerman behind
the camerman
camerman?
See criticism is making a resurgence this century because the internet gives authority without cost, the power to judge without effort -- it also serves to unite brothers in the luxury of common anger that cures their boredom. But in addition to that Benjamin Yahtzee Sebastian Godzilla Crowshaw is damn damn damn good at writing position pieces, he's going to be remembered as our Meno or perhaps Sartre and I can't stand to see him lose that in spelling errors.