On Endings

[Captain Epic]

Ocarina of time has a deadly ending. Tear jerking indeed.

Also, Brutal Legend had a pretty amazing ending in my opinion, the twist was good and the acting superb.

Brutal Legend YAY! The story in that game is so damn perfectly constructed and brilliant. That, and it can be hilarious at times. My favourite ending is still RDR though. I've never hated a fictional character as much as I did at the end of that game.

 

[Ringo666]

You had to finish mafia 2 and K&2?I thought you had one of the(2-other is rockstar,one word)last fun jobs on earth.you're a dream crusher and it works

 

[mandrilltiger]

I don't think any one mentioned Portal and Braid.

Portal's was awesome cause it provided closure and still allowed for their to be a sequel.

 

[Silencer217]

Is it just me, or does this have a lot of spelling errors? I wonder if it's somehow on purpose? (and if he'll address this at any time)

Also, Reach anyone?

 

[mechanixis]

Halo Reach's campaign was a mediocre excursion (Bungie is pretty clueless about storytelling) that actually ended really well - not so much the finale, but the epilogue after the credits. There's a very sublime little secret level that I found very moving.

 

[SirCannonFodder]

When I said "you can't make it big..." I meant there is and will be no great game writers until something in the field changes. As it is, a potential Van Gogh level writer will simply have his "paintings" thrown out instead of being passed from gallery to gallery until they achieve acclaim,
because there is no interest in a writer becoming great. That won't line the pockets of the corporations and trends that currently control the industry.
That's objective reality.

No it isn't. Van Gogh didn't "line the pockets of the corporations" either, yet, somehow, his work got by.

Art having to work within such a system is not new. You know Shakespeare, the OMG greatest write of all time? His plays were considered popular entertainment in his day. They were written for the crowds.

Great writing in video games exists. It has managed to sell. It has even managed to sell well enough to get people to buy suplimental fiction.

But the difference between a painter and a game writer is that even if the painter never achieves popularity in their life-time, they still have completed works that can be appreciated as they are. Unless the game writer makes their own games, then any stories that are rejected will never see the light of day, since they won't have a game to be a part of, and without a game to go with it the story can't be enjoyed or appreciated in any meaningful way.

 

[Vzzdak]

snip

(Excerpt from the article. Naturally.)

Reminds me heavily of Deus Ex's ending(s). Proof that Warren Spector actually did know what the hell he was doing.

Warren Spector didn't write them, did he? I heard he designed the game, and hadn't written it.

Based on interviews. He did, and the rest of his design team needed to drag him away from the keyboard in order to get him to scale down some of the intended set-pieces into something manageable.

That makes sense. I was always under the impression that Spector was a major proponent of the Deus Ex and Deus Ex:IW backstories, which is why he's afforded a somewhat celebrity status. Indeed, the DX:IW story was quite a broad and logical extension to that of DX, and it was mainly the claustrophobic level design that was a let down in the sequel.

Here's a relevant quote from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex_(video_game)

The initial idea of Deus Ex was originated by Warren Spector in 1994 while he worked for Origin Systems. His original conception of what would become Deus Ex was entitled Troubleshooter. After finishing development of System Shock, Spector had tired of straight fantasy and science fiction and he "got obsessed with this sort of millennial weirdness" leading to the conspiracy focused storyline for the game. He stated in April 2007 to PC Zone magazine:

I was a huge believer in the 'immersive simulation' game style, exemplified by games like Ultima Underworld, and I wanted to push the limits of that sort of game further. But I could never get the project off the ground at Origin or, later, at Looking Glass. (I think it was lack of interest at Origin/EA and it was mostly a lack of money at LG!) But then John Romero and Ion Storm came along and said, 'Make the game of your dreams. No limits.' It took me about two nanoseconds to say 'Yes!'

 

[BloodSquirrel]

But the difference between a painter and a game writer is that even if the painter never achieves popularity in their life-time, they still have completed works that can be appreciated as they are. Unless the game writer makes their own games, then any stories that are rejected will never see the light of day, since they won't have a game to be a part of, and without a game to go with it the story can't be enjoyed or appreciated in any meaningful way.

Writers do have their stories made a part of games, many of which have been widely praised. The notion that a corporation being involved, doing some kind of vague, "the man" stuff, is going to prevent writers from getting their work out is baseless.

 

[Jezzy54]

I completely agree that the ending should be the best part of anything.

 

[duchaked]

the ending(s) concept to Singularity is rather fascinating to me, I don't know why haha

 

[duchaked]

Ocarina of time has a deadly ending. Tear jerking indeed.

Also, Brutal Legend had a pretty amazing ending in my opinion, the twist was good and the acting superb.

Brutal Legend YAY! The story in that game is so damn perfectly constructed and brilliant. That, and it can be hilarious at times. My favourite ending is still RDR though. I've never hated a fictional character as much as I did at the end of that game.

good grief, yes to RDR

like for the ahem revenge mission... man I was glad to do that
not satisfied because a life had to be taken oddly enough... but for justice

 

[XMark]

The thing about Kane and Lynch 2 is that in addition to being a lame and unresolved ending, it's the end of a criminally short game.

Halo Reach had a pretty good ending - you have to wait until after the credits for the real ending though.

Halo 3 as well, and ditto for the after the credits thing.

What other games have good endings... hm....

The Darkness, Red Dead Redemption and Shadow of the Colossus both had quite emotional endings that left me feeling sad for the state the main character is left in.

Metal Gear Solid 3, the whole thing with The Boss, also quite emotional.

I'll add Portal to the list, but not particularly because of its ending. Just that it kept a constant level of quality from start finish. And there's the Still Alive song.

All the Final Fantasy games that I've managed to play start to finish had amazing endings as well (except for the first one). I especially like the FF6 ending.

That's all I got at the moment.

 

[perpetualburn]

There was a study that showed that people tended to think more highly of vacations if their last day was memorable. I wouldn't be surprised if this applies to video games as well.

 

[WolfThomas]

The Witcher had three decent endings, that were neither right or wrong, but yeah I guess Yahtzee never finished it.

 

[poiuppx]

Bioshock had a very satisfying good ending.

Not to have a go at you or anything, but someone actually liked the ending(s) to Bioshock?

I certainly did... the good ending, anyway. I felt it completed the narrative in a compelling way that make Jack's journey actually matter from pillar to post, and it's one of the only endings in any game to evoke an honest emotional response from me. The bad ending? Well... it blew monkies. There's a reason on repeat playthroughs I rescue every Little Sister.

 

[Dragon_of_red]

The kingdom hearts games showed that you can leave room for a sequel, yet still have a sense of closure.

At the end of the game, I was content with my job of killing a large portion of the heartless and stopping the immediate bad guy, yet it still left opportunity for a number 2 to come out.

 

[SpaceMedarotterX]

The thing about Kane and Lynch 2 is that in addition to being a lame and unresolved ending, it's the end of a criminally short game.

Halo Reach had a pretty good ending - you have to wait until after the credits for the real ending though.

Halo 3 as well, and ditto for the after the credits thing.

What other games have good endings... hm....

The Darkness, Red Dead Redemption and Shadow of the Colossus both had quite emotional endings that left me feeling sad for the state the main character is left in.

Metal Gear Solid 3, the whole thing with The Boss, also quite emotional.

I'll add Portal to the list, but not particularly because of its ending. Just that it kept a constant level of quality from start finish. And there's the Still Alive song.

All the Final Fantasy games that I've managed to play start to finish had amazing endings as well (except for the first one). I especially like the FF6 ending.

That's all I got at the moment.

FFVI just goes the extra distance with it's ending

I'm nominating both the MegaTen games and the Super Robot Wars games. Again for the sheer fact that they actually END and have pretty definitive conclusions. Even a game like Super Robot Wars Alpha which was the lead in for a 4-Parter (Gaiden, Alpha 2, Alpha 3) Still wrapped up each of it's stories in a way that felt complete, yet still left enough bad guy factions around to go "Okay well if they revisit this era we have something else"

The only Misstep in story telling was the addition of Gundam SEED to Alpha 3 because it never made any sense where the fuck they came from, especially when we had this big ass war between the Titans, Zeon, Federation and AEUG way back in Alpha 1!

And Megaten? Megaten often lets you see the end result of your actions first hand before ending, SMT2 ends with you (after having enslaved the population, sold them out to the demons, or killed both forces) wandering through towns and seeing how everyone is living now (the neutral ending is always the best in Megaten) Persona 4 ends with you killing the big bad, stepping onto the train to depart for parts unknown as your party tearfully bids you farewell.

A good ending leaves you with a feeling of completion, even if it's just "This chapter has been completed"

 

[carpathic]

Deus Ex kinda works here. None of the endings are particularly palatable, but you have to pick one!

 

[Jack Cheney]

I think the Kingdom Hearts games end pretty well in each game. Solid intro (if not a little confusing) with hints at a next game but a good ending when you're following the story well.

 

[faefrost]

Does anyone remember the ending of Grandia II (preferably the decent looking and bug free Dreamcast version, and not the hideous PS2 port?). Of all the games I ever played that one still sticks with me as one of the coolest, most cathartic amounts of closure I have ever experienced in a game. After the final battle is fought, and the story arcs are all finished, you are left, still in control of one of your characters, the young boy, as the credits roll. The world is safe, peace reigns, and power and mass transit have been restorred to the lands. So you can now easily retrace your journey going back to all the towns and NPC's you have encountered, interact with them again, and see how the changes you have wrought to the world have impacted their lives. Just amazingly immersive.