So much for my Happy Ending

[chinangel]

it seems that a lot of games lately have taken to the 'depressing = good' path. What happened to the hero beating the villain at the end and riding off into the sunset or what have you? Why have the hero win but at a cost, have the hero die in the process or even (as is the case of Divinity II) have the hero fail entirely and the villain win in the end. Does anyone else have thoughts on this?

 

[UBERfionn]

Depends on the game.
Mass effect has happy endings, if you play it right.....

 

[Der Kommissar]

Forgive me for my crude methods, but: why have a happy ending? Why not have a more lasting impact through sorrow than a shallow through "joy"?

 

[Vitor Goncalves]

Well, it makes it less cliche. We had to many fairytale like ending's already.

 

[chinangel]

Forgive me for my crude methods, but: why have a happy ending? Why not have a more lasting impact through sorrow than a shallow through "joy"?

Why have a sad ending? It doesn't automatically make the make the ending better.

 

[SnowdensOfYesteryear]

It really depends on the theme of the game. If the theme of the game is "FRIENDSHIP TRIUMPS OVER ALL! " it has no buisness having a sad ending. If the theme is "No matter what the individual does, it will never end the fighting," then yeah, I guess a not-happy ending is kindof in order already.

 

[Cabisco]

Depends on the game.
Mass effect has happy endings, if you play it right.....

Thats totally dependant on how much of a paragon you are

Well it's not, but it was for me. I miss miranda, I hate jack. Why did I think the crazy would be funny

 

[Jonluw]

Well, people seem to think that happy endings can't be thought provoking and insightful, and you need to be those things to be taken seriously as a storytelling-medium; something gaming is desperately trying to be these days.

 

[Harrowdown]

I prefer poignant endings, rather than the 'hero beats the mean old baddies' stuff. Anyway, realism is what's in right now, simple as.

 

[Abi79]

Depends on the game.
Mass effect has happy endings, if you play it right.....

Indeed. I think it's a case of the industry trying to find a middle road, where the ending is not absurdly happy nor very sad, but fun and satisfying. Mass Effect 2 managed this somewhat by allowing you to avoid deaths if you played it right and then feel satisfied (up to the very end, when the possibility of no one agreeing with your decision regarding the station exists).

 

[UBERfionn]

Depends on the game.
Mass effect has happy endings, if you play it right.....

Thats totally dependant on how much of a paragon you are

Well it's not, but it was for me. I miss miranda, I hate jack. Why did I think the crazy would be funny

I liked Jack she made me larf.
Miranda was ok but I didn't really like Cerberus.

 

[Chicaine]

They tried making the heroes more badass and failed (*Cough*Spiderman*Cough*) so they tried taking it further and just letting them lose/die
My 2 cents, although i've never seen a cent in my life

 

[likalaruku]

The only depressing ending I've had in a game was Dungeon Siege 2 & Neverwinter Nights 2. I saved the world, but all my friends died & my fort was destroyed.

 

[Girl With One Eye]

Happy endings can ruin a game in my opinion - just look at FFX and X-2. X had a perfectly good ending, and then X-2 went and spoiled it. Ok so you still have to 'earn' it but still...

 

[Cabisco]

Depends on the game.
Mass effect has happy endings, if you play it right.....

Thats totally dependant on how much of a paragon you are

Well it's not, but it was for me. I miss miranda, I hate jack. Why did I think the crazy would be funny

I liked Jack she made me larf.
Miranda was ok but I didn't really like Cerberus.

I miss her, it also slowly dawned on me that jack is just a crazy hormonal bag of insane (the baldness and tatoos somehow didn't tip me off).

 

[CpnBeef]

I remember almost every film I watched and game I played would have the classic ending where everythings happily ever after, I realised I was sick of watching the hero foil the villain without so much as a wound when I was rooting for the Nazgul when watching The Fellowship Of The Ring.

I personally like a little variety, if i make the option to take out the bad guy work should dry up or Dr Manhatten style the people you worked to save could turn on you.

I hae noticed your point of recent fantasy games going the path of Good = Depressing route though but remember if devs only just figure out how to sort out basic moral choices it'll be a while before they get a wider array of reactions for what you do.

Or if you just wanted a classic "Happily ever after" i'd suggest...erm.

Damn, almost all the games on my shelve either end badly or with blurry moral based endings..

 

[UBERfionn]

Depends on the game.
Mass effect has happy endings, if you play it right.....

Thats totally dependant on how much of a paragon you are

Well it's not, but it was for me. I miss miranda, I hate jack. Why did I think the crazy would be funny

I liked Jack she made me larf.
Miranda was ok but I didn't really like Cerberus.

I miss her, it also slowly dawned on me that jack is just a crazy hormonal bag of insane (the baldness and tatoos somehow didn't tip me off).

I can't wait for Mass Effect3 to find out what happens to everyone.

God-dam you Bioware why do you have to make such a great game!

 

[Redweevil]

At the moment people are avoiding cliches,which is good. No doubt after a while anti-cliched will have, ironically, become cliches themselves allowing stories to end with happiness

 

[WestMountain]

I thought that this was was going to be a thread about OPs failed Thaimassage

OnT: A sad ending doesnt mean that it was a bad ending, I often get more moved by movies and the like if it doesnt go to well for the main character then movies with happy endings, and the game/movie directors probably know this.

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

Its all about story telling, sometimes its boring, cliche and predictable when every hero wins in the end. Some times its good to let the bad guy win for once all for the sake of narrative. Sad endings in games can be beautiful if done right, regardless of the 10 hours or so you just spent to get to the end.

Unless its a story about the reformation of the Nazi party, never do that, thats a bad idea, dont let the bad guy win in that game.