Favourite endings to games.

[Patters]

So I was listening to a load of podcasts including some that complain about the endings to games. So I just wondered what endings to games people have really enjoyed. Some of mine include:

Skies of Arcadia: because the ending just felt right, it fit perfectly with the characters, as well as showing the rebuild after a few events which occurred in the game.

Beneath a Steel Sky: with the characters and story it all worked perfectly for me.

Full Throttle: I shouldn't need to explain this one.

[Shakesbeard]

Having just experienced the sheer joy and rapture that is Full Throttle for the first time, I wholeheartedly agree.

Also, are you a bad enough dude to have a totally awesome

[Nachimir]

Beyond Good and Evil.

[SignorSuperdouche]

Agreed to all of these. Also, Grim Fandango.

[thl]

I remember Toe Jam & Earl and Decap Attack for the genesis both having pretty cool endings (they were similar in that "the ending" was a whole new map that was full of awesome stuff that you could walk around and whatnot)

recently... do games even have endings anymore?

[Ben X]

Day Of The Tentacle, if I can include the little playable section in the middle of it (where the three are Brundified) - seems Tim Schafer's doing well!

Another World, although I'm sure some people found it annoying.

[snappity]

Even though the endings to Another World and Flashback were pretty short and simplistic they were memorable for me. They both gave you a sense of relief while remaining somewhat ambiguous about the fate of the main characters. There's a sad and simultaneously hopeful feeling about them.

[ethanThomas]

I really like the ending to Fallout. I think that it managed to be surprising while still following logically from what had been previously established.

I found the ending of The Darkness to be bleak and horrible in a way that few games manage to be.

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I interpreted the last scene with Jenny as taking place in Jackie's head and it's the last thing he thinks before his soul is utterly consumed by the Darkness (similar to the ending in the Director's cut of Brazil).

The ending to Beyond Good and Evil just left me confused. The controls getting reversed for some portions of the final boss fight annoyed and frustrated me, but I also felt like I didn't understand the ending at all.

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So Jade gets some weird magic powers or something? Maybe? And for me, the cliffhanger at the end was less 'Oh man what's happening?' and more 'What is this Advent Rising type bullshit?'

Though, on the whole I didn't like that game as much as some people did, so I might just be bitter about having bad taste in video games. (Obligatory disclaimer: I certainly didn't hate the game, but my reaction was 'that was pretty decent' rather than 'Oh wow! That was amazing')

[Irishjohn]

I really liked the ending to Mass Effect. I thought it had a really cool space opera feel all the way through the last hour or so of the game. When that Faunts song kicks in with the end credits, well that was a really cool moment. I felt like I had just completed a very cool sci-fi action game. A lot of games just... end.

[LOPcagney]

Grim Fandango definitely is up there.

Deus Ex was memorable in that the endings, despite being relatively short, were all open-ended and morally ambiguous, and all ended by flashing up a relevant historical quote.

Wasn't thrilled about BGE's ending, even though the game as a whole was one of the best I've played in a while.

And HL2 Episode 2. Oh man. One of the more satisfying cliffhangers in games and movies. It didn't feel rushed or forced, just sort of natural.

[Sombre]

Kotor

[MrChaz]

HL2

Portal

[mikemariano]

Is it really dumb to say Super Mario World?

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Sure, there are no surprises, but I loved the fact that Mario's enemies get to take a bow during what's essentially a video game curtain call. "Hey, look at all these guys! You killed them all!"

Too many video game endings are merely a movie---"This is what happens next. The end." I like endings that make you feel like you accomplished something.

[eljay]

It most certainly is NOT dumb to suggest Super Mario World, I love that ending. Especially watching it with the weirdo alternate enemies after you finish the star levels!

[Patters]

  mikemariano said:

Is it really dumb to say Super Mario World?

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Sure, there are no surprises, but I loved the fact that Mario's enemies get to take a bow during what's essentially a video game curtain call. "Hey, look at all these guys! You killed them all!"

Too many video game endings are merely a movie---"This is what happens next. The end." I like endings that make you feel like you accomplished something.

The exact reason I like the ending to skies of arcadia.

[AdamGS]

Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Mainly just the way the camera pans around all these wodnerful areas you've explored during the credits. Lovely ending to a classic game.

[Hyetal]

Not sure what my favorite ending is, but the one I loved that's fairly recent in my mind is Dead Space. Some people I know said it came off as a cheap scare, but it did the trick for me.

I loved the story in it, though, so maybe I'm not entirely trustworthy.

I also really liked the way Braid ended. The final "climactic" level and how it completely shifts the perspective, in addition to the last few books and the hidden texts. It's a bit tragic, but it can also be interpreted in different ways. Good game, too.

[James]

  mikemariano said:

Is it really dumb to say Super Mario World?

Watching that, I was struck my how much of a part the music played in it. Good music can go a long way to making you feel a sense of closure at the end of something (There Will Be Blood has particularly well-selected credits music, I think). Recently most games are tending towards some fairly uninspired and generic movie-style scores, which, whilst not necessarily bad, don't do much to differentiate a game from everything else.

Thinking of recent endings, most of the stuff I come up with is stuff that happens in gameplay running up to the actual end (which is the ending portion; I just mean I'm not talking about cinematics or whatever): the second half of Portal, the last level of Braid... Well, that's more-or-less it, really. I may have forgotten other things, I suppose. Killer 7 is worth mentioning because it has a load of false endings. I found that pretty funny.

[elmuerte]

I didn't like Deus Ex' endings at all.

One of my favorite endings is the one of Normality. The LBA games also had very satisfying endings.

[miffy495]

Oh man, Super Mario World. I have beaten that game, played through in its entirety, solely to see that ending again. I don't know where my SNES got to after a move, and I bought and played it on Virtual Console simply because I love that damn ending so much. Thanks for that.

[Rez]

since this thread has already covered a lot of the classics, I'll mention a more recent, and maybe more controversial game: Prince of Persia (360/PS3/PC)

a lot of people really hated what you were forced to do, but I thought it was genius.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Got to say I wasn't a fan of KOTOR's ending... it felt rather rushed and unsatisfying to me. Still, I can't really argue with the rest of the list so far... Tim Schafer does endings very well it seems!

I really loved the final (mini)chapter of Monkey Island.

[Moelman]

  Rez said:

since this thread has already covered a lot of the classics, I'll mention a more recent, and maybe more controversial game: Prince of Persia (360/PS3/PC)

a lot of people really hated what you were forced to do, but I thought it was genius.

The ending to that game was not a real ending, you were forced to buy the DLC if you wanted the real ending. I did not buy the DLC because I can't support that, but I still enjoyed the game very much.

[Hyetal]

  Moelman said:

The ending to that game was not a real ending, you were forced to buy the DLC if you wanted the real ending. I did not buy the DLC because I can't support that, but I still enjoyed the game very much.

Isn't that a bit hyperbolic? I always thought the DLC ending was just to extend the story. I, myself, personally, found the ending to the full game more than adequate.

[n0wak]

The developer's room ending to Crono Trigger. It kind of showed just how much the creators loved the game they made and showed them as people with personalities and interests more than just a bunch of names scrolling by. Kind of a weird reason to like an ending, but it was nice and different.