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Can an Ending Ruin/Save an Entire Game?
Ganluan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I was talking with a friend recently who played Fallout 3 and was loving it up until the end. He seems to hate the ending so much that it retroactively destroyed the fun he had with the game up to that point. I remember there being quite an uproar over both Half Life 2 and Halo 2's endings, although being part of a trilogy makes that somewhat expected.
One odd thing is that I rarely ever see endings mentioned (positively or negatively) in reviews. Is this because reviewers don't typically finish the games? Would saying it was good or bad be impossible without going into spoiler territory?
I have to admit, Eternal Sonata's ending was so nonsensical it tainted my perception of the game. On the other hand, I thought Lost Odyssey's was good enough that it helped overshadow the fact they lost their way on the latter portion of the story.
One odd thing is that I rarely ever see endings mentioned (positively or negatively) in reviews. Is this because reviewers don't typically finish the games? Would saying it was good or bad be impossible without going into spoiler territory?
I have to admit, Eternal Sonata's ending was so nonsensical it tainted my perception of the game. On the other hand, I thought Lost Odyssey's was good enough that it helped overshadow the fact they lost their way on the latter portion of the story.
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This is also why I wish video games, in addition to getting better writers, would also get better editors. The number of glaring plotholes that you can only miss if you're too close to a project is a bit irritating, especially if the writing had been fairly good up until something completely random or illogical shows up.
I put 40+ hours into Ogre Battle 64 and got the worst ending I could, wasn't even going for it.
Man did I feel terrible about it after.
I don't remember the HL2 ending as being bashed. Actually, I liked it. Was very similar to the end of HL, so much so that I was waiting to jam my guns into G-Man's face and was looking foward to getting back at him (not so sure that will play out due to how the story in EP1+ has developed, but still...)
Actually, I think the ending of Portal was what made the game stick out to me. It was a fun game, yes. I'm not debating that. But the end? Added the icing that turned it from a well baked good to a pitch perfect cake (yes, another Portal/Cake reference). I soooo want my wife (who doesn't play games) to play that game just so she can understand the "Still Alive" song that we play on Rock Band 2.
Then, the ending was so much of this:
I'll probably never play it again just because of the ending alone.
If I'm enjoying a game all the way through, I've found I'll generally enjoy how it ends unless there's a huge tonal shift or it just feels unfinished (say, KOTOR2).
I was thinking exactly the same thing when I saw the thread title. It doesn't help that at no point in the game do they explicitly tell you how to get a good or bad ending. I didn't even think it was an especially "bad" ending though. Fuckers kicked me out and got what they deserved - and I like to think Magnus leads the barbarian hordes that eventually engulf the country.
Of course, that didn't even come close to ruining OB64 for me; and to be fair, I did beat it again to get the "good ending." Then again to get all the chaotic characters and the full bad ending (and extra final encounter). Then a few more times because fuck I love that game.
I'm what you might call an Ogre Battle fanboy though.
The short stories are still good though. They aren't really connected to the game, so that helps.
What made that one especially disappointing is that the last 15 minutes felt like they were leading up to something gloriously epic. But then you get this cliche mutant battle and bullshit story resolution.
It didn't really ruin the game for me though, just knocked it down a few points.
The evil ending doesn't disappoint though.
Here's a pro-tip for developers: You want to make a trilogy of games? A trilogy is three self-contained stories that tell a larger story when put together. It's not one story chopped up into three pieces.
Fuck.
I'd love to have a printed collection of those shorts.
I wasn't going to mention Bioshock specifically... but yeah... My favourite example of this, even if most people disagree with me
I was bored after the first hour or two. Some of the story was okay, but the enemy variety was lame, the Big Daddy fights uninspired and the "morality" choice so gamey that it removed any sense of importance.
To answer the question in the topic, I'd say it can. I agree with your friend; Fallout 3 would have been regarded as 100% phenomenal if not for that ridiculous ending setup, though I suppose it was already headed downhill for the last third (right after
I'm with you here. Star Wars is a great example. Each movie tells a story, but you put them together and you get a bigger story.
Indiana Jones and Back to the Future kinda work too, but with those it's really just 3 episodes involving the same characters.
Yeah, but we're talking about endings.
My love loss for Lost Odyssey was directly tied into the addition of each new character.
Once I got to the chick with the tits, I had pretty much stopped caring about them all.
You know, what with it being most kids first foray into this giant 3D Mario world with kickass Bowser fights you'd think Nintendo would have also cooked up this wicked end cinematic for you, but nope!
"Let's go eat cake!"
WELL YOU ARE FUCKING WELCOME PRINCESS!!!
At least Super Mario World and RPG gave you a parade and shit.
That ending really pissed me off. It really soured me on the series.
They're big, pale, and veiny. Probably the first in video games.
Keeping in mind you can also have a robot or ghoul sidekick, which would ignore or enjoy the radiation bath respectively.
Anyways, Fallout 3's ending didn't even dent it in my eyes. I just used it as a good reason to retire my first character, and then restarted with a new morality goal and with no incentive beyond exploration. I found this to be a significantly more enjoyable way to play the game.
I understand that the ending is bad, but I kind of found the whole main story bad, so it didn't really do anything besides give me some closure so I could move on.
Obvious example:
Most other forms of media can get away with these kinds of last-minute twists, both because they represent a far lesser time investment and also because they haven't required the audience to actually carry out the 'undone' actions. Of course, as mentioned,
Of course, many game endings are lacking simply due to the developers going "We've run out of game, let's wrap this up as quickly/simply as possible". Endings that succeed seem to 1) have been considered as an integral part of the story during the entire development process, 2) be the most impressive part of the game visually or in terms of gameplay, and 3) not a half-baked signpost for a trilogy that may never be made. This last one is very important.
Such a big shame.
No One Lives Forever was a fantastic experience throughout, but its spectacular finish will forever lodge the game in my mind as one of my all-time favorites.
Tomb Raider Chronicles had a pretty lame ending but it didn't ruin the game for me.
Did anyone finish Beyond Good and Evil? It had a halfway-decent story and I always wondered how it ended.
I guess it just depends on how good the story is. If the game sucks you in, you expect it to have a good story throughout and if your expectations are shattered then it affects your perception of everything else about the game.
If you don't care about the story to begin with, then the ending probably doesn't matter. I know I sure as hell wasn't disappointed in Doom's ending.
I haven't finished many games lately, though. I mostly play multiplayer.
While I wouldn't say it tainted my perception of the game, it was absolutely dreadful.
And that Mr Snail shit? WTF?