Can an Ending Ruin/Save an Entire Game?

Jurg

Sepah wrote: »

Dritz wrote: »

Personally endings can ruin games for me. The food example should be Gameplay = preparing food, ending = eating for me heh. The whole after eating thing would be waiting through credits to save for a new game+ or something.

I don't think Final Fantasy VI was mentioned enough in the category of good endings. Perhaps it's because it was the first ending I ever saw where effort was put into it (other than FFIV).

I was kind of disappointed with the bad ending of Disgaea. I can see where one would like the bittersweetness of it but it was not for me. It didn't help that the requirement to not get it was kind of arbitrary. Thankfully the new game+ mechanic made it relatively painless to go for the better ending.

I liked the 'bad' ending of Disgaea the most.

It was serious, solemn, something that underscored the rest of the game like none of the other endings did.

Granted, it was also motivation to beat it again with the 'good' ending.

Thank you. The bad ending to Disgaea is another one of my favorite endings.

Actually, that, Contact, and Crisis Core are the only game endings I truly enjoy.

urahonky

Damn, I forgot about CC's ending. That was such a sad ending.

Antithesis

Beyond Good and Evil's ending left me feeling very satisfied, then briefly shocked, then ever-so-slightly-annoyed, and finally pretty happy. Funny thing is, the minor cliffhanger at the end left me more with concern for the character(s) than annoyance at the developer- shows that they actually made people (using the term liberally) that I cared about.

Has there been any more news about BGaE 2 since those teasers?

AnteCantelope

farbekrieg wrote: »

Willybubba wrote: »

The Gow2 ending in and of itself wasn't too bad. The last boss was tho'. WAY easy.

I am unsure if the boss was specifically made too easy because the boss from gow was just that much harder than it should have been. The combination of the story not really progressing (ohh the locusts are having a civil war, the queen, the squires, etc at the lost bunker i was sure they were going to do a firefly and zmog we totally created the locusts).

However the combination of the entire last lvl/wtf is going on in the storyline really limits my desire to do anything else with the franchise.

Additionally Ill throw out the ending of the Force Unleashed was complete and utter garbage, im excited what can be done with the engine but if lucas is going to declare his games to be canon and insist on meddling with the story, it makes me think the stories are going to suuuuck (im sorry if this was obvious to everyone else before it came out, im a little slow sometimes).

However after how poor the ending was for saints row, I have to say im quite pleased with how saints row II finished up, not exactly an instant classic but a very nice upgrade from the original. Im trying to think of anything else from the past year that ive played that ended better and am drawing a bit of a blank.

I thought that the plot to the Force Unleashed was great, until the ending ruined it.

The idea that Vader created the rebellion to distract the Emperor for long enough to take control of the empire is pretty cool. Then they go for a lame "actually we're just trying to gather all our enemies to one group so that we can crush them" twist. Twists should step the plot up a notch, right? This one goes from crazy interesting idea to boring, predictable, and logically flawed cliche.

I wouldn't say that it ruined the whole game, because I still like the (horribly flawed) gameplay, but it completely killed any desire I might have had to play through the story again.

Fiatil

kedinik wrote: »

I'm partial to the ending of Bloodlines. All the foreshadowing was turned on its head in a clever way, and with the right choice your character walks away as an extreme badass.

Very truth. Bloodlines goes down as one of the buggy RPGs rushed out of the door too soon that I love so very much, and it's one of the rare ones that actually has an awesome ending. Thank god Troika used what was left of their time to make the story awesome instead of fixing bugs, especially considering I somehow managed to have no game breaking bugs in all of my playthroughs.

Feral

SithDrummer wrote: »

AuburnTiger wrote: »

Regarding Fallout 3:

What companions? All of mine had died in battle. It was just me and Sarah. I loved the Fallout 3 ending. Serves you fuckers right for getting so hyped up on previews and press releases. That's why I don't look at anything about a game coming out; I like to be completely surprised.

Yeah, I always get hyped about games that remains consistent in what their rules are. What a drag, I know.

Seriously.

I didn't follow the hype for Fallout 3 at all. I actually had really low expectations of it, and ended up enjoying it immensely... until the end, which pretty much shat on everything leading up to that point, for exactly the reasons mrsnackroad and Lanrutcon described.

Asiina

Agreed. It just doesn't make any damn sense and could have been solved in any number of ways.

If you have Fawkes your dialogue option is literally "Hey Fawkes, why don't you go in, you're resistant to radiation" and he goes "No buddy, it's your destiny."

Considering like 20 minutes earlier he had sworn himself to protect you forever and ever.

In a more general way about endings, I hate endings that are short. If I've just played a 30-40 hour game, I expect at least 4 or 5 minutes of ending wrap-up after I save the universe or rescue my girlfriend or whatever. I just finished playing Bioshock and even though I got the good ending, it was still really short and kinda disappointing that there wasn't more to it.

The_Scarab

AnteCantelope wrote: »

farbekrieg wrote: »

Willybubba wrote: »

The Gow2 ending in and of itself wasn't too bad. The last boss was tho'. WAY easy.

I am unsure if the boss was specifically made too easy because the boss from gow was just that much harder than it should have been. The combination of the story not really progressing (ohh the locusts are having a civil war, the queen, the squires, etc at the lost bunker i was sure they were going to do a firefly and zmog we totally created the locusts).

However the combination of the entire last lvl/wtf is going on in the storyline really limits my desire to do anything else with the franchise.

Additionally Ill throw out the ending of the Force Unleashed was complete and utter garbage, im excited what can be done with the engine but if lucas is going to declare his games to be canon and insist on meddling with the story, it makes me think the stories are going to suuuuck (im sorry if this was obvious to everyone else before it came out, im a little slow sometimes).

However after how poor the ending was for saints row, I have to say im quite pleased with how saints row II finished up, not exactly an instant classic but a very nice upgrade from the original. Im trying to think of anything else from the past year that ive played that ended better and am drawing a bit of a blank.

I thought that the plot to the Force Unleashed was great, until the ending ruined it.

The idea that Vader created the rebellion to distract the Emperor for long enough to take control of the empire is pretty cool. Then they go for a lame "actually we're just trying to gather all our enemies to one group so that we can crush them" twist. Twists should step the plot up a notch, right? This one goes from crazy interesting idea to boring, predictable, and logically flawed cliche.

I wouldn't say that it ruined the whole game, because I still like the (horribly flawed) gameplay, but it completely killed any desire I might have had to play through the story again.

I inferred that

That was Vader's initial plan but either the Emperor found out or shit hit the fan and he had to abort. Either way, the plot was the only good thing about Force Unleashed. How do you fuck up lightsabers so badly?

AnteCantelope

The_Scarab wrote: »

AnteCantelope wrote: »

farbekrieg wrote: »

Willybubba wrote: »

The Gow2 ending in and of itself wasn't too bad. The last boss was tho'. WAY easy.

I am unsure if the boss was specifically made too easy because the boss from gow was just that much harder than it should have been. The combination of the story not really progressing (ohh the locusts are having a civil war, the queen, the squires, etc at the lost bunker i was sure they were going to do a firefly and zmog we totally created the locusts).

However the combination of the entire last lvl/wtf is going on in the storyline really limits my desire to do anything else with the franchise.

Additionally Ill throw out the ending of the Force Unleashed was complete and utter garbage, im excited what can be done with the engine but if lucas is going to declare his games to be canon and insist on meddling with the story, it makes me think the stories are going to suuuuck (im sorry if this was obvious to everyone else before it came out, im a little slow sometimes).

However after how poor the ending was for saints row, I have to say im quite pleased with how saints row II finished up, not exactly an instant classic but a very nice upgrade from the original. Im trying to think of anything else from the past year that ive played that ended better and am drawing a bit of a blank.

I thought that the plot to the Force Unleashed was great, until the ending ruined it.

The idea that Vader created the rebellion to distract the Emperor for long enough to take control of the empire is pretty cool. Then they go for a lame "actually we're just trying to gather all our enemies to one group so that we can crush them" twist. Twists should step the plot up a notch, right? This one goes from crazy interesting idea to boring, predictable, and logically flawed cliche.

I wouldn't say that it ruined the whole game, because I still like the (horribly flawed) gameplay, but it completely killed any desire I might have had to play through the story again.

I inferred that

That was Vader's initial plan but either the Emperor found out or shit hit the fan and he had to abort. Either way, the plot was the only good thing about Force Unleashed. How do you fuck up lightsabers so badly?

I don't think so. It seems like everything has been set up to trick whatshisname into going through with the plan to create a rebellion, because if he knew it was a trap then he'd warn the rebellion when he became close to them. Also because a jedi may be able to figure it out. At the end, the emperor seems to take credit for the plan, which led me to believe he'd planned the entire thing (because if anyone can successfully pull off a plan that complicated, it's him).

EliteDoomMaster

kedinik wrote: »

I'm partial to the ending of Bloodlines. All the foreshadowing was turned on its head in a clever way, and with the right choice your character walks away as an extreme badass.

I agree...

Being thrown into the sea because of the wrong choice was quite the ending.

Tim James

I looked through my backlog from last year and cannot come up with a game where the ending ruined or saved it. I don't let bad endings bother me, and if a game pisses me off, a good ending doesn't help much (though it does a bit).

The only thing I kept thinking of while reading this thread is Freespace 2. The ending itself is good and all, but the entire last half of the game keeps getting more awesome. I was confused why anyone would like it until I got to the later missions, and now it's one of my favorite games of all time. But it's hard to call half of the campaign "the ending."

Jurg

Tim James wrote: »

I looked through my backlog from last year and cannot come up with a game where the ending ruined or saved it. I don't let bad endings bother me, and if a game pisses me off, a good ending doesn't help much (though it does a bit).

The only thing I kept thinking of while reading this thread is Freespace 2. The ending itself is good and all, but the entire last half of the game keeps getting more awesome. I was confused why anyone would like it until I got to the later missions, and now it's one of my favorite games of all time. But it's hard to call half of the campaign "the ending."

Contrast The Great Maze.

greeble

Kyougu wrote: »

I think an ending that actually heighten the overall game was Crisis Core's, and more specifically, the use of the DMW slot. Through out the game it's a system that I put up with, rarely paid attention to, and was at times annoyed with. Then..

As you fight all the Shinra soldiers, the DMW starts spinning again, highlighting memories, and breaking up as you obviously start dying. It was a really effective way of highlighting that Zack was faltering and what he was going through.

Seriously, I love the crap out of that ending. I actually teared up, and that's with me knowing that it was coming.

Agreed Crisis Core had one of the best game endings ever. It made me really sad when my friend crapped out on the game before the end. He had over farmed all the extra missions so much that the main story was super easy so he quit.

urahonky

greeble wrote: »

Kyougu wrote: »

I think an ending that actually heighten the overall game was Crisis Core's, and more specifically, the use of the DMW slot. Through out the game it's a system that I put up with, rarely paid attention to, and was at times annoyed with. Then..

As you fight all the Shinra soldiers, the DMW starts spinning again, highlighting memories, and breaking up as you obviously start dying. It was a really effective way of highlighting that Zack was faltering and what he was going through.

Seriously, I love the crap out of that ending. I actually teared up, and that's with me knowing that it was coming.

Agreed Crisis Core had one of the best game endings ever. It made me really sad when my friend crapped out on the game before the end. He had over farmed all the extra missions so much that the main story was super easy so he quit.

Yeah, seriously I think that is one of the best endings ever. The worst part was: you knew what was going to happen (if you've played FF7) but man...

Fiatil

EliteDoomMaster wrote: »

kedinik wrote: »

I'm partial to the ending of Bloodlines. All the foreshadowing was turned on its head in a clever way, and with the right choice your character walks away as an extreme badass.

I agree...

Being thrown into the sea because of the wrong choice was quite the ending.

That's what you get for not instinctively knowing that

All Que-Jin are douchebags.