00:00
00:00
View Profile oxyjen

Age 43, Female

Candy Coated Gaming!

Brooklyn baby!

PA

Joined on 9/24/06

Level:
5
Exp Points:
270 / 280
Exp Rank:
> 100,000
Vote Power:
4.49 votes
Rank:
Civilian
Global Rank:
> 100,000
Blams:
0
Saves:
0
B/P Bonus:
0%
Whistle:
Normal
Trophies:
1
Medals:
8

Video Game Endings

Posted by oxyjen - December 10th, 2007


That's It?
Graphics may have improved but the endings in videogames still come up short.

Let's face it; many videogames come with disappointing and anti-climatic endings.
I guess to developers the logic is that a player has already bought the game, so why worry as much about the ending as they do about the gameplay. But, people talk you know. A person who finishes a game ultimately tells others about it and if a game had a lame-ass ending to not waste their money. And lest not forget, that developers don't really want to "end" things and give us closure. They always want to leave a game open for a sequel.

To be fair, the endings are better now than they used to be. Most old, old games had endings like "Congratulations - you've completed the game." But then again back in the day, you rarely played a game to "finish" it, you played it to play it. For example, the goal of Pac-Man, for all intents and purposes, was to keep playing. The game never really ends it just repeats from the beginning. You're playing for points, after all.

The ending, is the most important part of any story. The beginning sets the scene, the middle develops the characters, and the ending is the pay off of the whole shebang. You can develop the coolest and most interesting characters in the world, but what matters most is where they end up. Not to be a Negative Nancy or anything, trust me as a writer I do realize how hard it must be to write a powerful end to an entire videogame, I do. That being said however, I still reserve the right to complain about endings that suck!it

Y'know something, sad endings are irritating in the world of videogaming! Dramatic and touching, okay fine. Understandable.
But what's the deal with all the sad, unhappy endings anyway? Why play a game if in the end all the work you put into it ends up with you failing your mission anyway? Most games are so difficult nowadays, with you constantly failing and dying within the levels before (and if) you actually beat the game it makes no sense that when you actually do everything right, the ending still comes out with you failing!

So what is the ideal ending? It's simple really, gamers want big, gamers want explosives! Gamers want the ultimate in end-game challenges. Gamers want huge gunfights; gamers want a near miss escapes from exploding buildings; and most of all gamers want a huge boss battle!

Check out the rest here-and that will be the end of it!

Video Game Endings


Comments

Then again, if the story calls for it a sad ending is entirely appropriate. Also games are getting alot easier, not harder. Bioshock for example, it had no repercussions for death. Also I find the endings that are low key, lots of talking and heartfelt dialogue are the best. Though I do enjoy a good shooter going out with a bang, but that is most definitely not the best.

Untrue, Pacman was successfully "beaten" by some guy. He had his own special on G4 about a few months back.

It's funny, I agree with GAHAZ on games getting easier. You can also take the Half-Life 2 series (the first was actually a challenge). Every time you're low on health, there will be a medic pack magically appearing. What do I mean? Well, aside from being stored there, if you have, let's say 20 or lower health, and you kill an enemy, they drop some health. I don't want to continue with that, but yeah, they leave cliffhangers in a side note. Such as in HL2, when the tower is about to explode, it stops. In HL2:E1, you're on a train that crashes, and in HL2:E2, Eli gets (possibly) killed.

I agree that the ending is important and it should be story intense like the rest of the game, also Big BIG bosses so you feel even better at the end. Well overall I think FF hits that spot :)
Still overall the game is more important than the start and end as if you win the game without the thrilling and complex centre then you will feel un-fullfilled.
If the start middle and end all form together correctly the game is always good. Same goes for programs aswell.
Personally an unhappy or evil ending is always a good change, afterall you can't expect everything to work out perfectly, if you do hardship for an ending which says you basicly failed, if it gives a good reson then it can be better than a happy ending.

It's even more ludicrous when you get a game over screen after you beat the game (e.g. Most Arcade games, Gunstar Super Heroes, Clay Fighter 63 1/3). I hate that.

"Most games are so difficult nowadays, with you constantly failing and dying within the levels before (and if) you actually beat the game it makes no sense that when you actually do everything right, the ending still comes out with you failing!"

really? look at old games like Metroid and Ghouls n' Ghosts and pretty much any classic game and they're balls hard, games are becoming steadily easier over the years and thats just well known, and its not like ALL endings are completely dissapointing

I always loved the end of Chrysalis, the old NES game. Your character finally discovers his hidden past, only to find that his life is actually tied to the villain he has been trying to bring down. The happiest moment for your character is that he is about to die by his own hand, fulfilling the quest that he has spent 30-odd game hours trying to achieve.

It sounds cliche, but this was like 15 years ago and fairly original for its time. I loved that game and still do. The level grinding was tedious though :\

Well what about the Halo ending? Huh? ... Huh?

Yeah I know ...

hm... agree with some things said here, i love good endings. however, you can't forget the rest of the story progression. Shadow of the Colossus epitomizes this for me... awesome gameplay, but they had no story progression (ish) until right before the last boss (the horse).

hm... someone was talking about FF, and doing the final BIG boss battle well. For two of the many FF games I've played (9 & 10), there was amazing lead up to the final bosses (Kuja and Jecht), then the final boss lets you down (Necron and Yu Yevon). Of course, story wise, they have the endings done beautifully.

Well, you're right.
Video games need better endings!

But hey, I just finished the game. I had fun

You're right. A good game ending is hard to find. I'd say probably the worst ending I've ever come across is in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, where the whole game leads up to the villain winning. But the stupid thing about the ending is that you have the evil Arthas, who's almost a tragic hero when you think about it, actually considering all the horrible things he's done, and wanting to repent. The final cutscene makes it look like he's going to destroy his master the Lich King, but he actually just takes the Lich King's power for himself. The game ends with a shot of Arthas sitting on an icy throne in the middle of an arctic plain. So basically, the game ends with about 728 loose ends. Characters heavily dominant in the original storyline are never heard from again, Illidan the badass demonic elf is defeated but probably not dead, the orcs don't feature at all in the second storyline, and Arthas is still the villainous asshole he was in the beginning--even though they made it look like he was going good.
Blizzard engineered an entire game--and ended a rather epic series-- in a way
purely meant to market World of Warcraft. They're now planning to end the story
with an expansion to WoW. RPG's SUCK for storytelling.

Sorry, that was probably way too long, but I had to rant a little :D A game as awesome as Warcraft needs a better ending!

really nice but when I'm playing a shooter for an example and boss battle simply sucks for the sole reason of people thinking the boss should be killed in a special way instead of just making it another soldier but then difficult. Take gears of war for an example it has a great gameplay but it sucks that they put in Berserkers and the end of some levels wich you have to get out in the open sky and the fire your laser (wich also needs time to charge) to kill it mostly you need to shoot twice to. And the real pain in the ass is that normal weapons don't work, and when the beserker comes to close you are dead in one hit. So I don't want boss battles like that, boss battles are only good when you are playing an action game such as Assassins Creed (had a good ending). And the last battle isn't everything either you need some cutscenes/movies in your game and also at the end. The cutscenes/movies were done very good in Assassins Creed and Halo 3 wich both had a very good ending and a very good story, so mostly you can already know if the ending is good or not when you are playing the game. If you like the ending well that is going to be a surprise

O and another game with a good story The Darkness (xbox 360)

Call of Duty 4 had a better ending then any game or Current War Fiction book!! It was the greatest story line I have ever seen from any game!

There is one slightly sad ending that springs to mind that I witnessed recently. Kane And Lynch produced a realistic ending that made me feel sorry for Kane.

*SPOILER*
He could either save his daughter straight away and leave his team mates to burn. He will then be hated by Lynch and his daughter for leaving them to burn. Or, he can go into the village. He finds only one of his team mates still alive and even then he freaks out and gets himself killed. Kane's daughter gets shot and Lynch gets shot. The likely hood of them two surviving is slim and even Lynch comments that you should of gotten out of there with your daughter on the helicopter while you had the chance.

It's just kind of sad that either way, you end up either hated by your "friend" Lynch and your daughter a lot or they end up being shot, your daughter going unconscious and Lynch not appearing to move on the boat at the end.

*END SPOILER*

Besides Kane And Lynch, I can't name a game off the top of my head I honestly felt a little saddened by the ending.

that why i like clock tower. Its have 10 diferents endings!
to bad that the clock tower 3 sucked big time =/

What you are saying is true. Most games end like that. Example Halo 3. At the end of halo 3 you are stuck in space and Master Chief freeses himself ( SPOILER ALERT) but if you beat legendary on the final level you see him (after he freeses himself) drifting to another planet. I predict there will be a Halo 4 BUT IF I AM WRONG DON'T SPAM ME.