A Great Ending...

[Glongpre]

I just finished the Witcher 2, and that had to be one of the best endings I have seen. They gave you an epilogue to explain some details, then gave a nice summary of what is happening in the world. I feel that this is exactly what me3 fans wanted. Why is it so hard for people to do something as simple as this?

Who concurs? And what are some great endings that you enjoy?


Playthrough number 2 I am coming!

Captcha: Cloud Nine..... Stop stalking me captcha.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Mass Effect 2 had a great ending as well. The Witcher 2 is the second part of the trilogy, just like Mass Effect 2. So you can't really compare it to ME3. Maybe CD Project will fuck up The Witcher 3 ending. Not likely, but it's a possibility.

One of my all time favorites is probably the ending of Mafia.

 

[The Madman]

Mass Effect 2 had a great ending as well.

Since when? I remember everyone complaining about ME2's ending as well, deservedly so as well. Sure the entire concept of the suicide mission was neat but the actual story part of ME2's ending was rubbish. I mean ultimately everything that happens over the course of ME2 was just filler and makes almost zero difference. If Bioware had eliminated the entire plot of ME2 is would have made few real differences. The collectors were just filler, their demise pointless, their plans nonsensical.

Hell the most important parts of ME2's story are as follows: Shepard blows up a galaxy, which is DLC a lot of people will never have even seen anyway, and the Illusive man gets his hands on some Reaper tech, which could just have easily have been explained with him getting similar tech from one of the other destroyed Reapers out there. Maybe he's where all of Sovereigns parts vanished to after it was destroyed? That makes sense. But otherwise ME2 was pointless. Not bad mind you, the characters and their missions were a ton of fun, but as part of an overarching story it can more or less be summed up with "The Reapers are taking forever to get here, so go fight these others dudes in the meantime.".

Hell, a good chunk of ME2's companions only make cameo in ME3 anyway so even that aspect of the game could easily have been removed without harming the overall plot.

Of course we also don't know whether Witcher 3 will do the same thing with Witcher 2, but we'll see. Mass Effect 1 however, now THAT was a great ending.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Persona 4 because the end to a marathon 50+ hour games better be fucking good! It's rather simple really, you board a train and everyone says bye to you. BUT THE FEELS! FAWK!

Also Persona 3 because

Spoiler

The main character finally has the decency to die. >

I also liked the ending of Hanako's route (the good ending because I am so good at dodging bad endings) in Katawa Shoujo. Her route in general had a lot more meaningful moments.

Also she has an awesome hat. What is with me and female characters pulling off the hat look? Sure she's wearing it more for practicality rather than style but still.

 

[Glongpre]

Mass Effect 2 had a great ending as well. The Witcher 2 is the second part of the trilogy, just like Mass Effect 2. So you can't really compare it to ME3. Maybe CD Project will fuck up The Witcher 3 ending. Not likely, but it's a possibility.
.

The Witcher 2 can stand on it's own. The story has it's own arc and is a completely contained adventure. It isn't a filler game. I can compare it to me3 because they are both rpgs that want decisions to have an impact. The Witcher 2 tells you the impact, while me3 does not.

And me2 ending was a cliffhanger, which is never good. The only Mass Effect game with a good ending is me1.

 

[balladbird]

out of classic games, I recall really enjoying the end of medievil for the PS1. I was just a kid at the time, but I thought it was awesome that the narrative remembered to cover every base the levels created, letting you see that things were fixed. It wouldn't stand up to a modern list but in terms of feelings that one'll always have a special place in my heart. XD especially since up to that point I was used to endings that consisted of only a line or two, or just the word "congratulations"


hmm... Nocturne's endings were a bit simplistic, but made up for it with the emotions they invoked. Especially the ones you got if you took a third option and didn't side with any of the established factions in the game.

Oh, and I liked Final fantasy 8's ending, as well. *is shot* Oh come one! Hatred of FF8 may be merited to some, but at least it had an ending that resolved crap! not just cutting off with an ambiguous shot of a family of reds looking over a city.

 

[Warachia]

Also Persona 3 because

Spoiler

The main character finally has the decency to die. >

I hated that ending, I hated the expansion for that ending, you go through the whole game only to be forced into a cutscene fight (one of the best ways to make your ending feel cheap) almost everyone forgets the game happened (for no reason) then they remember (for no reason) then fade to credits with no epilogue, the expansion is just filler that doesn't help to make the ending feel any different.

 

[Souplex]

I have to say, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective.
Everything is tied up in such a neat and satisfying fashion.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Metal Gear Solid 3 comes to mind for the most sweeping, complete-feeling ending, despite not trying to tie everything up as the next game would. By the time Eva's done you understand the reason for Big Boss' eventual defection, starting with his salute of his fallen mentor in the graveyard drawing to mind any number of uniformed war veterans. Pretty good character model for LBJ considering how brief that scene is. We've also come to expect Ocelot getting the last word in by now. In fact MGS3 may actually work better than the first game as a stand-alone.

Going really far back, Lufia 2 for SNES. Its final battles were the intro to Lufia 1, so it's all the more jarring when things go 'off-script' and the main villain's ghost makes one last attempt out of spite to destroy the homeland of the hero and his wife. No one but the two of them will ever know about the final sacrifice that was made to save their son and heir, nor the revelation of their fortune-telling guides' true origin. We're also given a final speech from all the other characters back in their respective home kingdoms, even the brawny but dim-witted Dekar, and it ends with Maxim and Selan ascending together.

 

[Xdeser2]

Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins had awesome endings, same with the Enhanced Edition of the Witcher 2. However, my 2 favorite endings of all time are in Halo: CE and Mass Effect 2, simply because how great their ending levels were.

 

[william12123]

I agree with the witcher 2. I'd liek to add Red Alert 2 (oldie but goodie), Bastion and Fez. The fez ending was really weird, but still satisfying. I also found it funny that in Red Alert 2 (and this includes the expansion) the soviet ending was always objectively better for the world than the allied one. And you had ENDLESS POWER! MUHAHAHA

999 (for ds ) also has a great ending ending. It might have annoyed some people, but having to play through twice to get the "best" ending was oddly fitting.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

Persona 3 ending because it was the strongest Fridge moment I've ever experienced.

Persona 4:Golden extended epilogue ending, because it wrapped up things perfectly, was incredibly sweet and managed to show how much everyone in your party changed just through visual design alone!

Front Mission 3 Emma campaign ending. It is really bittersweet and ambiguous.

The Last of Us ending... damn that freaking ending. It wraps up the story and perfectly establishes just what kind of person Joel is.

 

[gideonkain]

Shiny's Messiah had a crazy ending.

http://youtu.be/wu5FRbQkg94?t=8m15s

 

[The]

Team Fortress 2 ending. It was so beautiful. So many hats. *sniff*

My real pick is Hotline Miami. Not that it answered many questions or felt complete or anything, but the story was made in a way that it was very ambiguous and mysterious; it lingered on in your mind well after you finished playing. A real sense of "holy shit!" when you see how all the events add up (or don't seem to add up). Or maybe it's just me. Less is more, you could say. And yes, I liked that Bayonetta-style fake out ending, where there's still more after the credits.

The Citadel DLC for ME3 had a nice ending as well. The way my Shepard stared off into the scenery outside, most likely contemplating his life, and his squadmates joining him was just beautiful. It really struck a chord with me with all the adventures I (we) had.

 

[Ikasury]

i honestly thought ME3's ending was fine originally, as a writer and fangirl of scifi, anime and video games i didn't really see what was so wrong with the original ending? i mean i love watching Wuxia and Samurai movies and those of some of the WORST endings as either everyone's dead or no one's happy, great movies though and it all makes sense as to why it happens... by a literary standpoint and, i dunno how to put it, 'film ending' thing ME3's ending was actually great in that it ended... all things end, its how it goes, the hero's journey has one of two ways of ending if you REALLY pay attention to anything:

A: all of the hero's companions make some sacrifice to get them to their final destination... and they die
B: the hero makes it to their final destination... and they die

typically giving the 'ultimate sacrifice' or beating the 'big bad' but this is generally how all endings go, especially in video games... i dunno, it satisfied me and made me happy, i didn't get the big WHAT-THE-FUCK other's did, thought getting an epilogue was really sweet...

as for endings that kick major ass?

i'm gonna have to go with The Legend of Dragoon ending, covers everything, all things settled, feel good all around, and a great epilogue, and all the characters are happy... down right feels good :3

for the opposite or A-path ending, Digital Devil Saga... hey, at least you got to kill god and save the world :3

 

[Lieju]

I have to say, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective.
Everything is tied up in such a neat and satisfying fashion.

Yes.
It's easy to write a mystery that begins in an interesting way (I'm looking at you, Fahrenheit), but it's completely different to write a mystery with a satisfying ending.

Also Eternal Darkness; Sanity's requiem.
It gives you the sense of victory but still keeps the hopelessness going on.

Especially if you get the final 'true' ending where you find out

Spoiler

All has gone the way Mantorok planned and because of you the Corpse God has now gotten rid of all it's competition.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I agree with Mass Effect 2, but I'll have to (somewhat predictably) say Fallout 3. It summed up your journey in the Wasteland in a really concise way, while emphasising the main theme of self-sacrifice. I think New Vegas, while trying to do the same, fell flat as it was too overlong and gave details on every single freaking thing in the world. And then the freaking DLCs all had an ending like it. Fallout 3 nearly made me cry. New Vegas made me sleep.

 

[The Danger]

The last five or so minutes of Bastion, and credits.

The moment when you choose to save Zulf and the sequence that followed genuinely surprised and moved me. Especially since it very skillfully puts you in "game mode" (oh god, I need to chug all my health potions to make it through this bit, I bet), forms a bridge of hopelessness both in terms of story and gameplay (well, shit, I think I'm out of potions. I'm gonna die.), and then really strikes an emotional chord when your confusion as to why you're not dead has a definite, simultaneously tragic and heartwarming answer (all of it in gameplay, no cutscene malarkey).

Bastion also has one of the few instances of "two buttons in the last room for an ending" that I feel is entirely justified. The Bastion is able to rewind time, thus erasing the miseries caused by the Calamity; however, Zia makes an appeal to the bond that has formed between the whole gang, urging you to simply use the Bastion as a flying fort to see what's left of the world.

I genuinely thought about this decision, and then scolded myself afterward. "The needs of the many, dude," I told myself, and proceeded to wind back time for the sake of all the ashen statues I had run across.

The ending credits theme is a melodramatic mix of Zulf and Zia's theme, along with a montage of pictures. As image after image drifted by, I realized what I had done: I had simply let it all happen again. The pain, the pointless sorrow of it all was doomed to repeat itself--and since part of that sequence was my decision to go back, I knew that I had just condemned this world to go through its apocalypse again and again and again.

Of course, I had an opportunity to set things right in the New Game Plus mode--a clever deconstruction of the device--but I still remember how I felt at the exact moment when the enormity of my foolish, good-intentioned crime dawned on me.

 

[Kyrian007]

Often the hardest fought battles make even the simplest of endings just that much more enjoyable.

Spoiler

Final Fantasy Tactics also had a great ending. But recently game endings are just the end of the story, and not what they used to be... the payoff for being good enough to best a game. Nothing wrong with the way things are now, game stories can be good and complex and a good ending is an important part of any story. But back in the day when games were challenging and endings were for those with skill rather than just free time... getting an ending just felt like more of an accomplishment.

 

[LetalisK]

Probably my favorite, though it's beginning to fade from memory and was only brought up by Steam sale discussions, is Hitman: Blood Money.

Mass Effect 2 had a great ending as well.

Since when?

Since I decided it. The funny thing about opinions is that everyone gets to have their own. Including you, obviously, nothing wrong with disliking it.