Are unhappy endings bad ?

[krazykidd]

Just a little thought i had , Are unhappy endings in videogames ( or movies or books any story really ) a bad thing? Does a game that have a Unhappy ending make it a bad game ? Now im not talking about a game with multiple endings, just the ending of the actual game doesn't result in the 'Hero' wining . Do you have any examples of video games where this is the case?

I for one would like to see more video games have a Unhappy ending , like the hero dies ( as a sacrifice to save the world or not ) i find it would be more realistic and slightly more original than ' everyone lives happily ever after' .

I'll give an example , Lets just say if in Final fantasy 7 after the final boss, Sephiroth kills everyone and succeeds in destroying the world and the game ends there, The hero ( Cloud) fails in his quest to defeat him, what would be the reaction to the game in general ( i choose this game as example because almost everyone has played it) .

 

[EllEzDee]

Sad endings never go down well. Remember Fallout 3*insert game which doesn't reveolve around open world sandbox'n*? Suppose people don't like closure...
EDIT: Bad example...

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I get enough depressing outcomes in life to have the in gaming world too ... lol

 

[random_bars]

Actually, thinking about it, Halo 3 did this. I thought it was a pretty good ending personally.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Typically the unhappy ending is reserved for the 'bad' storyline in games with multiple endings.

The truly worst ending is a well done bittersweet ending, which most people seem to be confusing it with.

 

[Best of the 3]

Sad endings never go down well. Remember Fallout 3? Suppose people don't like closure...

The ending of that was fine, but presenting an open ended world with it then just stopping as soon as you finish? That was a slight kick in the balls.

Sad endings can be good, it's a lot easier to convey emotions in a sad ending. Especially negative ones, but also positive ones. That's how I see it anyway.

An example would be HL2 episode 2. The ending of that left me wanted more, and when I played it first time I was first shocked, then felt kind of saddend. I thought it was a great ending.

 

[RabbidKuriboh]

perfect example is ffX

the entire point of the game is self sacrifice and we know all throughout that either tidus or yuna are not going to make it, the game ends with tidus dying(i'm calling it dying!) and the world being a better place thanks to his sacrifice

look forward to X-2 where he springs back to life for no fucking reason other than "the last ending was too sad!"

 

[Marter]

It doesn't make it bad at all. Basing something on if the ending is happy or sad is silly to me.

 

[EcHoFiiVe]

I don't think any specific kind of ending is bad just because of what it is. An ending is not bad because it is sad, and ending is not bad because it is happy, nor is an ending bad because it is left open to interpretation. And ending is bad solely when it is executed badly. I think some kinds of ending may occasionally get a reputation for being bad because the creators of the story always end all of their stories with a certain kind of ending, and by chance they are a crappy writer or something, but I do not think any one kind of ending can be labeled as always bad.

 

[mireko]

Sad endings and happy endings aren't better or worse than the other, it just comes down to how well they're written. The biggest difference is that a cheap happy ending is unsatisfying and unengaging, whereas a cheap sad ending is all that and a bag of annoying.

That said, even a well-written ending can feel cheap in a game that has the wrong context. If FFVII had ended with everyone dying then it would be completely out of key with the rest of the story (okay, I can't remember the themes of VII, but I'm sure they mention the power of friendship at some point), and it would come across as mawkish and pretentious.

I can't actually think of any games that have completely bad endings outside of the survival horror genre.

Sad endings never go down well. Remember Fallout 3? Suppose people don't like closure...

That's less of a sad ending than a massively underwhelming and cheaply melodramatic ending. Not to mention the fact that it doesn't make any sense in context. Overall it's like Bethesda rubbing their balls on the Fallout franchise.

 

[ScoopMeister]

Halo Reach? I'm not sure if the hero 'loses' at the end of that exactly, since you manage to complete your mission and save the human race and everything, but you do die, along with everyone else left behind. So yeah, kinda sad ending, but definitely not bad. In fact, it was probably one of the best video game stories I've ever played.

 

[Phlakes]

Red Dead Redemption. Mother 3. FFX.

No, they can be some of the best.

 

[EllEzDee]

Sad endings never go down well. Remember Fallout 3? Suppose people don't like closure...

The ending of that was fine, but presenting an open ended world with it then just stopping as soon as you finish? That was a slight kick in the balls.

**FALLOUT 3 SPOILERS IN A THREAD ABOUT GAME EDINGS**
Forgot to put a spoiler in...anyways...
Yea, i figured that, but it was simple enough to just avoid that part of the story line...

Sad endings never go down well. Remember Fallout 3? Suppose people don't like closure...

That's less of a sad ending than a massively underwhelming and cheaply melodramatic ending. Not to mention the fact that it doesn't make any sense in context. Overall it's like Bethesda rubbing their balls on the Fallout franchise.

It was cheap, yea, but it was a fitting ending. "GUHHH GHOUL + SUPAH MUTANT CAN'T DO SIMPUL TASK" If maybe all of my followers were killed during the, ahem, great battle on the way there, like a scripted death, then maybe that would be cool. Then you'd meet the same fate as your dad in the same place for the same cause...

 

[Kpt._Rob]

Sad endings never go down well. Remember Fallout 3? Suppose people don't like closure...

Fallout 3 isn't really a good example though. The reason that the ending of Fallout pissed me off wasn't because it was sad, it was because in a sandbox game of that nature I expected to be able to play more even after I finished the main plot.

Games that have a more traditional liner storytelling method though can really be enhanced by a sad ending. Yes, a sad ending shouldn't be thrown in just to do it, but if used right it can give a lot of depth and emotion to a game. Movies can have sad endings, books can have sad endings, and games should be able to have sad endings too. A good example would be the first Condemned, which, well I'm not gonna call it a sad ending, but it sure as hell wasn't a happy ending. Still, that ending was so perfect for that game, I really wanted to know more, and it worked really well with the game.

 

[Ace of Spades]

If they're done well, then they're fine. Arbitrarily murdering the entire team of good guys at the last second doesn't make for a good ending, but having something that's more bittersweet can make a lasting impact.

 

[Best of the 3]

Sad endings never go down well. Remember Fallout 3? Suppose people don't like closure...

The ending of that was fine, but presenting an open ended world with it then just stopping as soon as you finish? That was a slight kick in the balls.

**FALLOUT 3 SPOILERS IN A THREAD ABOUT GAME EDINGS**
Forgot to put a spoiler in...anyways...
Yea, i figured that, but it was simple enough to just avoid that part of the story line...

To be fair neither of us have actually spoiled it so no need for the warning. If anyone doesn't know that it cuts off right at the end, well, they must kinda live under a rock.

But I like to play my sandboxes through and then go to all the little quests (or possibly new sidequests that finishing the main story opens up). And I would like to see and experience what changes that the main quest did for the sand box world. FO3 denied both of those with it's ending. Although I think it did warn you near the end (I can't remember if that was after a patch or if it was always there) but I also found that extremely game breaking.

"Warning, don't contiue here or you'll be finished and then in the shit."........ no thanks =/

 

[Risingblade]

I liked Persona 3's ending it was sad in a way

 

[moretimethansense]

Sad endings never go down well. Remember Fallout 3? Suppose people don't like closure...

It wasn't sad it was absofuckinglutly retarded!

"Fawkes you can't be hurt by radiation, right?"
"You must go in alone, I will not interfere with your destiny."
"But you could save my..."
"Destiny."
"But there's no logi..."
"DESTINY!"
"...Lions you're going in"

OT:
I've got nothing wrong with sad endings as long as they are satisfying, your FFVI example would be crap as it would be too sudden and go against the theme of the game, if it was built up to then hells yeah.

A short list of endings that were sad yet satisfying, or at least unsatisfying in a satisfying way:
WARNING, HERE BE SPOILERS!

Red Dead Redemption.
Persona 3.
Legacy of Kain (about half of them).
Any number of visual novels.
Half Life 2: EP 2
GTA VI
The origional Fallout.
Any Suikoden that you don't get all 108 on.
Final Fantasy X
At least one of X-2's endings
FFVII: Crisis Core.
Metal Gear Solid 3.
Most of the Endings on S.T.A.L.K.E.R: SoC
Diablo
Many of the poential endings for Heavy Rain.

I'll stop there but you get my point.

 

[EllEzDee]

Sad endings never go down well. Remember Fallout 3? Suppose people don't like closure...

The ending of that was fine, but presenting an open ended world with it then just stopping as soon as you finish? That was a slight kick in the balls.

**FALLOUT 3 SPOILERS IN A THREAD ABOUT GAME EDINGS**
Forgot to put a spoiler in...anyways...
Yea, i figured that, but it was simple enough to just avoid that part of the story line...

To be fair neither of us have actually spoiled it so no need for the warning. If anyone doesn't know that it cuts off right at the end, well, they must kinda live under a rock.

But I like to play my sandboxes through and then go to all the little quests (or possibly new sidequests that finishing the main story opens up). And I would like to see and experience what changes that the main quest did for the sand box world. FO3 denied both of those with it's ending. Although I think it did warn you near the end (I can't remember if that was after a patch or if it was always there) but I also found that extremely game breaking.

"Warning, don't contiue here or you'll be finished and then in the shit."........ no thanks =/

Ah, yea i know what you mean. The game doesn't in any way prepare you for what's going to happen. I only knew about the ending because i got the game a week or so later than everyone else, meaning i knew where it'd finish and how it'd finish. It's only once you've completed the game that you'll know exactly where to make your backup save...
As a few guys have said, i chose the wrong argument there...WHICH LEAVES THE FLOOR OPEN TO YOU GUYS *HINT HINT*

 

[DarthFennec]

Sad endings are really good a lot of the time, ever played Silent Hill 2? An ending is only bad if it doesn't wrap up the game satisfactorily.