Are unhappy endings bad ?

[Ryuu Akamatsu]

"Onimusha: Dawn Of Dreams" had a sad ending. I played the heck out of this game while I was recovering from a sprained ankle and I loved it. The end broke my heart but it was well done. I won't say what it is but you'll never look at Cherry Blossoms the same way again.

 

[Denamic]

There's a difference between a sad ending and a kick in the balls.
Sephiroth killing everyone despite everything you did is the latter.
Your goal being achieved at the cost of something very dear to you is an example of a sad ending.
Like in Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together.
During the course of the story, sad, sad shit (may) happen.
And even when you achieve your ultimate goal and everyone (except you) lives happily ever after, you'll be sad.

Oh, and Fallout 3's original ending wasn't a sad ending.
Two companions that could EASILY have done 'that' for you without any negative consequences, and they just don't.
That's not sad, that's bullshit.

 

[DreamerM]

What does it say about storytelling in games that when a game gives me a "sad" ending, my impulse is to play the last mission again and figure out where I went wrong?

That's what happened to me at the end of Red Dead Redemption. Sniff.

 

[GWarface]

Depends on alot...
I recently saw the movie Four Lions, and even though its a fun movie, it has quite a sad ending.. But it fits the theme, so im fine with that..

 

[Sarge034]

Sometimes it workes. The Mist comes to mind.

Spoiler: WARNING graphic spoiler

 

[KissofKetchup]

snip

Not to be the forum police, but I started a thread kinda like this a year ago.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.192185-Why-should-I-have-a-sense-of-accomplishment-and-success-if-the-planet-was-destroyed#6048998

I say that they are not bad at all and more games should have them.

 

[Tony2077]

i don't care as long as they don't kill off the main character. go through hell just to die bad story writing in my book

 

[Zukhramm]

A game needs a fitting ending. If it's been all light hearted friendly adventure through the game, some kind of depressing sad ending is not good. An ending alone is niether right nor wrong, it needs to fit with what lead to it.

 

[Valanthe]

Sad endings being bad? far from it. Sadness is one of the more powerful emotions humanity can empathise with, and seeing a character we have come to connect/associate ourselves with can leave a powerful and lasting impression.

Hell a certain english playwright's most famous works entirely revolve around sad/bittersweet endings. *SPOILER* Romeo and Juliet do not buy a farm in Southern England and live happily ever after *SPOILER*

 

[hem dazon 90]

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.

Protip: Don't link to TV Tropes

EVER

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

I'm fine with sad endings as long as they are done well.

This example is a BAD way to handle it:

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) .

Why is it a bad way to end a game? Because it leaves the player going "WTF WAS THE POINT OF ALL THIS?!?".

A sad ending must be sad, but it must also convey a sense of accomplishment. The player must feel sad, but also feel like they did what had to be done to save the world.

Or you just blow their mind and make them go "NO....I was wrong the whole time...what did I just do?!?".

Just ending it with a "and so they heroes all failed and died" makes the average player feel like everything they did was a total waste of time and effort.

 

[Drakmorg]

Personally, I'd much rather prefer a well executed but sad ending to a terrible but happy one.

 

[alinos]

Nope there refreshing im sick of games and movies that always end predictably because the audience didn't like the non nice ending.

Newsflash not everything works out especially when you look at a segment of someone's life, if they haven't died at the end of the movie it doesn't mean they can't fix their situation. it's just not a part of the story that was being told.

My biggest issue though is stupid unhappy ending's the one that always come to thought is the one from I Am Legend, hmm theres this duct that i can escape down and throw the nade at you or i can run and kamakaze it.

sure part of it was that he couldn't live without his family, he'd lost his best friend. But i can't help but feel they could have approached it differently

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

A game needs a fitting ending. If it's been all light hearted friendly adventure through the game, some kind of depressing sad ending is not good. An ending alone is niether right nor wrong, it needs to fit with what lead to it.

Oh yeah, for sure. I experienced that firsthand.

Magical Starsign spoilers follow, although I'm sure everyone has either played that game, or no longer cares.

Spoiler

....Oh my gosh...the first half is super lighthearted (and awesome), then the second half suddenly has tons of depressing parts (including a suicide, for crying out loud!), and then in the end...Well fine, you save the universe. But the teacher you spent the whole damn game trying to bring home not only dies, but dies by being slowly turned into gummy (as in the candy)! And then the classmates that journeyed together and reinforced their fast friendship.....all go their separate ways and never see each other again. >_< I was so disappointed.

 

[Jaime_Wolf]

Yes. Unhappy endings are unilaterally bad and any game with an unhappy ending is a bad game.

(I like how you phrased this as a completely absurd question rather than just saying "I wish more games had unhappy endings".)

 

[KefkaCultist]

Am I a bad person for originally thinking this thread was going to be about that certain type of massage?

OT: No, unhappy endings are some of the better ones. I hate the cutesy "everyone lived happily ever after" endings. Like, as mentioned, FFX and FFX-2. FFX had a sad ending and it was great. FFX-2 had multiple endings, the "good" ending where he comes back alive for no reason whatsoever and the "bad" ending where he is gone for good. I like the "bad" ending waaaaay more than the "good" one.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

In games, since the player is usually involved in the the turn of events, sometimes a bad ending can really be off-putting because of all the work that went into it. But I agree they can be done well, and certainly the bittersweet ones are more memorable. Mafia 2 ending I think I will remember for a while to come, and left a mark on me. RDR ending of course makes you think how come my badass character couldn't pull himself out of that final situation.

I will agree that it can be done well or badly like anything, but I'm not a film/writing critic, so all I can say is as long as it's within context or feels like there's a purpose to it, I can understand. Mafia 2's ending pissed me off, it felt unfair and frustrating and sad, BUT, that's what it was supposed to be I guess. Plus, it was in continuum with the overall message of the game: crime does not pay. You know, you arrive in a new country, start off in the world of petty crime, end up in some trouble, get out, then make it big, live the live, and then everything starts falling aparts, as in everything. So what did you expect in the end, anyways?

 

[quantumsoul]

I see endings as a reward for playing through a game. If the ending sucks I feel screwed over.

I don't like a bad ending if it makes the hero's journey pointless. Wouldn't you be pissed if you played a game for several hours only to the see the bad guy win at the end. Like on your FF7 example.

Maybe something like the hero sacrifices himself or that the villain was actually trying to save the world but by stopping him you doom the world, at least that gives you something to think about and what a surprise that would be. Ending like that would be ok.