Games that have happy endings

[chuckdm]

So...in the wake of everything from ME3 to BioShock Infinite I find myself struggling to find any decent PC games (though feel free to suggest console titles as well) that actually DO have a happy ending. Now, I should clarify: games that have multiple endings but at least one is happy count. So do games where the "happy" ending isn't all sunshine and bunnies, but is at least one or the other, so to speak.

In the last 2 years, all I can come up with, grand total, is Borderlands 2, but I haven't tried them all, so here goes:

What recent games (hell, even back to 2009, graphics haven't changed THAT much since 09) can you name that DO have a happy ending?

Also, I'm not asking to debate the merits of happy endings to games overall. I still LOVE BioShock Infinite, and a totally happy ending would seem more out of place anyway. I'm not saying sad or mediocre endings are bad, though I do wish they were the minority instead of the vast majority. I'm just trying to find something to play next, honestly, and don't want to get into another title and find out 20+ hours of otherwise great gameplay later that it ends in depression.

 

[shrekfan246]

Most JRPGs? They're usually at least bittersweet...

Uh... LittleBigPlanet?

Hm, this is actually more difficult than I thought, because most games these days tend to end with sequel-bait BS anyway...

EDIT: Portal and Portal 2, perhaps? Though I imagine you've probably already played them.

Arguably Mirror's Edge, though it's got the sequel-hook too. (Which still hasn't stuck, apparently...)

 

[Sonntam]

I'm not sure whether Bastion qualifies, but I'll mention it anyway.

Bastion has a bit of an open ending, one could call it bittersweet, but I felt it was more hopeful than bitter. I also felt that everything will be alright and I was very satisfied with the outcome.

Plus, you can choose between two endings and both qualify as a good choice.

 

[krazykidd]

Almost all have happy endings . The only alternative is bittersweet which i personally hate . We need more "unhappy" endings. The only place you find those are in horror games , which unfortunately are quite scarce .

 

[Guffe]

I'm going for Nintendo here...
All Zelda games?!!
All Metroid Prime games?!!
The StarFox games?!!
Xenoblade!!
The Last Story!!
Tales of Symphonia??!!
So if you own a Wii, WiiU, GameCube or Nintendo64...
Pick up one (or several) of these and you'll have good games + happy endings

 

[chuckdm]

So to recap...Portal 1 & 2, ME 1 & 2, DA:0, and FO:NV (and then the console titles and Bastion. Don't care for platformers and don't want to hook up my Wii again...)

Well since I've played everything on that list except Portal 1 I guess I'll go buy a copy of that. At least it's old enough now that it's cheap, though I don't see how it can be any better than Portal 2.

I mean I'm not complaining, seriously thank you all for the suggestions, many more are welcome. But at this point, the fact that the pool of happy endings is so shallow is about as depressing as the ME3 endings, heh. Anyone got anything else?

Oh and I forgot Bulletstorm. I'd say that counts as a pretty happy ending

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I don't remember playing a Mario game that didn't have a happy ending. Also, Portal doesn't really have a "happy ending" but Portal 2 corrects that.

 

[Genocidicles]

Wait... Bioshock Infinite didn't have a happy ending?

I mean it wasn't all sunshine and icecream, but I thought it was still relatively happy.

 

[Maeshone]

I'd argue that Bioshock Infinite had a pretty damn happy ending

Spoiler: Bioshock Infinite Ending Details

If you wait until after the credits, you get an epilogue where Booker hears crying from Annas room, and walks in to check. Before we see anything, it cuts to black though. My take on the ending is that since Comstock has now been eliminated by drowning Booker before he can become Comstock, nothing in the game happened. Meaning Booker never got indebted to Comstock, never had to give away Anna, and thus has earned himself a happy ending with his daughter.

Dishonored had a happy ending as long as you went with a low chaos run.

Spoiler: Dishonored Ending Details

Emily grows up admiring Corvo and learns from his decision to spare as many lives as he possibly could. She eradicates the rat plague and brings in a new golden age for the empire. Sure, Corvo dies, but he does so an old man, loved by his daughter, and regarded as a hero through the empire

Other recent examples; Uncharted 3, Tomb Raider, GTA IV The Ballad of Gay Tony, Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon, Space Marine (Arguably), Just Cause 2, Catherine (the True endings), Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs, Binary Domain (with maxed out trust). Probably more, but none that I could find in my gaming library that came out prior to 2009.

 

[boradam]

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon had the happiest ending for a game that I've seen in a while.

"I AM HAPPY RIGHT NOW."

It was awesome.

 

[gyrobot_v1legacy]

I'd argue that Bioshock Infinite had a pretty damn happy ending

Spoiler: Bioshock Infinite Ending Details

If you wait until after the credits, you get an epilogue where Booker hears crying from Annas room, and walks in to check. Before we see anything, it cuts to black though. My take on the ending is that since Comstock has now been eliminated by drowning Booker before he can become Comstock, nothing in the game happened. Meaning Booker never got indebted to Comstock, never had to give away Anna, and thus has earned himself a happy ending with his daughter.

Dishonored had a happy ending as long as you went with a low chaos run.

Spoiler: Dishonored Ending Details

Emily grows up admiring Corvo and learns from his decision to spare as many lives as he possibly could. She eradicates the rat plague and brings in a new golden age for the empire. Sure, Corvo dies, but he does so an old man, loved by his daughter, and regarded as a hero through the empire

Other recent examples; Uncharted 3, Tomb Raider, GTA IV The Ballad of Gay Tony, Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon, Space Marine (Arguably), Just Cause 2, Catherine (the True endings), Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs, Binary Domain (with maxed out trust). Probably more, but none that I could find in my gaming library that came out prior to 2009.

I can't say Sleeping Dogs is a happy ending...

Spoiler

All of his friends in Sun On Yee are dead, he is left questioning if he should stay in Hong Kong or not given how much hell he had went through

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Some people already said it so I might as well throw my hat into the ring:
Bioshock Infinite had a pretty happy ending.
Aside from that.
The first Bioshock's good ending was pretty sweet.
Heavy Rain but only as long as you pretty much have a perfect run.
The Uncharted games have nice endings.
Catherine's True endings.

That's all I can think of right now.

 

[The Madman]

The Baldur's Gate games had a fantastic and very satisfying ending.

I'd argue that Bioshock Infinite had a pretty damn happy ending

Spoiler: Bioshock Infinite Ending Details

If you wait until after the credits, you get an epilogue where Booker hears crying from Annas room, and walks in to check. Before we see anything, it cuts to black though. My take on the ending is that since Comstock has now been eliminated by drowning Booker before he can become Comstock, nothing in the game happened. Meaning Booker never got indebted to Comstock, never had to give away Anna, and thus has earned himself a happy ending with his daughter.

Yeah, not really a happy ending.

Spoiler

Gee, great, now Elizabeth and Booker as we the player know them are dead and gone and we're left with a drunken violent asshole that's learned none of the lessons Booker has raising a small child in relative poverty. That child will grow up with none of the education Elizabeth did under the protection of a man who's already demonstrated his inability to control himself and has even demonstrated the ability to *sell his daughter*. Oh he regretted it, sure, but he still did it in the first place.

And then frankly it's all for nothing since the Lutec are still around and have the ability to just start everything over again should the right timeline apply, only minus one Mr. Comstock.

Very happy...

 

[IllumInaTIma]

Persona 4: Golden has probably the sweetest and happiest ending ever.
Persona 3: The Answer also wraps up things pretty good, after Persona 3's ending that put me in week long depression.
Alice: Madness Returns' ending is kinda-sorta happy... I guess.
Thomas Was Alone... or not, God, I'm not sure if that ending could qualify as happy, but it was awesome nonetheless.

 

[cojo965]

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon had the happiest ending for a game that I've seen in a while.

"I AM HAPPY RIGHT NOW."

It was awesome.

I so have to do this now.

 

[triggrhappy94]

The Walking Dead... I'm mean from the point of view of the zombies.

 

[Misterian]

Fallout 3 had a happy ending (at least when you have the Broken Steel add-on).

And like Fallout New Vegas, Alpha Protocol has a handfull of happy endings depending on how you play (well, some of them are happy mostly to Mike Thorton anyway).

Kingdoms of Amalur also ends pretty happily and triumphant, though you don't exactly have any parades held in your honor for your victory, but still..

And while the Main Quests of the Elder Scrolls games are bittersweet mostly, the side and faction quests (at least in Oblivion and Skyrim, I haven't played enough Morrowind to see the endings of any faction questlines) mostly end in happy and triumphant ways. Though I think Oblivion arguably ended happily (at least for the Champion of Cyrodil) if you count the Shivering Isles add-on as the end of the game's storyline.