Name games with sad endings - Possibly spoilers

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Scarecrow1001

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Jun 27, 2011
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The Critic said:
Sad Endings? I don't think it gets much sadder than the end to Red Dead Redemption....

John Marston ends up getting killed for his past, even though he's done his best to redeem himself and to settle down and start anew. He manages to save the lives of his son and wife, but Abigail dies a couple years after he does, and Jack does what his father most certainly did NOT want him to do: follow in his footsteps.

It's really sad. from just the hopelessness of John's last playable sequence to the sadness of seeing his grave, and then seeing his wife's grave right next to it. But perhaps the saddest thing is going through the game's final quest, leading Jack to finally avenging his father, and just finding out about Edgar Ross (John's killer), and then finally killing him. Even as he falls in the duel, the victory seems hollow, and you don't really feel like you've won, just like you've led Jack to becoming what his father desperately wanted him to avoid: an outlaw, just like dear old dad, back in the day.
This.... This is what came to mind.
 

Proverbial Jon

Not evil, just mildly malevolent
Nov 10, 2009
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The Madman said:
The Longest Journey and Dramfall: The Longest Journey both have quite... melancholy endings. I have to say the ending for Longest Journey in particular left me in a bit of a funk for days, and finding out what happened later in Dreamfall didn't much help either especially consider that game also left me a bit down.

That's why it's so important this series is finished, with characters that good they deserve at least one happy ending. Please.
I don't actually consider Dreamfall to have ended, there were just so many questions that the game posed and then completely failed to answer. It never seemed as complete as TLJ itself was. I believe Funcom were looking at making some "episodes" that would follow on from Dreamfall but they never did. Here's hoping for a full sequel that starts to answer our questions!

OT: Max Payne 2's ending was pretty depressing unless you managed to complete it on the hardest setting. Then again the franchise as a whole isn't known for its sunshine and rainbows of happiness.
 

York_Beckett

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Sep 23, 2010
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This may seem like an odd choice, but...

Rule of Rose
It's very complicated and hard to explain everything, and I'm not sure how I'd put it into words. You kind of have to see and play the game to fully understand it, which in itself takes time. It's the kind of ending that in one way is kind of beautiful, but also makes the player realize the tragedy of the story and characters, and everything they've had to go through over time.
You should really try the game out, if only for the story itself.
 

Mr_RogersCU13

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Nov 22, 2011
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Surprised I haven't seen Drakengard yet. It's pretty bad when the game flat out tells you that the Gods of that universe have decreed that humanity will be destroyed and they'll be damned if your going to do anything about it.

The game has 5 endings.... that get progressively worse. Yes, your reward for playing past the first ending are worse endings.

Loved that game though. The music was divine and I enjoyed the brutal tone of it.
 

Mr.Pandah

Pandah Extremist
Jul 20, 2008
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Metal Gear Solid 4 made me cry until they showed Snake didn't actually shoot himself.

Mass Effect has made me cry 3 times so far, not like, full on cry, but a few tears. That's not the ending though.

Shadow of the colossus made me shed a tear or two when the horse fell but then he actually came back so I was okay.

There have been others but I can't think of them. Alan Wake had a bittersweet ending. I haven't played through the dlc yet but the main game was pretty good in terms of ending.
 

IrateDonnie

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Apr 1, 2010
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NinjaDeathSlap said:
Halo: Reach.

I hold this up as an example of how to do a sad ending right because, unlike ME3, despite the sadness you still have a sense of accomplishment. You succeed in the mission. You get Cortana to the Pillar of Autumn and allow the ship to escape Reach. Thus preserving the only chance humanity has for survival against the Covenant. You're arguably just as crucial to the events that you (as the player) know will follow as The Master Chief is. You're a hero, no question.

Then when it hits you, despite how hard you tried and how good you were, that you've just been left behind, alone on a burning world with you're entire squad dead. There's no plan, no options and no help. There's nothing left to do except just see how many more of the genocidal bastards you can take with you before the end; and unlike a lot of other games would have done, or even previous Halo games, you actually get to play it, rather than just watch an extended cinematic as if the game thinks you'll cramp its style and not be quite heroic enough.

Also Red Dead Redemption. Because *see above post* basically.
I thought Red Dead Redemption was more depressing than Reach. I knew everyone died before I even played Reach.I didn't see it coming in RDR, or at least I wasn't expecting the "twist".
 

Fatboy_41

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Jan 16, 2012
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McShizzle said:
The ending of Full Throttle was kinda sad, Ben and Maureen were just never meant to be.
God, there's a game I have wanted to get a hold of again for such a long time. Very fond childhood memories of it. And I agree with the ending. They just ended up coming from two different worlds.

I'm also gonna vote for Metal Gear Solid 3. Making the player pull the trigger... that was just cold. :(
 

OldDirtyCrusty

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Mar 12, 2012
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SpiderJerusalem said:
I was upset because it was pointless and badly written.

Throughout the game Marston is shown to be nearly uncanny with his killing abilities. He wipes out nearly what amounts to armies, survives everything that is thrown at him, hell, depending on how you play, he can kill a bear with a knife. He is the ultimo hombre, as the Coen's would say.

Yet the game forces you to accept the ridiculous "they'll just keep coming at me and you" explanation, forces you to accept the walking into death conclusion and then slaps you in the face with having none of that matter, because it still results in the ridiculously dumb ending where Jack is a carbon copy of John. Not to mention the triumphant freeze frame and music at the end, when Jack kills Ross, followed by the bold "Redemption" text, despite that there is no redemption and everything is wrapped up in the laziest possible way.

Nuh uh, if you want to watch a true Red Dead Redemption story, something actually well written and something Rockstar desperately wants their game to be, go and watch Unforgiven. A masterpiece western if there ever was one.
Unforgiven break down.
Former mad gunslinger has found peace. Then life turns to shit and he needs money. He goes out with his friend, bounty hunting. His friend dies and he turns into the mad gunslinger again.
Sorry but as much as i love this movie i don`t see how it`s so much better than the story of RDR.

Marston is already further in his character than C.Eastwoods. He has had his life of peace and Marston does the dirty deeds because he wants it back. He still remains the same guy who tries to get rid of his past instead of giving in and becoming the murdering bandit again.

I couldn`t play as a bad guy with John Marston because of his character and the story. If a developer achieves this in an open world game i don´t think it was bad writing at all.

All the things you don`t like are awesome well written to me and i can`t think of any other action adventure with this kind of impact for now.
 

putowtin

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Jul 7, 2010
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BehattedWanderer said:
Infamous 2. Holy crap, man. It pulled emotional heart strings I didn't know I had. It was so sad, it invented emotions for me to have. I'm getting a lump in my throat just thinking about it.
This, the evil ending is sad (Bad Cole, very bad, go to your room!)
but the good (cannon) ending is so sad, powerful, but sad!
 

Shuguard

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Apr 19, 2012
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First post on this forum Whoo!
anyways, I thought one of the most depressing endings was from Deadly Premonition.

I thought it was very depressing that every time I got closer to saving a girl's life they all suffered in some horrible way I personally could never live with. I didn't like how the game had many plot holes, but in particular the final girl Emily who I had to kill in order to "save" her just cut me pretty deep. Ultimately I felt that I had failed. I even tried not shooting Emily and tried shooting that fat tub of lard Kaysen who had just ruined so many lives. Till I was eventually forced to shoot Emily. Then I just ride off into the sunset!
 

OldDirtyCrusty

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Mar 12, 2012
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@ Spider Jerusalem

Maybe you`re the one who misses the point while constantly comparing the story with ingame actions where it`s in the hands of the player to do such things. I don`t like how you keep stating your opinions about RDR as facts, but you don`t have to care on the other side. Rockstar did a good job on showing that Marston himself doesn´t like being a tool and for what reasons he act as a hired killer again (yeah, my opinion).

Feel free to enlighten me about Unforgiven (no sarcasm). Hmm, this whole discussion doesn`t belong here anyway.
 

Baldr

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Jan 6, 2010
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Ending to Kingdom Hearts. After locking Micky and Riku in Kindom Hearts with the heartless, Sora turns to join up with Kairi only to have the worlds drift apart between them. As soon as Simple and Clean starts playing most people can't keep a dry eye.
 

Gorilla Gunk

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May 21, 2011
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Don't know about everybody here but the ending to The Darkness 2 made me well up a bit.

Not the stuff with Jenny though.

I mean when my little Darkling buddy died.

He stuck by my side through out the whole game, even when he didn't need to.

RIP bro.
 

MinimanZombie

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Apr 8, 2011
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Shuguard said:
First post on this forum Whoo!
anyways, I thought one of the most depressing endings was from Deadly Premonition.

I thought it was very depressing that every time I got closer to saving a girl's life they all suffered in some horrible way I personally could never live with. I didn't like how the game had many plot holes, but in particular the final girl Emily who I had to kill in order to "save" her just cut me pretty deep. Ultimately I felt that I had failed. I even tried not shooting Emily and tried shooting that fat tub of lard Kaysen who had just ruined so many lives. Till I was eventually forced to shoot Emily. Then I just ride off into the sunset!
Hey, Hey! Welcome to the Escapist! Feel free to look around, stay out of the basement And if you see any blood stains, please inform me. I lost my pet Komodo Dragon in here about a week ago, and well you get the picture.

OT: ME3 had a pretty sad ending. It just seems sad with that tear jerking music. I also really liked Metal Gear Solid 4's ending. All of it.