Poll: Do You Like Bad Endings?

[Grahav]

Some games have multiple endings that you can reach. Some of them are the dreaded bad endings.

I want to discuss this feature. Do you like bad endings? Have any favorites? Do you pursue them? What kind of reaction do you have?

In Fate Stay Night I really like them, specially with the Tiger Dojos.




Some of my favorites: Spoilers for Infamous 2 and Fate Stay Night.

Spoiler

I grim like a bastard with this one.

 

[Fractral]

Depends on whether the ending is a fulfilling sort of bad, or a kinda meh sort of bad. I mean, The accomplice ending in persona 4 golden is a great bad ending, but the other bad endings you get where you never find the killer just leave a bad taste in my mouth because you get no closure.
If they're really Evil, like Yamato's ending in Devil Survivor 2, then they're good as well. Basically anything which can provoke a reaction in me is good.

 

[Able Seacat]

The bad ending in Abe's Oddysee made me feel really guilty so I remember starting the game from scratch again to make up for it.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Any ending that leaves me satisfied is good in my book whether its a bad ending or not. Usually if there are multiple endings I will try and get the best or most complete one which is usually a good ending if its a shortish game I will try and get multiple ones.

Some games also have joke endings in Blazblue these are usually my favourite endings the ones in P4A are also pretty good although I liked Persona 4 Arenas real endings better.

 

[MajorTomServo]

FO3's bad ending (the one where you send someone else in the chamber) pissed me off. It didn't make a lick of sense. Why am I evil for sending in Fawkes, Charon, or the robot, all of whom would be unaffected by the radiation, instead of killing myself?

Also, the "Kill Dario" ending in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow was really stupid and came out of nowhere.

 

[The_Lost_King]

It really depends on the game and the ending. I would absolutely hate it if I got one of Katawa Shoujo's bad ending. Though I like Dishonored and Infamouses bad endings. Even if Infamouses made me feel terrible about myself.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I get the feeling most bad endings are out there either as sequel hooks or because there's some dumb rule of thumb about wanting games to be dramatic and drama = crapsack end. But if the ending is justified through everything you've done up to that point, then yes, I'll accept that - though I will always prefer going for the good ending, if I get a say in the matter. So I voted 'no'.

 

[Mikejames]

It depends on how it's done.

I liked the contrast in the most emphasized endings of Silent Hill 2 and Shattered Memories, as they both received a strong conclusiveness to the story and fit the theme in their own way.

I didn't like the bad endings of some of the newer Silent Hills like Homecoming, as they don't hold any narrative weight. They're just abrupt worst-case scenarios that happen based on one or two of the choices you make prompting you to reload an older save.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I know that sometimes darker/edgier can be better, but sometimes an ending feels bad just for the sake of it. Like in Mass Effect, would it have been so bad for everyone to survive and the Reapers get blown up? Did it have to be complicated?

 

[Zhukov]

Not really.

They just feel like elaborate 'Game Over' screens.

 

[Boogie Knight]

Oddly, I think I kinda like the bad ending in Lollipop Chainsaw. In one respect it sucked, but in another it was appropriate for a b-horror experience.

 

[GloatingSwine]

I like endings that feel appropriate to the game that came before them.

Sometimes those endings are what you would trivially call the "bsd" ending.


For example, the "in water" ending of Silent Hill 2 is a "bad end" ending, but is clearly the most narratively and dramatically appropriate conclusion to James' story.

 

[Leemaster777]

Depends on whether the ending is a fulfilling sort of bad, or a kinda meh sort of bad. I mean, The accomplice ending in persona 4 golden is a great bad ending, but the other bad endings you get where you never find the killer just leave a bad taste in my mouth because you get no closure.
If they're really Evil, like Yamato's ending in Devil Survivor 2, then they're good as well. Basically anything which can provoke a reaction in me is good.

While I haven't had the chance to actually play the Vita version yet, I've seen Persona 4's bad ending, and it's EASILY the best bad end I've ever seen in a game.

Yeah, not really a fan of bad endings myself. Other than Persona 4, I can't think of a single one I really like.

 

[Akytalusia]

i'm an escapist. i consume entertainment media to escape from bad endings. i avoid them when possible, and in instances where they're unavoidable, then i just hate them, and curse the medium into the depths of oblivion. how dare you inject real world futility into my fantasy worlds.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

FO3's bad ending (the one where you send someone else in the chamber) pissed me off. It didn't make a lick of sense. Why am I evil for sending in Fawkes, Charon, or the robot, all of whom would be unaffected by the radiation, instead of killing myself?

That ending was terribly written. I think that the developers didn't fully think through having radiation-resistant partners. They could at least have put in something about chemicals in the room that would destroy circuitry and kill even Super Mutants; it's not likely, but it works.

On the other hand, I liked the way Fallout: New Vegas was structured; You had a lot of options, a lot of reasons for choosing each, and there was no sense of the game telling you, "That choice is bad and you should feel bad."

So I guess that's my answer to the OT. You can write an ending where the hero ends up a villain and it can be great, but don't make it a cheap cop-out; we've gone on a long journey with this character, we'll understand what would have to happen for them to end up 'bad', so give us that.

 

[Trueflame]

I voted no because I don't like "bad" endings. In fact, I don't really even know what you mean by it. Simply an ending where I played a bad character? Typically I'm not a big fan because those games are too binary. I'd prefer a morally gray character and a similar ending, not one where I either make the sun shine and flowers bloom, or ride a river of blood.

But my initial thought upon seeing your question was about *tragic* endings. And those I love. As much as I like when my character, or characters in general, are happy and things work out, I also love it when things don't work out and tragedy strikes. Those endings are somehow always much, much more moving and memorable. Think Tidus dying in FFX, Boss dying in MGS3, or all the other video games I'm failing to think of at the moment.

So in summary, I don't care if an ending is good or bad, if it leaves me or the characters feeling happy or sad. I just want it to make sense, to fit, and to wrap up the storyline and any significant themes in a satisfying way. That's why an ending where my character dies, a la FFX is satisfying, but the Mass Effect 3 ending is not, just to give the most prominent example I can think of.

 

[BrotherRool]

The problem is games are really long. When someones go on a 10-60 hour experience deliberately refusing to resolve that experience is not a good idea. Especially if it's based off of things they have no control over and often bad endings are invalidating playstyles and philosophies.

The inFamous 2 isn't an example of a bad ending though. That's a 'bad guy' ending which is a bit different. It actually validates your playstyle and provides a suitable powerful resolution to your story arc and your character

Spoiler

gets to live

. From a certain perspective (the evil perspective) it's a 'better' ending than the good one.



Bad endings which are quick non-standard game overs are okay. And if they're the point of the work (like spec ops) or they're designed as the main resolution of a story, but it's just not completely happy (like FFX) but the idea that you played 10 hours of game, but you played it wrong so everythings going to suck, is a terrible idea.

More games need to embrace the Alpha Protocol ideal of Obsidian, that there aren't good and bad choices. There are choices and consequences to those choices. Endings shouldn't be bad, they should be different but satisfying

 

[Raggedstar]

I don't typically like them. Bioshock 1's bad (guy) ending was weak (well, the final act in general regardless of playstyle felt weak to me, but that ending didn't really resolve anything). Abe's Oddysee bad ending was bloody disturbing (yes, even for that game) and nearly made me feel ill on first watch. Infamous 1's bad guy path I felt was a lot weaker than the good guy one, but one thing I DID like about it was the way that the game looked post-story. A few others I could mention, but those are the ones jumping to me.

I guess one bad ending I liked was the "In Water" Silent Hill 2 ending. It just fit. There's no other way in my mind James' story could've worked out differently.

 

[thelastgogeta]

Sure! In the Zero Escape (999 and Virtue's Last Reward) series, they make sense and leave you thinking "WHY!?" and wanting to return to resolve the issue and perhaps have a lie down before you return to try again. Song of Saya/Saya no Uta only has three endings (technically all of them are bad endings) but manages to back up the insanity and occasional sanity from the cast for each of them to feel complete. Ace Attorney 2 (Justice For All) had a brilliant closure, typo in the bad ending aside (thanks Capcom!)

Perhaps I'm mostly positive as visual novels tend to make it a little easier to get back to where you were, Blazblue manages to make it easy to get back to the plot from a joke ending as well aside from a near handful of saves. I haven't had the experience of binary "Good/Evil" or the likes of "Red/Blue/Green" endings which don't gel with the rest of the experience or franchise.

Not really.

They just feel like elaborate 'Game Over' screens.

More or less the point, even if elaborate "Game Over" screens is a little short of what I expect.
Some narrative driven games choose to make more than a "Game Over" screen appear when we fail to defeat the Dragon Lord's servant. It can give a little insight into what would happen, how our character would feel, perhaps even how the world would change and perhaps letting the world continue without that character.

With more action focused games, they rarely consider the hero's potential for failure. It's the hero after all. >_>
Losing? A set back at worst. Never to be acknowledged.