Poll: How Important are Endings to You?

[Lt._nefarious]

Recently I had the Halo 4 ending spoiled for me. Halo is a series I've been in love with for years and to have the ending of an installment who's every detail I've avoided up until now and to have the ending, a massive fucking event, spoiled for me less than a week before I get it has taken all my excitement and crushed it. I'm still going to buy it but I can't enjoy it nearly as much with the niggling voice in the back of my head telling me what's gonna happen. I have had all of Halo 4 ruined by knowing the ending. It's the same reason I've never watched Sixth Sense or Se7en because the same fucking person has spoiled the ending.

Character development is pointless if you know the end game...

Anyway, my question to you guys and gals is: Does knowing the ending of something stop you enjoying? Do you not care? Or are you somewhere in the middle?

 

[Doom972]

I voted "I would still enjoy it but not nearly as much", but there are exceptions to this. For example, I was told the end to Half Life (not major plot points throughout it), and I didn't feel that it had much effect on my enjoyment of it. Same goes for Morrowind and a handful of other games.
Today's games tend to have more surprising endings, so I avoid spoilers like the plague just to be safe.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I haven't been able to play Mass Effect 3 again.

This is from a guy who replayed the original and the second game several times.

So yes, endings are very important. I thoroughly enjoyed ME3, but the ending killed it for me.

 

[SckizoBoy]

I had Sixth Sense spoiled for me, as well, but I still enjoyed it because it was quite clever in how it was largely hidden throughout the film. That and the way the big reveal was done.

Of course, if someone had spoiled KotOR, I'd've absolutely pulverised them afterwards.

So, it rather depends on what it is, the quality of the piece of media in question and how emotionally invested I get.

 

[DoPo]

Well it depends on the game (or book/movie/whatever). For example this:

Half Life (not major plot points throughout it)

Is pretty much a non-factor. Yeah, the ending does bring up stuff but it's not really detrimental to the story. First of all, there is Half-Life 2 with pretty widely known premise - you are still freeman and you are in the future after the zombie alien apocalypse. Yeah, and "Wake up Mr.Freeman, Wake up and smell the ashes" (it's still well known, right? dunno, I lived on the HL2 hype) is kind of a give away of what's to come. Not to mention that the ending alone doesn't really tell you much, the game itself does.

Same thing with other works - if a book has multiple volumes (or TV series - whatever) with the same character, I can deduce that whatever mortal perils the character faces, they will survive until the last instalment.

But other endings being spoiled would very well take my enjoyment out of the work - Second Sight, for example. Knowing the ending totally destroys what the entire game builds up.

Other works still are not so negatively affected by knowing the end. Fight Club I watched after knowing the entire premise and it was still fun to see how it came to it.

So yeah, for some works it matters, for others not as much.

 

[Doom972]

Well it depends on the game (or book/movie/whatever). For example this:

Half Life (not major plot points throughout it)

Is pretty much a non-factor. Yeah, the ending does bring up stuff but it's not really detrimental to the story. First of all, there is Half-Life 2 with pretty widely known premise - you are still freeman and you are in the future after the zombie alien apocalypse. Yeah, and "Wake up Mr.Freeman, Wake up and smell the ashes" (it's still well known, right? dunno, I lived on the HL2 hype) is kind of a give away of what's to come. Not to mention that the ending alone doesn't really tell you much, the game itself does.

Same thing with other works - if a book has multiple volumes (or TV series - whatever) with the same character, I can deduce that whatever mortal perils the character faces, they will survive until the last instalment.

But other endings being spoiled would very well take my enjoyment out of the work - Second Sight, for example. Knowing the ending totally destroys what the entire game builds up.

Other works still are not so negatively affected by knowing the end. Fight Club I watched after knowing the entire premise and it was still fun to see how it came to it.

So yeah, for some works it matters, for others not as much.

When I was told about the ending, nobody knew that there was going to be a Half Life 2.

 

[Vault101]

snip

depending on how careful you are it shouldnt be THAT easy to seriously have somthing spoiled for you, and not just a few details, the whole thing... sometimes you just have to be super duper careful...though I know how you feel since I am VERY neuroitc about spoilers...even seemingly insignificant details can seriously piss me off if I accidently find them out

weather askign though is a "bad" ending or a "spoilered" ending bad....for a spoilered ending I can deal with it if the work/ending is good

even though I did hear the ME3's ending was "bad" (nothign else) and that did piss me off...but I was able to ignore that and enjoy the game because I had no Idea how bad...

I had Sixth Sense spoiled for me, as well, but I still enjoyed it because it was quite clever in how it was largely hidden throughout the film. That and the way the big reveal was done.
.

yeah, I watched sixth sense knowing the twist but still found it enjoyable because its actually a pretty good film regardless, in the way its shot and the drama (unlike is later films)

anyway..if the ending is a BAD ending it can retroactivly ruin somthing for me...because there is no payoff...an effective ending is some kind of payoff, without that it seriously sucks especially if your emotionally invest...emotionally invested in somthing long running...in somthign that you happned to be a really really REALLY big fan of..*sigh*

 

[Lt._nefarious]

snip

depending on how careful you are it shouldnt be THAT easy to seriously have somthing spoiled for you, and not just a few details, the whole thing... sometimes you just have to be super duper careful...though I know how you feel since I am VERY neuroitc about spoilers...even seemingly insignificant details can seriously piss me off if I accidently find them out

Ah, yes, I was being careful. Very careful. I went something like this "Oh, BTW, *insert Halo 4 spoiler here*" but given that he spoiled it in a few concise words it was hard to cover my ears and make "lala" noises in time...

 

[Pink Gregory]

Plot twists and major plot events I do NOT like being spoiled, I guess there's no way of doing a decent ending without it being related to said plot events.

For example, I'll never be able to watch/read Fight Club in the way it was intended, I'll not be able to watch Se7en the way it was intended; I had a major plot event in Fallout 3 spoiled on these very forums some years ago. I should note that I didn't go seeking these out, it's just twists especially tend to seep in to general pop culture very quickly, and often they get used as analogies like anything else in pop culture eventually does. After all, how many people who've never seen Star Wars know that Darth Vader is Luke's Father?

Endings on their own merit however, anything can work in the right context; I love the ending/final act of No Country for Old Men:

Spoiler

Moss is shot, Chigurh just sort of moves on, Bell ends the book and subsequently the film with the line, "...and then I wake up." Just sort of 'that's it', no closure, but it's not the kind of thing that would benefit from closure, I like that.

Of course that can go the other way when it's an obvious cliffhanger.

It's not a dealbreaker, of course it's about the journey rather than the destination, but the journey isn't as interesting when y'know what's coming; that could apply to spoilers and foreshadowing.

 

[tippy2k2]

It kind of depends and is probably the opposite of what common sense would tell you.

If I was really excited about the media in question before, it generally will completely ruin the experience for me and the fires of my hatred for the deliverer of the spoiler will rival the heat from a thousand suns...(I'll still play/watch it but the enjoyment will plummet as the only thing I will be able to think about is the item that has been spoiled)

If I was "meh" about the piece of media in question, I will solider through and play it anyway with minimal care about the spoiler.

 

[Vault101]

Ah, yes, I was being careful. Very careful. I went something like this "Oh, BTW, *insert Halo 4 spoiler here*" but given that he spoiled it in a few concise words it was hard to cover my ears and make "lala" noises in time...

if it WAS a major spoiler then given the fact the Halo 4 is a pretty recent (and big) game then that was kind of a dick move

 

[Lt._nefarious]

Darth Vader is Luke's Father?

What!? Bro, spoiler. Now I'm never going to watch the original Star Wars trilogy...

if it WAS a major spoiler then given the fact the Halo 4 is a pretty recent (and big) game then that was kind of a dick move

Oh, it was a dick move, just to piss me off. I punched him in the head for it...

 

[Full]

I got Halo 4 spoiled crudely spoiled for me as well, and if that happens I like to wait a little bit just to make the nagging a little quieter. I won't enjoy it as much, but still, I will most likely still play/watch/read whatever and at least try to enjoy it.

 

[aba1]

Doesn't bother me all that much it isn't about what happens so much as how it happens to me.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Sure knowing the ending would lessen the overall excitement to it but I would still read/ watch it for the sake of the journey toward that ending. Sure I would know the ending but not know how that ending was reach.

 

[the darknees abyss]

It depends if some think I really love watch I be pissed but I have still finish it.
If it something I don't really care about I would most likely stop as there really no point continuing it.

 

[Moderated]

I guess you hate every super hero ever, or anyone else who always wins at the end of the episode.
The point isn't whether or not they win, it's how they win.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

As long as the endings have a satisfying conclusion to the main story within the game, I wouldn't mind it much on how it ends.

 

[axlryder]

You should include an "other" option in the poll, as none of those things properly describe my feelings on the matter. Anyway, having the ending of a story spoiled not only gives away the ending, but often times many events preceding the ending either explicitly or by implication. When someone writes a story, they write it with the intention of someone not knowing what happens until the end. So when the ending is revealed, all of the dramatic tension, impact of the actions of the characters, mystery, and other important factors are greatly lessened. In a sense, it takes a huge chunk out of the potential enjoyment of the story, and likely disallows you to enjoy the story the way the author of said story meant it to be enjoyed. That said, you can still certainly derive enjoyment from a story, even if you know how it ends. The is especially true of stories where the ending itself is extremely predictable or fairly irrelevant to how the story is meant to be enjoyed. It's the difference between a Saturday morning cartoon and The Sixth Sense.

 

[Ti0k0]

I still remember how 4chan ruined my season 4 finale of Dexter. Damn you 4Chan, damn you!
And by the way, Kevin Spacey did it...