Sad Endings That Are Good (Potential Spoilers)

[Something Amyss]

Because, believe it or not. Not everyone has actually played the game yet.

Not everyone has seen Planet of the Apes, but that hasn't stopped media all over the place from "spoiling it" in their own processes. Hell, the Simpsons did it like 20 years ago.

 

[VonKlaw]

Also "it was just a dream" what are you talking about? that is not how it ended >.>

Sorry, but..

Spoiler

"I went back in time and fixed it so that horrible crap is still going to happen but it's not going to happen to me so it's cool"

Is not a good ending. Not in the slighest.

 

[ImperialSunlight]

I don't have time to go into detail about why they're good right now, but:

Games
Super Paper Mario (sort of)
Dark Souls
LOZ: WW (sort of)

Other
King Oedipus
Brave New World
King Lear
Romeo and Juliet
The Once and Future King

 

[realist1990]

I am Legend: Neville completes the antidote, but when him, Anna and Ethan get chased down by the zombies, Neville uses a hand grade to destroy the attackers at the cost of his life, while Anna and Ethan escape with the antidote, saving the rest of humanity.

how is that a sad ending humanity is saved!!

 

[soren7550]

I'd hardly say that about FEAR 2. As soon as you look at your squad in that game, it's just a matter of asking "who's going first?" (I personally thought it was the black guy)

Eh, I personally enjoyed it, so I included it. Also, didn't expect the whole 'you're forced to do battle with your insane squadmate as Alma rapes you, and keeps you captive'. I thought it was done well, even though it was bleak.

 

[Lunar Templar]

I'm gonna say the ending to Witchblade (anime) i still have a hard time going back to it, not cause its a bad show, cause the ending hurts to watch

 

[JoesshittyOs]

I'd hardly say that about FEAR 2. As soon as you look at your squad in that game, it's just a matter of asking "who's going first?" (I personally thought it was the black guy)

Eh, I personally enjoyed it, so I included it. Also, didn't expect the whole 'you're forced to do battle with your insane squadmate as Alma rapes you, and keeps you captive'. I thought it was done well, even though it was bleak.

I'm not saying that it was a bad game by any means, it just was a classic horror trope. Anything that is remotely horror related that has the word "squad" in it, it's safe to assume that none of them are gonna live through the whole thing.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Over dramatic people yelling the whole time, turn off all other sounds and listen to them yell for no reason its actually quite funny, also call of duty was a joke. designed for people who enjoy flashy explosions. that whole "oh noes you die from nuke" thing, honestly i dont even remember plaything that bit.

Also "it was just a dream" what are you talking about? that is not how it ended >.>

I said it was "barely" more than just a dream. He time traveled and did something so none of everything in that series ever happened. It was a cop out, on the verge of being a Deus ex Machina. It really seemed like he wrote himself into a corner.

And give me a break. I understand that it's the popular thing to hate on Call of Duty, but "over dramatic"? It was the first game to do what it did, and it did it almost perfectly. Any game where you take away people's voices would probably be funny. They yelled because most of it took place in a warzone, and they're generally giving orders. It would be pretty strange if the Captain Price walked over to you and rubbed your shoulders saying "when you're ready, I'd like you to..."

So, good for you that you don't remember the nuke scene. And that "people who enjoy flashy explosions?" Where did you hear that from? Because that argument spawned off as an insult, and never had any backing.

 

[That Annoying Guy]

Saving Private Ryan ends with the entire squad dying save for Private Ryan, which leaves him emotionally scared for the rest of his life, trying to make his life mean something in order to repay the men that died trying to save him. Sad, but still very good.

I agree it was very sad indeed, although not all of them died, Upham, Ryan, and Reiben survived.

F.E.A.R. 2 has Beckett's whole squad die (at least one by his own hand), most of whom went insane and/or died in horrific fashions. Beckett himself is captured by Alma and is raped by her, and ends up becoming the father to her child. As bad as this all is, I still consider the ending good.

The game was pretty scary (at parts) but sad? Nah, the ending in my opinion was pretty cheap and only set it up for a F.E.A.R.less sequel ZING!

 

[chadachada123]

As others have said, Red Dead Redemption's ending was beyond-incredible.

I really enjoy 1984's ending as well, hehe.

 

[Bobic]

I say that about the ending of Planescape: Torment

Spoiler

Being condemned to fight in an eternal war between the Tanar'ri and the Baatezu and leaving your companions behind after all you went through seems like a pretty sad ending.

Throw in the fact you had apparently done something so terrible a single lifetime of good deeds couldn't redeem you so you became immortal to have more time to redeem yourself. Then it turns out that you lost your memory after your first death and resurrection and have, through various incarnations, done more evil than good. And in fact did immeasurable harm by becoming immortal since every time you should have died someone else died in your place. And your whole goal in the game was to find out why you were immortal and eventually end it.

So essentially the entire game was to correct a well intentioned mistake you didn't even remember, that had just made things worse. And you suffer the exact same fate in the end that you wanted to avoid. So I'd say it was sad. And yet for some reason I found it quite satisfying that he ended the terrible cycle his immortality + amnesia caused.

Edit: Wait, why did I spoiler details of a game that is over a decade old now? Oh well.

Actually, GoG did a sale on old dnd games a couple of weeks ago (and they're on sale now on gamersgate), so there may be a flux of people who picked it up thinking 'well it is meant to be a classic gaming/storytelling experience' (myself included) so putting the spoiler tags there is very appreciated.

Edit: Let's add some of my own sad endings that were good!

Both Mafia games.
The Godfather films (yes, even the third one. No, it's not as great as the others, but I still think it's a good film, particularly the sad, if not as subtle, ending)
The Dark Knight (sorta sad, more bittersweet I suppose)
The Green Mile. (the book literally made me the saddest a piece of fiction has ever gotten me, I highly recommend it to anyone, it is damned beautiful. Read/watch it!)
The Departed could probably be counted, though I wasn't so much sad as blown away.

Spoiler

The majority of the main cast ends up dead, except Mark Wahlberg. That guy's too tough to die

I'd consider Blade runner to have a sad ending

Spoiler

Assuming you feel sorry for an antagonist that has been programmed to expire

Surprisingly, the first Rambo film: First Blood. For a series of films synonymous with macho bullshit, the first one is unexpectedly deep.
Blackadder goes forth. A damned comedy of all things, is incredibly sad.
Also, as someone else pointed out, the Futurama episode Jurassic Bark (hurray for saddening comedies) is ridiculously sad. (I also feel that the Luck of the Fryish, while not as sad as Jurassic Bark, still deserves a mention. Futurama rules man).

And I'm sure there are many more. Just goes to show, people aren't annoyed at Mass effect 3's ending being sad, they're annoyed at it being bad.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

The ending of Cowboy Bebop (the show) is pretty sad, yet damn good and fits perfectly with the entire overarching theme of the show.

And the entire movie MoonChild is both said and incredibly good.

The underlying theme of the entire show was that the past will always catch up with you, and you have to face it sooner or later. Unlike the rest of the crew, Spike never moved on with his life until the very end.

When you look at the character focus episodes for Jet, Faye and Ed, they all come to terms with their past, and move on. Spike has numerous encounters with Vicious and the Red Dragons through the series, but he never gets the message until it all crashes down around him.

So while his final assault on the syndicate is heartbreaking, it is also incredibly uplifting, because he finally put the past behind him, and he's just cleaning up the last threads of his former life.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I am Legend: Neville completes the antidote, but when him, Anna and Ethan get chased down by the zombies, Neville uses a hand grade to destroy the attackers at the cost of his life, while Anna and Ethan escape with the antidote, saving the rest of humanity.

That was the bad ending that was changed. The original ending is on the dvd, and I found it much better.

Spoiler

When the mutants break into the basement and start bashing on the glass, the leader suddenly starts painting a butterfly with his blood. Neville suddenly realizes that the only reason they came bursting into his house was to save the mutant he developed the cure from.

He decides to relinquish the body back to the mutants, who then leave him in peace. With the revelation that the mutants have their own culture and aren't mindless savages, Neville then joins Anna and Ethan and set out to search for other bastions of humanity.

 

[guitarsniper]

Vanishing Point. That whole movie was amazing, the ending even more so.

 

[Rodrigo Girao]

Gunstar Heroes. Such a colorful and lighthearted game, and in the end... wow, it felt like a punch in the gut.

 

[WanderingFool]

Casablanca

Finally. That title totally describes this thread; feared noone would mention it.

As a twist, I think the total opposite of that (happy ending that is really just bad after all) would be Seven Samurai by Kurosawa. If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about.

Explain?

I only saw the Magnificant Seven, a western version of Seven Samurai (which ironically was inspired by westerns, or so I am told), but from what I understand, it fallows the same basic story.

Spoiler: It had a bittersweet ending where:

4 of the seven cowboys die, but the main bad guy is dead and his gang gone. It basically surmounts that the only winners of the story, and thus the only ones to have a happy ending, where the farmers.

It is possibly one of the better Western Movies.

 

[putowtin]

Video Games
inFAMOUS 2 good karma ending
Red Dead Redemption

Films/Books
1984
Seven

 

[marioandsonic]

The good ending in Bioshock 2.

Then again, it's more bittersweet than sad IMO.

 

[Fox242]

inFamous 2, the Hero ending. It made me cry to see the way Cole sacrificed himself, but he saved the world and was rightly honored for his actions.