Favorite/Most Hated Game Endings?

DarkJager

Yes its a thread about that part of a video game where you either sit in amazement at the sheer brilliance of the game you've just finished, or breathe a deep sigh of relief that you can now trade it in because it sucked. So whats your favorite or most hated game endings of all time?

Favorite for me would have to be the entire end sequence of Metal Gear Solid 3. From the theme music starting to play as the timer countdowns in your battle with The Boss, to the start of the credits, everything about that ending was perfect. A second would be more old school, Streets of Rage 1. I'm pretty sure everyone was pumped up the first time they fought their way into Mr X' office. Classy stuff.

As for hated game endings, Halo 2 wins hands down for me. Don't get me wrong, I really love the Halo series and Halo 2 was pretty good, but the ending just threw itself in at the wrong time. I remember actually throwing my controller across the room when I realised what I was watching.

Kiith

Wall of text time!!!! (some spoilers ahead)

Favourites
Halo
The last level along with the ending. I absolutly loved driving the Warthog through the Truth and Reconciliation (best ship name ever btw) while it was exploding all around you. One of the most cinematic endings i have played.

Final Fantasy VII
I loved this ending. The last bit of the battle with Sephiroth, Meteor moving towards Midgar, then the Flow of Life coming up, with the brilliant music, colliding with Meteor. Ahh, shivers down my spine

F.E.A.R
Ohh, i dont even like thinking about the last few scenes with Alma. Bloody scary. Also, the scene where the base self destructs, and the cars and debris go flying past you. Brilliant scene.

Half Life 2
Oh how i loved this ending. The GMan was brilliant, with his creepy, creepy voice. Breen being a little bitch, the enhanced Gravity Gun, Alex (:o), time slowing down, then the GMan fixing his already perfect tie. Cinematic gold.

Ace Combat 4/5
More for the last level then the ending. I loved flying into Megalith in 4, and coming out with everyone cheering your name (Mobius One ftw!!!). Or in 5, flying into the tunnel, with Hamilton on your tail, while Bartlett flys towards you, and you both roll in different directions to avoid one another, while Bartlett takes out Hamilton. Ohh, i love those games.

Freespace 2
I was killed when the star exploded (bloody shiivans!!) while staying behind to help evacuate the transport ships on my first play through, without even thinking about running away. And then having the Narrator/Admiral telling my squad that i had remained behind, even when i was told to leave, and that my sacrifice had ensured the lives of countless people. Proud moment for me

Least Favourite
Medal of Honour
I dont know what i was expecting, but after making it to the train, i had at least expected a short video, or some text about the fact that i had just finished the game.

Condemned
Great game, and having the good/bad choice at the end was nice, but it didnt actually make a difference. You still went all...monstery.

Homeworld 2
You cant dump the Mothership!! I dont care how big the laser beam on the new ship is!! Stupid all knowing woman.

Advent Rising
WTF!! No Trilogy? What now. I just killed my superbeing/genetically enhanced/dead fiancee, and then got dumped on an Ice planet for some reason, and then theres some guy who says (iirc) that i have alot of work to do? God damn it.

Shenmue 2
As much as i loved the game (and i mean LOVED!!), the very end was a let down. Floating things in a cave? Who's the girl? Wheres Lan Di? Who's the monkey? Whats going on???

More to come as i think of them

Zillah

Kiith wrote:

Freespace 2
I was killed when the star exploded (bloody shiivans!!) while staying behind to help evacuate the transport ships on my first play through, without even thinking about running away. And then having the Narrator/Admiral telling my squad that i had remained behind, even when i was told to leave, and that my sacrifice had ensured the lives of countless people. Proud moment for me

QFT.

Homeworld 2
You cant dump the Mothership!! I dont care how big the laser beam on the new ship is!! Stupid all knowing woman.

QFT.

DarkJager

Yeah I totally agree with you on the original Halo. The warthog sequence was brilliant, with the place falling to bits around you, and the last few seconds abandoning the warthog and making a run for the Pelican.

I totally agree with you about Metal Gear Solid 3, my favourite game! But my least favourite ending was in Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver on the PS1. Really short and crappy and another year or two waiting to find out what happened.

c - 13

Deleted User wrote:

.... But my least favourite ending was in Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver on the PS1. Really short and crappy and another year or two waiting to find out what happened.

Oh yes, dissapointing stuff there and the last boss was piss easy too.

Add to that -
Twisted Metal: Black (PS2)
Trudged through this game, struggled with the final boss for days, finally beat it - WTF - NO ENDING ? Credits roll. End. Game in Bin.

Retr0gamer

Best:

Panzer Dragoon Saga:
Superb ending and the best thing about it was that it wouldn't have worked in any other medium other than in a videogame.

Getting to Sestren to deliver the divine being only to discover that the divine being wasn't actually Edge or the Dragon but the consciousness controlling Edge, the gamesplayer themself. Also very sad was Azel heading into the wastelands to find Edge. At the end of Panzer Dragoon Orta we find out that she never did find him.

Suikoden 2:
Absolutely heartbreaking especially the bad endings

After all those battles just to lose your best friend and step sister and have Jowy die in your arms at the end, nice way of showing that war just isn't worth it.

Final Fantasy X:
Wonderful stuff, very bittersweet. Great end to a brilliant game.

Grandia:

Loved the way it showed you a grown up Sue at the end meeting the grown up Justin and Feena and all there little Justin and Feena children

Rocket Knight Adventures:
Only if you beat the game on Hard.

You are in your escape pod heading towards earth when suddenly the last boss comes back after for one last desperate attempt. Hold off long enough and he eventually burns up on re-entry through the earths atmosphere.

Resident Evil 2 and 3

Worst:

Halo 2:
Dreadful ending to a disappointing game.

Quake 1:
A load of nonsensical text? Thanks Id.

Kiith

Also, i forgot Shadow of the Colossus. I dont need to say why (and if i do, you havent played it....GO PLAY IT!!)

FranchisePlayer

Favourite game ending: has to be as most of the above driving through pillar of autumn in the warthog with the scenery crumbling and flood attacking you(even more fun in co-op remeber doing it on legendary to get the secret ending:D )
Worst Game ending:Knights Of The Old Republic 2

like wtf either fly off into space or you stay in a cavern with no dialogue or any exaplation to what happened to revan

ShowUsYourXbox

Someday ill finish a game and ill be able to contribute to this thread.. someday.

SeantheMan

Preferred the ending in MGS 1 myself :eek: though MGS3 was gdeadly too

Was pissed off with the ending in FFX...what ??!!! hes a dream the whole time or some crap....i tried to erase the crap ending from an otherwise great game.

FF IX was much better...you think he's dead..but no....yyeeahhh :rolleyes:
Loved the little kind of camera movie at the end of 8 in the ballroom

Tenchu endings were pretty good....RIKIMARU!!!!!! :rolleyes: i loved that guy

Call od Duty...worst endings ever !!! Whats the craic with the sidescrolling screen of a man running ?? :mad:

Half Life 2 was ok...wasnt so engrossed in the story that i actually found the ending anyway meaningful...i was more like...why the hell is this guy talkin in a funny accent, is he an alien ?:p

I used to love completing the Street Fighters and Tekkens with every single character to get the different endings...they were good
Mokujin :rolleyes:

Retr0gamer

Ah come on, FFX had by far the best and most coherent ending of all the FF games.

Brow

Wow. I got a 360 recently and im trying to catch up with some Xbox classics i missed out on so i've recently completed Halo (yeah amazing ending) and have actually only started Halo 2. I'm amazed so many hate the ending, kinda puts me off playing...

One ending(s) I liked recently was Dead Rising. Also some of the Silent Hill games have great endings. I like endings that reflect decisions you made and how deep you delved in a game (why i chose the above as standouts).

Crucifix

I didn't really like the ending to Final fantasy 10. The cutscene itself kinda dragged for me, which really wasn't what you need after slogging through every Aeon and then Yu Yevon. Wouldn't say I hate it though.

DarkJager

Its not that people hate the ending of Halo 2, but you'll understand exactly why so many people were disapointed with it when you reach it yourself. Trust me, the entire game is very good but the ending is just too sudden, just as you're getting pumped up to kick some ass.

Noopti

The ending for Mafia was pretty effin sweet.

johnny_ultimate

Best endings:
Dreamfall: How to do a cliffhanger ending the right way. Excellent end to a fully formed story, and really leaves you waiting for the Chronicles.

Psychonauts: Great ending, leaves everything wide open for a massive sequel. Unfortunately, the general public are idiots, and we shall never see our sequel. Alas.

Beyond Good and Evil: I include the superb final act in this, from the space battle until the ending FMV. Again, cliffhanger. Again, undersold, so we shall never see a sequel to the finest game of the last generation.

Oblivion: Wasnt a good main story to go along with this, but the final central mission is truly epic. Absolutely massive scale, but slightly disapointing none of the subplots feature battles of this scale.


BAD ENDINGS:
Halo 2: The old favourite. A rubbish single player game, with the most embarrasing excuse for an ending. So cheap as to be almost insulting. I struggled through the whole game just to see if it really was that bad, and boy did I regret it.

Path of Neo: Never played the game, but Ive seen all I need to on youtube

Deus Ex: Terrific game, but the fact is the only decisions that effect the outcome of the game are made in the last 2 minutes, which is rather disapointing. Although one of the endings - the one where you are running from a massive explosion - was pretty cool.

Any of the endings in Silent Hill 2, such an involving game, I dont think any of them were a let down.
MGS1: had good endings
MGS2: sucked, so did its ending
MGS3: awesome
Shadow of the colossus: awesome
Resident evil 2: had the best of the series, though code veronica came close

ShowUsYourXbox

I've heard good things about the ending of WoW.

Obesity and zero social life

DarkJager

Yeah I've heard WoW only ends when you die of starvation in a room, covered in your own **** and piss, after playing the game for 120 hours straight

Retr0gamer

Actually the GoW 2 ending was pretty bad, another cliffhanger. Nowhere near as bad as Halo 2 since the game didn't just seem to end out out of nowhere and the game didn't suck but bad nonetheless.

Dragon Quest VIII had a great ending, nothing special but the standout moment was Trode returning to his old self and Yangus' comments. Probably the funniest moment in any videogame.

L31mr0d

wow, goes to show how much I remember about games. I can never remember the endings.

FF7 is up there with one of the best alright, at the time of release no game could compete with such an epic storyline and crescendo.

Sonic the hedgehog 2: I remember loving the ending to that game. Jumping out of the Death Egg with tails coming swiftly to the rescue.

Worst:

Ecco the Dolphin: After such a long and tedious game getting a few cliché quotes like "your song will echo throughout the vast ocean.." what a crock.

Recently, not many games i've been playing have had endings that stand out much. In fact i'm having a hard time remembering any of them. What I can say is that they where all crap... what's happened to game endings in the last few years. How hard is it to have at least a 5 minute FMV just to tie up the loose ends and give the player something for investing so many hours into the game.

Most recently games which the endings severely dissapointed me:
Spiderman 3, TR: Anniversary (read my review), Prey, Quake 4, FEAR: Extraction Point, Just Cause, Splinter Cell (the whole series has had crap endings), Half life 2, Sin episodes (why didn't they have that girl in the thong in the end sequence ).. to name a few.

I've had psychonauts for a while, its probably the one game that i'm going to install and am actually looking forward to it.

monument

For some reason above other games the ending (the positive one) of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is popping into my head.

Brow

Some great mentions. Pyschonauts is one of my favourite games. As has been mentioned it's a shame that it'll probably never get a sequel as it's one of the most imaginative games i've ever played.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis was good as well with the amount of choices you could make in the end.

While on the subject of this genre I'll suggest Grim Fandango as a game that had a great ending. Nice closure.

MOH

Can't believe no-one's mentioned Stalker yet.
A game I really wanted to like, that started well but steadily wore me down as it went with silly little bugs, made almost impossible by randomly respawning enemies in the last level, and then I came to the ending

(I got the "I want to be rich" one)

I just sat and stared at the screen for about 30 seconds, and then shouted WTF loud enough to startle the gf. Put the disc back in it's box, and don't think I'll be seeing any other endings cause I'm too disilussioned to bother playing it again.

Trode

johnny_ultimate wrote:

Best endings:
Deus Ex: Terrific game, but the fact is the only decisions that effect the outcome of the game are made in the last 2 minutes, which is rather disapointing. Although one of the endings - the one where you are running from a massive explosion - was pretty cool.

That seemed to annoy a lot of people, and I'm not really sure why. How long before the ending should the choice have been,an hour,half the game, the first level? How frustrating would it have been, in a game that's all about choice, to come to the end and find you're railroaded when it matters most?

Back on topic, here's my list
BEST
Terranigma
Tragic, uplifting, ambiguous in all the right ways (unlike FF7), this is a masterful rebuttal to anyone who thinks games have no emotional depth. Genuinely brought a tear to my eyes, I strongly recommend more people play and finish this game, even through the mediocre middle part.

Planescape:Torment
Fitting and thought provoking, the question that was the subtext throughout is asked and partially answered, but it will still have you pondering it well after the rest of the game is forgotten.

Starwing
Hard fought, starting with satisfyingly large explosions and moving onto to quirky, simple innovation, it's memorable and involving, if nothing else.

WORST
Golden Sun
Plenty of games end on cliffhangers, but few were so blatantly just a random cut-off point in an ongoing plot as this. About half a dozen unresolved sub-plots, some of which had been introduced minutes before the end, and no real closure on anything for any of the characters means that "To be continued" never seemed so cheap.

Vampire: Bloodlines
Yes, I know, it's all very clever and decently foreshadowed and all, but it's just not very satisfying.

Everyone's been manipulated by minor character X all along

doesn't come much above "It was all a dream" endings in my estimation

Deus Ex: invisible War
Not that there are three endings, or that again the choice is only made in the last few minutes, more that they're all frankly horrible and depressing. I can stand downbeat endings when they fit thematically, but in the original, you could choose what you actually thought would be the best direction for the world, here you just choose the lesser of three(or four) evils. It's like the first game told you "The right man in the right place at the right time can change the world", and the sequel follows up with "but they probably shouldn't, as they'll only make it a worse place for everyone."

tman

I actually loved the ending to Crackdown.
An inobtrusive fmv with a nice little twist, then you can go straight back to jumping off buildings and stuff...

Dooom

MOH wrote:

Can't believe no-one's mentioned Stalker yet.
A game I really wanted to like, that started well but steadily wore me down as it went with silly little bugs, made almost impossible by randomly respawning enemies in the last level, and then I came to the ending

(I got the "I want to be rich" one)

Do the couple of quests to get the decoder and that stuff, and then you'll get a decent ending.

Thought the good ending wasn't that bad, made me feel happy for some reason.

Kevster

I have always been disappointed with the ending of one of my all-time favourite games, Street Fighter II: Special Championship Edition for the Sega Mega-Drive. It's especially disappointing after taking 6 hours to complete it on the hardest difficulty level with Dhalsim!

jimi_t

Chrono Trigger and FFVII have great endings. I'm also a big fan of the various plots being tied up in Escape Velocity Nova.

0ubliette

Brow wrote:

Some great mentions. Pyschonauts is one of my favourite games. As has been mentioned it's a shame that it'll probably never get a sequel as it's one of the most imaginative games i've ever played.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis was good as well with the amount of choices you could make in the end.

While on the subject of this genre I'll suggest Grim Fandango as a game that had a great ending. Nice closure.

I think i might possibly be the only person in the world who played psychonauts and absolutely hated it. I couldnt like the main guy raz no matter how hard i tried, he was an annoying little ****, and the supposed humour, man, i just didnt see it.
On topic of good/bad endings, i tend to forget the crappy ones, but one ending that sticks out for me as a massive disappointment was the end of monkey island 2. I HATE that ending. It spoils the whole game.
The mgs2 ending was good but also **** in a 'WTF is going on' kind of way.

Brow

0ubliette wrote:

I think i might possibly be the only person in the world who played psychonauts and absolutely hated it. I couldnt like the main guy raz no matter how hard i tried, he was an annoying little ****, and the supposed humour, man, i just didnt see it.
On topic of good/bad endings, i tend to forget the crappy ones, but one ending that sticks out for me as a massive disappointment was the end of monkey island 2. I HATE that ending. It spoils the whole game.
The mgs2 ending was good but also **** in a 'WTF is going on' kind of way.

I suppose if you hate the main character you might find it hard to enjoy the game. I thought the game was packed with humour. I dunno how much you played but for me there was some genuine laugh out loud moments.

Monkey Island 2, I can see where your coming from. Probably my favourite of the series (just bests 3) and I remember sitting back and trying to absorb the ending. If you played 3 it kind of explains what was happening and rectifies it but at the time, yeah it wasnt the best ending.

I didnt like the MGS2 one bit. Felt really let down by it.

Slow Motion

Out cast

The only one that stands out for me, not so much the ending of the game itself but if you wait through the credits you a presented with a little treat which involves all the main characters !

monkeyfudge

I thought the ending to Monkey Island 2 was brilliant...

I hated how Monkey Island 3 tried to ignore and retcon it.

If only Ron Gilbert had been on board for the third installment.

Trode

monkeyfudge wrote:

I thought the ending to Monkey Island 2 was brilliant...

I hated how Monkey Island 3 tried to ignore and retcon it.

If only Ron Gilbert had been on board for the third installment.

To be fair, it would have been nigh-on impossible to make a Monkey Island 3 without retconning or ignoring it.

Brow

They didnt really ignore it. They explained why it ended the way it did and it fit with the flavour of the games.

All this talk makes me wish Lucasarts made more games like these.

0ubliette

monkeyfudge wrote:

I thought the ending to Monkey Island 2 was brilliant...

I hated how Monkey Island 3 tried to ignore and retcon it.

If only Ron Gilbert had been on board for the third installment.

I started palying CMI yesterday, and i actually think its all round a better game than MI2. What i hated the most about mi2's ending was that it totally took away from the piratey, olde worlde feeling of the series. Its like one minute youre on a pirate filled carribbean island in the 1700's (or whenever) then all of a sudden, youre in some modern day amusement park?? Talk about killing the piratey vibe. IMO it totally spoiled a great game. I cant stress enough how much i hated that ending. MI1 had a way better ending, and its why i think mi1 is a better game than 2.

But as i was saying, CMI holds up really well to this day, its still really funny, and the hand drawn backgrounds still look great, it was a shame gilbert wasnt involved but i dont think it detracts too much from the game.

Earthhorse

Yeah, now that you mention it I remember being severely dissapointed with the Monkey Island 2 ending. As you say it ruined the atmosphere of everything you'd just experienced. Pity we may never get to see what the Secret of Monkey Island was, unless they bring Ron back into the fold and make the real Monkey Island 3 (though, to be honest, number 2 kinda made me lose interest).

At the end of MI1 at least they had the decency to play with things a bit more subtley:

Guybrush: Well, that was a waste of $20.
Governor Marley: What?
Guybrus: Nevermind, I don't know why I said that.

Dont be at yourself

Reading this thread has made me realise I don't finish many games!

My favourites:

Metal Gear Solid
Blade Runner

Oman

i liked the ending of dead rising because there were 5 different endings that could hafve happened.
i dont like the endings on any of the zelda games coz everything just goes back to normal at the end

Evangelion

johnny_ultimate wrote:

.


BAD ENDINGS:


Path of Neo: Never played the game, but Ive seen all I need to on youtube

The ending to Path of Neo was classic, the two Wikowski (or how ever u spell it) going at it was brillient

monkeyfudge

Oman wrote:

i dont like the endings on any of the zelda games coz everything just goes back to normal at the end

It depends what you mean by normal. In Link's Awakening

when you complete the game and wake up the wind fish the whole island and all the people on it vanish forever.

Kiith

NekkidBibleMan wrote:

My favourites:

Blade Runner

Which one of the 15 did you get?

Brow

15 endings to that game?

*rummages to find game in order to find other endings*

MOH

I got that bug on Blade Runner where you couldn't finish it, and never had the heart to start it again

madrab

come on double dragon especially when you were playing 2 player

Zapp Brannigan

GoW2 annoyed me because I was getting ready to kick some God Ass (at least we know the 3rd installment will start with a bang!)

Ninja Gaidens ending annoyed me cos I wanted more for the hours of frustration I endured (still love the game though!)

Can't really think of many good endings that haven't been covered already.

Dregon

As mentioned before, grandia had a great ending, I hated the ending of abes exoddus when you tried really hard but just couldnt save enough mudokons to get the good ending:(

bizmark

Trode wrote:

Vampire: Bloodlines
Yes, I know, it's all very clever and decently foreshadowed and all, but it's just not very satisfying.

Everyone's been manipulated by minor character X all along

doesn't come much above "It was all a dream" endings in my estimation

Theres like 5 different endings in that game

Brow

Well since reading this thread I got curious as to what was so bad about the Halo 2 ending. Finished it yesterday after ploughing through it the last few days.

You werent wrong. Most abrupt ending ever.

When you kill that Brute and it switches to Chief on that pod thing and he says something like 'im here to finish the fight' I got pumped for some epic last level like Halo 1 with the warthog and the blowing up of the reactor and such. But no. Credits was all i got. And a little film thing at the end

Definitely a big let down.

ZorbaTehZ

Favourites

Half-Life 2, epic, definitely the best ending.
Halo 1, as you guys have said.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the whole last hour of that game is awesome.
Serious Sam: First Encounter, surprised no-one mentioned this, definitely the best boss fight ever and that made the ending tbh.
Jak III, great ending(maybe not) to such a great storyline, dead funny too.

Sucky

Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Outcast, absolutely rubbish last boss fight, and then two pitiful cut scenes - annoying since I loved the gameplay.
Neverwinter Nights, ugghh, another crap boss fight, and crap ending.
Doom III, crap ending, but then again that storyline never was really going anywhere.