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[tok]

Nes-style text dumps as game endings. I don't remember actually encountering any of these back in the day, but it's pretty likely that I never actually finished a game on the nes, now that I think about it. In any case, these are pretty rare now, because people used to complain about them. But they do raise some interesting questions:

Is there a good way to do game endings? How long should a game ending be? Are playable epilogues a good idea? who cares about game endings anyway?

Talk about game endings, good ones you've seen, ideas for ways to do cool endings.

[salade]

*cough*metroid*cough*

as if you already didn't know.

it really depends on what game your making. it's just like ending any other story really. just another thing that should be judged on a case by case basis.

actually, multiple endings are exclusive to videogames, choose your own adventure books, and Clue. that's really the only difference.

[increpare]

One of my favourite game endings was Shenmue 2. Well, okay, it had the start of a new chapter, but it took place in a completely different location; I still remember how it was to walk down those pathways with flowers either side.  It also came with an opening-up of the narrative, beautiful hints of what was to come in the next game.

[Glaiel-Gamer]

It depends on the game

[Hempuli‽]

What parts of endings are we discussing here? Like ending cutscenes, or maybe some final moments before the end? If it is the second option, I must say that Super Metroid had quite a cool one: a nice hectic escape, with a possibility for a secret bonus. Also nice exploding planet.

[Seth]

it seems unfortunate to me that happy endings seem to be universally expected in video games

[tok]

Hempuli: It's kind of hard to draw a line, "this is where the ending starts" - but generally anything after the final confrontation or ultimate achievement. Just, winding down after the action, or neat twists, or whatever. Any game that stands out just because of its end.

[Valter]

It's hard to say for me. I almost never focus on the ending. I like to think more about the final boss than the cut-scenes afterward.

That said...

Startropics I and II both had fun endings. Then again, both games were just so quirky the entire way through that I couldn't avoid liking them if I tried.

Final Fantasy 6 has a decent ending, although I don't remember much of it because I was still thinking about the 4-stage final boss I just killed.

Final Fantasy 10 was... ha! just kidding.

Secret of Mana's was good.

To me, the ending doesn't matter quite so much as the final boss. The boss is the climax, and everything after is just resolution and tying up the extra plot holes. Like the other people are saying, though, it really depends on the game in the end. Succinct or drawn out, there's no real "right" way to do it, and you should recognize an ending that fits well with the game.

[Anthony Flack]

it seems unfortunate to me that happy endings seem to be universally expected in video games

Which makes a less-than-happy ending even more memorable: eg Another World.

[TooMuchSpareTime]

'Paganitzu' episode 3's ending movie - what was it, like 20 minutes long? Or was that episode 2? - has to be the most epic ending-sequence I've seen in a shareware game... Or in any game come to think of it.
Getting to sit back and watch a textual dialogue-heavy, plot-twisting movie at the end of a top-down puzzle game was more mentally relaxing than you might think. Compared to the mind-bending puzzles, anyway. I don't think I'd be up for a 20-minute cinematic at the end of a game where the object is to run around and put bullets in monsters for several hours. Just a nice big explosion scene would suffice for that kind of game. :]

The various endings of 'Colonization' was cool, since they would be different depending on your achievements during the game whether you won or lost. And in 'Civilization' there were two different ways to win the game. (Either by killing everyone else on the planet, or by leaving the planet in search of a new world.)

[Bree]

it seems unfortunate to me that happy endings seem to be universally expected in video games

Which makes a less-than-happy ending even more memorable: eg Another World.

Ditto for Shadow of the Colossus. Part of the expectancy for a happy ending is that the player is expecting to be rewarded for his efforts, but part of it is also a cultural tendency to have stories with happy endings. Not to say that a happy ending is bad- Wall-E had a perfectly cheery one, but it didn't let the audience get there easily.

[JasonPickering]

bionic commando





yes that was hitler. keep in mind this was 1988 and people complain about gore now a days.

[Problem Machine]

A really good ending is one that couldn't work in any other story. If you can write an ending without having a pretty good idea what the rest of the story is like, then it's probably not a very good ending. Even if you think it's a bizarre and unexpected twist that no one will see coming, if it doesn't mesh with the rest of the story then it's just not a good ending.

There are two main things an ending can offer, I think; closure and recontextualization. Unfortunately, most games nowadays strongly favor the former, and even tend to gravitate to the most trite expressions of the former. I'm not sure if I'm really in favor of closure; sure, it FEELS good, but I think the acceptance of closure as necessity shuts out a lot of important statements about the actual structure of life. Still, generally you do want to offer closure in your ending unless you specifcally want to make one of those statements; unfortunately, games seem to be largely locked into only the most trite and cliche forms of closure.

The really amazing endings, though, change the context of what came before. Fight Club, Half-Life, The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, Silent Hill, and Braid might be good examples of this; the endings force you to look back and reexamine all the things you saw over the course of the story, and think about what they mean now in the context of the ending.

I didn't intend this post to be this long when I started it. I just all of a sudden found this subject really interesting.

[Soulliard]

I don't generally like happy endings, because they always seem cheesy and cliched.

On the other hand, sad ending don't usually work well for games, since it makes the player feel like a failure. If you got to the end of the game, only to see the main character get shot, you feel like all your work was for nothing (or worse, think you did something wrong).

The best endings, in my opinion, are those that are tragic, while still leaving you feeling successful. Shadow of the Colossus did this well, since you accomplished your goal- but not in the way you originally intended.

Planescape: Torment has, without a doubt, the best ending of any video game. It was tragic to the point that it could cause tears, but that was all right, since you still accomplished your goal. You knew from the beginning that there would not be a happy ending- the goal of the game, after all, is to kill yourself. In fact, P:T left me with a greater feeling of accomplishment than most other games, since during the final encounter, I felt truly powerful. I really felt like I had come a long way. The ending was deep and tragic, but left me completely satisfied. It was perfect.

[Gr.Viper]

Planescape: Torment has, without a doubt, the best ending of any video game.

Which of the endings do you mean?

[december]

An enthusiastic voice declaring "Game over YEAH!"

[Simon Andersson]

One ending I'm especailly fond of is the second Monkey Island one, even though I highly expect it breaks against all rules, I love it.
It got this great, yeah, a weird game like this really shouldn't really have ended in another way -vibe.

[TooMuchSpareTime]

An enthusiastic voice declaring "Game over YEAH!"

It's amazing what games can get away with that movies simply can't.  :D

(Not that they don't try, occasionally.)


I once played a version of that ancient "Snake" game (eat the boxes and you get longer while trying not to bang into your own tail) where if you died it would play the death march. If you won... it would play the death march.

[Soulliard]

Planescape: Torment has, without a doubt, the best ending of any video game.

Which of the endings do you mean?

Any of them, really.

[Synnah]

One of my favourite game endings was Shenmue 2. Well, okay, it had the start of a new chapter, but it took place in a completely different location; I still remember how it was to walk down those pathways with flowers either side.  It also came with an opening-up of the narrative, beautiful hints of what was to come in the next game.

I agree entirely with this. A lot of people hated Shenmue 2's ending because it had no great boss fight; in fact, the entirety of the 4th disc was spent walking along a path, talking to a girl. The game's 'climax' is at the end of the 3rd disc; if you keep this in mind, it becomes clear that the whole of the last disc is the game's ending, and you're playing it. It's such a shame that the 3rd game in the series was never released.

And this leads me to my point; some of the best endings in recent memory, for me, are those that involve the player in some way; Without wanting to spoil things, Shadow of the Colossus did this, and so did Braid. And ICO, to a lesser extent. Are there any other games that did this?