Game Endings

[VideoGameCritic]

One thing I tend to get annoyed about nowadays is gamers whining about game endings. People act as if they invested all those hours just to see the freakin' ending. The fun should be in playing the game itself, not some gigantic "payoff" at the end.

Granted, there is a certain level of expectations. Endings should at least tie up any loose ends of the plot and give the game some finality (or more likely, segue to a sequel). But you really shouldn't expect every one to be a 10-minute epic that rocks your world.

Speaking of lame endings, Batman Returns for the SNES probably qualifies. It seems to me like the screen said something like "Congratulations, now try a harder level". When you beat it on the dark knight level, it showed a picture of Batman and said "You are the true dark knight".

Dave

[sega saturn x]

Do any shooters have endings worth rememberin?  No.  I have beaten countless shooters and i can tell you i really dont remember any of the endings.

[mappy mouse pd]

As developers continue to push gaming presentation and production towards the level of big budget Hollywood movies, I think they should be held to higher standards when it comes to storytelling.

I don't care about the ending of action games, because all the fun is in the gameplay. But if the game tries to be cinematic and tell a story, like Resident Evil 4 or Knights of the Old Republic,then the ending is important, because it can leave a lasting impression.

I'm not asking for a long ending I have to sit through for 10 minutes, just one that doesn't leave a bad taste in my mouth. They they don't all need to be "Bad Dudes" good (I still think the "Presidential Burger" ending is the best in video game history), but at least they can put some effort into it.

[mappy mouse pd]

[I]Do any shooters have endings worth rememberin? No. I have beaten countless shooters and i can tell you i really dont remember any of the endings.[/I]

I still remember the ending of Zanac. A screen comes up saying you are "Messiah of Earth." I remember this, because I put it on my business card afterwards.

[Paul Campbell]

That was kind of a hypocritical post there, Dave. You say you are tired of people whining about game endings and then you whine about a game ending.

I only whine when it falls right into the criteria you specified. The ending should meet the expectation set by the story and should help bring it to some kind of close. That is exactly what I HATED about the ending of Half-Life 2.

I think the whole topic is worth a whine in your "rants" section, though.

[Space Guppy]

Wasn't the ending for NES Metroid great?  I ended up getting a code for the entry point at the mother brain portion of the game with about 200 missiles and six energy tanks, and would go through that stage time and again, to improve my time.  Eventually i got Samus in a two piece!  That seemed far more rewarding than it had a right to be...

[Dennis]

I think the best endings should show you something you haven't seen before in the game.  For example, Metroid, which reveals the secret about Samus, or Mega Man 2, which has a different graphical style than the rest of the game.

I think the two best endings of all time are Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Toejam and Earl.  Zelda shows you a "Where Are They Now?" for every character you talk to throughout the game.  Toejam and Earl lets you walk around the aliens' home planet and talk to their neighbors and friends.

The worst endings are the text ones, or the ones that don't have any surprises at all.  I was pretty bummed by the ending of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, just because the rest of the story was so good. 

Now that I think of it, except for SMB2, all of the Mario games have had lame endings.

[Cafeman1]

Any ending that says basically "thanks for playing" or "try again on hard!" is a smack in the face. Better to have no ending!

It's nice on some games to have a little animation or amusing scene. Sonic had him running thru various levels with fun music and animals rejoicing -- that was cool all by itself.   Outrun, and Outrun 2, have a little scene of the driver & his girl.

But with longer quests, where you get to "know" the characters, its great to see where they end up.  The Panzer Dragoon games have had the kinds of endings that make me say "huh?? what happens next!". It resolves the story a little bit, but also opens more questions. LIke Beyond Good & Evil's ending -- it isn't really "resolved", but I liked the ending because it was more than just credits.

[superjay aka Xbot]

I definitley didn't like the Aliens Vs. Predator ending for the Jaguar. I'm talking about the Alien ending and the Predator ending. It was just one screen each. I don't even remember if there were any words. The Human had a nice ending. It was like a cliff hanger or something. It better have a good ending it was the hardest to complete of the three.

[VideoGameCritic]

[QUOTE=Paul Campbell]That was kind of a hypocritical post there, Dave. You say you are tired of people whining about game endings and then you whine about a game ending.
[/QUOTE]

Come to think about it, you're right. I'm a hypocritical bastard!