The Video Game Critic

It really depends on the genre I'm playing. For the most part, action games don't need more of a story than "Go kick some ass!" and I don't expect much out of an ending from it, because I don't care about the story. Naturally, in a RPG I DO want the ending to be good, because the entire genre is built on character development and storytelling.

I just get annoyed when the ending is just credits, or when it's incongruous garbage.


Recent Bad endings:
HL2 (it made no sense--come on Valve!)
Halo 2 (Bungie even admits it sucked in the newest Edge magazine)
Lost Planet (I don't even know what to say)

Re: Really? Questron? I'll have to find that one. It's hard to find a Commodore 64 game with quality play control that allows you to have enough control to beat it, and harder yet to beat a game and find more than credits at the end.

Thanks for the tip. I'm a Commie man.

Paul - this is one of my childhood memories games, but it really is great. Andrew Schultz (does anyone know if this guy has a blog or something??) wrote a great FAQ and review (although I disagree with his score) at gamefaqs. the review is here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/apple2/review/R19174.html
He did lots of awesome reviews of apple games, esp. RPGs, for those of you interested in that sort of thing (like me!). I'm sure you can find it at an abandonware site, try www.the-underdogs.info

- John

[QUOTE=Funkmaster V]

Super Monkey Ball's ending is fun.... a race through banana's dodging dropping credits.

 

 

 

I love the games where you actually DO something during the credits, like in Super Monkey Ball. I actually don't get bored wondering why the heck I would care that Yuuchiro Nakagawa was the Artistic Director's hair stylist.

I hate it when endings don't give any credits. Like many 80s arcade games. I want to see Yu Suzuki's name when I beat Afterburner or Power Drift!!!

[QUOTE=jrallen81]Re: Really? Questron? I'll have to find that one. It's hard to find a Commodore 64 game with quality play control that allows you to have enough control to beat it, and harder yet to beat a game and find more than credits at the end.

Thanks for the tip. I'm a Commie man.

Paul - this is one of my childhood memories games, but it really is great. Andrew Schultz (does anyone know if this guy has a blog or something??) wrote a great FAQ and review (although I disagree with his score) at gamefaqs. the review is here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/apple2/review/R19174.html
He did lots of awesome reviews of apple games, esp. RPGs, for those of you interested in that sort of thing (like me!). I'm sure you can find it at an abandonware site, try www.the-underdogs.info

- John


[/QUOTE]

I'll check it out.  I need to get back into a Commodore vibe.   It's been a while for me.

[QUOTE=The Video Game Critic]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[/QUOTE]

I completely disagree.  Endings are supposed to tie up loose ends, and act as a reward of sorts for overcoming all the game's different challenges.  Would you say the same about a book?  That the ending doesn't matter?

[QUOTE=Crevalle] Would you say the same about a book?� That the ending doesn't matter? [/QUOTE]

Nice.

Comparing two different mediums that have nothing in common with eachother.

Nice.

Game endings pretty much hinge on the type of game you are playing. 

If you are playing Tekken 5...the ending are going to be little 2 min CGI videos that look cool, but explain little.  No one really expects anything more.

If you are playing a story driven game like Killer 7 the ending had damn well be a good payoff considering how confusing the plot is.

Honestly I remember a really great endboss more than I remember the ending of a game.  That last battle should be the most memorable thing about the whole game.  Thats the real ending, and its usually what you discuss with friends.

For example, you will always remember beating Mike Tyson in Tyson's Punch Out (NES), but you probably won't remember what happens afterwards.