Your thoughts on game endings

[stanstanley1]

There is a great article on video game endings at Destructoid (see below link).
http://www.destructoid.com/the-end-my-friend-the-difficulty-in-creating-an-awesome-ending-to-a-videogame-32662.phtml

I was just wondering about others thoughts on game endings.

For me, I loved the ending of Castlevania III on the NES.  You had four possible endings based on the ally you selected to accompany you on your quest.  Each ending was nice and short, to the point, but still satisfying.  The ending you got if you chose Sypha is one of my favorite and has always stayed with me.  It is triumphant, but also a little sad.  Plus you find out a bit of a secret about the character, and are also left with a hint of a possible future together for the two characters.

[m0zart1]

I loved the endings for Castlevania 2 and 3, but I think my favorite ending of the NES era was Metroid.  I had expected it to be just some bland ending about peace in space, etc.  But when Samus turned out to be a girl, that was one of the single biggest surprises I experienced in that time.

[Adamant1]

[QUOTE]f a game possesses multiple endings -- say, one happy, one unhappy -- one of these will arbitrarily be labeled the “true” ending. Guess which one. If a player gets an unhappy ending, the resulting feeling is almost akin to that felt when seeing a “game over” or “mission failed” screen: when unhappy things occur in such a videogame, it’s usually because of a player’s failure to complete some task. Instead of enjoying the emotional resonance of the unhappy conclusion, the player instead wracks his brain with questions: what did I do wrong? How can I go back and fix it? The player does not consider this a “real” ending and future sequels to the game will likely not consider the unhappier ending canon -- as a result, depressing endings in multiple-conclusion games are almost entirely ignored on a purely narrative, dramatic level.[/QUOTE]

Heh, should be noted that Tsukihime's multiple endings does indeed have the unhappy endings as the "true" one's, while the good endings can only be seen by first watching the true ending, then reloading the last chapter, then replaying it, whereupon a new, previously unavailable action can be executed at the climax, leading to the good ending. Then again, the good endings aren't really very satisfying narratives either, being more cheesy and annoying than anything else.

[The RPG Critic]

[QUOTE=m0zart]But when Samus turned out to be a girl, that was one of the single biggest surprises I experienced in that time.[/QUOTE]

"Why is a girl wearing Samus' armor?...... OH MY GOD!!!!"

[Dennis]

The Metroid ending was a surprise, but it shouldn't have been... movies have been doing that for decades.  Ever see the scene with a motorcycle rider removing the helmet to reveal long hair?

[m0zart1]

[QUOTE=Dennis]

The Metroid ending was a surprise, but it shouldn't have been... movies have been doing that for decades.  Ever see the scene with a motorcycle rider removing the helmet to reveal long hair?

[/QUOTE]

How many robots in movies took off their armor to reveal they were not only really human beings, but women?  It was a first for video games as far as I know, and as video games were not movie-production quality at the time, I still think it should have been a surprise.  I hadn't even realized that Samus was a human being when I first played that game.  I thought she was some kind of robot.  It was all a big surprise to me.

[Dennis]

I never thought Samus was a robot.

[Linkdude]

The ending for Saints Row is kinda blah because it really is disappointing. But it is actually good because it really left me hanging.

[m0zart1]

[QUOTE=Dennis]

I never thought Samus was a robot.

[/QUOTE]

I did.  I just assumed it at first.  Yes, Samus was a bounty hunter, but lots of sci-fi, including Star Wars, had robotic bounty hunters.

But in all seriousness, even today after all of the changes in the way we view active women in the last 20 years, it would still shock me if, in any given game, the helmet of a great warrior not already known to be a woman came off and turned out to be a woman all along.  If Master Chief took off his/her helmet, and (s)he turned out to be a lady, it would probably floor me, with or without voicework to throw me off.

[Funkmaster V]

I love endings that change with gameplay. Ogre Battle 64 has dozens of endings depending on how you treat citizens and who lives and dies.

Funkmaster V