Your thoughts on game endings

[Dennis]

*spoilers*

My favorite ending is A Link to the Past, because it visits every single character you talked to during the game and shows how you have bettered their lives by defeating ... whatever his name is.

I also like Toejam and Earl's open-ended ending, where you can walk around the planet as long as you like and talk to all your friends and well-wishers.

The saddest ending, for me, is Actraiser.  You, as God, leave the planet that you created behind because the people you created are so advanced that they no longer have a need for you.  Crushing.

[m0zart1]

There are a few modern game endings that I really love from this past generation as well, especially three very interesting survival horror games I played.  I warn, there are spoilers ahead, for anyone who doesn't want to see them.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem gives you a special ending if you beat the game three times in a row, once with Pious serving each ancient.  It's a pretty revealing ending, as the ancient you thought was a friend to mankind all along the game is the true "eternal darkness" after all.

Siren has you situated in this Japanese town that has slid into the apocalypse.  They serve a god unrelated to the typical Shinto and Buddhist ideals of their Japanese brethren, a god that is related to the Mermaid manga.  They start this apocalypse by performing a ritual that calls on the god.  The town's water turns red, and signifies the blood of the god -- those who drink it live forever as shibito, the walking dead.  The god even has his own symbol scattered throughout the township called the "mana cross".  A siren noise blairs all over the town during this period, which is basically the screeches of the god calling on his shibito to cross over to the other side.  At the end of the game, after you've unlocked, collected, and completed everything in the game (which is no small feat given the almost impossible difficulty), a short but very telling cut-scene opens up to be viewed. The cutscene shows an alien creature who has crashed during the sixth century in Japan, during a famine.  He is laying against ship parts in the shape of the mana cross which later serves as his symbol among the townsfolk.  The starving villagers are basically eating him alive.  He screeches out a curse on them, which is basically the origin of the crazy religion and the events in the township.

Finally, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, has a pretty boring ending if you get the common one, ending in your character's suicide in an insane asylum in the '20s.  But if you go through the ridiculous travails to get the best ending, you are in for a very Lovecraft-rich explanation for what happened.  The game is basically a merging of two Lovecraft stories -- "Shadow of out of Time", and "Shadow over Innsmouth".  The first chapter of the game, whose significance is never explained in the common ending, is the portion for "Shadow out of Time", while the rest of the game is based on "Shadow over Innsmouth".  The best ending has your character hilling himself anyway, but at least explains the first chapter of the game in detail, and also explains why you have the ability to see future events and read mens' intentions, and just what happened to you during your seven-year blackout.  It's almost impossible to explain that game in detail, you just have to play that one for yourself.

[The RPG Critic]

[QUOTE=m0zart]Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem gives you a special ending if you beat the game three times in a row, once with Pious serving each ancient.  It's a pretty revealing ending, as the ancient you thought was a friend to mankind all along the game is the true "eternal darkness" after all.[/QUOTE]

Eternal Darkness was a fantastic game.  Great soundtrack on that one, too.  I played through all three times, but I felt the special ending was almost not worth the extra two times through.

 I'd really like a sequel.  Wii Remote + Nunchuk would be freaking great.  You could move around with the analog stick, put the spells on the directional pad, use the A button for interacting with things, lock onto baddies with the Z button, and swing the remote for your weapon.

Hmm, I just inadvertently described the control scheme for Twilight Princess.

[smokeydadog]

I remember finally beating Revenge of Shinobi but not defeating the final boss in time. The girl died and I thought, "Oh no, now I have to go all the way through that again..." I was pissed. Being younger with lots more time on my hands, though, I stuck with it until I eventually got the good ending.

Funny, I remember the crappy endings more than the good ones. Lately I've been disappointed with Halo 2 and Half-Life 2. Whoopty-doo, you beat the game, now go buy part 3 to get the real ending. Bleh.

[funky_muzic1]

Hey Critic,
Eternal Darkness was a great game for the Gamecube, and it seemed like there was supposed to be a sequel, but it never came out.  I wonder if there ever will be a sequel?
Zelda endings are often epic (just like the game) and they do revisit all of the characters you meet in the game.  I just (finally) beat Twilight Princess, and it had the same type ending as a Link to the Past. 
Resident Evil is one of those games that offers mulitple endings based on how you played the game.  I remember beating RE Zero and getting a "D" (probably because I used too many First-Aid Sprays), and thinking "I'm not playing through this whole thing again."  Besides, now-a-days, you can probably find all endings to any game on You Tube or some other website.  Isn't the internet great?  Speaking of Resident Evil, have you picked up RE4 for the Wii?  All of the reviews that I've read said it's the best version available.  I'm interested to know what you think of it?

[a1]

I think the worst game ending was in Streets of Rage, when the final boss asks you if you want to join him. I accidentally replied yes, and the game reset on me.

[Atarifever1]

[QUOTE=smokeydadog]I remember finally beating Revenge of Shinobi but not defeating the final boss in time. The girl died and I thought, "Oh no, now I have to go all the way through that again..." I was pissed. Being younger with lots more time on my hands, though, I stuck with it until I eventually got the good ending.
[/QUOTE]

I didn't even know what the point was until it was over, so if she had died I wouldn't have cared.  I got the good ending the first time, but only because I got that huge stash of powerups and killed him in no time.

[Adamant1]

Dragon Warrior does the same thing - when you finally reach the Dragonlord, he'll ask you to join him - answer yes, and the screen turns red just like it does when you die..

However, Streets of Rage has an interesting little quirk about it's ending. If you're playing 2-player mode, and one player answers yes while the other player answers no, the boss will make the two of you fight each other. After the winner has been decided, he'll ask again - reply no, and you'll fight him as usual, but the ending will show you taking over his empire rather than dissolving it.