Viewing Thread:
"What makes a truly disppointing ending?"

As gamers, most of us suffer from DES (Disappointing Ending Syndrome) whenever we finish a cracking game, only to discover that is has the worst ending imaginable. Why do we have to suffer this? Do the designers finish designing the last boss and decide that it's time for a nice long holiday somewhere hot, leaving the cleaning lady to finish the making of the game? Even the best game in the history of everything anywhere ever suffers from this.

*Grabs gun, shoots alien*
Hero: Let's go.
*Fly back to Earth*
THE END

View 1
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What the hell?! Is that the last impression of your game you want to give the audience? And why am I asking so many questions?

*Sigh* I suppose they'll remain eternal mysteries.

View 2
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Funny, I've always felt that it was the quality of the bits before the end that were important - you know, what's it called...the game?

I never had a problem with say, the end of Half-life, after using satellites to kill the big robot thing, playing hide and seek with the ninjas hunting the 'Nad and aborting that hormonally challenged giant baby, no FMV sequence in the world ever was going to sum up that experience. Sure, if the game is genuinely plot-based like say, Baldurs Gate or Deus Ex, then a satisfying conclusion is important, but for your shooter, RTS or whatever, it's the shooting and strategising that's important, and the end is merely when there's nothing left to gun-down or outflank.

View 3
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The ending should be a 10 minute long FMV sequence. Always, at least. Endings should show what happens AFTER you beat the boss, conquer the world, or whatever. Oh, and for CGI endings: fancy lighting effects aren't impressive, that's easy. People in CGI are hard to do well. If an ending is going to be properly impressive CGI, it will need people.

The Good Ending
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Kick me as you will, but I really enjoyed the end of FF8. FF7's end was okay, if a bit hazy, but FF8's - wow. The 20 minute FMV actually felt like a reward rather than a skip-o-gram, and if you watch to the very end, past the credits, there's a rather happy ending. Awww. Since it does show you what becomes of all the characters, ties up most of the loose ends, and basically, ends happily ever after (important in a FF game, since you wont be going back to those characters again), it is what great endings are made of.

FFIX also has a great ending. Less FMV (saving on disc space) but more about the characters, and what becomes of all of them. Plus it has a nice in-joke, a Matrix reference (to go with the Star Wars quote before the final battle, natch), and you can change it (in a fairly inconsequential way) if you play through the subquests enough.

In conclusion...
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The problem with game endings is that when you've been playing a really good game, you've invested a lot of time, energy and emotion in it. It's very difficult to give the game an ending which rewards the player for the amount they've invested in the game, ties up the plot satisfyingly and ideally adjusts to your actions in the game.

The important bit's the game.

But the point in playing a game, apart from the obvious reasons, is to complete the mission, finish the story, find some meaning in something. And when a great and deep game like Deus Ex ends by not answering all your questions, with no massive FMV, no result from your choice of ending, it's a bit weak to say the least. It kinda lets the whole game down. We want a reward! A bit like Tekken, where each character has a different ending sequence, spurring you to play the others, and you unlock different modes. The perfect way to end a game is with a massvive FMV, maybe a choice of ending or two, but most importantly, there must be play beyond play. A secret mode, a way to continue playing in your moment of triumph, instead of the only way to play being to go back to that last save before the final boss.

However, FMV isn't the be-all and end-all of endings by any means. It can be good if it's high quality and well presented (i.e. no cheesy actors), but many FMVs ruin a game. Why were there no FMVs in Half-Life or Deus Ex? Because the in-game cutscenes worked far better, saved on disc space and expensive rendering equipment. They maintained the atmosphere.

Final Thought
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Endings should be a reward. The game's ending should be the biggest, maddest, coolest thing you've seen thus far in the game. Yes, the final boss should be big mad and cool, but the reward for killing him off should be more so.

I'd imagine having a heart attack and dying before you finish the game would be a truly disappointing ending.

Thanks for reading,
Shaun

g-m dog? What the hell is that?

I hate endings where you toil for hours only to discover your adventure was pointless and they all die but one who must repopulate the world alone even though hes actually a g-m dog

Oooh.

Ok, I will :0)

forget it....

What about a good ending? :0)

Gotta go, bye!

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


GOOD ENDING!!!

Good what? :0)

GOOD?

happy now?

HálloHowArtThou wrote:

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD ending...

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What exactly is a 'GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD ending'?

I was being sarcastic, mate :0)