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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
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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
---------------------------
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...
----------------------
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
-------------------
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
*Grabs gun, shoots alien*
Hero: Let's go.
*Fly back to Earth*
THE END
View 1
------------
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
------------
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
------------
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
---------------------------
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...
----------------------
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
-------------------
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
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Haven't got time to read the whole topic so forgive me if I'm way off the subject. I thought Jak and Daxter's ending (If you can call it an ending) ruined the entire game. You start the game where Daxter is turned into that furry critter thing and then expect to see him turn back at the end but nooooooo, the game just grinds to a halt leaving many loose ends and no feeling of closure or completion, With an ending and some tweaking Jak and Daxter could of being one of the greats, not bad though :-)
AfroJoe wrote:
> I think the Conker's Bad Fur Day ending was a truely disappointing ending.
I thought the ending to Conker was really good.
> I think the Conker's Bad Fur Day ending was a truely disappointing ending.
I thought the ending to Conker was really good.
AfroJoe wrote:
> I think the Conker's Bad Fur Day ending was a truely disappointing ending.
It
> was terrible, compared to the rest of the game.
Damn right. It ruined it. But the rest ruled, so it didn't ruin it. To contradict, or not to contradict?
> I think the Conker's Bad Fur Day ending was a truely disappointing ending.
It
> was terrible, compared to the rest of the game.
Damn right. It ruined it. But the rest ruled, so it didn't ruin it. To contradict, or not to contradict?
If there's a worse ending than Tekken on GBA, I haven't seen it. I know it's difficult to fit a 20 minute fmv sequence onto one of those dinky little carts but to put all that effort in only to be faced with 'Congratulations, You Have Won King of Iron Fist Tournament' (on a black screen, in a less interesting font) is a tiny bit disappointing. GTA3 was kind of dull, too.
I think the Conker's Bad Fur Day ending was a truely disappointing ending.
It was terrible, compared to the rest of the game.
My truely disappointing ending of it's own would have to be, the one you said Shaun. Dying of a heart attack before finishing the game. :D
It was terrible, compared to the rest of the game.
My truely disappointing ending of it's own would have to be, the one you said Shaun. Dying of a heart attack before finishing the game. :D
$h@ne0 wrote:
"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?"
Cleaning lady?
Cleaning lady.
Cleaning lady!
CLEANING LADY!!
CLEANING LADY!!!
*strangles Shaneo*
"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?"
Cleaning lady?
Cleaning lady.
Cleaning lady!
CLEANING LADY!!
CLEANING LADY!!!
*strangles Shaneo*
The ending to Vampire:the masquerade sucked. Hugely.
The rest was really good. And I liked it so much that I even bought myself a copy because i was struggling so much with the, ahem, "free" copy my French exchange partner had brought with him. It wasn't difficult, I just couldn't understand what the hell was going on most of the time, which doesn't help one bit when you're supposed to be going on quests and don't know what the quest actually means. It's not that I'm bad at french, just that my vocabulary doesn't stretch to obscure Vampire language.
Anyway, having forked out for an English copy, played through the game all over again up to the 2nd disc, where I had got to before, and then played on till the end, I was more than a little annoyed that the ending was unmitigated crap.
The rest was really good. And I liked it so much that I even bought myself a copy because i was struggling so much with the, ahem, "free" copy my French exchange partner had brought with him. It wasn't difficult, I just couldn't understand what the hell was going on most of the time, which doesn't help one bit when you're supposed to be going on quests and don't know what the quest actually means. It's not that I'm bad at french, just that my vocabulary doesn't stretch to obscure Vampire language.
Anyway, having forked out for an English copy, played through the game all over again up to the 2nd disc, where I had got to before, and then played on till the end, I was more than a little annoyed that the ending was unmitigated crap.
hmm... well forstly I must disagree that I don't generally feel that an ending that doesn't tie everything up is bad. It leaves stuff to your imagination (and leaves doors open for sequels...). But also, if it's a game where you really play AS the character, and play how you want to- ie. in Half-Life you could have always done your utmost to keep scientists/ barneys alive, or you could have shot them in the head for the hell of it. And therefore it would be hard to create an ending that suited everyone's style as Gordan Freeman. Even the ending given, you could stay true to the end, and face certain death, or accept the G-man's offer and work for him... I'm sure most people went back to see the other ending, they hadn't done first time, but it allowed you to decide which path to take. That is good. Right till the very end you were in control.
And these endings that tie everyhting up aren't that great. They CAN become far too predictable. Everyone lives happily ever after can and will get irritating. FFVII had a good ending (as far as I remember...) because it tied up the immediate plot. The asteroid was about to hit, and it had a nice referance with you seeing that little girl (Marlie I think...?) in the house scared, and the good forces and evil forces clashing to see if the meteor would hit, then the planets Mako energy just overwhelmed it all. It had a good twist. You thought the planet was a goner, or the planet saving Materia (Aeris had...) would save the day. But the planet saved itself... And I don't think it tied up what happened to any characters (except Red) and the Japanese version showed Aeris opening her eyes under the water... alive again, which is kind of the happy ending thing, but not, because we still don't know what happened to the rest of the gang. And at the very end you see Red and his kids running around over the remains of the city. The planet kind of reclaimed it back to nature. And I think that was a great ending. It tied up some loose ends, created some MORE loose ends, and left stuff to the imagination. Which makes it all the more interesting for the viewer.
And after that long analysis of FFVII's ending... well, endings could probably be better in general. But there are some games where the end will always be disappointing. Not because the ending is bad, just because the game can be so good, you just don't want it to be at an end. And that's why secret areas in games can be so good.
If I made a game, I would make the ending have some cryptic clue in it... so that once you'd won it once, if you restarted the game, then there'd be a item you could pick up somewhere in the game that wasn't there before. And this would allow you to access a secret area that would still be very hard to find and get to even with the item. So you would be rewarded at the end sequence with an intriguing puzzle that you could actually go back and solve. And I'd try to make the secret area decent, really hard, but still fun, and very rewarding...
The end sequence of a game doesn't have to be the end of the game...
And these endings that tie everyhting up aren't that great. They CAN become far too predictable. Everyone lives happily ever after can and will get irritating. FFVII had a good ending (as far as I remember...) because it tied up the immediate plot. The asteroid was about to hit, and it had a nice referance with you seeing that little girl (Marlie I think...?) in the house scared, and the good forces and evil forces clashing to see if the meteor would hit, then the planets Mako energy just overwhelmed it all. It had a good twist. You thought the planet was a goner, or the planet saving Materia (Aeris had...) would save the day. But the planet saved itself... And I don't think it tied up what happened to any characters (except Red) and the Japanese version showed Aeris opening her eyes under the water... alive again, which is kind of the happy ending thing, but not, because we still don't know what happened to the rest of the gang. And at the very end you see Red and his kids running around over the remains of the city. The planet kind of reclaimed it back to nature. And I think that was a great ending. It tied up some loose ends, created some MORE loose ends, and left stuff to the imagination. Which makes it all the more interesting for the viewer.
And after that long analysis of FFVII's ending... well, endings could probably be better in general. But there are some games where the end will always be disappointing. Not because the ending is bad, just because the game can be so good, you just don't want it to be at an end. And that's why secret areas in games can be so good.
If I made a game, I would make the ending have some cryptic clue in it... so that once you'd won it once, if you restarted the game, then there'd be a item you could pick up somewhere in the game that wasn't there before. And this would allow you to access a secret area that would still be very hard to find and get to even with the item. So you would be rewarded at the end sequence with an intriguing puzzle that you could actually go back and solve. And I'd try to make the secret area decent, really hard, but still fun, and very rewarding...
The end sequence of a game doesn't have to be the end of the game...
The ending of Devil May Cry was good, i thought the ending was going to be after defeating mundes but the plane thing at the end shocked me, i was just expecting just a long cut scene not what it actually was.
KR
KR
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