Bad video game endings

[Deleted]

It has come to my attention lately that, while I love the stories in almost all video games and play mostly to experience them, I am disappointed with almost all endings. "Bad" in the title doesn't mean evil, but simply not satisfactory. Does anyone else feel the same way, and what are the possible reasons? Are there just not many games with a good ending? Or is it somehow that reaching the end of the story disappoints one?

To further clarify what I mean, an example of a game I played lately: Neverwinter Nights 1 (+ SoU + HotU).
WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD
People seem mostly not to like the story of the OC, while SoU is considered good and HotU one of the best stories ever written.
Personally I loved the story of the OC. There are things I don't like, e.g.: "Here my little level 1 trainee, you must save everyone in the city while I, a hero of Neverwinter and Right Hand of the regent, will stand here and... well, you know, have some fun." But mostly I liked uncovering new schemes, new parts of the puzzle of the plot, always leading forward, to a bigger understanding of what's going on and what has to be done. The twists were ok, but somewhat predictable since there were too many hints leading up to them.
But then: the ending. You defeated the evil queen. Now there would be two possibilities: Finish there and give a nice ending sequence, or let you talk to some characters from the plot. In this game the latter is chosen, and who are you able to talk to? Some lizardwoman, which you only encountered shortly in the last two acts, all dialogues with her not even taking 10 minutes. Not some characters where you actually worked with for almost the whole game. And what does that woman tells you? That there are even greater dangers to come in your life (greater than some ancient race who can not only threaten the world you live in, but parallel universes where even your own gods have no power?). And in the addons you play another character, in terms of the story.

And the HotU ending? While the story leading up to it is really good, the ending is somewhat meh. You killed the evil guy, but he's not really dead and will do vengeance someday, because he's too mighty to be killed here. At least you saved the day and your kobold bard friend is awesome. I have not played the "evil" ending of HotU yet, so I can't tell anything about that.

And another part of the ending: Aribeth the Twin-Souled. If you kill her, the ending of the OC seems quite ok. If you play a male character and choose to romance with her, before going to the final fight she says: "Well, I maybe love you, kill that bitch who threatens all and we'll talk later." Which obviously does not hold true, and is not even mentioned in the ending sequence. In HotU then you can aquire her spirit as a follower and romance with her (again with another character). And, in the ending, you spend the rest of your life and the afterlife together. You, the character B who has spend a trip through one act of one addon with her, where she was already dead and her spirit saved. Not you, character A, who has spend at her side the whole OC, clinged on to her as she was your worst enemy, been there for her and saved her.



This is just one example, but there are many out there (the Mass Effect trilogy comes to mind, though I haven't played the 3rd yet). Not all endings in all games are bad, but somehow I feel that most of them just don't do right to the story leading up to it. Thoughts?

[leafs43]

Can't have a bad ending thread without a mention of Mass Effect 3.


So....


Mass Effect 3.

[Deleted]

Command & Conquer 4 ending the creator should be shot for making it.

[Blueobelisk]

Assassins Creed 3 felt a little anticlimactic.

[glowpipe]

Worst game ending ever must have been Borderlands 1. Nothing made sence. The ending of bl1 got explained in bl2. But there is no way in hell that was the plan from the beginning

[wariofan1]

Taking into consideration how hard this game is, I don't think there's anything that feels as much as a punch in the gut as this when talking video game endings.

[Harry Botter]

For me Halo 1 and RAGE. I kept thinking Halo was almost over several times before it was. Then it just ended like a bad episode to a tv show. And RAGE, everything was epic till the end. I totally thought it was building to something more, like a cool fight.

[Xerra]

FF8, felt like towards the end they were like... lets add stuff in space... now time! Dimensions! There is no end to the shark stacking to jump!

[leafs43]

Worst game ending ever must have been Borderlands 1. Nothing made sence. The ending of bl1 got explained in bl2. But there is no way in hell that was the plan from the beginning

I think most people were let down by BL1 because I bet everyone assumed the vault was going to be an awesome loot spot with tons of awesome guns. And instead it ended up being a tentacle monster in a hole.

[-Ethos-]

Assassins Creed owns this thread.

Every games ending has either been nonsensical at the time and needed another game to clarify, or has left it so far open that if you want to know anything you need to play the next game. Great business system, but the fans are getting more enraged each game.

Bonus points go to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, using a dragon out of nowhere as the final boss, yay generic! Not to mention its an easier fight that a group of Sprites you fight in the second zone because all you need to do is Fateshift which most people wouldnt have needed to use for 35 levels.

[Deleted]

Dead Island. The game had so much potential but the ending just smashed it all to the ground. It was too borring and you have seen it so many times before in other games.

[RoninaThorstone]

Swtor.

HUEHUEHUEHUE

But on a serious note. diablo 3.

[Windry]

FF7 - 1997
- One of my all time favorite games, and I played it when it just came out. BUT it was one of the worse endings ever.

After beating Sephiroth, the meteor is still coming down at the planet. Aerith's Holy spell seems to not have activated, BUT the lifestream is coming out of the ground to intercept the meteor! With people around the world looking out their windows, hoping and praying for a miracle... the meteor and lifestream finally impact and then.... CREDITS!

There were 3 possibilities that the game described to us.
- The lifestream might stop the meteor.
- The lifestream might not stop the meteor.
- The lifestream might stop the meteor, but also kill all of mankind (because we were bad for the planet)
AND IT DOESN'T TELL US WHAT HAPPENED!

Only 8 years later in 2005, with the release of FF7 Advent Children do we find out that the lifestream stopped the meteor, man kind was spared, but Midgar was destroyed.

[Arch0s]

I think most people were let down by BL1 because I bet everyone assumed the vault was going to be an awesome loot spot with tons of awesome guns. And instead it ended up being a tentacle monster in a hole.

I knew full well that the vault was going to have an alien/boss type thing in it....I just wasn't expecting to kill it with 1 clip of SMG ammo and be done with the game after how good and tough some of the previous bosses were ¬.¬

[RoninaThorstone]

Did anyone else feel like the end of watchers keep in bg2 tob was anticlimactic. It's like... I just killed satan who turned out to be a chicken squid monster (with a baboon face). And that was it. The end. The guys outside didn't even seem to care.

[Flaks]

Halo 4. The Cortana-Chief love story. Just what the hell...

[pickley]

Fable 2. Fable 3
Halo 4...

Shame on you microsoft.

---------- Post added 2013-03-03 at 08:43 PM ----------

Halo 4. The Cortana-Chief love story. Just what the hell...

Its not a sexual love. Cortana is the only person who really knows Chief, likewise. Chief is the only one that really knows Cortana.

[Thelxi]

the 100% completion extra ending from FFX-2. Such a lame ending to an epic story.

[Asrialol]

Can't have a bad ending thread without a mention of Mass Effect 3.


So....


Mass Effect 3.

The Mass Effect 3 ending was brilliant. Leaving the possiblity of Shepard surviving or the fun speculations of indoctrinations. Brilliant.

[yurano]

Driver: San Francisco's ending was a huge let down.

There's nothing like telling you everything you did earlier was all a dream. It was worse than Mass Effect 3's ending. At least ME3's ending was still epic (bar the lack of impact your previous choices).