Your Favorite Game Ending

[RiffRaff]

What's your favorite ending in a game? Since this thread will be spoilerrific, remember to use your spoiler tags!!!! It's a tad hidden, so look at my screenshot to find it
Even if it's just a little bit spoilery, use the tag

There's a ton of games where I loved the ending, but the one that takes the cake is a more recent one and I'm sure many of you will agree with me on it. Nier: Automata has the best ending in all of video games. Why?

Spoiler

Well, in short, in a game about subverting expectations it successfully subverted my expectation even if I had already heard that it was something different (what exactly happens was still unknown to me). And on top of that, in a game as bleak and drab as it is it ended on such a great note of hopefulness and togetherness. I was more than happy to sacrifice my precious save (and let's be honest here, as gamers, that save file is something quite important to us. Not a decision to be taken lightly). The fact so many other gamers sacrificed their save to help me actually brought a non-superfluous tear to my eye. I felt so good after that ending and it's an ending that is so incredibly unique to the gaming medium. P* and Square went above and beyond their duty as artist to elicit emotion from me.

So for all of you who have yet to play Nier: Automata, please play it. And even if you aren't really jiving on it at first, I do implore you to get the true ending still (about 30ish hours of gameplay). It's worth it imho.

 

[MajorTomsCoffeeCup]

Metal gear solid 4 for me. Stupid, hammy, and maximum Kojima, I loved how it ended solid snake's saga. Desperately sad, but uplifting together.

Really dug xenoblade chronicles 1's ending, we will see how the remaster adds to it, but it was great and sorta unexpected at the time.

Xenogears has sort of a mind fuck ending that I really enjoyed as well.

Earthbound, which is just a masterpiece in general, great ending.

Ocarina of time has a splendid ending

Skyward sword also has a great ending in my opinion

Metroid fusion ( we need a god damn sequel)

 

[Anthony Marzano]

For story it's easily Metal Gear Solid 3 for me:

Spoiler

You go through the entire game feeling betrayed by The Boss as you watch her play cohort to Volgin the psychopath, then as Eva explains to you that The Boss was actually still working for the US at the cost of her honor, it was heart wrenching. To slowly realize that The Boss had thrown away her entire life before this in service to her country, only to have that sacrifice wiped away as well is a story that has yet to be topped in gaming since.

 

[RiffRaff]

Metal gear solid 4 for me. Stupid, hammy, and maximum Kojima, I loved how it ended solid snake's saga. Desperately sad, but uplifting together.

Really dug xenoblade chronicles 1's ending, we will see how the remaster adds to it, but it was great and sorta unexpected at the time.

Xenogears has sort of a mind fuck ending that I really enjoyed as well.

Earthbound, which is just a masterpiece in general, great ending.

Ocarina of time has a splendid ending

Skyward sword also has a great ending in my opinion

Metroid fusion ( we need a god damn sequel)

I'm torn on MGS4's ending. On one hand it was really clever. On the other, getting it was a fucking damn slog of a chore.
And speaking of Xeno, XBC2 I was rather lukewarm on till the final 3 chapters. Boy did that one go off with one helluva bang! Loved that ending! (and the other Xeno games you mentioned as well!)
And Earthbound. Just wowowowow!
For all the shit that Skyward Sword get (which I don't really agree with), it's a shame the ending is often overlooked. Loved it myself as well! And Wind Waker's final battle final blow is forever etched into my memory. Iconic!

 

[RiffRaff]

For story it's easily Metal Gear Solid 3 for me:

Spoiler

You go through the entire game feeling betrayed by The Boss as you watch her play cohort to Volgin the psychopath, then as Eva explains to you that The Boss was actually still working for the US at the cost of her honor, it was heart wrenching. To slowly realize that The Boss had thrown away her entire life before this in service to her country, only to have that sacrifice wiped away as well is a story that has yet to be topped in gaming since.

MGS3 was Kojima at the top of his craft IMO. Though my favorite MGS ending is MGS2. What a fucking mindfuck. Especially if you played it back in the day when that kind of stuff wasn't really done. Did not see that ending coming lol

 

[DeScruff]

Oooo! Lets see...

Etrian Odyssey...2? 1? (It might be multiple) The 100% completion ending:
The 100% completion ending means you have fought every single monster, and have gotten all the drops, including conditionals, and have gathered every resource. Everything in the forest is documented.

Spoiler: Its lovely

The town relies on adventurers going into the forest to gather materials. Its the life blood of the town. Adventurers go to this town as they explore the forest, and seek out fame and wealth. Very much like towns durring the gold rush. But because everything in the forest has been discovered, adventurers start leaving the town looking for new towns and forests.

CONGRATULATIONS! You fucked over an entire towns worth of people!

... Okay yeah on a more serious note.

Links Awakening (Obviously 0 death ending)

Spoiler: Im a sucker for endings like this.

Everyone in the town is gone, erased, and probably eventually forgotten. Except Marin, who somehow makes it out and becomes a seagull.

About ~10ish years ago I had a dream with this cute girl with redish hair. (No she didn't look like Marin, and at the time I did not yet beat, nor extensively play Links Awakening.) We were obviously close... But then something reminded me of my then girlfriend, and thats when the mood of the dream shifted. The cute girl admitted knew she was in a dream, and that she was afraid that she would soon disappear as I was going to wake up soon. I promised I would never forget her, so that hopefully she would come back in another dream...
Saddly Ive never seen her again.

Ya I know sounds cheese. But the ending of Links Awakening always reminds me of that dream.

Trails in the Sky FC (I talk a lot about that series here geeze)
Not much to say about it except, I beat the game at like 2am, and never have I ever clicked install on a sequel so fast. I didn't care if I needed to go to bed. I just wanted to go straight to SC. Same thing with 3rd. Though the ending isn't my favorite scene in that game.... 3rd does have my favorite scene in all of Videogames and no, Im not gonna grace it with a spoiler tag.
Play the games, find out what I'm talking about on your own. The scene is 100% better with the context of the games before it.
- Yes Kerrik52 if your reading this. I am talking about that scene.

 

[Heat]

Oof. I have a couple, but since there are two already on this thread, ill say:

- The In Water ending of Silent Hill 2. Is perfect, sad and moving. Is my head cannon ending for the whole game.
- The prehistoric ending on Contra Hard Corps for the Genesis (MY FAVORITE GAME!)
- Crisis Core ending. I cried like a bitch, even before the actual ending...
- 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors True ending. It was such a mindfuck, and i didn't even see it coming after the twist was on my hands. If only the third part had such a clever and great ending....
- The Balloons ending in Chrono Trigger is really beautiful. But more for the music than the actual scenes.

 

[MajorTomsCoffeeCup]

Metal gear solid 4 for me. Stupid, hammy, and maximum Kojima, I loved how it ended solid snake's saga. Desperately sad, but uplifting together.

Really dug xenoblade chronicles 1's ending, we will see how the remaster adds to it, but it was great and sorta unexpected at the time.

Xenogears has sort of a mind fuck ending that I really enjoyed as well.

Earthbound, which is just a masterpiece in general, great ending.

Ocarina of time has a splendid ending

Skyward sword also has a great ending in my opinion

Metroid fusion ( we need a god damn sequel)

I'm torn on MGS4's ending. On one hand it was really clever. On the other, getting it was a fucking damn slog of a chore.
And speaking of Xeno, XBC2 I was rather lukewarm on till the final 3 chapters. Boy did that one go off with one helluva bang! Loved that ending! (and the other Xeno games you mentioned as well!)
And Earthbound. Just wowowowow!
For all the shit that Skyward Sword get (which I don't really agree with), it's a shame the ending is often overlooked. Loved it myself as well! And Wind Waker's final battle final blow is forever etched into my memory. Iconic!

It was quite a slog for mgs4 , but for me it was something special hahah.

Windwaker was a great ending as well mang

 

[Dango]

The Last Guardian.

 

[Xeo]

I often prefer an ending that doesn't end like a fairy tale. As such I appreciate endings like MGS3, Final Fantasy Tactics (What a fucking gut punch...), Silent Hill 2, etc.

But for happy endings, Earthbound is one of the best. If there was ever a game that deserved a happy ending, it's that one.

 

[Kevin Mersereau]

What's your favorite ending in a game? Since this thread will be spoilerrific, remember to use your spoiler tags!!!! It's a tad hidden, so look at my screenshot to find it
Even if it's just a little bit spoilery, use the tag

View attachment 324

There's a ton of games where I loved the ending, but the one that takes the cake is a more recent one and I'm sure many of you will agree with me on it. Nier: Automata has the best ending in all of video games. Why?

Spoiler

Well, in short, in a game about subverting expectations it successfully subverted my expectation even if I had already heard that it was something different (what exactly happens was still unknown to me). And on top of that, in a game as bleak and drab as it is it ended on such a great note of hopefulness and togetherness. I was more than happy to sacrifice my precious save (and let's be honest here, as gamers, that save file is something quite important to us. Not a decision to be taken lightly). The fact so many other gamers sacrificed their save to help me actually brought a non-superfluous tear to my eye. I felt so good after that ending and it's an ending that is so incredibly unique to the gaming medium. P* and Square went above and beyond their duty as artist to elicit emotion from me.

So for all of you who have yet to play Nier: Automata, please play it. And even if you aren't really jiving on it at first, I do implore you to get the true ending still (about 30ish hours of gameplay). It's worth it imho.

Great choice! There really aren’t any other games I know of that can compare to Automata’s ending, or even its specific approach to multiple playthroughs/endings, and how it wraps everything up so nicely.

 

[RiffRaff]

Danganronpa V3. If you've played it, you'll know what I mean.

Very few games can really get away with reframing an entire game franchise so radically, yet somehow V3 sticks the landing. It's impressive.

I really want to try that series but keep holding out for a Switch port. Was going to get it on Steam last month, but opted for Zero Escape trilogy instead (really enjoying them btw)

 

[RiffRaff]

The mobile port of the first game is pretty damn good, if that helps?

The only mobile device I have is my phone. Not really interested on playing on that. I have a 3 year old Fire tablet as well and..... well, you know.

 

[Roager]

Super Metroid is the textbook answer. It really is perfectly executed, beat for beat. I had it spoiled at least a decade before I experienced it myself, and it was still fantastic.

But in my heart it's probably Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. The whole "This game is the Prince telling the story, so he's the narrator" idea is a fun gimmick that justifies the voiceover and gives those funny little "Wait, no, I didn't die there" jokes. But come to the end, and there's a big time rewind that undoes the entire game, and the final boss fight takes place before the intro. The story has three characters that actually matter (The Prince, Farah, and The Vizier) and they're all there. The player now has full context for all three, but only the Prince has actually experienced any of the game's events. The "storyteller" framing device is suddenly twisted, because Farah is not only a character IN the story, she's the person being addressed BY the story. And since the story, in a manner of speaking, never happened, the relationship that she and the Prince spent the entire game building changes too. It's clever and bittersweet and fits the Arabian Nights-y tone really well. The whole game is built around this moment, but the developers managed to hide that fact until it happens.

And then the series never did anything that cool again.

 

[Heat]

Danganronpa V3. If you've played it, you'll know what I mean.

Very few games can really get away with reframing an entire game franchise so radically, yet somehow V3 sticks the landing. It's impressive.

Oh man that ending... it was kind of a nut punch, but a perfect ending to a nice trilogy. Also, it made you rethink EVERYTHING, from the first game to the last. Genius.

 

[Lokhe]

It's probably not my very favourite but I really liked the ending of Darksiders. It was the perfect combination of twist, suspense and ended on a badass one-liner. Perfect ending to that game.

 

[Oridan]

Dragon Age Orgins comes to mind. Not that it did anything particularly unusual, but it was my first Bioware game or "big choice game" that I played, so I liked the ending because it was my ending. It was just nice seeing my choices get results.

And while I'm on the topic of Draconic Times. I loved the reveals at the end of DA:I - Trespasser DLC.

Spoiler: Trespasser and Dragon Age franchise spoilers

The reveal that boring elf mage Solas is in fact an ancient elven rebel who was later mythologized as the trickster god Fen'harel is one of those reveals that just reframes an entire game universe. His actions in ancient times had huge ramifications for the world of Thedas. And suddenly everything Solas has said to you can be read in a new light. He went from the game's most boring character, to perhaps the most interesting.

Goddamn I hope we get another DA game.

Final Fantasies warrant some mention. I like IX and X in particular. The ending to FFX is imo the perfect amount of bittersweet. Good thing they don't make direct sequels to FF games, a story continuation of X would only ruin it's ending.

 

[Boxman214]

Halo 2

lol jk.

This is actually a really hard question, especially if trying to narrow it down to just one game.

I think I'll have to go with Ocarina of Time. The perfect blend of bittersweet. It's wonderful to see Hyrule. Celebrate. You see that you really made a difference in the lives of all these people you met and grew to care for. But you also know what you've lost.

 

[zatoseyes]

Final Fantasy Tactics is one game with an ending that really got me. It's been a while since I played through it so I won't try to paraphrase what happened because my memory is a little foggy, but suffice to say my interpretation leaves me impressed with the direction it took.

Shout out to the original Resident Evil 3 though.

 

[RiffRaff]

Final Fantasy Tactics is one game with an ending that really got me. It's been a while since I played through it so I won't try to paraphrase what happened because my memory is a little foggy, but suffice to say my interpretation leaves me impressed with the direction it took.

Shout out to the original Resident Evil 3 though.

That FFT ending really

Spoiler

took me by surprise and I didn't see Delita's betrayal coming at all! It's one of the reasons I'm salty we never got a proper follow up to it!