Best Endings In Adventure Games

AudioSoldier · 09-17-2005, 12:05 PM

For this topic I'd have to say Grim Fandango wins. Hands-down. It's very rare for a game to finish well, but Grim Fandango did that.

Rodarbal · 09-17-2005, 12:34 PM

The Dig and Syberia 2 both had good endings. Grim Fandango does too, although there's nothing that game doesn't do well.

mag · 09-17-2005, 01:58 PM

I don't know about Grim Fandango being the best ending. It was certainly good, but it was pretty typical. Kill the bad guy. Get the girl. There's nothing really exceptional about it. The most I can say is that they didn't **** up (which I suppose, by video game standards, makes it pretty damn good). It was just a good ending to a great game. But the best? I'd have to say no.

For me, a really great ending should have something unexpected or that is in some other way exceptional. The only examples that come to mind from adventure games are Monkey Island 2 and Gabriel Knight 3 (frankly, I'm shocked that Sierra would even publish something that ended the way GK3 did; especially the Sierra of 1999). Those, in my opinion, are truly great endings because they do more than simply wrap up the story. They really push the envelope in terms of what we expect an ending to do.

Basically, if when you're done you spend more time talking about the ending than the rest of the game, then that's a great ending.

mag

AudioSoldier · 09-17-2005, 02:03 PM

I couldn't bring myself to finish GK3. What happened?

jbd · 09-17-2005, 02:13 PM

The ending to Out of Order gave me a warm glow.

mag · 09-17-2005, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AudioSoldier

I couldn't bring myself to finish GK3. What happened?

Spoiler:
As I recall, Gabriel finds a replica of the Temple, where he rescues the child from Montreaux. After defeating Montreaux, they open the tomb inside the temple and find the body of Jesus inside. Gabriel has a flashback to Jesus' crucifixion in which he finds out that the first schatenjager was a Roman soldier who helped crucify Jesus. The Wandering Jew comes in and takes away Jesus' body. And it ends with Gabriel returning to the inn where he finds that Grace has left to go study with the monks she mentioned earlier in the game.

mag

RLacey · 09-17-2005, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mag

Basically, if when you're done you spend more time talking about the ending than the rest of the game, then that's a great ending.

This is mostly true, though I'd say that the Still Life ending has been discussed more than the game on these forums

.

LeisureSuitedLooney · 09-17-2005, 02:26 PM

I got a kick out of the ending(s) of King's Quest 6, seeing all the variations depending on who Alexander helped and met along the way...or didn't help, in some cases. Also enjoyed the unmasking of the Nemesis at the end of Zork: Nemesis, and all of the plot wrap-up that ensued. And I was touched by the final scene of The Longest Journey, was nice to see those characters reunite for one more conversation.

But for sheer craziness, I have to say that my favorite ending was the madcap prolonged chase scene in Leisure Suit Larry 3, followed by the twist at the end involving where Larry and Patti end up. Still makes me laugh, years later.

The Seed · 09-17-2005, 02:27 PM

How about the ending of Simon the Sorcerer 2...

Spoiler:
The evil wizard effectively wins, imprisoning our hero in his now discarded mechanical body, while using Simons own body to invade our world.

Pretty unconventional to say the least, although admittedly the fact that Simon is such a detestable wee shite who had it coming leaves us oddly satisfied, as opposed to shocked.

Anyway, yeah I'd say that's one of the better endings Ive seen.

Fien · 09-17-2005, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mag

Spoiler:
As I recall, Gabriel finds a replica of the Temple, where he rescues the child from Montreaux. After defeating Montreaux, they open the tomb inside the temple and find the body of Jesus inside. Gabriel has a flashback to Jesus' crucifixion in which he finds out that the first schatenjager was a Roman soldier who helped crucify Jesus. The Wandering Jew comes in and takes away Jesus' body. And it ends with Gabriel returning to the inn where he finds that Grace has left to go study with the monks she mentioned earlier in the game.

A truly terrible ending. Awful. How anyone can like GK3's crappy story is totally beyond me. Of course I never was a GK fan...

mag · 09-17-2005, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RLacey

This is mostly true, though I'd say that the Still Life ending has been discussed more than the game on these forums

.

Okay, perhaps I should rephrase that. If when you're done you spend more time talking about the ending in a good way than the rest of the game, then that's a great ending.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fienepien

A truly terrible ending. Awful. How anyone can like GK3's crappy story is totally beyond me. Of course I never was a GK fan...

How can you not like GK3's ending? It's absolutely amazing! And sacrilicious!

mag

Richard · 09-17-2005, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fienepien

A truly terrible ending. Awful. How anyone can like GK3's crappy story is totally beyond me. Of course I never was a GK fan...

The story is thoroughly crappy, especially compared to the excellent first games, but the ending to it is okay. With the minor exception of

Spoiler:
fighting the demon Asmodeus, which is just crazy-silly

Jazhara7 · 09-18-2005, 12:57 AM

I really liked the ending of the Black Mirror. I would have been happy with a different ending, but it was a good ending to that story (it just fit. It would not have fit for many other games).

Quote:

Originally Posted by mag

I don't know about Grim Fandango being the best ending. It was certainly good, but it was pretty typical. Kill the bad guy. Get the girl. There's nothing really exceptional about it. The most I can say is that they didn't **** up (which I suppose, by video game standards, makes it pretty damn good). It was just a good ending to a great game. But the best? I'd have to say no.

Now why do you think it is typical? Because it's used a lot. Why is it used a lot? Because it is a good ending. Everyone is happy (except for the badd guy, who is in fact not happy at all).

-

Tobbe · 09-18-2005, 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AudioSoldier

For this topic I'd have to say Grim Fandango wins. Hands-down. It's very rare for a game to finish well, but Grim Fandango did that.

I completely agree with you, that ending really touched me emotionally..

GameMaster · 09-18-2005, 01:50 AM

I have three favorites. First of all - Syberia 2. An excellent, emotional wrap-up of the story. I almost shed a tear.
Then there's Monkey island 2, who, no doubts, has the most original ending ever.
And last, but not least, the ending of Sam & Max. For those, who have forgotten...

Spoiler:
Two heroes save the yetti tribe and grow a forest.

Ain't that something?

Ariel Type · 09-18-2005, 02:17 AM

Best Ending, IMHO, is an unexpected and non-typical ending. So, smth like this:
Monkey Island 2
Simon the Sorcerer 2
Dreamweb
Touche: Adventures of 5th Musketeer

Ninth · 09-18-2005, 02:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Seed

How about the ending of Simon the Sorcerer 2...

Spoiler:
The evil wizard effectively wins, imprisoning our hero in his now discarded mechanical body, while using Simons own body to invade our world.

Pretty unconventional to say the least, although admittedly the fact that Simon is such a detestable wee shite who had it coming leaves us oddly satisfied, as opposed to shocked.

Anyway, yeah I'd say that's one of the better endings Ive seen.

Yep, nice ending.

funcroc · 09-18-2005, 02:54 AM

I think that the ending of "The Last Express" is one of the best endings in adventure games.
http://www.gamespot.com/features/ten...ing/page6.html

mag · 09-18-2005, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard

...but the ending to it is okay. With the minor exception of

Spoiler:
fighting the demon Asmodeus, which is just crazy-silly

Right. Because fighting werewolves and evil voodoo gods is totally realistic. But demons are just silly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jazhara7

Now why do you think it is typical? Because it's used a lot. Why is it used a lot? Because it is a good ending. Everyone is happy (except for the badd guy, who is in fact not happy at all).

I didn't say it was a bad ending. It's just a very bland one. There's nothing that it does exceptionally well. There's nothing about it that stands out as being noticeably better than any other well done ending. It does everything an ending is supposed to do, but it doesn't do anything more than that. To me, that makes it a good ending but not a great one.

I think there's a tendency to want to believe that Grim Fandango's ending is better than it actually is because the rest of the game is so great. But if it were possible for us to look just at the endings of all these games, I really doubt there would still be as many people saying that Grim Fandango is the best.

mag

neovsmatrix · 09-18-2005, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fienepien

A truly terrible ending. Awful. How anyone can like GK3's crappy story is totally beyond me. Of course I never was a GK fan...

Ever play the first two games? Truly the best adventure games I've ever played.

I also thought GK 3 was great, but I can understand if people hated it. The first two however, have great storylines, and great characters.

09-17-2005, 12:05 PM	#1
AudioSoldier Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 387	Best Endings In Adventure Games For this topic I'd have to say Grim Fandango wins. Hands-down. It's very rare for a game to finish well, but Grim Fandango did that. Share Share this post on Twitter __________________ Edward Love Journalist www.AmpedIGO.com

09-17-2005, 12:34 PM	#2
Rodarbal Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 6	The Dig and Syberia 2 both had good endings. Grim Fandango does too, although there's nothing that game doesn't do well. Share Share this post on Twitter

09-17-2005, 01:58 PM	#3
mag Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,913	I don't know about Grim Fandango being the best ending. It was certainly good, but it was pretty typical. Kill the bad guy. Get the girl. There's nothing really exceptional about it. The most I can say is that they didn't **** up (which I suppose, by video game standards, makes it pretty damn good). It was just a good ending to a great game. But the best? I'd have to say no. For me, a really great ending should have something unexpected or that is in some other way exceptional. The only examples that come to mind from adventure games are Monkey Island 2 and Gabriel Knight 3 (frankly, I'm shocked that Sierra would even publish something that ended the way GK3 did; especially the Sierra of 1999). Those, in my opinion, are truly great endings because they do more than simply wrap up the story. They really push the envelope in terms of what we expect an ending to do. Basically, if when you're done you spend more time talking about the ending than the rest of the game, then that's a great ending. mag Share Share this post on Twitter

09-17-2005, 02:03 PM	#4
AudioSoldier Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 387	I couldn't bring myself to finish GK3. What happened? Share Share this post on Twitter __________________ Edward Love Journalist www.AmpedIGO.com

09-17-2005, 02:13 PM	#5
jbd Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 5	The ending to Out of Order gave me a warm glow. Share Share this post on Twitter

09-17-2005, 02:26 PM	#8
LeisureSuitedLooney Rabid Tasmanian Devil Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 1,158	I got a kick out of the ending(s) of King's Quest 6, seeing all the variations depending on who Alexander helped and met along the way...or didn't help, in some cases. Also enjoyed the unmasking of the Nemesis at the end of Zork: Nemesis, and all of the plot wrap-up that ensued. And I was touched by the final scene of The Longest Journey, was nice to see those characters reunite for one more conversation. But for sheer craziness, I have to say that my favorite ending was the madcap prolonged chase scene in Leisure Suit Larry 3, followed by the twist at the end involving where Larry and Patti end up. Still makes me laugh, years later. Share Share this post on Twitter

09-17-2005, 02:27 PM	#9
The Seed Irritant F0rum Beasty Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Just lurking... Posts: 990	How about the ending of Simon the Sorcerer 2... Spoiler: The evil wizard effectively wins, imprisoning our hero in his now discarded mechanical body, while using Simons own body to invade our world. Pretty unconventional to say the least, although admittedly the fact that Simon is such a detestable wee shite who had it coming leaves us oddly satisfied, as opposed to shocked. Anyway, yeah I'd say that's one of the better endings Ive seen. Share Share this post on Twitter __________________ Disclaimer The Seed accepts no responsibility for any damage that my have been caused to your Hard Drive as a result of viewing this post!

09-18-2005, 01:50 AM	#15
GameMaster Adventure gaming addict Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Latvia Posts: 14	I have three favorites. First of all - Syberia 2. An excellent, emotional wrap-up of the story. I almost shed a tear. Then there's Monkey island 2, who, no doubts, has the most original ending ever. And last, but not least, the ending of Sam & Max. For those, who have forgotten... Spoiler: Two heroes save the yetti tribe and grow a forest. Ain't that something? Share Share this post on Twitter

09-18-2005, 02:17 AM	#16
Ariel Type LA-S-LE Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Snow Country Posts: 549	Best Ending, IMHO, is an unexpected and non-typical ending. So, smth like this: Monkey Island 2 Simon the Sorcerer 2 Dreamweb Touche: Adventures of 5th Musketeer Share Share this post on Twitter

09-18-2005, 02:54 AM	#18
funcroc Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 137	I think that the ending of "The Last Express" is one of the best endings in adventure games. http://www.gamespot.com/features/ten...ing/page6.html Share Share this post on Twitter

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