A few quick notes: first, this article is spoiler-free . I'm not giving away anything. Secondly, I obviously haven't played and completed every game in existence, so this can only be based on my experience. Therefore, as if it needed an explanation (but God forbid if it got on N4G, it might), this isn't definitive fact. It's just an opinion. We're still allowed to have those, aren't we?
Anyway, here we go-
5. Bioshock 2
I'd like to first mention a caveat to this listing: this only cracks into my top 5 because I got the special ending by saving all the Little Sisters. This isn't the longest, most dramatic, or clearest culmination of the generation but for some reason, it really resonated with me. I really liked the twist at the end, where you actually sort of "play" the semi-emotional climax, and the story was pretty darn good. I still liked the story a bit more in the original Bioshock but for some reason, the sequel's ending felt more fulfilling. Oh, and without the special ending, I might have to give the #5 position to Assassin's Creed II .
4. Red Dead Redemption
Some will argue this "ending" wasn't much of anything. But I adored the timing and simplistic presentation. You see the credits at exactly the right moment after completing your final task, and you get this feeling of, "yeah, now I'm done." It's just so perfect for the game's atmosphere and style. The abruptness and straightforward drama of that final encounter really sums up the whole thing quite nicely. You sort of reflect on everything that has happened; the entire story runs through your head right at the climactic moment. It's not easy to do that from a story/plot standpoint, you know.
3. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
In retrospect, there really isn't anything overly special about this ending but, just like the rest of this production, it was just so professional and polished. I mean, I've seen it a few times and I know I will always laugh hard at that last bit of banter between Elena and Nate. "Clowns." HA! Like with RDR, it fits flawlessly; it's exactly the right way to end things. In fact, it's not completely unlike how a movie might end, which isn't exactly surprising, considering Uncharted 2 is the closest I've ever come to playing an action movie on my screen.
2. Final Fantasy XIII
Say what you want about the start of the game and the fact that it probably doesn't qualify as an RPG, but in typical FF style, it all ended beautifully. Coupled with that signature Final Fantasy CGI brilliance, one watched the entire climax with a small smile of appreciation and understanding. As is the case with many titles in the series, it doesn't quite tie up every loose end, but we've come to expect this from Final Fantasy , right? For the record, I still say FFVIII has the best ending in the series and possibly the best ending of all time. But FFXIII's finale is well worth experiencing.
1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Yeah, it was too long and drawn-out, and it was a little overdone like the rest of the game's story. Kojima is indeed a genius but he has yet to understand when to end a scene. Even so, this is the best ending of the generation, IMO; it's only fitting that it closes one of the best storylines of the past five years. For some reason, I especially liked to see how Meryl turned out. There's a lot to love about this climax; it's wonderfully satisfying in just about every way. I think MGS3 has the best ending in the series but this one was close…nothing beats a feeling of immense accomplishment after finishing an epic saga.
Thank you for not including God of War 3. Worst ending since Prince of Persia.
I didn't think the ending was that bad, really.
It wasn't that bad, but it definitely was a bone of contention.
I just thought the ending was extremely cheesy, and I saw it coming about an hour before it happened.
Makes me wonder what that ending that they never made was all about.
Now that you mention it, you're right! That was a really annoying ending! First that seemingly endless last fight which went on and on and on, throught it would never end, oh and I think I was beating his head in for like 10 minutes before I realized the only way to continue was to stop beating him to a pulp (now THAT was very annoying too) and that entire super ugly lava-thing just seemed completely out of place and looked so horrible compared to the rest of the game I have no idea who thought that was a good idea… it's like they said 'ok we have to end the game now, and we only have one week left until our deadline, so lets just get it over with and do that lava thing'.
And that's coming from someone who thought GoW3 was actually an awesome game for 99.9% of the game, except that VERY end of the game, VERY unfortunate!
The ending wasn't bad, BUT why end the Kratos history in that way? hes one of the Sony faces in the Ps2/Psp/Ps3 era, such a shame for him and his fans.
Last edited by Oxvial on 7/31/2010 5:27:32 AM
I actually thought it was pretty good, the whole going through the river of blood and then that final fight with zeus as a ghost. yeah what we saw after the credits was cheap a bit, but what kratos did with the sword (hope theres not any spoilers) he should have done, after basically f*cking up the ENTIRE planet. Biggest anti-hero ever.
I liked the ending you kinda figured that was gonna happenn. Anybody who doesn't understand it has apparently not played the 1st 2 or three depends how you look at it.
didn't read anything. didn't play anything except BS2 and MGS
FFXIII ending didn't do the trick for me, but well I blame all the bunch of uncharismatic characters the game has.
Amen
seriously, its hard to like FF8's ending when the story itself was pretty ho hum, very uncharismatic characters on the game
Last edited by aaronisbla on 8/1/2010 4:46:22 AM
You forgot the ending to World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King! :O
can WOW even be considered current gen?
Metal gear and Uncharted 2 did have nice endings but I have not played the other 3 so I cant say anything about them. I actually just beat Metal Gear the other day for the 1st time, the ending was super long, i believe all together it was lyk probably an hour lol.
The only two of those I've finished are Uncharted 2 and FFXIII. I would also add inFamous because of the huge shocking twist, Dragon Age for being the best ending for a wide open RPG that actually wraps things up and doesn't gloss over all your hard-thought decisions (Lookin at you Fallout 3), and Dante's Inferno for its memorable "transitional" moment and unexpected continuance.
There has been no other game ending that has connected me to a game in a profound way other than MGS4. In my opinion, it's the best game of this generation.
this article is like crack, I know it's bad but I cant keep away …………….. are there any spoilers ????
Just read the first paragraph. Apparently it's spoiler free. phew
I have a question [Keep in mind that I still haven't played final fantasy 13]. What is the general concensus about 13's story. Did it feel dry and vapid, akin to 12, or was it more immersive,akin to the final fantasys of the playstation 1 era?
Kokoro? DOA4 fan?
I'm not a FF heavy weight, but I felt FFXII's story was spread out a little thin. Through much of the game I wanted more dialogue and a greater sense of purpose from a few of the characters. I did, however, enjoy it's ending.
From what I've played of FFXIII ( I've made it into Gran Pulse) the story is very involved, more-so than it's predecessor. The character's ambitions and sense of purpose were very defined.
DOA is the best fighting franchise out there IMHO
I think it tries to be immersive like the older FFs and in some ways, it's succeeds. But I'm not as big a fan of the characters; I actually like Fang the best and she's not even the protagonist.
It depends on how you look at it. Personally, I liked FFXIII's story more but that's because I didn't much like the politics in FFXII.
FFXII's story was mature and more direct.
I know everyone's entitled to their own opinion. But FFXII gets some hate just because it didn't focus on having some damsel in distress. Instead the damsel turned out to the kick ass person in the team.
I liked the fact that it dealt more with world politics and a sense a greater sense of actually caring 'bout the world than too much of the personal 'whinery' of other FFs.
As an FF veteran, I found the story in XIII to be darn good. However, despite the fact that they drop you right into it and it feels confusing for a bit, it has the intensity, but none of the twists, turns, and sub-stories within.
You know who the bad guy is very early on, your guys want to get him, aside from some personal problems with each character it's basically a start to finish, A to B, walk in a straight line game.
Ive played nearly all the FFs, and out of all of them, FFXIII has been the hardest story to understand at first.
It does a really bad job of explaining whats going on, so its kinda confusing, but when it does explain things, it is pretty good.
And come on guys, asif Snow isnt badass XD
I completely agree with what Temjin001 said. the problem with FFXII is that the story and character were very minute. This is why i enjoyed FFXIII much more. The story was more character driven and the characters themselves were well developed and all very different. If i were to note a flaw with XIII's story is that it lacked an interesting villans. While in previous FF games you would have one prominant one and then other minor ones. For instance Jenova, Sephiroth and then shinra so Rufus, Scarlet, Heidegger, Hojo.
Even though XII's story was more political it does not defend how slow the story is to progress. the only time anything really eventful happened is when the judges appeared. In previous FF games when you reach a new town an event would happen (For instance, FFX when you travel on the Shoopuff, what seemd like a normal even turned into peril when the Albhed kidnap Yuna, or on FFVIII how the start of the Garden battle begins.)
Balthier was the only one who really got some strong back story in my opinion. And i have nothing bad to say about him at all. He's the only reason i carried on to complete the game.
ive said it before, but FF13 is one of the only FF games that i know for a 100% that i will NEVER replay. Good game but its like a damn chore playing it, wasn't even tempted to continue to hunt some of the strongest monsters.
The story is decent, but it needs to be great to make me wanna put up with its gameplay again. 12 had much better gameplay imo and had weapons and gear you actually could get excited about using
Last edited by aaronisbla on 8/1/2010 4:53:05 AM
Heavy Rain must be number 6 then? It has to be.
Which ending?
lol…
that's what I was thinking Quark, I've only seen one to far (on my second play now) and I don't even know how it works. It seemed like the "ending" was actually a patchwork of endings based on how each character went. I got the happiest one possible the first time and while good and warm and fuzzy, it didn't blow me away or anything.
although the game was utterly crap but the ending was as twisty as a M. Shyamalan movie. yes I'm talking about Silent hill
Arg, I'm stuck in that game. That's the worst thing about Survival Horror, if you run out of health stuff and they toss tons of bad guys at you and your save has you with just a little life you are kinda ruined.
Yeah i know . been there I even started it all over. Hate to leave loose endings
It's the bloody hammer-head split-head walking things. I've learned the knife is best, but with that fighting mechanic when 3 gang up on you you are pretty much done for.
I agree with ben, I had more fun playing VII, but enjoyed the story that came with VIII more.
VII, while my favorite RPG experience of all time, actually had a horrible ending. They didn't even show what happened to the characters. It kind of looked like they all might have died, it kind of looked like everything was okay, but there was no indication of what happened except Red was alive a long time later.
FF7 **SPOILER WARNING**
I felt that ff7 was all about them saving the planet from being raped by the evil corporation. You learn about the characters along the way, but I felt the ending was more giving us the fact that life continued and they did what they set out to do.
(shrug) I liked its ending.
I'm in between. I liked it, like kraygen, but I did feel a little lost with little to no character resolution.
Still, I say it's the best RPG of all time.
i felt like FF9 had the better ending out of the ps1 era FF games. It wrapped up things pretty good
I haven't played all of Ben's picks, but of the games I've played through to completion I would have to list these as my fav picks for this gen.
In no special order…
Ratchet and Clank: Crack in Time: A great way to wrap up a great series. I'm somewhat surprised that this one didn't crack Ben's Top 5. I liked Uncharted 2's ending, but I thought R&C's topped it. I
Darksiders: A great way to both end a game and make you excited for it's sequel.
MGS4: Similar to Ratchet in the sense that it mostly wraps up a long running saga of iconic games. (and yes, I preferred MGS3's ending, though I enjoyed both)
I anticipate good endings from Mass Effect and FFXIII. Two games I haven't completed as of yet.
Brother Temjin, I was about to submit my comment mentioning Ratchet, but saw you already did that for me!
MGS4! Yo. I just sat alone in the darkness for a while after I finished it. The awesomeness left my brain in a critical state. . .
UC2's ending is just average.
MGS4's ending is the undisputed number one.
That was fun, now let's do top 5 poopers:
5.) Bayonetta
4.) Nariko
3.) Vanille
2.) Madison Page
1.) Chloe Frazer
5) Dom
4) Ninja Raiden
3) Zack (infamous)
2) Nero
1) Athena
5. Meryl
4. Nariko
3. Madison
2. Bayonetta
1. Chloe
Meryl….what was she thinking?
Even Snake groaned at what she did towards the end, he was like *facepalm* and just looked away through most of it lol…..
Anyway…definitely Meryl -_-
Still haven't gotten to MGS4, but I will :)~