A comment from originaldudegamerguy on my Critical Hit Boss Fights article rekindled some old emotions regarding the inevitable ending of video-games. I’ve touched on the subject numerous times before but as game endings never go away, I figured I’d take another stab at it.
We’ve all had our fair share of awesome game experiences. That one game that made us run home from school, that one game that made us get up to play again after 3 hours sleep, and that one game that remains in our hearts throughout our gaming journey. We all probably have that one game but it can be completely different to the person next to us, but one thing we all share in common; we didn’t want it to end.
As one wise man once said, all good things must come to an end. Sadly, that fact is true throughout life and even more-so in our hobby of choice, gaming. Developers spend hours and hours, and millions upon millions to deliver us a gaming experience we’ll cherish but despite their best efforts, there’s not a whole lot they can do when it comes to tying up the loose ends.
I can remember countless games from my childhood up to my current gaming favorites and very few of them were ever able to deliver when it comes to summarizing the experience of the game in a short ending. We’ve seen various trends come and go over the years, ranging from lengthy cinematic’s to tiny cut-scenes and 25 minutes worth of credits but to this day very few gamers are truly satisfied when they complete a game.
Is it possible for developers to provide a truly satisfying ending to an experience we’ve come to love? Like the end of a good movie or the disbanding of your favorite band, it’s done. That’s it. Once you reach that threshold there’s no going back and you’re not likely to duplicate that experience again.
So what do you guys think? Will they ever manage to deliver a good endings? Have you played any games that you think done a good job of finishing up? Leave your thoughts below.