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reisz

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Documenting the end

I wrote a blog post a couple of weeks back about how very very few game endings I recall with clarity (or at all). This list is an effort to document my thoughts on the games I finish and their endings. This is more for my own viewing but by all means if you're interested, go ahead and check it out.

I will try to retroactively add games as I remember details or refresh my memory, but this will mostly be the games I have recently finished and the stuff I finish from here on out.

Be warned, this list won't make much sense if you haven't played these games and there will be SPOILERS GALORE!

List items

  • Finished: 12/4/2012

    Impressions: Loved it, don’t like cliffhangers but the quality of the telling outweighs that.

    How it went down:

    During a terrifying confrontation with her captor, Clementine is forced to use what she learned from Lee to shoot the stranger, killing him and saving Lee’s life. Reunited but distressed at Lee’s missing arm and growing infection the pair use a walker’s remains to disguise their scent. On their way through the streets, Clem sees her parents, undead. Horrified she freezes. Lee, trying to console her collapses, exhausted. This forces Clem to muster her strength and drag him indoors. Realising now that he isn't going to make it, Lee instructs Clem to cuff him to a radiator using the handcuffs of an undead security guard. Not wanting to leave one another or face the reality of Lee becoming a walker, a very emotional goodbye begins. Wishing Clem no more pain, Lee tells her to leave him, that it’ll be okay and that he’ll miss her. With this Lee closes his eyes one last time and Clem, in tears leaves him. After the credits, Clemetine, having reached a quiet field outside the city, rests and looks to the horizon. Seeing a distant couple, silhoutted by the sunset she stands, a look of worry on her face and the game ends...

  • Finished: 1/28/2013

    Impressions: Cute, a happy ending given more weight by the replacement of dialogue with animated flashbacks.

    How it went down:

    Josef disarms the tower bomb, flushes his tormentors to the sewer and saves his girlfriend; the two of them return to the central tower and steal a police helicopter to escape the city and live together in peace. During the credits, the pair are seen crashing their helicopter and being carried to safety by the same bird-bots seen at the game's outset, bringing this little story full circle.

  • Finished: 1/11/2013

    Impressions: Mechanically, one of my favourite endings ever.

    How it went down:

    Lacking a real narrative, the credits sequence is the real ending of Perspective. After finishing the last level your character (Dimensionaut?) is transported to a final room. Consisting of a simple platform and an animated credit roll. At first this seems rather boring and without purpose. However once choosing to quit to desktop and believing the application to be closed you move your mouse and suddenly realise that instead of actually quitting the game, you were seamlessly transported to an in engine room appearing to be your desktop. This is a really cool mind trick and a great way to end the game.

  • Finished: 1/19/2013

    Impressions: A happy ending, tied everything up nicely, a decent tale of redemption. The best Dragon Ball Z game never made.

    How it went down:

    Having destroyed Deus and the Gohma within the earths core, Asura returns to his daughter Mithra, believing his war finally over. This reunion is cut short when the golden spider reveals its true identity as Chakravartin the god of mantra. Asuras disgust at this deception becomes a confrontation of literally galactic proportions when the two assume the aspects of Gigantic deities, destroying entire solar systems in their wake. This show of power culminates in a ferocious display of martial prowess as a furious Asura first wears down and then decimates a weakening Chakravartin before shattering his skull destroying the source of all mantra once and for all. Asura, himself a being of mantra tells his daughter one last goodbye before peacefully fading into death. Years later in a tranquil settlement back on earth Mithra, now an adult tells two enthralled children the story of how her father lived.

  • Finished: 2/2/2013

    Impressions: Pretty ambiguous, the final level tells the real ending, that last cinematic was a bit of a let down.

    How it went down:

    In the last mission it finally becomes clear that the flashbacks John has been experiencing aren’t actually flashbacks at all. Realising he can control the apparent “travel” between the two timelines he chooses to take himself to the underground facility where Hanson and the NSE hold the child test subjects. This time he receives a vision from fellow Psychic Jayne Wilde, explaining that his Flashbacks, the events happening in Russia, are in fact the present. While everything he took for granted as happening in real time, was just one possible future, a premonition shown to him by the children in the facility. Once this becomes clear John, emboldened moves to defeat director Hanson and his forces outright. In their last battle, John is aided by the children in routing the NSE forces. When only Hanson remains, John leaves the children to get vengeance on their captor before evacuating with Jayne and Col. Starke. The last cinematic simply shows their chopper taking off. Jayne, drowned out by engine noise, seems to congratulate John before he stares off into the distance, the view panning away, fades to black.

  • Finished 2/21/2013

    Impressions: Intentionally ambiguous, melancholy. I'm not even certain I have finished it.

    How it went down:

    Who are you Tim? I never played Braid during it's heyday, the hyper popularity and exposure it got in 2008. I just got around to it this year as part of my backlog. Ironically for a game all about manipulating time it feels to me that Braid was probably best experienced when it was first released, before the effects of it's impact could be seen all over the world of video games. Now I know what kind of story it is I need to go back to it. The problem is unlike Tim I can't rewind time, I won't have the experience of playing Braid back when it first came out. So to me, for now, the story of Braid is one of a man's mistakes. Trapped with the consequences of his actions Tim can only look inwards to try to discover what went wrong. This is where he stays, within his memories convincing himself it's okay, justifying his actions after the fact but ultimately coming up short. I will play through Braid again, but for now, that's how it went down for me.

  • Finished: 2/24/2013

    Impressions: Uplifting, redemptive. A happy ending in the traditional sense.

    How it went down: The calamity undid the world. tore up the land and threw it into the sky, the Kid almost had the Bastion back together when Zulf, the Uran missionary sent word to his countrymen and had them attack the Bastion. You see Zulf had discovered that the Calamity was casued by a secret Cael project designed to wipe out the Uras. It was all the kid could do to fight off the attackers, repair the Bastion and confront Zulf. Once he found him, the Urans had turned on Zulf and left him for dead. In a moment of compassion the Kid lay down his battering Ram and lifted the body of Zulf. Trudging through oncoming fire the Kid used every potion he had to keep them safe. Humbled by this selfless act the Uras ceased fire, letting the Kid pass. Once returned, it’s revealed that the Bastion isn’t just a safe haven. Turns out it’s actually a recovery device. Designed by the old man Rucks it has two functions; to restore the world to an earlier time, or to serve as a mobile city in the event of a catastrophe. The Kid decided he couldn’t risk the calamity occuring again. The world needs a chance to learn from this mistake, and there are others out there that need a place to call home. If the Kid can bring the remaining Uras and Caels together in peace, they can build a better world together, with the Bastion at it’s center. With that the Kid hits the button and evacuates with Zia, Zulf and Rucks. A new beginning, a better world.

  • Finished: 2/24/2013

    Impressions: Sooooooo many crashes.

    How it went down: In a flaming heap, more than once. A single rider, immortal, his life essence inextricably linked to glowing green checkpoint markers? Or a cadre of faceless clones, all engineered with perfect motorcycle skills, each a pure avatar of riding prowess? Only a platinum medal on Inferno III will provide the answers I seek.

  • Finished: 4/25/2013

  • Finished: 4/26/2013

    Impressions: Thank Christ

    How it went down:

  • Finished: 5/1/2013

    Impressions: Ambiguous, depressing, irresolute. I am completely unsympathetic to the plight of these men.

    How it went down: Two downtrodden, broken old criminals desperately try to piece back together their pathetic existence. Having lost his girlfriend, home and sanity (again) as a result of his old bank robbing friend Kane coming to Shanghai, Lynch becomes desperate for revenge on the organised crime kingpin Shangxi. Fighting their way through the streets of Shanghai killing scores of innocent law enforcement and military personnel the two eventually make it to the executive building where Shangxi is holed up. Seeing this as an opportunity to make the money he needs to get out of this life for good Kane tries to broker a deal with Shangxi. Before the three can come to an arrangement however, Lynch unceremoniously executes Shangxi midsentance and leaves the room. With only one option left, the pair make their way to the airport and after yet more innocent blood is shed they force their way onto an outgoing flight at gunpoint. Roll credits.

  • Finished: 5/1/2013

  • Finished: 5/2/2013

  • Finished: 5/9/2013

  • Finished: 5/14/2013

  • Finished: 6/3/2013

    Impressions: Great final boss, a redemptive cohesive ending, sets up the next 3 (potential) games with gusto.

    How it went down:

  • Finished: 6/17/2013

    Impressions: Rote. Kind of phoned in, the ending seems to pave the way for a game that will never come. Rightly so.

    How it went down:
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