Unfortunately, I had the end completely spoiled for me. I was looking at Giant Bomb a couple of days ago and the first topic under "Topics From Your Favorite Forums" on the front page was something to the effect of "JOHN MARSTON DIES AT THE END!" Boo.

So that kind of put a damper on what would have otherwise been a very powerful ending. It was still very well executed, especially the part of opening the barn doors and trying in vain to target all the law men. Rockstar did a fantastic job of conveying the absolute desperation of the situation.

I think I like the decision to go with Jack afterwards. It's a move that will likely draw some criticism, but I think it's a brave decision by the developers. I'm still a bit surprised they did it from a logistics point. To record a second voice actor with all the lines necessary for a main character is probably quite a bit of work.

It appears that Abagail dies only 3 years after John dies (1914 on her tombstone vs. 1911 on his).  What a bummer. Is there any explanation, in-game or otherwise, for her death?    

I really liked the ending it's kinda wierd playing as Jack though, and as far as I know there's no explanation for Abigail's death.

disease was bad then

I thought the ending was really well done, but I have one small issue. I still haven't unlocked all the outfits, and the fact that I won't be able to play as John while wearing them now that the game is complete, kinda bums me out. I feel that near the end of the game, you've built John up to be a bad ass "Legend of the West", and rolling around with Jack just feels a little less awesome. We have no story for what Jack has been up to since his dad died, so carrying over all of John's unlocks (outfits and stats) feels entirely unearned to me.

One of the best endings I've ever experienced.  I loved the shift to Jack at the end. Totally unexpected.

Fuck me. Just finished it and had to come here. Fuck! Fuck. Fuuuuucccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkk-k-k-k-k... 
 
Does anyone know if it's possible to target or kill the top agency dude in the final shootout? 
I had instant regret for not targeting him first and trying it out.

I loved the ending alot, i thought the ranch missions were brilliant and i was hoping it would end with it, perhaps open for DLC, perhaps not, but with everything as it was. I should have seen the death coming really, i saw someone saying how you'd play as jack, but i assumed you could pick which character you wanted to play with by going back to the house or something. 
 
It really does suck though, i'm sat there having completed it about half an hour ago... and now trying to get 100%, but i don't have any drive any more. My main character, his wife and old friend that we'd been trying to get back for 30 hours.. all dead. It was a good ending, but i'm having to continue the ending for another 2 hours while i arse around with this dick kid who treats my old horse like shit. IT'S MINE AND JOHN'S HORSE THAT WE HELD ONTO FOR 30 MISSIONS STOP CALLING IT A DAMN NAG >:(
 
I think john marston is the saddest death i've experienced it videogames, that moment when you're riding home to your family for the first time after killing your old boss... the music that plays. I was so into it at that point. I could have played those ranch missions for ages, it was so satisfying!
 
edit: 
@TomTheRealist: nah, he isn't actually in the crowd when you're in game.
 
also abigails death will totally be DLC.

"Does anyone know if it's possible to target or kill the top agency dude in the final shootout? I had instant regret for not targeting him first and trying it out. "

" Great great ending. A bold design choice which makes the game seem really epic. It's kinda weird at first to play as Jack but after doing a few stranger missions I did with him and hearing him speaking a little bit more, he already grew on me.
 
@TomTheRealist said:

"Does anyone know if it's possible to target or kill the top agency dude in the final shootout? I had instant regret for not targeting him first and trying it out. "

Are you sure you've finished the game?  Did you do go to Blackwater and did you do the "?"-Mission there as Jack? "

" @CptBedlam said:

" Great great ending. A bold design choice which makes the game seem really epic. It's kinda weird at first to play as Jack but after doing a few stranger missions I did with him and hearing him speaking a little bit more, he already grew on me.
 
@TomTheRealist said:

"Does anyone know if it's possible to target or kill the top agency dude in the final shootout? I had instant regret for not targeting him first and trying it out. "

Are you sure you've finished the game?  Did you do go to Blackwater and did you do the "?"-Mission there as Jack? "

I don't think he meant if you can at all, but rather just at that specific point in the campaign.  Speaking of '?' characters, any others out there that are Jack specific? Because I'm pretty sure that the one in Blackwater wasn't shown on the map and so I would have missed him had I not instinctively felt the need to go to the old government agent HQ there as soon as I realised that I was playing as Jack. "

" @Vitor said:

" @CptBedlam said:

" Great great ending. A bold design choice which makes the game seem really epic. It's kinda weird at first to play as Jack but after doing a few stranger missions I did with him and hearing him speaking a little bit more, he already grew on me.
 
@TomTheRealist said:

"Does anyone know if it's possible to target or kill the top agency dude in the final shootout? I had instant regret for not targeting him first and trying it out. "

Are you sure you've finished the game?  Did you do go to Blackwater and did you do the "?"-Mission there as Jack? "

I don't think he meant if you can at all, but rather just at that specific point in the campaign.  Speaking of '?' characters, any others out there that are Jack specific? Because I'm pretty sure that the one in Blackwater wasn't shown on the map and so I would have missed him had I not instinctively felt the need to go to the old government agent HQ there as soon as I realised that I was playing as Jack. "

Ah I get it. I was reading a little too quickly there.  As for the "?" characters. There are 19 of these missions. Just count them in the menu. I missed a few with John and did them later as Jack (was pretty impressed that he had his own recorded dialog for the missions). I think I was missing the Aztec, wronged woman and prohibition missions. "

WOW... I just finished it and WOW... I am speechless. I think I said 3 or 4 "Oh shit" out loud in the last hour of the game haha. Including the red title screen right before the credits. I still have chills thinking about that.  The only problem I have with the last section of the game is that the whole "I'm a normal father and I love my family" part was great but way too long. It took me a good 2 hours to do all the missions and I think that 1h would had been enough for the player to get the idea of "John is now back to his normal life but that no matter what he does, his past will always come back to hunt him".  Also, I think that the last stranger mission should had been on the map from the get go when you first control Jack. It is really easy to miss and the only reason I found it is because a friend told me that, even if it doesn't look like that, the game is really not over until you see the credits rolling.
 
The ending actually reminded me a lot of the Mafia ending (which was my best videogame ending up until tonight lol) which was actually a rip-off of the Goodfellas movie ending. RDR takes it to whole other level however.
 
Again, I am speechless

the ending was pretty good! just disappointed that my ending wasn't the one :P 
I thought that i would be awesome if finding his family and being the father/husband was all a split second dream after the lawman tells him that his family is dead. Instead of it being jokingly, it's for real and John puts a bullet though his head and gets gunned down/put to jail as a consequence.

I loved it. It was an amazing ending, but something about Jack just made me not want to play as him. Probably the voice and personality.
 
So I did the last mission, goofed around a little, and restarted so I could play as John again. >.>

What also works is how everyone called John "Mr. Marston", and it works well when you play as Jack.

The ending actually reminded me a lot of the Mafia ending (which was my best videogame ending up until tonight lol) which was actually a rip-off of the Goodfellas movie ending. RDR takes it to whole other level however.  Again, I am speechless "

That same thread spoiled it for me, too.  That being said, I absolutely loved the ending and this game officially has the greatest late title card of all time.

" That same thread spoiled it for me, too.  That being said, I absolutely loved the ending and this game officially has the greatest late title card of all time. "

The ending is so great. Especially the revenge bit at the end. It was a pretty perfect way to end the game. Though when I played it as Jack I just missed John too much and decided to load a new game

I like many others had the ending spoiled for me on a game forum, but the ending was still very powerful. 
 Its sad that they ended Johns story, but we couldnt have really expected a happy ending. Im glad they added those final missions of normal life, it really did add to the effect of the final mission. I like Jack as a character and would like to see his story expanded upon, it was also a great design choice to allow the player to play as jack after the ending...instead of just a "game over" screen then you have to restart.
 RDR is probably one of the best games I have ever played, cant wait for DLC.

I'm thinking John Marston during his Dutch's Gang years as DLC, I think John's relationships between his old gang members would be a really interesting thing to fill in.

I really liked/hated the ending.  It was incredibly powerful, and would have been even more so had I not spoiled it myself on these boards like a dipshit.  It just goes to show that the powerful men always win out in the end.  Kind of a fitting denouement. 
 
Regarding the "real ending", I killed his wife and his brother, too.  I was actually emotionally angry with him as a character when John died.  I wanted payback. 
 
Probably the most emotionally involved ending of a video game I've ever played.
 
Edit: I totally forgot about Mafia's ending.  That was fantstic, but I was probably too young to fully appreciate it at the time.

" I killed his wife and his brother, too. "

i loved when you opened the barn door, to see all those guys and die fighting

Dammit. I didn't kill his wife and brother. In retrospect I wish I did.
 
Oh, I had a semblance of what would happen when I was entering all the cheat codes before the end where you can play as Jack. I was like "woah, really? Didn't he say he was still a kid?" -- That only lasted for a few minutes, as I was just shooting people. Luckily I never really made the connection. I probably thought that he would be an unlockable character after finishing the game. The idea of John getting killed never crossed my mind.
 
Oh, and John's death scene was just heart wrenching and perfectly terrible. I wonder what Ebert would think about it if he played the game through himself, the old fuck.
 
I like Jack. He's a new person and he's not perfect. He's not supposed to be John, he's Jack, his own character. I can see why people would be pissed. I still really like John, too. But those who are so hyper critical over Jack is really just ruining the story for themselves.
 
Oh, and I really liked how I got to use him to finish off some stranger quests. I was in the middle of collecting beaver pelts for the flying machine guy, and when I got them, he said "Oh, did the other guy send you? Great." -- it was funny cause the guy was there for 3 years (they were already putting guns on airplanes by then). But ehh... still great.
 
Another thing is that I can't really play the game while my sister is around. She hasn't finished it so if she loads up my save, she'll probably have the game spoiled for her.
 
A wonderful thing was the revenge mission. I didn't see the question mark in Blackwater right away. I by chance bought a newspaper as Jack (the bit on WWI was funny) and read about all the characters from the game being retired or dead or whatever. Then I read about the retirement of Edgar Ross. Now, imagine seeing the news paper before seeing the stranger mission. It was a one of a kind sensation of "Ooooohhhhh.... Ohhhh... ooohhh man... oh man... This fucker is so fucking dead." And well, sort of disappointed as I found nothing going to the Lake Side Cabin. I think it would have been more clever to have the mission unlock when you read the article.

And lastly... When I killed Ross... I made his body into a throwing knife pin cushion and filled him so full of lead that his body, if it could render the damage so well, would have looked like ground beef.
 
Now, I want a $5 DLC where you go and kill that Archer prick that John worked with.