The first answer that always comes to mind when I see this question is, "ICO."
the best ending you have seen in a game?
Alan Wake "It's not a lake, it's an ocean....". loved that shit
and I really dug the way Halo 3 ended
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West - Classic tale told with a post apocalyptic perspective. The ending is pretty crazy, dealing with some Matrix style enslavement of humanity and the freeing of minds.
I thought the end of Enslaved was a pretty big mark against it. It almost felt like they didn't know what was good about their game. They'd spent hours and hours making me care about these characters, and then they got almost no closure whatsoever. Instead the ending focuses on their world, throwing in a big twist that's totally unoriginal, and unnecessary. I mean, the world was an interesting backdrop to be sure, but it certainly didn't deserve the spotlight over seeing some form of climax to Tripp and Monkey's story.
@zolroyce: Exactly. I think it's just important to know which part of your story to focus on. For both of those games the characters were the most engaging part, Naughty Dog knew this, Ninja Theory did not.
I don't really get the love for 'mindfuck' endings. They just seem cheap to me, because you usually have no chance of ever seeing them coming. I like my endings to be earned, and to at least show us how the protagonist has changed / not changed at all throughout the story. (And preferably without any exposition, fucking Bioshock Infinite.)
That's why I've always liked the end section of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It came back around to the beginning, gave you some new and exciting that was happening, then even somewhat congratulated you for coming this far. The antagonist finally gets what he deserves, in an event of incredibly dramatic irony, then we learn how CJ changed compared to Big Smoke / Sweet. Done.
The ending of Metro 2033 was great too, specifically because it played into the themes that the rest of the game was focused on. I wish I had gotten the option to get the enlightened ending, but I was fine with the ending I got.
Best overall ending? Last of Us
Best from a story standpoint? MGS3
And an honorable mention for Infamous, because that twist was awesome.
I have to say though, the love for RDR's ending kind of baffles me. I mean (RDR spoilers) they kill off the main character, sure, but it's not like that's never been done before. I think it would have been way cooler if they had ended it Butch Cassidy style, have Marston come out of the barn and freeze frame, sounds of gunfire, cut to credits. Ok, maybe not THAT blatant but still, it'd be more interesting to me than what they did.
The Last of Us. Yes, even over games like Red Dead Redemption.
The game had such an original tone to the ending--something I had never seen before in this medium.
Shadow of the Colossus had a great fucking ending. All of you people are bad people for not having mentioned it once.
Gotta be Portal 2 for me, with Red Dead just behind.
Breaking bad season 4 is up there too, and that's not even a game.
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