I just finished Red Dead Redemption.. and my god i thought this was one of the greatest games i have ever played.
 
Let me start with i knew the ending before the end as it was spoiled by a friend for me.. but it didnt ruin the experience as much as it helped me listen to the story more and enjoy my time with John Marston. It helped em to realize things like when riding with McGruber(his name was something like this) in Blackwater, he talked of 'The Old West Is Dieing' Marston replies with 'It aint dead just yet'....I may be looking into it to much but it kind of linked with the end being him the end of the old west. At least thats how i looked at it anyway.
 
When the end mission began i thought oh god here it comes, and i have to say it was awsome.. I was enjoying killing all of those government scum as they came. When Uncle gets shot to i thought her comes the worst bits now. As i fought on to avenge Uncle the next cutscene came with Marston and his family seeing Uncle before heading to the barn with more gunfire.
 
After seeing the scene of your family head off i knew this was the end.. When Marston peaked out of the barn and saw a few guys i was underwhelmed thinkingg wow Marston gets killed by five guys i could Dead Eye Destroy 'em all. But then when he opens both doors the unvail a large group of soldiers i thought holy fuck!
Then it goes straight to Dead-Eye at this point i shot as many as possible but it seems there is not enough bullets, before they unleash a enormous amount of bullets into you. Marston is killed in a blaze of glory. 
 
This actually made me pretty sad as i thought John Marston was an excellent character who i could get along with thoughout the story. 
After becoming the son i thought well that was a quick ending i guess. Even though it was great i felt something missing. Then i headed out on my usual digs when i had finished, to play some poker in Blackwater, when on my way in i get a stranger mission. To kill Edgar Ross. I though Ohhh Yess
 
At each point in the stranger mission you talk to a member of his family, i shot them all even though it accounted for nothing bu my own revenge for Marston. Before meeting Edgar Ross, and having to duel him. Now this duel was different, everyshot i fired was in his head and heart, lathering him with bullets. and seeing him fall in to the water. Before walking away to see a freeze frame and RED DEAD REDEMPTION on the screen. That was a great ending.
 
Im not sure if all of this makes sense but i have to sum it up and say this was one of the best games i have every played. And my GOTY.. i know theres people who say ohh well its to early to decide .. well i look ahead and see nothing else i think will beat this. 10/10 Rockstar. I now wait for another game in the series (prays there is one) 
 
And just to say my game time from start to finish for this game is 1 day 9hours 56 minutes 14 seconds.
And Im not down with the singleplayer yet :)
 
Peace out ..
 
EDIT: Buy the Newspaper after you complete the game after credits. it tells you what happened t some characters.
 
 If you cant be bothered heres the summary:-
 
-Seth found a massive haul of gold treasure and prescious stones in Blackwater 
-Landon Ricketts Died of natural casues
-Harold McDougal Got arrested at Yale for assaulting a fellow member of staff in a drug fuelled rage
-President Reyes si considerd a Tyrant by mexican people XD
-Marshal Johnson Retired after 17 years of service
- Jeb Married the love of his life
- Irish died by accidental discharge of his gun in Thieves Landing
 
 
Thats all :) 

I just finished Red Dead Redemption.. and my god i thought this was one of the greatest games i have ever played.
 
Let me start with i knew the ending before the end as it was spoiled by a friend for me.. but it didnt ruin the experience as much as it helped me listen to the story more and enjoy my time with John Marston. It helped em to realize things like when riding with McGruber(his name was something like this) in Blackwater, he talked of 'The Old West Is Dieing' Marston replies with 'It aint dead just yet'....I may be looking into it to much but it kind of linked with the end being him the end of the old west. At least thats how i looked at it anyway.
 
When the end mission began i thought oh god here it comes, and i have to say it was awsome.. I was enjoying killing all of those government scum as they came. When Uncle gets shot to i thought her comes the worst bits now. As i fought on to avenge Uncle the next cutscene came with Marston and his family seeing Uncle before heading to the barn with more gunfire.
 
After seeing the scene of your family head off i knew this was the end.. When Marston peaked out of the barn and saw a few guys i was underwhelmed thinkingg wow Marston gets killed by five guys i could Dead Eye Destroy 'em all. But then when he opens both doors the unvail a large group of soldiers i thought holy fuck!
Then it goes straight to Dead-Eye at this point i shot as many as possible but it seems there is not enough bullets, before they unleash a enormous amount of bullets into you. Marston is killed in a blaze of glory. 
 
This actually made me pretty sad as i thought John Marston was an excellent character who i could get along with thoughout the story. 
After becoming the son i thought well that was a quick ending i guess. Even though it was great i felt something missing. Then i headed out on my usual digs when i had finished, to play some poker in Blackwater, when on my way in i get a stranger mission. To kill Edgar Ross. I though Ohhh Yess
 
At each point in the stranger mission you talk to a member of his family, i shot them all even though it accounted for nothing bu my own revenge for Marston. Before meeting Edgar Ross, and having to duel him. Now this duel was different, everyshot i fired was in his head and heart, lathering him with bullets. and seeing him fall in to the water. Before walking away to see a freeze frame and RED DEAD REDEMPTION on the screen. That was a great ending.
 
Im not sure if all of this makes sense but i have to sum it up and say this was one of the best games i have every played. And my GOTY.. i know theres people who say ohh well its to early to decide .. well i look ahead and see nothing else i think will beat this. 10/10 Rockstar. I now wait for another game in the series (prays there is one) 
 
And just to say my game time from start to finish for this game is 1 day 9hours 56 minutes 14 seconds.
And Im not down with the singleplayer yet :)
 
Peace out ..
 
EDIT: Buy the Newspaper after you complete the game after credits. it tells you what happened t some characters.
 
 If you cant be bothered heres the summary:-
 
-Seth found a massive haul of gold treasure and prescious stones in Blackwater 
-Landon Ricketts Died of natural casues
-Harold McDougal Got arrested at Yale for assaulting a fellow member of staff in a drug fuelled rage
-President Reyes si considerd a Tyrant by mexican people XD
-Marshal Johnson Retired after 17 years of service
- Jeb Married the love of his life
- Irish died by accidental discharge of his gun in Thieves Landing
 
 
Thats all :) 

It's hard to say so soon after it's release, but i think it's got to be in my top 5 ever.

Agree. By the end I felt pretty connected with the character and felt really uncomfortable/sad witnessing his fate.
It was spoiled for me too, two hours before I got to the end. Certainly would have been more shocking and emotional if it hadn't been.

I was really happy with the ending but didn't knew that it ended when I killed Edgar, I bought a news paper that said he and his wife retired in a cabin at lake don julio and went there right away to find nothing sadly, but when that guy in blackwater told me to go there maaan was I happy to be able to get me revenge. Awesome game

unlike all y'all that alreadt knew the end befoe you played it, I didnt know anything but when those soldiers came in, I knew it was going to end but I never imagined ti would end with Marston dying, when he opened that barn door and locked in dead eye, I shot 3 guys and then when I saw the way he was butchered like an animal, I felt really bad, then they showed Jack grown up and standing by the graves, I waited like a minute to see if a new name would appear on the map but nothing so I said if there is a way to get revenge it would have to be in Blackwater and when I got there I met that stranger and from then on started the revenge mission, I expected it to be tougher than just a duel, I thought Ross would have like so bodyguards but it was the pathetic man all by himself fishing and I didn't hesitate in destroying him as quickly as possible, I put about 10 bullets in him because I had this real good pistle. This is the best game I have ever played, yeah I said it, I played Assasins Creed 1 and 2, played Uncharted 2 but this one just takes the cake. Its awesome from just free roaming to a great storyline. red dead redemption 10 out of 10. Awesome stuff Rockstar, awesome stuff.

During the last mission, when all those soldiers came to Marston's house, I was expecting it to be the last mission.  However, even if it did have an epic gunfight battle with tons of soldiers, I was also expecting like horse chases and more explosions while the soldiers chase Marston and his family down.  Then when John opened the barn doors in front of all the soldiers, I knew it was the last stand for John.  I wasn't disappointed that there weren't horse chases and shootouts or dynamite explosions killing more soldiers; rather, I felt the ideal end.  I felt connected to the character that having that last stand right in front of those soldiers while his family escapes is much more awesome, dramatic and instills more emotion in connection to John Marston.  It highly showed Marston's character to be a hero to his family and an anti-hero for the government.  That scene portrayed well Marston's true redemption of his past. :P

I love the symmetry of the beginning of RDR with it's ending.  You start the game so simply--herding cattle, wrangling horses and hunting wildlife and then dozens and dozens of missions later you end doing the same simple tasks. 
 
So poetic.

 
As soon as I realized I was just doing things with my family and the game was trying to get me close to them I started to get a bad feeling about it. I knew they were just building me up to tear me down and I was right. Such an amazing ending. It felt so good to light that guy up and watch him flop into the water.