Inspired by @fuckingshit's post, I'd like to know your opinions on games with really bad or disappointing endings. Sometimes games do great for almost all of it, only to totally ruin it at the end.
I'll agree with Mass Effect 3.
spoiler
I don't think it needs a happy or sad ending, but what we got was utterly disconnected from the previous choices. When they had the sidequest for Tali and you entered the Geth cyberspace, I thought it would be connected to the ending of dealing with the Reapers. It would've been satisfying and thematic to nonstandard ways of solving problems. It also lets the Quarians have a victory that shows that engineering and creating wasn't wrong. Hell, the Geth could've worked with them and patched their history. It would reward players who maintained good relationships with their crew and make the victory a shared one, fitting with the ideal of the Citadel.
Instead, it was a one-off quest that said nothing of the the game as a whole and there were no other big choices that affected the ending.
Anyway, what games had awful endings, and if you want, how would you have changed it?
In the spirit of preventing unwanted spoilers, could we tag them in this post?
I wanna say as well with Mass Effect 3 is that there's a reason Indoctrination Theory is so popular.
The three choices you get at the end are:
Destroy - the thing you said you'd do the entire series
Control - the thing you've been told is impossible the entire series
Synthesis - the thing you literally just heard about as even being an option about a minute ago
Literally the thing that the reaper-controlled Saren in Mass Effect 1 wanted to achieve. He thought that if organics and synthetics melded that the reapers would pass them over. But this was a lie that the reapers planted in his mind.
And then control is the thing that the reaper-controlled Illusive Man wanted. But no, the literal incarnation of the reaper over-mind tells you that you, the player character, can succeed at those goals because Shepard is special? Most compelling part of the theory to me is that that was an indoctrination attempt, because otherwise it's terrible writing.
I mean it was just terrible writing, I'm not an IT truther or anything. I just like to pretend it's true. In the same way there's a version of Attack of the Clones that only exists inside my head and is an incredible film. A neo-noir mystery spanning an entire galaxy of weird aliens, a Romance, a War movie, and a political thriller about the rise of fascism all at the same time? What's not to love? It's just that somewhere in all the terrible dialogue and pacing all those things go to shit. I don't know how to write it so it's good, if I did I would have. I'm not sure if anyone could, at least not without it being longer than The Irishman. That's why it only exists in my head, illusory.
There's this weird quirk in the final Mass Effect cutscenes which remains unexplained except by the indoctrination theory, where Shepherd's eyes have the sharingan thing in them that signals that a person is indoctrinated on both the synthesis and control endings, but not in the destruction ending. That's lame in its own way though, since it implies that the ending choice is actually just a multiple-choice test that you can pick the wrong answer on, but it's something.
The writing is literally so bad that you have no choice to believe that it's true. It's easier to believe in IT than it is to believe that someone could write that bad of an ending.
Lol I ran up to the energy pillar and accidentally triggered an ending. I watched as things were happening and didn't bother to reload a save to correct it. It was so so so bad.
spoiler
The ending changes the colour of the wave that destroys the relays. With a high enough war score they're functionally all the same. There are some ending cards that change I guess but they're nothing special.
It's one of very few viral nerd freakouts in the last decade that wasn't unjustified.
It literally destroyed any warmth I had for the series whatsoever. I completed ME3 once and have never played any of the games since.
You're right but just wanted to say that it might be worth a second chance today thanks to a number of things.
-The extended cut ending expansion provides a lot of closure and resolution to open plot points and fates of the factions.
-the citadel dlc provides a great denouement and genuinely wonderful sendoff to shepard and the crew.
-the modders have used these assets to basically remake the ending in a way that purges the thematically revolting elements and places these things as an epilogue.
i legit was depressed for like a week after finishing me3