# Computer and Video games with downer endings (spoilers of course) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2002, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487 "2002-06-17T07:16:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/41 "2002-06-18T06:16:38Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\* > The expansion (Opposing Force) was worse. You don’t even get a choice. You defeat the bad guys (the end boss was pretty cool, although anti-climactic), and then you’re left floating out in the interdimensional void for all eternity. Wee._\* Until half-life 2, anyway. I have no idea why he doesn’t just kill you. Probably so corp. shepherd can come back. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\* > Hey, it was still a downer. \*\* True. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/42 "2002-06-18T06:20:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qwertyasdfg \* > \*\*Wing Commander 1 ends with you in disgrace, doesn’t it? > \*\* Well, at the end of expansion pack #2, your character sees the the Tiger’s Claw destroyed (And since it was your home for the past 1.2 games. it means a lot. Plus I love that name). And as you find out in Wing Commander 2, the flight recorder goes missing, so there is no proof that “Sleath fighters” were invovled and everyone thinks you are responible, so you get busted down to working on some out of the way space station. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/43 "2002-06-18T06:22:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BraheSilver \* > \*\*More on **Fallout** : > > After working your ass off to dig a water chip from the radioactive decayed ruins of another vault, after fighting off bandits and raiders and slavers and eventually defeating an entire army of mutants, after all the misadventures and people you had to kill and let die to save your society - > > the Overseer decides that you’ve become “corrupted by the outside world” and kicks you out into the desert. Thanks a lot. \*\* But on the bright side, there is the option of killing the overseer, in one of the most gory deaths in the game(or perhaps any game). ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/44 "2002-06-18T06:24:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elf6c \* > \*\ ***Dues Ex** had multiple endings, none of which was particulary upbeat. But with all of the twists and turns in the game it is to be expected. \*\* Well, there is an unoffical “Dance Party” ending which isn’t bad. Not particulary intresting either. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/45 "2002-06-18T07:02:58Z")
**Gaberial Knight 3** The case is solved, but Grace gets fed up with Gabe and leaves. \*\*Black Dahlia \*\* This one was a perfect example. There are two endings and neither are good. The entire game was pretty dark as well. The “Good” ending has you stopping evil and killing the bad guy, but being arrested for his crimes (for some reasons the cops think you are responible because you tried to warn them about someone getting killed, who later turned up dead). Your character also pretty much a total basketcase as well. The “Bad” ending has you killing the bad guy, but not stopping evil, so the evil power flows into and pocesses your character. At the end, your character(now evil) is shown becoming president of the US. \*\*Spycraft: The great game \*\* is one of those “can’t win” games. Two endings, determined how how handle the final scene. The “Good” ending has you killing a friend because he is going to arrest a Russian Presidental Candidiate, who did not orcastrate the villionous schemes going on, but knew who was and did nothing to stop it. Russia under his leadership signs an anti-nuke treaty with the US and you get promoted and get to go on vacation. The “Bad” ending has your friend arresting the soon-to-be Russian leader who will stand with the US on the Nuke disarmament treaty, but (as said before) was also an accesory to a lot of bad one assasination, one attempted assasination, an attempted bit of nuclear terrorism and some of your fellow agents dying. He gets arrested and Russia is plunged into Civil war. Oh, and you get very fired. So you have to decide: Do the ends justify the means or punishing the evil more important no matter how much the world is screwed up as a result? As far as Console games, \*\*Breath of Fire 2 \*\* by Capcom has 3 endings, two of them not particulary great. 1. The “not my problem” ending: involves leaving evil sealed underground until it gets too powerful for it to remain sealed. Likely your team will be dead or retired when it happens and someone else will have to beat evil, signigicantly harder to kill as well. (No final duegon or 2 final bosses, but pretty irresponible and wussy as well) 2. The “Good, but still sad” ending: You beat the bad guy, but he can never truely be killed (Essence of all evil and that sort of thing). The choice for this is made earlier, during a boss fight if you kill a hostage when you can save him (but that makes the fight a lot harder, since you can’t use wide-area attacks). Since there is no other choice, you choose to sacrifice your life and humanity to re-seal the gates, keeping the bad guy contained until the next team of heros is ready to defeat it again. 3. The “Happy” ending: Same as above, but the aforementioned hostaged is saved and before you are able to sacifice yourself for the greater good, the person you saved lands a large, flying town (your home base) on top of the gate, sealing it. Then you and your friends go out to promote goodness among humanity so the essance of evil never grows strong again. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/46 "2002-06-18T07:43:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qwertyasdfg \* > \*\*Quest For Glory 5 has a bunch of possible endings: > You sacrifice yourself, this Frankenstein with a heart of gold sacrifices himself, or one of a few other heros, including the newly resurrected, hugely powerful wizardess (Erana) who you can love, sacrifice themselves. Or, this is my favorite: you can cast a spell which detonates a thermonuclear explosion. I’m not making this up. > \*\* I HATED Quest for Glory 5’s endings. It’s the ending to a 5 game continuous series (same character getting more powerful in each game)! The least they could have done is a Fallout-style “this is what happened next” montage instead of the “you-re now the king, congrats, you won now credits” that they did. ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/47 "2002-06-18T08:29:18Z")
**Fallout 2** : There was (IIRC) a bug in the endgame script such that only the ‘bad’ ending was possible for the vault full of intelligent deathclaws. (ie: They all died, and you took the heat for it.) Seems to me as I think about it now, most of the towns actually had a bit of a ‘bummer’ ending. The ghouls in Gecko always ended up enslaved, even if you helped ‘The Brain’ solve the reactor problems, Vault City always ended up overreaching their reactor’s capabilities, and being absorbed by the bigger group (despite the Gecko/enslavement thing… another bug?), the mining town (who’s name escapes me) running out of Uranium and becoming a ghost town… :smack: Of course, if you’re looking for a happy ending, maybe playing a game based in a world that’s been nuked halfway into a cinder isn’t really the best course to follow. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/48 "2002-06-18T15:24:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qwertyasdfg \* > \*\*Quest For Glory 5 has a bunch of possible endings: > You sacrifice yourself, this Frankenstein with a heart of gold sacrifices himself, or one of a few other heros, including the newly resurrected, hugely powerful wizardess (Erana) who you can love, sacrifice themselves. Or, this is my favorite: you can cast a spell which detonates a thermonuclear explosion. I’m not making this up. > \*\* Or you can kill the dragon in melee combat – hard, but possible – with no casualties. Then you’re king, and if you’ve jumped through the right hoops, you can marry one of the love-interests. Or you can refuse the kingdom and continue on your adventures. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/49 "2002-06-18T17:44:43Z")
I think the horrible ending to Half-Life (it’s not just sad, it’s LAME) is compounded by the fact that they have not even ANNOUNCED Half-Life 2. And I don’t think it will ever even be made. Remember Team Fortress 2? That was supposed to be a free download for Half-Life. It still isn’t out. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/50 "2002-06-18T17:50:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Seems to me as I think about it now, most of the towns actually had a bit of a ‘bummer’ ending. The ghouls in Gecko always ended up enslaved, even if you helped ‘The Brain’ solve the reactor problems, Vault City always ended up overreaching their reactor’s capabilities, and being absorbed by the bigger group (despite the Gecko/enslavement thing… another bug?), the mining town (who’s name escapes me) running out of Uranium and becoming a ghost town… I’ve gotten the good Gecko ending. It isn’t a bad thing when Vault City joins the NCR; you may recall those VC guys were real jerks, mostly. The President (or whatever that chick lady was called) was very racist, even for Fallout. Redding dries up because, well, the Uranium runs out. Its that simple. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/51 "2002-06-18T18:49:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\* > The expansion (Opposing Force) was worse. You don’t even get a choice. You defeat the bad guys (the end boss was pretty cool, although anti-climactic), and then you’re left floating out in the interdimensional void for all eternity. Wee. > \*\* At least the third game (Blue Shift) has a happy ending … mostly because the character you play in that game is an unimportant security guard nobody who never attracts the attention of the Administrator. ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/52 "2002-06-18T19:59:01Z")
anyone ever play **Under A Killing Moon** or the sequel **The Pandora Directive**? When the first one ends you _don’t_ get the girl. The second one had seven endings, two good, three neutral, and two bad, depending on if you were a nice guy or not. One of the bad endings has your character end up working as a clown. I can’t think of a bigger downer. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/53 "2002-06-18T20:33:00Z")
I’m surprised - it’s not been mentioned and it’s one of the neatest games I’ve ever seen for the N64. {Pauses while the others control their snickers and snide looks - I prefer consoles but I don’t get to play much, okay, and it’s the most recent I’ve got. Leemee lone} \*\*Conker’s Bad Fur Day![b/] Possibly the Best. N64. Game. Ever. But the ending is a downer. Yeah, you end up king, but your girl’s dead and you never got home. And you’re surrounded by a bunch of minions you don’t even like. And you never wanted to be king anyway! Snicks ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/54 "2002-06-19T07:54:03Z")
There’s an old SNES game called Terranigma where you spend the game reviving the world, life, humanity, and finally saving it from an evil threat At the end you find out You are really made an evil duplicate of a hero who once saved the world, created by the forces of evil out of a wierd substance called “cystal blue” so you could recreate the world, only so it could be destroyed once again. When you beat the essance of evil TM, you find this out and then are told that you and your entire town will dissolve back into cystal blue next time you go to sleep. Oh, and almost all of your friends die. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/55 "2002-06-19T08:12:24Z")
> [@](#): > > At least the third game (Blue Shift) has a happy ending … mostly because the character you play in that game is an unimportant security guard nobody who never attracts the attention of the Administrator. Yeah, but Blue Shift sucked major ass. The game was short as hell (probably a quarter as long as Opposing Force), there’s never any Big Bad End Boss to kill, it’s anticlimactic, and you don’t even get any new guns. Blue Shift was a downer because, at the end, you’re left thinking, “That’s the end?!? I’ve only been playing for two hours! I paid thirty bucks for THIS hack of crap?!?” ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/56 "2002-06-19T13:53:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\* > Blue Shift was a downer because, at the end, you’re left thinking, “That’s the end?!? I’ve only been playing for two hours! I paid thirty bucks for THIS hack of crap?!?” \*\* Yep. That’s why I only paid $8.50 for it. Worth it for an entertaining afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/57 "2002-06-19T14:23:27Z")
I’m surprised that people mentioned the downer of the Tiger’s Claw being destroyed in the Wing Commander games (between Secret Missions 2 and Wing Commander 2) but no one mentioned the end of Wing Commander 4, in which our stalwart hero Christopher Blair (played nowhere-near-adeptly by Mark Hamill) was promptly killed off in a cut-scene. Pac-man has a downer ending. No matter how hard the poor guy strives, he’s condemned to a Sisyphean existence of running from ghosts, eating dots, and chasing ghosts before running from them again. If that’s what hell is, then I’m gonna go get some exercise and eat a bran muffin for lunch. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/58 "2002-06-19T14:41:45Z")
**Wing Commander 4** had two endings, neither one of which had Mark Hamill dying. In one he becomes leader of the galaxy, in the other he retires and becomes a flight instructor. Maybe you’re thinking of Wing Commander 5(which I never played)? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/59 "2002-06-19T20:23:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Silentgoldfish \* > \*\ ***Wing Commander 4** had two endings, neither one of which had Mark Hamill dying. In one he becomes leader of the galaxy, in the other he retires and becomes a flight instructor. Maybe you’re thinking of Wing Commander 5(which I never played)? \*\* **Wing Commander: Prophecy** has Mark Hamil’s character sacrificing himself to help destory the gate. However, he is considering MIA, not KIA, as we don’t know if he’s dead. And since there has been no sequel, we don’t know if he will be back or not. **Wing Commander 4** on the other hand, has 4 endings. There’s the ending where Tolwyn gets his way and War is declared. The other two endings are attached to the 2nd ending. If you suceed in discrediting tolwyn, He will be prosecuted for war crimes, and then your fate is decided by how you handled various situations in the game. If you were a generally good guy, you become a Flight instructor (which is what your character wanted to do anyway). If you were a “bad” guy by only caring about yourself, you become an admirl or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![PublicBlast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/779978/32.png) [@PublicBlast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PublicBlast)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487/60 "2002-06-19T23:00:24Z")
Nobody has mentioned Final Fantasy Tactics yet? I’m always bringing it up, so here goes: The Ultimate Evil in the game is St. Ajora, the game’s Christ-figure, who has had his servants facilitiate war, sacrificing innocents in order to facilitate his resurrection. The heroes die in Hell, unable to escape after defeating Ajora. The main character’s family dynasty ends, since they’re all dead. The main character’s former best friend becomes a despotic ruler who murders his wife after using her to gain power. The Church covers up the events of the game and paints the fallen hero as a heretic. The Church also makes a heretic of the character who tries to bring the truth to life, and burns him at the stake. The game’s narrator is the descendant of this martyr. I was so horrified by the end of the game that I stayed home from class for a day and didn’t eat. Take games too seriously? Who, me? Nahh. FFX’s ending was a downer for me because I thought it (and the game) were pretty boring. It’s good to hear that some other people interpreted FFVII’s ending the same way I did (humanity is gone). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-and-video-games-with-downer-endings-spoilers-of-course/114487.md?page=4)