# Good game, lousy endgame **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 19, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938 "2008-12-19T17:43:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/1 "2008-12-19T17:43:18Z")
So I just wrapped up _Beyond Divinity_ (yeah, I’m a few years behind on my gaming). It’s a pretty good action RPG with a decent plotline, but the end was a real disappointment. The events leading up to the end were unexciting, and the final boss battle went something like this: -Stun spell to stun the boss -Hit pause, enter inventory, drink potions to regain mana, health, and stamina as necessary -Two sword attacks on boss -Lather, rinse, repeat till boss reaches 0 HP -Boss gives cutscene speech about how I was such a goody two-shoes and we’d meet again in the sequel -Roll end-of-game cutscene Yay. :rolleyes: Anybody else have good games that were real letdowns at the very end? ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/2 "2008-12-19T17:49:43Z")
**BioShock** ’s ending was underwhelming, and followed the same basic outline you mentioned above (though the game has a plethora of different attack methods you could employ) A couple of caveats on that as I’ve only played it once: 1. There may be alternate ending(s), though I doubt the mechanics are different 2. I played the game on the moderately easy setting (the one that says “I’ve played a couple FPS’s in the past”) since this was the first game I’d played since Halo. Harder setting may make it different, but again doubt the mechanics would be different. ---
**Author:** ![Claptree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Claptree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claptree)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/3 "2008-12-19T17:57:16Z")
Half-Life. The Xen levels and the big baby - WTF was that? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/4 "2008-12-19T18:17:26Z")
Fallout 3, my god fallout 3 wth were they thinking? They force you to sacrifice yourself to radiation when one of your party members is INMUNE to radiation and could have done the task you so valiantly died for with absolutely no harm to himself.. Damn near ruined a great game for me. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/5 "2008-12-20T00:33:19Z")
Half Life 2. I hated the ending. I haven’t played episode one or two yet so I hope they address this but I doubt it. Like it would have really hurt them to include an extra minute or so showing Barney rescuing them before the building blows up. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/6 "2008-12-20T01:22:40Z")
X-Wing Alliance. Let it be known for the record : navigating the Millenium Falcon through the Death Star’s innards ? Very cool looking on film, very annoying to actually do. That, and blowing it up isn’t really satisfying or spectacular when you’ve seen RotJ a dozen times. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/7 "2008-12-20T05:34:01Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Half Life 2. I hated the ending. I haven’t played episode one or two yet so I hope they address this but I doubt it. > > Like it would have really hurt them to include an extra minute or so showing Barney rescuing them before the building blows up. Barney never would have stood a chance. They would never have escaped in time. But don’t worry, they do get rescued, and not by the G-Man. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/8 "2008-12-20T05:44:36Z")
This ending pissed me the hell off back in the day: [POW for the NES](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCapUv1sz2o). The game was pretty decent, a Double Dragon like game with guns, and I’d enjoyed the arcade game. The NES version with its dodgy collision detection and flickering sprites was a difficult game, and getting through the stages was a challenge. It came out as “cinematic” endings, or at least slide shows and scrolling credits, became common in NES titles, so I expected a pretty cool reward for my efforts… Congraturation! [1943](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqZXzcqvwMY) for the same system also had ticked me off, but it gets a pass because it’s such an early game; the idea that games could _end_ was kind of novel. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/9 "2008-12-20T05:52:34Z")
Seconding Half Life, the alien world levels were a clunker of a chore. Return to Wolfenstein ended with the bland lame “ammo sponge” boss fight. I actually liked Bioshock’s ending (I did the “save the sisters” path), it was short, sweet, and perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/10 "2008-12-20T10:28:20Z")
> [@Student\_Driver](#): > > This ending pissed me the hell off back in the day: [POW for the NES](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCapUv1sz2o). The game was pretty decent, a Double Dragon like game with guns, and I’d enjoyed the arcade game. The NES version with its dodgy collision detection and flickering sprites was a difficult game, and getting through the stages was a challenge. It came out as “cinematic” endings, or at least slide shows and scrolling credits, became common in NES titles, so I expected a pretty cool reward for my efforts… > > Congraturation! I’m rackign my brains for an NES game that didn’t have a ridiculously disappointing ending. Given that most halfway decent NES games had such spectacularly high difficulty curves, anything less than The Princess leaping out of the screen to provide oral gratification for most games would have been a letdown. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/11 "2008-12-20T13:04:59Z")
> [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](#): > > I’m rackign my brains for an NES game that didn’t have a ridiculously disappointing ending. Given that most halfway decent NES games had such spectacularly high difficulty curves, anything less than The Princess leaping out of the screen to provide oral gratification for most games would have been a letdown. Yeah… …yeah… …but did the other games _also_ misspell their single-word endings? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/12 "2008-12-21T02:57:45Z")
When I was 15 or so, I played an Apple game called _Short Circuit_ and was hooked, though level 7 proved unbeatable. A decade and a half later, I discovered Apple emulators and determined to beat that level and the game. I did, but I wasn’t impressed. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/13 "2008-12-22T04:01:51Z")
Fallout 3 rather dropped the ball on the ending, despite having an awesome lead up the ending. KOTOR 2 was pretty good until you got to the last planet. X-Wing Alliance. After waiting to see the Battle of Endor(the space part) in a game for years, what we got was a major disappointment. The awful voice acting from the guy playing Lando didn’t help(I still don’t understand why they couldn’t have just reused the actual lines from the movie). ---
**Author:** ![Anduinel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Anduinel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anduinel)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/14 "2008-12-22T04:40:06Z")
The ending to the original Neverwinter Nights 2 campaign was the suck cherry atop the fail sundae of a buggy, half-assed (and yet, somehow entertaining) game that was pushed out too soon for anyone’s good. I’m told that they made up for it somewhat in the expansion, but I wasn’t about to throw good money after bad. ---
**Author:** ![SunSandSuffering](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SunSandSuffering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunSandSuffering)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/15 "2008-12-22T16:07:54Z")
> [@Student\_Driver](#): > > Yeah… > > …yeah… > > …but did the other games _also_ misspell their single-word endings? 😉 Just wanted to say [this](http://www.mobygames.com/game/zx-spectrum/stop-the-express/screenshots) old game for the ZX Spectrum rewarded you with “ **Congraturation You Success** ” upon completion. Still makes me smile to this day. ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/16 "2008-12-22T16:31:32Z")
Quest 64. There were virtually NO RPG’s for the N64 until Quest came out. First off, the title just sucks. Then, I beat them game in about 12 hours, and the ending consisted of about two pages of text. Literally. The first screen pops up, you hit the “A” button, and then the next. Roll credits. Whoopie. The story was awful, too. ETA: Oops, I stopped paying attention to the OP. This was not even a good game. I shouldn’t have even been let down by the crappy ending, rather just happy it was over and I didn’t have to play it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/17 "2008-12-22T16:40:25Z")
> [@SunSandSuffering](#): > > Just wanted to say [this](http://www.mobygames.com/game/zx-spectrum/stop-the-express/screenshots) old game for the ZX Spectrum rewarded you with “ **Congraturation You Success** ” upon completion. Still makes me smile to this day. Huh, I’ve never heard of this game (and it’s even available for the C64, so I have to wonder why I never saw it through copying circles), and I never knew Hudson Soft did Western computer releases. I can just imagine the Japanese programmers painstakingly porting the title off of MSX, pushing the chiclet rubber keys on their imported Spectrum very carefully so as to preserve the text. “Ahhh, good, ‘CONGRATURATION YOU SUCCESS,’ we’re done and ready to ship! The UK gaming public is gonna LOVE this!” Oh, even better-- the MSX screenshots show the CONGRATURATION screen, and it’s even better than I hoped: they misspelled “SUCSESS” as well! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SunSandSuffering](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SunSandSuffering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunSandSuffering)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/18 "2008-12-22T16:56:50Z")
Talking of the MSX, I used to have a Sanyo MSX1 and one of the hardest but best games for it was Konami’s [Salamander](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamander_(video_game)). It took literally months of memorising every level, attack pattern and enemy, one of those insame games where bullets come from everywhere. Anyway, finally finished it to be met with [this](http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/msx/a/salab.htm). WHAT THE HELL!!! Nobody told me I had to have Nemesis 2 plugged in as well to get the proper ending!!! Went back to it years later on an emulator with “invincible” cheats turned on to finally see it, closure at last. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/19 "2008-12-22T17:09:57Z")
> [@SunSandSuffering](#): > > Talking of the MSX, I used to have a Sanyo MSX1 and one of the hardest but best games for it was Konami’s [Salamander](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamander_(video_game)). > > It took literally months of memorising every level, attack pattern and enemy, one of those insame games where bullets come from everywhere. > > Anyway, finally finished it to be met with [this](http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/msx/a/salab.htm). WHAT THE HELL!!! Nobody told me I had to have Nemesis 2 plugged in as well to get the proper ending!!! > > Went back to it years later on an emulator with “invincible” cheats turned on to finally see it, closure at last. Interesting-- I have the Konami Antiques MSX Collection for the Saturn, which includes both Salamander and Nemesis 2… I wonder how the endings work on that. (At least even the bad ending has a number of different screens, I guess). At any rate, looking at the “Good Ending” to Salamander on the site you linked, my eyes fall to it once again: CONGRATURATION! ---
**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:** [December 22, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938/20 "2008-12-22T18:06:47Z")
> [@Anduinel](#): > > The ending to the original Neverwinter Nights 2 campaign was the suck cherry atop the fail sundae of a buggy, half-assed (and yet, somehow entertaining) game that was pushed out too soon for anyone’s good. I’m told that they made up for it somewhat in the expansion, but I wasn’t about to throw good money after bad. Oddly enough… [spoiler]The expansion was very good, but after I learned that, seriously, Kelemvor is effin’ EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL with a cherry on top, no matter that he’s “supposed to be” neutral, and that I’m not allowed to kill him, I quit playing. Seriously, it was grossly stupid, because my character was in fact powerful enough to kill the God, but they have him pop up and claim blah blah blah I’m impossibly strong and you can’t beat me. Which, ironically, is not the case in 3rd edition DnD. It was that way in 2nd edition, when gods were more interesting and had better fashion sense and morals. Hell, even the evil gods in second edition were frequently better poeple than the good gods by the time 3rd cameout, especially in Faerun. Anyway, my character was actually capable of inflicting damage twice as fast and taking twice as much damage as he was. My dude was a ridiculously powerful Paladin/Dragon Disciple/Divine Champion, and I was duishing out something like 50 damage a hit, 6 times a round, without using any of my turning-attempt-divine-feats to buff myself or any party buffs, against enemies with AC higher than the listed Deity AC. And with saves that never fail except on a natural 1 because I’d got them so friggin high. I was most dissapointed they welched the ending.[/spoiler] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-game-lousy-endgame/477938.md?page=2)