Lunchtime Discussion: Endings

I’ve made my views on story in games known several times. For me it comes second only to gameplay, and even then it’s a close run thing. As every child knows a good story should have a beginning, middle and an end, and in a well paced story it should build to the climatic ending. How terrible would Star Wars had been if the first scene was the Death Star run? No, a good story should build, so lets talk about games that have that epic final scene.

Everyone knows I’m a big fan of the Halo series, and the final scenes of Halo 3 were pretty epic. From battling the Prophet to the arrival of the flood and onto the finale, the whole series hit it’s crescendo beautifully interlacing large battles with well timed cutscenes to wrap up what remained of Halo’s story. The central story of Halo may not be the deepest, but Bungie certainly execute the whole thing well.

On the flip side for me is the first Assassin’s Creed title. This was a brilliant game, and the story was pretty interesting. Sure they erased a big chunk of the mystery pretty much immediately, but they added new elements over the course of the game to slowly reveal what was going on. Altair’s story in the distant past was actually a great build, and the final battle was a good pay off.

However when you then drop back to the present and the story of Desmond Miles you’re quickly disappointed. They leave it on an obvious cliffhanger without any real closure on the game’s story, waiting for the next title to continue the story. I don’t mind leaving a story open for the next title, but give me some closure on the story you’re telling at the same time. To go back to the Star Wars example, each of the original films easily leads onto the next whilst also closing it’s own story. That’s how to correctly build an ongoing trilogy, not to leave a gaping whole for the next piece of the story to fit into.

Anyway enough about how awesome Star Wars was before Episode I was released and my mind fractured, it’s time to ask today’s questions. What games do you feel build to the end well? What games just don’t understand how to craft an ending? Have you been let down by trilogies just as I have?