Many Games Have Worse Endings Than “Mass Effect 3″

Aged Gamer writes: "Since everyone seem to be making such a big fuzz about the way Mass Effect 3 ends, how about we prove that there are far worse endings to be found, in the history of video games?

Our picks may not all be the most challenging games ever, but they all share a common theme: The ending was a huge “that’s what I get after all that?!” letdown…"

[Godmars290]

Honestly, especially looking at the time they those games were made, they're production values, no their endings are not worse than ME3's.

Spoony just did a review of Pagan and apparently that was both extremely buggy and unfinished.

[Baka-akaB]

BS article as expected , for starters , even if the list was to be taken seriously , those game had very few expected in the department

[Jreca]

Even if they're worse, that doesn't make Mass effect 3 finale better (i'm still half the game, so no opinion here yet).

[NYC_Gamer]

How old are those games?plus they didn't have the same budget as Mass Effect 3.

[Rolento]

lol @ the damage control.

[PCE]

Games back then were far more arcadey than games today. Nowadays we have sophisticated technology to pull off cinematic cut-scenes, mid-game or game endings. Today, we have games, movies and sometimes books being merged into a single medium, some of us call an experience rather than a game, and can have the meaningful story-driven endings we see in a good movie or have pictured in our head from a great novel. Back then games couldn't pull off the same standards due to primitive technology in a 2600 or a NES, of course their endings were technically inferior, what a surprise! Even then, back then some of those endings were great for their time. Since the PS1 era games were heading more into the direction we are at now.

As for ME3 I never played it, nor have seen the ending therefore no comment on the quality of the ending, however it is silly comparing an Atari2600 game to a PC/PS3/360 game today regarding endings. A bad ending from a new game could have been yesterday's masterpiece, but today's mediocrity. We are not living in 1985 anymore. That was 27 years ago.

[strange1986]

Well, I don't think there are any games/series I care about as much as Mass Effect, so, yup I'm still pretty disappointed.

[adorie]

I love those 8-bit games. 8-bit was when I started playing video games and have been hooked ever since. Work, bf, bills and all this other stuff just gets in the way!

[optimus]

I actually agree with the article in some ways. granted some of those games had pretty lame endings compared to the endings of today, but it's still not a good excuse to let an ending like mass effect 3's slide considering it's a 2nd sequel and had a much bigger budget than those old school games.

However, saying that it's understandable for those games to have bad endings due to budget and technology back then is also a poor excuse considering the multitude of games in that era that had decent if not great endings. ninja gaiden, castlevania, megaman, come to mind...
I think that these "lazy" endings we find in games is simply a matter of just that... LAZYNESS. I blame the developers; specifically, the writers. They work on the game for so long that as they get towards the end, they are so beat that they just want to tack an ending,"any will do"...and go home.

personally, i'd rather have a subpar ending than a "to be continued" ending...I feel cheated when I spend 40 or 50 hours on a game and I'm left with a bunch of questions that will be answered in the next game...or the one after that...i.e. shenmue for the dreamcast. I think each game, sequel or not should provide some level of closure for the quest or adventure that was taken...even if it leaves some questions unanswered. i.e. halo series.

[gypsygib]

Most games have bad endings, and are way to short.

I think a game ending should be at least 10 minutes long.

[optimus]

10 minutes?? that's a little too excessive in my book. case in point... metal gear solid 2. i was bored after the 1st 2 min. i didn't actually time it but it certainly felt like 10 min. if it wasn't...actually, it felt more like 20 min. now that i think about it... all the killing, sniping, explosions, and ass kicking just for an environmental lesson?? REALLY??

i think a good time-frame for an average game should be 1-2 min... give me the girl and/or trophy, put me on my throne, have the crowd praise me, have the protagonist turn to the camera, give me a catch phrase or special move/dance and call it a day.

also, extra points for giving me an alternate ending; give me a darn good reason to replay the game from beginning to end again. none of that new level, new clothes, new weapon, crap.