Editorial Game endings, like BioShock's, suck

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: BioShock

<a href="http://www.denofgeek.com/captainsblog/66133/the_ryan_lambie_column_rubbish_videogame_endings.html">An interesting article over at the Den of Geek</a>. It's about game endings and how unsatisfactory they are:
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<blockquote>This scenario played itself out repeatedly throughout the 80s: I fought through five levels of bare-knuckle violence in Renegade to watch my rock-hard avatar get a peck on the cheek from his pixelated girlfriend; I hacked off limbs and chopped off heads in Barbarian, and was rewarded with a static graphic of a woman in a bikini sitting at my muscle bound warrior's feet. Thrilling.
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Fast forward to 2008, and I've finally completed Bioshock (yes, I know it came out last year, but at least I got there in the end), and that same feeling of gloom I got from all those games back in the eighties comes welling up again - after several hours of play time, I'm confronted with a brief and largely forgettable cut-scene that features a lot of hand holding. From a game that revelled in stark, disturbing imagery, it was a terrible disappointment. Interestingly, even Bioshock's creator Ken Levine agreed, even stating in a recent interview that his ending was something of an anticlimax.
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It was sort of understandable, given the technical limitations of the time, that an 80s game like Stop the Express or Manic Miner couldn't end with a dramatic or awe-inspiring FMV sequence, but these days there's simply no excuse for a rushed - or practically non-existent, in the case of Half Life 2 - denouement. And yet it seems that genuinely satisfying or surprising game endings are the exception rather than the rule.</blockquote>
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Hmmm... Makes you think about Fallout 3's six billion different endings or whatever number they're up to now. However, I don't agree with the article's assessment that the crappy endings are a result of the length of modern games. Apparently people get bored playing these modern "long" video games, so a decent ending isn't worthwhile developing. Sorry, but when did 10 hours become long?
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Spotted @ <a href="http://www.bluesnews.com">BluesNews</a>

 

[Mr. Teatime]

I hear metal gear solid 4's end cinematic lasts for over an hour. That thought makes me cringe - I can think of very few games that, if you take away the game, would be able to survive simply as a movie - but I'm guessing some people would see this as a suitably 'meaty' end reward.

 

[Lurkar]

I hear metal gear solid 4's end cinematic lasts for over an hour. That thought makes me cringe - I can think of very few games that, if you take away the game, would be able to survive simply as a movie - but I'm guessing some people would see this as a suitably 'meaty' end reward.

Having recently watched MGS4's seven epilogues, each ten minutes long, yes, I can tell you in advance that it is 100% pure shit.

MGS4 is really it's own case though, as it's so mind bogglingly bizarre in how much gameplay it has compared to the cinematics. You can't really set it with other games.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I hear metal gear solid 4's end cinematic lasts for over an hour. That thought makes me cringe - I can think of very few games that, if you take away the game, would be able to survive simply as a movie - but I'm guessing some people would see this as a suitably 'meaty' end reward.

It's about 90 minutes. And I thought it was pretty awesome. Zany and tropy as usual, but its awesome.

 

[Bluebottle]

that same feeling of gloom I got from all those games back in the eighties comes welling up again

That's just the same feeling of emptyness that follows any activity that you've probably wasted far too much of your fleeting existence on - like that sense of vague worthlessness and guilt that follows a particularly heavy masturbation session.
Wangst.

 

[Claw]

That guy should play Syndicate. That's an ending he won't ever forget.

 

[deuxhero]

What is he talking about, NES action game endings were fun, like River City Ransom ("all the gangs returned too there classes and became honor students") or Bad Dudes rock hard, much better then what we get these days.

 

[burrie]

I actually thought that the Bioshock ending was quite touching, especially for its length. Reminded me of PS:T

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Bioshit's ending sucking wasn't really a huge surprise to anyone who finished System Shock 2. I guess Levine just says "Nah" to good endings.

 

[Lumpy]

Bioshit

Wait does Bioshit mean Bioware or Bioshock now?

 

[Xor]

Bioware = Biowhore, Bioshock = Bioshit

 

[Zomg]

From now on Bioware is Bioqueer and Bioshock is Bioshit, spread the word.

 

[Lumpy]

I would say Biosuck would be more appropriate for Bioshock because more letters match. And for Bioware you can choose choose between Biowhore and Bioshit.

 

[thesheeep]

I smell mindless Bioware bashing.

 

[Lumpy]

I smell mindless Bioware bashing.

More like Biowhore amirite?

 

[Shoelip]

I would say Biosuck would be more appropriate for Bioshock because more letters match. And for Bioware you can choose choose between Biowhore and Bioshit.

But then you don't get to use profanity...

 

[Jasede]

The funny thing is, in five or ten years we'll look back and say "Man... Bioware made great games five (ten) years ago compared to the dumbed down mainstream games today."

 

[Volourn]

L0L No doubt.

People do that already claiming that BG is a better RPG than ME. That means theya r eonc rack.

As for actual topic, meh, endings ar usually fine. Just that, as mentioned above, by the time you get to the end of agame, you are expecting a god' gift to ther world and it simply almost never happens. It's all about expecations.

 

[Texas Red]

I came up with Biowhore. I'm also the author of critically acclaimed FOblivion .

The funny thing is, in five or ten years we'll look back and say "Man... Bioware made great games five (ten) years ago compared to the dumbed down mainstream games today."

*shrugs* KotOR 1 fails as an RPG and the mechanics of JE are so horrible that they render the game unplayable.

 

[easychord]

Playing a game should be it's own reward but if game developers insist on having those story things then they should at least make an effort to write an ending. Some RPG endings tend not to be that good because they have too many loose ends to tie up and struggle to react to the players actions. The game world in Bioshock didn't react much at all to the players actions which is fine for most games. The whole last part of the game was of poor quality compared to the start and middle.

The funny thing is, in five or ten years we'll look back and say "Man... Bioware made great games five (ten) years ago compared to the dumbed down mainstream games today."

As long as everyone isn't still debating the same handful of Infinity engine and Troika games for the next 20 years.

 

[Volourn]

"*shrugs* KotOR 1 fails as an RPG and the mechanics of JE are so horrible that they render the game unplayable."

Wrong.

 

[Jasede]

JE has pretty fun mechanics. I find the combat a lot of fun. Oh, not very RPGish (in -my- RPG definition), more like an action adventure to me, but a lot of fun. There's lots of ways to fight and specialize, depending on what you like best, and the game forces you not to specialize on just one style or two. I'm playing it for the first time now and really enjoy the combat - my character focuses on Chi and Transformation styles - I have Thousand Cuts, Horse/Frog/Golem/Red Minister maxed (aside of Chi Strike since I end up rarely using that with my play-style) and have great fun with this set-up, even though the game suitably punishes me for not taking a support or a weapon style. But what can I say? I just love these sexy demon forms! Looking forward to Jade Master difficulty once I'm done.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I was very pleased when I killed paralyzed Sun Li with a Focus Thousand Cuts power attack spam. Felt like Hokuto Shinken...

 

[Suchy]

(...)

says the guy bashing witcher in every thread

 

[LastAngryBat]

The only games I can think of that had good endings are Fallout, Bloodlines and MOTB