What's the best and worst finale in a game?

[DrSpike]

Besides it's not really a finale without a big battle. I'm sure more would complain if the last mission was "use your 5000 troops to take the evil dictator, 4 henchmen, and his cat, Spot"

[loinburger]

Chrono Trigger had some good endings, though I had to play through a coupla times to get all of them (it's damn tough to colo Lavos with Crono).

I like big end bosses in games where they're appropriate (FPS and RPG games, f'rinstance), but for RPG's I really prefer that the means of killing the end boss correspond to the means of getting to the end boss. Fallout II was fantastic, because you could kill Horrigan with your badass minigun skills, or you could get a bit of help in the process by turning the auto-defense systems on him and convincing his bodyguards to help you kill him (i.e. you could be a sneaky bastard if you wanted to). Deus Ex was a bit disappointing in this regard, because you had to be a sneaky bastard in order to win (you couldn't just unload your missile launcher into the enemy, which was a pity if you had a full complement of missile launcher ammo like I did).

[Sarxis]

Soul Reaver 2 had a good finale, though being indestructible through the last battles is a little disappointing. Soul Reaver 1 also has a great ending/continuation.

[Sandman]

What is finale then???

The bit before the end. Usually involves a showdown with the most powerful enemy.

Regarding RPG bosses, I don't like it when the way to win is to simply whittle away at their enormous energy bars. It's better if they have some sort of regeneration system, that ups the tension suitably.

Regarding bosses generally, it's always a disappointment when they have some absurd weakness which you can only exploit because of their stupidity or scenery contrivance.
For example, a boss which can only be killed by picking up his projectiles and throwing them back at him, repeatedly. Or a boss that you have to lure into jumping into a conveniently placed pit.
I feel that I haven't 'really' beaten the boss. I should be able to take him down anywhere, even if he doesn't shoot lasers I can reflect with my shield.

[Tuberski]

Planescape:Torment had a lame ending.


ACK!

[Thrawn05]

IDK... I like how I beat Ming up in my Mingapulco mod for Morrowind. That was a great ending.

[Felch]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Besides it's not really a finale without a big battle. I'm sure more would complain if the last mission was "use your 5000 troops to take the evil dictator, 4 henchmen, and his cat, Spot"

I would personally stalk and congratulate any game developer with the cajones to make an ending like that. It would be inventive to just have a big stomping at the very end.

Maybe the ending could be more of a race against the clock - like overwhelming forcs being brought to bear, but you have to destroy the enemy before they launch their doomsday device. In any event, they should be more creative than just giving you some piss poor band of soldiers to take on a fortress.

[Vanguard]

Torment has one of the best endings ever.

[Qilue]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
You have to ademit that the final movie was awesome though.

It was almost in the same class as IWD, although it screamed x-pac.

[General Ludd]

I remember a friend and I played a game feriously, determined to finish it despite it being so incredibly frustrating and annoying. We finally did it, and the ending was just a "You win" and back to the title screen. We both said "THAT'S IT?" and started laughing.

I don't remember the title of the game though.



Best finale? hrm... I don't know, I'm not much a fan of finales really.

[Rasbelin]

Well, I would say that my favourite finale is "The Escape from Forth Schmerzen" in MOHAA. It's tricky, needs concentration and you need to know what to do as no mistakes can be done. As I wasted a few seconds, I had to abstain from using the StG 44 as it would have slowed me down while running out from the buliding.

The worst finale? I don't know.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by J Bytheway
The most anti-climatic boss I can think of, however, is the spider at the end of Doom (without episode 4). When I first tried it I just ran up and shot him twice and he was dead. Hoorah. The BFG was a little too powerful.

Well the Cyberdemon at the end of the second episode is much harder to kill, mainly because you don't have the BFG and it is rocket launcher on rocket launcher and lots of quick manoevring

Doom 2 was much better. You couldn't use the BFG there. That was probably the most fun final battle I've ever fought the first time I succeeded.

That's still a bugger for a veteran of the game of myself, especially on ultra-violence, where I find I can still only complete it now and again...

[aaglo]

The worst finale for any game is, when the game crashes just before ending. And an earlier savegame won't help

[Comrade Tribune]

I loved the bad guy finale in C&C2. You get to shoot down the idiots´space station, then there is the parade and the evil propagandy lady anouncing your victory, and then you start your Tiberium super rocket and depopulate Earth.

"The end is the beginning."

Playing the evil C&C guys is always cute.

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by loinburger
Deus Ex was a bit disappointing in this regard, because you had to be a sneaky bastard in order to win (you couldn't just unload your missile launcher into the enemy, which was a pity if you had a full complement of missile launcher ammo like I did).

At least there were targets around on that final mission to unload your missiles onto. Lots of metal spiders, security bots (the ones that aren't on your side), those giant burrick-type things, and on the overkill side of the scale, aliens, human soldiers, nuclear technicians, greasels...

The rocket launcher and the HE attachment were practically made for this level.