AGS Game Endings

[Ali]

i don't think the people in prodigal were illusions.Ã,  though, i'm not sure now.Ã,  played too long ago.

I'm pretty sure we're told that...

Spoiler

The cult all left for the marvelous dimension a long time ago - passing through the cell one by one, presumably. If those people were real, it probably would have been quicker for our brother to trick one of them into releasing him.

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[Mordalles]

oh, i completely missed that. 

[Helm]

Dreamweb ends.... perfectly.

AGS games? Don't remember one that really stayed with me.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Oh, I forgot. Here's a godawful ending - "it was all a dream". Or it was all a virtual-reality sim, opr something of the sort. Example:

Spoiler

Harvester. Now come on, despite it being blatantly a gore- shock-value, it does manage to pull you into a totally twisted town, where at every turn you discover a more gruesome/shocking/unpleasant/incredible truth, and so on and so forth - in a way that actually makes you wonder just what the f**k is going on here... but you still want to go ahead and get to the bottom of this (I'm not even mentioning the amnesia gambit it uses. It works, anyway.)

And what do you get? It was all a virtual-reality sim done by some cult that had kidnapped you, made to brainwash you into becoming an insensitive serial killer. I mean, come ON! That killed the game for me, totally.

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Another gimmick is the last-minute surprise, used to maximum effect in In Memoriam -

Spoiler

In "In Memoriam" everything about the game is designed to make YOU, the player, feel as though this is all real. The baffling way it mixes truth with fiction adds to this imensely. You get e-mails from "people" who are working with you, in your own e-mail box/program.

Now, the ingenious thing is that the end-game is mostly comprised of you getting e-mails from your colleagues that let you know how it turned out. It sounds dull, but it actually works very well, especially after the last flash game - whoops, sorry, I meant "your final confrontation with the killer".

And a couple of days later you still get one or more e-mails from your "colleagues" thanking you for your help.

And then a FULL WEEL later, you get an e-mail from the serial killer, saying he'll be back and so on. A full week. I find that extremely ingenious, and it's a great way to make the player feel as though he's really living the situation.

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Those that have read the above spoiler probably assume I think In Memoriam could, with some tinkering and fine-tuning, become the next standard in adventure gaming, taking it to new levels of immersion. The assumption is correct.

EDIT - This could become a nice GTD thread...

[blueskirt]

For the AGS games I'd say the endings of 7 Days a Stranger, 1213, Automation, Mind's Eye, the funny ending and the bad ending of Pleurghburg Dark Ages, the normal ending of GFW and the ending of The House That Ate My Soul.

For the other endings, I'd say, Maniac Mansion's "arrested on talk-show" ending, the endings of The Last Crusade, FOA, Out Of Order and Quest for Glory 2.

MI2 had a great ending too but it is hardly understandable as long we'll never see what Ron Gilbert wanted MI3 to be, or if you've read those articles that analyse in depth MI 1 & 2 and try to explain what Ron was planning. But then again, I've met people who read said articles and prefer to have CMI and EMI instead of Ron's MI3.

I cannot think of any endings that I really disliked. There are endings that marked me, ending that were pretty average, uninteresting which made me say "Meh!", but no endings that made me say "Man, what a dumb ending!"

[Helm]

BlueSkirt, for dumb ending, check under Broken Sword.

[Radiant]

I thought Ron had nothing to do with MI3/4?

[ManicMatt]

You wanna read that again Radiant?

[blueskirt]

I thought Ron had nothing to do with MI3/4?

When I say "Ron's MI3" I mean the one game that was meant to be the true Monkey Island 2 sequel, the Monkey Island 3 we've never seen because Ron lefts LucasArts or was fired or whatever.

[Radiant]

Oh, I see. Thanks.

(personally I prefer the graphics of MI2, at least. I haven't played MI3 far enough to judge content, since I don't actually have it but played it at a friend's for a while)

[Vince Twelve]

Rui,

In Memoriam is a great idea.  I've not played it, but making the game seem real by getting emails from the characters and having to play along as the game unfolds in real-time definitely has the potential for fun.

I've always thought that if I knew how, I'd program a game in the form of a web browser.  For example, I'd tweak an existing webbrowser like Firefox to filter out webpages such as GameFAQs or other places where you might find hints or information about the game, but also add new webpages that don't actually exist, but are parts of the game.  The player would use this modified browser to play the game, interacting with characters via email and message boards, "hacking" computers, and doing research.  The idea would be that someone who didn't know that they were using a rigged browser, would think that they were really wrapped up in the middle of some great mystery novel.

I'm going to have to try out In Memoriam to see what they did.

Oh, endings... I liked Spooks.

[evenwolf]

I just played through Prodigal to see what everyone was talking about.  Really friggin' sweet.  The rendered camera motions added so much to the game play.

Spoiler

The twist was sort of "Mysty" but actually carried through cinematically.  It was also reminiscent of the Calypso endings of the Twisted Metal games.  Again, more cinematic and meaningful.  I like!

[close]

The Ben Jordan endings have also been very satisfying.   It's done well for a series to end and leave the path open ahead.   Especially the witch hunt one & the haunted building one.  3 & 4 maybe?     Yahtzee's also done very well with endings.  Stories in general really.   

[Afflict]

Dreamweb ends.... perfectly.

I have to second that, Dream Web is AWESOME!

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Vince, just so you don't end up a bit disappointed, let me warn you - although the premise is great, the actual gameplay will often be playing flash games and searching the web for some information. Sometimes it's good, and it draws you in as you yourself start making connections, and in a few cases it's really tops, but eventually it might well bore you a bit.

I keep hearing about Dreamweb... never played it, any clues about it? Or at least, how does it end, since it seems to be such a popular ending?

[Scummbuddy]

It ends with directing you to a 404 page. 

[Dualnames]

MI2 ending with the big whoop theme park. Stupid stupid stupid.

Really? I loved that ending! That's like the only ending of an adventure game that stands out in my mind.

Now, the ending to MI3 ... what a nightmare. Although I thought the whole game was a pretty weak attempt at "explaining" MI2. Too bad we'll never no what Ron Gilbert was really thinking ....

I agree with that.Mi2 is the game i play over and over again because it's awesome Great Music very humorous and a le Chuck you are afraid of . Plus gathering the map pieces is a great motivation for playing the game. The ending is undescribable.

[Dmitri]

Two particular endings I liked were the endings to Permanent Daylight, I liked how you get a silly epilogue of every character. The other ending I like is the end to Chicken Vs Road, "What the *cluck*?!"

[Wellington]

Ten years ago, Computer Gaming World had a really great issue listing the "150 Best Games of All Time." It also included a list of the "Best Endings of All Time," as well as the worst. They had some good choices, but I don't have the issue anymore.

My favorite endings:

Trinity: Shocking. Maybe a bit emotionally manipulative, but in a way that's perfectly fair. See, what happens is this, as far as I can tell:

Spoiler

The good news is, your actions keep humanity safe from nuclear holocaust for over forty years. The bad new is, that's as much time as we get. As the bombs drop, you escape by fleeing to the past... and start the game's events over again. 1984 was a cynical year, I guess.

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A Mind Forever Voyaging:

Spoiler

Suppose you found out that you were just a computer program, and had spent your entire life in a simulated world. Suppose, next, that you managed to save the real world from disaster, in spite of your lack of a body. How could humanity thank you? How could a program be rewarded? Well, you get the Nobel Prize, and then are allowed to return to your fake life, your fake wife, and your fake home. You know it's a lie, but reality isn't the nicest place to be you. Tasty, tasty blue pill.

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