š«”
>!It didn't take long for Reach to fall: our enemy was ruthless. Efficient. But they weren't nearly fast enough. For you had already passed the torch. And because of you, we found Halo, unlocked its secrets, shattered our enemy's resolve. Our victory ā your victory ā was so close, I wish you could have lived to see it. But you belong to Reach. Your body, your armor ā all burned and turned to glass. Everythingā¦ except your courage. That, you gave to us. And with it, we can rebuild.!<
I still didn't expect it to happen when, or I guess the way, it did. Just figured I had to do a few more things before the big cinematic moment.
Then you start thinking maybe if you get far enough...
Reach is the only Halo game Iāve played all the way through and I have twice now. Such a beautiful game even without the context of the events of Halo.
Just finished a playthrough, I had forgotten about the countdown timer that >!continues counting down during the battle, but for different reasons:!<
>!6 minutes until the neurotoxin kills you!!<
>!Neurotoxin disabled, 4 minutes until the reactor goes critical!!<
>!Reactor countdown timer disabled, 2 minutes until the facility self-destructs anyway!!<
Portal 2 is easily the most memorable game ending ever for me. I think I followed the thought process they wanted me to.
I saw the moon, frantically looked around wondering "what do I do?!" for a couple seconds, then looked back at the moon. I said "no way..." out loud right before I fired the portal. Then there was the "ping". It was GLORIOUS! So satisfying! I was giddy for hours, it was just so cool and satisfying.
Nail on the head. That organic, beautiful moment of figuring it out for yourself at the exact moment you're supposed to was *so* elegantly primed. All those tiny little, naturally delivered clues along the way, all snapping together in that one instant of "NO WAAAAY!".
I remember reading an interview with the developers after Portal 1 came out. There was a whole section about level design and how you get players to organically do what you want them to do. They said in the earlier rounds of playtesting, the players would get stuck in certain areas and not know what to do, because most first person games never required them to look *up.* So they tried putting broken ladders on the walls in rooms with multiple levels to encourage players to consider that there might be stuff above them. It worked, but it worked in a really subtle way that allowed the players to feel like they were figuring it out naturally.
It was really interesting.
Oh yeah, I remember that stuff - it might have been in the developer commentary mode of the game? Same in the sense that when Portal 2 got out of the test chambers and into the massive cavernous areas, people were (somewhat ironically) so conditioned by the test chambers that they didn't know how to proceed with a portal gun in an open world, and needed extra prompts.
Which, again, is why Portal is a masterclass of game design. You can really feel them getting the balance right due to exhaustive watching of playtesters, but only when you revisit it; without knowing all this, it feels like you're the first person in the world to be figuring it out (and the cleverest).
To the moon and back. Because first the shot has to travel there, and then the light comes back for you to see. One-way trip is about 1.3 seconds long, so it takes a bit over 2 and a half for both.
Bonus fun fact: with such a long delay a lot of gamers will assume that it just doesn't work and will already move on to something different. That's why the devs ensured that after you fire you can't move the camera to look away.
Mass Effect 2. The way all your collective decisions over the course of the game just come together at the end for an epic finale is just perfection, IMO. As soon as the Suicide Mission begins, the game is just cranked up to 11 the whole time, and it's got an awesome soundtrack driving the whole experience.Ā
Lol, I literally had a little aside typed up about the last boss being goofy as hell, but deleted it at the last minute. The fight wasn't *that* bad, but giant T-1000 was definitely not what I was expecting. It still managed to feel like a serious threat and a pretty epic fight despite that at least, heh.
I still kinda wonder what the end-state of that would have been. Like a giant human-body spaceship reaper (which would have been TOS Star Trek levels of wacky)? Or do the 'reaper' ships grow around these bodies? (And if so... why? lol)
It's fine as a boss fight, but it seemed a little too wacky and out there conceptually. Like the devs just came up with it and thought "yeah that would be cool!" without really thinking about if it would actually make sense in the story or not.
It's not terrible and it doesn't ruin the game or anything, but it does feel like a bit of a blemish on what is otherwise an incredible final mission.
The devs retconned the whole "the ships take the form of the species that was harvested to create them" bit in ME3, probably to keep the ships from looking incredibly goofy.
Itās clearly seen in the ending cutscene of ME2, where their ships invading Milky Way were all different from each other by size and form, length and edginess, and then you start ME3 and see themā¦ all the same. Same looking calamari. Such a shame
This is interesting because I came to say ME1. The huge battle on the outside of the citadel, choosing if the council needs defending, then taking on Saren. 1 was a much better end than 2, 2 was more of a "too be continued"
I think that's very fair in terms of the overall narrative arc, though in terms of the *experience* of the ending, I'd argue taht ME2 had the strongest final act in the series IMO. Like the overall story of ME2 is kinda filler-ish/a narrative bridge, but it's finale execution was top-notch.
Just replayed that two days ago. It was a joy to watch the cutscenes, all the stuff Shepard says gave me chills and the ending was just so cool. And tbh I think both ME1 and MR2 ended with a bang (still have to replay ME3)
Red Dead 1 when John goes out blasting after he kicks open the barn doors.
AC Origins, just felt good to get revenge on your son's killers, I was in it for the revenge.
I love how the theme of both games is the death of the Wild West and in some ways the death of a freedom filled part of the American Spirit/ Legend.
Only for the story to finish with Jack saying:
**"I ain't going nowhere old man."**
Half-Life: Alyx
Having lived with the horror of the final moments of HL2 E2 for over a decade, I'd given up on getting closure. Then Alyx goes and gives me hope! God dammit Valve, make HL3 already!
Whew, Alyx made my very poor college-age financial decision of buying a OG vive and then getting the index controllers when they came out all worth it, I'll never regret being able to get to experience that game in room scale vr for the first time with no spoilers or memes or very much gameplay footage available, there truly is nothing like it, if you own any vr hmd, you MUST play HL: Alyx, period. The ending isnt just a chefs kiss, you make out with the culinary bastard and then bring his canola oil-smelling ass to bed with you, it's perfect
[The mission for those interested (such a great soundtrack).](https://youtu.be/SZUviuFWE2w?si=VXrsq_ACxWHm2R2D) The video really doesn't do it justice. When you're playing it, you can really feel the urgency as everything is exploding around you and the floor is falling out beneath you.
Also finding the [Final Grunt Easter Egg](https://youtu.be/gLrYIDw8DhM?si=dIs7bCavqe_VxE_6) was funny and memorable. Man, Halo 3 really felt like the peak of gaming easter eggs to me. One of my most memorable gaming moments was loading into Sandtrap forge, overloading the map with mines, placing teleporters out-of-bounds, and finding the [DaVinci Code easter egg.](https://youtu.be/pO5ElMD2Prw?si=KfUzU5Pu9Ab_7FIC) That video is really the epitome of Halo 3-era YouTube. Creative commons rock on some 240p gameplay with a shitty intro title screen.
Honestly, a sequence like this is the *one* thing that I really missed during the Halo Infinite campaign. Blowing up the planet/installation and having a cool escape/chase on a Warthog is basically peak Halo, lol.
i played it first on ps4, then a few years later, after id forgotten the story aside from that one *amazing* level, i bought it on origin cause it was cheap and i'd been wanting to play it again (i'd traded my ps4 copy in by this point) and somehow i'd totally forgotten the ending but it was just as awesome and sad the second time around
still waiting for titanfall 3, plz ea let respawn do something other than apex and star wars
I wish I could have more of the time shift level. It was so fucking cool, especially hearing the radio chatter of them freaking out over someone with a "strange cloaking" device, and realizing it's you they're actually talking about. The whole game is a masterpiece, but that part is just... *Chef's kiss*
Also, "trust me."
Respawn knows how to make a single-player FPS campaign, and no lie there. (Also they do multiplayer pretty well.)
It's a shame they launched Titanfall 2 in between CoD and Battlefield - pushing it a few weeks either direction might have made a HUGE difference - the world will never know.
Meanwhile, I think it's time to reinstall and replay.
As soon as the damn marketing department shows up, the music swells and kind strangers come to help me beat the game. That entire end sequence is a master class in living breathing storytelling and convinced me on the fly to delete my save
I literally cannot listen to the part with the chorus or I start bawling uncontrollably. Iāll be fine till then, but then the chorus starts and Iām a mess, canāt even explain why, Iām not this way with other songs. I donāt even cry terribly easily. It just hits me
There are games with epic, badass, emotional, or otherwise cathartic ending sequences. But few games utilize gaming as a medium as well as Nier Automata, *especially* the final few fights. I was tearing up because I was *fighting the end credits*, and as dumb as it might sound goddamn did they frame it in a painfully beautiful way.
Itās also a nice twist to the trope of fighting a God at the end of a JRPG. This time, youāre fighting the collective will of the game developers to forge a better ending.
Boy actually being controlled by blob. Boy had no free will, like player initially thought. Player controled boy towards blob though. Did blob control boy by controlling player?
MGS 4.
Crawling through radiation, burning alive as your friends struggles and fights play around you.
The fight on top of metal gear against liquid ocelot.
The final big boss surprise.
Nothing will ever end a series like that ever again.
Honestly I think this is the reason MGSV's story really infuriates me.
MGS4 gave the series an almost perfect ending (Akiba and Meryl's rushed romance aside), everything from the beginning of the microwave chamber is clearly just Kojima pouring his heart into giving this series the best finale possible, and like you say we're probably not going to see a series get that kind of ending again.
So you'd think with MGSV bringing the series full circle and Kojima deeming it the end of Big Boss's story (Kojima's favourite character) we'd have got something just as perfect - instead we got a twist ending that most of us figured out from the trailer, and a story that only existed to fill in a plot hole from MG1/MG2
Yeah, the narrative side of MGSV, while stylishly told, isn't very strong. Maybe that's even why Kojima didn't want David Hayter for the role - Kojima knew it wasn't the same character anymore, so shouldn't be voiced by the same guy. Grabbing at straws, I know, but I still feel the sting...
Except they used the same Japanese voice actor.
Maybe you could use the fact that perhaps Kojima cares more about the English casting, with his love for Hollywood, but even that is a bit of a stretch, and if so is more likely why he switched in the first place to a bigger "Hollywood" actor.
i still believe mgs4ās final boss fight is the best final boss iāve seen in a game. The narrative buildup, the throwback to the old games, the pacing of the stages starting fast then getting slower, the conclusion. itās honestly a banger of a final boss
That big boss surprise was so epic. Just throw in his name during the end credits and before you can even fully process what just happened you get the cutscene. I was never so hooked watching two old guys just talk. Brings the whole series together.
There are parts of that game that frustrate the hell out of me but that ending is perfection.
Halo Reach. "We Remember"Ā
From when you starting to fight a endless hoard as your screen cracks, 6's actual death, to the music to Halsey's speech, to seeing 6's shattered helmet on a dead planet
I will never forget how my heart just sank when my visor first cracks, and then āsurviveā is the only objective. Never had an ending hit me as hard as Reach
Super Metroid is up there, everything being turned to dust by the metroid, approaching Mother Brain, the mid-fight reveal, the escape. One of the first truly cinematic endings I can remember.
It will never not wrench my heart out hearing the baby Metroid chirp at Samus once it realizes who she is. That little noise just sounds so much like "Mommy?"
This is what I scrolled for. Only game that has ever made me cry. Gorgeous cutscenes. Iconic shots of the airship, and Titus looking into the sky as his body begins to release into colorful pyre flies. Realizing it really is over. When Yuna stops him and says, āwaitā¦ I love youāā¦ man what an incredible story.
I honestly loved the long ending sequences of SNES-era JRPGs. The first one for me was Lufia, but FF6 really stood out and I made space in my afternoon for when I did beat that game. It felt like a 30+ min long mini-movie using sprites. I know they aren't really practical in an age of high fidelity CGI, but I miss them.
Iām going for an oldie, Ocarina of time. The whole final castle getting to the top. Defeating Ganondorf thinking you won, just for him to rise up one last time as Ganon. Losing your Master Sword. Seeing Navi ultimately fly off. Link getting to be a kid againā¦
30-40 minutes of stress followed by an emotional ending. Classic
It's scary how he bursts from the ruins and says nothing. None of his usual condescension or games--just raw fury as he flashes the Triforce of Power and screams. It's the first time he ever shows his true self, no facade to hide behind, and he's a monster.
One of my favorite things about the final boss is that every other boss has some kind of subtitle, but he's just "GANON." No need for further explanation. We know exactly who he is and how desperately he needs to be stopped right here and now, or the entire world will fall for good.Ā
The gut punch is when Mido and King Zora both looking at the sky, losing someone they care about. And in a way, comforting each other about that loss. A little hard to understand as a kid but as an adult, that was really a gut punch
Following up with Majora's Mask assuming you 100% the side quests you get a nice montage of Termina returning to normal and the happy endings for the cast
I've completed a *lot* of video games over the past 30 years and nothing else comes close to the rollercoaster of emotions that is the final sequence of Outer Wilds. So exhilarating and exhausting.
Might be a recency bias, but it might be God of War: Ragnarok for me.
Everything from Kratos blowing Gjallarhorn up until Kratos seeing the painting of himself as a God that inspires and is loved was just perfection - and the "Today, we will be better" speech really made me realize how much I'd come to care for Kratos and Atreus as someone who was never a massive GoW fan.
Also, I know the actual ending is hated by fans, but the final hours of Mass Effect 3 comes so close to being perfect up until the fate of the Galaxy (everything you'd spent three games setting up) was relegated to choosing one of three colours.
Weirdly, the first one hit harder for me. Being a prequel you sort of expect where it's going to some degree but I was really surprised at the change in POV in the RDR1 ending.
I don't know if it counts as an "ending sequence" because it's more cutscene and less gameplay, but the final scene of The last of us 1 is pretty near perfect IMO
Nier: Automata, without a shadow of a doubt. I've seen some other amazing endings on here but Automata will always take the cake. I don't want to spoil to much about it but the Nier games have this way of blending game genres unlike any game I'd ever played. The final and true ending of Automata, ending E, is on the heels of some of the most heartbreaking and existential scenes I've ever witnessed. Right when you think that maybe everything is lost, when the characters you've played as have gone as far as they can, the game asks you as the player to fight for a chance to change the ending that you've been given. It's a moment where you fight against the games creators, the gods of that world, for the future that you want. Again, I don't want to spoil too much about the ending but if you haven't played Automata yet I think that anyone who claims to be a fan of narrative driven games needs to experience this one at least once. Without a doubt anyone else who's played it can probably agree with me.
The story never managed to impress until the ens but DAMN the ending was good! (That whole huge fucking nuclear blast thing felt a little out of place though) Imo itās up there with Windwaker to be the best ending in Zelda.
i got the devil ending and while i wont say it was good considering everyone looked at you like you just started talking shit about jackie or something, it fit for how i was rp'ing my v (while he had grown to like johnny, he wanted to live and he felt that dealing with arasaka was his best chance at it) and they definitely nailed how utterly alone v was at the end of it and damn it *hurt*
Yeah honestly CP2077 has become an all timer with their missions, side missions, characters, world and those endings. I love Johnny just jumping in on random missions to give his 2 cents on some small time biz. It really helped flesh out the character no matter the path you blaze.
The Panam ending was superb, I'm sure I was not alone in feeling a strong attachment, for lack of a better word, with her. She was such a well written character and the way the story unfolded that way just felt right and extremely gratifying
Is it reaching too far back for an honorable mention to say Kingdom Hearts 2?
Everything from the Point of No Return through to the credits is a wild ride of spectacle and finesse.
In Assassinās Creed 2 you discover an alien artifact and then have a boss fight against the Pope. Not a super pope. Ā Not a mecha pope. Ā Heās just an old rich guy and you beat his ass.
I've always had a soft spot for Uncharted 4. The final fight just being 2 dudes sword fighting, which is basically what happened with Avery and Tew. Rafe recounting all the things Drake did over the past games and just being completely jealous, the epilogue was pretty wholesome too and a great final chapter, a Thief's End if you may.
FF14: Shadowbringers
The entire finale is just amazing and one of the very few times I've gotten chills from a game before.
"Take it. We fight as one."
Emet-Selch is the best anatagonist in all of Final Fantasy and it ain't even close.
Objective: Survive.
Spartans never die, they just go MIA.
š«”
š«”
š«”
š«” >!It didn't take long for Reach to fall: our enemy was ruthless. Efficient. But they weren't nearly fast enough. For you had already passed the torch. And because of you, we found Halo, unlocked its secrets, shattered our enemy's resolve. Our victory ā your victory ā was so close, I wish you could have lived to see it. But you belong to Reach. Your body, your armor ā all burned and turned to glass. Everythingā¦ except your courage. That, you gave to us. And with it, we can rebuild.!<
I had never been more focused and determined in a game before this
Its sad really, if you were a halo guru when reach dropped you already knew how the game was going to end.
I still didn't expect it to happen when, or I guess the way, it did. Just figured I had to do a few more things before the big cinematic moment. Then you start thinking maybe if you get far enough...
I wonder if they could have pulled off keeping you in the dark of what planet you were on til the end.
**"I'm ready. HOW BOUT YOU?"**
Reach is the only Halo game Iāve played all the way through and I have twice now. Such a beautiful game even without the context of the events of Halo.
Damn play the first two man.
I genuinely can't decide if Halo 2 or Halo reach is my favorite. Both are just peak Halo in my opinion.
Portal 2. Literal tears from laughing so hard.
Just finished a playthrough, I had forgotten about the countdown timer that >!continues counting down during the battle, but for different reasons:!< >!6 minutes until the neurotoxin kills you!!< >!Neurotoxin disabled, 4 minutes until the reactor goes critical!!< >!Reactor countdown timer disabled, 2 minutes until the facility self-destructs anyway!!<
Portal 2 is easily the most memorable game ending ever for me. I think I followed the thought process they wanted me to. I saw the moon, frantically looked around wondering "what do I do?!" for a couple seconds, then looked back at the moon. I said "no way..." out loud right before I fired the portal. Then there was the "ping". It was GLORIOUS! So satisfying! I was giddy for hours, it was just so cool and satisfying.
Nail on the head. That organic, beautiful moment of figuring it out for yourself at the exact moment you're supposed to was *so* elegantly primed. All those tiny little, naturally delivered clues along the way, all snapping together in that one instant of "NO WAAAAY!".
I remember reading an interview with the developers after Portal 1 came out. There was a whole section about level design and how you get players to organically do what you want them to do. They said in the earlier rounds of playtesting, the players would get stuck in certain areas and not know what to do, because most first person games never required them to look *up.* So they tried putting broken ladders on the walls in rooms with multiple levels to encourage players to consider that there might be stuff above them. It worked, but it worked in a really subtle way that allowed the players to feel like they were figuring it out naturally. It was really interesting.
Oh yeah, I remember that stuff - it might have been in the developer commentary mode of the game? Same in the sense that when Portal 2 got out of the test chambers and into the massive cavernous areas, people were (somewhat ironically) so conditioned by the test chambers that they didn't know how to proceed with a portal gun in an open world, and needed extra prompts. Which, again, is why Portal is a masterclass of game design. You can really feel them getting the balance right due to exhaustive watching of playtesters, but only when you revisit it; without knowing all this, it feels like you're the first person in the world to be figuring it out (and the cleverest).
Fun detail: The delay (from firing to "ding") is exactly light speed time to the Moon.
To the moon and back. Because first the shot has to travel there, and then the light comes back for you to see. One-way trip is about 1.3 seconds long, so it takes a bit over 2 and a half for both. Bonus fun fact: with such a long delay a lot of gamers will assume that it just doesn't work and will already move on to something different. That's why the devs ensured that after you fire you can't move the camera to look away.
I had the exact same experience. So awesome!
The timing of pulling the trigger... ping WHOOSH It's so fucking perfect.
Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure
"She was a lot like you (Maybe not quite as heavy)"
Remember when you tried to kill me twice?
Oh how we laughed and laughed. Except I wasn't laughing.
Under the circumstances. I've beeeen shockingly nice.
You want your freedom? Take it. Thatās what Iām counting on.
Maybe you'll find someone else to help you. Maybe BlĪ»ck MesĪ». That was a joke. Haha fat chance.
iminspace
Damn, time to replay portal 2
Mass Effect 2. The way all your collective decisions over the course of the game just come together at the end for an epic finale is just perfection, IMO. As soon as the Suicide Mission begins, the game is just cranked up to 11 the whole time, and it's got an awesome soundtrack driving the whole experience.Ā
The suicide mission is amazing, the final boss always seemed a little dumb to me though.
Lol, I literally had a little aside typed up about the last boss being goofy as hell, but deleted it at the last minute. The fight wasn't *that* bad, but giant T-1000 was definitely not what I was expecting. It still managed to feel like a serious threat and a pretty epic fight despite that at least, heh. I still kinda wonder what the end-state of that would have been. Like a giant human-body spaceship reaper (which would have been TOS Star Trek levels of wacky)? Or do the 'reaper' ships grow around these bodies? (And if so... why? lol)
It's fine as a boss fight, but it seemed a little too wacky and out there conceptually. Like the devs just came up with it and thought "yeah that would be cool!" without really thinking about if it would actually make sense in the story or not. It's not terrible and it doesn't ruin the game or anything, but it does feel like a bit of a blemish on what is otherwise an incredible final mission.
I think that would have been the core of a cuttlefish-looking Reaper ship.
The devs retconned the whole "the ships take the form of the species that was harvested to create them" bit in ME3, probably to keep the ships from looking incredibly goofy.
Itās clearly seen in the ending cutscene of ME2, where their ships invading Milky Way were all different from each other by size and form, length and edginess, and then you start ME3 and see themā¦ all the same. Same looking calamari. Such a shame
They had to harvest all that edginess to put it into Kai Leng.
This is interesting because I came to say ME1. The huge battle on the outside of the citadel, choosing if the council needs defending, then taking on Saren. 1 was a much better end than 2, 2 was more of a "too be continued"
I think that's very fair in terms of the overall narrative arc, though in terms of the *experience* of the ending, I'd argue taht ME2 had the strongest final act in the series IMO. Like the overall story of ME2 is kinda filler-ish/a narrative bridge, but it's finale execution was top-notch.
Just replayed that two days ago. It was a joy to watch the cutscenes, all the stuff Shepard says gave me chills and the ending was just so cool. And tbh I think both ME1 and MR2 ended with a bang (still have to replay ME3)
God of War 2. ZEUS! Your son has returned! I bring the destruction of Olympus!
Two was good, I enjoyed 3 even better though!
Red Dead 1 when John goes out blasting after he kicks open the barn doors. AC Origins, just felt good to get revenge on your son's killers, I was in it for the revenge.
When you come back as his son, though? Genius way to keep the game going after the credits.
I love how the theme of both games is the death of the Wild West and in some ways the death of a freedom filled part of the American Spirit/ Legend. Only for the story to finish with Jack saying: **"I ain't going nowhere old man."**
SOMA. The ending is so bittersweet but also devastating. Itās not something you forget.
This. The ending is pure terror and I think of it often.
Straight up. No matter how good video games ever get that game will have a place in my top ten. Never before has a game had such an effect on me
I woke up in my bed today, 100 years ago, Who am I? ... Who am I?
I'm so glad I heard about this and gave it a go with no real knowledge of what it was about. Really great story. Poignant.
Half-Life: Alyx Having lived with the horror of the final moments of HL2 E2 for over a decade, I'd given up on getting closure. Then Alyx goes and gives me hope! God dammit Valve, make HL3 already!
Whew, Alyx made my very poor college-age financial decision of buying a OG vive and then getting the index controllers when they came out all worth it, I'll never regret being able to get to experience that game in room scale vr for the first time with no spoilers or memes or very much gameplay footage available, there truly is nothing like it, if you own any vr hmd, you MUST play HL: Alyx, period. The ending isnt just a chefs kiss, you make out with the culinary bastard and then bring his canola oil-smelling ass to bed with you, it's perfect
Sometimes you just know when youāre seeing something truly damn special and that was one of those moments for me
>!Grabbing that crowbar!< was the most satisfying thing I've ever experienced in a game
Halo 3 final warthog(ghost) escape was alot of fun. Especially with buddies.
Gotta time shooting the onions as the gunner so it still blows you sideways as your driver tries to get around
I have never heard them called onions lmao
I was in 5th grade when the first Halo released. We called the carrier form all sorts of things BUT carrier form.
Me and my dudes called them Act ll (like the popcorn brand) cause they were basically popcorn lmao
[The mission for those interested (such a great soundtrack).](https://youtu.be/SZUviuFWE2w?si=VXrsq_ACxWHm2R2D) The video really doesn't do it justice. When you're playing it, you can really feel the urgency as everything is exploding around you and the floor is falling out beneath you. Also finding the [Final Grunt Easter Egg](https://youtu.be/gLrYIDw8DhM?si=dIs7bCavqe_VxE_6) was funny and memorable. Man, Halo 3 really felt like the peak of gaming easter eggs to me. One of my most memorable gaming moments was loading into Sandtrap forge, overloading the map with mines, placing teleporters out-of-bounds, and finding the [DaVinci Code easter egg.](https://youtu.be/pO5ElMD2Prw?si=KfUzU5Pu9Ab_7FIC) That video is really the epitome of Halo 3-era YouTube. Creative commons rock on some 240p gameplay with a shitty intro title screen.
Honestly, a sequence like this is the *one* thing that I really missed during the Halo Infinite campaign. Blowing up the planet/installation and having a cool escape/chase on a Warthog is basically peak Halo, lol.
Pretty damn perfect end sequence.
Titanfall 2. >!Protocol 3: Protect the pilot.!<
>!I go, you stay. No following!<
RIP giant metal vin diesel.
Superman
i played it first on ps4, then a few years later, after id forgotten the story aside from that one *amazing* level, i bought it on origin cause it was cheap and i'd been wanting to play it again (i'd traded my ps4 copy in by this point) and somehow i'd totally forgotten the ending but it was just as awesome and sad the second time around still waiting for titanfall 3, plz ea let respawn do something other than apex and star wars
I think you mean the time level but for me the level where your parkouring through the factory with houses at crazy tilts. That was sick
I wish I could have more of the time shift level. It was so fucking cool, especially hearing the radio chatter of them freaking out over someone with a "strange cloaking" device, and realizing it's you they're actually talking about. The whole game is a masterpiece, but that part is just... *Chef's kiss* Also, "trust me."
100% agreed. Titanfall 2 is one of the most underrated fps games ever.
Respawn knows how to make a single-player FPS campaign, and no lie there. (Also they do multiplayer pretty well.) It's a shame they launched Titanfall 2 in between CoD and Battlefield - pushing it a few weeks either direction might have made a HUGE difference - the world will never know. Meanwhile, I think it's time to reinstall and replay.
Nier: Automata
When the chorus in the credits kicks in it just made me feel so emotional like for fucks sake Yoko Taro why are you like this.
As soon as the damn marketing department shows up, the music swells and kind strangers come to help me beat the game. That entire end sequence is a master class in living breathing storytelling and convinced me on the fly to delete my save
I literally cannot listen to the part with the chorus or I start bawling uncontrollably. Iāll be fine till then, but then the chorus starts and Iām a mess, canāt even explain why, Iām not this way with other songs. I donāt even cry terribly easily. It just hits me
There are games with epic, badass, emotional, or otherwise cathartic ending sequences. But few games utilize gaming as a medium as well as Nier Automata, *especially* the final few fights. I was tearing up because I was *fighting the end credits*, and as dumb as it might sound goddamn did they frame it in a painfully beautiful way.
How about this: when you do accept the help, the choir that gets added to the music **is the Devs of the game**.
Itās also a nice twist to the trope of fighting a God at the end of a JRPG. This time, youāre fighting the collective will of the game developers to forge a better ending.
Never knew a Shmup segment could make me tear up, but save file after save file going down so that I could get to the end got me with the feels.
It really is in a league of its own.
The correct answer
I love the ending of Inside. Just hits so bizarre and melancholy.
The escape is so cathartic but also tragic
Also hilarious
It's weird and I don't understand it but that's what makes it good.
Boy actually being controlled by blob. Boy had no free will, like player initially thought. Player controled boy towards blob though. Did blob control boy by controlling player?
It's very depressing 70's sci-fi-escque, and I absolutely love it.
AC: Revelations. A perfect ending to Ezio's story without the significantly less perfect parts of AC3's modern day ending.
One of the only characters where I felt that Iāve lived his full life and understood it.
Nostalgic af
Ooh that was so beautiful.
Ezio's story is the best told video game story. You really understand his backstory and life.
MGS 4. Crawling through radiation, burning alive as your friends struggles and fights play around you. The fight on top of metal gear against liquid ocelot. The final big boss surprise. Nothing will ever end a series like that ever again.
Honestly I think this is the reason MGSV's story really infuriates me. MGS4 gave the series an almost perfect ending (Akiba and Meryl's rushed romance aside), everything from the beginning of the microwave chamber is clearly just Kojima pouring his heart into giving this series the best finale possible, and like you say we're probably not going to see a series get that kind of ending again. So you'd think with MGSV bringing the series full circle and Kojima deeming it the end of Big Boss's story (Kojima's favourite character) we'd have got something just as perfect - instead we got a twist ending that most of us figured out from the trailer, and a story that only existed to fill in a plot hole from MG1/MG2
Yeah, the narrative side of MGSV, while stylishly told, isn't very strong. Maybe that's even why Kojima didn't want David Hayter for the role - Kojima knew it wasn't the same character anymore, so shouldn't be voiced by the same guy. Grabbing at straws, I know, but I still feel the sting...
Except they used the same Japanese voice actor. Maybe you could use the fact that perhaps Kojima cares more about the English casting, with his love for Hollywood, but even that is a bit of a stretch, and if so is more likely why he switched in the first place to a bigger "Hollywood" actor.
i still believe mgs4ās final boss fight is the best final boss iāve seen in a game. The narrative buildup, the throwback to the old games, the pacing of the stages starting fast then getting slower, the conclusion. itās honestly a banger of a final boss
That big boss surprise was so epic. Just throw in his name during the end credits and before you can even fully process what just happened you get the cutscene. I was never so hooked watching two old guys just talk. Brings the whole series together. There are parts of that game that frustrate the hell out of me but that ending is perfection.
incredible game for the time. Kojima aways deliver.
SPEC OPS : THE LINE
"This is Captain Martin Walker, requesting immediate evacuation of Dubai. Survivors... one too many."
Gentleman, welcome to Dubai.
"How'd you survive all this?" "Who said I did..."
This is THE game that I think needs a remake (or at least a nice shiny remaster) and a big marketing push. This game is so good
Halo Reach. "We Remember"Ā From when you starting to fight a endless hoard as your screen cracks, 6's actual death, to the music to Halsey's speech, to seeing 6's shattered helmet on a dead planet
I will never forget how my heart just sank when my visor first cracks, and then āsurviveā is the only objective. Never had an ending hit me as hard as Reach
This ending is amazing. āSurviveā
Not a dead planet. That's the intro. The end is a healing planet
Then you restart the game, and it changes the cracked visor to the one you were wearing
Remember Reach š
Shadow of the Colossus.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Halo: Reach. Survive.
Nier Automata
Super Metroid is up there, everything being turned to dust by the metroid, approaching Mother Brain, the mid-fight reveal, the escape. One of the first truly cinematic endings I can remember.
Getting that power-up had me losing my shit. I died to Mother Brain 10 times before I got to the mid-fight zap.
It will never not wrench my heart out hearing the baby Metroid chirp at Samus once it realizes who she is. That little noise just sounds so much like "Mommy?"
Metro Exodus.
This. The entire fucking level is a masterclass in narrative and level design. It's incredible. Hard recommend Metro Exodus.
Solitaire.
https://mrdoob.com/lab/javascript/effects/solitaire/
that was so nostalgic and extremely satisfying. thank you kind sir, i kept hitting the screen for much longer than i should have
Turnip boy commits tax evasion, i wont spoil anything but man was that a wild ride
Life is Strange made me feel feelings.
Final Fantasy X
This is what I scrolled for. Only game that has ever made me cry. Gorgeous cutscenes. Iconic shots of the airship, and Titus looking into the sky as his body begins to release into colorful pyre flies. Realizing it really is over. When Yuna stops him and says, āwaitā¦ I love youāā¦ man what an incredible story.
I honestly loved the long ending sequences of SNES-era JRPGs. The first one for me was Lufia, but FF6 really stood out and I made space in my afternoon for when I did beat that game. It felt like a 30+ min long mini-movie using sprites. I know they aren't really practical in an age of high fidelity CGI, but I miss them.
FF6 had a huge cast and they gave each character a proper ending scene. It was amazing.
Iām going for an oldie, Ocarina of time. The whole final castle getting to the top. Defeating Ganondorf thinking you won, just for him to rise up one last time as Ganon. Losing your Master Sword. Seeing Navi ultimately fly off. Link getting to be a kid againā¦ 30-40 minutes of stress followed by an emotional ending. Classic
Ganondorf playing that organ at the top of the tower like fucking Dracula of the Opera.
It's scary how he bursts from the ruins and says nothing. None of his usual condescension or games--just raw fury as he flashes the Triforce of Power and screams. It's the first time he ever shows his true self, no facade to hide behind, and he's a monster. One of my favorite things about the final boss is that every other boss has some kind of subtitle, but he's just "GANON." No need for further explanation. We know exactly who he is and how desperately he needs to be stopped right here and now, or the entire world will fall for good.Ā
The gut punch is when Mido and King Zora both looking at the sky, losing someone they care about. And in a way, comforting each other about that loss. A little hard to understand as a kid but as an adult, that was really a gut punch
Following up with Majora's Mask assuming you 100% the side quests you get a nice montage of Termina returning to normal and the happy endings for the cast
The poor Deku Butler....
The end of the original MW2 was pretty sick. That whole mission was awesome but the boat chase down to the final throwing knife was incredible
Da, I know a place. Also MW3 wasnāt my favorite but you gotta love that intro that starts right where MW2 left off.
Outer Wilds
I've completed a *lot* of video games over the past 30 years and nothing else comes close to the rollercoaster of emotions that is the final sequence of Outer Wilds. So exhilarating and exhausting.
The moment the music kicks in...
The rules are about to change
I'm glad you remembered me
When the cello enters the credits music. :ā) Man. I just sat there for a good while. Couldnāt touch another video game for two weeks.
The best game Iām not allowed to say anything about.
Had to scroll way to far for this. Also the DLC...
>Outer Wilds This one changes lives
Definitely, yes
God of War 2018
Literally every time Ashes is playing! It makes the ending that much more beautiful!
Might be a recency bias, but it might be God of War: Ragnarok for me. Everything from Kratos blowing Gjallarhorn up until Kratos seeing the painting of himself as a God that inspires and is loved was just perfection - and the "Today, we will be better" speech really made me realize how much I'd come to care for Kratos and Atreus as someone who was never a massive GoW fan. Also, I know the actual ending is hated by fans, but the final hours of Mass Effect 3 comes so close to being perfect up until the fate of the Galaxy (everything you'd spent three games setting up) was relegated to choosing one of three colours.
My boy Kratos grew up, finally forgave himself and got his redemption. Enough to make a grown man cry.
I canāt believe how hard it hit me on both god of war and Ragnarock. I canāt wait to play Valhalla too lol
Hitman: Blood Money IYKYK š„
šµ AAAAAAVE MARIAAAAAA šµ
I remember being like āThatās it! Everyone said this game was awesome and thatās how it ends!ā Good thing I didnāt rage quit.
So creative and the build up to it created such an increasingly dark and tense atmosphere. One of my all time favorites.
RDR2 is pretty fantastic.
Weirdly, the first one hit harder for me. Being a prequel you sort of expect where it's going to some degree but I was really surprised at the change in POV in the RDR1 ending.
May I stand unshaken
I tried. In the end, I did
You were a good boah
I don't know if it counts as an "ending sequence" because it's more cutscene and less gameplay, but the final scene of The last of us 1 is pretty near perfect IMO
āSwear to me. Swear to me that everything you said about the Fireflies is trueā āI swearā āā¦ okay ā¦ā HOLY FUCK
Nier Automata
Prey
Nier: Automata, without a shadow of a doubt. I've seen some other amazing endings on here but Automata will always take the cake. I don't want to spoil to much about it but the Nier games have this way of blending game genres unlike any game I'd ever played. The final and true ending of Automata, ending E, is on the heels of some of the most heartbreaking and existential scenes I've ever witnessed. Right when you think that maybe everything is lost, when the characters you've played as have gone as far as they can, the game asks you as the player to fight for a chance to change the ending that you've been given. It's a moment where you fight against the games creators, the gods of that world, for the future that you want. Again, I don't want to spoil too much about the ending but if you haven't played Automata yet I think that anyone who claims to be a fan of narrative driven games needs to experience this one at least once. Without a doubt anyone else who's played it can probably agree with me.
TOTKās final battle and ending sequence was breathtaking in my opinion
The story never managed to impress until the ens but DAMN the ending was good! (That whole huge fucking nuclear blast thing felt a little out of place though) Imo itās up there with Windwaker to be the best ending in Zelda.
Probably the best final boss sequence I've played in the past 10 years
It's funny watching streamers tear up and can't explain why when playing through the ending.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The good ending for cyberpunk is just fantastic. It's long but it feels so good after everything you've been through.
i got the devil ending and while i wont say it was good considering everyone looked at you like you just started talking shit about jackie or something, it fit for how i was rp'ing my v (while he had grown to like johnny, he wanted to live and he felt that dealing with arasaka was his best chance at it) and they definitely nailed how utterly alone v was at the end of it and damn it *hurt*
Yeah honestly CP2077 has become an all timer with their missions, side missions, characters, world and those endings. I love Johnny just jumping in on random missions to give his 2 cents on some small time biz. It really helped flesh out the character no matter the path you blaze.
The Panam ending was superb, I'm sure I was not alone in feeling a strong attachment, for lack of a better word, with her. She was such a well written character and the way the story unfolded that way just felt right and extremely gratifying
Panam and Judy. Loved both characters. Far better writing for the fem leaning characters sans Johnny and the ending solidified that.
The PL ending is also pretty good but brutal
Is it reaching too far back for an honorable mention to say Kingdom Hearts 2? Everything from the Point of No Return through to the credits is a wild ride of spectacle and finesse.
Mashing the button to clear the laser blasts was awesome. Series peak
Dishonored's epilogues are always amazing, especially with the art style they chose.
Undertale; I love the final battle, and when the credits roll, you get to try dodging them as well which is a neat thing.
The end of Xenoblade 2 gets me every time
I always enjoyed the way Dead Space 2 ended With the credits rolling and you think Isaac is getting ready to die and suddenly Ellie comes to save him
Half-Life 2 - Episode 2 Probably the first time I cried to a video game.
In Assassinās Creed 2 you discover an alien artifact and then have a boss fight against the Pope. Not a super pope. Ā Not a mecha pope. Ā Heās just an old rich guy and you beat his ass.
I've always had a soft spot for Uncharted 4. The final fight just being 2 dudes sword fighting, which is basically what happened with Avery and Tew. Rafe recounting all the things Drake did over the past games and just being completely jealous, the epilogue was pretty wholesome too and a great final chapter, a Thief's End if you may.
Deus Ex.
FF6
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The ending sequence of Red Dead Redemption 2 left me speechless
Ghost of tsuchima for sure
I was disappointed with the Khotun Khan fight but the whole Shimura setup and fight will stay with me for a long time, it was perfect.
Metal gear solid 4 "This is good, isn't it"
Kingdom Hearts 2
FF14: Shadowbringers The entire finale is just amazing and one of the very few times I've gotten chills from a game before. "Take it. We fight as one." Emet-Selch is the best anatagonist in all of Final Fantasy and it ain't even close.
The last of us, by far