Best endings to game?

Just replayed L.A. Noire a few days ago, and while it may not be my favorite other games like TLOU and RDR are getting a lot of mentions, but the ending lines of dialogue impressed me.
Cole is killed and the final scene is his funeral. Jack Kelso, who served with him in the war, and Herschel Biggs are setting in the pews beside Cole's mistress. She gets up to leave, distraught, and Jack says:
"Go to her, won't you Herschel?"
Herschel gets up and scoffs, "You were never his friend, Jack." As Jack had never forgiven Cole for the way he commanded troops in the war.
Jack replies, "I guess you're right." Herschel turns to leave and Jack stops him and says, "Herschel, I was never his enemy."
To which Herschel concedes, "I think he knew that."

My favorite of all time is probably Max Payne 2.
Throughout the first two games Max talks a lot about fate, "There are no choices in life, nothing but a straight line. The illusion comes afterward when you ask 'Why me?' Or 'What if?'" He can't come to terms with the loss of his wife and daughter saying, "Killing them all (the ones responsible) didn't bring them back." Then at the end he realizes closure isn't born from revenge, but love and while he's with Mona he says, "This is love. When someone shows you there is a choice, that you can put down your gun."
And after all the dreams of his wife, walking the blood lines in the first game, and "I had a dream about my wife, in it I murdered her for my lover." After he falls for Mona, literally. At the end comes the final panel,
"I had a dream of my wife. She was dead. But it was all right."
:')
 
If you were at all intrigued by a browser-based demo then I'd say give it a go, the game's story gets literally hundreds of times more gripping as you get to playing it.

You MIGHT have to look at a walkthrough to get true ending but it's not "hard", it's all based on dialogue options lol. I recommend getting every ending except for the one that's just the same thing as the true ending except it cuts off early, though some people think everything but the two main endings are a waste of time.

Ah, gotcha, lol. Well 999 is way up on my "to buy soon" list, so.. hopefully I'll be able to give it a try. xD How well does VLR compare to 999 in terms of the story? Still great?
 
Bioshock Infinite
Metal Gear Rising
Wonderful 101
Bayonetta
Zelda OOT
Zelda WW
Chrono Trigger
Portal
Portal 2
Silent Hill Shattered Memories
Mass Effect 1
Mass Effect 2
No More Heroes
Spec Ops: The Line
Batman: Arkham City
 
Ah, gotcha, lol. Well 999 is way up on my "to buy soon" list, so.. hopefully I'll be able to give it a try. xD How well does VLR compare to 999 in terms of the story? Still great?

It's....not quite as good IMO, but it's right up there and I can see someone preferring VLR. It's hard to explain why I like 999 more without spoiling it though. Definitely worth playing though.
 
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective - Emotionally rewarding. Incredible ending to an amazing (and sadly overlooked) game.

Metal Gear Solid (series) - They all moved me for different reasons. They're all crazy and engaging in their own particular ways.

Final Fantasy VII and X - Fitting endings to two of my favorite games.

BioShock Infinite - Loved the idea, its execution and the emotional payoff.

Portal 1 and 2 - Huge success.

Shadow of the Colossus - Awe-inspiring. Just as the rest of the game.

The Walking Dead (Season 1) - I saw it coming, I still didn't expect to be so moved by it.

Shenmue 2 - It's so perfect. It closes one chapter while preparing for anot... oh, shit. Now I'm sad.

The Stanley Parable - Such a great start!
 
Terranigma

Grisaia no Kajitsu - Michiru, Sachi and Yumiko routes.

Secret of Evermore

Borderlands 2

Katawa Shoujo - All routes.

Call of Duty 4

No way, I loved the game but I was so let down by the ending.
After all that happened there and they got teleported back the main guy is all like, "Herp derp, that was too crazy to be real, guess we imagined everything that happened! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"
Ticked me off so bad.
 
Since my other favorites have been mentioned, I'm going to champion the ending of The Darkness. Gameplay-wise, it's a bit of an anti-climax, but in terms of the narrative, it perfectly encapsulates all that Jackie had to give up to get his revenge, and the price that exacted in his battle for control with The Darkness. I love that final scene on the park bench.
 
- Shadow Hearts: Covenant
- Shadow of the Colossus
- Illusion of Gaia
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
- Final Fantasy VIII, IX, X + X-2
- BioShock Infinite
- Chrono Trigger
- Okami
- Okamiden
- Journey
- Zelda: The Wind Waker
- Kid Icarus: Uprising
- Super Mario 3D Land
- Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
- Mega Man Legends 2 :(
- Mega Man Battle Network 3
- Sonic 3 & Knuckles
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials & Tribulations

Those are some of the best game endings I've ever experienced off the top of my head. All of them either brought on the hardcore feels or had an incredibly epic finale (or both!).
 
What the hell. No mentions of Homeworld 2? You all suck.

Sure, it's not exactly brilliantly written, thrilling or unexpected, but it is a really successful wrap-up to a truly epic journey spanning 2 games.
 
Come on guys... half the endings in this game are better than the single endings in most games.

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The Mark of Kri

When I saw it, I was caught off guard. Maybe it's no spoiler, but
I thought Rau's actions were EXACTLY how a barbarian would act. He didn't even let the bad guy go through his monologue. He just killed him. With an axe. To the head.
 
Valkyria Chronicles. It's a little cheesy but it has a good build up and everything just makes sense.
Alicia and Welkin retire from the military even though they could probably take over the world together. That just made sense, even though for some people it would've been more satisfying to see them move up in the military ranks at the end.

FF7: Crisis Core

The whole game was pretty mediocre and then that ending comes and ends up being the only game I've ever shed tears over. The way it used the gameplay systems to highlight what was happening was brilliant, my body was not ready.

I was really surprised by Crisis Core's ending. I really disliked FF7 but was given FF7:CC as a gift so played it anyway. I wasn't wowed by it but thought it was okay, but the ending just blew me away, it was handled so well.
 
Darksiders
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No, not alone
AAAAHHHHHH YYYYEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

Shadow of the Colossus
Grabbing the step as you are being pulled to the portal, then having to let go is still my gaming moment of all time
 
Portal 2 - That just happened...

Best and must creative ending I have ever seen.

Maybe the best ending I have ever seen in any creative medium. We all know the people that work at Valve are the best of the best but that was a true masterstroke. Whoever came up with that ending is a true creative genius.
 
recently
Wonderful 101-it just kept escalating and escalating. Very satisfying.
Final Ultimate Legendary Earth Power Super Max Justice Future Miracle Dream Beautiful Galaxy Big Bang Little Bang Sunrise Starlight Infinite Fabulous Totally Final Wonderful Arrow...Fire!
 
Mass Effect 1. Pretty much everything from Virmire onward was amazing.

Red Dead Redemption. Another amazing setup and finale. And great use of the late title card.
 
FreeSpace 2
Trying to get to a jump node to get away from a supernova. The rush. Your, almost certain, death.
 
Red Dead Redememtion ending and the true ending:
both were amazing, the first being really hard to accept and the true ending leaving me with a satisfaction feeling.
 
Killzone 2 was one of them, I loved how killing the leader just showed that the helghast will not stop still.
Red Dead Redemption - sad ending but saw it coming
Last of us - the grim reality was perfect
And I know i will get a lot of hate for this
I liked the medal of honor and medal of honor endings: Incredibly sad
 
Mass Effect 1 stands out. The last hours of that game are paced flawlessly. It's a great experience.

That feeling of awesome from the ending is what I wanted from ME3...
 
Metal Gear Solid 4 (First game to make me shed man tears)

Journey (2nd game to make me shed man tears)

The Last of Us (grim and unconventional)

Bioshock Infinite (mind blowing)

Mass Effect 2 (how your decisions mattered)
 
Second sight for the PS2

The entire game being a premonition, normally would feel like a cop out but was so amazing, my first ever real experience with a real plot twist that shockered.
 
Metal Gear Solid 3:
The entire game builds Snake all the way up (into Big Boss)... until the last half-hour, which is spent breaking him all the way back down.

Honestly, I feel all of the Metal Gear Solid games end their own game perfectly. But if I had to pick one ending, it'd be Snake Eater's.

Also:
Persona 4's ending makes you wish you could forget the entire game just to replay it fresh all over again.

This! The ending took me completely by surprise.
 
I thought AC: Revelations ended Ezio's storyline gracefully. Shame I can't say the same about Desmond story, 1 game later in AC3.

The Last of Us ending was pretty good in that ambiguous, "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to react to this" kind of way.

And of course, Bioshock Infinite was good for a pure mind-twist, shocking revelation.
 
My favorite of all time is probably Max Payne 2.
Throughout the first two games Max talks a lot about fate, "There are no choices in life, nothing but a straight line. The illusion comes afterward when you ask 'Why me?' Or 'What if?'" He can't come to terms with the loss of his wife and daughter saying, "Killing them all (the ones responsible) didn't bring them back." Then at the end he realizes closure isn't born from revenge, but love and while he's with Mona he says, "This is love. When someone shows you there is a choice, that you can put down your gun."
And after all the dreams of his wife, walking the blood lines in the first game, and "I had a dream about my wife, in it I murdered her for my lover." After he falls for Mona, literally. At the end comes the final panel,
"I had a dream of my wife. She was dead. But it was all right."
:')
Came here to post this it was the perfect conclusion to the max Payne games
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infamous doesn't have the best ending of all time IMO but it's one of the few games I've played where a twist is foreshadowed the entire game without becoming totally obvious - and it pays off superbly as a result

Yeah, they did a really good job with that. There are hints throughout the entire game but none of them are strong enough to really tip you off. On a second play through you literally see the tip offs all over the place.
 
Metal Gear Solid 3 was one that really stood out for me. I think it was partially because I was out of the loop with gaming for a few months when it had come out and all the buzz at the time seemed to be for San Andreas and Halo 2. The game itself took me by surprise how great it was.

Then the whole elaborate ending motorcycle sequence, the final cqc fight in the flowers, the debriefing, man that debriefing got me good in multiple ways.
 
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