Bad Endings Options

[Jens of Zanicuud]

Some times ago I was working on a project (now dismissed - or rather, waiting for my current project completion) which was designed to end badly, with the death of every character in the party (this was however related to the plot).

I've seen quite a few RPG with a default (i.e. not optional) bad ending (FFXIII-2 / KH Birth by Sleep - if we can call their ending bad), so I wonder if it's a taboo to make your game ends in a tragic way, or simply players prefer an happy ending to every game they play, since they are playing not to think to their problems...

What's your point about it?
Would you play/create a game with a tragic ending (not optional - main ending)?

If so, why?

That's a feature I've never found in a RPG Maker game (excluding maybe survival horror...)
If you know some link 'bout that, I'd be pleased to give it a look.

Maybe my project will resurrect, who knows?

Jens

[rewells]

I like feeling accomplished after beating a game. Saving the world is a great feeling, even if it's only make-believe! I cannot think of any commercial RPGs with tragic endings off the top of my head, though the RM game Finding Eden has a pretty tragic ending from what I remember. In that case the tragicness of the ending didn't take away from the game because it's a short, plot-driven game. Most of the God of War games and Zone of the Enders (not RPGs) have pretty tragic endings. With every tragic ending, whether be in game, book or film (but especially in a game), I think there always needs to be some pay-off. If the hero dies, the villian has to die harder.

One thing I DESPISE is when games tease the death of the hero at the end, only for them to ride by on a chocobo and everyone is like "Oh look! They're not dead! Hurray!" To me it just seems like a cheap attempt at suspense for like 5 minutes.

[Jens of Zanicuud]

I've played Finding Eden and remember the ending. I think tat was... touching more than tragic.
Anyway, what I'm going to say it's a truly tragic ending, in which the main characters ACTUALLY dies and there's no scene in which you saw him/her again riding a Chocobo or whatever.

I'll provide some more details. The project I dismissed something like two years ago was called Countdown to the End and was set on Earth's last seven days, before the Sun become a red giant star. Whoever could leave the planet did it, leaving about two billion people on the Earth, condemning them to a sure death. You should have taken control of one nameless character, following a flebile hope tied to the existence of a spaceship, the Ark, which should be fast enough to leave the planet in time. During this search, you should have encountered many characters and, according to your choices, take some of them in the party. However, to sum up, in the end you should have reached a old hangar with the Ark inside, discovering it has no engines and therefore it can't fly. It contains a sort of church, since it is not a spaceship at all, a church were you should have found old books and documents, forgotten by time, which talk about the immortality of souls and the Other World Beyond The Death. After a scene of discourage, when one of the party members commits sucide and other one fall to the floor crying and weeping, the main character decides to believe to these documents, since there's no other way out, and smiles looking at the sun, which is gradually becoming brighter.

This was, in sum, the plot of the project I left before being struck by Tryadine Effect idea. I wondered how would have a player received such ending, since there's no evidence that those books were right and the one sure thing is the player is gonna die.

Do you think an ending like that could be too much rude, for a player who employed hours and hours to reach the game's end?
Or would you appreciate something like that?

I'd like to know sincere opinions about the whole topic.
Bad ending theory is something that fascinated me...

Jens

This post has been edited by Jens of Zanicuud: Jul 28 2012, 03:37 AM