Endings in Visual Novels

[Marcelo_Orlando]

I like endings that go for the shock approach, I also like the good, sweet endings where everyone gets to eat the chips.....

[Taleweaver]

What about endings that do a complete 160? Like it starts out like a happy normal slice of life, then BAM gets all serious and sad?

I think you meant to say "180":

160 isn't quite complete. It's more like an ending where everybody looks all happy but ends up quite unsatisfied, though not entirely sad.

Hmm... I think it's time to invent the
Taleweaver Scale of Twist Endings
0° - no twist at all. The ending plays out exactly as one would expect it. The Prince kisses Snow White and everybody lives happily ever after.
20° - A VERY slight twist. The Prince kisses Snow White, and they live happily ever after, though the dwarves are sad because they're alone again.
40° - A small twist. The Prince kisses Snow White, but they don't marry but rather become good friends, and the Prince goes rescuing more maidens, becoming a major hero.
60° - A relevant twist. The Prince kisses Snow White. She is saved by the kiss, but they don't marry because the Prince is gay and only kissed her to save her.
80° - A major twist. The Prince kisses Snow White, but she doesn't wake up from being dead. The Prince buries her and punishes the evil Queen.
100° - A change in direction. The Prince kisses Snow White and she wakes up, but he dies from the poison on her lips.
120° - A relevant change in direction. The Prince kisses Snow White, and she wakes up undead, takes revenge on the evil Queen and then begs the Prince to slay her, which he does.
140° - A major change in direction. The Prince kisses Snow White, but as he does, the evil Queen pieces him and Snow White from behind with a spear. Snow White wakes up, only to die in an embrance with her Prince.
160° - A large change in direction. The Prince kisses Snow White, and she awakens... only to die moments later as his lips were poisoned. The Prince laughs and marries the evil Queen.
180° - A total turnabout. The Prince kisses Snow White and marries her. A year later, their marriage is in shambles, he beats her, she betrays him with other men, and the entire kindom is corrupted by their hate and disgust for one another.

[Anna]

Hmm... I think it's time to invent the
Taleweaver Scale of Twist Endings
0° - no twist at all. The ending plays out exactly as one would expect it. The Prince kisses Snow White and everybody lives happily ever after.
20° - A VERY slight twist. The Prince kisses Snow White, and they live happily ever after, though the dwarves are sad because they're alone again.
40° - A small twist. The Prince kisses Snow White, but they don't marry but rather become good friends, and the Prince goes rescuing more maidens, becoming a major hero.
60° - A relevant twist. The Prince kisses Snow White. She is saved by the kiss, but they don't marry because the Prince is gay and only kissed her to save her.
80° - A major twist. The Prince kisses Snow White, but she doesn't wake up from being dead. The Prince buries her and punishes the evil Queen.
100° - A change in direction. The Prince kisses Snow White and she wakes up, but he dies from the poison on her lips.
120° - A relevant change in direction. The Prince kisses Snow White, and she wakes up undead, takes revenge on the evil Queen and then begs the Prince to slay her, which he does.
140° - A major change in direction. The Prince kisses Snow White, but as he does, the evil Queen pieces him and Snow White from behind with a spear. Snow White wakes up, only to die in an embrance with her Prince.
160° - A large change in direction. The Prince kisses Snow White, and she awakens... only to die moments later as his lips were poisoned. The Prince laughs and marries the evil Queen.
180° - A total turnabout. The Prince kisses Snow White and marries her. A year later, their marriage is in shambles, he beats her, she betrays him with other men, and the entire kindom is corrupted by their hate and disgust for one another.

Ah but, your endings kind of only get worse as they get more... twisted XD? You can have an unexpected ending which blows you away yet is still a happy ending, right?

I don't mind whatever kind of ending I get, as long as I feel it does the story justice and makes sense according to the choices I made in the VN (if there are choices).

[Joey]

Ah but, your endings kind of only get worse as they get more... twisted XD? You can have an unexpected ending which blows you away yet is still a happy ending, right?

I agree ><; because there are such things as "good twists", unexpected twists that aren't necessarily bad. At least in the books I've read/games I've played.

I prefer endings with the "Fridge Horror" effect -- on the surface everything looks fine, then when you think about it more there's an underlying, nasty side-effect that comes with the happiness >_>;; It would correspond with Taleweaver's 20 degrees thereabouts (poor dwarves! D:), but to me it's not exactly a twist but a way to make the player/reader commit an oversight that they'll only think about at the end of the game/book. Hopefully I can write something like that into my own game >_>

[azureXtwilight]

Taleweaver's endings are.... what I'm currently using (to 160 degrees). Heheh XD

For most of endings anyways.

THIS IS WIN :3

[Marcelo_Orlando]

I also like sad endings provided that they are done right and with a believable reason.

EDIT: I hate "come from behind home runs."

[Dollywitch]

Personally, I like the bad endings since it's always something atypical As well as seeing an annoying hero/heroine suffer a horrible, painful death. The good endings are always a variation of "And they lived happily ever after" which gets old after the 50th or so time

I kind of feel the opposite way in some ways, if you read my post in the other thread. I think bad/sad endings have become a bit too predictable. Good endings can actually depend on the plot, and what the character set out to do. The happily ever after thing is more an artifact of the story you're trying to tell.

If you look at it in terms of you telling a story, about a group of characters that set out to do something, whom you'll become endeared to, it would be dreary if you saw them fail more often than succeed. "Success" in of itself opens up more opportunities - more stories to be told, etc. whereas failure can mean a swift death for someone.

[HigurashiKira]

"Success" in of itself opens up more opportunities - more stories to be told, etc. whereas failure can mean a swift death for someone.

Not really. Bad Ending really means "a conclusion that ends unfavorably for the characters" They can end in death or end in just the main character failing. They can still continue the story even from this point. If the MC dies, you can continue the story with another character, and showing the aftermath of his/her demise. And for failing, he/she can either try to make things right, or someone else tries to fix his/her mistakes.

All you have to continue in a good end is basicily "sparkles, hugs, and love" And that's boring to me.

[Dollywitch]

In general though, a good ending means "The character does what he sets out to do." So you have a better platform in the end, than if he fails.

[jjbproductions]

Here are some popular types of endings in visual novels and my opinions on them:

Best Ending: These endings are very happy. The cop solves a crime without anyone getting hurt. Basically, the main character overcomes the conflict with little or no downfalls. I don't really like these endings because they aren't very realistic. Throughout the game something bad might happen to the main character, but it doesn't matter by the ending. These endings are usually not open ended, so people who don't like imagining what happens next usually like these endings. Happiness Level: 10/10

Good Ending: These endings are generally happy, but still a little bittersweet. The cop solved the crime with an overall favorable outcome. The main character overcomes the conflict or finds an alternative to it. The main characters are usually happy at the end and good endings are sometimes open ended. Good endings are my favorite type of endings. Happiness Level: 8/10 or 9/10

Positive Neutral Ending: This ending is happy, however it is not as good as it could have been. The cop solves the crime however fails to save many people. The main character usually believes he solved the conflict and in a way he did, but he still wants more. I found many visual novels on here that have bad endings that should be Positive Neutral Endings. Happiness Level: 6/10 or 7/10

Neutral Ending: This ending is bittersweet, and the player and sometimes the main character feel somewhat sad about the outcome. The cop doesn't solve the crime however he still made progress. The character might believe he solved the conflict however he didn't, or he did solve the conflict however lost what he fought for next. Often, neutral endings feel happy, however once the player gets the good ending the player realizes that the neutral ending is actually sad. Often times, the character got what he want, but then lost what he wanted after. Happiness Level: 5/10

Negative Neutral Ending: The ending is sad, however not depressing. The cop failed to solve the crime, however the case hasn't lost all hope. The main character usually is failing, but hasn't failed the conflict or the main character failed the conflict but not everything is over. Usually the character doesn't realize that there is little hope that he will ever overcome the conflict or that he failed it already, however the player does know. Happiness Level: 4/10

Bad Ending: This ending is depressing. The cop failed the case and was fired and the criminal escaped. The main character failed to overcome the conflict. The character still has a chance to start over (his life isn't ruined forever), however he overall failed to overcome his conflict and lost most of the relationships he made. Happiness Level: 2/10 or 3/10

Worst Ending: This ending is terribly depressing, and is usually unrealistic. The cop lost his life during the case. The character not only failed to overcome the conflict and lost many things, but he has no or a low chance of being able to start over his life. The character realizes it and has given up all hope (unless he died). I don't like these endings, not because of their sadness, but because of how unrealistic they usually are. Happiness Level: 1/10

Most Common Endings
1. Good, Neutral, and Bad
2. Good and Bad
3. Bad, Worst
4. Best, Good
5. Best, Good, Neutral, and Bad
6. Best, Good, Neutral, Bad, Worst
7. Good and Neutral
(Neutral Positive and Neutral Negative are just branches of neutral and are normally called neutral)

Also, the endings I don't like can be executed well, I just haven't seen many games do so.

Sorry about my rambling.
EDIT:
Made a few changes...
Would like to see more replies to this post

[LVUER]

Why is the worst ending unrealistic. In fact, it happens very often in RL. In fiction, it happens very often to many characters that non-protagonist.

[jjbproductions]

Why is the worst ending unrealistic. In fact, it happens very often in RL. In fiction, it happens very often to many characters that non-protagonist.

I guess they can be made realistically, I just don't find them often written realistically. A lot of times it is just like "Everyone around me dies and then I die..." or "I fall down the stairs and die." or "Everyone else dies and that is it." The worst ending has been written realistically before, they just often aren't. It isn't what happens that isn't realistic, it is how they are written. I don't care if what happens is realistic or not (especially in fantasy games), but I care if it is written realistically. And it is hard to write deaths, so I am not blaming the developers or anything.

[jjbproductions]

I made an edit to my types of endings post above; just thought I would let everyone know!
This was mainly just an excuse to bump this topic...

[Omnificent]

I like bad endings existing, happy endings earned tooth-and-nail, and bittersweet endings in general.

The true ending to the game I'm writing at the moment is almost cloyingly happy after certain paths/ends (I'm making it required that the five main routes have to be satisfactorily completed at least once, both as incentive and for the sake of comprehension). It is also open-ended enough that players can imagine whatever future they want after that.

The ending after the True End, at least to me, is a little painful, realistic, and bittersweet. If I told people about it it might strike them as a complete downer/terrible/unfair. So I want to give the audience at least the possibility of imagining something other than what a cynical 20-something can come up with.

[superhbman]

I like those wtf endings, like the dog ending in Silent Hill 2. Or the mind-numbingly confusing Metal Gear Solid 2 ending.

Besides that, I tend to prefer bittersweet and horribad soul-crushingly depressing endings. I'm too much of a cynic to appreciate good endings.