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I am all for unexpected plot twist, but it has to be done within the realm of what the context they give. There is a fine line between a fantastic and ridiculous plot twist. A fantastic plot twist is those that's written with proper foreshadowing and plausible within the plot/setting. Otherwise throwing nonsense just to surprise reader doesn't bode well with me.

(ie, Darker than Black 2nd season, seriously I doubt anyone can predict THAT ending. It wasn't because it was awesome plot twist, because it was too ridiculous even with the fantasy setting they have.)

I dislike no ending. It's like the creators tried to milk more of the franchise, thus give no resolution. (Aka leave it to fanfiction.) It would especially be horrible if the series is lengthy (100+ episodes) and you are given with no resolution after investing so much time watching it. Of course, this doesn't apply to gag because it has no story in the first place.

I have to agree I like bittersweet endings. They are usually happy, though show the reality that life is not fair and nothing can be 100% wonderful.

I can like when a series has been left open at times. Usually they are bad, though I think as long as the main conflict is mainly resolved, usually with foreshadowing of somethings left unanswered.

Happy endings are good too, though as long as it is not they all died but now they are all back alive!

Mindscrew/surprise endings are great too. Though as long as it isn't too much of a huge twist that I can't even wrap my mind around it.

Can someone give me examples of bittersweet endings. ^^' I will use them as references

Read this: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... weetEnding, and have fun Examples are under the description, but beware of possible spoilers.

Oh! Good references! Thanks you very much

I like bittersweet and sad ones the most, i'm fine with the rest as long as they're not generic ones
like it's all living happily ever aftermy favourite one was where it was
a bittersweet ending that turned out to be a happy one (yay)!
I cried at the bittersweet and felt better 2 minutes later after finding out that the main characters girlfriend survived.

Being a huge Type-Moon fan, and also a huge Key fan, I'd be lying if I didn't say that I love tragic and bittersweet endings. It sounds a bit strange, but I know that a story has a good ending and good development if I find myself close to tears at the end. It means that I've grown attached to the characters, and don't want to see something bad happen to them.
As for a twist, sometimes it works, sometimes you don't need one. Anybody who's played/watched Clannad would know what I'm talking about. Instead of "What? Oh my god, I wasn't expecting that," sometimes it's just as effective to have the reaction of "No, they aren't going to do that, are they? No, there's no way. Oh god, they are, aren't they? They did it. They really did it."
Case in point: (Clannad Spoilers) made me cry all the more, because I picked up on the cues so early on, and was going through the anime dreading the events. Bittersweet endings work brilliantly, too, I find. The end of the Fate route in Fate/Stay Night was technically a happy end, but there was that added catch involved that made it tragic as well, and I ate that right up.
However, that said, sometimes a happy ending works just as well. Again I turn to Clannad: The ending of Tomoyo's route was not particularly tragic, but it still had a great deal of emotional effect on me. Why? Because I was attached to the character.
I guess what I'm getting at is that really anything works, as long as there is that attachment to the characters. There needs to at least be enough to make me interested in the outcome of the story, and wanting to see the characters' efforts come to fruition, one way or another. I of course have a personal bias towards tragedy, but sometimes 'And they lived happily ever after' really hits the spot as well.

Tone is so important when determining a satisfying ending.

Some people have touched on it. If your game has a lighter tone, a tragic ending just won't work. It'll throw people for a loop instead of making them cry or be touched.

Personally, I PREFER happy endings. Watching everyone die at the end isn't my favorite thing. ;X But whatever works, works. As long as the ending is fulfilling, I'll enjoy it somewhat. <3

For an ending... hm. I like an ending that is Character driven and makes at least a modicum of sense.

To explain: I will disown any book/series/game if the characters act well, out of character. I hate it when a writer just throws together a ending without thinking about what the character's personality calls for. I've had experiences with novels and games where right at the end the personality of a character completely changes. And the character does something that makes you question their intelligence/mental stability.

(Not to start a riot, but some examples I can think of, who broke that rule, are: Breaking Dawn (I'm officially team trilogy) and the last three Harry Potter books. (Oh yea, I want there.))

So, as long as the characters act consistently and the ending doesn't leave you thinking: What in the name of Zod just happened? It's good.

I agree with Ghurdich. It's the reason I love Clannad so much.

And Tomoyo After's end made me cry and I loved it.

Yeah I also agree...although I'm not that much of a fan of tomoyo.
I liked Kyou's ending though.

i'm totally into bittersweet endings!! anyone played Persona 2 Eternal Punishment?? a lot of people dislike the ending but to me it's the best i've ever seen i think it's the best example of a well made ending 'cause everytime i watch it there's this indescribable feeling in my heart and personally i think this feeling is what makes a good ending.

though probably the most important part is that the ending has to fit the overall feeling the game gives you!! like when the entire game would be totally happy, funny and stuff but suddenly at the end everyone would die just like that, that'd just make you think "wait, what?!o__O"

I've never played that, but I'll download it soon.

I hope I'm not detracting attention from this thread, but in relation to happy/tragic/bittersweet endings, I'm somewhat stuck in making up my mind.

Let's say Ending #1 had the heroine in an otome game kill her love interest, Guy A, in a war because she chose loyalty over love. Earlier in the game, though, the heroine could choose love and risk getting hunted down for failing/blowing her cover, or she could choose loyalty and kill her love interest with horrible regrets afterwards. Has anyone even seen this kind of scenario done before? Yeah, I've seen bittersweet endings where the guy dies for the girl, but I've never seen an otome visual novel where the player can actually kill the love interest directly. I don't think this kind of bittersweet ending, in my opinion, has been done to often so I'm somewhat hopeful it'll be a nice change of pace.

Ending #2, on the other hand, I'm somewhat conflicted in doing because I intend to do a good and bad ending for Guy B but it's so hard... I think I'm going to end up putting both the good and bad endings into one ending where the bad ending is default unless the player makes a few dialogue choices that will trigger the good ending after the credits. I might do this because I'm struggling to come up with a good ending that doesn't have the same scenario (e.g. like getting married or starting a family for whatever guy the player chooses). Ending #2 is definitely more tragic than bittersweet, but I'm wondering just how overdone is the concept of the reincarnation of two lovers who died? Is it so overdone that a player will not feel anything and just sigh of boredom because it's a cliché? I want to step it up, but I feel like it's going to be a Kannazuki no Miko moment all over again.

I think I read somewhere that Atlus will remake both Persona 2 games (that unreleased in US) for PSP. I definitely going to buy it ^_^