Endings?

[Machus]

My favorite type of ending is bittersweet. It really lets me relate to the characters (a perfect ending is hard to come by) and it stirs up some emotion inside me, which is a good thing...right?

One example of an ending I would love is
6 months after they first meet, <MC> and <target> are very close friend. <MC> has feelings for <Tar> but doesn't want to scare her off, because <MC> had a very lonely childhood for various reasons.
Suddenly, in the pouring rain, with tears flowing, <Tar> tells <MC> that she is leaving town soon, due to her parents changing jobs.

Two paths:

1. Depending on an earlier choice, <MC> may recede back into his earlier reclusive state, becoming very cold to <Tar> and leaving her behind in the rain. This happens because <MC> is too dependent on <Tar>.
2. If you make the different choice, <MC> will be sad, but not enough to recede. Eventually, as <Tar> boards her train, <MC> makes a promise that they will eventually meet again. <MC> swears to never forget her.

If anyone knows what VN I'm quoting, mind telling me?
I kinda forgot it and want to play it again, heh heh...

[Mirage]

^ That sounds like Tying Threads, I could be wrong though.

[LVUER]

Yup, sounds like Tying Threads.

[Greeny]

I like non-sequel open endings.
What I mean by non sequel is that it's not open like "the heros save the day, but the bad
guy lives on and will surely cause more mischief on the next exciting episode of".
More like Inception, where the story is over, but the mystery remains.
And there's no goddamn sequels.

I also like the "everyone dies" ending.

[GeminiStar00]

I'll also admit a preference for those sorts of "Everyone dies" bad endings. I like my bad endings to be as shocking as the genre would allow. Lots of blood and stuff isn't suitable for a romance game of course, but if we're talking a thriller or a mystery, especially where murder or supernatural entities are involved? Then yeah, I like the shock and horror factor of how things can go wrong. Explains why I like the When the Cry series, and 999.

Good endings are always good provided they wrap up all the storylines, too. Though admittedly, I also like there to be a bonus, goofy ending that's not really meant to be part of the series canon story but is just fun to watch. Like the Phantom Thief endings in Sukisho, or the alien abduction endings in Silent Hill. They're just entertaining.

[Machus]

^ That sounds like Tying Threads, I could be wrong though.

Oh yes, that's it!

Thanks!

[Avaible]

I love unexpected endings.

Endings that make you go "Wat-the-carp?"
If it's some horror-story with gore and all that, why not throw in some rational guy in the end who will simply exlpain to the monster why it can't be horror. The guy will turn on the light, make himself a cofee and drink it while watching some happy-go-lucky comedy on TV while the monster just can't do anything against it.

Or if it's a bittersweet ending on it's climax, why not let one of the characters go "Oh, come to think of it - what was your problem again? Incurable disease? Yeah, actually, yesterday one of the professors found a way to cure it by accident. Works perfectly fine, you don't have to die, after all."
And all the other characters who were totally in emotion-mode would go "What the heck, don't ruin our bittersweet moments! Great, now we've got a happy end or what? We weren't prepared for that."

That's the kind of ending that I have always loved and will always love.
My favourite is actually a story I wrote a few years ago. It was a book, but as visual novel it would probably be around twenty hours of playtime. And the whole thing is about a girl trying to find something. In the end after twenty years (in the story) she found it. And then because of a completely unrelated matter the world did end in a matter of ten minutes or so.
I will never forget the expressions of my friends who read it. They still hate me for that ending.

[Greeny]

Endings that make you go "Wat-the-carp?"
If it's some horror-story with gore and all that, why not throw in some rational guy in the end who will simply exlpain to the monster why it can't be horror. The guy will turn on the light, make himself a cofee and drink it while watching some happy-go-lucky comedy on TV while the monster just can't do anything against it.

Ha.

In one horror plot I want to make, you survive the constant hunt of a murdererous murderer, evil spirits and hell-monsters, and in the end, it turns out you were dead all along.

[SusanTheCat]

In one horror plot I want to make, you survive the constant hunt of a murdererous murderer, evil spirits and hell-monsters, and in the end, it turns out you were dead all along.

Isn't that Silent Hill?

I actually think this would be a really cool plot.

Susan

[pondrthis]

Unless you're a 20th century absurdist playwright, don't do a what-the-crap ending.

More often than not, especially in the context of B horror/mindscrews (which, let's face it, is all that 99% of us are capable of), those kinds of endings are utterly ridiculous and trivializing. The number ONE danger in writing twisty stories is trivializing your own work. "It was all in his imagination" or "she actually had DID and that character was another personality" are twists just asking your readers to say "what the hell did I read this for?"

"What-the-crap" plotpoints should be used either before the climax (with the climax being a non-absurd twist or simply an exciting moment) or as the ending to short, intentionally comedic pieces.

...Or you could foreshadow the plot and give up the "what-the-crap" factor. Probably the best option.

[Wolfzau]

I like the bittersweet endings

I know it's a cliche to bring it up but I thought Fate/Stay Night did a great job of doing this. Both the Saber path and the Heaven's Feel path (neutral end, obviously) left me with a lump in my throat and even though I replayed to get all the good endings they were both definitely my favourites.

I do have a soft spot for sudden, shocking endings too mind. Although the only one I can remember off the top of my head was the remake of The Mist

That ending definately had me going WTF!!!!!

[azureXtwilight]

Since there's new people here, I think it's safe to make this thread alive again...

[Ventara]

I like happy endings, but not happy endings that are just dumped on you, but endings that make you do fistpumps and shout "YES!" and make you marvel at how it all came perfectly together. What can I say, I like to be happy.

But putting that aside, I like well constructed endings that you don't foresee. In most stories, you can tell what's gonna happen at the end pretty easily, so it's nice to read a story that keeps you wondering til the end. And I'm not talking about endings that are unforeseen because the writer decided to pull a huge twist, but endings that were, as I said, constructed well.