Top Ten Greatest RPG Endings

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In every genre there is one defining aspect which usually makes them stand out and defines them from all others. One specific element above all others which helps them to appeal to a certain audience. In Rogue-like games it’s the potential for failure and the sheer uphill battle you face, with fighting games it’s the ability to break out endless combos and air juggle your opponent through the air for minutes on end, and in RTS titles it’s the potential for how thoroughly you can obliterate them. In RPGs of many subgenres it tends not to be the stats or combat which is the most memorable but the stories driving them forwards. Any story can make or break an RPG, especially in how the ending is handled as Bioware found out not too long ago, so what could be considered the best within the genre?

Here’s few suggestions with Paranerds.com’s Top Ten Greatest RPG Endings.

10 – Summoner 2

What allowed Summoner 2 to edge out from amongst the competition was one specific aspect of its final cutscene - how it shows you coming full circle. It is effectively the reverse of the opening to the game, showing the tree of life and existence being born anew from Maia and Lahara tending to its branches. The scenes are very well presented and have graphics which even today aren’t too bad, even when looking at the comparatively crude skin textures and facial structures.

It does show the fates of your surviving companions as well, disappearing into history or returning to their homes which is always something to be applauded in such games. The chief reason is isn’t higher on this list really comes down to the speed of its ending, it only lasts a couple of minutes and tries to get a huge amount of information out of the day in that time. You still know you’ve effectively saved the entire world but it lacks the feeling of triumph or success present in later examples. None the less it was a fitting end to the game and was a culmination of the sense of mysticism and wonder which had made the games so addictive.

9 – Fallout: New Vegas

I was on the fence about this one as it’s not a traditional sort of ending, rather than having a single cutscene it’s a compilation of various stills focusing upon characters and locations of the game with voiceovers. The reason it gets put on the list is due to one specific reason – it provides a much greater level of closure than you’ll find in many other endings. Seeing each specific place you’ve been involved with talked about by its residents and their individual fates helps to give a greater sense of scale to the world and how the future turned out for them. It also gives the added bonus of allowing you to have far more flexible conclusions. Rather than having only one good ending and one bad you can help most people in the game but can still fail to help a few who you met. It’s that added bit of replayability and freedom which makes the Fallout games so great, and it’s New Vegas which does this the best.

While the lack of a true animated cutscene is still a visible flaw, the fact its ending shows far more than almost all others on this list, and does the same for each DLC expansion earns New Vegas’ place on this list. Also the fact that the way it was set up meant that no matter who you supported in the main storyline you could still be a colossal arsehole or hero without it feeling out of place.

8 – Kingdom Hearts

Well, this was a top ten of RPGs list so you knew there was going to be at least one SquareEnix on here somewhere. Kingdom Hearts has been a solid series overall with few flaws overall in spite of an increasingly convoluted story and multiple instalments across many different platforms. However, the ending to the first game stands out as the strongest out of all the games and the reason for this is, well, you don’t completely win.

You get rid of Ansem, find the king, get Kari back and save the universe but for every victory you have you lose something. The king and Riku are last seen locking themselves inside Kingdom Hearts facing an army of Heartless, Kari is restored but loses her memories of Sora and is separated from her, seemingly trapped where he defeated the final boss. None the less, it’s done in a way which leaves hope for the protagonists, you’ve still halted the villain’s doomsday plan and are alive. There are also hints of larger mysteries and a bigger universe which left the possibility for a sequel without feeling like blatant sequel bait. It’s an odd situation where the conclusion is not completely nihilistic nor does it feel like a kick in the teeth but at the same time you’ve still lost as much as you’ve won.

The characters, presentation and voice acting are mostly what help with this and the only thing which drags it down is the soundtrack. I’d really like to have known what SquareEnix had running through their heads when they added that pop song over the end credits.

7 – Legend of Legaia

This is easily the least known of the titles on this list and it’s unfortunate to see that because it was a really good game for its time. It had a good story, the shot composition was great for a game of its era and it managed to retain that unique balance of humour and triumph in its ending which we rarely see today. Its ending effectively focused upon one thing – you had brought the world a bright new era. Defeating the villain had cost the world much but it has given it a new lease on life and a chance to reclaim what humanity lost to the “mist”. You’re given a chance to walk around the village you started in and really see how things are going to change for the better thanks to you.

The flaws in this stem from its style of presentation, outside of the village you only really see how the rest of the world is benefitting through a few seconds worth of cutscene per location. What’s more is that while you do see what will happen to the characters in some respects, it could have been delivered in a far better manner and doesn’t tell us that much about them. Never the less it does somehow manage to convey a feeling that everything will start to get better now you’ve given the world a chance.

6 – Final Fantasy VIII

Opinions have been fairly divisive over the years involving VIII, but the ending itself genuinely felt like one of the strongest in this series. What it did more than anything else was bring a great deal of closure to the events of the game. Unlike a lot of current SquareEnix titles, most of them with Final Fantasy in the name, there was no need for sequels after this. The world had been saved, the protagonists were perfectly happy. As clunky as the camera footage of the party might have been it felt like they characters had come to a good end; and both their behaviour and the way it was shot felt very “human”.

It impacted on a much more personal level than VII did, which left their fates ambiguous, and unlike X had no one audibly speaking. Meaning the animators had to show rather than tell and it was relying upon animators rather than voice direction to convey emotion. Say what you will about the recent Final Fantasy titles, but let’s face it dialogue isn’t the series’ strong point of late. What’s more is that unlike titles such as those it did give some hope for the future of the side characters; displaying Seifer and Laguna’s lot while the rest were in the academy.  If there is one thing worth criticising it’s that the game doesn’t exactly explain some aspects of itself or how Squall escaped where he was trapped, but I don’t think that’s enough to deny it a place on this list.

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For the full list please visit the page here.