Just beat the game. The ending is impressively terrible *spoilers* | Forums

[GreatGreen11]

I am actually impressed with how bad this game’s ending is. It is worse than Mass Effect 3’s ending. It might be the worst ending of any game I’ve ever played through. I know this is the Internet, and everybody uses hyperbole every time they speak, but in this case I think it’s true.


-*spoilers*-


At least for the alternate ending, I was expecting Bowman to hang up her phone after talking with her boss who tells her about El Sueno's immunity, after which she looks at the guys and says something smarmy like "well, it's a shame I got that call two minutes after you guys killed El Sueno, huh" then El Sueno protests and just before he gets angry and violent, everybody lights him up, after which point the game world opens back up for you and your crew to “clean up“ the remaining members of Santa Blanca from Bolivia. But nope. El Sueno gets off even easier than he does in the first ending.

I get that the 100% ending might be more “realistic” in an extremely cynical way, and actually is more effective sequel bait than what I described. But... this is a video game, and I'd personally rather get a satisfying ending to the story and be able to finally, solidly take down the dude I've just spent several dozen hours working towards than for when I finally make it to him, he laughs in my face and strolls out of the room in a cutscene, roll credits.

It is one of the most brazen, unapologetic slaps in the face to the player I've ever seen, so much so that it has brought any bit of enthusiasm I had for the game to a screeching halt. I was really excited about having a game I could play basically forever after the ending, but the ending we got knocked the wind out of my sails so hard that now when I go to launch the game I just ask myself "what's the point" and do something else. I don't even want to buy the credits I was planning on buying to unlock cool drug cartel killing gear anymore.

So thank you Ubisoft for taking that wide open layup of an opportunity to make the player feel like the hero and crafting a satisfying ending to your game, and instead throwing it in the trash in favor of getting preachy and pretentious about global politics and the futility of the human condition while openly mocking the player at the same time.

Well done.

[Ghost-Ami]

I must say I do enjoy the 99% ending more than the 100% ending.

Karen Bowman has some extraordinarily badarse and memorable lines in the former, not so much in the latter.

"This piece of ****---this monster---tortured my friend. Killed him. Decapitated my partner. Massacred thousands. And he gets to walk? Uhhhh, sorry, but not on my ****in' watch."

"Trivia question: What happens when you give immunity to a drug lord? Ding, ding, ding! You get a dictator."

"In the dying words of Augustus, founder and first emperor of the Roman Empire, 'Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit.'"

And, most poignantly:

"My career, my freedom, my life is not worth more than the people of South America."

[Edgemoor]

I must say I do enjoy the 99% ending more than the 100% ending.

Karen Bowman has some extraordinarily badarse and memorable lines in the former, not so much in the latter.

"This piece of ****---this monster---tortured my friend. Killed him. Decapitated my partner. Massacred thousands. And he gets to walk? Uhhhh, sorry, but not on my ****in' watch."

"Trivia question: What happens when you give immunity to a drug lord? Ding, ding, ding! You get a dictator."

"In the dying words of Augustus, founder and first emperor of the Roman Empire, 'Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit.'"

And, most poignantly:

"My career, my freedom, my life is not worth more than the people of South America."

Honestly I initially felt a tab disappointed that there wasn't a big showdown with Sueno, but I actually like both endings now. The narrative Bowman gives in both after dealing with Sueno is thought provoking, and a bigger insight into what is going on in the heads of Bowman and your Ghost Team.

I really can't imagine the ending going any other way .... other than the whole ghost team filling him with lead, and as the OP says "shame we got the call 2 minutes too late".

[Paladinrja]

So thank you Ubisoft for taking that wide open layup of an opportunity to make the player feel like the hero and crafting a satisfying ending to your game, and instead throwing it in the trash in favor of getting preachy and pretentious about global politics and the futility of the human condition while openly mocking the player at the same time.

Well done.

What did you expect? The growth spurt of corporatism and the fact that most people have given up on notions like "civil liberty" in favour of whatever scrap standard of living they can pick up off the floor that falls from the corporate table. -- But history tends to repeat itself. The one thing you can never count out of people is anger. Because anger is rarely about money, it's the expenditure and transaction of principles. I've seen the result of this first hand. It's never pretty.

At the end of the day, building you up to let you down, is really about an individual whom wants to belay ethics, make money and answer to no one.

We all answer to someone. It's far better to remember that, then pretend you can forget it. Because it's the insignificant and invisible ones that teach the most hardcore, gut wrenching lessons. -- It's Karmic law. There's a sunny side we all talk about; and also a very dark side, most can't even imagine.

[Ghost-Ami]

What did you expect? The growth spurt of corporatism and the fact that most people have given up on notions like "civil liberty" in favour of whatever scrap standard of living they can pick up off the floor that falls from the corporate table. -- But history tends to repeat itself. The one thing you can never count out of people is anger. Because anger is rarely about money, it's the expenditure and transaction of principles. I've seen the result of this first hand. It's never pretty.

At the end of the day, building you up to let you down, is really about an individual whom wants to belay ethics, make money and answer to no one.

We all answer to someone. It's far better to remember that, then pretend you can forget it. Because it's the insignificant and invisible ones that teach the most hardcore, gut wrenching lessons. -- It's Karmic law. There's a sunny side we all talk about; and also a very dark side, most can't even imagine.

♫ Everybody's got a dark side. Do you love me? Do you love miiiiiiiine? ♫ XD

[Tacad]

I am actually impressed with how bad this game’s ending is. It is worse than Mass Effect 3’s ending. It might be the worst ending of any game I’ve ever played through. I know this is the Internet, and everybody uses hyperbole every time they speak, but in this case I think it’s true.


-*spoilers*-


At least for the alternate ending, I was expecting Bowman to hang up her phone after talking with her boss who tells her about El Sueno's immunity, after which she looks at the guys and says something smarmy like "well, it's a shame I got that call two minutes after you guys killed El Sueno, huh" then El Sueno protests and just before he gets angry and violent, everybody lights him up, after which point the game world opens back up for you and your crew to “clean up“ the remaining members of Santa Blanca from Bolivia. But nope. El Sueno gets off even easier than he does in the first ending.

I get that the 100% ending might be more “realistic” in an extremely cynical way, and actually is more effective sequel bait than what I described. But... this is a video game, and I'd personally rather get a satisfying ending to the story and be able to finally, solidly take down the dude I've just spent several dozen hours working towards than for when I finally make it to him, he laughs in my face and strolls out of the room in a cutscene, roll credits.

It is one of the most brazen, unapologetic slaps in the face to the player I've ever seen, so much so that it has brought any bit of enthusiasm I had for the game to a screeching halt. I was really excited about having a game I could play basically forever after the ending, but the ending we got knocked the wind out of my sails so hard that now when I go to launch the game I just ask myself "what's the point" and do something else. I don't even want to buy the credits I was planning on buying to unlock cool drug cartel killing gear anymore.

So thank you Ubisoft for taking that wide open layup of an opportunity to make the player feel like the hero and crafting a satisfying ending to your game, and instead throwing it in the trash in favor of getting preachy and pretentious about global politics and the futility of the human condition while openly mocking the player at the same time.

Well done.

I totally agree with everything you've said here. Especially when the authorities on this operation were nowhere in the story at all, and then are suddenly thrust into the magical phone call to spare Sueno. I would still have issues with the ending, but at least if there was more contact with central command during the game, and some conflict between Bowman, the Ghosts, and Washington, it would have made the conflict at the end more satisfactory.

Now about you saying this ending was worse than Mass Effect 3's, I would have to strongly disagree. Mass Effect 3's ending was SO BAD that it fundamentally broke that game's universe. By shoving in some deus ex machina that made no sense based off of established lore, and was so thematically inconsistent with the rest of the trilogy, that it forced its sequel to take place as far away from the Milky Way as possible. Which of course raises all of these plot holes and retcons introduced in Andromeda (why was there all of this advanced tech in 2185 that wasn't seen in 2186 during ME3?) From everything I've seen of Andromeda, it looks terrible, and I have no intention of playing it. But its premise was doomed from the onset by the abysmal ending of ME3. Wildlands ending is certainly disappointing, but at least it properly sets up a sequel.

[TexasRocks2]

Great post OP. Definitely the worst ending I've ever seen.

[Kane_sg]

The first ending is anti-climatic. But you should have paid more attention to the whole story.

First, El Sueno is a powerful untouchable figure. In the first ending, he basically 'escaped'. Except, he didn't exactly escape as what you think he was. He was on surveillance even when he sh*ts. The rest of his story going to jail afterwards before escaping back into the cartel was just Bowman's speculation of the future.

In the second ending, Sueno is killed by Bowman and Bowman considered to be a crime do-er. It's the climatic ending. Sueno is dead, Pac is dead, Bowman got her revenge, but she's removed from duty, the Ghosts took down Santa Blanca and it's over.

In conclusion, by following the Fallen Ghosts, we take the first ending. So that means currently El Sueno is under heavy surveillance. Ghosts are on the side of the law no matter their intrusion to Bolivia is illegal and currently El Sueno is taken care the hands of the justice. And with that, the rest of cartel groups are falling one by one like domino effect. Who made this to happen? You, the Ghosts.

There is no explosion or blood pouring from Sueno's head, but the ending is the most on-context and your action takes a bigger effect than just SB and Sueno - if you look at the bigger picture.

[Ringwraith5]

To be honest, when I saw the "bad" ending for the first time (the one in which Bowman kills Sueno), I was really hoping that the final scene would show the Ghosts getting ready for a mission, checking their gear and stuff and then we see a shot of the plans and recon photos of their intended target, which would be the prison Bowman is in. This would fit in perfectly with the relationship that the Ghosts have built up with Bowman, where, when she gets attacked by the rebels, they say they would "burn this place to the ground" if she gets hurt.

On the other hand, I must say that I now see how the good ending is really good. Imagine having someone like El Sueno, used to a god-like status and nearly infinite power, locked up inside an appartment with no freedom, no privacy and the same routine day in and day out. In prison he'd be able to forge a new empire for himself. Here he's just a puppet on a string. This must be a fate worse than death for him.

[iiimadmaniii]

i am still trying to remember which game had an ending that... after the credits rolled... they found whoever the target that escaped or evaded capture was, and he was found in some hut somewhere in a texas desert and it was during a crazy sandstorm? and i cant remember if this was some sort of mgsv or some other tactical shooter or if it was even third or first person... but i remembering doing it and i for the life of me cannot rememver wtf game it was and it's only about 2 yrs old maybe