Anyone else want an unhappy ending?

[Tollbooth Willie]

Because I'd actually love to see humanities's struggle end in failure. I want the resistance to crumble, morale to be crushed, main characters to sacrifice themselves in vain, Gordon forever forced to live with the fact that he caused a global catastrophe and failed to contain it.

 

[kupocake]

Yeee.... No.

Ok, I want an unhappy ending, but not that one. It's far too cataclysmic to be entertaining, and mentioning Gordon's guilt just shows how far-fetched it is since you can't force anything so subtle on the player character anyway. I think instead, that it's a pretty popular theory that the Borealis' destruction will simply be the beginning of a new chapter of human struggle, that can be overcome, just not so obviously from the perspective of the new situation that the end of Episode Three creates.

It's just a little too obvious that the G-Man wanted Eli's last wishes to be the destruction of the Borealis for there to be any kind of rainbows and candy Episode Three ending.

edit: I also think that 'main characters sacrifice themselves in vain' is just a little pointless piece of one-upism. Regardless of who everyone's favourite character is, no character death will be able to manage the same resonance as Eli's, so the logic goes that killing off more than one character would work... except I doubt it would.

Oh, I suppose they could kill Alyx, but I doubt anyone would forgive them for that. That would be brave, but not especially clever.

 

[gFrohman]

I don't want a depressing ending, but I also don't want a candy-coated unicorns happy ending. Somewhere in between would be great; if you had some serious problems taken care of and a lot of good things to look forward to paired up with a lot of other problems still lingering (and perhaps some new issues to take care of), I think that would be most effective (similar to Deus Ex - no matter what end you choose, there's consequences along with good things).

 

[Przemek]

Absolutely no.

I'm already sick of all the movies (mostly horrors) ending in a bad way - [caution: spoilers ] either the heroe(s) dies in the end, was dead right from the begining or ends up in a mental facility or and stuff like that. I want happy ending to come back

Even though the Combine invasion is a global catastrophe already, creating a new one that ends up in 80% of the humanity dying smells too much like New World Order propaganda

 

[gFrohman]

I think you have a good point - it's nice to get a refreshment from the uber depressing film endings (something hopeful would be nice, especially in times like these).

 

[Sledgehammer]

When the endings don't have us looking like huge question marks, they're unhappy.

It'd be fine if they stayed that way, but not "everyone dies"-unhappy.

 

[Maturin]

Every Half-Life game barring Blue Shift has had an unhappy ending. This is good build up for a satisfying end to Freeman's ten year story arch. Not a sugar-coated ending, but victory- pensive, uncertain, hard-fought victory.

You strike a deal with the G-Man, the Borealis sears the membranes of the dimensions to isolate Earth, you surrender your HEV suit, disintegrate your Gravity Gun, and end up alone with Alyx and a Soviet Helicopter, humanity is alone with their planet (and a lot of new wildlife).

I think any more character deaths would be needless and predictable. It wouldn't have much of an impact, after the unparalleled brutality and suddenness of the end of Episode Two. I suppose Gordon could die, though, and go to a chorus of crooning Vortigaunts.

 

[Sledgehammer]

Every Half-Life game barring Blue Shift has had an unhappy ending. This is good build up for a satisfying end to Freeman's ten year story arch. Not a sugar-coated ending, but victory- pensive, uncertain, hard-fought victory.

Actually, Portal was happyish too, if you count that.

 

[Ennui]

no, I want Gordon to remain the uber-triumphant badass who can conquer any problem, whether it's high-level theoretical physics or a hostile alien takeover of the human race...

 

[Warped]

I want a mixed ending, but something that will actually move me to tears. Eli almost made me cry

 

[Jebusy]

Half life is continuing in some shape or form after episode 3 and I think the series wont be doing itself any favours if it holds on to any unneeded baggage (Alyx). Maybe killing her off would be a bad move because the fans like her, but she should definately be disconnected from gordon in some way. She probably wont though because of ****Spoiler*** the gordon-Alyx bond thing. Who thinks a gap of a few years and i re-imagined alyx would be good?

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

I probably should have put this in the Half-Life series section and specified "Who wants the SERIES to come to a bad end" rather than Episode 3.

 

[swan_song1973]

id like to see something like the gman deserting gordon, leaving him in the borealis or whatever, truly cementing him as somebody sinister.

 

[gFrohman]

Yes, I want G-Man to become a 100% bastard, not this half sinister-half sincere passive-aggressive bshit.

 

[barbarbarbarbar]

Happy-Unhappy same to me.JUST NO MORE ****ING CLIFFHANGERS!

 

[Warped]

heres a dumb question, is Alyx there to make sure Gordon doesn't get out of line. Is she being used?? What if Gordon and her are cousins?? kissing cousins...

 

[gFrohman]

That would be hilarious to find out, except Gordon's definitely Caucasian while Alyx is definitely Malaysian/African-American. Unless they're distant cousins or something...

 

[Hades]

Every Half-Life game barring Blue Shift has had an unhappy ending. This is good build up for a satisfying end to Freeman's ten year story arch. Not a sugar-coated ending, but victory- pensive, uncertain, hard-fought victory.

I want a mixed ending, but something that will actually move me to tears. Eli almost made me cry

Yes, I want G-Man to become a 100% bastard, not this half sinister-half sincere passive-aggressive bshit.

^^^All of these. I want Gman to stop dicking around and reveal himself as Gordon's ultimate foe. I want sacrifices to be made (Gordon/Alyx/Barney dies) but at the same time I want their to be sense of victory, not just another "back into stasis you go Mr. Freeman" ending.

Most importantly I want to feel something. I want to this ending to affect me emotionally in a big way.

 

[barbarbarbarbar]

Most importantly I want to feel something. I want to this ending to affect me emotionally in a big way.

You want to cry ?

 

[ríomhaire]

I probably should have put this in the Half-Life series section and specified "Who wants the SERIES to come to a bad end" rather than Episode 3.

I've said this many times before but I'll repeat myself here. I want the Half-Life series, and, more specifically, Gordon's storyline to end with the player having to make a choice on what to do about the world with the only options being various shades of grey, like Deus Ex.

Possible choices if given some powerful dimention-breach technology (eg, the borrealis)

• Put up a barricade against any future attempt to breach our universe. Bassicly putting up a brick wall to stop the Combine, not actually being sure if this will hold out indefinitely.
• Using it to explore new worlds in the hopes of possibly setting up colonies and forging alliances with other species. This leaves humanity more open to attack, but possibly strengthening it in the long run.
• I can't really think of anything else to do with it except maybe a large assault on the Combine themselves, but that would just be suicidal. Perhaps Gordon choosing to offer himself to the G-man in exchange for the g-man's protection of the Earth, not knowing if he will keep his word or not. Maybe a bit too Silver Surferish though.

 

[gFrohman]

I've said this many times before but I'll repeat myself here. I want the Half-Life series, and, more specifically, Gordon's storyline to end with the player having to make a choice on what to do about the world with the only options being various shades of grey, like Deus Ex.

I agree - I think this might be difficult to execute, but it would make things very interesting. My idea for choices would be (assuming that the technology on the Borealis is portal-related):

• Shutting the Combine out completely from Earth, making sure that Earth is 100% safe from the Combine and the Combine no longer have incentive to bother Earth, as they no longer have any easy-access portal technology; the Combine continues to be its own empire, causing others harm and the humans lose valuable portal technology.(Destroying the Borealis)
• Going to the Combine Overworld to kick their asses and gaining a significant technological edge, but this leaves Earth vulnerable due to the portal breach being reopened. (Using the Borealis)
• Somehow keeping the technology from the Borealis without destroying the ship or using the technology outright - this allows for some technological advances, but the Combine will still want the technology from the humans; this also prevents the portal breach from being opened. (The necessary third choice)

 

[deathcheckedin]

i personally believe that Gman will gain complete control over Gordon as soon as Gordon finds out how to destroy him and will suspend him in time again

 

[Asknoone]

main characters to sacrifice themselves in vain.

That's kind of tasteless, no? Character genocide just because is not good storytelling, especially in the wake of Eli's death, which was both meaningful and profound.

I've said this many times before but I'll repeat myself here. I want the Half-Life series, and, more specifically, Gordon's storyline to end with the player having to make a choice on what to do about the world with the only options being various shades of grey, like Deus Ex.

Nice, a meaningless choice to conclude the series. The 'choice' at the end of Half-life was worthless enough.

 

[Maturin]

especially in the wake of Eli's death, which was both meaningful and profound.

...and so abrupt and vicious that nothing is going to shock us ever again.

 

[Maestro]

Happy-Unhappy same to me.JUST NO MORE ****ING CLIFFHANGERS!

This.

 

[gFrohman]

I agree. I don't want to do this "waiting for 2+ years for another game because of a cliffhanger ending" bs - just give us an end that has some sense of finality, but with enough openended-ness for a sensible sequel.

 

[amaranth]

Gman is not some stock villain. That's what's great. He's a morally ambiguous character with complex motivations.

You'd take him out of character just for some cheesy boss fight?

 

[flamingdts]

I bet my life episode 3 WILL end with yet another cliff hanger.

There is just too much that cannot be concluded in one episode. We all know about the Borealis, and we all know the majority of the game will take place in the Borealis. Therefore, the chances are Gordon and Alyx will discover something unexpected and either make a decision that leads to G-man appearing and ending with another cliff hanger ending. Probably a final note saying "Prepare for Unforeseen consequences" after Gordon and Alyx made their decision.

This would allow Valve more flexibility in the continuing Half Life series. Perhaps the next story arc will be mainly concentrated on G-man, with the character's main goal to discover who he really is. This will most likely lead to more discoveries of G-man's identity as well as his "employers", and ending with Gordon destroying all these people who seem to be "above" everyone else.

Unhappy ending? I think a cliffhanger is more than enough to be considered unhappy. Afterall, no cliffhanger ending is ever happy.

 

[leib10]

I'd like to see either a happy (yet bittersweet) ending or an ambiguous ending.

 

[NamelessHenchman]

A bittersweet ending, as mentioned above would probably be my choice too.
Light in the end of a tunnel for humanity in exchange for personal tragedies/sacrifices for heroes. And if this indeed is the end, proper ending, ie. no cliffhangers.

 

[Kzaar]

imo any ending will do as long as it leaves an impression on you, to make you all satisfied but then again sad and happy.

"this was half life 2 journey and what a journey it was" emotion.

 

[Eejit]

Actually, Portal was happyish too

Not really. It's not clear whether Chell survives, or even manages to kill GlaDOS permanently.

 

[Scuderia Ecosse]

An unhappy ending would be cool but you know what valve are like.

 

[jeepis]

I think the ending should be about sacrifice. I think that most of the characters should be killed off, but the result should be a good one, with the world being saved. And then G-man should say something really cryptic-sounding that would suggest that the earth isn't saved for long.

Killing the characters that everyone is so attached to would add to the sadness, but the "earth is saved or freed or whatever! YAY!" part would make their deaths meaningful, so they wouldn't be killed in vain. So, you would have both your sad and you happy and then the G-man telling that it's not over would guarantee another game...

 

[tesher06]

I like happy endings more .

 

[Maxpower]

Everyone says what they want the ending to be, but you can't really want to be right, because then that'd be too predictable. This episode will be about the G-Man. We know that much. As long as it gives a bit of insight into his origins/purpose without revealing absolutely everything.

 

[gFrohman]

I think the ending should be about sacrifice. I think that most of the characters should be killed off, but the result should be a good one, with the world being saved. And then G-man should say something really cryptic-sounding that would suggest that the earth isn't saved for long.

Killing the characters that everyone is so attached to would add to the sadness, but the "earth is saved or freed or whatever! YAY!" part would make their deaths meaningful, so they wouldn't be killed in vain. So, you would have both your sad and you happy and then the G-man telling that it's not over would guarantee another game...

The problem with this is that if you start killing off characters right & left, you become accustomed to death occuring and their deaths become less meaningful; plus it would seem unrealistic and unnecessary - one character dies, so now everyone else needs to die quickly thereafter?

 

[jeepis]

OK, how is it unrealistic? Deaths occur... A person dies every 30 seconds or so. Every 10 seconds in the Half-Life 2 world, I suppose.

I'm not saying they should all die in a quick succession. They could make EP3 long and spread the deaths throughout the game, kill them in unique ways. Lets say that one gets shot by some camping n00b combine, another is eaten by an ant lion, one of them falls in a huge pit, I don't know, I guess I just want to see them all die.

 

[gFrohman]

Maybe not unrealistic, but unnecessary and gratuitous. It's also not very good storytelling to kill off major characters just for the sake of killing people off. You have to make their deaths mean something. Valve made players emotionally invested in Eli, so that when he was murdered, his death meant something. If you just start killing people off for no reason, it gets absurd (and I'd be like lol wut) - if you have one important character get killed off (someone who the player is already emotionally invested in, such as Alyx or Barney), it would then mean something. But this also borders on cliche; a lot of sequels/final chapters have major characters get killed off just for the sake of having shock value - this is not good storytelling and it's not cool.

 

[jeepis]

OK, I've totally changed my mind about the ending...

Barney will take off his face to reveal that he is actually Barney from How I Met Your Mother...
Then, G-Man appears and Barney goes all like "Oh, look, someone actually suited up! Unlike you Gordon"
And Gordon's all like "..."
And Barney says "No! No! That HEV suit DOESN'T count! No! Bad Gordon! Bad!"
And Gordon replies "but ..."
And Barney's all like "Holy shit, Gordon just spoke! This is so going on youtube!"
And to top it all off, G-Man says "Gordon, I am your father! And your's too Barney... And Eli was your grandpa and Alyx is your sister."
Gordon then says "..."
And G-Man replies "That's right, you've been checking your sister's ass out all this time."
Then, Gordon has an introspective (spelling? does it even make sense?) moment with flashbacks of Alyx. Then he takes a gun and paints the wall behind him brain-red.
"No! WTF?! Gordon, I still had some epic missions for you! ****!" Says G-Man.
Then Barney says "Maybe you can let me complete those missions..."
And G-Man says "No, you are a disappointment. You are the son I wish I never had. I mean, for ****'s sake, when will you finally get your brother that beer? Oh, wait he's dead... Haha, totally forgot."
Barney then paints the wall behind him brain-red, just like Gordon did to the other wall.
Alyx runs in, sees Gordon dead and paints the wall behind her brain-red aswell.
G-Man goes all like "Wow, I just lost all my kids in like 30 seconds... Woohoo! I'm single and kid-less! Ladies, watch out!"
G-Man goes away and a Vortigaunt comes in.
Vortigaunt says "Aw, whose gonna paint the fourth wall? G-Man? We had a deal! 4 walls! 4 ****ing walls!"
G-man turns around and says "Why yes, I'm afraid so..." then shoots the Vortigaunt, painting the last wall brain-red aswell.
He then looks at the camera and says "Lies will only get you so far, you have to do the rest yourself..." He grins and walks away....

Yep, I sure know, how to kill a whole franchise, huh?
But, c'mon, this ending would be so epic!

Come to think of it... Gordon is a lot like Silent Bob, huh?