Summary
BioWaregames are well known for theirhours-long RPGsand multiple endings, and for good reason. While the legendary company didn’t create the formula of open-world CRPGs, it certainly played an immense role in popularizing it, especially among console players of the time. But BioWare is also infamous for its approach to endings, especially with the success that wasMass Effect 2and the controversy of its sequel.
Some of the company’s most beloved endings are the ones that lead toterribly catastrophic consequences, and they often do so with the full knowledge of the player. That’s the case inDragon Age 2and its devastating mage-templar war, orJade Empire’s power-hungry ending.
In a way,Mass Effect 2has an extremely customizable ending. Not only does it follow many of the player’s choices, but it also gives them the most extreme feedback possible in the form of killing or sparing each companion character. Commander Shepard might even succumb during the suicide mission that sits at the end of the game, waiting for the player’s decision to complete their adventure.
Preparing for this final mission is what the entire endgame ofMass Effect 2is all about. Reaching the best ending requires buying all the major ship upgrades, recruiting all possible crew members, and completing their story missions, as well as making a couple of correct choices at critical moments through the finale. Of course, mostfirst-time playerswill fail to complete even most of those requirements, leading to a fairly bleak ending where Shepard fails to protect the crew during the final mission.
Dragon Age 2shows some variation in its finale, based on the protagonists’ relationship with some of thecompanion characters. That said, most differences boil down to a single choice: to stand with the templars, guardians and ferocious warders of every magic user, or the mage rebellion, a group of magicians ready to do anything in their power to free themselves from the templars’ control.
Whichever ending the player chooses, things quickly get out of hand. To make matters worse, choosing an ending means turning the main character into a key player of one of the factions. This makes the events that ensue, either the slaughtering of most magicians by part of the templars or the devastating war waged by the mage rebellion, not just an unfortunate turn of events but the intended effect of the player character’s actions.
Mass Effect 3’s endings are infamous among the fan community, so poorly received thatthe game’s endings were eventually expandedfrom the original three to a total of five. Interestingly, some of those new endings are even darker than the original few. The worst one is probably the Refuse ending, in which Shepard refuses to finish the mission and allows the Reapers to destroy all organic life in the universe.
The other main endings are quite close, too. While the world avoids complete annihilation, every ending has its dark undertones. In Destroy, all Reaper technology and synthetic life are destroyed, leading to many deaths, including the destruction of Earth and of the Normandy crew. Control is somewhat better, giving Shepard control of the Reapers and raising questions on how those terrible weapons will be used in the future. Synthesis, which is often considered the best ending in the game, still forces every organic being to turn into a synthetic life form.
Jade Empireis a curious game. It’s BioWare’s first RPG set in an original setting and the studio’s only game in the series. It’s also a staggering reminder ofjust how revolutionaryMass Effectwas, releasing only two years before the space-fairing shooter/RPG. ButJade Empire, with its colorful palette and fun setting, is also one of BioWare’s first games to surprise the player with multiple bad endings, a tradition that would be held long thereafter.
Jade Empirehas three endings, two of which are quite bleak. The first is anticlimactic, with the player character submitting to the big bad guy and allowing him to turn the empire into a dystopia. The second bad ending is much more interesting: in an attempt to grow their power and best their former master, who has now become the protagonist’s worst enemy, the player can choose to steal the Water Dragon’s power instead of freeing it, becoming the next emperor of a doomed world.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republicdoesn’t have especially creative endings nor a particularly surprising plot; that would only arrive with the Obsidian-directed sequelKnights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords. What BioWare’s original has instead is a classicStar Warsstruggle between light and dark, which, far from limiting itself to being a good starting base for a sequel, does this classic theme justice.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the game’s bad ending.The game’s epilogue is bidimensionalbut extremely in line with otherStar Warsstories. In the two light side endings, the player defeats the Sith Lord Darth Malak and either kills or makes peace with/romances the secondary protagonist, Bastila. Meanwhile, the dark side ending sees the player character kill most of their companions before taking the role of Sith Lord for themselves and turning Bastila into their dark disciple.
