discussion Hot take: A bittersweet tragedy is a better ending for stories than happy ones

[Waylight]

Probably like many I still have memories of Acting Lessons, where a lot of games with happy ending games I can't really remember. So you're probably right bittersweet ending if nothing do make for a more memorable ending.
In saying that though, if I had a choice, I would take a happy ending for a game every time.

 

[Jabroni8903]

Bittersweet can be really good if written well

 

[Garaf]

Although i like those kind of endings, it depends on the story i want at the moment, and how it is told

 

[Rion89]

As long as the execution were great, I really don't care if the story ended with bittersweet, happy or bad ending.

 

[hwart]

Yeah. The everybody loves happily ever after and bones all day long is somewhat blah. Something tragic, even tragic sexiness sounds intriguing.

 

[fuzzi_weezil]

Gonna go with happy ending. Life has enough issues without making my entertainment sad....

 

[VRVamstuff]

Bittersweet endings leave an impression, personally for myself, by making me want more. I think about it for a while because I think of things that could happen after or how else it could've gone instead of being truly "memorable." I'm able to find happy endings quite memorable in fact, especially when it took a lot of effort to get to it.

 

[El_hairygato]

not at all i think bittersweet has been overdone to oblivion maybe even more than happy endings, i feel devs use a bittersweet ending to artificially evoke feelings from the viewer compared to an actually unique ending but at the end of the day they're only porn games so i don't expect that good of an ending (if they even get that with the amount of abandoned games)

 

[Quetz]

One ending in "Returning to Mia" is my favorite. It's the one where the MC lies and cheats and blows up all of his relationships, only to reconnect with Sadie in the epilogue after having realized that carnal pleasure isn't what makes him happy anymore.
It was bittersweet, and I loved it.

 

[i_patchy]

As the title says I think a bittersweet ending where the MC or someone close to MC ends in tragedy would make for a better story, I feel like sadness or anger is a much stronger emotion to evoke to a reader/watcher than happiness, the feeling will stay with you for a long time rather than when all the characters all live happily ever after. Bit hypocritical but an ending where it ends in all tragedy is also pretty grim and I don't like that, I mean there are some stories that make me accept the ending even if it's grim but that's only in rare cases where I know the ending is inevitable or something

I do prefer happy endings to pure romance stories tho

- choose one bro.

Granted, i did liked original ending to My Sister My roommate more than reworked one. In original ending if MC was going to continue relations with his sis ( and ruin her wedding ), she would end up fat cat lady in the epilogue. It was quite a departure from standard abrupt "and they lived happily ever after".

In the end, it depends mostly on ability of writer to properly end his story. Generic "bad end" isnt any better than generic "good end", maybe even worse if it goes out of nowhere.

 

[Sharpened]

This feels like more of a payoff of good writing then specifically being about what type of ending it is. Bittersweet endings done right are typically supported by phenomenal writing and a great story, whereas any average author can whip up a 'good ending' and have a complete story. The way bittersweet endings can resonate with us as the audience also has a much higher payoff imo then good endings.

 

[Reyman7775]

I think for me it's gotta have a goddamn context. If it's just a bittersweet ending for no reason then hell no. But if it's fits the story then sure.

 

[SilentHunter]

Acting Lessons have already been mentioned here. The story itself is average, but the ending is mind blowing. If it hadn't been for the finale, it's unlikely that this VN would have remained so firmly in memory.

 

[AbdulGoran]

I really like stories where the main character dies in the end, I often find it beautiful and gives a really firm end to the story.

Spoiler: Examples from popular movies and series.

Like: Breaking bad, Gladiator, braveheart and so on..

 

[exlurker]

I think the most important thing is that the ending makes sense and you don't end up saying "really?"