Thread:Deathstalker666/@comment-1915529-20140702204420/@comment-1496755-20141015193051

Death is the eighth, ninth and tenth wonder of the world (a mild side effect of having multiple personalities) :P

Indeed, I usually feel more satisfied by beating games that have longer and more elaborate endings - perhaps I feel more rewarded for my efforts. A cutscene is good, but it feels even better if there is something more after it - like a summary of some sort (total kills, accuracy, etc. for the whole game), or congratulatory screen (like the one I mentioned) that specifically tells you how awesome you are, or perhaps receiving some trophy that you can keep and view later (like the medals in X-wing / TIE Fighter).

This big ending could actually be a part of the final level itself - like the second part of Dissolution of Eternity's Source of Evil where, after defeting the Dragon, you have already beaten the final boss, yet you still have the pleasure of entering the special final rooms, opening the big menacing door and blowing up that big mean machine. The same is done in Ground Zero as well - entering the final rooms with the Gravity Well (after beating the Black Widow) feels really nice. You know the danger is gone, so you can fully enjoy this last bit of destruction that you still have to do. It's the cherry on the top of the cake.

Dark Forces also does this to an extent - after beating the final boss, you gain access to a small hangar with a shuttle, where the game finally comes to its glorious end. This shuttle model is simple, yet unique - it doesn't appear anywhere else in the game. The first Tomb Raider has you climb to the top of a large chamber and then slide down a long slope that disappears into the darkness. In the Diablo II expansion, you have to enter a special portal that appears after the death of the final boss. And so on, and so forth...

(man, am I a geek or what?)