Oh jesus, I totally read this wrong... and thought "Games with actually good endings," Jesus sometimes my brain just reads the post I want to reply to, not the one that's there.
Original post totally misreading:
Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.
Grand Theft Auto Vice City
And even GTAIII, I just don't remember it as well and the game wasn't as story driven as the other two.
But both of those games had terrific finishes that were perfectly befitting the story. I really dislike how Rockstar went in the opposite direction with GTA IV and GTA V, and to an extent, RDR. Those games are tonally very different from SA / VC, but their interest in 'punishing' the player with negative or bittersweet endings just seems off for me, where as San Andreas really felt great after finishing it.
In SA, you've done mostly everything. You brought down a massive criminal enterprise, you started your own massive criminal enterprise, you've secured a mansion in the Hollywood Hills, you were inadvertently related to being part of the LA Riots, and then the final couple missions you work to bring down the corrupt police & gangsters who caused the riots, control LA, and have made your life awful throughout the events of the game. You have some really long, fairly epic missions at the end, all of your allies you've met in the game help you in some way, you walk off leaving the corrupt police sergeant to die on his own smartly, walk back to the neighborhood that you just recently took back from a rival gang, and the city is your's.
I remember feeling really accomplished at the end of that game, and it also helps that you have this enormous arsenal of earned up weapons, vehicles, and all else at your disposal. This is something that GTAV just got wrong, but it seemed like they did it on purpose, of course, as some way to teach the player a life lesson about extravagance or something. It's one of the reasons why I still think that GTA:SA is the best GTA game.
*edited actually replying to OP:
Of course, reading this, it definitely doesn't apply gameplay wise, though storywise they both have good setups, with GTA:VC having a great storyline setup that drops you perfectly into the age and time. Prior to GTAVC, not many games did modern period pieces or did them exceptionally well. The closest would have been something like a World War II game, where they basically just tell you "It's the 1940s, here's a gun and there's nazis," and that's basically it. GTAVC is one of the first games to really try to replicate a contemporary period with music, style, theme, characters, and all else, and for a videogame it hit it out of the park.
The Bioshock's introductions are excellent, setting up the world so perfectly. I was in awe of the world crafting in both games.
