POLL: Best Final Mission in the GTA Series

[Grotti Vigilante]

Now there was a thread just like this a few years back, but it's somewhat outdated and missing some options in the poll and thus I feel an update was kind of needed. Now that disclaimer for (predominantly) the moderators is out of the way, let us dive in to discussing which GTA game in the series had the best grand finale mission. I haven't played all GTA games, but nevertheless I have tried to include all the available options. Unfortunately though, I was unable to find out which were the true final missions in GTA 1 and it's London add-ons given that there doesn't seem to be any straight ending to them. However, I have included all the others so far.

 

Now before you ask, I have included both GTA IV's endings in the same slot because even though they play out slightly differently story-wise along with different cutscenes and such, they are largely the same mission in design and don't really require any different tactics or tasks to beat them. Even for the storyline perspective, you are wanting to get revenge on the one responsible for taking away someone you cared about, so they're not vastly different on paper enough for me warrant separating them in the poll. Nevertheless, if you do prefer one of them to the other in any case, you are free to elaborate on that throughout the thread. But let's get on with it shall we?

 

Now for me personally, there's a lot of good final missions in the GTA series, since they all give you some sense of victory for completing the long dramatic story of the games. But for me personally, I'd have to go with End of the Line in GTA: San Andreas. The length of this mission along with it's design just makes it fun for me to play, but not only that the build-up throughout the story just makes things feel much better. Having finally been able to find Smoke and sort him out for his treachery along with finally being able to deal with Tenpenny who has had you under his thumb the entire game, along with completing CJ's whole character arc of wanting to redeem himself for the Grove and his family, just makes it all so satisfying. I never get tired of it, especially the fire truck chase at the end.

 

But what about you? What's your favourite final mission in the GTA series and for what reasons is it your favourite? Leave your thoughts below and vote in the poll above!

Edited December 21, 2018 by Grotti Vigilante
Added Episodes from Liberty City missions.

[Lioshenka]

Voted for GTA 3's The Excahnge, though it was difficult choosing between it and The End of the Line.

 

They both had some good shootouts, unexpected turns of the story, good endings - but what made me for me was that last cutscene with Claude walking towards home on a quite foggy morning (evening?). Very cinematographic and adorably realistic. GTA SA's "Going to check out the hood" was also a very moving line, but probably not as much, because it didn't feel much different after you stepped out of that house.

 

GTA 3 had that feeling of accomplishment, feeling of things having changed and ended.

Edited December 18, 2018 by Lioshenka

[TheSantader25]

End of the Line easily is the best finale I've ever played in any game ever. So good that pretty much any game I finished after San Andreas left me unsatisfied with it's finale because I kept comparing it to SA. It's Long and full of sense of accomplishment. Not only you had a long journey throughout the story across a state with CJ developing as a protagonist but you also still have to work for getting "up" in the palace. The fire truck chase was accompanied with the song "How Could I Just Kill a Man?" the first time I played it and it seemed like the song was made for that chase. Vagos throwing Molotovs at the car even made it more intense. Not to mention the biggest Boss fight of the series with Big Smoke and an on rail chase at the end. How better can a finale get? 

 

On the side note the 3D era finals are simply far ahead for me in comparison to HD ones. Since you feel like you're doing things yourself. 

 

Also I'd like to give GTA III's ending some praise too. It felt intense and tue ending song and gunshot sound made it very well. 

 

1)GTA SA

2)GTA III

3)GTA VCS

4)GTA TBOGT

5)GTA VC

6)GTA IV

7)GTA V

8)GTA TLAD

9)GTA LCS

 

Edited December 18, 2018 by TheSantader25

[Grotti Vigilante]

8 minutes ago, TheSantader25 said:

The fire truck chase was accompanied with the song "How Could I Just Kill a Man?" the first time I played it and it seemed like the song was made for that chase.

For me, I prefer the song “Dre Day” to play before the song you mentioned during the chase. Whenever I replay the mission I usually pause the game and go into the audio option of the menu and do the skip song glitch until the song is playing on the radio. I wonder what the soundtrack would be like if it was done today though with GTA V having gotten a soundtrack for chase scenes. We may never know.

[Tao Cheng]

The Exchange when it comes to challenge because you lose your weapons and you needed to be resourceful.

A Revenger's Tragedy when it comes to emotion because you come close to winning only for that person you come after take all that away from you. 

A Salt in the Wound had great carnage.

 

I wish The Time's Come was canon but Franklin sounded out of character and felt weird submitting to the person requesting that to happen.

Edited December 18, 2018 by Tao Cheng
Grammar error.

[Algonquin Assassin]

Out Of Commission/A Revenger's Tragedy. Particularly A Revenger's Tragedy as there's something really satisfying killing Dimitri a the foot of the Statue Of Happiness. Poetic justice served and Keep Your Friends Close. The Scarface style stand off was amazing. 

 

End Of The Line was disappointing IMO. I like to actually kill the final antagonist myself so it felt anti-climatic to me.

[Bratva Assassin]

Definitely Out of Commission/A Revenger's Tragedy! Whether you kill Dimitri Rascalov or Jimmy Pegorino in the very last mission, it just feels so satisfying AND climactic both at the same time!

[Grotti Vigilante]

10 minutes ago, Miamivicecity said:

Out Of Commission/A Revenger's Tragedy. Particularly A Revenger's Tragedy as there's something really satisfying killing Dimitri a the foot of the Statue Of Happiness. Poetic justice served and Keep Your Friends Close. The Scarface style stand off was amazing. 

 

End Of The Line was disappointing IMO. I like to actually kill the final antagonist myself so it felt anti-climatic to me.

You picked the GTA IV choice? Wow, what a surprise that nobody saw coming at all . (Nah just kidding it’s a decent choice and it isn’t the usual happy ending stuff we’re used to). I don’t agree on the whole point of End if the Line personally though since it kind of felt better watching Tenpenny die slowly instead of having the quick way out after everything he did. Not to mention that there was no need to make the authorities job harder after a series of riots by trying to find the man who shot him. To each their own though really.  

[Algonquin Assassin]

5 minutes ago, Grotti Vigilante said:

You picked the GTA IV choice? Wow, what a surprise that nobody saw coming at all . (Nah just kidding it’s a decent choice and it isn’t the usual happy ending stuff we’re used to). I don’t agree on the whole point of End if the Line personally though since it kind of felt better watching Tenpenny die slowly instead of having the quick way out after everything he did. Not to mention that there was no need to make the authorities job harder after a series of riots by trying to find the man who shot him. To each their own though really.  

Thank you for respecting my point of view. It's much appreciated.

 

I get how it might be appealing for some to watch him slowly die, but by the end of a GTA game I like the antagonist to fall at my own hand. Just the way I've always been.

[Grotti Vigilante]

18 minutes ago, Miamivicecity said:

Thank you for respecting my point of view. It's much appreciated.

Not a problem mate. I mean I could easily predict what your answer was going to be since you love GTA IV so much, but none of your reasons are ever really baseless. Even as a San Andreas fan I can totally see why GTA IV is such an appealing game and it really has a compelling story and characters to go along with it. 

 

Quote

 

I get how it might be appealing for some to watch him slowly die, but by the end of a GTA game I like the antagonist to fall at my own hand. Just the way I've always been.

I suppose if it makes you feel a bit more satisfied you could always shoot the tyres of the fire truck before Tenpenny loses control and thus you can make it look like you caused his death. Granted it needs good aim and precise timing, but it’s still possible. I’ve done it beforehand in the many times I’ve replayed the mission.

 

EDIT: no idea what happened with my first reply. I think it may have been with the copy pasting tool of sorts but I don’t know at all. Do forgive the strange look though cause the answer is all the same really.

Edited December 19, 2018 by Grotti Vigilante

[Algonquin Assassin]

3 minutes ago, Grotti Vigilante said:

EDIT: no idea what happened with my first reply. I think it may have been with the copy pasting tool of sorts but I don’t know at all. Do forgive the strange look though cause the answer is all the same really.

Yeah. I think it does indeed have something to do with copying & pasting. Been like that since the forum update. 

[Grotti Vigilante]

Just now, Miamivicecity said:

Yeah. I think it does indeed have something to do with copying & pasting. Been like that since the forum update. 

Oh well. The more you know in future then. 

[Tacymist]

It's been a while since I played, but going off memory I liked End of the Line the most. It didn't bother me that I didn't get to kill him because he was running scared already, so I imagine he died in terror anyway. 

[Femme Fatale]

GTA IV's, of course.

[FlexiveFowl]

My Top 5:

- End of the Line

- A Revenger's Tragedy

- Keep Your Friends Close

- Salt in the Wound

- The Exchange 

[Crossbones]

Revenger's tragedy, even though I chose Revenge ending most of the time I played IV. I always thought of Dimitri as the main antagonist of the game not Jimmy Pegorino. And, killing Dimitri at the end and avenging Roman feels very satisfying and pretty sad too at the same time cause Niko has killed his sworn enemy atlast but at the same time he has lost his dearest. So, the emotions are kinda mixed and those dialogues like "You killed your best friend, you betrayed everyone who came in contact with you, you killed my cousin" and the post mission phone call with Mallorie just makes me feel sad. This mission is a mix of thrilling chases, gunfights and lot of emotions and you can feel those emotions, so I'd say Revenger's Tragedy.

The second one would be End of the Line. It was fun to do, I mean I loved every part of that mission be it stealing a SWAT tank and ramming it in the Crack palace, the shootout in the building, chasing Tenpenny. Also I wish Tenpenny died at the hands of CJ and not by a car accident. 

[JPFL]

Deleted

Edited April 22, 2019 by JPFL

[Jack Lupino]

End Of The Line-it had every element you want from final mission;fun as well as challenging.

From breaking into house with tank,killing tons of enemies to make your way to top to kll smoke,then chasing tennpenny throughout the city killing bunch of cops and gangs on the way and finally seeing him die a painful death. It has the most satisfying ending in gta series till date.

 

My second favourite is the The Third Way 

 

GTA IV had the worst ending out of 3 games of that era imo; the driving part in alderney highway was so boring and its present in both endings which is even worse.

thank god atleast they put a checkpoint in this mission after driving part otherwise i would have never finished the game!

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2018 by Jack Lupino

[DirtCheap]

End of the Line. Why?

• The build-up to invading Smoke's palace
• Using a tank to ram into said palace
• The amazing shootout
• The dialogue between Sweet, Smoke, and Tenpenny
• The boss battle with Smoke
• Catching Sweet from the truck
• Cypress Hill's How Could I Just Kill a Man? playing during the truck chase
• The car shootout
• Tenpenny's last words
• The entire last cutscene
• The end-credits, with the theme song playing

 

Need I say more?

[Euri DR]

What about Episodes from liberty city?

[Grotti Vigilante]

2 hours ago, Euri13 said:

What about Episodes from liberty city?

Bugger! How could I forget them? 

[Algonquin Assassin]

2 hours ago, Grotti Vigilante said:

Bugger! How could I forget them? 

 

If it's any consolation I didn't even notice it myself.

 

Anyway now I think about it "Get Lost" was pretty cool. Storming the prison to finally put Billy down was one of the most intense moments in the series for me.

[Grotti Vigilante]

6 hours ago, Miamivicecity said:

 

If it's any consolation I didn't even notice it myself.

 

Anyway now I think about it "Get Lost" was pretty cool. Storming the prison to finally put Billy down was one of the most intense moments in the series for me.

It is a bit consoling. Matter of fact it seems many people failed to notice or least just didn’t say anything of it beforehand. Oh well. 

[Typhus]

I would like to say IV's endings, but they're kind of ruined for me by the dramatic shot at the end being dominated by the Statue of Happiness. So you have these grim final missions, which both end on a note of futility, and then the camera pans up to...that Statue of Liberty parody designed to be a Hilary Clinton reference. It's a jarring shift, which even to this day completely takes me out of the mood of the story, because all I'm reminded of is a cheap joke which I never found funny to begin with.

Oh, Roman's dead, Niko's emotionally crippled, but here's Hilary f*cking Clinton holding a coffee cup, because...satire?

 

So instead, I'll go for Keep Your Friends Close. The story built perfectly to that finale, with Sonny being a persistent thorn in your side as he goes from simply bothering Tommy to screaming threats. The gameplay is nothing to write home about, particularly as there's no decent cover system to actually give you much of a fighting chance. But what really makes it special for me is the ending, with Tommy looking out at the city, with no one left to oppose him, and this music playing:

 

It's a reflective, oddly sad melody, but to me really fits considering there's now no one left to stop Tommy ruling Vice City like a King. A very murderous, drug-peddling, morally bankrupt King.

[Copcaller]

Get Lost so badass how Johnny,Terry, Clay attack the prison kill Billy and escape and burn down their clubhouse 

 

Also the exchange and keep your friends close

[djpromethium]

Can't help but love The Third Way. Just such a positive, (and also f*cking awesome) end to V. The choice I made the first time I beat the game, and remains my favorite.

[RogerWho]

So I'm literally the only one who likes the ending of TBoGT the most? The best part of GTA IV trilogy is how all the stories are interconnected. I love the fact that essentially, these are 3 games centered around a bag of diamonds. Not about saving the universe, or getting revenge, or unraveling some illuminati conspiracy... Just a bag of diamonds. And TBoGT ends this awesome trilogy perfectly.

 

I have to say though, Something Sensible is up there at the top too because you get to see Trevor burn in flames. Still, a garbage character dying in a crap story doesn't make it good, it's just a bit of satisfaction. Micheal's death was done better anyway.

 

Other than these I've only finished III, SA and CW. III's ending is notoriously meh, SA's was infuriating with the horrendous PS2 controls and I thought I'll never finish that mission, and I don't even remember how CW ended.

[iiCriminnaaL]

Out of Commission / A Revenger's Tragedy, especially the latter.

 

Also, honorable mentions to Get Lost and End Of The Line.

[Rafae S]

Damn, this one is good.

 

Keep Your Friends Close for me personally. End of The Line and The Exchange come soooooooo close though.

 

GTA IV & GTA V's finales definitely weren't as memorable.

[JPFL]

New List:

1.A Revenger's Tragedy

2.Out of Commission

3.Get Lost

4.Keep Your Friends Close

5.The Sicilian Gambit

 

Honorable Mentions:

End of The Line

Departure Time 

Last Stand

Salt in the Wound

The Exchange

Edited April 22, 2019 by JPFL