Book Ends/Video Games: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'' begins and ends with a traveling theater company putting on the same play in the same city, but as a front for a kidnapping the first time and sneaking someone in the second.

* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]-2'', Yuna frequently narrates the story in voiceover. One of the earliest cutscenes begins with her explaining, "It all began when I found this sphere of you." Both the Normal and Good endings end with the same line.

* ''[[Halo]] 3'' has an excellent example of a bookend in its ending. The Arbiter dismisses the apparent death of the Master Chief with "Were it so easy," mirroring the opening scene where the Chief holds a pistol to the Arbiter's head and all the Arbiter does is dismiss the possibility <s>he</s> either of them could be killed so easily.

** A second example, bookending the entire trilogy, is in the final video unlocked by [[The Stinger|sitting through the credits]]. The Master Chief climbs into a cryo tube to wait for rescue, after climbing out of a very similar cryo tube at the start of the first game (the Master Chief's introduction).

** Since the game takes place in a [[Groundhog Day Loop]] three-day cycle, the same events repeat themselves over and over. In the very first cycle of the game, you have to go up to the clock tower at the end of the third day and face a boss encounter that you can only survive by playing a particular song on your ocarina. Then, once you play through the entire rest of the game, you have to go back to the same place, at the same time, and play a ''different'' song on your ocarina. The events of the battle unfold radically differently this time around, and once you watch the cutscene you get sent to the final dungeon.

** The opening scene in the game is Link riding Epona through the Lost Woods searching for a long-lost friend. During the end credits, Link is riding Epona into the woods, continuing his original quest. Even the underscoring on the soundtrack is the same.

*** There was also another set of bookends in this game. The very first scene with Sheik where you are introduced to the character, and the very last scene with Sheik where she {{spoiler|reveals herself to be Zelda,}} are remarkably similar. They both take place in the Temple of Time and start off with Link running only to stop and turn around to find Sheik standing behind him after she announces her presence with the line "I've been waiting for you."

** As the plot of ''[[The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]'' kicks off, Link leaves his hometown with the pirates. In the last scene of the game... Link leaves his hometown with the pirates. The tone of the latter scene is much more positive, though. Especially notable is that the first departing-scene had Link waving his grandma and neighbours goodbye with one hand, stoping for a few seconds, suddenly running foreward a few steps and then starting to wave at them again, but this time with both hands. The second departing has his sister Aryll (who stays behind on Outset) doing this just the same way.

*** At the beginning of the game, Link has someone call for him at his second story window. At the end of the game, this happens again, but this time, {{spoiler|Link isn't inside; he is riding Epona out of the village.}}

*** The final dungeon of the Fused Shadows arc is accessed from a cave at the bottom of Lake Hylia, and the boss is fought at the lowest point in the entire game world. The final dungeon of the Mirror of Twilight arc is accessed by a cannon that is also at Lake Hylia, and the boss is fought at the ''highest'' point in the entire game world. Both bosses have the same music, and both eventually involve latching onto and attacking an eye on the boss's back.

* In ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'', the game opens with Clank learning of a plot, flying from his home planet to Ratchet's and crash landing. This is repeated with both characters late in the game (complete with crash landing after the final boss battle), and the tutorial level is the first part of the last level. The [[Big Bad]] points out it's poetic.

** Goes [[Beyond the Impossible]] if you consider the games' endings. The first game ended with {{spoiler|the eponymous duo falling from a great height and then, once the danger had passed, apparently splitting up. In this case, it was Ratchet leaving Clank on his own, then coming back.}} Compare [[Ratchet and Clank A Crack In Time|A Crack in Time]]'s ending, which includes {{spoiler|the aforementioned toppling from a great height (on Ratchet's part) and, once the time crisis is averted, Clank choosing to stay at the Great Clock, then changing his mind and rejoining Ratchet at the last minute.}} Considering that, at the time, ACiT was speculated to be the last game in the series, I think it qualifies as [[Book Ends]] material.

** ''[[Silent Hill Origins (Video Game)|Silent Hill Origins]]'' ends with Travis finally being able to access the truck he ditched when he saw the Gillespie house on fire.

** [[Silent Hill 2]] begins and ends with Mary's letter, and depending on which of the [[Multiple Endings]] you get, reveals what the ''rest'' of said letter reads like.

* Happens in the Mario and Luigi series too. Superstar Saga starts with fighting Bowser in front of Peach's throne, the final battle is fighting Bowletta in front of her throne. Partners in Time starts and ends with fighting Bowser in Peach's castle, except Bowser was a baby the first time. Bowsers Inside Story begins with Bowser fighting Mario after barging into a conference room {{spoiler|and as the penultimate battle has Bowser fighting Fawful in the same conference room.}}

* ''[[Call of Duty]]'' 3 mirrors Starship Troopers with a briefing in the back of a truck from Sergeant McCullen. The game closes on {{spoiler|Huxley}} making a similar speech in the back of an identical truck.

** The series chronologically starts with (trying to) kill Ultranationalist leader Zakhaev. You finally succeed, albeit with a different player character, at the end. Fast forward to the third game: final "boss" is {{spoiler|his follower Makarov, and you're using the same player character (Price) as tried to kill Zakhaev the first time around.}}

** The first mission of Modern Warfare 1 begins with Price finishing a cigar, the final mission of Modern Warfare 3 {{spoiler|ends with Price lighting a cigar}}.

* A musical meta-example in ''[[Touhou (Video Game)|Touhou]]'' fangame ''Concealed the Conclusion'': the theme of the [[Final Boss]] fight, after which Gensokyo [[Dream Apocalypse|ceases to exist]], contains a piece of the very first theme of the first ''Touhou'' game. In a way, [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|the same music that marked the beginning of Gensokyo, also marks its destruction]].

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