How (not) to end a game satisfyingly

I am fully aware that I'm putting myself in the minority here, but I tend to allow myself to get wrapped up in the silliest game narratives (like Gears of War 2, which includes the best line ever uttered by anyone ever ("THEY'RE DESTROYING OUR CITIES WITH A GIANT WORM!")) while remaining fully aware they are completely fucking stupid most of the time. One of the franchises that I always really appreciated the narrative of is, unsurprisingly, Diablo. I remember flipping through the manual back when I first got it, reading the backstory that the game never really did much to hint at, studying the biographies of the nameless wanderers and learning all about the Sin War (or whatever it was called), and generally freaking myself out a little because I grew up super religious, so all this talk of DEMONS and the like freaked me out a little--or at the very least convinced me to hide the manual from my parents out of fear they'd forbid me to play Diablo anymore (as it turns out, they probably would not have given a shit, but I have always been incredibly good at getting anxious about trivial shit).

The ending of the first Diablo, where it is incredibly clear that your hero was going to wind up being the next Lord of Terror, was incredible. How many games end with the bad guy more or less winning? Then of course, you had Diablo II, which was the one and only time I've ever been carded while buying a game, where the villain outright triumphs (before the expansion at least), and always with those gorgeous Blizzard cinematics that very few have been able to replicate--Tyrial Vs Diablo in Diablo II was one of my favorite cutscenes for a very long time.

Okay, so it hasn't aged that well, but still!

Then of course the announcements for Diablo III started, and the game was great--as you'd hope it would be. Once again, the story was told with cinematics that looked really good, like holy shit good, and what's more, Blizzard added in class-specific scenes which, while not animated in the same way, had a nice parchment look to them which was nice enough. They broke up each individual act, but like every other Diablo game, the big moments got proper cutscenes (i.e. the beginning of every act and, most importantly, the ending).

So when Reaper of Souls was announced, I of course got really excited about it, because there were going to be another couple badass cutscenes to go along with all the other cool shit that is in the game. Except... there was just the one, and while the ending of Diablo III carried some real weight (assuming you beat it before the expansion came out, of course), the ending of Reaper of Souls feels like a particularly wet fart. You get a short parchment cutscene, and then it cuts to a screen that literally just says CONGRATULATIONS, as if this was Super Mario Bros.

I know, this is a weird complaint to have. The narrative of the Diablo series isn't that important to most, and the real enjoyment is in the gameplay which is strangely addictive, but man, even the original Diablo managed to have three cutscenes in there! After two games and an expansion that all gave you a cool cutscene at the end, having a quick summary of "oh this chick seems pretty powerful, I hope she doesn't turn evil" felt kind of empty. I couldn't help but feel like it was rushed, even though I know in the more rational part of my brain that it wasn't rushed at all, because Blizzard doesn't rush anything. Still, I like a little more closure at the end of my games, even if they're part of a longer story (and they made it pretty obvious there's going to be a fourth Diablo, or at least another expansion after this).

End your games, devs! If I'm going to go along with your ridiculous stories at least give me a cool cutscene at the end of it all.