yeah, this discussion is definitly something, great idea darkmaster
Subplots are nice, I they reward the player with something
Problem is to strike a balance.
If you dont focus on you main plot, the rest will feel like it's just there to artificially lengthen the game's lasting time.
(good examples of a misuse of subplots are generally all movie-based games)
I for once don't like a lot of loose ends. However,
the question is what do you mean by loose ends? For example, I really like the ending of the Babylon 5 series despite its many open questions.
However if you pay attention to the show, you will find that most of them are answered (or at least it is hinted at the answer) during the course of the plot.
What I don't like are for example badly executed cliffhangers like my own in FH2260 which I personally altered in the newest version because it was so cheap
or in many recent big budget games.
Also pretty silly are subplots that are started but never end. If you happen to know
Prey, a pretty cool FPS, in the first half of the game you encounter strange spirits that attack you. An all knowing character even states that these ghosts never appeared before you arrived. However, after three encounters, you never ever see them again and nobody mentions or explains their nature to you.
We are talking about videogames here, which usually dont have a narrative that equals those of other medias.