Topic: Game Endings

[Xessive]

I just came across an interesting article on MaximumPC about games endings.

Game Endings Aren't Bad - They're Just Misunderstood

[Cobra951]

Huh?  Don't complain, be happy some of the endings are good?  Is that the extent of his reasoning?

[Xessive]

That's why I thought I'd post. I don't necessarily agree with him entirely. I'm willing to admit that in some cases fans are not happy simply because they didn't like the direction of the story (you get that in every narrative medium, not exclusively in games). However, there are times (perhaps many) where the latter half of a game feels like a mad dash to the credits.

I guess what I'm saying is, do you waste your time on web forums complaining about crappy videogame endings? Or do you cherish the great ones and marvel at how lucky you were to get the chance to experience them?

That didn't tick me off but I can see how it could be offensive to the fan who's dedicated to a particular IP that had a cheap ending: "No, I don't waste my time bitching about bad videogame endings, I'm just bitching about THIS one!!"

I'm not particularly against stories where the hero dies in the end either. As long as it's relevant to the story behind it and it works with the plot, why not?

Speaking of heroes dying, which out this amazing database of media/fiction hero death records: The Hero Dies

I stumbled on it and I was impressed with how well they document literary approaches to character death and the records of characters from different media.

[MysterD]

I don't know, but Game Endings always are a touchy topic...

These days, it just seems a lot of endings often have hanging storyline threads, cliffhangers and/or set-ups for DLC's, expansions, and/or sequels.
I think that's what drives me nuts more than anything - lack of completeness.

I have no problem w/ hero dying, characters dying, or any other story stuff - as long as it works and makes sense w/ the story/plot.

If you have a game w/ multiple endings, you just have to kind of pray to God you do get one of the better endings out of the club - hehe.
Hopefully, ALL of the multiple endings don't suck, though...

Some of my favorite games, hell - I'm still waiting for some hanging story-line/plot-line threads to be resolved...
Half-Life series; and The Witcher 2 come to mind right now.

[Xessive]

I just did some reading on the Mass Effect 3 Indoctrination Theory.

(click to show/hide)

Basically, fans posit that Shepard has been undergoing a gradual indoctrination process throughout the whole series. The most notable effects show up in ME3 i.e. the child that only Shepard seems to be able to see, the mysterious dream sequences, and the entire end sequences after getting hit by Harbinger's beam.

Apparently after that point, it's all in Shepard's head with Anderson and the Illusive man (who could not have possibly been there before Shepard) were both parts of his mind, each representing resisting the reapers or submitting to them respectively. When Shepard inadvertently shoots Anderson in the left gut, the scene afterwards shows Shepard holding the same spot on his own body with fresh blood.

Also, if you choose to destroy the reapers you will get a split-second sequence after the credit showing a torso trapped under concrete with the N7 insignia (presumably Shepard) take a breath. The location and debris indicate this is on Earth and not the citadel, suggesting that Shepard never left Earth after getting hit by Harbinger's beam.

It's a conspiracy man!

[gpw11]

I just did some reading on the Mass Effect 3 Indoctrination Theory.

(click to show/hide)

Basically, fans posit that Shepard has been undergoing a gradual indoctrination process throughout the whole series. The most notable effects show up in ME3 i.e. the child that only Shepard seems to be able to see, the mysterious dream sequences, and the entire end sequences after getting hit by Harbinger's beam.

Apparently after that point, it's all in Shepard's head with Anderson and the Illusive man (who could not have possibly been there before Shepard) were both parts of his mind, each representing resisting the reapers or submitting to them respectively. When Shepard inadvertently shoots Anderson in the left gut, the scene afterwards shows Shepard holding the same spot on his own body with fresh blood.

Also, if you choose to destroy the reapers you will get a split-second sequence after the credit showing a torso trapped under concrete with the N7 insignia (presumably Shepard) take a breath. The location and debris indicate this is on Earth and not the citadel, suggesting that Shepard never left Earth after getting hit by Harbinger's beam.

It's a conspiracy man!

(click to show/hide)

I watched a ten or so minute video on this soon after I finished the game. It's actually pretty fucking amazing how well it all lines up. I don't know if it was Bioware's original intention or not (might be the biggest troll ever if it was and I honestly don't really think this is anything more than sublime coincidence), but considering the legwork that someone else did for them in discovering all this shit and linking it into a completely plausible scenario they probably should pay attention to some of it when they try to salvage their ending.

Huh?  Don't complain, be happy some of the endings are good?  Is that the extent of his reasoning?

Yeah, I don't know what he's trying to say. It doesn't even sound like he really does with his last words:

I guess what I'm saying is, do you waste your time on web forums complaining about crappy videogame endings? Or do you cherish the great ones and marvel at how lucky you were to get the chance to experience them?

It took him three pages of writing that I didn't read in order to press that point (apparently), and it's fucking stupid. I mean, I make fun of the crying over Mass Effect all the time, but it does serve a purpose: Bioware (and everyone else) is now very aware that people aren't going to let half-assed endings just slide.  And yes, as much as I make fun of most of the people crying about it, most of them are completely correct.  The following spoiler doesn't have any actual ending details or plot spoilers, but rather describes why, in my mind, the ending was functionally broken:

(click to show/hide)

The majority of legitimate backlash over the ending isn't because it the plot didn't go the way people wanted it to or because they weren't happy with the decisions of the writers but because the ending is legitimately broken and structurally unsound. It literally could have been made by someone who had never played any of the three games and it literally could have been used for dozens of other games out there. It entirely feels like it was developed in isolation from the rest of the story (it probably was) and it shows.  There's an art to ending a story and you have a lot of breathing room in how you do it, but this strayed so far from it that there's no way you can actually look at it and feel the least bit confident that they took it seriously. That, combined with the fact that the grand finale of a series which promoted the culminated effects of player choice as it's mantra didn't really account for them at all in the final hour lead the fans to lose their shit. As they probably should.

This guy is an idiot though.  What he's saying boils down to "Hey, just be happy you have something to eat  "  No, motherfucker - I was promised steak, I paid for steak, and I'm kind of a little bit choked that you just gave me a plate of white rice.