EDIT: Updated thoughts here.
So... I finished the game today, and I was somewhat disappointed with the ending I got, so I looked up the others... and they're not any better.
This is the story:
After some stage setting, V pulls off the heist of a lifetime but as a consequence V is left dying. From then on V sets out to find a way to save his or her life. V never succeeds. The end.
Getting Johnny ready to sacrifice his life to save yours doesn't mean anything if it doesn't actually save your life. The sacrifices made along the way don't matter if there's nothing won from it. I get the game is supposed to be dystopian and all, but it should still be a whole story. Right now there's just no resolution to any of the plot points, it just ends without having fixed anything. You fail. And not in an interesting tragedy tragedy sort of way, the story just ends. You don't even get to play your "blaze of glory".
Fuck me, this isn't any good. It's like the climax of the story is that first heist on Arasaka and the rest of the game is denouement. Most of the game is "why your actions in act I were a bad idea".
If the theme was "V is dying, what will he or she do with the time left" then the ending could work. However, the theme is very clearly "trying to survive in a terrible world" and that theme is destroyed by ignoring it for the ending. This is bad storytelling.
-----
It's rather unfortunate, because they honestly wrote a brilliant cast of characters for this story. I enjoyed every minute of it, so it's a damn shame the ending sours the experience.
But hey, at least it's not Mass Effect 3 levels bad.
EDIT: "others ones" -> "others"
So... I finished the game today, and I was somewhat disappointed with the ending I got, so I looked up the others... and they're not any better.
This is the story:
After some stage setting, V pulls off the heist of a lifetime but as a consequence V is left dying. From then on V sets out to find a way to save his or her life. V never succeeds. The end.
Getting Johnny ready to sacrifice his life to save yours doesn't mean anything if it doesn't actually save your life. The sacrifices made along the way don't matter if there's nothing won from it. I get the game is supposed to be dystopian and all, but it should still be a whole story. Right now there's just no resolution to any of the plot points, it just ends without having fixed anything. You fail. And not in an interesting tragedy tragedy sort of way, the story just ends. You don't even get to play your "blaze of glory".
Fuck me, this isn't any good. It's like the climax of the story is that first heist on Arasaka and the rest of the game is denouement. Most of the game is "why your actions in act I were a bad idea".
If the theme was "V is dying, what will he or she do with the time left" then the ending could work. However, the theme is very clearly "trying to survive in a terrible world" and that theme is destroyed by ignoring it for the ending. This is bad storytelling.
-----
It's rather unfortunate, because they honestly wrote a brilliant cast of characters for this story. I enjoyed every minute of it, so it's a damn shame the ending sours the experience.
But hey, at least it's not Mass Effect 3 levels bad.
EDIT: "others ones" -> "others"
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