I was thinking about what has being said lately by game reviewers, game developers, the
ppl that opposes us just because they like to be against anyone and trolls about how
pussies we are asking for a happy ending... they believe that happy endings is just sissy
and that it is pretty cool to kill the main characters just because life sucks.
I just decided, then, to watch, see and read all my favorite movies, and books. Most of
them were number 1 blockbusters with millions of fans that support the movies...
Naming some of them: Avatar, The lord of the rings, Batman Begins (and the Dark
Knight), the last samurai, gladiator, transformers, the patriot, braveheart, die hard,
indiana jones,starwars, matrix (just the first one, they other two seemed to be altered by
EA), Grand Torino, Invictus, etc,etc.
Lets pick some movies like Lord of the rings, batman and Avatar as an example for
happy endings:
I wonder if James Cameron, Christopher Nolan and Peter Jackson would be tagged as
sissies, unrealistic and inmatures becuase they ended their movies with supremes happy
endings. I dont ever heard that at all. At the end, after the heroes journey, and with the
utter destruction of a superb enemy that endangers the existing unvierse of those heores,
they are allowed to live... the journey itself was a test, a suffering, a tribute to the
strength and courage of each character. All of the heroes had doubdts, feared and even
lost many friends in the way to the end. All of them stood before the others and
sacrificed themselves towards the benefit of the others. At the end they had to journey in
the evil lair (indepently of its realm)... and they faced the ultimate test. Wether the
temptation, they succeded... sometimes they fall and his sidekick remembers him who he
isa nd why is he fighting for.
As you can see, all the movies in different stories and tematic tells you teh same and all
of them were great. Supreme masterpieces that will last in our history as reference of
how a history is to be made. EPIC!
Lets take for example the case of gladiator, braveheart and starwars. In all of them, the
good won but there were sacrifices, there were losses and many that felt, had the chance
to return and redeem themselves. At the end the heroes died, after the battle... leaveing
after them a legacy. Darth vader left a new world for his son Luke, Gladiator allowed the
Roma to have a greater future with the new emperor and wallace... well wallace inspired
the others to finish what he started.. FREEEDDOMMM! Sorry... :D
The last 3 movies endings are what i call them bittersweet endings, because its bitter to
see how a person who fought bravely had to face death, but it is sweet because all the
legacy left.
All those movies left us nice memories in our minds. And told us that a hero is made by
the circuntances, that hero was a normal person but that stood strong where others
would have fallen or retreated or bowed. They followed their ideals. They all were
wounded and hurt, some lost the love of tehir lifes and gained strength with their
memory, some of them were tired of fighting but found another reason to keep the fight.
Now, all of them reminds me Shepard and Shepard reminds me all of them. killing the
hero, usually kills the story, unless the hero die after victory due to his wounds, or
because he had to do something in order to destroy the enemies that would kill him.
Self-sacrifice has being and will be the highstest and purest virtues of the human beings.
Self.sacrifce for the sake of your loved ones, for the future free of evil, no matter what
form it takes.
These endings do not affect the artistic integrity of the creators or the director... on the
contrary it usually enhances it. Because if you will let him live or die, it has to be
magnificient and carefully thought through... it has to be epic and must have a significant
reason.
All of those movies presented us an ending where we saw hope at the end. We could
imagine the rest of the history and how everything would turn out. There were no
questions. None of us can say that they had a doubt or that there was a plothole at the
end of galdiator or starwars... The end was kinda of straightforward. But we were able
to see what happened next or the director left taht to your imagination but gave you
enough hints to know that everything was fina. They were EPIC, no matter what.
Now I find kinda of silly from BW developers to say that modifying their endings will
affect their artistic integrity... the only thing that would be affected is their pride. And
thats their doom as artists. Lets just extrapolate the ME3 ending to Avatar world for
example...
Just remember the final 20 minutes... he decided to be Toruk Macto and risk everyhting
in a flip of a coin, he gathered allies, and all of them (against all odds) faced together the
enemies... Now moving a little bit forward in the movie, he faces the coronel and his LI
is trapped, now well... Just imagine what wuld be your reaction if instead of killing him
explicity, he offered you a couple of choices, in where all of them you die, and everyone
one everywhere will die because of you... just imagine that the choices were related to
the shuttle that were transporting explosives... and that all the choices given never
addressed "destroy the damn plane", but instead of that you have a silly conversation
with the coronel and you can choose where the destruction of Eywa would be colored...
blue explosions, red explosions or green explosions... All of them will destroy everyone
everywhere in teh world... but you will have a nice hair color. Frustrating? Stupid? Well,
that what BW defines as bittersweet ending. I would like to know what would James
Cameron think about an ending as anti-EPIC as the one that i presented you. umm?
What would happened to TLOR if before throwing the ring to the volcano, Forodo was
presented 3 choices by Sauron, where none of them would destroy the ring, he would
survive but you would have nice colored lava explosions our of the volcano... that would
be nice, dont you think? Another BW bittersweet ending... What would peter Jackson
think about this crappy ending? Is he a pussy because he wanted something good?
because he wanted Frodo alive at the end?. Yes sure! (+doubtful)
And ask to you the same thing. All of these stories ended clearly. Noone had to think a
lot about it, everything was presented and explained. there were no mazes. And when
mazes were created well... lets just say that things didnt end the way it should be...
remembering Matrix revolutions. Thats why i decided to hold the line. I believe that a happy ending is a MUST in this serie, or even a bittersweet ending but WELL_DEVELOPED.
If you finish or end a serie you must do it correctly. if you dont want to do so... dont do
it! If you are going to do something do it right, or dont do it! (Garrus father to garrus).
An improved ending will effectively enhance the game experience no matter what the
other guys say.
A hero, a person that sacrifices himself for the rest of galaxy, a person
that suffers and witness how his friends sacrifice themselves because he was a beacon of
hope... because he inspired them (mordin, thane, etc). a person that is able to change
peoples nature and that that shows that he is ready to do wahtever it takes for his friends
and loved one... that hero deserves a better ending, deserves a better future...
If i wanted to see reality in a videogame, a movie or a book... I wouldnt even bother to
spend money on them... I wpuld just buy a newspaper and then there I can read the real
life. Please developers, writters stop making "real" your stories... If I want something real
I just must step out my home and see my surroundings... see the suffering and see how
everyday the bad guys and the evil wins... Dont make the mistake of bringing reality to
your stories... because you are killing them..
Havent you realized yet that people just want to buy, hear, play or read your stories because thats a gateway ... an escape of the reality?... After these years of humans existence ... havent you realized that yet?. People is tired of reality and looks eagerly for fantasy, for a chance to change at least that world.
If you have not yet, then I must say: Shame on you then. You are an embarrasment for what a storyteller is. Because in order to tell a story you must first understand your reality and create a compelling story that will succesfully teleport the readers, or gamers from their actual reality to your story fantasy! Learn! You have a lot of examples around you to inspire you on how to do things correctly! And please stop to excuse yourself and put your pride in a side because pride is the first thing that darkens a story, a possible masterpiece.
