Also, as easy as it was for the final confrontation to be undramatic for most low-chaos players Havelock's final speech is incredibly well acted and staged.

@Klei said:

As a writer myself, I liked the ending. Why? Because it fucking ends. No fucking drama, no new layers of questions, it's just over depending on what you did. And that's it. I don't need end-of-the-world revelations for a storyline to be good, it needs to grab you, the player, and motivate you to see it through. And that, it did very well.

To be perfectly honest; the story itself didn't have much meat to it. I enjoyed the level design, gameplay, and settings but I largely ignored everything about the story. Missed opportunity imo. They created such an interesting world but crafted such a predictable bland story around it.

IMHO Dishonored tried to pull a Bioshock with its ending, with the emotional string pulling and family references, but it just didn't work. The only character they made us care about was Emily, so who cares what happens, really, once she's on the throne? Dunwall is a nightmare probably best left to the plague (which, even though we know its cause, was never resolved as a plot device), the Overseers are still around to fuck everybody's day up, and thank god we saved Piero and Sokolov, a perv and a sadist, so they can continue militarizing science and abusing the poor.

At its best, the game ends terribly. Playing the character-driven emotional angle is not going to cut it.

I just finished this literally about 10 minutes ago and I couldn't be any more angry. It's not even the ending itself that pissed me off, it's the fucking music. 16 hours of plague-ridden, dystopian, immersive as all hell, nigh on genius, they end it with some of the most generic pop-rock bullshit known to man. It's not even that the music is offensively bad music, it's just generic, boring crap for generic, boring people; it's the context in which it's (mis-)used. Who the fuck thought it would be a good idea to end a game about a corrupt, Orwellian society with a piece of modern pop rock trash? WHO!?! You'd have to be a fucking idiot to approve an idea like that, and I doubt it was even Bethesda forcing them to do such a thing. I could see SOME publishers saying "put some modern pop on the end credits so we can make more money!" but Bethesda...? Eh... It's just so fucking jarring. They could've used one of their sea shanties, or one of their orchestral pieces, but no, they use modern, generic pop-rock that forcibly pulls you out of the game experience. The ending itself was terribly written, yes, but my God.. I feel all kinds of wrong right now, all because of that fucking music. What the actual fuck is wrong with whoever approved that song choice? And why do they still have a job?

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to pour another glass of wine, find a good corner, and weep.

Haha yeah I skipped the end credits practically the second I heard a bit of lyrics. My god what a poor decision

Playing for low chaos generally bits you in the ass - I regret attempting that, since later in the game there's simply very little fun for such a run, considering all you really do is rely on Blink and Dark Vision.

@mordukai said:

@Klei said:

As a writer myself, I liked the ending. Why? Because it fucking ends. No fucking drama, no new layers of questions, it's just over depending on what you did. And that's it. I don't need end-of-the-world revelations for a storyline to be good, it needs to grab you, the player, and motivate you to see it through. And that, it did very well.

To be perfectly honest; the story itself didn't have much meat to it. I enjoyed the level design, gameplay, and settings but I largely ignored everything about the story. Missed opportunity imo. They created such an interesting world but crafted such a predictable bland story around it.

Exactly. I would even extend it to the atmosphere - they've managed to create a very bleak world and do it in a very stylized art style, but it lacks any sense of wonder. The Rapture reveal in BioShock gets me every time and they were clearly attempting something similar with the boat rides with Samuel, but it just doesn't work.

Yup. Just finished it and pretty much agree with every critical point made in this thread.

So there's a pair of books in the game called A Gaffer's Tale Vol.1 & 2, which chronicles this dude's gradual disillusionment over a long whaling career. I want to play that game.

By the time I get to the end of most games, I am usually dying to finish them. It's problem I have. Once I get a few hours in and the new game "sheen" wears off, I begin to look when it's over. Didn't have that feeling with Dishonored. I was having some serious fun with the gameplay. But at the end, when I opened that final door all I could say was;

"Wait! Is that it?"

A potentially interesting universe that is let down by never really exposing itself. Still a very good game, nonetheless.

In reading this, and talking to two of my buddies I feel like I played a completely different game. Even the high chaos stuff sounds different than what I experienced. I'm sure part of that was playing start to finish as a part of a 24 hour marathon for Extra Life, but there are a number of events that seem to have at least 3 possible outcomes. YMMV, but all said and done I really enjoyed it.

so i got the high chaos ending because i finished the last 2 mission on high chaos. yah the ending wasn't anything great or blew my mind. at least i didn't have to chose a ending like deus ex: HR or ME3 lol

also load up your save and let Emily die, don't save her, that ending is pretty awesome and i preferred it to the high chaos.

Absolutely loved the game but yeah the fade to black after hugging emily + vignette resolutions, mixed with the weird pop song.. huge buzz kill on a game I really loved.

What I really don't understand is why they use that shitty pop song at the end when they have this lying around

The rock song at the end was actually composed by Daniel Licht as well, it's part of the original soundtrack. It was kinda jarring yeah, but the arrangements and melodies were in the same vein as the rest of the score, the production emphasized that as well. It was cheesy, but not as out of nowhere as some are saying. Reminded me of the ending of Mass Effect, that was heavy on the cheese as well.

@RainVillain said:

Absolutely loved the game but yeah the fade to black after hugging emily + vignette resolutions, mixed with the weird pop song.. huge buzz kill on a game I really loved.

Yeah, I feel the same way. It all just feels very hastily thrown together. I'm bothered the most by there being no resolution at all to the betrayal by Havelock and his buddies.

@Sunjammer said:

Do NOT read this if you haven't played the game through!

What is it with Deus Ex style games and really shit endings? 70% of the way through Dishonored I had an absolute blast, getting some really good Thief-style vibes (which I haven't had since Thief 3, and I've missed it!), and then they just throw it all down the toilet at the very last minute. That final mission is a joke.

I choke out Havelock, open the door and blam, fade to black, THE END. No conclusion to Havelock at all? And Pendleton and Martin are dead already? What happened? What happened to Havelock? How can you put me in a level with that amazing architecture, and then not use that architecture at all for the final mission?

And then you just tell me how I played the game. You can not give me all these choices throughout and then conclude by telling me how I played the game. I KNOW how I played! "This guy played stealthy. I guess he'll really enjoy hearing how he played stealthy!" No! No thanks!

And that credits song.. I couldn't skip the credits fast enough.

Oof. Just fantastically disappointing. Overall I'd say the designers got too obsessed with giving choices and not rewarding them.

Its safe to assume Havelock killed Pendleton and Martin out of paranoia. I believe its Sam or the outsider who alludes that Havelock might do something like that.

The game was Shit-loads of fun. Not much else mattered in the end.

more closure woulda been nice though.

@Sunjammer: I thought the exact same thing on my first playthrough with low chaos. Trust me, the high chaos final mission is WAYYYY more satisfying.

@BBQBram said:

Reminded me of the ending of Mass Effect, that was heavy on the cheese as well.

But the ending of Mass Effect 1 kept in line with the entire game and took your choices into account. PLus, that ending song wasn't that bad.

@mosdl said:

They were smart to avoid the boss battle trap that Human Revolution ran into. The final mission was easy but being low chaos made me feel pretty overpowered.

Not to mention you skip almost the entirety of the final mission by using the cable. Personally at some point during the game I realized the story wasn't that great but I enjoyed the setting and gameplay so much that I just ignored the story all together. As an entry for the first game in a series I think the developer did a great job and the feedback they are getting will make them do some changes that can make another great game.

@Chaser324 said:

@RainVillain said:

Absolutely loved the game but yeah the fade to black after hugging emily + vignette resolutions, mixed with the weird pop song.. huge buzz kill on a game I really loved.

Yeah, I feel the same way. It all just feels very hastily thrown together. I'm bothered the most by there being no resolution at all to the betrayal by Havelock and his buddies.

That what I thought. I think it would have been a real kicker if you actually got to see that whole scene unfolding. Better yet it would have been great if you had the chance to influence that scene by having you finding out Havelock's plans and either let them unfold as is, warning Martin or Pendleton, or turning the tables on Havelock and switching the glasses.

I think complaining about the ending on this game means you didn't really get the game. The world is basically 20-19 century England naturalist book city with steampunk and magic, accent on naturalist novel 20-19 century England. You are supposed to know everyone is "bad", by that meaning power hungry/corrupt,from the damn start. From their faces, from the way they speak and let notes.

The only "good" guys are you, the silent protagonist and Emily/her mother which is basically the "symbol" of purity/innocence... etc in this naturalist novel world, hence why all the shit happens to them. If it was me to chose than id only have the "red" ending, even for guys that played non-lethal, because the :good: ending doesn't fit the world at all.

You might get real RPG with loads of choices and what not in the next game since they now have more of a name/budget but this game was very much a naturalist novel book in which you were kinda "thrown", the good vs bad part is not a choice it's only "flavor" on the side, hence why the protagonist is silent and doesn't really have any dialogue, because he is just a tool for moving the plot on, he is not the "focus" of the plot.

I have not played the high-Chaos ending, but I thought the low-Chaos play style and ending were very interesting for this reason: As Corvo you are essentially an unstoppable supernatural murder-machine, and yet you can choose to use restraint all throughout the game. Yes it IS unsatisfying, that is part of the point. Doing the right thing and not being a vengeful killer is hard. Many games botch the good/evil choice by making being "good" easier than being "bad". This is backwards, at least for people who are powerful. Being a complete scumbag in life is actually easier than being a good person, and this basic idea is reflected in the game mechanics. Yes it would be more fun to stab/shoot/explode everyone, and you CAN do that, but doing so is a corrupting experience that will impact the nature of the world (mainly just the ending, but that should be enough).

The story beats seemed deliberately low-impact, to the point that it approaches irony. In the final mission, you are on your way to deal with the people who betrayed you, only to find that Havlock has already killed the others with poison. He stole your thunder. The world ends not with a bang but with a whimper.

Emily, the future sovereign, has Corvo for a role model, and the implied difference between low-chaos and high-chaos is huge.