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An Unsatisfying End

Is there any game that left you annoyed or angry with it's ending ?  Anything that left you almost questioning the quality of the entire game leading up to that point ?
  

*Heavy Spoilers*


I'll give the game props for perfectly reflecting my face as I watched the ending.
I'll give the game props for perfectly reflecting my face as I watched the ending.
I finished Heavy Rain yesterday and got the Four Lions ending, which I take was the intended, Disney style fairytale closure. But this ending also leaves massive plot holes in the game's story arc and major character inconsistencies. Not to mention, the unreal circumstances of the last half hour, leading up to the final showdown. Most of these failures could be forgiven to a degree in a normal shooter or action game but Heavy Rain chooses to put the spotlight on player's every little action. It's the driving force behind this character piece, as it plots your storyline based on any & everything to do. So it's a big failure of trust when the game itself fails to keep up with the player's attention to detail. There are also multiple instances where it simply fails to convey the information properly to the player. 
 
To get started, here is a list of problems I had with just Scott Shelby: 
 
  • The biggest inconsistency of them all is anachronism. Scott is 48. John died 30 years ago. There is so much wrong with this fact alone.   
  • Why is Scott suddenly retrieving evidence from crimes he committed almost ten years ago ?  
  • How did he kill the old guy in the typewriter shop when we had control of him ALL THE TIME ?
  • Why did he take Lauren with him if his plan was to murder the guy all along ?
  • Scott's character up until Chp. 45 or so just doesn't fit as the killer. The guy is changing diapers one day and murdering 10-year old the next morning ? Why give us the "moral" choice of sparing a mob boss after gunning down his entire armada John Woo style (not to mention the child killer thing again) ? This is almost schizophrenic behavior from Scott, which would have made more sense with Ethan. 
  • If Scott is looking for a father, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice then why are players allowed to find Shaun's location after completing just 3/5 trials ? You can avoid cutting off your finger, poisoning yourself, shoot a drug dealer and do the other two non-fatal trials to get the address - it doesn't sound a whole lot like the "ultimate sacrifice" Scott is looking for. 
  • Why does he save Lauren again and again, when he knows she is going to kill him the instant she finds out the truth ? It doesn't fit with his usual analytical behavior.

 Just shoot me now. I don't wanna drown in your sea of inconsistencies
 Just shoot me now. I don't wanna drown in your sea of inconsistencies
There are major problems with almost every major character in the game. Like the origami in Ethan's hands, Madison's altruistic behavior, Jayden's incompetence as a FBI agent just to mention a few. The list just goes on and on. And all this is from ONE of the game's ending. I don't even know what to make of all the other 17 or so alternate endings of the game.  
 
Heavy Rain sells itself as an interactive drama but it doesn't have the writing to support the interactive claim. If you fail to follow the intended path of the game, you end up with the most horrible scenario of the Oragami killer walking away scott-free and pretty much everyone else ending up in a ditch somewhere. It's really quite depressing how the game handles "choice" - if you don't agree with David Cage's original intentions, then you're heavily penalized for it. The character inconsistencies increase ten fold if you veer off the intended path, ruining the experience even more. Whatever happened to player enforcement ? Aren't we supposed to enjoy the game by making these choices ? Whats the point if everyone you cared about ended up dead after nearly ten hours of character investment ? There is no balance between consequences, fun and plausibility.  
  
I'm ragging on the denouement in particular because the game relies heavily on it's multiple story threads and a great deal is riding on how they all come together in the end. The old cliched saying is that it's all about the journey but in Heavy Rain's case, it's all about where your journey's choices lead you to. There is a big emphasis on choice every step of the way. I was expecting my choices to lead me to some kind of satisfactory resolution and I was disappointed with what I got instead. 
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75 Comments

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viney212

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@Killjoi said:

" @Brodehouse: At Reza's store, I knocked out the robber before getting the chance to start a conversation. I got the button prompt when I approached him from behind and it was over. From my point of view, Shelby did that to save the father who failed the trial. That's a character inconsistency born out of succeeding at the QTE "

 
I don't think that's a character inconsistency at all.  He was just there to collect evidence.  His intentions were never to just go around killing fathers.  He was just recreating his childhood trauma and trying to find one that would succeed where his father failed.  I think he was just as satisfied at letting Reza live with the shame of failing his son.   Besides, the origami killer wasn't opportunistic.  His scenarios were well thought out and planned.  Using a random holdup like that as some means to enforce his agenda would've been more of a character inconsistency than letting Reza live.  And it also would've been out of character in an uncontrolled situation, which puts his overall plan in jeopardy.  If his only reason for being there was retrieving evidence, letting some guy shoot up the place, drawing attention to the scene and possibly killing his only source for the evidence, only makes it harder.
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spacetrucking

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@Viney212: If he is there to simply take care of the evidence, then the best solution for him is to simply let Reza die. Reza dies and the evidence trail stops with him. He also gets the option to search the store for evidence after his death since at this point, that's his only real hope (Reza had already refused to help him in any way)
 
Instead Scott risks his own life to save someone who didn't measure up to his challenge. I understand he is not out to kill fathers but he is not their guardian angel either. This doesn't add up with the Origami Killer's actions.
 
If you think the Origami killer wasn't opportunistic, then why did he conveniently kill that old guy while Lauren was standing right across the room ? Plus, he also left a trail of fingerprints behind him. The whole scenario doesn't fit the methodical approach of the Origami killer.
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omgmetalgear

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@StarFoxA:  my favourite part was the fact you couldn't use a mutant to push the buttons until the dlc came out. BULLSHIT.
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dystonym

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Knights of the Old Republic 2. It just ended. Nothing was explained. Thanks Obsidian.

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viney212

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@Killjoi said:

" @Viney212: If he is there to simply take care of the evidence, then the best solution for him is to simply let Reza die. Reza dies and the evidence trail stops with him. He also gets the option to search the store for evidence after his death since at this point, that's his only real hope (Reza had already refused to help him in any way) Instead Scott risks his own life to save someone who didn't measure up to his challenge. I understand he is not out to kill fathers but he is not their guardian angel either. This doesn't add up with the Origami Killer's actions."

No that isn't his only hope of getting the evidence.  He knows Reza has the evidence and his best chance at getting it is to gain his trust (just like he gained Lauren's trust by helping her out.  Remember she turned him away too, until he helped her, exactly like Reza).  That's the whole point behind his private investigator persona.  To gain people's trust to get the evidence.  He doesn't even know if the evidence is or isn't in the store.  It could be stashed at home for all he knows.  And letting the guy die just makes it harder to figure out where it is.  Also, letting the guy die doesn't get rid of the trail of evidence.  It just leaves it behind for someone else to find, presumably a family member sorting out personal belongings in the event of death, and turn it in.  Even more, what happens if he chooses to do nothing and the guy gets shot but still lives.  How then does he gain his trust and get the evidence? 
 
The whole typewriter repair shop scene is kind of screwy to begin with.  But, I don't believe it was opportunistic, simply because it wasn't an ideal or opportune situation to commit the murder in the first place.  There was nothing convenient about it.  More than likely the old guy figured out too much called the cops and Scott was forced to deal with him quickly.  That's not opportunistic, that's dealing with the situation because he was forced to.  
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MVP1101

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The 1st game that comes to mind is nolan north's prince of persia. You spend 8 or more hours "healing the land" just to fuck it all up in 3 min. I did not play the DLC because the end of the game left such a bad taste in my mouth     

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WinterSnowblind

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@Murdouken said:
" Knights of the Old Republic 2. It just ended. Nothing was explained. Thanks Obsidian. "
I hear people saying this all the time and am always confused..  Right at the end Kreia tells you everything..  What happens to the characters, the places you visited and even alludes to Darth Vader saving the Jedi.  Then it cuts to a video of the Exile leaving to find Revan.  What more could they have done?
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deactivated-5c7ea8553cb72

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Borderlands had a terrible ending.
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spacetrucking

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@Viney212: Alrighty, that's a plausible outcome in which the evidence might end up with the police. The alternate to that scenario is what I said before (Reza dies and Scott finds the evidence in the store). Both have unknown probabilities and I guess I disagree with what the Origami Killer should have done. It's not my call though. This still doesn't explain how a calculated killer who managed to elude capture for a decade would end up in a situation like that. Why the sudden urge to clear all the evidence after nearly ten years ? Is Scott just an incredibly lazy procrastinator ?
 
When I said Scott was opportunistic at the typewriter shop, I meant he seized the opportunity to kill the old dude (what's his name?) when Lauren wouldn't notice. It was a little opportunistic and certainly improvised; like you said - Scott probably figured he was in danger of being caught at that point. The worst part of that scene was that the players are actually in control of Scott almost the entire time (or so we are lead to believe). Why did he bring Lauren into the shop though ? And why is he leaving prints all over the place if he knows something might go astray ?
 
Instead of the game giving us direct answers to these questions, we are forced to argue about how to interpret these (deliberately ?) poorly presented scenes. The whole saviour act Scott had going throughout the game felt like it was just designed to trip you with a twist ending (which became increasingly transparent after Ethan was ruled out midway by Norman).
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viney212

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Edited By viney212
@Killjoi said:

"Why the sudden urge to clear all the evidence after nearly ten years ? Is Scott just an incredibly lazy procrastinator ?"  

Are we assuming the evidence he collects in the game is the only evidence he's ever collected in this way though?  Maybe he's been at it longer?  Maybe he's destroyed evidence from previous victims similarly?  Maybe why he's been able to avoid suspicion for 10 years while maintaining a trustworthy persona for the victims that he needs to collect the evidence from?
 

"When I said Scott was opportunistic at the typewriter shop, I meant he seized the opportunity to kill the old dude (what's his name?) when Lauren wouldn't notice. It was a little opportunistic and certainly improvised; like you said - Scott probably figured he was in danger of being caught at that point. The worst part of that scene was that the players are actually in control of Scott almost the entire time (or so we are lead to believe). Why did he bring Lauren into the shop though ? And why is he leaving prints all over the place if he knows something might go astray ?"

He doesn't know that it will go astray though.  He was just there to collect evidence like he's always done, and Lauren is there because she forced him to allow her to take part in the "investigation" in exchange for the envelope.  He never planned to kill the old guy though, and he wasn't seizing an opportunity, he was taking his only course of action.  What other option did he have?  Opportunity had nothing to do with it.  He was simply backed into a corner.  The old guy found the evidence Scott was looking for, unexpectedly put the pieces together, called the cops and Scott was forced kill him.  The only reason the prints are any concern at all is because he was forced to kill the old guy before he spoke.  If the old guy didn't figure it out, Scott would have gotten his evidence without suspicion, and leaving finger prints wouldn't have ever mattered.  Just like any of the other evidence collecting scenarios.  But because killing the old guy was his only way to conceal his secret only THEN did cleaning the finger prints ever become an issue and he had to make up the excuse of the Origami Killer calling the cops to frame them.
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spacetrucking

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Edited By spacetrucking
@Viney212 said:
Are we assuming the evidence he collects in the game is the only evidence he's ever collected in this way though?  Maybe he's been at it longer?  Maybe he's destroyed evidence from previous victims similarly?  Maybe why he's been able to avoid suspicion for 10 years while maintaining a trustworthy persona for the victims that he needs to collect the evidence from?
Some of these cases are at least an year or more old. Possibly more. He is only killing during rainfall, there have been 7-8 victims in that area in a ten year period. We aren't told exactly how old some of these cases are but judging from the facts given, they are pretty old cases. Almost buried due to the time lapse. (Do the ARI files tell us the exact dates ?). We don't know when he started collecting evidence but if he is revisiting three out of those 7/8 victims in a single year alone - this looks off to me.
 He doesn't know that it will go astray though.  He was just there to collect evidence like he's always done, and Lauren is there because she forced him to allow her to take part in the "investigation" in exchange for the envelope.  He never planned to kill the old guy though, and he wasn't seizing an opportunity, he was taking his only course of action.  What other option did he have?  Opportunity had nothing to do with it.  He was simply backed into a corner.  The old guy found the evidence Scott was looking for, unexpectedly put the pieces together, called the cops and Scott was forced kill him.  The only reason the prints are any concern at all is because he was forced to kill the old guy before he spoke.  If the old guy didn't figure it out, Scott would have gotten his evidence without suspicion, and leaving finger prints wouldn't have ever mattered.  Just like any of the other evidence collecting scenarios.  But because killing the old guy was his only way to conceal his secret only THEN did cleaning the finger prints ever become an issue and he had to make up the excuse of the Origami Killer calling the cops to frame them. "
Scott asked him to go look at the list, fully knowing his name was in there. There is a huge chance the guy will figure it out. It's common sense and as the killer, you have to assume the worst. If he expected that meeting to go cleanly then that's just ignorance on his part. 
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mcmets93

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@CptBedlam: Your right, when i played that game i was never looking for a story out of it 
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CoheedFavorHouse

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dead space didn't do much for me. 
 
admittedly, i had to do it twice because my game glitched. 
 
but the final boss battle was way too easy and then i just...left.

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Catolf

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The Original Jak and Daxter..
 
I was so pissed at the end I tossed my controller. This is after I spent hours collecting 101 fucking Power cells!!

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chrjz

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Knights of the Old Republic II

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LiquidSaiyan3

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Kinda surprised no one mentioned the original Zone of the Enders. 
 
Man, fuck that game

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jonnyboy

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I would say Borderlands, but let's face it, It didn't have a fucking ending.

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LordAndrew

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@Rapid said:
"   Musashi: Samurai Legend  "
I remember that game! Sort of... I don't remember the ending at all though. Our article is empty and Wikipedia's article is total shit, so could someone remind me what actually happened at the end?
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@Gabriel said:
" You want to talk about the worst game ending, it's got to be Assassins Creed. My Jaw literally dropped on how bad it was. "
2nd post in and this man has it right.
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@Gabriel: I dunno what game you were playing but both endings for the Assassin Creed games were awesome.
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Being led toward a bad ending because of my choices didn't bother me too much.  When I beat the game, the killer went free and everyone else was either dead or completely screwed.  That's just the way that the story turned out.  I played because I was interested to see what would happen.  I didn't reload the game when I screwed up.  I just kept playing, and eventually came to a conclusion that was depressing.  The game has narrative inconsistencies the size of Texas, no doubt about it, but the idea that I was playing myself into a losing situation didn't bother me at all.

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@StarFoxA said:
" Fallout 3. Hands down. "
Ugh thanks for reminding me. That was such a huge let down - both the cutscene and the ending itself.
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Mono_Listo

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@DCFGS3:  lol
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A bit of a late reply, but I'm on your side with regards to the problems surrounding Scott Shelby. I just can't shake the feeling that someone else was meant to be the antagonist but somebody made a decision to make it Shelby for 'shock value'. "We'll make the overweight, asthmatic and friendly guy the serial killer! NO ONE WILL EVER SEE IT COMING!"