Hanging on to that Cliff with Super Strength
By TestamentUK 2 Comments
One of the reasons I liked this was that I hadn’t seen it before, or at least It felt like I hadn’t. While I’m sure there are other examples of this ‘story-in-a-story’, I haven’t come across them, with the exception of things like The Matrix – which feature similar concepts, yet executed differently (feel free to post any examples you can think of in the comments, as I’ve probably just forgotten about them). Stories, in books, films, games etc. tend to either end or leave you with a cliff hanger with either a follow up story to resolve it or no resolution at all to get you thinking, wondering what could have happened. While often certain threads or sub plots are left open, the main details are either concluded or not. But then again, is this the case with Assassin’s Creed as well? It is easy to see it as a single story of many threads, some concluded and others not. Whether it is or not, my point is that in my mind I clearly viewed it as two separate, linked stories.
Viewing it this way helped me enjoy the ending much more than I would have otherwise. I was satisfied with the conclusion of one of the plots. Aside from some of the final plot details being a little obvious, it felt like it was wrapped up well*. Comments that had previously appeared cryptic made sense, and characters true motives were revealed. It was because of this that I was did not mind the cliff hanger type ending of the other story. Normally such endings frustrate me. Either I don’t care enough about the conclusion for it to work for me as an ending, or it feels like a cheap way to sell a sequel that might not be released until years after the first. I begin by being annoyed at the lack of conclusion, and as time goes on I will often loose interest in the outcome and feel apathetic to its continuation. While not always the case, those are the two general responses that I tend to have.
The final ending of Assassin’s Creed fits squarely into the second of the two categories. It’s put in there to try and get you excited about a potential sequel. It wants you to go out and buy Assassin’s Creed 2 as soon as it’s released. I didn’t mind it as I normally would though. I’d played as Altaïr more than as Desmond, I cared more for Altaïr than Desmond. So by giving some closure to Altaïr’s story meant that I was happy for them to leave Desmond hanging, to tease the next game a little without trying to disguise it as the ending. Coming back to the title of this post, take the term cliff hanger literally: if someone you cared for was hanging off a cliff, who you couldn’t yet reach, you’re going to be frustrated that you can’t get to them yet. But if you know they’re strong and can hold on well you’re less frustrated. You’ll still go and help them when the chance comes, but your not going to be irritated as much waiting for that chance. Which is how I feel about Assassin’s Creed. I’m happy that I’m not going to be too annoyed at not playing the sequel for a while – but I’ll definately still pick it up to find out what happens.
* I realise quite a lot is left unanswered in terms of 'what happens next', but it felt like an appropriate end - I'm not sure finding out what happens next would be particually helpful to this particular story.