Endings are tricky (Destiny)

by marmot 1333 , Friday, July 31, 2015, 20:44 (3502 days ago) @ tadboz

Endings are tricky in any medium, particularly an interactive one like video games.

mass effect 3 spoilers in the next paragraph

Obligatory reference to the Mass Effect 3 ending, with which I did not have a problem, but the rest of the internet reacted with.. unfathomable rage at. My personal take was that people didn't like seeing their character die/being sacrificed and didn't like the idea of the story being "over". There was so much foreshadowing that Shepard was going to die. So much. But people still couldn't handle it.

When you read what people complained about, it was "color change endings" and "stupid star child" but I think that was all just a cover-up, trying to react with logic to a very emotional thing: the pain and loss of a character that players cared about dying [and the perception that the death was "meaningless."]

My take was that the entirety of the Mass Effect 3 storyline was "the end", not just the last 15 minutes. If you loaded in a save game, you met with/saved/talked to almost every major and minor character met throughout the first two games. Talk about tying up loose ends!

spoilers over

So in Destiny, we're creating and investing in these characters. What would the ultimate goal of a ten year game like Destiny be? What would an "end" to this genre of game even mean? When ten years goes by, will Bungie want to keep making Destiny? Will they still love it? Or will the be sick of it and be glad to walk away?

Consider Destiny 1, and Cody's favorite line: "The game starts at 20!" It's like the "game" doesn't even really start until you finish the storyline the first time. So what would that mean for a "final release"? Especially if there was still DLC to come?

I drank too much tea and it's Friday afternoon and I'm rambling.