Good Grief: Bad Endings – Fable II

Anyone who looks at my top games of all time will see Fable II sits rather prominently on that list. When I did my “30 Reviews in 30 Days,” I had mentioned I might even consider it my favorite game of all time, though it may have been supplanted by Mass Effect 2. While the game was almost unanimously praised by critics, there was one part of it many felt was a let down: the ending.

So just what was it about the ending of Fable II that left people feeling less than fulfilled? We explore that topic in this edition of “Good Grief; Bad Endings.”

Spoiler Alert: If you have not beaten Fable II and do not want the ending ruined, do not read any further.

The Heroes Assemble

Much of Fable II is spent gathering the three heroes representing the three main skill trees in the game: strength, skill and will. While trying to recruit Reaver, you are attacked by Lucien’s men. This leads to a showdown with a Great Shard, with you, Garth, Hammer and Reaver fighting to take it down. Once the battle is complete, Theresa arrives and teleports the four of you to the plateau outside the ruins of the Hero Academy to start the ritual that will bring an end to all of this. She directs each hero to stand on the the symbol representing their abilities and leads you to the middle. As the  ritual begins, energy starts to drain from each hero, being drawn to you in the center. As a gamers, you start to anticipate an epic showdown with Lucien.

That is until he arrives in the middle of the ritual.

With all of you stuck in the ritual, you cannot fight against Lucien. He informs you  he plans on using the power of the heroes to unlock the Spire’s full potential, allowing him to create a new world while destroying this one. The only thing left to do is finish what he started so many years ago. You stand helpless as he aims his gun right at you and pulls the trigger.

The shot never connects. Your dog, faithful to the end, jumps in the way of the shot, sacrificing himself to save you. Lucien dismisses the sacrifice as futile and pulls the trigger once more. The world goes dark, but Theresa’s voice calls out in the darkness, advising you that death is not your destiny. As light returns to the world, you find yourself…

On a farm?

The Perfect Day?

You are a kid again. You and your sister Rose are on your parent’s farm, and Rose has some tasks to keep you occupied. Bugs are getting into the crops, the chickens have escaped from the roost and Rose has set up some bottles for you to shoot. Rose and you seem truly happy, getting to experience the family life you did not have. All that is missing is your parents, who Rose promises will be returning soon.

As you complete the tasks, the sun starts to set. You join Rose inside the farm and get ready for a good night’s sleep…

But something is not right.

You are awakened in the middle of the night by something in the woods just past the farm land itself. Though Rose warns you not to go, you find you must. As you get closer to whatever it is, Rose’s warnings become more insistent, until her pleas turn to screams. You run back towards the farm, only to find a destruction in your wake. In the middle of the wreckage, you find the music box that started your entire adventure. Next thing you know, you are standing in darkness, slowly aging as you hear the voices of the characters you have met throughout the game recapping key events. Then Rose’s voice states you have passed the test and are now ready to face Lucien.

You find yourself in the Spire. Racing up the steps, you get to the main area just in time to catch Lucien starting his own ritual, only his was designed to destroy the world, not save it. Physical attacks, ranged attacks and magic can do nothing to him. Your only chance lies in what you brought back from the farm with you: the music box. You hold in in front of you, activating the music and draining the magic from Lucien. Not willing to give up, Lucien starts to rattle on about how he will rewrite the world, until Reaver shoots him, sending him falling to his death.

So there you have it. You have spent the entire game gathering the heroes that represent each of the skills within the world. You have fought numerous enemies both human and otherwise, lost years of your life being a jailer and, if you chose the good path, been scarred for life to protect someone else. You have suffered, lost your family if you had one and your dog. You have spent the entire game trying to pull together the pieces you need to gain the ultimate weapon to defeat Lucien, and in the end all you needed was a music box.

That’s right. In the end, it’s a music box that brings Lucien down. Could they have found a lamer weapon? The biggest villain in the game, someone who wants to destroy the world, and you take him down with a music box. This is just a huge let down.

Or is it?

For you see, though many people had issues with the ending of this game, I did not. In a rather interesting new twist to the Good Grief series, I am actually going to argue why Lionhead chose to end the game this way.

Things Come Full Circle

So why do I think the ending for Fable II works? Two reasons. The first is it brings the story full circle, as the music box is how it started.

Fable II starts off with you and your sister doing different tasks to earn enough money to buy that very music box. The music box has magic properties, and it is the activation is what catches Lucien’s attention and leads to the death of your sister. So the music box gets things started, and it is only fitting that what drew Lucien to you ends up being his undoing.

Not convinced that the ending works? Then maybe maybe we need to look at what separates Fable II from other games.

It’s All About Choice

It is easy to see why so many people got caught up in Fable II. The story was strong, the gameplay was excellent and there was just something about the dog that kept me coming back. Still, even though these were all interesting, one thing really set the game apart: the choices.

More than any other game I had played to that point, Fable II was all about the choices you make. Throughout the game, you are presented with many different choices, and there is no denying the fact that what you choose to do has an impact on the world around you. Meet up with the right person, lend him some money, and Westcliff will be rebuilt from the ruins. Try to earn Reaver’s trust, take the noble path, and find yourself scarred for life, with people reacting to the disfigurement no matter how beloved you are. Heck, even at the start of the game, the choices you make as a child in Bowerstone determine whether Old Town becomes a place where law abiding citizens can roam freely or a place run by organized crime. The choices you make shape the world around you in a way most games never even attempt.

So, in a game that focuses so much on choices, should it really surprise us that the ending leaves you with a choice? After you defeat Lucian, Teresa reappears, and she gives you three choices:

1. The Needs of the Many: You can choose to have everyone resurrected who was killed in the building of the spire. This obviously is the noble choice, and as such, it comes with a price; you may be able to bring everyone else back, but your family and dog remain dead.
2. The Needs of the Few: You can choose to have your family and dog brought back to life. An understandable choice to be sure, but everyone will know you had the chance to bring back many more people and chose to bring back your loved ones instead.
3. The Needs of the One: You can choose to receive enough money to pretty much buy everything in Albion. This is obviously meant to be the evil choice, with you being the only one who benefits.

So why does this matter? After all, you just beat the game. Well, there are some quests that do not even unlock or cannot be completed till after you beat it, and the choice you make will affect this.To give you an idea of just how good a job the game designers did when it came to making you think through your choices, I ended up choosing “The Needs of the Few” purely from a gameplay standpoint as I had a quest to complete that required my dog to be alive, and I felt like a jerk for not choosing “The Needs of the Many.” Funny thing is, I am certain that if I had chosen to rescue everyone else, I would have missed my family and dog.

As I mentioned before, many people do not like the ending to Fable II. It was despised so much that the first downloadable content, “Knothole Island,” gave you the ability to resurect your dog if you had chosen not to bring him back. To me, this actually hurt the game, as it removed part of the weight behind that final choice you had to make.

So there you have it. While many feel that the ending of Fable II deserves to be the target of a Good Grief article, I disagree. In the end, however, it is up to you to decide in which camp you reside.

Good Grief: Bad Endings – Batman Arkham Asylum

Picture this: you have dedicated several hours to your latest gaming endeavor. Each battle has been getting harder; each step has put you that much closer to that final battle, just you versus your nemesis. You come to that ending, expecting it to be the culmination of all the time you have put into the game. Then it happens: a lackluster battle against a boss weaker than many of the ones you have already faced. The game ends, and you find yourself staring at the screen in disbelief, trying to convince yourself that really could not have been the end.

Sound familiar? If you have beaten many of the more popular games recently, you probably can identify with this all too well. It seems to be a growing trend among modern video games; everything builds up to this climax that just falls seriously short of what you were expecting, and you are left with this empty feeling. It may not actually ruin the game experience for you, but it definitely leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Just how bad of a trend has this become? Bad enough that we have decided here are Everyday Gamers to do a series of Good Grief articles on endings that just don’t quite cut it. In the inaugural article, I will be looking a phenomenal game that had a less than phenomenal ending: Batman Arkham Asylum.

WARNING: There is no way to do this article without spoilers. If you have not beaten this game and do not want to know how it ends, stop reading now.

This Looks Promising

Batman Arkham Asylum is an absolutely magnificent game. It is the first game centering on the Dark Knight that manages to really give you the feeling as playing as the Bat. The fighting, the stealth, the gadgets…they all just feel right.

The boss battles outshine them all, however. Whether you are trying to keep Bane from breaking you in half, making as little noise as possible to avoid Killer Croc, fighting the giant mutated plants of Poison Ivy or dealing with Scarecrow’s fear toxin, you cannot help but marvel at the job Rocksteady did in bringing these iconic villains to life. You also find yourself anticipating the ultimate showdown, knowing that behind all of this mayhem is the number one enemy of the Bat, that killer clown Joker.

The lead into the battle against Joker is promising. After beating his goons, including the ones hopped up on the Titan drug, Joker pops down from his perch and hits you with the drug itself. He watches intently as you start to transform, but the indomintable will of the mighty Batman is able to keep the effects of this toxin at bay. Depressed, Joker injects himself with a huge dose of the drug, and you are left wondering just how messed up this final battle will be.

Looks Can Be Deceiving

At first, it looks like the game is going to deliver on that epic battle. A disfigured, massive Joker breaks through to the roof of Arkham, dragging a broken Bat with him. He plays to the news helicopters, telling them he is going to give them the story of a lifetime: the death of Batman. The battle starts, and it becomes pretty obvious that your normal way of dealing with Titan enhanced enemies just is not going to work.

And then, completely inexplicably, Joker jumps up to a second level and starts calling in his goons to do his fighting for him. What follows is the by now all to familiar formula of punch, counter, stun and throw as you fight a bunch of thugs while your true nemesis throws in the occasional bomb or other distraction. While you are finishing these lackeys off, Joker becomes enthralled with his audience of news copters, giving you the chance to use your Bat-Claw to pull him down to your level, where he gets his mutated, claw-like hands stuck in the roof just long enough for you to do some real damage. He then breaks free, attacks you directly a few times, and jumps up to the next level again, calling in more goons! Sure, there may be some with knives, some with tazers and a few trying to get to the guns up near where Joker is standing, but it just feels so repetitious.

This Has to Be a Bad Joke, Right?

So you get through the second wave, you pull Joker down, and guess what? Lather, rinse and repeat. He jumps up again, and again you are left dealing with cronies. Who cares if there is a Titan enhanced thug or two in this group. You have gone through this game anticipating a knock down, drag out battle with Batman’s arch rival, not a royal rumble with a group of flunkies.

Thankfully, the third time you pull down Joker and hammer away is a charm. While the cut scene showing Batman applying the explosive gel to his fist and hitting Joker head on to take him down is impressive, it does not make up for what was a much less than stellar final battle.

So what could Rocksteady have done differently? Maybe they could have had you diving out of the way of a rampaging Joker, trying to find ways to draw him into traps that would let you fight him. Maybe they could have had you affected by the Titan formula, giving you the opportunity to face off against a mutated Joker on even ground seeing which giant would win. There are any number of ways the game designers could have made this battle an epic one. The one they chose just did not succeed.

Now the ending of Batman Arkham Asylum does not take away from the fact that this is a great game. If you are in anyway a fan of the Dark Knight, you have to play this game. Just don’t expect the ending to really deliver the showdown it appears to be building toward.

Unfortunately, that is the one thing this game just does not deliver.

Good Grief: Flag Collecting in Assassin’s Creed

I cannot think of a game in recent history that was as polarizing as Assassin’s Creed. People either loved it or hated it; there was very little middle ground.

I for one fell on the side of loving it. Assassin’s Creed was a unique game in a world where games can be much too similar. The controls were excellent, and I spent hours wandering around the various cities trying to kill as many guards as possible without being spotted. I also am very proud of getting the “Blade in the Crowd” achievement for assassinating a target without being spotted. By the time I was done playing, I had most of the achievements.

But there was one set of achievements I knew I was never going to get: those for collecting all of the flags.

Hey, this is really fun!

It did not take me long to start appreciating just what set Assassin’s Creed apart. The first time Altiar dove off a high point making one of the infamous “Leaps of Faith,” I was hooked. Ubisoft had done a great job of making the free running controls work, realizing that making gamers hit a button every time they tried to move was not going to work. The controls were very intuitive, and in no time I was jumping from rooftops and through merchant stands with ease.

Leaps of faith never get old

It was while exploring the Assassin Order’s base town of Masyaf that I ran across my first flag. Now I can be a bit of a sucker for a challenge, so I started looking for the other flags. After all, there were only 20 and Masyaf wasn’t that big, so how hard could it be?

Well, as it turns out, it was harder than I thought. The flags were well hidden, and I ended up having to turn to an online guide to find them all. Still, it wasn’t that bad. Gave me a chance to really explore just what Altiar could do.

Wait, there are how many flags here?

So here I was on the road between Masyaf and the other cities. I saw a high point that needed exploring and subsequently diving off into the nearest haystack. Somewhere near there, I ran across another flag. I figured there had to be more, so I grabbed it….

1 of 100? What? Are you kidding me?

There are really 100 flags to find in the area between the cities? That’s a little extreme, especially when you consider the fact that, once you make it to a city for the first time, you can skip this area and go just straight to the next target.Still, it is a pretty large area, and I was looking forward to trying to find all the high spots, so I guess I could let this slide.

Flag collecting, on the other hand…. Was that flag 14 or 40?

100 more? Are you insane?

Imagine my surprise when I found out EACH CITY OUTSIDE OF MASYAF HAD 100 FLAGS TO COLLECT! That is with the exception of Acre, which made you find 33 flags in each section (34 in the rich area) for a measly 10 points per completed set?

I was seriously not happy. When I first found the flags, I though it would be fun to try and track at least some of the down. Even after finding out how many flags were out there, I still tried to find some, hoping that maybe I could get excited about them again. It didn’t last, however. I got to where I would grab a flag if I stumbled across one, but I was not about to go out of my way to find them.

You want the flags so badly, you find them.

This is a great example of a good idea gone horribly wrong. Why couldn’t Ubisoft learn from Realtime Worlds, who rewarded you for finding orbs both with achievement points and skill points in Crackdown. Heck, even Epic learned its lesson after the first Gears of War, trading in the senseless tracking of Cog tags for finding items that helped fill in the back story of Gears 2.

Item collecting in games can be a good thing. Making gamers find insane amounts of totally useless items, however….not so much.

And that is why Flag Collecting in Assassin’s Creed has made our Good Grief feature.