- Joined
- Jun 27, 2014
I've covered it repeatedly, and in detail, for its Let's Sperg series, but Darkest Dungeon has a really bad ending and it's one that chaps my ass, so I'm gonna bitch about it. It's not because of its thematics; that's appropriate for the storytelling of its genre; it's the way the ending is done.
For those who weren't there for it, Darkest Dungeon has a dipshit of a final boss who isn't even particularly hard but essentially forces you to sacrifice at least two characters (permanently killing them) to put it down, apropos of nothing. The game tries to make the case, repeatedly, that Dankmeme Dungeon is about making the most of a bad situation, etc, but that doesn't change that this is fucking bullshit design. Let's assume you went through the entire game up until this point, not losing anyone - with your only characters lost because of what I can essentially describe as GM fiat. You are essentially railroaded by a complete bullshit game mechanic that is like nothing else in the entire game, solely because fuck you, that's why.
Because of the above, Pretty much everything said by the Ancestor in the closing sequences rings hollow, because you didn't sacrifice to get there. You showed great care in getting your heroes to the threshold. This is even more the case if you flat-out managed to kill the final boss losing only one party member or even none at all, which is fucking possible in the current builds, completely within the rules. It's fucking obnoxious, too, because I get what they were trying to do with the storytelling here:
The problem is that "lol, shouldn't have bothered" is not an ending you give a player after fucking dozens of hours of gameplay. The game, up until this point, has been trying to have its Lovecraftian pathos-laden cake and eat it, too, simultaneously demanding we treat our heroes as expendable and trying to make us grow attached to them. It also makes no sense because you can still push the fucking button after the credits and go off playing the DLC.
A much better way of handling this ending with a similar feel that doesn't fuck over the player's accomplishments would have been one focusing on the fallout from the actions the player took. Certainly, your party defeated the horror and prevented its rising, but now the consequences of that set in: You are now aware of the horrors beyond, and they are now aware of you, as well, and while you were able to forestall one, you and your companions must forevermore contend with the knowledge forces greater than any mortal could possibly understand are seeking out out for their own ends, omnipresent in the world and waiting.
Because of the above, Pretty much everything said by the Ancestor in the closing sequences rings hollow, because you didn't sacrifice to get there. You showed great care in getting your heroes to the threshold. This is even more the case if you flat-out managed to kill the final boss losing only one party member or even none at all, which is fucking possible in the current builds, completely within the rules. It's fucking obnoxious, too, because I get what they were trying to do with the storytelling here:
The problem is that "lol, shouldn't have bothered" is not an ending you give a player after fucking dozens of hours of gameplay. The game, up until this point, has been trying to have its Lovecraftian pathos-laden cake and eat it, too, simultaneously demanding we treat our heroes as expendable and trying to make us grow attached to them. It also makes no sense because you can still push the fucking button after the credits and go off playing the DLC.
A much better way of handling this ending with a similar feel that doesn't fuck over the player's accomplishments would have been one focusing on the fallout from the actions the player took. Certainly, your party defeated the horror and prevented its rising, but now the consequences of that set in: You are now aware of the horrors beyond, and they are now aware of you, as well, and while you were able to forestall one, you and your companions must forevermore contend with the knowledge forces greater than any mortal could possibly understand are seeking out out for their own ends, omnipresent in the world and waiting.
