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PODTOID
 
Podtoid 49 - The end of the game as you know it
Reverend Anthony
\\ 04.09.2008
29 comments

erere

We -- being myself, Aaron Linde, Jim Sterling, and Tiff Chow -- are back after a two-week hiatus (and one day early, no less), and this week we're talking about videogame endings.

What works, where an ending is concerned? What doesn't? Should long games have longer endings? Which games got it right, or wrong? These questions are skirted, if not totally answered. Caressed, if not fully violated. 

As always, hit the official Podtoid page or check us out on iTunes -- and don't forget to tune in (probably) next week, for our special 50th episode.

Oh, and this week, BlackSunEmpire earned $25 for his question. Gimme your email in the comments, and we'll get you the money.

We do "spoil" a few games (be sure to listen to Jim's discussion on the validity of the term), so I thought it'd be beneficial to list them all after the jump. So I did.

Hit the jump. 

[The intro/outro music is "Does (Breakbot Remix)" by ARROW !!!]

Fallout
Shadow of the Colossus
Half-Life 2
Bad Dudes
Earthbound
BioShock (but only the twist that starts with the letter "A" that's been bandied about willy-nilly by everyone on the planet -- not the other, bigger one)
Call of Duty 4
Devil May Cry 3
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Metal Gear Solid 2



29 COMMENTS, LATEST BY Necros
I definitely skipped over parts, but otherwise, good show. -    view discussion




There are 29 comments about this post:
RAB's Avatar
DOWN





LOADING
Samit Sarkar's Avatar
Is that list of spoiled games in chronological order through the podcast? Because then I’ll know where to expect sections of fast-forwarding and whatnot.
Holyetheline's Avatar
Nice REM reference. Sexy.
DanGale's Avatar
Ah, Rev Anthony doing a podcast with Half-Life 2 being discussed. More cliche than incompetent henchmen in a Bond movie. I wouldn't have expected anything less.

Also I'd like to know if that's chronological too, just so I can skip over the Earthbound bit.
Reverend Anthony's Avatar
Not chronological. If I have time (or someone who listens to it is feeling generous) I'll amend it to be chronological.
Reverend Anthony's Avatar
Not chronological. If I have time (or someone who listens to it is feeling generous) I'll amend it to be chronological.
Reverend Anthony's Avatar
GODDAMMIT
necrozen's Avatar
looking forward to this

wish I could have gotten a post in yesterday, but I missed it :(

ah well, Dling now
Phoenix Gamma's Avatar
I'm glad you're diggin' P3, Aaron. I personally loved the game, and the 80+ hours were quite enjoyable. I do think that it's best that you whittle at it a little every day, since it's totally not something you can just power through.

I'm just happy someone else is maybe kinda enjoying it now.
king3vbo's Avatar
LOADING





DOWN
JTHomeslice's Avatar
Sweet. Listening to it soon.
PrinceofCannedPeaches's Avatar
*smears on greasepaint, reloads M16, sticks Apocalypse Now in the DVD player*
Aaron Linde's Avatar
Gamma, as I understand it, it's regularly cited as one of the best RPGs on the PlayStation 2, at least on NeoGAF and such. It's fucking fantastic, but my god, it's exhaustive. You're absolutely right about whittling it down -- you can't hammer through it like Final Fantasy. Even leveling up doesn't function in a straightforward way, thanks to teammates getting tired.
Qraze's Avatar
gonna hear it now. i'll comment later to express my disgust with the whole affair. (lol) #1_in_the_hood_G!!
Cheeburga's Avatar
Hot. :D
aborto thefetus's Avatar
Figures Jim would get the evil ending first in Bioshock.
Phoenix Gamma's Avatar
If it means anything, after a certain point you rarely ever get tired unless you grind yourself mad, in which case the game's trying to tell you to STOP.

Also, since this is the ENDING podcast, I'll say that the ending is really solid since it takes all the growth your character experiences and sums it up perfectly whilst still making it somewhat interactive. I'm bummed that no one on the 'Cast finished it, because it's got that interactiveness but wraps everything up and all that good stuff.

Please stick with it the whole way through. It's that satisfying.
Eschatos's Avatar
Fuck it, they're only spoilers. Will listen.
BlackSunEmpire's Avatar
Woohoo, Thanks Podtoid

Email:bse.dtoid@gmail.com.
Mr Lazy's Avatar
got this from wiki pedia with regards to the bioshock ending

Levine also noted that "it was never my intention to do two endings for the game. It sort of came very late and it was something that was requested by somebody up the food chain from me."
MePlayGames's Avatar
Airports suck ass
Veck's Avatar
Re the expectation of an ending to a game: it directly corresponds to how much story needs to be resolved, I think. I don’t mind ambiguity and cliffhangers, but if an ending doesn’t honour the amount of story told then it undermines the satisfaction you gain from it. I don’t necessarily mean every plot point needs to be resolved - rather it just needs to feel like due attention has been paid to honour the amount of time a player has invested. Emotional satisfaction (for lack of a better phrase) from an ending is just as worthwhile as an intellectual ‘this is what, this is why’ conclusion, which is why SotC had such a fantastic ending, and games with similarly good endings seem to be able to balance the two.

Anyway, good job on another entertaining show. Glad you’re back.
ScottyG's Avatar
@RevAnt
Good to hear I'm not the only completionist. If I've made a respectable amount of progress in a game before I decide I hate it, I still feel the need to finish it. It sucks. :S

@Jim
I have to disagree with your opinion of the word spoiler. While you're (generic "you", not you specifically) not necessarily spoiling the whole game, you are spoiling that moment of discovery for the player which (at least I feel) is part of a game's appeal.

I do completely agree however that a lot of people who cry "SPOILER!" on the internet are unrealistic and need to pull their head out of their ass. There are a lot of people on the internet, and a lot of them have already discovered this information and want to talk about it. If you're going to participate in an online community and take offense to things being spoiled, you're going to need to take measures to watch out for things and avoid them.

... that being said, I'm still kind of saddened that you apparently had to provide a list of games that were "spoiled" in this episode. If the kind of person that doesn't like things being spoiled actually listens to an hour+ long discussion about endings then they're... well, an idiot...

Great show though. :)
Tubatic's Avatar
Kevin Levine talking about BioShock endings not being his idea:

http://kotaku.com/307387/crummy-bioshock-endings-werent-my-idea
Suff0cat's Avatar
Am I the only one hearing an assload of bloop sounds throughout the show? It's a bit annoying.
ScottyG's Avatar
@Suff0catingSight
I've always heard them on Podtoid. I just assumed they were Skype message alerts or something.
HarassmentPanda's Avatar
The only one I haven't finished is Shadow of the Colossus and I really don't know if I want that "ruined" for me.
naia-the-gamer's Avatar
If I have enough time I generally can fastforward through things so I don't catch spoilers and that's fine with me. I understand as games have come out and have been out longer, I should expect spoilers to come out and to deal with that without being babied.

But some people act like dicks and do it to be trolls. It's not that lulzy folks.
Necros's Avatar
I definitely skipped over parts, but otherwise, good show.

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