Stalker 2 Ending - Was it REALLY necessary?

[WitcherWinter]

Spoilers Ahead, You've been warned!

got the Canon Ending from what ive understand, and was wandering, was it really necessary for skiff to enter the pod? i mean, he killed all the other candidates, only him and i guess Richter, who is everywhere and know anything - knows about the labs and the opportunity to change/ Save the zone.
why do you think he had to sacrifice himself and not simply leave it abandoned or complete what we though Strelok did in the end of the first STALKER? which is the destruction of the X project.
i can only think of one reasonable explanation to this sort of ending, and it lies in the meaning behind the character nickname. all this time we were the lone wolf doing the dirty work for everyone and in the end used as a small vessel to transport the zone to the rest of the world. but other than that it really didn't serve as a "good" or fulfilling ending for skiff as a person, he just accepted his fate in the zone to be a pawn in a much bigger game that started way before he entered the zone and will seemingly never end after his decision to spread the zone to the rest of the world.
im really curious the hear what other people think about that ending and the narrative in general.

***
I'll give my two cents about the philosophical and creative side of it in my opinion. if anyone wants to read and draw some conclusions from it.
As an old STALKER fan, I experienced this game very differently from the first game. Maybe because when the First game came out, I was just a teenage boy and saw things differently, maybe because the morbid and uncompromising atmosphere of the zone resonated within the empty space of what I thought I knew as a traditional way of telling a story. In any case, there was something very special in the way the creators chose to present a reality that is fundamentally realistic in its core with science fiction content and story in it.
I mean, the “roughness” was there all along. Whether it's the reasons that brought most of the Loners to the Zone - out of greed, personal motives related to profit, or escaping from one or another legal systems, one way or another they brought with them special colors to a zone that was already Shrouded by a sense of mystery and terror intertwined with a kind of nostalgia for small moments in a complicated reality. but at the same time, it felt too Bleak, empty, even with the fact it had the liveliest world I’ve ever experienced in a game. It felt like you were there because someone decided that for you, and your mission was clear and known from the very start, to kill what turned out to be the last remaining identity of yourself. It was alluring and interesting, but it felt… empty.
This time, the creators managed to produce a serious face lift for the brand. And unfortunately, only by the fact that they themselves experienced the harsh reality firsthand.
By that I mean the existential crisis experienced by philosophers like Albert Camus at the end of World War II. Existentialism felt to them like child's play compared to the absurdity found in the essence of existence, or in other words - good and bad lost their meaning. That is what in my opinion happened to the creators of stalker 2 themselves. The world they created seemed to have lost its original colors; they were shattered into a million new colors. Every step, every task, every character I met during my renewed stay in the zone felt that way. No choice I made was accompanied by a feeling of good or bad, but another step into a colorful spiral of unclear feelings in what I can only describe as a journey a man has taken on himself to redeem himself for a tragedy, he didn’t commit but was brought upon him.
Such is the way of thinking of a person who has experienced such severe trauma as PTSD that led him to Question the cozy confines of Our reality measured on a very black or white scale on life (a common symptom in those suffering from PTSD, and unfortunately, I know about this firsthand from my military Service). Only those who have experienced this kind of reality can explore through their renewed view the core definitions of good or bad. Like the words of Faust who is the ultimate character to be the living proof of the feelings I’ve written down, concluded it brilliantly:
To keep life’s adventure going one must embrace freedom. Freedom from labels, from narrative, from the feeling that there is something greater to strive for, apart from our modest contribution to the cycle of life, even if it is changing in front of our eyes and we become an alien in our own nature.

***

[UnknownMaster21]

Yeah I agree. My first playthrough was that... now I am aiming different one.


Actually, there lies an answer, which is dependable of how you perceive certain action in what point and for what goal. Protagonist's vision happens to change during game.

My perspective: Wasted effort, but can't blame the protagonist, because he never knew. An ultimate goal was to reach something greater in life. Laundromat is nothing compared to that thing.

[𝕊𝕋𝕌ℝ𝕄-𝕂𝔸𝕋]

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1643320/discussions/0/4626980689722502642/

[WitcherWinter]

didn't realize there is a sub forum dedicated specifically to this kind of discussions, thank you ill post it there!

[Nite69]

That isn't going to be the true ending later because cement factory, cooling towers, iron forest and npp aren't used at all in the story, they will have dlc expansions

[Slphapalme]

Originally posted by WitcherWinter:

Spoilers Ahead, You've been warned!

got the Canon Ending from what ive understand, and was wandering, was it really necessary for skiff to enter the pod? i mean, he killed all the other candidates, only him and i guess Richter, who is everywhere and know anything - knows about the labs and the opportunity to change/ Save the zone.
why do you think he had to sacrifice himself and not simply leave it abandoned or complete what we though Strelok did in the end of the first STALKER? which is the destruction of the X project.
i can only think of one reasonable explanation to this sort of ending, and it lies in the meaning behind the character nickname. all this time we were the lone wolf doing the dirty work for everyone and in the end used as a small vessel to transport the zone to the rest of the world. but other than that it really didn't serve as a "good" or fulfilling ending for skiff as a person, he just accepted his fate in the zone to be a pawn in a much bigger game that started way before he entered the zone and will seemingly never end after his decision to spread the zone to the rest of the world.
im really curious the hear what other people think about that ending and the narrative in general.

If you already write that spoilers are included and warn, why don't you open the topic directly in the spoiler section of this forum?

That would have been easier. A little hint on my part ;)

I moved it