Blackwell Epiphany ending (Spoilers!)

[chris]

So i was looking forward to this game a lot and it was a very bittersweet feeling for me to play the final blackwell game. I took my time (my first playtrough took me 9 hours) and i think i enjoyed it more by drawing it out a little.

I had a feeling that Madeline might be behind the ghosts dying after talking to her for the first time, thought i expected it to be because she went berserk after losing her host and being in the void for so long.
What really surprised me was when she revealed that she had been the reason why Lauren and Rosa's grandma went mad and had to die. That was the point where i lost my sympathy for her, since i really liked Lauren, even if she wasnt as invested in the soulsaving business as Rosa.

The fact that Rosa had to die in the end may make sense storywise, but i felt it was so unfair after saving every single lost soul on the planet(except joey).
I LOVE Rosa and Joey as a team, and i had hoped they really would get a vacation and after a while start doing their thing again. Knowing that Madeline caused the breakdowns in her family, they wouldn't have to do it in fear of rosa going crazy anymore, but purely because they belive in the work they're doing.

I really hope that turning Joey into a living, breathing Person again will give him the ability to move on eventually and that he wont forget about rosa, or rather, the blackwells, comletely.

So, the Ending for me was heartbreaking, it wasnt the Ending i wanted, but the one the Story needed. Nothing can last forever, and it is better to end Blackwell in a fulfilling way instead of drawing it out endlessly.

So thank you Dave, for making this awesome Series happen, for this awesome last game - and damn you for making me cry like a little girl.

[Cattatra]

Agree with this 100%. I too thought Madeline was no good, but I thought she was bad from the first time we met her iirc. I love (hate!) the ending too, I went to work right after finishing the game and was down in the dumps all night!
The Blackwell series has always been bittersweet though, and it was just the right thing for them to do. I wish Joey had had something to give him a bit more 'hope' towards the end though, other than looking forward to dieing to meet her again :(

[Zeebrax the Astral Lifejacket]

Yeah, it was a hell of a game. I wish that maybe Rosa hadn't bitten the dust -- but it was a very natural and well-written ending. I can only hope the next Wadjet Eye games will be half as good.

[Hex Machina]

My feelings on the ending are pretty mixed, but the overall product was probably the strongest Wadjet Eye game. According to the commentary Rosa's death and Joey's subsequent revival were one of the original plans for the series, but I REALLY wish there had been more lead-up to the latter. I can only assume that Rosa gave Joey her life force or something to that effect with her last breath, but I think the scene would have worked much better had the possibility of this being a thing been brought up before. Even something as simple as Madeline saying she had tried to make it happen at some point would have helped things.

(Also, while I understand why Police Commissioner's role was cut, I really wish there had been at least some closure to the shadowy cabal of soul-sucking vampires that are presumably still running NYC from behind the scenes)

Still, this was an amazing product overall and I wish Wadjet Eye the best of luck in future endeavors. I know I'll be following whatever comes out next.

[Link]

I also agree about the ending feeling clunky...

1. What was up with the stone/sarcophagus looking thing Joey burst out of? It was such a "weird" way to turn him human again that I feel there has to be some sort of story behind this?

2. I really wish they showed the void pushing Joey away or back or something. Maybe it's because they changed the dialogue/story but him just floating up there and going "Nah, can't do it." Made it feel like Joey was faking. The moment didn't have as much punch as it should have.

I think in his attempt to tie everything up in a nice package he ended up rushing the ending more than he should have.

Side-Note: Soul-Sucking Vampire subplot needs to be resolved in The Shivah 2, just sayin'.

[musehead]

Well, I liked the ending for only one reason: it is a real ending, i really don't like when series get too far. So, I'm happy because now we deliver this great games to history and we'll write about them as a milestone of episodic adventure games.

BUT...

I was a little disappointed with the final steps of the storyboard. It reminds me of Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy when things go all messed up. Rosa with glowing white eyes and all the universe knowledge flowing inside herself? Multiple souls for one person? Recycle of soul-sucking vampires? I didn't like these things and in my opinion there would have been more focus on Joey's story and about the meaning of guides like him.

And I didn't feel touched by the ending. I was expecting something more intense. OK, there's a big mess and maybe we can define it a sort of epic ending with millions of souls and a spirit with world-destructive powers, but i would have prefered a lower profile with more intense feelings. When I first saw the vortex outside the window, I said "oh no, another big and totally predictable disaster against humanity which now for sure we will avoid". It's too common, too NORMAL and "normal" is a very recurrent word in this Blackwell episode. Joey and Madeline wanted to be "normal" but they're amazing because they're totally NOT normal. Rosa was a normal, invisible girl, she felt somebody better only when she ended to be normal.

"Normal" is a bad word, Gilbert. We love your games because they're not normal. Looking forward for your next game and... thanks! It was a pleasure to play this serie.

PS: sorry for my English (we italians, you know... just like Mallone :) )

[Crestfallen_Rose]

I didn't really like the ending either, and not just because it was depressing and unfavorable, but because it didn't seem to fit with the events in the series.

-Why was it that Lauren was able to live an additional twenty years after being possessed by Madeline and Rosa was only able to live for maybe five hours before dying?
Was it because Rosa had more knowledge of the universe and actually used her powers?
Also, Rosa was no longer being possessed and had sealed/sent Madeline away; so, wouldn't she have been free?

-I agree that it was very strange that Joey's spirit was sealed in stone before promptly being reborn. Although, the fact that he can't interact with ghosts while alive makes sense since he was never psychic when he was alive before.

My ideal ending was Rosa sending Madeline away (sending all the spirits in the world into the void might be a bit overdramatic but I could live with it) and continuing to help spirits with Joey. Cheesy as it may seem, I like it and it kind of fits a bit better...

But, what I had expected to happen was for Rosa to send Joey into the void, giving him peace after staying in limbo for so long. Then she would lose her powers and live a normal life.

I still adore Rosa and Joey and the series, and I'm glad that some questions were finally answered. But the game felt crammed and a bit rushed towards the end.

[essen]

Think of it this way: Madeline leaving a body leaves some kind of hole in the mind, and the Universe starts pouring in. This is what happened to Lauren (her body was alive but her mind was gone) and Rosa before the ending. Then Rosa manages to come back and gain control over the Universe pouring into her head, and can use that to gain knowledge. She uses that knowledge to free all spirits, unfortunately doing so ends up making her lose control and the Universe starts pouring into her head again. Seeing as her mind is going to be gone anyway she decides to use the knowledge of the Universe one last time and bring Joey back to life, trading her life for his basically. This is why she dies and isn't just a vegetable. The stone thing is just for show, there's no real meaning behind it (though there's various stories about creating man from clay and the like).

Joey in the ending says he's forgetting about his "death", meaning he'll lose memory of most of what happened with Rosa, so it's pretty unlikely that he would go after the vampires or anything of the sort. Where would he start anyway? On the other hand he did get Rosa's ashes so he most likely convinced Durkin that he was connected to Rosa using his fading knowledge of when he was a ghost. Who knows? This isn't very useful for the story anyway.

This ending is all I hoped it would be. It ended badly despite all the good things that came from it. I didn't expect Joey to revive but I did expect Rosa to die.

[timmo4444]

Originally posted by MeenMachine:

(Also, while I understand why Police Commissioner's role was cut

Could you explain that to me? I have no idea why that plot disappeared. That felt like a real weak point to me... i definitely wanted *some* kind of closure there.

[Neawoulf]

I have not much to add ... just a little thank you to all who worked on this series, especially to Dave Gilbert for one of the best stories in my video game history and to Abe Goldfarb and Rebecca Whittaker who have given the main characters life. Awesome work!

[Liquidsnakehpks-joa]

already finished the game 3 times but i can agree with the ending if you want to close the series but for the game , i am not happy with the way it ended, left too many holes there were no choices to make , my main concerns were
1)why could not we make rosa control it ,she held ok for a while only to fall apart in the end seems like forced, lets not forget rosa is much more better at this than others and lived in the modern times where stuff phones, pc, advanced medicine etc exists heck even the doc if you listened to him had almost figured out what was causing them to go mad.

2)joey coming back to life , uh made no sense i mean what gives? just some thing hit from rosa to bring him back to life? can spooks be brought back to life? what powers did rosa gain exactly ? god ?

3) what happened to the ghost that ran away from the hospital? could we have done something with him ?

4)were there any other bestowers left in the world? joey says something on it in the end what would happen to them?i would have been happy if there was aftermath shown like the one in resonance

5) how did the kid die ? did lia kill her with the defenses she had setup?

lol is it me or did anyone else feel all the cuts that dave talked about in the dev mode would have been nicer if it was in ? anyone hoping for a directors cut edition of the game?
feels like we are ending the series with a flaw , "no matter how good bestower you are , the end will come when a rogue guide enters your mind"

[anemiczombieengine]

What I was really hoping for, to keep the ending from being too dark, was if Rosa would come back as a spirit guide herself. Granted Joey isn't psychic, but if Rosa the Avatar can create a living body out of the earth, who's to say she couldn't have granted him psychic powers if she wanted to do it? For that matter, who's to say she couldn't have created a new body for herself with a brain that didn't have a metaphysical hole in it, and possess that?

[timmo4444]

Originally posted by Liquidsnakehpks-joa:

already finished the game 3 times but i can agree with the ending if you want to close the series but for the game , i am not happy with the way it ended, left too many holes there were no choices to make , my main concerns were
1)why could not we make rosa control it ,she held ok for a while only to fall apart in the end seems like forced, lets not forget rosa is much more better at this than others and lived in the modern times where stuff phones, pc, advanced medicine etc exists heck even the doc if you listened to him had almost figured out what was causing them to go mad.

2)joey coming back to life , uh made no sense i mean what gives? just some thing hit from rosa to bring him back to life? can spooks be brought back to life? what powers did rosa gain exactly ? god ?

3) what happened to the ghost that ran away from the hospital? could we have done something with him ?

4)were there any other bestowers left in the world? joey says something on it in the end what would happen to them?i would have been happy if there was aftermath shown like the one in resonance

5) how did the kid die ? did lia kill her with the defenses she had setup?

lol is it me or did anyone else feel all the cuts that dave talked about in the dev mode would have been nicer if it was in ? anyone hoping for a directors cut edition of the game?
feels like we are ending the series with a flaw , "no matter how good bestower you are , the end will come when a rogue guide enters your mind"

1. when joey tears madeline out of rosa, somthing "snaps", causing the universe to come pouring in.
2. yeah its problematic. Rosa gets god-like powers from the universe pouring into her head.. it opens doors that i wish they didnt.
3. presumably, benjiro can now get a new body by possessing someone, as gavin planned on doing.
5. Hmm yeah i have no idea... i guess lia did it...

[essen]

3. Benjiro most likely was still a spirit when all spirits were saved. Sucks to be him!

5. Lia's boyfriend was shot by a mysterious guy. Sounds reasonable that the same happened at Lia's house around the same time.

[timmo4444]

^they answered that with a heavy implication that it was michael mind controlled by madeline who killed george.

[essen]

Oh right I forgot that, thanks. :-)