I don't get it... (SPOILER)

[cordoba47]

I loved every bit of this game... until its ending. I don't know if it's just me, but the story doesn't seem to make any sense at all.

To put it briefly, Ned has been hiding in the national park ever since Brian's death and is worried that Henry would find out (but apparently he didn't worry about any of the previous firewatchers). So he decides that the best way to protect himself is to do everything in his power to ATTRACT ATTENTION, by stalking both Henry and Delilah, breaking into a government research station and tinkering with its equipment, breaking into Henry's tower for no reason, letting Henry see him near the cave and even assaulting Henry to make the case against himself worse? Am I supposed to buy that? At the end, he leaves for a place where supposedly he can't be found... so why couldn't he just go there to begin with?

And then there is Delilah, who must be really, really thick. On Henry's second day, he reports and describes the man he saw near the cave to her. Since that moment, the subject of Brian Goodwin just keeps coming up and she never joins the dots? For two months she has been trying to seduce Henry over the radio and she told him everything she knew about the Goodwins. He knows her secret, he's finally responding to her advances and he's coming to her, so at that moment she decides not to wait for him because she doesn't want him to be there when she tells the story to total strangers?

The whole thing seems to defy logic.

[andydudley]

I don't think he intended for Henry to see him by the cave. He was tailing Henry by the cave and was worried about him finding Brian's body.

There's some notes in Ned's hideout to this effect.

I think he was trying to intimidate and scare Henry off - with the assaults, pushing him into the cave and the whole surveillance thing.

He was in a place where he thought he couldn't be found - near to the body of his boy. I guess he never gets over it, but as he realises Henry is getting closer to the truth, plus the huge fire necessitating him to move elsewhere. Maybe he comes back in a few years? Who knows - it's not important.

(But yes, Delilah sounds a bit thick!) - I can't remember if she was drunk when Henry reports the other man - maybe she didn't join the dots? Also I think she dismisses Henry with a sarcastic comment at the time about there being people in the woods.

[cordoba47]

I agree that Ned obviously didn't expect Henry to spot him... but at the same time, he wasn't exactly discreet. But, even if Henry found the body in the cave on the first day, nobody knew that we was still in the area. You are probably right that he couldn't get over Brian's death, didn't want to leave until forced to and at the same time didn't want to face an official investigation into what happened. But it seems that the best thing to do would have been to properly bury Brian (in the cave or elsewhere), remain in hiding near the grave that he alone would know of, and avoid any contact with Henry and Delilah instead of getting in their way at every opportunity.

Anyway it's a beautiful atmospheric game, it's just a shame that the ending is not very satisfying from a narrative point of view nor from a logical point of view.

[sune_dk]

Originally posted by cordoba47:

I agree that Ned obviously didn't expect Henry to spot him... but at the same time, he wasn't exactly discreet. But, even if Henry found the body in the cave on the first day, nobody knew that we was still in the area. You are probably right that he couldn't get over Brian's death, didn't want to leave until forced to and at the same time didn't want to face an official investigation into what happened. But it seems that the best thing to do would have been to properly bury Brian (in the cave or elsewhere), remain in hiding near the grave that he alone would know of, and avoid any contact with Henry and Delilah instead of getting in their way at every opportunity.

Anyway it's a beautiful atmospheric game, it's just a shame that the ending is not very satisfying from a narrative point of view nor from a logical point of view.

Yeah, I'm also wondering why he would just leave his sons body in the cave, instead of bury him!!!
At one point I hoped that Brian corpse raised up, and started a zombie twist on this sorry story.-)

[cordoba47]

Originally posted by sune_dk:

Yeah, I'm also wondering why he would just leave his sons body in the cave, instead of bury him!!!
At one point I hoped that Brian corpse raised up, and started a zombie twist on this sorry story.-)

Oh c'mon, zombies in video games are a cliche that desperately needs to die (no pun intended). I loved Wolfenstein Old Blood very much until the moment the story writer decided that the best way to wrap up a Nazi hunt was to turn it into a zombie apocalypse...

I rather hoped that there was a real government conspiracy going on and that the research station or later the cave would lead to discovering something really sinister, Cold War / MKUltra style.

[Mr RocknRoll]

I also enjoyed all of the story til the end. Felt very meh IMO.

[roymaster45]

Yeah, I'm not entirely clear WHY Ned did all of this... maybe he blamed Delilah for his son's death on some level, and wanted to get revenge on her by making it look like she and Henry burned down Wapiti station?

*shrug*

[THE VERY REVEREND MISTER BONK]

They were told to wrap things up in a hurry I suspect so didn't really know what to do with the story towards the end.

[EverybodyLovesHypnoToad]

Ned was spotted by accident on the first day, because he was watching the cave closely to make sure the "new guy" didn't discover the body when he went in the cave. After that day, he started listening in on all their conversations to make sure they hadn't uncovered him. I would say that it's only once they cotton on to this fact (find the clipboard and radio, hear his cough) that he starts to fake the evidence at the research station, to make them think it's a conspiracy. Once the fire kicks in and he realises that he can't stop the discovery, he decides to move on and leave them the recorded confession.

The whole thing with Delilah leaving was hinted at throughout the game. Several times she indicates that she runs away when things get too intense for her, and she never actually says that she wants to meet Henry - to her, he is a fantasy distraction, best kept at a literal arm's length.

[sourKrut]

I feel the same way I do after reading a NTY best-seller fiction book. It's fun and thrilling and I know I should be doing something better with my time. And when I'm finished, I feel completely let down and upset w/ myself for having wasted 4-5 hours of my life. What a ♥♥♥♥-bag ending. I should delete Steam and walk away forever.

[Corky]

Totally agree with OP about the Ned aspect of the ending. I've seen on some of the other threads people arguing that it's good because it's built up to be a big conspiracy and then the reveal is something much more mundane, but I don't agree. My issue with the Ned stuff is that it's way too elaborate and didn't feel grounded in reality at all, whereas Henry and Delilah feel like very real characters reacting in convincing ways to the strange and creepy situation they find themselves in.

I have no problem with Henry and Delilah not meeting though. They had a connection rooted to a very specific context that was a respite from stuff they both need to deal with back home. Maybe it was partly because of the responses I myself chose (I didn't want him to cheat on his wife) but I never got the impression from their conversations that this could turn into some happily ever after relationship. And tbh, even meeting up for a drink once they're out of this place would probably just feel super awkward.

Originally posted by EverybodyLovesHypnoToad:

The whole thing with Delilah leaving was hinted at throughout the game. Several times she indicates that she runs away when things get too intense for her, and she never actually says that she wants to meet Henry - to her, he is a fantasy distraction, best kept at a literal arm's length.

^Spot on.

It was an enjoyable game and I'm glad I played it though!