The End?

[Capt. Broa]

Why no elementary school ending?! I can't understand why you would remove it, it's not like the media is going to s h i t on you and blame you for Columbine all over again. Come on guys, it's 2016...
Will this be added in future updates or something?

[Lat]

Because we thought the original ending, outside of the shock value, didn't have much going for it. We simply thought it wasn't a very good ending, and we sought to update/improve it with Redux.

[Clancy McFancy]

But now it doesn't have anything to it, you just walk up a hill and then have a breakdown.

[Tiffany A.]

引用自 Rich：

Because we thought the original ending, outside of the shock value, didn't have much going for it. We simply thought it wasn't a very good ending, and we sought to update/improve it with Redux.

I remember playing the original POSTAL for the first time and getting to that level. As soon as I saw the level name "Elementary School" I was like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ this is taking a dark turn. Then the actual "level" kinda sucked and I was unimpressed.

Redux's ending at least feels more like an ending and is interesting, so I agree that the change in ending was for the better.

[Capt. Broa]

引用自 Rich：

Because we thought the original ending, outside of the shock value, didn't have much going for it. We simply thought it wasn't a very good ending, and we sought to update/improve it with Redux.

I feel the exact opposite...maybe it's just me but i don't really get any kind of message with this new ending.
The shock value was, in my opinion, a strong point.
It made me sit back in my chair and wonder wtf was going on. It made me think about what was happening inside of the Dude's mind. I always thought that, in his mind, the dude was doing what god should have done, he was cleaning the earth of his worst sickness, humans.
But when confronted with children, and seeing how pure and happy they look, his delusion shattered and his mind was torn between wrong and right, love and hatred. A part of him wanted to kill them all to complete the purge (that's why we see him, in his mind, still shooting) but the other side of him realised how wrong he was if he did it (that's why he cant bring himself to actually kill them).
It was one of the most interesting endings i've ever played, but i respect your decision.
I loved Redux anyway, good job :D nice to see RWS still going at it

[Vile Sentry]

But what "message" did the original have either? People complain about the new one but then never apply that same level of criticism to the old ending.

I just have to respectfully disagree. I don't think there was anything interesting about the original. It's fun to speculate and think about but so is anything really, it just seems like it was made for the sole purpose of freaking people out which just seems boring.

[Capt. Broa]

引用自 DriscolDevil：

But what "message" did the original have either? People complain about the new one but then never apply that same level of criticism to the old ending.

I just have to respectfully disagree. I don't think there was anything interesting about the original. It's fun to speculate and think about but so is anything really, it just seems like it was made for the sole purpose of freaking people out which just seems boring.

To put it simply, to me the message was that there is a human inside every sick person. No, i'm not trying to justify any kind of violence, what i'm saying is that it's really easy to look back on a psychotic murderer, call him a monster and say that he will burn in hell for what he did. But when you start questioning what kind of early childhood did he go through, was he bullied, was he neglected, did the teachers care, did the parents care, did anyone go out of their way to try and find out whats wrong with that kid? Try to help him in any way possible? What was done after the Columbine shooting? Did we review our stupid gun control laws? Pretty much nothing changed. Did we raise awareness on mental illness, a clearly growing problem in our modern society? Nope, we blamed it on things like videogames and we let the media create a s h i t storm like it does best.
It's 2016, and still a LOT (and i mean a LOT) of people still don't take mental illness seriously. The amount of ignorance regarding this is abysmal.
When you start asking these questions, all of the sudden people lose interest completely and either tell you you're on the murderer's side or walk away.
Now you might say i'm taking this too far, and you might be right, but the old ending really made me think a lot about all this, and that's why i feel it was good.

[Vile Sentry]

引用自 Capt. Broa：

引用自 DriscolDevil：

But what "message" did the original have either? People complain about the new one but then never apply that same level of criticism to the old ending.

I just have to respectfully disagree. I don't think there was anything interesting about the original. It's fun to speculate and think about but so is anything really, it just seems like it was made for the sole purpose of freaking people out which just seems boring.

To put it simply, to me the message was that there is a human inside every sick person. No, i'm not trying to justify any kind of violence, what i'm saying is that it's really easy to look back on a psychotic murderer, call him a monster and say that he will burn in hell for what he did. But when you start questioning what kind of early childhood did he go through, was he bullied, was he neglected, did the teachers care, did the parents care, did anyone go out of their way to try and find out whats wrong with that kid? Try to help him in any way possible? What was done after the Columbine shooting? Did we review our stupid gun control laws? Pretty much nothing changed. Did we raise awareness on mental illness, a clearly growing problem in our modern society? Nope, we blamed it on things like videogames and we let the media create a s h i t storm like it does best.
It's 2016, and still a LOT (and i mean a LOT) of people still don't take mental illness seriously. The amount of ignorance regarding this is abysmal.
When you start asking these questions, all of the sudden people lose interest completely and either tell you you're on the murderer's side or walk away.
Now you might say i'm taking this too far, and you might be right, but the old ending really made me think a lot about all this, and that's why i feel it was good.

Um.....gun control is brought up and usually changed after all of these events. Personally I don't think making it harder to legally own a gun is going to stop a columbine style incident considering they didn't legally purchase the guns anyways, but that's just my feelings on it.
I mean I think it's just political. Nobody ever rallies for the government to make it harder to buy things that can be used to make explosives after something like the boston marathon bombing. People can say "it's not the same" except they are right, bombs and explosives are way more dangerous and can kill far more people than guns ever could. We don't make it an issue because that's not something that has a lot of money at stake for both sides.
Fair enough, but I don't personally see any of that as a message in the original ending, in fact exploring the mind of the nutjob seems to be something the new ending atleast attempts to do. The original ending was just a guy who isn't physically able to murder kids so he breaks down, or he refuses to and breaks down, neither really implies some grand statement about the human condition imo.
Thank you for explaining though, interesting to see a different perspective on it.

[[1stDE(A)] Pvt. Cannon Fodder]

引用自 Oddheads：

引用自 Rich：

Because we thought the original ending, outside of the shock value, didn't have much going for it. We simply thought it wasn't a very good ending, and we sought to update/improve it with Redux.

I remember playing the original POSTAL for the first time and getting to that level. As soon as I saw the level name "Elementary School" I was like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ this is taking a dark turn. Then the actual "level" kinda sucked and I was unimpressed.

Redux's ending at least feels more like an ending and is interesting, so I agree that the change in ending was for the better.

i was hoping the school level was going to become a part of the game and that we'll have a new ending. but oh well.

[Vile Sentry]

引用自 Donito Trumpolini：

引用自 Oddheads：

I remember playing the original POSTAL for the first time and getting to that level. As soon as I saw the level name "Elementary School" I was like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ this is taking a dark turn. Then the actual "level" kinda sucked and I was unimpressed.

Redux's ending at least feels more like an ending and is interesting, so I agree that the change in ending was for the better.

i was hoping the school level was going to become a part of the game and that we'll have a new ending. but oh well.

That would actually be kind of cool, maybe like a hell level after his suicide, or the asylum, or either depending on how many unarmed people you killed.

[Priminister CHarlie]

the original ending was crucial for the developtment of postal dude senior, who is the father of postal dude junior

[havin a melty?]

引用自 bronson_reaper：

the original ending was crucial for the developtment of postal dude senior, who is the father of postal dude junior

The postal dude's dad died in 96, whereas the postal dude from postal redux/postal 1 goes on his little spree in 97.

[⛴]

It is like Jon said in an interview, school shooting aren't even shocking anymore, they are just a sad reality

[john_sansker]

Interesting. My take on the original Postal was that the "Postal Dude" was the subject of a mind control experiment by either the government or aliens*.
He was the, or one of the "control" subjects that still had free will.
Most everyone else in town was under the influence of the mind control and were forced to attack him, he, was just defending himself.
In the very beginning of the original, when you, as the postal dude walk out of your house, you aren't even armed, you, if you are quick enough, can even avoid picking up the shotgun lying just outstide the front door of your house.
Which supports the "theory" that you/your character aren't in the wrong.
Other townspeople that aren't under the influence are traumatized by the amount of violence that ensues and place the blame on your character for defending/bein able to defend himself.

* Possible alien mind control.
I saw the ending of the original with the school yard as being a vague reference to the movie "Village of the Damned" as all the children in the movie had blonde hair just like all the kids on the playground at the end of the game.
But, it seems this was more of a case of the programmers not bothering to change some of the children's hair to brown or black.

[erik6767]

Funny you mention aliens.

In an old Macintosh demo for Postal, there's a diary entry that was cut from the game that read something like "the demons are real and they are here, fate has delivered me into their midst to free my species from dominion". You can see it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAmrBlrPtrI

I'd guess that before RWS decided to use the madness plague idea, they were gonna have a sort of They Live kind of plot with aliens/demons/otherworldly entities enslaving the human race, which IMO is a better idea than just a madness plague.

And yeah, the original ending with the school reminded me of Village Of The Damned. Good movie.

[Tiffany A.]

引用自 erik6767：

Funny you mention aliens.

In an old Macintosh demo for Postal, there's a diary entry that was cut from the game that read something like "the demons are real and they are here, fate has delivered me into their midst to free my species from dominion". You can see it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAmrBlrPtrI

I'd guess that before RWS decided to use the madness plague idea, they were gonna have a sort of They Live kind of plot with aliens/demons/otherworldly entities enslaving the human race, which IMO is a better idea than just a madness plague.

And yeah, the original ending with the school reminded me of Village Of The Damned. Good movie.

Originally in the development of POSTAL, the plan WAS to have aliens that had taken over people's bodies via latching onto their faces. The main character (at the time a postman) discovered his postal van was filled with weapons and decided to fight them off. Of course the alien stuff isn't actually in the final game, but the idea was originally there.

Also at this time, the game went through multiple different titles, such as The Postman Always Knocks Twice, and The Last Nail (fun fact: a game called The Last Nail is featured in Postal III as an easteregg)