[MAJOR SPOILERS]: Game ending

[Hexx]

So I just finished the game (which is excellent) but I can't help to feel that the game ending was a bit of a letdown.

After I beat everyone in the crypt I was given 3 choices - claim the divnity, share the source with everyone or use it to seal the veil into the void (which btw somehow resurrected both Dallis and Lucian after I killed them both? It seems the game does not take that into the account and proceeds like if I surrendered without a fight). So of course I watched all 3 of them and none of them ended too well. Claiming the divinity basically means business as usual only you're the new divine instead of Lucian, voidwoken keep coming and nothing was solved. Sharing the source with the world is pretty much the same thing except of course there is no divine to rally behind and everyone starts to fight for the source so that's even worse. Yes, the people manage to push the voidwoken back with their new powers but that won't last so again nothing was solved. The last ending - sealing the veil - seems like the "good" ending (everyone lives happily ever after) but it's a bit of a letdown because it makes the whole game pointless as that would have happened even if you just died in Fort Joy so you accomplished nothing, well done. Also if the veil was broken once then it can happen again, so again, even that doesn't really solve anything. Also this ending (since you just surrender) does not give you the satisfaction of beating all the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥s that tried to kill you many times during your journey (even though I did that in the end but the game narrative ignores the last fight with this ending). It's a bit of a letdown that after 200h of gameplay the story ends with a whimper instead of a bang. I would definitely prefer more satisfying ending (Witcher 3 comes to mind - that one was flipping fantastic and I felt like cheering at the end). It reminds me of the POE2 ending which is basically the same thing - both endings in both games make the games and their journeys poitness. It's such a shame that after such an epic game the ending makes it somewhat bitter.

PS: Also what happened with Alexander? Last time I met him was on the Nameless Isle. I thought he would have some sort of impact on the ending.

[Adriac]

Alexander died on the nameless isle.

[Hexx]

Oh really ? Okay. Thanks.
See I thought he might be somehow important in the end since you get the very clear choice of killing him or letting him live after you escape Fort Joy. But then he just dies without pretty much any further impact on the story ? Okay.

[Phoenix.]

You didnt kill Lucian and Dallis, they became 'unconscious' after they hit 0 HP. Alexandar surviving in Act I after I literally exploded his body was way more weird (needs some scripting there) :D
I never saw sealing the veil as good ending. Its suicide (and betrayal of your companions), giving all your power to a tyrant and trust him he might not fail once again, lol. I know Malady somehow manages to restore your soul but still, it doesnt sound like a good plan to me.
I think sharing source is the best ending since its the best option to prevent the rise of a new tyrant (unless you are immortal if you become divine). You give all the power but also the responsibility to the people of rivellon. If they fight over that power in the future, thats their problem, you did your best to save them. This ending might feel better if the epilogue afterwards would focus more on you, your decisions and the relationships you built with your companions (things that actually can turn out in a positive way).

[Hexx]

Having thought about it some more I think I appreciate the game's ending a bit more - this game sticks with you for a while - like a good story should. I think upon further reflection I appreciate that it's not a simplistic ending. It does not give you the immediate satisfaction of "destroying all evil and riding into the sunset" but works more in shades of grey and degrees of success/failure, showing both positive and negative outcomes of the choices. Also I suppose it's also open to your own interpretations - ie. what would you do with the power of divinity. The story does not explicitly tell you everything, but makes you think about it which makes it have more of an impact. I didn't realized it at first but even the entire ending has more sinister atmosphere captured perfectly with the slightly more melancholic version of the main theme song. It also reminds of me the ending of the Lord of the Rings for example - fighting over the ultimate power and showing how the ultimate power corrupts, even with initially good intentions (Lucian, but even you, nobody is without sin as they said). I suppose that is the overarching theme of the entire game. The only thing I still think is a bit of a missed opportunity is Alexander just dying on the Nameless Isle. He should have been there at the end in my opinion.

[Stabbey]

There is at least one big, unavoidable plot hole with the whole "We need to get the Source from every single person in the world to seal the hole in the veil, which will change all Sourcers into Silent Monks, tortured hollow shells for the rest of their lives" twist.

The original "hole in the veil" was created by the greedy, suddenly-always-evil-all-along Good Gods taking some source from it for themselves. The hole is described as being static, not increasing, it can't be increased - otherwise the God King would be doing that.

The problem is with the existence of mortals. If the gods are evil and only using mortals for their source, then the mortals MUST, MUST be generating more Source than it cost to create them. Otherwise, there is no reason at all these Evil Gods would have created mortals in the first place, spending some of their much-coveted Source. If the mortals are generating more source, then clearly you don't need to take 100% of the source of the world to patch the static, non-increasing hole.

***

Larian has used the The world would have been better off if you died at the start thing a couple of times. Notably: Beyond Divinity, and the ending of the original release of Divinity 2: Ego Draconis. Even the expansion to D2:ED is at best fixing the mistake you made. Even at best the expansion just redeems the name of the Dragon Knights, except there's only one left. Sure, Lucian comes back, but after DOS 2, Lucian just seems to be a slightly less evil Damian.

I kinda disliked the ending of Original Sin 2 because it changed Lucian from a benevolent guy trying his best, whose biggest flaw seemed to be perhaps a bit too much compassion into a hypocritical, egotistical, manipulative, genocidal monster. This guy is supposed to be the friggin' messiah?? Helping them is portrayed by the game as the good ending, the one closest to Divinity 2, but it really does not have the feel of a good ending, it left a sour taste in my mouth.

[Hexx]

I am not familiar with the pre-existing lore so that didn't bother me, this is the first Divnity game I played. To me Lucian came across as a person who wanted to save the world so much that his mind got clouded with his end goal and by doing so he himself became evil, resonating with the main theme of the game that ultimate power corrupts, even with good initial intentions. This is also why I think Alexander should have been there at the end, even if Lucian just killed him, his own son, as that would underline this theme, showing how far his mind got twisted. I guess he got killed by Dallis ''off camera'' by his orders but if it was done explicitly it would have had more of an impact in my opinion. As I mentioned this is in my opinion a missed opportunity to add another layer of tragedy into the ending. However I do agree that the ending does leave a sour taste, it's not a happy ending by any means but as I mentioned above that does work for me too, not every story has to have a happy ending I suppose.

[Stabbey]

Originally posted by LanmanCZ:

I am not familiar with the pre-existing lore so that didn't bother me, this is the first Divnity game I played. To me Lucian came across as a person who wanted to save the world so much that his mind got clouded with his end goal and by doing so he himself became evil, resonating with the main theme of the game that ultimate power corrupts, even with good initial intentions. This is also why I think Alexander should have been there at the end, even if Lucian just killed him, his own son, as that would underline this theme, showing how far his mind got twisted. I guess he got killed by Dallis ''off camera'' by his orders but if it was done explicitly it would have had more of an impact in my opinion. As I mentioned this is in my opinion a missed opportunity to add another layer of tragedy into the ending. However I do agree that the ending does leave a sour taste, it's not a happy ending by any means but as I mentioned above that does work for me too, not every story has to have a happy ending I suppose.

Part of the problem is that in Divinity 2: [Ego Draconis/Dragon Knight Saga/Developer's Cut], Lucian is portrayed as a kindly, benevolent person. He outright says that he could not bear to kill Damian because he considered Damian his son and loved him.

Except that suddenly, in DOS 2, Lucian DOES have a blood son - Alexander (which, by the way, completely contradicts lore related to Beyond Divinity).

The Larian writers try to weasel out of that by having Lucian claim with a straight ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ face that "I cannot kill my son" doesn't count when he's ordering Dallis to kill his son, which is ridiculous.

I don't mind an ending which isn't completely happy, but I really dislike character assassination, which is what happened to Lucian, for those who played Divinity 2.

[Hexx]

As I said, not being familiar with the pre-existing lore this didn't bother me. But how much time has passed between the two games ? Alexander looks like he might be perhaps in his early twenties, couldn't Lucian have a son in between the games ? Anyway from my point of view as a newcomer into this series it is not a problem if I look at this game as a self contained story. I'm not in general overly concerned about the minutiae of the lore.

[Stabbey]

Originally posted by LanmanCZ:

As I said, not being familiar with the pre-existing lore this didn't bother me. But how much time has passed between the two games ? Alexander looks like he might be perhaps in his early twenties, couldn't Lucian have a son in between the games ? Anyway from my point of view as a newcomer into this series it is not a problem if I look at this game as a self contained story. I'm not in general overly concerned about the minutiae of the lore.

If you tilt your head sideays and squint, maybe you could justify it, but if you are familiar with the previous games, it'll always come across as "who the heck is this new guy"? But the presence of Alexander undermines and contradicts things which happen before and later and unnecessarily muddles things between Lucian and Damian, the antagonist in the stories farthest along in the chronology.

These games are best played not paying much attention to consistency and the larger story, because Larian has what I would describe as an "improv" approach to writing. By that I mean they have the mindset of improv which is to take a suggestion and go "Yes, and..." add in a new thing. After six games set in the universe, the lore is impossibly tangled.

[Phoenix.]

Originally posted by Stabbey:

There is at least one big, unavoidable plot hole [...]
The problem is with the existence of mortals. If the gods are evil and only using mortals for their source, then the mortals MUST, MUST be generating more Source than it cost to create them. Otherwise, there is no reason at all these Evil Gods would have created mortals in the first place, spending some of their much-coveted Source. If the mortals are generating more source, then clearly you don't need to take 100% of the source of the world to patch the static, non-increasing hole.

What if Source simply behaves like energy, wanting to spread out while increasing entropy? Maybe the gods realized they simply wont be able to keep all the source and it will dissipate away over time. Maybe they came up with the idea to use the source right away to create the mortals, which then will use their 'life energy' to collect a small ammount of the source that spread all over the world until they die. Their slightly concentrated source is then consumed by the gods.
The problem with that now is
1) the source veil shouldnt be stable
2) the aeteran shouldnt exist

I just wanted to add this since this thread got OT anyways xD