Why is the ending sooo bad?

[Project_Rising_Sun]

Was playing the whole game with an AWE feeling and then....CREDITS. Really? Right when things started to get serious and most intriguing? I think this is unfair....
Just wanted to share my dissapointment...Good game though....But could be one of the best...

[Slick when wet]

The ending seemed a bit off but it could've been a lot worse.

[Saphayla]

The ordeal with the cult was over. The cult was dead (or slowly dying of suffocation), Mae's dreams were over (or at least she learned to accept and deal with them). The game's story is one about regular life, about accepting change. I feel like the ending did just that. It didn't close it like some great story. Life goes on.

When I finished the game, it didn't really feel like an actual ending. It felt like I just finished some chapter and was taking a break before playing another one. I think that's just the intention of the developers. When something big happens to you, the world doesn't stop. The life goes on, everyone else around you has things to do, there is no great story to finish.

[Meow-Meow Power]

Its kinda off yes, the Lovecraft think gets you off guard ( at least it did to me), bit the last bit after you escape the mine picks up, there is hope still in the life Of everyone, the taco and the janitor scene its the closest that you are going to get to a conclusion.
Life not always has closure, but there is hope.

[Just a robin]

When I see people refer to the ending as a disappointment in some way, I feel like that tends to come down to what they want out of their stories, and what expectations they form as a result of that.

For people who want the more standard story of heroes rising up to take down the bad guys, the story doesn't really even start until part four, and then it ends abruptly, practically on a cliffhanger.

For people who want a purely slice-of-life story, the game is fine up TO part four, and then all this other weird stuff comes out of nowhere and the game suddenly decides to end on that note.

For me, I think the game is largely slice-of-life, but I still think the ending fits into that because the game also has a running theme of using supernatural elements to make a broader point about what the average life can feel like. The game is a collection of short stories centered around different people's lives, and then it uses the ending to make a broader point to help tie all those stories together.

I think stories should be met on their own terms, as it were, and I feel like the people who refer to the ending as a disappointment wanted the game to be something that it was never trying to be. I'm not saying that to criticize what anyone wants out of their stories--if you don't like the game, or if you don't like some parts of it, I can respect that, and I can understand the sense of disappointment that comes from the game not being what you were hoping it would be. But I don't think the ending itself should be called a disappointment for that reason alone, because I don't think the ending fails at doing what the creators wanted it to do.

I think everything that's in the game has a reason to be in it, and I think the game succeeds at providing closure to everything it brought up as needing closure. Every story in the game that had a beginning also had an end. Everything else is just life, and is portrayed as such.

[Project_Rising_Sun]

Thank you guys very much for comments!

Originally posted by One Isolated Kitten:

The ending seemed a bit off but it could've been a lot worse.

Like what?

Maybe I just wanted to be sure that Mae was going to improve her life...And stop being an eternal teen with no responsibillities.

[Just a robin]

Originally posted by Gone_And_Happy:

Maybe I just wanted to be sure that Mae was going to improve her life...And stop being an eternal teen with no responsibillities.

I think this is another common complaint, and one where I definitely see where people are coming from on it.

For me, though, whether you take Gregg or Bea's route, both routes are about the two of them learning to grow up in their own ways, and both routes are about Mae looking at them growing up and acknowledging and accepting how they're doing it. So in that sense, I do think a large part of the story is about Mae learning what growing up means--and combine it with what she goes through with her mom, and I think she can put two and two together about what she'll eventually have to do.

But in addition to that, I think Mae's personal story is more about how she's not ready to take that level of responsibility yet, because there's something holding her back. She's paralyzed by a fear of what the future holds for her, so much that she's trying to prolong her current state of life for as long as she can. But I think the ending is about her facing and overcoming that fear, which is what gives her room to finally move forward. She doesn't actually move forward yet, since that's not the kind of thing that can happen in a single day, but I think the implication is that she'll learn to do it eventually.

[Project_Rising_Sun]

I definitely agree with you that Mae learnt from her friends. I like how deeply you see this whole story and characters :) Impersonal psychoanalysis is a great thing!

[Emi]

For me it's not just ending. I feel like whole story gone worse past the middle.

[Saphayla]

Originally posted by Bea is bae:

For me it's not just ending. I feel like whole story gone worse past the middle.

Well, you were clearly more interested in the "slice of life" part of the story

[thisisaudo]

I think the epilogue is pretty much pitch perfect myself.

[Animals Aren't Real]

I agree with your view on it. Personally though I think it hits dead center on an "ok" ending. Not sweet like the character of the story itself, but not toooo bad.

[Sylvester]

The problem with the story is that there was no climax. The story and all its conflicts just kinda solve themselves right after the final act starts building momentum. I feel like they sacrificed a proper climax in order to throw in some quick and cheep political punches. They really should have focused on Mae and her struggles instead. I mean, maybe a little agency with the character? She just kinda decided to be ok. She does not have to fight for it. It just kinda happens. It feels cheep. There are a ton of things they could have done instead. Missed opportunity in my opinion.

I really enjoyed the game otherwise.

[Project_Rising_Sun]

I was thinking what did really disappointed me most...and I realized that there was no band's try out and all they wanted was pizza...and I was going to play guitar hero again...disappointed hopes.

[Rich]

Originally posted by Gone_And_Happy:

I was thinking what did really disappointed me most...and I realized that there was no band's try out and all they wanted was pizza...and I was going to play guitar hero again...disappointed hopes.

Pretty sure they just play for themselves (And Germ) and you do eat donuts in Gregg's route. (What's wrong with pizza?)

[thisisaudo]

Originally posted by Zandooma:

The problem with the story is that there was no climax. The story and all its conflicts just kinda solve themselves right after the final act starts building momentum. I feel like they sacrificed a proper climax in order to throw in some quick and cheep political punches. They really should have focused on Mae and her struggles instead. I mean, maybe a little agency with the character? She just kinda decided to be ok. She does not have to fight for it. It just kinda happens. It feels cheep. There are a ton of things they could have done instead. Missed opportunity in my opinion.

I really enjoyed the game otherwise.

what..? there is quite clearly a climax, and it works both in the "ghost" developments and mae's personal developments.

and "quick and cheap political punches"??? that stuff is built up throughout the entire game, and is woven directly into the game's fabric.