Alternate Endings

[Mercen-X]

I think what Velo is trying to say is that he prefers to play a game wherein your character is omnipresent and doesn't miss out on anything on the first play through. That way, you'd get the full scope of what's going on without the hassle of "re-reading" thus you would never have to play the game again. *rolls eyes*

I've always loved the idea of alternate endings but I've always despised their execution. This is mostly due to full-motion video overindulgence. I had gotten so used to the beautiful pre-rendered sets used for the typical ending sequence that I found myself painfully disappointed by the alternate endings that did not feature them (as in Chrono Cross and Radiata Stories). The fact that Shadow of Memories was essentially one long cutscene meant that I was not left with such disappointment. Admittedly, at first, I hated that the cutscenes in Kingdom Hearts were all made with basically the same graphics as those seen in the gameplay when the opening and ending sequences were full-motion vids. While I still hate that the opening and ending vids exist separately from the game, I've grown to like the fact that the remainder of the game's body is rendered in the same style.

My point being that if they can render multiple endings in a stylistic way (fully animated and preferably voice acted) and better still, allow you to record the endings in an in-game ledger, I think it would be an awesome feature.

because the games narrative doesn't have a definitive culmination.

I read this as meaning that the multiple endings have no closure which doesn't have to be the case. It's not as if the MEs should be just some cheap mechanic to increase replayability. I think that any alternate ending should feel natural. If the ending occurs as you are killed by a boss, it shouldn't just be another game over screen. They should go forward and show what happened as a result of your failure. Obviously, only particular bosses should warrant this reaction and no I'm not saying that MEs should occur as a result of dying in battle. Maybe it happened because you failed to stop a train or show the Dragon mercy or save some stupid dog. The point being, that an "alternate ending" should not feel like just another "game over" screen. It's like the actions you take would decide what kind of story was being told and the ending would justify that this tale was either a tragedy, a comedy, a rebirth, etc.