quote:

Originally posted by drtymac:
You're being very short sighted, just like the Prince was.

stop attacking people like tat, one might say the same about you

quote:

Originally posted by drtymac:
What good is having that person back, when you've re-released the evil as well?

it means you'll just have to try another way, what's so difficult to understand

quote:

Originally posted by drtymac:
So he basically frees her without even thinking of the consequences, and perhaps prays that some alternate way to defeat him shows up in the future. That's a huge gamble.

so what ? life's a huge gamble itself, I found the gesture the Prince did very realistic, people always do this gambling stuff

quote:

Originally posted by drtymac:
The ending also shows that the prince has learned NOTHING from the adventure.

really ? I'd say he learned to love, before meeting Elika he says he's something of a playboy who never settles down, he's an adventurer and stuff like that, but bringing her back from the dead proves that he loves her, and that's a major gain for a man

quote:

Originally posted by drtymac:
Now he has a ticked off girl who doesn't want to be with him, and an evil unleashed back into the world.

oh come on Elika doesn't want him ? really ? and your proof is what ? the slap from the begging of the Epilogue ? you obviously don't know much about women or love

quote:

Originally posted by drtymac:
the audience has lost respect for him as a heroic character

NOT, there are a lot of people right here on these forums who liked what he did and didn't lost respect for him, stop generalizing, only because there's some people who hate the ending doesn't entitle you to state that the whole audience lost respect for the Prince, not everyone thinks like you do, you know, many people loved the ending, by the way, you're on a thread called "Best Ending in Years" and you claim that the audience has lost respect for the Prince ? oh you're funny indeed

quote:

stop attacking people like tat, one might say the same about you

I saw a flaw in his logic, I pointed it out. Maybe I'll use more smiley faces next time.

quote:

it means you'll just have to try another way, what's so difficult to understand

There IS no other way. We are not told of any. The game makes a huge deal about the importance of putting Ahriman back in prison (12 hours worth of it, to be exact), so we assume that is the only way. If there WAS another way, people wouldn't be complaining about the ending like they have. And I wouldn't have called the Prince's thinking short-sighted.

quote:

so what ? life's a huge gamble itself, I found the gesture the Prince did very realistic, people always do this gambling stuff

People gamble only if they have a good idea of what they stand to win or lose. You don't risk the lives of billions to save one person when 1) that person purposely sacrificed themself, 2) there is no known alternative to defeating the evil.

quote:

oh come on Elika doesn't want him ? really ? and your proof is what ? the slap from the begging of the Epilogue ? you obviously don't know much about women or love

Right. Because reviving a someone who doesn't want to be revived, and undoing all of her hard work, and releasing the one thing she hates the most, would be the best way to win her heart. Clearly, you are a Casa Nova when it comes to women.

quote:

NOT, there are a lot of people right here on these forums who liked what he did and didn't lost respect for him, stop generalizing, only because there's some people who hate the ending doesn't entitle you to state that the whole audience lost respect for the Prince...

Nice quote mining.

Read my post again. I laid out the logic of why the audience would lose respect for him. His actions show that he has not grown as a character. He is essentially as selfish as he was at the beginning of the game. He has learned to love, but that is a selfish gain. He has not learned about the greater good, that she sacrificed herself for that good, and that releasing her would undo all that she believes in. It would be like cremating your mother when she explicitly told you she wanted to be buried in a casket. And just because you couldn't stand the thought of her rotting in the ground... selfish.

Oh, it's completely selfish, but I think the whole scene is demonstrating that he HAS learned things and grown as a character - just not necessarily in the right things, or in the right direction, and it was kind of chilling as a player, that moment of realization.

I still had respect for him after the ending, but it was with the understanding that he has more layers than originally portrayed, and it may not make him a better person, but it definitely makes him more interesting.

And we know he's a gambler, as he jumped off the Queen's Tower on the off chance Elika would save him. Man's kiiiind of crazy.

Let's not forget that the Prince foreshadowed his choice earlier. Remember, back when he was talking about how his parents died in a war? To paraphrase; "They just died. Does the rest really matter?" So, of course, the Prince would be pretty miffed that Elika sacrificed herself, especially without telling him first.

Plus the Prince - the atheist loner - grows to have complete faith in Elika and her powers. He confides with her about his past and he voluntarily jumps of a freaking tower just because he trusts Elika - and Elika even realizes that he didn't even consider the possibility that she couldn't save him.

Um... wait a minute, Elika is almost the Prince's Jesus! Mind = blown o_O

... trippy conspiracy theory aside, the Prince has complete faith in Elika. He spends the entire freaking Epilogue constantly telling her "Ahriman would have gotten out eventually" and "Your powers are still growing even without the temple."

Now, notice that Elika is only angry at the Prince for a rather short time in the Epilogue. Sure, there's the slap at the start and a short argument, but in the first half she's just generally depressed. Then in the second half she's basically acting like she was in the first half of the main game. Plus, notice how sad Elika seems when she leaves? Not that I know what the designers had in mind for that scene, but if I were to hazard a guess I would say it was because she genuinely liked the Prince and his company, but needed to leave him and carry out her duty because he was just going to run away.

nice point-outs Harry as always

quote:

Originally posted by drtymac:
There IS no other way. We are not told of any.

has it ever occur to you that Ubisoft has another way of solving the Ahriman problem which we're gonna see in the next game ? they said it's probably gonna be a trilogy so...

quote:

Originally posted by drtymac:
People gamble only if they have a good idea of what they stand to win or lose. You don't risk the lives of billions to save one person when 1) that person purposely sacrificed themself, 2) there is no known alternative to defeating the evil.

oh but the Prince, thus the player, knew exactlly what he'll win/loose when he did it
and if you haven't noticed it, he was a gambler his entire life who didn't care about the rest of the world

quote:

Originally posted by drtymac:
Right. Because reviving a someone who doesn't want to be revived, and undoing all of her hard work, and releasing the one thing she hates the most, would be the best way to win her heart.

strangely yes, to quote what my man Harry from above, "Elika is only angry at the Prince for a rather short time in the Epilogue. Then in the second half she's basically acting like she was in the first half of the main game....notice how sad Elika seems when she leaves? I would say it was because she genuinely liked the Prince and his company, but needed to leave him and carry out her duty because he was just going to run away"

quote:

Originally posted by drtymac:
Nice quote mining. Read my post again. I laid out the logic of why the audience would lose respect for him. His actions show that he has not grown as a character. He is essentially as selfish as he was at the beginning of the game. He has learned to love, but that is a selfish gain. He has not learned about the greater good, that she sacrificed herself for that good, and that releasing her would undo all that she believes in.

and I laid out the FACTS that there are many people who didn't loose respect for him, just look around these threads, I'm one of them
and why are you so against selfishness anyway ? it's a characteristic of every normal human being
ps
you said he didn't learn about the greater good ? and what's that ?

I think the endgame would have played out better for me, if the game had been linear, instead of open-world. It felt like the ending was "unearned". The player may have gotten very attached to Elika, but it didn't feel to me like the Prince was ever deeply in love with her. The non-linear fashion of the game pretty much made any sort of deep relationship building impossible. For example, the game couldn't have the prince seem too in love with Elika after any one of the boss fights, as any one of them could have been the player's first. There was thus no real crescendo building up towards the finale. I didn't believe that the he would override all common sense and undo all their hard work.

I think it worked better in SOT. The narrative was linear, and there was thus chance for the tension to build. The ending seemed "earned" and rewarding, even though it left a similar sort of "what the hell was the point of all that" feeling.

A great linear POP would have been:
1) Hunter - as a corrupted, he best mirrors the Prince. A good chance for the Prince to see himself in corrupted form, and explore his own character.
2) Alchemist - I didn't pick out anything too important thematically with this vignette. More of an icebreaker for the 2 characters (the image of them lying on the grass at the end comes to mind)
2) Warrior - you see Elika and the Prince's clashing views on selfishness and selflessness. Helps to flesh out the Prince's motivations during the endgame.
3) Concubine - The big one. A consolidation of the Prince and Elika's feelings for each other, and the deep trust the prince has now grown for her (jumping off the tower). This would have been a great final lead-up to the Prince's actions in the
endgame.

quote:

Originally posted by Zerban_da_Great:
... trippy conspiracy theory aside, the Prince has complete faith in Elika. He spends the entire freaking Epilogue constantly telling her "Ahriman would have gotten out eventually" and "Your powers are still growing even without the temple."

The epilogue never came out on PC, so I didn't play it. But I watched it on youtube, and my general feeling is that the prince has no idea what to do next, despite having willfully created such a huge mess. He is still heavily relying on Elika to figure things out (you are very powerful and he is scared of you, let's just run away as far as possible!, etc.). I would have liked to see him become more determined and take the lead. "Ok we are going to the other fertile grounds. Come on." He made the mess, he needs to take responsibility.

Epilogue was short, wait until the next game comes out and maybe you'll see the Prince take more responsibility

I love the ending

It wasn't "bold" of Ubisoft to not give us a choice as to what became of our 12+ hours of gameplay (which was an utter waste of time), it was lazy. Now I would understand if Elika was the "amazing" companion that Ubisoft practically smashed into our faces. I would understand if they had given her more of a place in the story than your tool (which is exactly what she was, she was a slightly more interactive inventory item.) NO, it's not like they tried to shove her down your throat during the game either, nothing memorable happened that showed me that I should be falling in love with this chick, she was just kind of.... there. Then at the end, when youve done ALL OF THIS **** just to help her, you HAVE to undo it. Lets see... what do I care more about, this shallow girl or the hours of platforming I just endured?
"In a nutshell, the ending is extremely human and realistic. If push comes to shove, and you couldn't have both, which would you pick? I'm seriously betting on the one close to you." That comment by xCaptainAmazing is bull****.

At the beginning of your post you say how it was "bold" of Ubisoft not to give us a choice at two endings, then you spout this crap about PICKING!? Oh, and she wasnt "close" to me, they barely even tried to make her close to me. NOTHING memorable about her whatsoever.

quote:

Originally posted by chickenthin0:
the hours of platforming I just endured

that said it all you don't seem to be enjoying yourself, but rather enduring some pain while playing a game, that's why you're never attached to the characters
oh, and stop saying other people's posts are bull****, respect their opinion, they might say the same about your post

serious? last time I checked a Sony exclusive had an ending which didn't hint to a sequel NOW THATS A ENDING!!

I was also very upset at the conclusion at first; it was somewhat expected that there would be a sacrifice at some point (after all, we KNOW that Elika had died previously, and the entire reason we are battling to re-bottle Arhiman is her father's bargain with the devil).

However, I played through the ending a couple of times, and while it wasn't perfect by any means, I can see the Prince's reaction. The City was destroyed, its last King fallen in the final conflict, and now its last heir sacrificed. Who would remain to watch over the Tree of Light? There were no Ahura remaining to harness the powers, no one who would even know or remember Elika and her people's stories against the Darkness.

The stones and buildings were already crumbled, the Temple itself would eventually falter and release Arhiman... and as the voice said "the Light would be gone." It ultimately struck me as the same dilemma faced by the Prince in the Sands of Time trilogy; yes, they had won, but at what cost?

I can't speak for the DLC (Ubisoft, please release this on PC! , but while we can see Elika upset by the Prince's decision, I think we can also see his determination that he would not lose her again, and together, they would find another way to defeat the demon. Personally, I'm looking forward to the next chapter in the tale.

quote:

Originally posted by houstondragon:
I think we can also see his determination that he would not lose her again, and together, they would find another way to defeat the demon. Personally, I'm looking forward to the next chapter in the tale.

come on Ubisoft give us the next chapter