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Board Index » Roommates » Most Disappointing Ending Since Mass Effect 3 (OUTDATED)
SparkleBits Feb 19, 2014
EDITED BY ADMIN: this topic is OUTDATED. [color=#FF0000]All the characters have a happy endings! Some are harder to get than others, but if you reach the right stats and/or make right choices, you can have happy endings for everyone.[/color]



As you can probably tell from the title MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS AHOY for Dominic in specific but I would think

all the endings do this.




So did you guys totally forget about the anger people had at Prince Cliff's ending in PS? You kind of just did it again.



I loved this game a whole lot, it was tons of fun and a joy to play and the ending killed it for me. It really sucks to play through a whole game trying to get a character's ending and have the game end with 'and then we broke up a couple of years later'. Yes I know it's realistic and most people don't marry their college lover but this is fiction and if the ending didn't flat out say they broke up it would be less discouraging. I understand a lot of people won't care but I believe a lot of people will.



This has completely killed my desire to get the endings of the other characters, I am very disappointed. I have played at least 5 of your games and this is the only one that upset me so. Other than the ending this is a top notch game which makes it that much worse.

jack1974 Feb 19, 2014
I am not so sure if ALL the romances should have happy ending honestly? Every one has a different opinion, and I think what people should focus is the writing and the story arc of the romance. Would take me 5 minutes to tell the writer "change it so that in the end they marry". It's 5 lines of text of an epilogue.

I can do that (maybe only if you get enough points, so there's a bad and a happy ending), but I would like also to hear different opinions first. Forcing writers to write ONLY happy endings for ALL the characters seems a bit too much for me :lol:



I would recommend you get the other characters endings though since they're worth it (remember that some characters have bad endings if you don't get enough stats point).
SparkleBits Feb 19, 2014
We'll I understand where you're coming from I guess I just hoped for a less concretely sad ending, anyway I did make sure I got the good ending and thanks for the polite and fast reply, I'm still disappointed but it helps to know more about why the choices were made I suppose, thanks! :)
jack1974 Feb 19, 2014
I'll ask the writer what he thinks about it. I'm always wary of asking a creative person (writer, artist, musician, etc) to change something. Maybe the "good ending" (combined stats >=600) could be a bit more vague and not explicitly say they broke up.

For the other endings though if you get the good one there are definitely good endings: Rakesh (both), Max - Anne, Anne - Isabella, Anne - Max, Max - Isabella (is open ending but not bad). So the ones without a real happy ending are Anne / Dominic and Max / Sally.

Though for Anne / Dominic, they still say that he is her best friend, so maybe is not too bad (I think maybe you got the "bad ending")?
SparkleBits Feb 19, 2014
I really appreciate that, as long as most of the endings are a little different I'm much happier thanks so much for addressing my problem!
jack1974 Feb 19, 2014
You're welcome :)
Miakoda Feb 19, 2014
I feel for Jack1074 and the writers about how to approach endings. I won't deny a slight preference for happy endings myself, but I don't mind bittersweet/poignant endings as well. Loren/Elenor comes to mind as a well-done ending (for the Loren game). Hard to please everyone :)



I do think it was a good idea the 'happy endings' tougher to work...such as the stats of 600+.



Something that might be done in future games (and obviously depending on the nature of the game) is having some of the lines of dialogue also having a greater effect on the endings.



If one was to take Roommates as an example, in the Anne X Isabella romance, there is one part where Anne could mention visiting Isabella's hometown. Combine that with the stat checks above, this could account for Anne going with Isabella (mind you, I have no problem with the initial break-up as Isabella confirmed she would go back home).



Or another good one was an off-hand comment with Max X Sally. Max stated every rocker needed an activist girlfriend. This could have opened up another dialogue down the line where Max might be willing to change some of his career trajectory to accommodate that of his girlfriend.



Not that such changes in a future game need to have a 100+ endings, but a little more 'player' choice might be possible to implement. Not that it should change Roommates or anything ;)
Maelora Feb 19, 2014
Gotta admit, if this happens in Seasons of the Wolf I'll be inconsolable!



But meh, I hate Dominic anyway! :)



Bear in mind that Anne has SOME happy endings, even with guys (I think). It's not like he's the only guy out there in the game.



If Izzy/Anne was doomed, the lesbians wouldn't have another choice.



Loren's ending is bittersweet, but if you want a happy ending, you can choose Karen (as I did). As long as they're some choice, I don't mind.



A bit like Thane dying in Mass Effect. If you start dating him, you know he's dying of an incurable disease. You go into it with your eyes open.
wildcard Feb 19, 2014
Wow, been quite a long time since I've been here, but stalk- I mean following winterwolves on twitter certainly keeps me up to date ;9



While I like happy endings, I'm also a sucker for drama. So for me the ideal solution is to have a good and a bad ending. Thought I don't think I can intentionally go for a bad ending, so perhaps if you get the good ending you could unlock both ^^°



But then again, I usually only go for characters I'm interested in - which in Loren was pretty much everyone, while in PS I only went for two characters :3

And I think due the writing you can often sense if a relationship between the MC and the other character can work out or not. Or like in Loren romance with Mr. Dwarf (<3) is made obvious to be not possible.

And sometimes you can imagine that a realtionship wouldn't work out in the long run, or wouldn't be a pretty pink and heartfilled fairytale story. Prince Cliff is the prime example if you play a guy and go for him. He's a prince. As such he has responsibilites and one of them is to carry on the line, while John is a soldier and has his own share of responsibilities. I went for him anyway on the second go, cause I was curious to see what would happen at all / how the winterwolves team would handle it.

And BY GOD! I'm glad it wasn't a fairytale story with a pink ribbon wrapped around it *rolls eyes*





I like the example of Thane from Mass Effect by Maelora. Sometimes you make decissions where the likelyhood of it coming back to bite you in the a.. is rather high. You know that, but still make that choice, cause you think it's worth it. To stay with the example, if in Mass Effect you somehow would have come accross a cure all of sudden, I would have been pretty cranky. Dito for if he'd have survived a certain scene. It would have cheapened him.

And ... I actually liked the Mass Effect 3 Ending. Just saying. ;P



As for Loren: I liked all endings. I even tried out all three options at the different playthroughs. I definitly didn't expect the finish when I sacrificed my own character. It was heartbreaking. Especially as I had romanced Draco at that walkthrough. Don't think I considered anything more heartbreaking T^T

But I still wanted to know and a part of me still enjoyed it. Especially that it was seen through to the end and that I wasn't stopped somehow from going through with that choice.





Sooo...

Long story short: I don't mind not having a happy ending.

To be honest, I was kind of surprised none of my favourites were dying ^^°

About 80% of the characters I like - instantly most of the time - have a tendency to have a rather short digital live ^^°



Ideally, I think, are good and bad endings. I think if you don't go after the digital partner of your choice and romance him or her - aka triggering the scenes with him/her - then you don't deserve a happy ending anyway ;P Love is hard work after all >:3
rooke30 Feb 20, 2014
I am not so sure if ALL the romances should have happy ending honestly? Every one has a different opinion, and I think what people should focus is the writing and the story arc of the romance. Would take me 5 minutes to tell the writer "change it so that in the end they marry". It's 5 lines of text of an epilogue.

I can do that (maybe only if you get enough points, so there's a bad and a happy ending), but I would like also to hear different opinions first. Forcing writers to write ONLY happy endings for ALL the characters seems a bit too much for me :lol:



I would recommend you get the other characters endings though since they're worth it (remember that some characters have bad endings if you don't get enough stats point).


It has to do with player agency in sim games. In a sim game, the player feels as if they have a fair degree of control over the gaming world. You raise your stats, you pursue some people, problems arise but depending on your character and your choices you can make things work. To have that invalidated by saying yada yada 2 years on it fell apart, robs the player of that agency. There is no control over this epilogue, isn't the point of a sim that you have some control over the way things are headed? This seems like an attempt to be artistic in a genre meant to emphasise openness. This is why people were so annoyed at ME3, Bioware's RPGs are about choice, not the illusion of choice. Some fans also behaved like spoilt brats, and went so far past the line that it may as well have been drawn in a different dimension, but I can understand their irritation. I love ME3 and I replay it to death, but I've never finished the game and I never will.



Sims are stat and choice games where you should be rewarded for having good stats and making good choices. If you aren't rewarded for having high stats and making good choices on your chosen route, what's the point of playing the sim? It doesn't matter how good the writing is on that particular arc, if there isn't the option to succeed then, imo, the sim loses some appeal.



Let me give you an example. Do you remember those old vertical flight games in the 1990s? ( http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--7BTOxNVkDo/UvKdUXqeywI/AAAAAAAABbc/kqtwhm2opq4/s1600/1941-counter-attack-174x300.gif ) Well imagine that you've spent hours progressing through the game until you reach the final level. Where, guiding your bullet-ridden, but courageous plane through the hapless enemy you leave a path of destruction as far as the horizon. Spotting your target, your final goal in the game, you start readying yourself for one final battle.



With a roar your plane explodes, then silence. Text slowly scrolls across the screen.



"Focused solely on clearing a path to the fortress of Count Evil Sodalot, you failed to notice the approach of Captain Flashheart, the enemy's ace in the sky. Descending from the clouds like an Angry Titan, he tore through your plane with endless volleys of bullets. While your plane carried you down to your inevitable grave, Flashheart drew his plane beside yours, slowly drew a cigar, lit it, and placed it in his smug mouth. A smugness he soon lost as smoke began to fill his air-tight cabin. Desperately putting his cigar out, and waving his hands as if attacking a colony of hovering flies, Lord Flashheart spiralled to his death, killed by his own hubris. And with the ground fast approaching, you allowed yourself a brief smile.



The enemy forces never recovered from the shock of Flashheart's death, and quickly succumbed soon after. And although you died before the final battle could commence, your name was remembered as the man who took down a legend, the man who cut a path to the enemy's base, the hero of the war. A statue of your likeness was erected in your home town, and the brothel you so often frequented name after you in your own honour. The name 'Randy' was, from that point on, forever associated with excessive lust and lewdness. Your name would never be forgotten. THE END"



Yeah, it's a valid ending. But it's not what I signed on for, if you know what I mean! You signed on to be the hero, not the brave soldier who sacrificed himself so that other people could win! In the sim game you sign on so you can succeed at romancing people. Not "oooh, so close but life's like that sometimes, you know."
nightshadengale Feb 20, 2014
I'll be honest--just hearing that Dominic's ending was bad no matter what killed most of my excitement for the game as a whole. That's the path I was most excited about playing, and even though I was excited about some of the other ones, the excitement-killing effect of hearing Dominic's ending was bad was not a precision weapon. My overall feelings about the game just went from "Ooo!" to "Oh. =\" I fully admit that it's irrational, but the fact is that I have had no motivation to start a new game since reading that--despite the fact that I bought Anne's version and haven't played as her yet. (The fact that my one playthrough was Sally who has the other bad ending didn't help.)



I agree with a lot of Rooke's points above, and I don't get the argument that you can just romance someone else if you want a good ending. Deciding who to romance should be based on which personality you're most interested in, but this turns the choice into "do you want a happy ending?" For me, having one romance path have a bad ending and the others have good endings is like having the game tell you "So you know how you thought so-and-so was compatible with your character? YOU WERE WRONG." Which is not a nice feeling to get from a game, and does not engender positive feelings towards the game as a whole.



Jack, you say people should focus on the main arc of the romance rather than the epilogue--but I don't think everyone can separate them out. I can't enjoy the romance arc if I know the relationship is doomed in the end.
Aleema Feb 21, 2014
I am not so sure if ALL the romances should have happy ending honestly?

In my humble opinion, yes. As the developer, it's easy to see all endings at once and then wish them to display variety, some good, some bad. However, to a player, each ending could very well be their only ending. Or at least their first ending. It will have an impact on the player, who may be very invested in what the ending has to say. If you really, really like Dominic, it's going to hurt that you chose Dominic's route to be one of the "not happily ever after" variety, simply for variety's sake.



And there's the matter of how do you, the developer, come to decide who gets happy and who gets un-happy endings? This is where bias comes in. As the person who makes the ultimate decision, you could very well make the characters you like to be the ones that get happy endings, thereby snubbing the rest of the characters. This is dangerous, since most developers are straight men, male romance options (like Dominic) end up getting poor treatment, because they want to see their favorite characters (the girls) get happy endings. So, ultimately you end up creating a game that doesn't reward women or gay men.



Mass Effect is an example of what not to do. Because most their development team was straight men, the male romance characters were given depressing endings. (Spoilers) Thane was given a terminal disease and you watch him die from it. Jacob cheats on you and impregnates another woman. I'm sure in the grand scheme of things, the developers thought it would be interesting to have romance characters die and cheat on you. I can't argue with that. But if you look at the female romance characters, you get happy times across the board (hell, even one of the characters is "designed to be the perfect woman.") It's unfair. Probably unintentionally, but their oversight made me not feel welcomed as a customer.



So I'm firmly in the camp of universal happy endings, if you earned them. Otherwise, I'll probably end up getting screwed.
jack1974 Feb 21, 2014
What, even my own writers are against me now!! Oh no, all is lost! :mrgreen:

OK, all right, I understand the point. I think having at least ONE OPTION to get a happy ending, with the required stats, even harder to get, makes sense. And at least is an easy change, is not like the game needs to be rewritten. I'll also have a happy ending for Sally too since was the only other one without it.



Will change it on the next update (hopefully one of the latest of the game!).
Sylrissa Feb 21, 2014
I am not so sure if ALL the romances should have happy ending honestly?

However, to a player, each ending could very well be their only ending. Or at least their first ending. It will have an impact on the player, who may be very invested in what the ending has to say. If you really, really like Dominic, it's going to hurt that you chose Dominic's route to be one of the "not happily ever after" variety, simply for variety's sake.


That's a very good point Aleema, and while some people want to clear every ending, others will only want to play one gender, and may only have one romance partner they are interested in. Yes they would be missing out on a lot of in-game content, but they bought the game same as everyone else and imo should have the same valid right to finding a satisfying conclusion at the end of the game.


So I'm firmly in the camp of universal happy endings, if you earned them. Otherwise, I'll probably end up getting screwed.


I've said this before, but feel free to make the option as difficult as you please, just as long as the option exists at all, I'd be happy in knowing that I have the possibility as long as I work hard enough to earn it.



I'm glad to see Jack has gotten the message loud and clear, so I'll try to stop harping on about it too much, we love your games and only want to see you improve <3
SparkleBits Feb 21, 2014
I'm glad to see Jack has gotten the message loud and clear, so I'll try to stop harping on about it too much, we love your games and only want to see you improve <3


Exactly, if I didn't love your games so much I would probably just brush my disappointment off, it's a great game maker who can make people CARE about what happens to the characters/plot.



So thanks for listening :D
jack1974 Feb 21, 2014

I've said this before, but feel free to make the option as difficult as you please, just as long as the option exists at all, I'd be happy in knowing that I have the possibility as long as I work hard enough to earn it.

Yes, in this case will simply be the combo stats > 600. For SOTW I'll have to think something to have an happy ending even with Chalassa, it will be more difficult but I have something in mind already :mrgreen:
Miakoda Feb 21, 2014
It has to do with player agency in sim games. In a sim game, the player feels as if they have a fair degree of control over the gaming world. You raise your stats, you pursue some people, problems arise but depending on your character and your choices you can make things work. To have that invalidated by saying yada yada 2 years on it fell apart, robs the player of that agency...Sims are stat and choice games where you should be rewarded for having good stats and making good choices. If you aren't rewarded for having high stats and making good choices on your chosen route, what's the point of playing the sim? It doesn't matter how good the writing is on that particular arc, if there isn't the option to succeed then, imo, the sim loses some appeal.


Rooke30, I will admit I was one of those who had no problem with a 'bad' ending in a game, but this argument alone was so-well put, I agree with you and changed my mind. Not so much for rpgs, but a dating-sim certainly makes sense.



I would add one exception, though, if it was made quite plain in the game that a certain character might 'move on' for various reasons. For example, in Roommates Isabella explains how she plans to go back home after she graduates. Logically, I know then that her romance with either character might be limited to her going back. If one was to extend this in a hypothetical sequel, if I played as Max, and in that sequel I had the choice of making my career 'go', or go with Isabella, I do think that would be a valid break-up epilogue then.


In my humble opinion, yes. As the developer, it's easy to see all endings at once and then wish them to display variety, some good, some bad. However, to a player, each ending could very well be their only ending. Or at least their first ending. It will have an impact on the player, who may be very invested in what the ending has to say. If you really, really like Dominic, it's going to hurt that you chose Dominic's route to be one of the "not happily ever after" variety, simply for variety's sake.


Which is also a very good point as well, Aleema. I don't tend to get so invested in my characters, but most players do, and should be accounted for.
hreyes1990 Feb 22, 2014
Omg as I read the comments on here I was beginning to feel disappointed I was looking forward to this game I am a big fan of your games. But I'm glad a happy ending will be added. For me even if the whole story was amazing and epic if the ending is not a happy one in games like these it ruins the whole game for me. I feel relieved now. I will be buying both female and male version when it's officially out XD looking forward to playing
DunKalar Feb 23, 2014

I've said this before, but feel free to make the option as difficult as you please, just as long as the option exists at all, I'd be happy in knowing that I have the possibility as long as I work hard enough to earn it.

Yes, in this case will simply be the combo stats > 600. For SOTW I'll have to think something to have an happy ending even with Chalassa, it will be more difficult but I have something in mind already :mrgreen:


I certainly hope so :-( When you can't have a happy ending with her, I won't buy this game :-D And you will never have any of my self made cookies :-P



(she is hawt, I like her attitude <3)
Legendzerox Feb 23, 2014
As you can probably tell from the title MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS AHOY for Dominic in specific but I would think

all the endings do this.



So did you guys totally forget about the anger people had at Prince Cliff's ending in PS? You kind of just did it again.



I loved this game a whole lot, it was tons of fun and a joy to play and the ending killed it for me. It really sucks to play through a whole game trying to get a character's ending and have the game end with 'and then we broke up a couple of years later'. Yes I know it's realistic and most people don't marry their college lover but this is fiction and if the ending didn't flat out say they broke up it would be less discouraging. I understand a lot of people won't care but I believe a lot of people will.



This has completely killed my desire to get the endings of the other characters, I am very disappointed. I have played at least 5 of your games and this is the only one that upset me so. Other than the ending this is a top notch game which makes it that much worse.


LOL the ending reminds me off the LorenxElenore ending in Amazon Princess. "BTW Loren gets killed by an unnamed amazon."