The Renegade Ending. - by Headphones
Headphones on 6/8/2004 at 23:24
I just finished Invisible War yesterday, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I wondered though, if anybody else felt that the Renegade ending was underwhelming and, more significantly, downright unfair?
Firstly, I think it's brilliant that Ion Storm included a 4th way at the game's climax. It provides a viable alternative to anyone who finds all the factions involved entirely unsympathetic.
The inclusion of the Renegade ending then, in my opinion, is crucially important in Invisible War, as it's difficult to feel anything but indifferent to all the major parties really.
The option to fuck 'em all then, is always going to be attractive/popular.
Why then, on finishing the game, do you get told that you set everything up for an insidious Omar takeover, and you're actually quite stupid and thoughtless and that the end of the world is entirely your fault? Much of this, of course, is implied, but the feeling that the outro leaves you with is that you're being punished. That you made the wrong decision.
This left a bad taste in my mouth.
So killing everyone is irresponsible. But siding with the nightmarishly self-involved is more so.
Anyway. Sorry if this has already been discussed ad infinitum! I just thought it was curious, and wondered what you lot thought.
H.
Shevers on 7/8/2004 at 13:31
I didn't mind it, because I did the JC ending first, and just reloaded to try the Renegade :p (Though to be honest, I probably would have went with the Illuminati if it was for real :devil: )
:sly:
James Sterrett on 7/8/2004 at 15:47
Who said anything about thoughtless...?
You know the Omar have asked for that result (unless Leo got himself killed).
And the Omar ending does envision the eventual spread of human awareness throughout the universe until it suffers its final entropic decay. That's pretty long-term survival.
The Omar ending isn't bad in the end. It's just post-human, if individualism is a core characteristic of human. :)
GregP on 11/8/2004 at 19:20
Wait, there's 4 endings?
I finished the game months ago, but I only remember 3 endings; I sided with each of the factions once, and there were 3 factions, right?. You're saying there's another ending, to cover what happens if you go against everybody?
I don't think I tried that ... hmmm, will have to boot it up (never uninstalled it, just kept installing John P.'s new texture packs :) ) and give it a try.
Fade on 16/8/2004 at 05:57
If you give Leo money the second time you're in Cairo he'll meet you on Liberty Island and suggest that you just kill everyone and smash the machine.
Shevers on 17/8/2004 at 08:25
Yeah, it's been discussed. I don't know how someone figured it out in the first place, unless the dev team told us...
:sly:
Walker on 15/9/2004 at 18:50
I also got this ending first time through. Second time through I got Illuminati ending.
The renegade ending is kind of badly explained. Okay, so I stopped the AI Helios from invading everyone's minds and making everyone the same, I stopped the Templars from destroying technology as we know it, I prevented the Illuminati's plutocratic fantasy from becoming reality, and I got... the end of the world?
The whole reason I chose the renegade ending was because I wanted the world to stay the way it was, but instead I destroyed it. It just didn't make sense.
LooseCannon on 15/10/2004 at 19:29
Quote:
The whole reason I chose the renegade ending was because I wanted the world to stay the way it was, but instead I destroyed it. It just didn't make sense.
It makes sense from the standpoint that in order to "finish" the game, you have to make a choice about which faction will be left in power. If you choose none of the factions, you create a power vacuum, and the Omar rise to power in the chaos and conflagration that ensues, because they have engineered themselves to be the ultimate survivors. The only way to keep things as they are is for the game to never end; the factions, and their checks-and-balances against one another, left in place.
Baron Bifford on 17/10/2004 at 18:35
I found the Renegade ending shocking, yet strangely satisfying; it made sense. Most games have the hero saving the world and returning it to utopia just by shooting the right people with his gun. What could Alex have done to stop all those countries warring? He's just a guy with some guns, in the end. By killing all the leaders, he killed all those who had the political influence to keep the world intact.
