Stephendann.com

If there’s one thing I hate more than a cutscene resolution, it’s an impossibly stupid act by the player’s character that leads out of a cut scene.  Especially since we’ve established that the player is more than capable of taking out 20+ opponents (Dead Eye + 22 shots = technically possible).  So watching my main character die to storyline related injuries was frustrating, disappointed, and ultimately hollow.

So I was very disappointed with the cut-scene forced ending of one of the late game sequences.

On the other hand, having been pushed into an end game by force than choice, I’ve finished Red Dead Redemption my way. Once more forced into a pistol draw showdown, I went to disarm my opponent, didn’t work, got killed, and respawned (turns out there’s only one end to be had. Annoying).  So, knowing if I got too close I’d trigger the cutscene, I deliberately failed the mission, and instead of a pistol duel, turned the ending into a long cinematic quality fight on the riverbank.

Details of my open sandbox gaming ending follow.

If you want to resolve the matter of your father’s death at the hands of a nasty little thug, you don’t do it with a clean shot to the chest (or a head shot at 500 metres). Not amongst my people.

So, I fire a few warning shots at my opponent (out of game, I have wanted to kill the NPC for a while), and break the scripted story.  Then it gets to game ending I want.

[Transcript of the event]

I front my game!father’s killer, and shove him around a bit. I had plans, and those plans give way to anger at the site of the old man.

He draws his pistol on me rather than swap punches. He has the years, I have the stamina, and he’s a right nasty bastard. But he’s old, slow, and I’m as fast with a gun as my father. The rifle cracks, and the pistol drops from his hand into the river. The gun that killed my father won’t save this man tonight.

We swap punches, trading blows to the ribs, head and stomach. If he hurt me, I didn’t feel it.  More punches follow in a fairly one way passage of pummeling. I get some kicks in when he’s down, and I feel some satisfaction, taking the moment to enjoy the treating the man who gunned my father down like a mongrel dog.  It’s a mistake, as he grabs his rifle from the ground.

I dodge back, weave, and grab my lasso. He wants a gunfight, but I want vengance, and I want this to be a slow time for him to know he’s going to die. It don’t end easy,and on a given day, a rope’s no match for a bullet.  This time, my lasso finds it mark, and the rifle drops into the river. He’s down and hogtied on the bank before I’ve had a chance to think, or even realise if I’ve been hit.

I stop, and I consider my choices.

Execution style? Too quick

Tied to the back of the horse into the river?Too uncertain.

Railroad and traintracks? Too impersonal?

Dropped into a wolf pack? No.

No. There’s years of resolution to be had here, and I owe John the game a good resolution.

I cut the bastard free.

He runs. Slowly, but it’s all he’s got left.

I follow, throwing punches, and forcing him towards the river’s edge.

He realises what’s at stake, and the fight turns briefly, as he battles out of the shallow water, and tries to run for high ground.

It doesn’t work.

The fighting begins again, in earnest, and we’re battling knee deep in the water. He goes down for the count, but pulls himself up, and out of drowning.  We trade blows again, and he’s reeling backwards, deeper into the river. I follow, oblivious to the currents as the water flow past my waist.  A swing and a miss, and then,  I realise that this is how it will end.  Mano e mano, on the banks of a river, no witness, no glory.

I speak, forcefully, clearly, and with the legacy of my father’s death behind me.

“My name is Jack Marsden. Remember that”

Two more punches, and he drops into the river, never to rise again.

[/end transcript]

Seriously, that was one of the most satisfying endings for a story/game/ANYTHING that gave me a sense of resolution like none other.

I’m not going to bother closing out the storyline as it’s forced to occur, I’m far far too happy with this as the conclusion.  Even moments where the AI just stopped, and stood, waist deep in the water for a moment had a certain poignant feel of desperation and resignation. This was an old man fighting for his life, and knowing that it wasn’t going to end well, he was going to face retribution from the son of the man he killed, and yet, barring for a brief few moments, the fight was never certain. He got shots away from a pistol, a rifle, landed good punches, got up when it looked over, and even at the very last, I waited on that riverbank for a few moments, holding my breath before I sure it was over, and he wasn’t coming back.

Damn.

This is what gaming is heading towards.  Deep emotion experiences, powerful moments, and the storytelling that you create in the world that’s shared by the designers.

Hot damn. Sandbox end for the win.