Musings

 

They Dropped a Bridge on Him

Okay, this contains major SPOILERS!!! for the game Shadow of Memories (Shadow of Destiny for those of you in the US). If you haven't played it and might do in the future, now is a good time to click the back button.

 

Okay?

 

Good.

The basic idea behind the game is that the main character, Eike, dies at the beginning. The game centres around his attempts to go back in time and prevent his death. It's a very, very good game, in my opinion. It's one of the few games out there that isn't a sim and doesn't focus on combat, which is a plus for me. The puzzles could have done with being a bit more difficult, but the plot is brilliantly engaging and the setting, background music and story conspire to make it one of the creepiest games I've ever played. I loved it.
Until I got to the end.
My end, anyway. The game has several multiple endings and the one I got (SPOILERS!) killed off the main character. After he had solved the problem he was supposed to solve.
The worst part? It was an accidental death. The people who killed him did not mean to do it (or even notice that they had).
Now, I don't have any problem with the main character being killed. But it's got to matter. It's got to be for a reason that ties in with the plot, feels at least somewhat satisfying for the person playing the game, or at the very least makes sense. I mean, the guy had won! He had solved the problem that had meant he had to die, and then the game killed him anyway. With no way to avoid it (it was in the end cutscene), save for playing again and trying to get a different ending. It wasn't fair.
I still enjoyed the game, and I've started playing it again in the hope of finding a better ending. But his death really soured my experience of the game.
Maybe death is often like that. Maybe people do often die for silly, unfair reasons, or no reason at all. In fact, I know that's true. But it doesn't make for a satisfying story, and left me glaring at whoever wrote that ending.

In case you're wondering, the title of this rant comes from here. It pretty much describes the kind of death I mean.

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