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From: Matthew Murray <i9717029@wsunix.wsu.edu>
Subject: Re: good game endings 
In-Reply-To: <3j6jds$hg0@Csli.Stanford.EDU> 
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References: <easu928.793928214@taurus.oac.uci.edu> <3j6jds$hg0@Csli.Stanford.EDU> 
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Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 16:05:57 GMT
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On 3 Mar 1995, Avrom Faderman wrote:

> In article <easu928.793928214@taurus.oac.uci.edu>,
> Win Kang <easu928@taurus.oac.uci.edu> wrote:
> >Played any games where you get to the end and you don't say "that's it?"
> >
> >I liked the ending of Enchanter from INFOCOM.
> 
> Some may disagree with me on this, but I'm particularly fond of the
> ending to Infocom's _Infidel_, even if it wasn't overall one of my
> favorite games.
> 
> Perhaps the least conventional game ending ever.
> 
> -Avrom
> 
> 

     Interesting choice.  A lot of criticism I have heard for Infidel's 
ending was that it was inappropriate and anti-climactic.  Well, I never 
really thought it was.  I mean, it's just always ASSUMED that the game 
will end happily, and you will get the treasure and all that.  But when 
you look at the information contained in the documentation and in the 
game itself both before and after you enter the pyramid, the ending DOES 
make sense.  Especially given all the traps in the pyramid.  It's a 
bitter irony and one that I think works well.  Besides, the last part of 
Infidel is pretty charged as it is, and I think the ending is really the 
peak of everything that happens in the last ten minutes of the game.
     Personally, though, I think A Mind Forever Voyaging has the best 
game ending ever.  You spend the entire second third of the game seeing 
how the world is screwed up by the Plan, and then you finally get a 
chance to see how things actually worked out by implementing the Project 
instead.  In addition to being the cap to a great game (in my opinion, 
Infocom's best), it would be great in ANY game where it fit.  It is the 
culmination of the events in the game, and certainly is one of the most 
detailed and perfectly designed endings I've ever seen.  The final two 
paragraphs, where the skycab docks at the station, is among the best 
writing I've seen in a computer game.  It gives a hope for the future 
that exists not only in the world of 2091, but also for today, which is 
something we need even more.
     I love A Mind Forever Voyaging.

*******Matthew Murray at mmurray@wsu.edu or i9717029@unicorn.it.wsu.edu*******
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