Video Game Cliffhangers. Excellent Plot Device or the Bane of Your Existence?
If there are any Shenmue fanboys on this forum, you know the frustration that comes with completing the final chapter of Shenmue II (after walking… just walking… for 2 friggin' hours) to be greeted with the Cliffhanger of the century. This was obviously done to setup Shenmue III & get us salivating over what was to come next. Problem is that Shenmue III never happened & most likely never will at this point. That brings a very nagging question to mind…. why make a game end with an obvious cliffhanger when there is no guarantee that the next part will be released? I can understand the motive (as I stated before…. to hype up the next game) but when you complete a game & realize "Oh shit… Part II isn't coming out" it leaves a sinking feeling in your gut that makes you want to kick the developer's teeth out. Now don't get me wrong… I am not completely opposed to cliffhangers. As a matter of fact I quite enjoy the ones that make the statement that "this is not the end, but a brand new start". The ones that piss me off are the I ones that have "To tie up the loose ends, buy the next game" tattooed all over there forehead. Why making an ending like that? I mean seriously?
What are your thoughts on the subject? Do you like Cliffhangers? Hate them?
Leave your feedback here.
What are your thoughts on the subject? Do you like Cliffhangers? Hate them?
Leave your feedback here.
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You state Shenmue 2/3 as an example. May I give some more? Advent Rising, Blinx 2, Gabriel Knight III, Haven: Call of the King, Psi-Ops, Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy, Toonstruck and XIII all have cliffhanger endings that will never be resolved, which is very frustrating, as I find it hard to play games that don't have closure (that's why I don't like MMOs!).
Telltale's episodic games are an exception to this - most of them have cliffhangers, but since they're resolved relatively quickly, it's not a problem.
As Darth Marsden said, cliffhangers within Telltale's episodic games are fine - in fact, I very much enjoy them - because they set you up for the next chapter. It's a planned part of a self-contained story arc.
However, ending a game with a cliffhanger is an absolute cop-out and a pretty cheap trick. A good ending should resolve major plot threads, even if the resolution(s) are ambiguous.
There's a distinction between a cliffhanger and an open ending. An open ending that resolves one story but sets up or hints at a new story is fine - good, even. It doesn't matter whether or not that new story ever gets a game of its own. However, a cliffhanger that hacks off a story in which you have already invested time and emotion is just lazy writing. There has to be some kind of closure or emotional payoff.
I'll give you two guesses.
Well just because this is telltale's website doesn't mean that you have to exclusively talk about adventure games. I mean Christ... I wonder if half of this people on this site know if any other genre's exist.
Don't burn it! That's what the demons who live inside it WANT you to do!
I quite like open endings. Like the MI ones. Or Simon the Sorcerer. Or Back to the future if we talk about movies. Or Star Wars a.k.a. Episode IV: A New Hope (what happened with Darth Vader?)
But I don't usually like cliffhangers, even if you are 100% sure that the story will be continued. I didn't like the end of Matrix Revolutions or PotC: Dead Man's Chest. And I HATED the end of Runaway: Dream of the Turtle
Some stories are just bigger and need more time to be told than others. That means a cliffhanger.
Elizabeth's character was ruined but Will was as awesome as ever and the Dad subplot was believable. Now At World's End; THAT one sucked.
I should probably clarify my position a little. I don't mind cliffhangers so much if I know they'll be resolved, like with books or TV shows. It's when games do it (where there's no guarantee that they will be resolved) that I get annoyed.
That'll happen when you get a bunch of people together who have a common interest. I love shooters, fighters, open-world games, and physics-based games, but here I focus on adventure games because that's what I know everybody is interested in. I talk about my other interests as well, but it's only natural to revolve around adventures. Just like how I focus on physics games over at the physics game forum I go to.
I agree that there's really only so much to discuss with the same core group of members on the same subject, though. But it's only natural for conversations here to incorporate adventures into the discussion.