the ending strengths and weaknesses,
Telltalerocks
Banned
the finale is fantastic, it really is, it could possibly be the best finale of all time. The ending though, I have mixed emotions over.
Strengths
- The concept: the idea of having a happy ending instead of a down in the dumps one is intrtesting.
- the final battle is fricken epic, it really is, it's better than twau battle.
- the ambigous ending is expertly paced.
Weaknesses
- Narrative stumbles, It had a perfect death set up and it fucked it up in the final 5 minutes.
- Leaves characters unknown, in an imperfect way.
how di] you feel about the ending.
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Comments
"Leaves characters unknown, in an imperfect way"
I didn't really see this as a weakness
In my opinion I actually found it refreshing that they left the fates of Fiona and Rhys ambiguous. It completely fits the crazy and unpredictable tone that the borderlands franchise is known for.
Im glad they went in that direction instead of giving them the tired happily ever after ending
I thought the first 3/4 of the finale were incredible (everything with Jack/Rhys, Vallory being amazing, Fiona/Sasha having to put down Gortys, Stupid Sexy Vaughn, Loaderbot desperately trying to understand why it all had to happen, getting the gang together depending on your choices) but elements of the ending really didn't work for me at all, and really quickly broke my suspension of disbelief. Seeing Gortys' giant form through the smoke was terrifying, but seeing it properly was a bit of a disappointment. The design doesn't really click with the rest of the Atlas aesthetic, or even the Borderlands art direction in general. A more cartoon-y design on Giant Gortys with her being piloted by the gang quickly felt like a really silly Power Rangers episode.
Sasha's dying being only temporary shock value was incredibly irritating, especially with Scooter's death being permanent in the previous episode. If taking Felix's box had been optional it could have been a lot more amazing, because your actions killed her or saved her. I was genuinely annoyed they went with something so cheap, and it soured the ending of the game for me. Let me emphasize in saying that a) I love a good happy ending - sometimes it's okay for it to be happy without drama! and b) I don't want anything to happen to Sash either. Just either kill her, or don't even bother to pretend. By the end of the episode we'd had two 'deaths' that hadn't stuck - both Sasha and Gortys.
That being said, loved the ambiguity of Fiona and Rhys at the end. I wonder where the poor buggers ended up at?
Especially with how they already did the same thing with Sasha clinging on for dear life and having to let go in order to save Rhys.
And I didn't like leaving Rhys and Fiona's fates unexplained. Maybe it was a trick to get us to watch till the end of the credits to see a short scene of them having been transported to a weapon cache. Or imploding in space.
But still, the best Telltale game because it had decisions that affected the end game. Unlike say, GoT which is just so lazy. The team who worked on this should get raises or something. Masterfully done.
I agree. A good story leaves you wanting more, and has me hopeful for a season 2, one day. A bad ending drags on and explains everything to death. This was perfect. We have a rough idea of what happened to the characters over the months that followed the main story and a rough sense of what their future may be, but we're still left guessing, hoping, and wanting more. That's some expert level writing right there.
I can't really think of any weaknesses other than they could've done a better job at concealing Vaughn's identity. Other than that, I loved every second of it. The end of Handsome Jack was awe-inspiring, and maybe my favorite scene from a Telltale game (Heck, maybe ANY game)! The true intentions of the Stranger were really heartwarming and cute, and I was glad to know that Loaderbot made it. But most of all, I felt this was an amazing ending because you chose it. Your actions chose who could join you and who wouldn't, and the final lines of the game were all yours to pick. And I like the ambiguity! It's a great change of pace from a happy ending and the usual Telltale ending of "Great, everything's still shit."
Honestly, the only weakness I can say was that some stuttering reappeared in the final fight for myself so that brought it down a little. Other than that, it ended perfectly, normally I'm not one who wants the happy, everything's fine ending but I was desperately hoping it'd turn out that way, so glad it did. I'm so used to seeing great medias stumble right at the end but nope, Tales flew over the goal post.
Should i remind you that this is a telltale & gearbox game? TBH telltale script writters were like: "yes, lets add the classical, kill the main character love interest at the last seconds" And then someone reads the script and says: "lmao you know this is a borderlands game right?"
I believe her "death" was just for shit and giggles and a way to mock the tradition of killing one of the main character in the end of the game, and also it's a nice way to contrast the fact that the game was getting a little serious and added a little bit of comical effect on the ending.
Are you kidding me? That ending created a slew of emotions. I went from being excited, to having tears in my eyes, to being in complete joy and happiness. As Gordys said "That was a roller coaster of emotions" And IMO it was great!!
Only one con for me and that was it kept freezing
I'm a little disappointed with Yvette's inconsistent characterization. I get that she barely said anything because it was possible to let her die, but generally Heel Face Turns take more than two seconds to come into effect. One minute it was "can't believe you electrocuted me because I wanted to murder you for profit," the next it was "How's it going buddy ol chum ol friend of mine".
From a technical standpoint, the scene transitions were pretty bad this episode and there was a lot of dead air in my run as the engine tried to load all the choice-specific cutscenes. I'll let that one slide though, because a bit of buffering is a small price to pay for actual consequences.
But other than that I don't have many complaints. I'm super glad Telltale didn't kill off Sasha, because I was rolling my eyes so hard at her "death" scene. (Also I had the ugliest laughter when she realized her arm was broken. A+ job, Felix)
Claptrap himself kind of confirmed this by saying something like: "God, I'm glad this isn't one of those depressing endings where you have find some kind of profound meaning"
Dumpy
Yep, completely agree. The Borderlands series has built a lot of its humour on subverting gameplay mechanics and narrative conventions (missions like Claptrap's Birthday Party/'joke' weapons like The Bane/even TT got onboard with the 'X' will remember that gags, and that phenomenal finger gun fight), this was just another subversion. Totally taking the piss out of what you'd expect from a (post-TWD) Telltale finale.
Yeah after she got healed, then got dropped I damn near spit my drink all over my monitor, that was a fantastic moment for me
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i'm happy no-one died, I found it funny how gearbox basically trolled us with Sasha and instead used her near-death as a way to get everyone to forgive eachother.
To be fair "I can't believe you electrocuted me" happens when she is trapped in a jail cell facing certain death, and "how's it going buddy" is after you offering her one of a dwindling supply of escape pods.
It's not so much no time passed, but that she was given no screen time to develop.
Yeah, that's more what I meant. Sorry 'bout the awkward wording.
I am sad you never got to have a non-creepy conversation with her. She seemed funny at the beginning, just really certain that Rhys' plan was going to end badly.
Personally, I had no problems with the ending, like at all. Some say Loader Bot was sudden, but whether it was a sudden decision to do the plot twist or not, I thought it was clever, because it made sense. Like the only problem maybe is the one that was discussed here already, the Sasha thing.
The game never really was a sad game to begin with. Sure it had sad moments, but it's a humorous game. It didn't really fuck up the last 5 minutes, it just made it funnier. We were sucked into what we thought was going to be a sad ending, but it was flipped. I'd rather that than Sasha actually dying and having Rhys and Fiona enter the vault all depressed about it.