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Does a Game Have To Fail To Get a Real Ending?
After the closure of Tabula Rasa over the weekend, the Opposable Thumbs blog asks if that's what it takes for a game to have an actual ending these days. Quoting: "It's no surprise that most games hope for a sequel, as it's the easiest way to get some of that money back while taking advantage of the staff, engine, assets, and other advantages you've banked while creating the first title. The problem? This has lead to a generation of cliff-hangers at worst, and endings that hedge their bets at best. ... As all the game's characters die, as the servers are shut down, as the data is erased or backed up and then boxed or whatever happens to MMO data once the game is done, it's hard not to be a little sad. The sights and sounds of the world of Tabula Rasa are gone, forever. All the memories written into those ones and zeroes will quickly be forgotten, and no one will walk those grounds again." Massively put together a few screenshots and videos to commemorate the ending of the game.
2001? Long anime has been around before that. For example, Detective Conan started airing in 1996, and still is. Dragon Ball, though a bit shorter at ~150 episodes, aired back in the 80's in Japan.
On the other hand, there are still way more "stand-alone" animes than long ones. Though, if a stand-alone anime becomes really popular and well-received, they'll produce a second season for it, such as with Code Geass. I see nothing wrong with that as long as the second season is good as well (and in the case of Code Geass, it was good).
Member of the 7 Digit UID Club
LSL is the counterpoint... these games were full of fail, and yet there was always a happy ending.
And they produced what, half a dozen sequels to it? Well, I'm including the missing one.
FF XII also rehashes the horrid world Ivalice From FFTA (as opposed to the war-torn Kingdom of Ivalice from the far superior FFT).
Whingy Bishonen weren't bad enough, they had to make a pseudo-MMO with furries in it...
The first series of 'Sledge Hammer' ended with a nuclear explosion destroying LA. And it STILL came back for another series! So writers should not be afraid to end stories if they wish - you can always explain your way out of it if you get another chance.
Why not play a MMO that intentionally wipes all the user data when the story ends?
I only know of one: http://www.atitd.com
I don't feel Martin owes me anything. And by the same token I don't owe him anything. He lost the plot with the last volume of Ice & Fire and so I won't be reading any more. I wish the hell he'd never even started the damn saga. Hard luck on me.
After that and the Wheel of Time I won't be getting caught a third time.
From now on, it's only finished stories for me. None of the ones I have read could be described as failures.
No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.