Game stories/endings alternative interpretations

[Scorched_Cascade]

While earlier posting on another unrelated thread I was reminded of the "Squall is actually dead" theory about FFVIII (Explained Here [http://squallsdead.com/]) that states Squall is killed at the end of disk 1 by the icicle blast from Eda and everything else after is a dying dream.

It's a well thought out alternative explanation for a slightly confusing story and the game's sudden unexplained plot twists and relationship changes (Rinoa suddenly loves him despite previously showing no interest? No wound?).

We are, obviously, all different in terms of background and world view so perhaps you played a game and saw something that the developer hadn't intended or interpreted a story differently?

What I want to know is if you know of/have thought of any alternative explanations for a game's story or ending? Or even character relationships if you want to go there.

For example a lot of people seem to read an undercurrent of abuse in Albatross' relationship with Sis in Alpha Protocol whereas I just saw him as an overprotective pseudo-father for her.

I'm guessing this by nature will involve spoilers so try to tag them if it's a recent game.
[sub]Not sure if this topic will work but I?ll roll with it[/sub]

 

[fates_puppet13]

that is very interesting...

the first dawn of war series allows you to reinterprate the facions in many lights portraying them as both hero an villan depending on fromes of perception
the warhammer hobby however doesn't have this freedom because most information you get is from the imperium's point of view, granted this is something the company are phasing out possibly to balance the desire to play as summin other than damm space marines

half life has this consiracy feel to it with the g-man being responsible and observing all events in game which is a faourite of fan forums

half life 2 shined the possibility that the g-man is a psycotic delusion of gordon freeman and that he is "just dooing what the voices are telling me" alough it is unlikely it is a possible viewpoint that can be taken

 

[Anarchemitis]

half life 2 shined the possibility that the g-man is a psycotic delusion of gordon freeman and that he is "just dooing what the voices are telling me" alough it is unlikely it is a possible viewpoint that can be taken

Another viewpoint would be that Assuming the Combine are successfully repelled out of Earth, the planet has already been royally decimated reducing Humanity's average technology level backwards probably 300 years in addition to the task of re-civilizing and repopulating a heavily polluted planet that is becoming overwhelmed by invasive xenoterrestrial species.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

half life 2 shined the possibility that the g-man is a psycotic delusion of gordon freeman and that he is "just dooing what the voices are telling me" alough it is unlikely it is a possible viewpoint that can be taken

Another viewpoint would be that Assuming the Combine are successfully repelled out of Earth, the planet has already been royally decimated reducing Humanity's average technology level backwards probably 300 years in addition to the task of re-civilizing and repopulating a heavily polluted planet that is becoming overwhelmed by invasive xenoterrestrial species.

or like in Logan's Run, humans live in city bubbles, administered with AI's without knowing if the world outside is still habitable; or just use the Combine as jailers...

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

half life 2 shined the possibility that the g-man is a psycotic delusion of gordon freeman and that he is "just dooing what the voices are telling me" alough it is unlikely it is a possible viewpoint that can be taken

Another viewpoint would be that Assuming the Combine are successfully repelled out of Earth, the planet has already been royally decimated reducing Humanity's average technology level backwards probably 300 years in addition to the task of re-civilizing and repopulating a heavily polluted planet that is becoming overwhelmed by invasive xenoterrestrial species.

So you're saying that Gordon driving the combine off changed humanity's fate from slow decay (due to the anti-reproduction field thing) to rapid extinction due to hostile alien lifeforms and lack of resources?

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

funny... i was just thinking about this earlier today. i've been playing NWN2 (pathetic, i know, i was just desperate for an isometric D&D based rpg that would run on Vista), recently, particularly the epic expansion, Mask of the Betrayer, or something like that. basically, your hero is cursed with an affliction that forces him to devour spirits to stay alive.

here's where my alternate take comes in: no matter how good your intentions, even to the point of actively giving proof that you will not succumb to your addiction, you are universally reviled. literally EVERYONE (aside from a couple of your companions) detest you. you could rescue a kitten and a few orphans from a burning building, and people would still spit on you and tell you to f*** off and die.

now, considering how much people have been talking about pedophilia here, lately, i mentally tied the two together. in the game, the more you give in to your hunger, the more you desire. to me, that's like pedos watching kiddie porn or kiddie hentai. the only way to survive your hunger is to completely suppress it and then seek an alternative or a cure.

anyhooooo... pretty far fetched, i know, but it momentarily made me go, "Heyyyy... i wonder...?"

 

[Ophi]

Hm.

Well.

Due to the support system in the Fire Emblem series, there's quite a few alternate interpretations of all character endings.

But one character in particular has an ending that was so crazily open-ended that it made me sort of annoyed but curious at the same time... Ike in Radiant Dawn.

So, for those who haven't played, at the end of the game he quite suddenly with zero explanation "leaves and never returns."

Not another word is said about it.

I, personally, can't believe that the man famous for fighting for his friends would abandon everyone he's ever known and loved on a whim.

I think he either got himself killed somehow or committed suicide from post-traumatic stress.

But that's just my opinion.

... Seriously, the tiny little paragraph that was his 'ending' sounded a lot like "My dog went to live on a farm."

 

[manythings]

People use that "He's actually slowly dying and Hallucinating" to explain away the shitfest that is Indiana Jones 4. He never got out of that fridge and the radiation is rotting his brain. Has anyone actually asked any FFVIII writers about that theory? And the way I remember it Rinoa IS interested in Squall, pretty much from the start. The whole ballroom bit comes to mind.

I honestly can't think of any right now.

 

[Scorched_Cascade]

And the way I remember it Rinoa IS interested in Squall, pretty much from the start. The whole ballroom bit comes to mind.

Ah but shes there waiting for Seifer and ditches Squall on the dance floor as soon as Sefeir walks in the room. She casually flirts with him but tells him upfront that shes there waiting for someone else. It can be assumed that she knew he was SeeD and was networking as she needed them on the upcoming mission of hers. She also frequently gets upset with Squall over how cold and introverted he is.

Most of her non-mission dialogue prior to the end of disk 1 is based around Seifer e.g "Do you know Seifer?" "Where is Seifer" "I thought Seifer would be coming". She openly states that she thinks she loves him (Seifer) after she thinks hes been killed.

It's also implied fairly early on that if they are not currently boyfriend/girlfriend they've at least hooked up a few times. The most common interpretation even for those who dont believe the Squall is dead thing is that they were dating but are now on a break while Seifer studies.

Straight after the assault on Edea as soon as Squall wakes up Rinoa hardly ever mentions him again. She also never mentions their relationship again.

 

[manythings]

And the way I remember it Rinoa IS interested in Squall, pretty much from the start. The whole ballroom bit comes to mind.

Ah but shes there waiting for Seifer and ditches Squall on the dance floor as soon as Sefeir walks in the room. She casually flirts with him but tells him upfront that shes there waiting for someone else. It can be assumed that she knew he was SeeD and was networking as she needed them on the upcoming mission of hers. She also frequently gets upset with Squall over how cold and introverted he is.

Most of her non-mission dialogue prior to the end of disk 1 is based around Seifer e.g "Do you know Seifer?" "Where is Seifer" "I thought Seifer would be coming". She openly states that she thinks she loves him (Seifer) after she thinks hes been killed.

It's also implied fairly early on that if they are not currently boyfriend/girlfriend they've at least hooked up a few times. The most common interpretation even for those who dont believe the Squall is dead thing is that they were dating but are now on a break while Seifer studies.

Straight after the assault on Edea as soon as Squall wakes up Rinoa hardly ever mentions him again. She also never mentions their relationship again.

I thought she ditched him because Seifer was her way to get to Cid and thought THAT was her tactical thinking. She danced with Squall on impulse but spotting Seifer she knew it was time to get to work.

 

[fates_puppet13]

half life 2 shined the possibility that the g-man is a psycotic delusion of gordon freeman and that he is "just dooing what the voices are telling me" alough it is unlikely it is a possible viewpoint that can be taken

Another viewpoint would be that Assuming the Combine are successfully repelled out of Earth, the planet has already been royally decimated reducing Humanity's average technology level backwards probably 300 years in addition to the task of re-civilizing and repopulating a heavily polluted planet that is becoming overwhelmed by invasive xenoterrestrial species.

or like in Logan's Run, humans live in city bubbles, administered with AI's without knowing if the world outside is still habitable; or just use the Combine as jailers...

ooh that is an interesting one
could even reinterprate the rebles and gordon freman himself as either heros or as villans depending of how you view gordons relationship and knowlage of the outside world and exraterrestrial life

And the way I remember it Rinoa IS interested in Squall, pretty much from the start. The whole ballroom bit comes to mind.

Ah but shes there waiting for Seifer and ditches Squall on the dance floor as soon as Sefeir walks in the room. She casually flirts with him but tells him upfront that shes there waiting for someone else. It can be assumed that she knew he was SeeD and was networking as she needed them on the upcoming mission of hers. She also frequently gets upset with Squall over how cold and introverted he is.

Most of her non-mission dialogue prior to the end of disk 1 is based around Seifer e.g "Do you know Seifer?" "Where is Seifer" "I thought Seifer would be coming". She openly states that she thinks she loves him (Seifer) after she thinks hes been killed.

It's also implied fairly early on that if they are not currently boyfriend/girlfriend they've at least hooked up a few times. The most common interpretation even for those who dont believe the Squall is dead thing is that they were dating but are now on a break while Seifer studies.

Straight after the assault on Edea as soon as Squall wakes up Rinoa hardly ever mentions him again. She also never mentions their relationship again.

there are ways to explain this
whilst squall was out she began to view seifer in a diffrent light and more as an enemy than a lover
alough i do prefer he dying dream interpratation to the trend of romance when its not the central focus which in the case of ff8 is fate and destiny

anouther game which can be einterprated is oblivion
however it is an open rpg that allows many character types and approaches to a linear plot

portal is very open to interpratation
and has a very compelling naraive
you could interprate chell as a prisoner rather than a lab rat
alough this theory has een denied by valve after its release so thats as dead as a fish in a barrel

gears of war can be reinterprated as humans are the invaders
because the locust live undrground which implies they were foced there by an invader
humanity aren't exactly short of a bit of conquering other places and exterminating the racial identity and replace it for their own because they think the locals are doing it wrong

halo can be interprated to be a suptle allogory about the new testamant and the life of jesus
the master chief's name and number john 117 can be a biblical reference "Then, after the two days, Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go back to Judea.""
a halo itself is a symbol of divinity

dead space can be reinterprated to be about issacs decent into dementia as he is in the presence of the marker, it can be interprated as a metaphor for the evils of power and how it drives people to insanity. it can also be taken as religious zealotry leading to madness but it will always come down to a decent or sorts usually into madness as opposed to a man who is looking for his girlfriend whilst trying to survive from essentially space zombies

prototype can be interprated as either about how revenge consumes you and there are no victory for revenge, but it could also be about how we reject somethings about ourselves to seem like we are better than we really are

this thread really has got me thinking now about more than just games but also films and books

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Killzone is a re-imagining of World War 2, but without the precursor of world war 1, meaning that the ISA (representing the Allies) are just dicks to the Helghast for no reason. This basically ends up with the Helghast being the "good guys."

 

[Sniper Team 4]

One of my favorites is the Silent Hill series. Hell, Silent Hill 3 even points it out:

"They look like MONSTERS to you?"

This throws everything out of whack and stuns Heather to the point that she nearly throws up. Okay, so if the flesh eating creatures aren't actually monsters...then the heroes in the game are mass murders who are going insane. Vincent is quick to point out that he was only joking, but it makes one wonder. For the record, I'm betting Konami heard about this theory and liked it so much that they put it in 3 as a shout out to everyone who knew about it.

Another one that comes to mind is that humans do not survive the end of Final Fantasy VII. Keep in mind that this was before Advent Children. My friend and I were talking about VII and whether there should be a sequel, and he goes, "There can't be. They're all dead."
"...What?"
"The Planet decided that humans are causing more pain to it that it wants, so while it saves itself, it lets the humans die. That's why you only see Red XIII at the end."
"You're wrong, and more importantly, you're insane."
And then Advent Children came out and proved me right. Ha!

P.S. Squall isn't dead.

 

[Cheesus333]

Shepard tried to be a hero in the Skyllian Blitz and got completely murdered. To death.

And as he lay dying, his ego cooked up a dream wherein he repelled the invaders single-handedly and went on to become a galactic prodigy, killing ancient war machines and pushing genocidal species to the brink of extinction single-handedly.

And that's Mass Effect.

Hell, that's just a theory I cooked up now, but if you think of some of the impossible - or otherwise fucking lucky - shit that Shepard actually does, it kind of makes sense.

Oh, I also heard an interesting idea about Fable, wherein the games are - as the title actually implies - heavily-exaggerated tales of mythological heroes and beasts. Growing demonic horns or an angelic halo based on your actions unto others? My, it almost sounds like something from a children's book.