I’m back to talk more about Hades II (Supergiant Games), the true true ending, the epilogue, and the one side mission that infuriated me. All of these were things that I did again because of the change to the true ending, although I didn’t know if there would be a change to the latter two. I chose not to read the patch notes because I wanted to be surprised in getting the true true ending. The epilogue and the side mission were items on the Fated List of Minor Prophecies, and they became un-crossed off when I went back to
*SPOILERS*
just before beating Chronos for the frist time.
Side note: I always go back and forth as to whether I can talk about this boss without spoiler tagging. Yes, he is the last boss of the downward path, but “Death to Chronos” is the mantra of the game, and it’s not as if it’s ever a secret that’s the final goal.
Back to the true true ending. Here’s the post I wrote on it yesterday. Now that I’ve had a day to think about it further, I have more thoughts on it. I’m saying this with no snark: Supergiant did the best they could with what they had. What do I mean by that? There was no way they were going to change the ending, obviously. That would have been way too much work and a complete restructure of the after cerdits game. Given that they had to stay with the ending they wrote, this was the best possible way to get there. The true true ending, Imean.
Instead of the out of nowhere feeling that the original true ending gave me (and how dirty they did Melinoë), the path to the true true ending made sense. I could see every step on the way there, and even though I did not like the actual ending, the game got there locially.
The biggest improvement is that Melinoë was the driver of the action as she should have been in the first place. She was the one who made the decision to try to reason with Chronos before eradicating him rather than Zagreus, even though the latter was the one who had to do the actual actions.
It remained her game, rather than suddenly ceding control to her brother. I’m still not over that, by the way. How deeply sexist the original true ending was, I mean. It just goes to show how endemic and deep the patriarchy reigns and that sexism can come from the least-expected places.
I was saying to Ian that it’s hard for me to judge the true true ending because I had experienced the true ending unvarnished. And it was, as I have said repeatedly, hot garbage. I think if I had experienced the true true ending as the only true ending, I would have accepted it as making sense (as a way to end the main game while allowing for continuing on with endless runs) without actually liking it.
I still think the actual ending is not to my liking, but I can understand why Supergiant Games chose it, both from a story standpoint and a gameplay standpoint. My personal choice for the ending would have been to take “Death to Chronos” to the logical conclusion. Completely eradicate Chronos and let the chips fall where they may. I’m an anarchist, though, and I will usually choose complete destruction/chaos over anything else.
How would I then allow players to continue the endless runs? There could be some version of what actually happens–traces of Chronos and Typhon in the atmosphere, and you have to hunt them down and eradicate them one by one. I mean, who’s to say that killing Chronos for good means the end of him? That’s the thing about writing–you can write whatever you want. No one is stopping you!
I have the feeling, though, that Supergiant Games wanted an optimistic and hopeful ending. I get it; I guess, but it still feels like a bait and switch. If they hadn’t gone so hard for most of the game, beating the “Death to Chronos” drum AND seeded the true ending the way they did in the patch, it would have gone down more easily.
What’s my verdict? I don’t like the actual ending, and ain’t nothing going to change that. I have made my peace with it, though. I made my peace with it before the update, actually. I just accepted that the story was trash and moved on with the game. Now I can say that while the ending isn’t my cup of tea, the lead up to it is so much better. I would even say it was good. I’m impressed that they brought the voice actors back to do additional dialogue, and while I was not happy to do more runs (in fact, you have to do more over all to get the true ending. I presume to add the additional dialogue), I made it as easy as possible by going no fear.
Getting the epilogue was just as frustrating, and it didn’t change. I did like talking to the Three Fates again–they were a hoot. In fact, I would not have mind seeing more of them, but they were missing for most of the game. In fact, for the vast majority of the game. Man, they were a hoot when I talked with them. I would not mind having more time chatting with the three ladies; they were the best.
I still don’t like the epilogue at all, but I made my actual peace with that.
As for the one mission that infuriated me, they did add some dialogue to it that made it more emotionally resonant than before. However, it still did not justify how tortuous the whole process of finding the ingredients and doing the thing was. The payoff still wasn’t good enough, but I can’t really tell you what would have made it better. I still feel like the mission was just a joke, and I really did not appreciate them playing it on me.
I will note in rereading what I wrote about waking up Hypnos (the mission), I said that I had talked to someone about him still sleeping no matter what and that person said, “Have you just asked him to wake up?” That’s not what actually happpened. In the dream world, while trying to wake him up (and going three layers deep into his subconscious to find the trick to wake him up), there are a bunch of notes scribbled on pieces of paper around him. One of them says, “Have you just asked him to wake up?” or something close to it, and as I read it out loud, Hypnos wakes up.
I was right that before the patch, after he woke up, they just had him freaking out and not listening to anything I’m saying before racing off back to the House of Hades. Now, we have an actual conversation in which he acknowledges me and says I’ve gotten so big. As I said, it gave the whole mission more emotional resonance so I’m not as miffed about it.
I think I’ve done all the new content, and I have to say that it’s a marked improvement over the base game ending. I feel I can uninstall the game once again and be satisfied with my experience. I have to tip my hat to Supergiant Games for listening to the complaints and doing something about it. It was much appreciated.
I will write my final review of the game and give it a number in the next few days.