To quote another player: "The ending was definitely abrupt and disappointing. The character change was abrupt, the sudden character derailing adultery scandal was abrupt. Both of those sucked. It almost ruined Cole's character for me. It's like, he goes back to his wife without even a good explanation as to why he decides to throw all his "good moral guy" thing out the window and cheat on her, and he continues to stay with Elsa after that too. What the hell?"
Weak story writing.
Rockstar: "But you don't know how Cole's marraige was, so you don't know if-"
No. Stop right there. That's EXACTLY true. You don't know shit, and you're never given a good explanation for it either = Weak story writing
Rockstar: "You weren't surprised by the twist in his character?"
I was. I was also surprised they decided to give us that twist involving his flaming military career (heehee) JUST BEFORE HE GETS WASHED AWAY. What the fuck kind of writing is that? 'Oh, and by the way, I was kinda fucked up before.' BLAM! = Weak story writing
I would say it was all for nothing, but ultimately they did stop the baddies...for maybe an hour. You see, despite doing what they did, NOTHING was revealed to the public, which also means NOTHING will last. HOWEVER, there's plenty of games that focus on the moment and not entirely on the future (God Eater Burst, Arkham Asylum, Mass Effect 2 (kinda) just to name three) and that's not always a bad thing. You make a story, you conclude it. Not everything is supposed to spell out the future post-plot for the story's world.
BUT the idiotic and pretty much childish idea that realistic Film Noir (because that's how it's spelled, damn it) needs to end with the main character dieing or being shown to be an asshole is not true.
Rockstar/Fanboy: "You ***** and moan about the ending when it's true to the genre-"
SHUT YOUR FACE. I've watched classic noir flicks since I was a kid. Guess what? Not every one of them needs to have a downer ending. Some even managed a mostly happy ending. Noir is the feel of the story, the grit and grime of the mystery and the city it takes place in. Just because a lot of characters in noir are shitty human beings that does not mean the main character needs to be one in the end.
The idea a gritty, "realistic" story needs to end sadly or bitter sweet is childish, because only a childish mind with no concept of reality would think real life always ends that way.
[sub]And with Rockstar (as of late?) the company seems to be stuck in this mindset, even with GTA4's ending[/sub]
Also, yes, the ending to Red Dead Redemption sucked, but not because of how Marston died. It was because of how you took the son's place and had to find a fucking sidequest that led to a half-assed dual of "good vs bad" and then BAM credits. THAT was obvious crap.
