Spec Ops: The Line Ending

[Lazy]

I bought Spec Ops: The Line yesterday and just played through it tonight. To people who've played the game I just wanted to ask: what choices did you make, what ending did you get and how did you interpret the story?

Obviously, spoilers are going to abound, so if you don't want to read them turn back now. Spoiler tags seem like they'd just be redundant in a thread about a specific game's ending.

Anyway, I got the "good" ending, in which Walker survives and is extracted from the city. Somehow, even after all he'd done I still felt sorry for Walker, still wanted to see him escape. His reaction to the realization Konrad was actually dead, the look on his face [http://i.imgur.com/bkwid.jpg]... It was almost heartbreaking.

Decision wise I tried to choose in favor of the civilians, rescuing the prisoners instead of Gould and scaring off the refugees who lynched Lugo instead of shooting them.

Also, I don't normally post captcha's but this one's too perfect:

 

[kurlkurry]

Seems we made pretty much the same decisions, save for the civilians after the lynching. Once Walker got backed into a corner and the rocks started flying, I kinda lost it, meaning to fire above them but ended up firing directly into the crowd. Amazing what kinda mindset the game's story can put you in. I too felt sympathy for Walker, however hard he tried to make me hate him. Seems more to me that he wasn't evil, just a man dropped into a completely FUBAR situation who was not prepared or able to handle it. Absolutely amazing game.

 

[Nomanslander]

Seems we made pretty much the same decisions, save for the civilians after the lynching. Once Walker got backed into a corner and the rocks started flying, I kinda lost it, meaning to fire above them but ended up firing directly into the crowd. Amazing what kinda mindset the game's story can put you in. I too felt sympathy for Walker, however hard he tried to make me hate him. Seems more to me that he wasn't evil, just a man dropped into a completely FUBAR situation who was not prepared or able to handle it. Absolutely amazing game.

Personally, the most messed up part was the fact that he was a soldier willing to do good. Sure, him wanting to become a hero was fueled with some selfish desires, but, he still genuinely wanted to save people. And, because of one horrific mistake... well... there you go.

:/

 

[kurlkurry]

Seems we made pretty much the same decisions, save for the civilians after the lynching. Once Walker got backed into a corner and the rocks started flying, I kinda lost it, meaning to fire above them but ended up firing directly into the crowd. Amazing what kinda mindset the game's story can put you in. I too felt sympathy for Walker, however hard he tried to make me hate him. Seems more to me that he wasn't evil, just a man dropped into a completely FUBAR situation who was not prepared or able to handle it. Absolutely amazing game.

Personally, the most messed up part was the fact that he was a soldier willing to do good. Sure, him wanting to become a hero was fueled with some selfish desires, but, he still genuinely wanted to save people. And, because of one horrific mistake... well... there you go.

:/

Agreed, one of the best character arcs in recent memory in my opinion. I am definitely a sucker for a narrative driven game, so this game certainly earned its place as one of my all time favorites. So glad that I checked it out; I was totally going to blow it off until I saw the praise Yahtzee gave it in his review. You know when he doesn't spend five minutes tearing a game a new asshole that it's worth a playthrough.

 

[AD-Stu]

I only played it for the first time yesterday too. Kept Walker alive and gave up my gun to the rescue team at the end. I'm still trying to process a lot of it. It definitely left me in awe though.

I've read one of the writer's interpretations is that Walker actually dies in the chopper crash and everything after that is just his Purgatory. I couldn't reconcile that with the inclusion of the Epilogue after the credits though, so in my mind at the end Walker had realised the horror of what he'd done and rather than taking the easy way out and killing himself he was going to own it, go home to face the consequences. In doing so he's punishing himself - getting to live isn't actually a reward.

Other than the ending, I tried to save the first CIA guy, shot the soldier on the bridge instead of the civilian, executed the second CIA guy instead of letting him burn to death. Fired into the ground near the civilians to disperse them, REALLY glad that actually worked - had a feeling the game was going to make me kill them.

I think my personal favourite (if that's the right word for it... I don't think it is) moment though was during that scene with the mortar, before the reveal, where you can see your/Walker's reflection in the screen as you're picking targets. Subtle and masterful.

 

[WindKnight]

I must admit, I played through the game few times, and to be honest I tried all the different decisions, and all the endings.

Its a game that going to stick with me for a long time. Admittedly, i wasn't a fan of modern war fps's before hand(loved COD4, got given MW2 by mistake and, well, enjoyed it, but found the storyline was just too crazy to take seriously, and bothered with no others), but its going to take something very special to tempt me back to the genre after this game blew me away

hardest moments were the aftermath of lugo's lynching, and making myself complete the epilogue by killing the rescue team. Definitely the bleakest of the four endings if you can get to it, and not a fun one to 'earn'.

 

[Magikarp]

Tried to save Gould, shot the hanging soldier, & accidentally wasted the bullet that was meant for Riggs, so he had to burn.
And I avenged poor Lugo's death :'(

 

[Beat14]

I remember letting that guy burn, and shooting the bullet into the ground to show him I wasn't going to let him have it easy.

Ofc I know it's a game, but I was wrapped up in the moment and wanted to spite him. lol oh dear.

I mostly tried to be the good guy. Got the ending where he goes home, but nearly let him shoot himself, or w/e that option is up in the tower.

 

[Azahul]

Had Walker kill himself at the end. I... well, honestly, I couldn't see him returning to civiisation, and every action he took just seemed to take him further into damnation. It seemed like a fitting end. The fact that he never intended for things to turn out like they did merely reinforces my decision, in my mind. Seriously, how could someone live with themselves after all that? I just can't see any other ending.

 

[DoPo]

Out of the two hanged men, I shot the soldier.

Tried to help Gould

accidentally wasted the bullet that was meant for Riggs

Same here, but I actually couldn't bare the thought of it, so I reloaded and did it again.

And then I shot the civilians that hanged Lugo but I didn't want to (didn't know you could bypass it).

In the end, I chose the surrender ending. Then went and played through all of the endings in the following order - suicide, engage the military and lose, engage the military and win.

 

[Shadowcreed]

I just finished the game today.
I chose to try and save Gould - not for the sake of saving him but for the sake of intel and a plan-of-action to get these civvies out of there.
Getting just a few saved didn't seem like it would solve anything in the long term.
At the bridge I didn't chose any of the 2 guys but instead shoot the snipers. Which resulted in both of them getting shot. I felt I had to make a statement there - and figured those 2 hanging people were already doomed. [turns out they were actually already dead there, just a hallucination as you've seen in the ending].
HATED the fact that Lugo got lynched, that was damn brutal and felt so pissed off. Regardless I didn't feel like I had to kill any of the civilians, rather I bashed one guy with a melee attack while the others scattered, shot a few stragglers in the leg..
I chose the ending where Walker was getting extracted too - at the 5 second countdown I felt that I had to break the illusion by shooting it down, you'll just have to live with what you've done and chose to live a better life.
Safe to say I wouldn't shoot allied troops If I didn't have to - so yeah held my fire at the epilogue.

Very enticing game.

The painting in the end was a very inspired touch for the game, to avoid saying 'nice'.
Fact that Walker burned that image into his mind becomes even more clear when you see him obsessing over it throughout the game.
The painting just makes that all the more powerful.

EDIT: oh, and yeah I shot Riggs, nobody deserves to burn like that.

 

[blackdwarf]

Shot the snipers, saved the civilians, let the CIA guy burn, and didn't shoot the murders of Lugo. In the end I committed suicide. It was clear that I was crazy and I was the one who murdered everyone in the city. So, I was the monster in this game.

after that I did play the other endings, but I believe that those never happened. I already believe the except for the prologue (the first helicopter) everything just happens in your mind before you actual die, meaning that you never survived the first crash. The whole game is just a recollection of what happened before and after that, you facing yourself.

The same way I interpreted Dear Ester, a illusion where you can question what happened and who is to blame for the tragedy that happened before your dead. Spec ops is only more interesting because of actual gameplay and is trying to make a actual statement about it.

 

[Shinsei-J]

I shot the ropes to the two people, decided civilians were more important than Gould, scattered the civilians/murderers at Lugo's death by shooting at the ground around them, I let Riggs burn in a kind of twisted irony and finished the game by leaving the city as a husk of the man that came in.

 

[thejackyl]

SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY!!!!

1st Time:
I tried to save Gould
Shot the snipers instead of the Soldier/Civilian
Shot Riggs
Shot into the air after Lugo died
Killed myself

2nd Time
Saved civilians (surprisingly easy, which is good since this is on Suicide Mission)
Shot the soldier (The soldier killed innocents directly, the civ only stole for his family)
Let Riggs burn
Stopped playing...
Obviously I was going to avenge Lugo and see the other endings, but I just tired of the game, which is sad because the story is great.

 

[Crazycat690]

This game is absolutely brilliant IMO, the ending was a mindf*ck of its own, but the game had another turning point for me where it went from a good game to a game I'll remember for a long time... That moment where that last CIA agent dies, who you can either shoot or leave burning? So much happened there and to see the result left me confused and angry, I didn't quite know what happened and what went wrong, but I know I got f*cked over and I didn't like it. I let that bastard burn, just walked away, a very powerful moment IMO.

Then I accidentally got the civilians who lynched Lugo killed because someone threw a rock and I panicked, shot the guy and then Adams massacred the rest. In a way it's pretty nice that the choices are that organic.

Later, at the end I shot Konrad, also a nice moment because I was pretty much shouting at Walker to do something... That was friggin' intense, man, just wow! Then I was surprised it continued after the credits, and the way Walker stood there.... I had a bad feeling about it, it brought me back to another game, with a similar ending, from 2010, if you know what I mean... I didn't want him to die, so I did nothing until I could hand over my weapon, I was relieved as I was curious to what could be next for this scarred man? I dunno, but it was a powerful experience throughout the game, I hope Yager keep up the quality on their coming games.

 

[janjotat]

In the bridge scene I shot the rope holding the soldier and the civie. I ended up shooting myself in the end, and then I moped for three hours.

 

[Susurrus]

Didn't shoot the escaping soldier, tried to save Gould, shot the snipers, fired into the air, went home.

Does anyone else feel that the ending cinematic (with Konrad) kind of questions Walker's culpability? I mean, it's made pretty clear that both Lugo and the other guy are both aware that Walker is having some kind of psychological breakdown - they see him stop under the two corpses, and either fire at them or walk away or whatever.. I also felt that it was implied that they realized the radio was bust, yet they STILL followed him.

I mean, I appreciate that he's their squad leader, but if the guy's having a breakdown..

 

[Panorama]

didn't shoot the cia guy,Shot the snipers, saved the civis, killed riggs, i didn't shoot in the air i hit the guy who walked at me with the butt of my gun same affect as shooting in the air, and shot myself. Even though he tried to do good, walker was mental so it was the right choice.