[/b]WARNING![/b] This post will contain MAJOR spoilers about the ending of ToB. If you have not finished the game, and do not wish to know about the ending, [i]do not read past this point![/b] Thank you.
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I repeat, read past this point, and you will be royally spoiled!
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Okay. The ending of ToB.

I thought the PC movie was decent. I know it's hard to script a specific ending for a character with all the different races and classes to choose. ToB did a swell job of it.

However, the "where are they now" bit with the party NPCs was a bit, er, underdone. I wanted to know what happened to them directly after everything at the Throne of Bhaal. Where would the PC go after making his/her choice? And where would the NPCs go? ("Hey, I just became a god. I don't think I need you in my party anymore. Are you going to stay here at the Throne of Bhaal, or do you mind going to the Copper Coronet and waiting for me there?")

I really wanted a movie for each NPC. Nothing big, maybe 15-30 seconds for each. My mind kept drifting back to Keldorn. He was in my party, and his wrap-up was highly enjoyable. I felt bad keeping him in my party, even though he grew to be a kickass fighter and my tank. I wanted him to go home to Maria, and was really hoping for a reunion.

And is it just me, or is Jaheira's ending lousy?

Well, that's the thing. TOB was a rush-job, so they couldn't do THAT much. Plus, unless you specifically have a mortal PC say "Okay, Keldorn, Aerie, you two stick with me. Valygar, Anomen, Minsc--have a good life", then you can't know what adventures the NPCs may or may not have with the PC after the game is over. And speaking from experience, it is VERY VERY difficult to write an NPC epilogue that includes the PC that will be satisfying for a wide range of players.

However, Ascension does make most of the epilogues longer, and in the main (although with some GLARING EXCEPTIONS) better.

Keldorn's a good example of why not to do something like that... they would have needed to make a couple of these movies to make that work, and there just wasn't time. (Plus, the movie portions of SOA/TOB were the weakest parts anyway, in general! Although they might be the ONE thing that actually improved in TOB.)

I find her non-romanced/romance-PC-ascended epilogue to be quite believable and appropriate.

Her romance epilogue, however, sucks on toast. It's awful, and awfully out of character, and is actually MORE awful in Ascension. So I wrote three new ones for her flirt pack. They do not suck.

[ 05-16-2003, 02:09 AM: Message edited by: jcompton ]