Multiple endings HURRAH! Different outcomes to the stories you are playing are nothing new, but it isn't often that the games are short and entertaining enough to encourage you to gather them all. It's interesting to play through several times just to see how your actions affect the game world. Two of this week's games feature different endings, and you'll definitely want to experience some of these alternate conclusions!
The Life Of A Pacifist Is Often Fraught With Conflict (Mac/Windows/Linux, 4-7MB, free) - From Bento Smile, creator of Tanaka's Friendly Adventure, comes a short visual novel with multiple endings. You're a member of a game development team putting together the latest crime-centric shoot fest. You're not that in to all the blood and gore, however, and at certain points in the conversation, you have a few different choices to make. Depending on your decisions, you'll nab one of the endings. The game is short but charming, and it's cute enough to warrant a playthrough or two.
Blind (Windows, 1.3MB, free) - A short, experimental game that tells a story using nothing but ASCII visuals. You are a blind woman who is meeting someone in the park. As you play, you learn why she's there as well as some background info. Then, you take part in the story and can uncover six endings. It's tough to discuss the game without spoiling the story, but you can play through in just five minutes, and it's worth playing a few times to get some of the other endings. The use of onomatopoeic words that form the objects that are making sounds is quite an interesting device.
Hydorah (Windows, 84MB, free) - Originally featured last year when it was little more than a demo, Hydorah is all grown up and ready to bring you a whole lot of old-school arcade shmup entertainment. Fight against hordes of aliens through a series of short, intense levels, using primary and secondary weapons you can unlock and select as you progress. The difficulty is still pretty high, but developer Locomalito (who also created 8-bit Killer) has incorporated feedback generated by the demo's release to make a number of improvements. When it comes to retro challenge, this game does not fool around, and the pixel art is simply stunning.
Note: All games have been confirmed to run under Windows Vista and are virus-free. Mac users should try Boot Camp, Parallels, or CrossOver Games to play Windows titles, Linux users can use Wine. If you know of a great game we should feature, use the Submit link above to send it in!
It's probably pretty obvious, but the 3 branches and 6 endings to Blind are:
Fall before you get there, then:
Throw yourself over the falls
or
Follow you brother to redemption
Reach your brother and "beat up" his friend, then:
Push him over the falls
or
Leave him be.
Reach your brother and jump in after him, then:
Walk away in fear
or
Walk to the falls and face your fear.
It doesn't seem to make a difference whether you
grab your brother or not.
I really like the visual representation of the sounds through words, and would be interested to see it explored in a more robust fashion.
How many endings are there for the pacifist one? I've only seen two, and they're on two opposite sides. I figured mixing it up would get a different ending, but apparently I didn't mix it up enough, or something.
I found 3 endings for Pacifist:
Ending 1:
Choose all the top (not bothered) options, and end up keeping the job and not caring about the violence anymore.
Ending 2:
Choose all the bottom (disturbed) options, and all the characters graphics will change to look more evil. But you still need the job, so you won't quit today...
Ending 3:
Choose bottom, top, bottom, top, bottom. You will have a different scene after the meeting than the other two, and you will realize you hate your job.
I don't know if there are other endings, nor if the ending is decided by how many choices of each kind you make, or whether the specific choices matter.
There are five endings for Pacifist, but three of them are largely the same. Also, you can hold [ctrl] to skip dialogue, which helps you power through the chatter after you've played through once.
How do you get the other two, then, JohnB?
Oh wow, I looked at the code, out of curiosity, and the way you get endings is not based on how many of each type you choose, but which ones you choose. Each choice puts you on a different path, so even if they look identical, you've got on a different track. I'd write up a guide using that, but it's late right now, so someone else can do it.
I tend to read through the code whenever I can for things like this, and here's what I came up with:
There are five endings. There are essentially five 'paths' you can be on. If you're in branch 1, everyone looks cutesy, in branch 5, everyone looks disgusting. There are actually five separate sprites for most characters. You start out in branch one and with every choice, another 'path' is added.
If you choose the dissatisfied option, your 'path' number goes up by one. If you choose the accepting option , it goes down by one, unless you're already on path 1. So the only way to reache ending 5 is to always stand for your principles, but it's a little more complicated for the other four paths. If you say 'no no no yes', you end up on path 3.
Some of the five endings are fairly similar.
Bento Smile actually left an interesting message about the game here:
http://www.thegamescollective.org/index.php/topic,49.0.html
The ending where you see everyone looking evil is not actually meant to be the main character "seeing them for who they are", but rather based on the developer's own similar experience at a game studio where they discovered that they had been dehumanizing their coworkers over the level of violence featured in the game.
I can't believe no one is raving about Hydorah! Let me be the first. I'm not even halfway through and I won't stop coming back to it till I finish! The 3 saves only feature is a good idea but
You can just move the save file if you want to start again but not lose an old save.
I'm an old school arcade game guy and this game is the best shooter I've seen in a while. Two thumbs up and five fingers on the keyboard!!!
Any mirror for Hydorah?
What's funny to me about Pacifist is
although the co-workers say the exact same things no matter what you choose to say, it feels completely different when it's coming from the evil versions of them.
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