[SPOILERS] Alternate Ending Proposal

[PiratesFr33k]

[...] rather than Simon's rather silly tirade at the end when the player is (or at least I was) screaming, "you know that, you idiot!" [...]

Yeah but... I didn't really feel that way. Of course, the player (or at least I) knew about the whole thing with the coin toss and everything, but... I didn't really think of it as a silly tirade. It was more of a cry of disbelief (or outrage) of his bad luck with the coin toss, if you ask me. The whole "why am I still here? You lied to me, Catherine!" thing was more of an emotional outburst. It was not really a question "why", but an outburst in the sense of "why did this happen to me? It's unfair!".


edit: Also there's this thing about a so-called "cognitive bias" which the user 'Touchdown' on this forum explained:

>>The cognitive bias

...provides a reason as to why Simon is led to believe that he will 'carry over' to the Ark. Because he 'remembers' being 'carried over' twice already. He's convinced that he'll 'jump' to the Ark because in HIS subjective experience, HE carries over, not 'the other Simon'.

And why is it that he somehow misses the facts provided by Catherine? Because of his cognitive bias. In Simon-3's subjective experience (or recollection of it) he's the one who 'carries over' everytime and this deeply rooted emotional conviction overwrites the factual evidence. This kind of behaviour is actually common in real life. Perhaps Simon is just too realistic, too human for a video game and that's why some question his behaviour.

I mean, he remembers 'jumping' from one suit to the other, just an hour ago - surely HE carries over, right? He's been experiencing continuity all this time so why would it be any different now?

That's why he never actually grasps that he'll be left behind until it's too late.


>>Player versus protagonist

This also brings out the problem with the player-protagonist sync, unfortunately. Some say "well, he knew this would happen so why is he angry?" The problem is that players are comfortably sitting in front of their monitors, having all the time in the world to process and analyze the critical information. Simon is terrified, going through a tremendous amount of stress, torn apart by thoughts of his identity, plus there's a bias shrouding his judgement. Players, even those heavily immersed, do not go through the same kind of experience so some might not be able to identify with Simons emotional state.