Feedback wanted: Some questions on Ending (spoilerish)

[IronLotus]

Those are good questions. Let's see...

I don't even know if I can explain my feelings towards Daniel really. At first I felt rather sad for him. In this instance, I cannot say that I "became" Daniel, but rather perceived myself as a voice inside his head - much like Clarence was to Philip. I 'advised' Daniel, even reassured him when he was scared; It was a journey for both of us to discover who he had been and what he had done. But after I found out that he had gruesomely tortured all those people, I guess I felt disgust. I didn't outright hate Daniel, but was upset with him for trying to pin it all on Alexander.
As for Alexander, I never truly believed that he was the "bad guy." He is, in fact, a very ambiguous and complex character. I realized that he had never meant to drive Daniel insane, but he had wanted to help him. Alexander wanted to believe that Daniel was his friend, but under the circumstances it was a friendship gone horribly wrong. I felt sympathy towards the Baron, never hate.
And Agrippa... to be honest, his presence in the middle of all this kind of threw me off - I did want to help him, but not at the cost of a kind of false redemption.

My first ending was one made by choice. I chose to stay in the Cell and face the Darkness. In my mind, if Daniel had gotten past his prejudiced rage, he would have seen that Alexander really was telling the truth. After all that he had done, Daniel's only real chance at redemption was to face the Darkness whom he had killed so many for, just to preserve himself. Running away from your problems doesn't solve them, it only makes them worse. It was a numbing experience, waiting to die behind those prison bars, but it was the right thing to do.

How did I like the ending? Well, I liked it, although I was hoping for some sort of reunion with Alexander in the end. At least he thanked us for being understanding - and it was a good reward for Daniel's sacrifice.

I got the other endings because I love choice. When it comes to a good game, there always has to be some sort of a choice involved with how and why you play the game. As for my favorite ending, it was the one I got first.

The bottom line really is, that I LOVED Amnesia, just as I loved the Penumbra series. Both games were able to turn simply playing them, into experiencing them, the characters and the stories. Bravo!

[Sarakyel]

1) When entering the Orb Room (where Alexander is), what where your feelings toward Daniel (ie yourself), Alexander and Agrippa.

Daniel: Formerly a scientist whose curiosity led to being chased by an unknown entity. The fear and despair of being killed by this thing made him believe into some kind of occult magic, turning him into an ideal muppet for Alexander. When he finally realized how horrible were the things he had been doing, he did his best to make sure Alexander would not keep doing his soulless experiences. In the end, Daniel knows far too much and experienced far too many things to get back to a normal life. His only option should be to sacrifice himself in a way or another.

Alexander: Formerly a scientist who lost his mind after his wife's death, he started to get interested in occult magic with the only idea of bringing her back in mind. He lost his humanity as he gained in power and occult knowledge, and his obsession brought him way too far in monstrosity. He surely deserves to die.

Agrippa: Former Alexander's occult mentor, he spent quite of a long time trapped in an almost dead body by his apprentice. I don't know much more about him: he might be there for a good reason, or he may just be another Alexander's victim. Anyway, I don't really care: someone who spent such a long time in a confined space must be crazy. I can't trust him nor help him.


2) What was the ending that you got the first time? Was this a choice?

I got the ending with Alexander getting through the portal, and it was not a choice at all.

When I entered the Orb room, I first searched it and found nothing. Then I took a look at the center pillar and saw it could fall: I tried to pull & push it, without success. Then I tried to use various items on it (with no more success of course). After a while, the portal started to appear: I tried to use Agrippa's head on it, but I got a message telling me the portal was not ready yet. I thought I had to wait for a special event before using anything, and just listened to Alexander's speech. When he finally stopped talking, I died because of giant pieces of meat spawning everywhere in the room, then the screen faded to black and Alexander thanked me (Daniel). Credits unexpectedly started scrolling.


3) How did you like the ending?

Not much. The fact is: I didn't know exactly what I helped Alexander to achieve, and I only felt like I missed a few pieces of the puzzle. Which I believe is the case when I read this forum (Alexander is not human!? Where the hell do you learn this? And where exactly is explained what will happen to him (or Agrippa) after getting through the portal?)


4) Did you get any other endings? If so, which one was your favorite? And what where your motivation for seeing more endings?

I felt frustrated with the first ending I got, so I reloaded the orb chamber several times to experience all endings myself. I found how to save Agrippa (was just a timing issue), which is the ending I preferred: Alexander dies and Daniel, although he doesn't die, lies beyond life and death.

However, I had to take a look at a walkthrough to understand how to push over the pillars (and even when I knew I could, I really spent a hard time trying to) and getting the "revenge" end, which really feels weird to me, probably because this is the one that felt the more "videogamy" (woohoo, I accomplished all my objectives and know I can get back to my daily life) and the less Lovecraftian.

[Cookieeater]

1) When entering the Orb Room (where Alexander is), what where your feelings toward Daniel (ie yourself), Alexander and Agrippa.

Contrary to what other people have thought about Daniel, I thought Daniel should have lived. I believe the former Daniel is dead and the new Daniel is the one who lost his memory so there isn't really anything to blame since the Daniel before is vastly different.

I thought Alexander was just meh. When you came in the room, all he's doing is floating and talking. Alexander is the typical antagonist who just tortures and kills people for his wanting.

I thought Agrippa was my home boy and I was like talking to Agrippa in my mind when I cut his head off "Alright buddy lets go to the portal and get you through". Since Amnesia was an extremely solitary experience, I clinged to Agrippa as soon as he talked.

2) What was the ending that you got the first time? Was this a choice?
I got the Agrippa ending where I threw his head in. It was a choice

3) How did you like the ending?
The ending was disappointing. For all that momentum, you get Agrippa and Johan discussing if they should spare Daniel's life. I wanted excitement to happen, I wanted rocks falling out of the ceiling, I wanted support beams falling, dust in the air. I wanted a feeling that it was the ending and it was the finale. All I got was flesh from the shadow going a little bit on the floor, and Alexander dying.

4) Did you get any other endings? If so, which one was your favorite? And what where your motivation for seeing more endings?

I got the revenge ending and Alexander entering in the portal. It was my favorite as it felt like a journey across the places you've been through and it really felt like a conclusion. IMO I think the best one would have been Agrippa's ending but with the walk through from the revenge ending but with trippy effects like a near death experience.

[Antares]

1) When entering the Orb Room (where Alexander is), what where your feelings toward Daniel (ie yourself), Alexander and Agrippa.

Daniel I had little if no sympathy for. As much as I imagine that it would be horrible to end up chased by some weird reality-warping monster for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I could not excuse his killing of innocents, and his attempts to lay the blame onto Alexander only earned him my contempt.

I didn't hold Alexander in a much better regard, but whereas his actions were just as bad if not worse I could at least somewhat understand his detachment from it all, seeing how he is defintely established as not human.

Agrippa was definitely a mystery to me. I quite liked having him around and speaking to me, but I wonder how much of it is due to the fact that he's the only thing in the game that doesn't try to kill you.
With the information I had at hand, and knowing his involvement with Weyer and Alexander I was wondering if he wasn't going to betray me or use me, but I felt like giving him the benefit of doubt - he could hardly be more deserving of punishment than Daniel or Alexander, anyway.

2) What was the ending that you got the first time? Was this a choice?

I got the revenge ending at first. It was a choice. I saw the portal coming up and figured I could save Agrippa by waiting a little longer, but decided not to risk it to prevent Alexander from getting away.

3) How did you like the ending?

Honestly, I didn't quite like it. I expected and hoped that the Shadow would kill both of us and erase any trace of Castle Brennenburg and all of the horrors that happened there. It doesn't seem very fitting that Daniel could get off scott free, let alone return to civilized society after all he'd seen and done by simply getting his meaningless revenge - Alexander deserved to die, but killing him would serve no altruistic purpose, he's running off to a completely different dimension!

4) Did you get any other endings? If so, which one was your favorite? And what where your motivation for seeing more endings?

I went through the rest of them, if only for completion's sake, and because I really wanted to experience Daniel's Death by Shadow.

Aggripa's ending left me rather confused - is Daniel dead? Stuck in a limbo between dimensions? Saving Agrippa did make me feel like Daniel had made a first step on the road to redemption, though, and it was an interesting departure from my "Daniel is an asshat" viewpoint.

The "bad" ending (which was the last I got) was probably my favorite. I didn't buy Alexander's regrets or thanks for one second - he's no stranger to disposing of people once they've outlived their usefulness - but it feels right and fair that Daniel pay for his crimes. The moment of silence between Alexander's departure and the Shadow's arrival conjured a strange mix of inner peace and resignation which stayed with me for a couple of hours after I had closed down the game.

[TheWhiteDreamsOfLife]

i didn't understand what do do when i got there so i just did nothing, and i didn't want to do that

[hollowleviathan]

(Alexander is not human!? Where the hell do you learn this?

I am pretty sure this is just a theory, based on Alexander calling going through the portal going back, or returning. I think he and Agrippa are both human or at least born human, with supernatural powers either learned or acquired.

[Perfectionist]

Firstly congrats on a good game, love horror type games (and the first person view plus point and click type) and do not find myself being scared usually but soon as i spotted a monster and 180'd and ran and heard it chasing it after me, my heart did pound. Was quite atmospheric.

1, I did not really like Daniel for his choices, it does not matter if people are evil it does not give the right to actually torture someone, he is sick in the head no matter what, just like Alex. I like Agrippa's personality but he was also in the same league if i remember correctly - either way his persona made me want to save him anyway and he had the same enemy.

(i thought Alexanders body could have done with a bit of work graphically though - plus it did make me cringe a tiny bit seeing another man hood on show).

I think you should always be careful when giving a person a voice and reminding you with things though, i did start to tire of Agrippa by the way everytime i came by him he said i was a nice guy but had to get a move on. He just would not stop after i found all 6 pieces about finding it in my heart, pretty soon after he said it he would say it again pulling you out of the game and focusing on a design flaw.

2, First ending i got was pushing down the pillars, once i seen that one glow i knew what i had to do.

I never thought waiting around though wouldve made the portal appear, due to the gap i just thought it was waiting for my next move and it would probably appear after. If done differently i would have made Alexander keep talking, made the power surge from the pillars get bigger.

3, Unfortunately short lived, it seemed like it was a little rushed. After all that gaming i like to take my hand away from the keyboard and mouse and just sit back with a cig and see the ending to it all, unfortunately it went too quickly though to get that satisfaction of accomplishment (i did like though you could walk through your ending).

4, Seen all 3 due to loading. I needed to try and get a fix to satisfy getting more out of your game and not wanting it to end. Alexanders ending, never got to see where he went to, Aggripa's ending seemed a little dark and there was nothing from Weyer but i did like the thought of him saving me.

All in all though i am pleased i bought your game after seeing it a couple of weeks before on steam, according to statstics totalled up 10 hours worth of adventuring making sure nothing was left behind.

To give your game more replay value though, choices should have been made earlier on, making them right near to the end just means people get to see everything too soon due to not controlling curiosity.

Something to sit back to would have made it perfect.

[Spooder Wekd]

1) I felt angry at Alexander, and sorry for Agrippa. I was still confused about my past and how alex convinced me to do all those things.

2) I got the ending where you push over all the columns the first time, then I heard about the multiple endings and figured the other two out. I wanted to save agrippa, and forgot to cut off his head before entering the orb room. So I thought the only option was pushing over the columns.

3) Loved the ending, all of them provide a great sense of closure, but the Agrippa ending leaves room for a sequel/dlc or some further story more than the others.

4) After finding out about them, I got them all. Agrippa one is best because it provides a super awesome cliff hanger!

[Nospheratu]

First off, congratulatuions on making one of the most scary games ever, period. This game is such a dark gem that it will probably remain a benchmark for horror games for years to come, so YAY for Frictional, you guys are awesome! Now...

1) When entering the Orb Room (where Alexander is), what where your feelings toward Daniel (ie yourself), Alexander and Agrippa.

I started to anticipate Daniel's bad deeds and him harbouring a very dark secret about the time the girl started screaming and whimpering in the storage (holy sh!t, scared me out of my mind); noticing that the game had a quite "Lovecraftian" feel to it I have somewhat anticipated that the main character will eventually be revealed not to be a "hero" at all and during his dark descent I came to partly despise Daniel (who made a lot of bad choices out of his selfishness and cowardice) but also feel a bit of understanding for Alexander's plight (he just wanted to go home to his love), so good job on the "anti-hero" twist.
I was ofcourse the most sympathetic for Agrippa who was - for me at least - the most tragic figure since he was (also in reality) a very smart and learned man who had come across the wrong things and persons at the wrong time and thus ended up being locked in a decaying corpse for over 500 years, so he deserved his rescue the most.
After finishing the game, my feelings towards Alexander and Daniel were mostly like the Yin&Yang symbol: "There is always something good in evil and always something evil in good", it all depends on our choices how we act. Like Alexander said - if Daniel would have let himself be killed right away, he could have saved quite a lot of people. Very good plot excecution, me likey

2) What was the ending that you got the first time? Was this a choice?

Since i managed to follow the instructions on Veyer's letter the first time, i entered the chamber with the head in my possesion, but since i knew beforehand that there are 3 endings and after i checked the autosave was in the chamber, i decided to start with the revenge ending and then try out the other 2 as well.

3) How did you like the ending?

The revenge ending was the most rewarding for me and probably made the most sense for many players, BUT i couldn't help to feel kind of sorry for Alexander and spiteful towards Daniel - "purgatory my ass, you should have been TORTURED and killed like your victims, then you would have been redeemeed". It was also a nice touch to make Daniel shortly revisit some parts of the castle on his way out, so yeah, I liked it.

4) Did you get any other endings? If so, which one was your favorite? And what where your motivation for seeing more endings?

Next i threw Agrippa's head through the portal... I liked this one a lot too, since you save Agrippa AND yourself, BUT ALSO as part of a redemption your (evil) body is destroyed and all that remains is your soul (my guess anyway) which gets "rescued" by Veyer and Agrippa. I would say that this and the revenge endings were both gratifying and i liked them both.
As most players, i liked the death ending the least, although i couldn't help but feeling a sense of dark justice for daniel and relief for Alexander who could "finaly return home" - the way he said "home" made me so sad that i actually felt good for him entering that gate. And again, Daniel got what he asked for with his own selfishness
My motivation for seeing all 3 endings was a sense of completion and to gain knowledge about all of them.

So that's basicly my take on the endings... I'll probably post more soon, so see you around

[Omega729]

Now that a many of you have completed the game, we would like to take the opportunity and ask some questions related to the Ending and the story as a whole.

Here goes:

1) When entering the Orb Room (where Alexander is), what where your feelings toward Daniel (ie yourself), Alexander and Agrippa.

2) What was the ending that you got the first time? Was this a choice?

3) How did you like the ending?

4) Did you get any other endings? If so, which one was your favorite? And what where your motivation for seeing more endings?

I felt that I reached my goal, it was a great feeling, I was ready to know what was really going on since I have come so far lol. But I have to be honest, I thought of Alexander for my first playthrough as an extremely evil man, and helped Agrippa for my first ending. But for me, alexander being naked made him lose all the tension built up on meeting him, because throughout the game, Alexander was on of my favorite chatacters next to Daniel. It feels like a nit pick, but you could have least gave him a cloth otherwise, amazing game, and amazing story.