Originally posted by Lek Kuen
I'm sure the ending would still be disliked by a good chunk of the people who hate it, but I agree that the extreme reaction of the internet was partially bandwagon in the severity that people raged about it. Seen a handful first hand of people who completely jumped in level of hatred once the wave hit its peak.
This is not an isolated incident.
Hop over to the comic forums and try to find the people that are able to just sit back and enjoy comic stories without a bunch of fan-generated considerations. They can't. And neither can I to an extent. They're constantly holding up current stories to whatever notions they have of each character's power level, or helping each other find things to criticize. PIS, CIS, fanboy, terrible writing, terrible art, etc. have largely replaced musings on characterization and story structure.
Hell, I'm in a tourney match right now using Luke Skywalker, and there's no way I could have ever used him if, over the course of the last decade or so, I wasn't making a silent mental tally of his powers and abilities as I read Star Wars novels and comics.
And I'm one of the more sane ones, willing to ignore power levels for the sake of a story, without getting bent out of shape.
Obviously they still enjoy comics (or games, in this analogy), or they wouldn't read. But somewhere along the lines their tendencies shifted. I had a conversation with a friend about Spider-Man unmasking in the Civil War arc. I started on how it destroys the character he was built up to be over decades of comics, etc. (it was out of character), and his reaction was "Ok, sure. But it's exciting!" It's that right there. That's what the fanboy, internet-forum mentality does to many. I even avoid certain threads here on KMC to avoid it with franchises that I just enjoy on a completely uncritical, child-like level (Doctor Who is a great example).
I snapped at some point. I think it was in the middle of the Lord of the Rings movies. I was busy comparing them to the novels like a slightly-too-interested purist. And I had a moment of self-awareness and just let go of all of that. I get a lot more enjoyment out of almost any medium these days.
If this game had come out before social media was everywhere, even with less polished graphics and combat, people would be sh*tting themselves for decades over how epic it was, and the ending's holes would be filled with fan fics and comic-con interviews where they grill the creators over their vision. Even the "bad" ending is ridiculous compared to the "you beat the bad guy! congratulations!" (followed by a few cursory screens of outro material) that we used to get until maybe 1 console generation ago. As it is, the internet smelled blood and made a mountain out of a molehill.