The final curtain has fallen on Tabula Rasa and for those who were unable to attend, WarCry has posted a video montage detailing the game’s final moments.
I’ve never played the game so I’m not 100 percent certain what’s happening in the video (aside from a big huge fight) but it seems that the Allied Free Sentient forces ultimately pulled back to Earth for the final battle with the Bane and the Neph, an all-out cataclysmic showdown in the bombed-out ruins of New York City. And in a bit of a surprise twist, despite the dire warnings about the possible end of the world the AFS forces actually managed to win the fight. And then the world ended anyway.
It’s a bit sad to see any game fail but at least Tabula Rasa managed to do what many MMOGs can’t: Provide a proper ending. Regardless of how satisfactory it felt, the Tabula Rasa team put together a final, for-real ending to the game, gave it to the players and then flicked the switch. There are no threads left hanging, no tease of a sequel, no talk from upper management about franchising the game; it’s over.
Ben Kuchera at Ars Technica made an interesting point about the irony of getting a definite and satisfactory conclusion from a failed MMOG. Successful games spawn follow-ups and provide potentially endless gameplay but no satisfaction of drawing the story to a close; only the failures, with the motivating power of the executioner’s axe, have the opportunity to go out, for good or bad, on their own distinct terms.
Is it possible for a successful MMOG to tell a story from start to finish? Or when it comes to turning that final page and closing the book, is failure the only option?
Published: Mar 2, 2009 06:28 pm