Sort of. I suppose if I’d read the signs I’d have realised the game couldn’t really end any other way. Dutch pretty much tells you what’s going to happen anyway.
But it was more the stuff after that which I’d not expected at all. Yes, this is very vague if you’ve not completed it. Let me just say that the dialogue logic for all the stranger and random encounters must have been one hell of a headache for the developers.
If you want to know why, I’ll spoiler it for you:
[spoiler title=”Spoiler!”]John dies in the end. Well, near the end. Then, three years later, you play as his son – Jack. The game doesn’t actually end until Jack avenges his dad’s death, but even then, you can still keep on playing.
But there’s dialogue complications. How does the game deal with open but not complete stranger missions, where John initiates it, but Jack completes it? Generally with “So did John send you?” type conversations. What about all the people who talk to you as if you’re John? You don’t even look alike (you’re like, 20 years younger for a start) yet everyone mistakes you for him. So many possible conversation branches as a result. Kudos to those who worked it out.
It’s also funny to think that even though you only play as Jack for 1% of the game, he still needs reams of lines “just in case” you speak to people normally John would meet or deal with.[/spoiler]
With the story done, I’m now off to mop up some loose ends. I’ve a stranger mission or two to finish (one to find too, actually), and I want to get my Fame up to the maximum, which will involve more hunting and some random encounters.
I did some hunting last night for beavers (needed for a stranger mission), only to keep getting mauled by bears. Tch.