Ultimate Nihilist Ending

[Kyreles]

Well, Thomas promised to include the jugular ending if we hit $55k. Idea how that's gonna work? Just another ultra with a different epilogue? Or a completely different ending where you eat chips and don't care if Andy wrecks the place - life isn't all that great anyways.

[FantomFang]

From his blog...

SelevanAugust 21, 2012 12:06 AM
My friends would hate that but.. add an ultimate nihilist ending (google it) at 55.000$ !

RepliesThomas BiskupAugust 21, 2012 12:17 AM
LOL, I love that. Ok, I here and now promise: If we make the $55,000 I'll also add the ultimate nihilist ending ;-)

The source is in this bug report...
http://www.adom.de/adom/report.php3?ident=789

So maybe something like what you can find there.

[Aielyn]

That is a really interesting idea, and it'll be fun to see it implemented.

There are a few things, though, that I'd like to see changed:

1. The countdown clock should accumulate - each time you go up stairs, it should add 17 turns to the clock. So if you're quick through some lower levels, you have a little more time on the higher levels.

2. A few of the key NPCs should react, perhaps even with extra results along the way. This goes with point 1, since if you're quick in climbing the CoC, you should have time to stop in Dwarftown, where most of the lesser NPCs are gone, a few have turned into various creatures, and then all you have left still normal are, I'm thinking, Bart, Thrundarr, Ruun, and Waldenbrook. Each could make some interesting response. Reach Ruun in time (with 50 levels, you have 425 turns to reach Ruun before the gods themselves are destroyed and you are "forsaken" - I'd like, a few turns prior to being forsaken, a message from the gods as they react to it coming), and he may be praying to his god... too late, and you hear him wailing about being forsaken and the end of the world. Bart takes it mostly in stride (but is clearly very drunk), Thrundarr makes some comment about being insane to allow you to pass beyond the portal before starting to babble like an idiot, and Waldendorf is paralysed with horror.

Other NPCs that you might be able to see and talk to on your way out include the Eternal Guardian, the Cat Lord (if still alive), Kherab (found where the shortcut was, if still alive), Dak (the ratlings are all gone), and Yrruir and Riurry (next to each other in the Big Room if both still alive - end of the world takes precedence over their mutual hatred).

3. On reaching the surface, the one NPC that you should find there, if you saved him, is Khelavaster. Having felt the shockwaves coming from the CoC, he travelled rapidly to the entrance, just in time to see you emerging, even as the world fell apart around him. This could then add a few extra lines to the finish, as in this case you have a companion for your final moments.

4. There should be some special case in which you can prevent the utter destruction of the world after having done all of that. And I think I have just the ticket for the condition on it: Amulet of Life Saving. If you are wearing an Amulet of Life Saving, AND make it out of the CoC, AND saved Khelavaster (who can provide just enough magic to maintain the AoLS), then you get one final ending, in which the end of the universe is followed by the beginning of a new universe, but you get to see nothing beyond the start, because after the AoLS (further powered by Khelavaster) saves your life and disappears, you die in the vast emptiness of space as you witness the birth of the new universe. Call it the Big Bang Ending.

Those four adjustments, to me, would just add that perfect little set of twists to the story, and give a little more to the Ultimate Nihilist Ending.

[TheViscount]

2. A few of the key NPCs should react, perhaps even with extra results along the way. This goes with point 1, since if you're quick in climbing the CoC, you should have time to stop in Dwarftown, where most of the lesser NPCs are gone, a few have turned into various creatures, and then all you have left still normal are, I'm thinking, Bart, Thrundarr, Ruun, and Waldenbrook. Each could make some interesting response. Reach Ruun in time (with 50 levels, you have 425 turns to reach Ruun before the gods themselves are destroyed and you are "forsaken" - I'd like, a few turns prior to being forsaken, a message from the gods as they react to it coming), and he may be praying to his god... too late, and you hear him wailing about being forsaken and the end of the world. Bart takes it mostly in stride (but is clearly very drunk), Thrundarr makes some comment about being insane to allow you to pass beyond the portal before starting to babble like an idiot, and Waldendorf is paralysed with horror.

Other NPCs that you might be able to see and talk to on your way out include the Eternal Guardian, the Cat Lord (if still alive), Kherab (found where the shortcut was, if still alive), Dak (the ratlings are all gone), and Yrruir and Riurry (next to each other in the Big Room if both still alive - end of the world takes precedence over their mutual hatred).

3. On reaching the surface, the one NPC that you should find there, if you saved him, is Khelavaster. Having felt the shockwaves coming from the CoC, he travelled rapidly to the entrance, just in time to see you emerging, even as the world fell apart around him. This could then add a few extra lines to the finish, as in this case you have a companion for your final moments.

I do indeed like these two suggestions, they would certainly add an air of hopelessness to the ending. Nevertheless, there are some things I should note:

1. What about the Casino Shopkeeper, Sharad-Waador, Srraxxarrakex (if still alive), and the Demented Ratling (considering it was fed 6 artifacts, and thus would be quite strong.)
2. Khelavaster should lose his invisibility for this ending, so that if you do save him the PC can see him if he cannot see invisible.
3. How would one leave the Chaos Plane in the first place? Perhaps it should display a message such as, "A huge explosion engulfs everything, you are thrown from this divine plane!"

Other than that, I do not like suggestion 4 much. If you ask me, such a hopeless ending should be just that.

[Aielyn]

I do indeed like these two suggestions, they would certainly add an air of hopelessness to the ending. Nevertheless, there are some things I should note:

1. What about the Casino Shopkeeper, Sharad-Waador, Srraxxarrakex (if still alive), and the Demented Ratling (considering it was fed 6 artifacts, and thus would be quite strong.)
2. Khelavaster should lose his invisibility for this ending, so that if you do save him the PC can see him if he cannot see invisible.
3. How would one leave the Chaos Plane in the first place? Perhaps it should display a message such as, "A huge explosion engulfs everything, you are thrown from this divine plane!"

Other than that, I do not like suggestion 4 much. If you ask me, such a hopeless ending should be just that.

1. Sharad-Waador and Srraxxarrakex are on a branch of the CoC, which means you actually would need to go *deeper* to talk to them... which would subtract time off the countdown, and presumably you couldn't make it to Sharad-Waador before the destruction point. I suppose Sharad-Waador could be found at the entrance to the branch. The Demented Ratling was already dramatically mutated by ChAoS, so I'd think he'd have polymorphed pretty quickly. The Casino Shopkeeper, I figured, wasn't an "important" enough NPC to be worth having anything special attached. He's pretty much just a special instance of a shopkeeper.

2. I assumed that Khelavaster would make himself visible, even if only to talk to the PC. Keep in mind that you don't really "see" him in terms of gameplay in this case - he is "seen" in the "cutscene" when you reach the surface of the CoC.

3. The original idea simply suggested that you have to find the exit... I think it would work if there was a randomly-generated portal on use of the scroll, and you need to find it within 17 turns.

Meanwhile, I thought that the "Big Bang Ending" would just serve to provide an alternate way for it to play out. If done right, it could either imply that the "new universe" is really just a new game, that it's actually connected to the Infinite Dungeon, or that it's "all a dream" in some way.

If you'd rather go more negative, the AoLS could save the PC, but with the result being that the PC floats in nothingness for eternity, destined to go insane from the utter lack of anything else in the universe. But it would certainly establish the PC's immortal status. :P

[MrNiceguy]

Since the UNE abbreviation is taken, I suggest U0E.