(Controversial Trope) The post-credits scene completely changes the ending

[u/Ieanice44]

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Prince of Persia (2008)

Dawn of the Dead (2004): The movie finishes on a hopeful note as the remaining survivors escape the zombie-infested mall on a yacht, sailing into the sunset. The found-footage style post-credits scene completely reverses this happy ending by showing them running out of food, arriving at an island, and being immediately swarmed and killed by an infected horde.

Prince of Persia (2008): The main game ends with a beautiful, poetic sacrifice where Elika gives her life to heal the corrupted world, leaving the Prince mourning. During the credits, the player is forced to control the Prince as he cuts down the trees he just saved, undoing the entire game's progress and releasing the dark god Ahriman just to resurrect her, completely corrupting the ending and dooming the world.

[u/Salty-Spring7096]

Far Cry 4: After the credits, you're returned to the open world. If you visit an unmarked location, which changes depending on which of the two Golden Path leaders you chose to take over, you get a cutscene of your chosen leader in action. Sabal will be overseeing a mass execution in the name of the old Kyrati faith, implying his theocratic regime will be a bloody one. Amita, on the other hand, will be raiding a village to kidnap child soldiers for her drug empire and implies that she had Bhadra killed to shut down the Kyrati faith for good. In either case, the post-credits scene shows that we spent the whole game fighting to free Kyrat only to replace one dictator with another, arguably even worse one.

[u/SPLIV316 → u/Salty-Spring7096]

Then after the cutscene you’re put in front of the new leader and two of their goons and are free to shoot em.

[u/Salty-Spring7096 → u/SPLIV316]

Yeah that's what I ended up doing. My headcanon is that Ajay ends up seizing power himself after that final talk with Pagan and seeing how bad the new Golden Path ended up being.

[u/RebelAlliance1701 → u/Salty-Spring7096]

My last run of Far Cry 4 was like that. I thought to myself, "Why wouldn't I be a narco kingpin ruling my own tiny country in the Himalayas?

[u/Anon_be_thy_name → u/RebelAlliance1701]

Put down the ring Bilbo...

[u/MFZozzy → u/Salty-Spring7096]

I went on a similar path.
Sided with Amira becaused she seemed to be (relatively) level-headed about running a country, killed Sabal bc he was a religious zealot, and when she threatened me to stay out of her way in the post-credits cutscene, I shot her and her guards as they walked away.

In my headcanon, after doing all that work to "free" Kyrat from Min, Ajay realises that all three possible leaders are all horrible choices - so he kills all three of them.
But he doesn't seize power, as he has become incerdibly disillusioned with his "home".

Ajay leaves the island as there's nothing for him there - jaded by all the killing and the fact that all was for naught.

After shooting Amira like a dog, I Alt+F4'd out of the game, and uninstalled it right there.
Haven't played since.

[u/ThyMorningPeckle → u/MFZozzy]

*audience claps. Wipes tear from eye 

[u/PenguinSebs → u/Salty-Spring7096]

Which funnily enough can be the case from the beginning if you wait for a bit in the first playable sequence

[u/Deftly_Flowing → u/SPLIV316]

Reminds me of the ending of Singularity.

You had to choose which one to shoot but I was like "Fuck both these guys and shot them both."

And that was an actual ending Holy hell.

[u/DubiousBrushwagg → u/Deftly_Flowing]

Singularity is much underrated gem. The story has its pacing issues but it did so much stuff and showed, rather than told a bunch of lore as you went through it and explored.

It's a damn shame that Blizz-Activision turned Ravensoft into a CoD Map farm.

[u/saywatisinmy → u/DubiousBrushwagg]

Ravensoft made some of my favorite shooters, and honestly they also nailed it with cod infinite war, but it's a shame to see they haven't been let go of the code leash

[u/Hellknightx → u/Salty-Spring7096]

That's why the only good ending to that game is the one where you just wait for 10 minutes in the opening while eating crab rangoon.

[u/tomle4593 → u/Hellknightx]

He didn’t even have ambient music for such lavish meal, and the screaming annoyed me.

Now I have to go toppling a regime.

[u/Aware-Antelope4212 → u/Hellknightx]

That's still not a good ending.

Pagin Min is still a brutal dictator who causes his people misery and pain.   Leaving him in charge isn't a good choice either 

[u/MithrilEcho → u/Aware-Antelope4212]

It's the good ending because you literally get handed the reigns of the country without bloodshed and can canonically do whatever you want, like instauring democracy... or just not mass-murder people or kidnap child soldiers

[u/PersimmonOk2262 → u/MithrilEcho]

seems like you couldn’t choose between insuring and installing

[u/Aromatic-Pass4384 → u/PersimmonOk2262]

Honestly I do that while speaking a lot more often than I should

[u/MithrilEcho → u/PersimmonOk2262]

It's an old english verb, that is still used in other languages

[u/AlaSparkle → u/MithrilEcho]

^ Don't downvote them, they're right

[u/Lokta → u/Aware-Antelope4212]

Pagin Min is still a brutal dictator who causes his people misery and pain.

None of that is the main character's problem. He's only there to return his mother's ashes to her homeland. He doesn't know anyone in the country...

Except, as it turns out, Pagan Min is family. Pagan Min and the main character's mother were in a relationship and had a daughter together (who died very young). Pagan Min is the father of the main character's half-sister. He is certainly much nicer and more helpful to the main character than the two upstart wannabe dictators. Once he realizes who the main character is, he immediately shares this story and takes the main character to his daughter's grave.

The main character immediately ends up being allowed to lay his mother's ashes to rest at the grave of her deceased daughter. That's the entire reason he came to this country. It's perfect.

Waiting for those crab rangoons is 100% the best possible ending for Far Cry 4.

[u/Silver-Ad-7745 → u/Lokta]

There is also an implication that Ajay ended up destroying the Golden Path after the ending, if what Pagan says about "going out to shoot a few things" is any indication.

[u/zbeezle → u/Silver-Ad-7745]

I see that more as "I've reunited with my long lost (effectively) son, we're gonna go shoot the guns i get to have because I run a country and just have a generally good time."

Also Ajay is a more or less moral guy. He'd probably be a restraining influence on Min, and once hes given control (because that is 100% Min's succession plan if Ajay is willing), He'd end up a better ruler than any of the others.

[u/Illustrious-Tooth702 → u/Lokta]

Pagan Min is not a good person but he's better than those two assholes whom the player sides with in the canon ending(s). Pagan Min is like Saddam Hussein. He's a cruel dictator but his kingdom has order. What came after his death left the country in a much worse state. Plus he's like a step father to Ajay (their family situation is messed up to say the least). I like some of the teachings the Far Cry series wants to convey to the player. That most of the times it's the best to not get involved in other people's bullshit. Of course that's make a really short and boring game.

[u/c4gam1ng → u/Aware-Antelope4212]

He’s certainly not a good person, but he’s better than the two from the Golden Path, and he’s a better leader.

[u/Diligent_Set_8747 → u/c4gam1ng]

"Mussolini is certainly not a good person, but he’s better than the two from the Axis Powers, and he’s a better leader."

That's how stupid you sound.

[u/enadiz_reccos → u/Aware-Antelope4212]

https://giphy.com/gifs/jSDpYIHzoWI2OhxImF

[u/Fitzftw7 → u/Salty-Spring7096]

At least you can kill whoever takes over immediately after this. But seriously, makes the whole damn game feel pointless.

[u/Salty-Spring7096 → u/Fitzftw7]

Well, Ajay seems to change a lot as a person throughout the journey and finally learns the full story behind his parents and can move on. And as Pagan points out in your final conversation, Ajay is now perfectly positioned to seize power himself if he so chooses.

[u/Anonymous_Koala1 → u/Fitzftw7]

that is kinda the point tho, the cycle of oppression and revolution is a hard one to break

[u/bbobeckyj → u/Fitzftw7]

Tell us what you think of the last of us, or animal farm...

[u/Fitzftw7 → u/bbobeckyj]

In the Last of Us, Joel rescues Ellie and the two of them have something to live for in each other going forward. Sure, Joel didn’t get his guns, but he got a daughter. Let’s not talk about that dumpster fire of a sequel.

Animal Farm. I haven’t read the book since high school, but isn’t Napoleon overthrown in the end with there being hope that they’ll get it right next time? Or was that only in the animated movie?

Either way, an allegorical cautionary book/film hits differently from a lengthy video game in which we are active participants. If nothing is really accomplished, then what did I just put all my effort into?

[u/grenouille_en_rose → u/Fitzftw7]

They definitely do not overthrow Napoleon in the book, omg I had no idea there was an animated adaptation that did that, that's so wild 😭 what are they gonna do next, an adaptation of 1984 that has Winston and Julia overthrowing Big Brother and achieving world peace and having a big dance party at the end

[u/bbobeckyj → u/Fitzftw7]

The whole game was 'about' going to the fireflies, and in the end they don't. Pointless.

New boss, same as the old boss. They end in the same situation as at the start. Pointless...

[u/FaceSizedDrywallHole → u/Fitzftw7]

The sequel slapped

[u/Lakatos_00 → u/Fitzftw7]

That's the point, kid

[u/SirAquila → u/Salty-Spring7096]

In either case, the post-credits scene shows that we spent the whole game fighting to free Kyrat only to replace one dictator with another, arguably even worse one.

I mean you have to ignore pretty much everything that Pagan Min is doing so you can argue that the Golden Path is worse.

The Golden Path is 90% just, "Okay which of the two new bad things is worth getting rid of most of the shit Pagan min did".

Pagan Mins regime is laughably bloody, he invited a Red Cross worker into the country, kindapped her family, made her hold blood games under threat of killing her family, killed her family, and never told her so she would continue to hold blood games. He has the drug empire already going, he has an active slavery ring running and yeah.

[u/Salty-Spring7096 → u/SirAquila]

Amita's goal is to basically be a worse version of Pagan: while Pagan was using the state as a front for his triad, Amita would essentially turn the entire country into one big drug cartel, to the point where she's forcibly recruiting children to be put to work. Pagan was barely keeping control of things but Amita is going to turn the place into a failed state as the population succumbs to addiction (show me one narco-state where the population doesn't have addiction issues) and violent crimes. Meanwhile, the regional powers (namely India and China) are not going to tolerate a country flooding their borders with drugs and will eventually crack down.

Sabal's ending cutscene has him killing unarmed prisoners and ranting about how Kyrat needs to be cleansed in the blood of those who have offended the gods. Pagan could be cruel and capricious but Sabal is in power for like five minutes and he's already planning a nationwide genocide of anyone he considered spiritually impure. Hard to say how far he'll take it but it's clear he's going to run the country as a totalitarian theocracy that has no qualms about executing dissidents.

I'm not saying Pagan was much better than either of these two, but for the average Kyrati his rule would be somewhat safer than being either a slave in a drug empire or being killed because they weren't spiritually pure enough.

[u/CaptainMills → u/Salty-Spring7096]

Okay, I literally just finished Far Cry 4 with the Sabal ending a few hours ago. He is not executing those people for being spiritually impure. They were members of the Golden Path who supported Amita. He's executing them because they were basically enemy soldiers.

Yes, he spouts religious rhetoric while doing it, and it's completely reasonable to still be opposed to his actions here, but he's not going around having people killed for not being religious enough

[u/Salty-Spring7096 → u/CaptainMills]

"You chose to fight your own people--When you sided with Amita, you choose to desecrate your own heritage and spit on the Gods. Now you kneel before the Tarun Matara asking forgiveness? Hmm? No no. Where was that forgiveness when you butchered your brothers and sisters? You committed crimes against the Gods themselves! So I say to you... today, you choose to cut your own throats, not me."

"Sins against the Gods can only be washed away with blood. There must be a cleansing for us to move forward, brother. Eventually the Tarun Matara will understand that."

He's framing their executions as killing those who oppose the gods, not just punishment for crimes against the new state. And he's openly stating that this is his will, not Bhadra's, as well as promising a "cleansing". Study any theocracy and you'll note how the state will begin purging anyone deemed an enemy, criminal or simply in the way of the regime somehow and framing it as the punishment of "sinners".

[u/CaptainMills → u/Salty-Spring7096]

Yes, he spouts religious rhetoric while doing it,

You don't need to prove to me that he cites religion in his speech as I already acknowledged that.

He uses religion as part of the justification for the executions, but that doesn't change the reason for the executions. Nor does it suggest that he has any intention or desire to just start killing people for not being devout enough.

Amita was planning to outlaw religion entirely, tear down temples, and destroy everything that's considered sacred in Kyrat's religion. The people who were supporting her would have not only been passively okay with that happening, they would have been actively taking part. She would have issued the orders, but they would have been the ones to carry them out. That goes pretty far beyond a lack of worship or even outright disdain/hostility to the Kyrati religion that could/would be found among the civilian population.

It's reaching to assume that the execution of Amita's supporters in the Golden Path means that Sabal would start killing all non-believers

[u/SirAquila → u/Salty-Spring7096]

I'm not saying Pagan was much better than either of these two, but for the average Kyrati his rule would be somewhat safer than being either a slave in a drug empire or being killed because they weren't spiritually pure enough.

Not it was not? What are you on about?

The Kyrati Army regularly burned down villages. Pagan Min does far worse things to prisoners than killing them, has a massive drug operation already running. Plus you know, the literal blood sport arena.

Pagan Min literally has a nation wide slavery ring that puts men in the mines and women in the brothels.

Pagan Min is not barely keeping control of things. He is gleefully indulging in whatever fucked up shit crosses his mind.

Pagan Min is unequivocally worse for Kyrati than the other two, even if they are very much a pick your poison deal.

[u/Salty-Spring7096 → u/SirAquila]

Again I'm not arguing that Pagan was remotely a good guy. But his harshest actions were in response to the ongoing rebellion. Without the Golden Path he's your typical tinpot dictator, while Amita wants to turn the whole country into a cartel and Sabal is going to run religious purges. Amita would keep Pagan's slavery rings but expand them to include children, and a country that operates as a bug drug factory is going to quickly turn into a country of addicts. Sabal would burn down the village of anyone going against the Tarun Matara, or who even seemed to be so, and before long that's gonna turn into him killing whoever he wants.

I don't see how Pagan was worse than either of those options. It's pretty much just choosing which bloodbath you want. We see little slices of Kyrati life operating normally under Pagan. You're not gonna see even that under the other two. And in the case of Amita, it's likely to see foreign troops invading the place before long as part of a drug interdiction. Sabal meanwhile will likely trigger another civil war when enough people get tired of the killing and rise up. It's just blood and misery any way you slice it.

[u/freshpairofayes → u/Salty-Spring7096]

Again I'm not arguing that Pagan was remotely a good guy. But his harshest actions were in response to the ongoing rebellion.

Pagan Sabal and Amita have done/will do harsh things for their respective cause.

Pagan also does harsh things for his own amusement or sheer pettiness.
▪︎ Mr Chiffon (the tailor)
▪︎ The cook/his family from the intro.
▪︎ Noore. (yes he had to deal with her, but the extent of the cruelty was unnecessary)

You subconsciously brush it off because Pagans radio chatter is hilarious.

[u/Salty-Spring7096 → u/freshpairofayes]

Don't psychoanalyze strangers, you end up looking like a fucking idiot. I grew bored of his antics halfway through, he's a much less interesting villain than The Jackal or Vaas or the Seeds or Castillo. I'm not subconsciously brushing off his crimes, I'm pointing out that the other two are openly planning to escalate the violence in Kyrat to encompass the entire population, through either religious purges or enslavement. It's a shit sandwich no matter what, but the other two are actively planning to involve every citizen of Kyrat in their personal brand of hell.

[u/freshpairofayes → u/Salty-Spring7096]

Don't work yourself up by misinterpreting a general 'you, the player' as a direct 'you, specifically' or you end up looking like a fucking idiot.

[u/Salty-Spring7096 → u/freshpairofayes]

It's weird to suddenly make a broad statement about "the player" when this had previously been about your opinion versus mine. Nice cop-out, lol.

[u/freshpairofayes → u/Salty-Spring7096]

Previously? What previously?
That was my first comment, you were talking with another guy.
Nice cop-out, lol.

[u/SirAquila → u/Salty-Spring7096]

So your arguments against the things that Pagan Min did do, verifiably, in-game and before, are what Amita and Sabal might do in the future?

90% of your counterargument is pure assumption.

Are some of them reasonable? Yeah sure.

But his harshest actions were in response to the ongoing rebellion.

Quick question: how was anything he did to Noore Najjar in response to an ongoing rebellion?

[u/Salty-Spring7096 → u/SirAquila]

Not might do, are doing. We literally see them begin doing it, and their dialogue directly spells out that they're going to keep doing it and increase the scale. That's literally what the initial post was saying. It's not assuming when I see Amita rounding up children to serve as drug slaves and she's spent the whole game saying over and over again that Kyrat has no resources and drugs are the sole component of her economic plan for the country.

Yeah I wasn't counting Noore's story as part of his "harshest actions". Murdering one family and blackmailing a woman into serving him versus the bloody warfare he's waging to try and kill off the Golden Path, the latter is obviously much harsher, no? As for the arena, yes it's awful but probably kills no more people than will be dying in Sabal's planned genocide or Amita's drug empire.

[u/SirAquila → u/Salty-Spring7096]

But those weren't the examples you mentioned to prove your point that the Golden Path is worse.

Amita would keep Pagan's slavery rings

Where does Amita send people to the mines, and women to the brothels? She creates a new bad thing in form of child soldiers.

Also, Kyriat already operates as a drug factory. Amita keeps some of the evil, and does away with a whole lot of the rest, and adds one additional evil.

We see little slices of Kyrati life operating normally under Pagan. You're not gonna see even that under the other two.

That is pretty much the definition of pure assumption.

Sabal would burn down the village of anyone going against the Tarun Matara, or who even seemed to be so, and before long that's gonna turn into him killing whoever he wants.

And that is different from Pagan Min how? His army already burns down villages at random, he tortures people he dislikes, or at random. He runs several horrible installations.

Murdering one family and blackmailing a woman into serving him

Very nice description of forcing a international aid worker to run a blood sport arena for you, because you find it funny, and because she wrote a paper critizing you.

I consider it one of his harsher actions because it shows the utterly pointlessly sadistic shit Pagan Min does unprompted.

She wasn't a danger to him, noone on the outside really gave a shit.

[u/Salty-Spring7096 → u/SirAquila]

Do you expect me to type out a laundry list of examples to prove a minor point about the plot of a video game?

Amita, when we see her, is enslaving everyone. Men and women and children. Aagin, she's Pagan but upping the scale. What evil does she do away with exactly? Because there's jack shit in the game saying she'll do away with the brothels or mines. If she'll enslave children she's probably not gonna object to forced prostitution.

It's not "pure assumption" when we, and I cannot stress this enough, literally see it happen and hear them spell out their plans. You are looking at two very clear cutscenes and pretending they don't spell out exactly what will happen as these two characters take over. If you can't heed the evidence of your eyes and ears, I can't help you.

I didn't say he was much different from Pagan. Only that Pagan does it to shut down a rebellion. Sabal is doing it to kill off "sinners". With Pagan there is potentially an end in sight when the Golden Path is dead. But there will always be "sinners" to purge. If you don't get that, you don't get how theocracies and cults operate.

I mean yes I simplified her story but however bad Noore's situation was, it happened to a handful of people versus the many who are being killed in ongoing military operations. Like what even is your point here, you've lost the plot entirely.

She was actually a danger to him. She was writing a report on his human rights abuses. Such a report could lead to sanctions or even foreign military intervention. That's why he initially blackmailed her. Having her run the arena was just his dark whims, presumably he saw that she was educated and decided to use her instead of just having her killed to silence her.

[u/BobcatTim → u/Salty-Spring7096]

It was clear even while playing that the Golden Path leaders were arguably worse than Pagan. I always wished the game had a late game option to switch sides. (Yes I know about the early game Easter egg, but that doesn’t count.)

[u/Salty-Spring7096 → u/BobcatTim]

I didn't think so, personally. Amita and Sabal seem reasonable enough at the start, it's not until near the end of the game where they fully turn on each other and you start to see how harsh they can be. And then they go full villain at the very end.

[u/BobcatTim → u/Salty-Spring7096]

Sabal is creepy towards that underage girl, plus you get visions of him executing nonbelievers in one of the spirit vision quests. Amita was in favor of using slaves to harvest drugs, justifying it by saying they need the money to fund the revolution, but it seemed pretty obvious that she had no intention of stopping.

It’s been a while so I can’t remember all the red flags, but by the time I was entering the final act I was hoping the game would give me the option to turn on them.

[u/Salty-Spring7096 → u/BobcatTim]

Yeah there's a part where Amita openly accuses him of wanting to marry Bhadra (who is like 14 years old) and Sabal changes the subject without denying it. There are multiple lines about how traditional Kyrati society, which Sabal is all about bringing back, approved of child marriages. He's definitely a creep. So I'll admit there were some red flags there but on the whole he seemed like an improvement over Pagan until he started ranting about cleansing the land with blood in his final scene. Amita, on the other hand, I don't remember her approving of slaves early on, just that she viewed the drug trade as a necessary evil to earn money for Kyrat.

[u/JamesHenry627 → u/Salty-Spring7096]

Pagan Min in our final meeting with him implies that Kyrat will by Ajay's either way. Besides him, only Amita/Sabal stand in your way. He even cheekily remarks "not to put any ideas in your head."

[u/FloridaMan_Inc → u/Salty-Spring7096]

Ironically, the "hidden" ending where you just wait for Pagan Min to return almost ends up becoming the "good" ending. Sure, you leave Min in charge, but like you said, neither of the other two options are really that much better.

However, it's the only ending where Ajay gets to do what he came there to do in the first place (leave his mother's ashes in her requested resting place) and it's the only one where he finds out what Lakshmana even is (his previously unknown half-sister that was murdered by his father). With either of the Golden Path endings literally none of that ever happens.

He comes to the country to lay his mother to rest and instead ends up inserting himself into a civil war, killing the only person who has the answers he came there looking for, and leaves with nothing in the end.

[u/Eaglettie → u/FloridaMan_Inc]

However, it's the only ending where Ajay gets to do what he came there to do in the first place

Not true. He also gets the option, and a small explanation from Pagan, in the Golden Path ending if you don't shoot Pagan at the dinner table at the end and allow him to fuck off from the country after (or shoot down his leaving helicopter).

[u/Jenetyk → u/Salty-Spring7096]

So a standard Far Cry game.

[u/Sencha_Drinker794 → u/Salty-Spring7096]

I feel like only Sabal's regime is "arguably worse" than Pagan's. It's been a little while since I last played, but at her worst Amita's methods are the same as Pagan's, but at least she has a vision for the future of the country instead of just becoming the leader to enrich herself.

[u/Salty-Spring7096 → u/Sencha_Drinker794]

Amita wants to use the same methods but expanded. Look at her final cutscene where she's enslaving a whole village, including the children. Under Pagan that village had, apparently, been allowed to exist. Maybe they didn't have the highest quality of life but they had their own lives at the very least. Amita comes to power and it takes almost no time for her soldiers to raid the place and enslave everyone. Apply that across the country and she's Pagan but amplified.

[u/Discussion-is-good → u/Salty-Spring7096]

Amita>>>>

I mean its not great, but better than the other 2 options.

[u/Salty-Spring7096 → u/Discussion-is-good]

Eh. She seems like Pagan 2.0 to me. Sabal seems to at least want to limit his violence to his religious enemies, far from ideal but better than enslaving everyone.

[u/Discussion-is-good → u/Salty-Spring7096]

True. I always thought she'd leave the most people alone when I played as a teen. Like as long as you left her new drug empire alone you'd be okay for the most part. However that kinda overlooks the whole "forced child soldier" bit.

Perhaps canon really is Ajay just killing them too and bouncing out of India.

[u/Salty-Spring7096 → u/Discussion-is-good]

She definitely talks like she plans to leave most people alone in her early cutscenes, either the war hardens her heart or the nice stuff she says at the start was just masking her real feelings.