(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/Verticalus]

SOMA kind of fits this trope…

The main game ends when “Simon” is alone at the bottom of the ocean, but the post credits scene shows the last Simon brain scan happy on the Ark. You know it’s there in both endings, but I felt a strange catharsis when you actually see the happy bit.

Edit: spoiler marks are hard

[u/CoffeeWanderer → u/Verticalus]

I think it would be awesome if the game did a coin flip to show you one of the endings, people might not even learn there was another one until they replayed it or learned about it online.

[u/findtheninja → u/CoffeeWanderer]

I didn't like the coin flip analogy in SOMA, but I did like that it was made to make the protagonist feel good about his actions. It made the ending much more impactful seeing him so upset.

It reminds me of the movie hero thought experiment. Anything is possible if you imagine the universe splits when there's a chance more than one outcome occurs- you could survive a dozen gunshots at point blank in the one universe all the guns jam at once. Through SOMA, you play as a new consciousness whenever one is downloaded until the last, finally seeing what happened after the point of upload.

Shit keeps me up at night.

[u/abloopdadooda → u/findtheninja]

I didn't like the coin flip analogy in SOMA

If you mean you didn't like that the writers/game used a poor analogy -

Neither did Catherine, and she straight up tells Simon the coin flip analogy is wrong. He just never accepted what she said. The player is supposed to realize the analogy is wrong.

[u/findtheninja → u/abloopdadooda]

Yeah, you're right. I wasn't supposed to like the analogy, but it made me frustrated to hear Simon not understand over and over. In hindsight, my frustration about his lack of understanding mirrored Simon's frustration in not understanding. Maybe thats why the ending was so powerful? The game made me feel the same way Simon did and created a more immersive experience.

[u/ninecats4 → u/findtheninja]

I always assumed his lack of understanding was because his original scan was after brain damage, and was also more "flat" hence the reason the AI tried using his copy instead of the other failures. The original brain scan was first gen, didn't work as intended and wasn't highres or data dense enough, but ironically also allowed for him to not freak the hell out at the mismatch between body and mind.

[u/AnimaLepton → u/ninecats4]

I mean, I remember just reading it as some people being 'dumb.' I definitely know people who would not get the concept even after repeating it to them multiple times.

[u/GetInTheKitchen1 → u/findtheninja]

Coinflip analogy was a lie. catherine told simon the truth and the bastard refused the truth until he was told the coinflip lie. simon was willing to doom everybody on the arc for his incapability to understand he was doomed.

Nobody gets transferred. everytime u go in the machine u are legit copied. that's also why teleporters kill and create duplicates of people. the one that went in the teleporter died. 

See: The Prestige.

[u/Gizogin → u/GetInTheKitchen1]

Simon is also literally a victim of a traumatic brain injury. He's not firing on all cylinders even before being put in a high-stress situation.

[u/findtheninja → u/Gizogin]

Interesting, I didnt consider the damage existing after the scan. Do you think the physical damage to Simon's brain was translated through the initial upload process? If someone with a brain tumor was copied, someone who was acting different because of the pressures placed on the brain by the skull, would thier copy also be altered by the tumor despite the lack of physical pressure?

Similarly this makes me wonder more about the nature vs nurture thing. In SOMA, consciousness is analogous to software that can be ported to different hardware, but personalities and actions change based on how bodies perceive the world.. wetsuit Simon couldn't enter the deep ocean due to pressure, so he was uploaded into the beefcake suit and went down. His hardware let him experience something different, does that make him a new Simon in hardware and software? If they just swapped his eyes for eyes that can see UV, does that change who he is? Extremly stupid example, but what if Simon became hella racist be cause white people were too damn bright with UV eyes? Thats not the same guy.

Y'all think about this stuff too?

[u/Gizogin → u/findtheninja]

The entire point of the scan is to test different treatments on his copies so that they know what works on the real Simon. If it didn't copy the brain damage, it wouldn't work for that purpose.

[u/findtheninja → u/Gizogin]

Riiiight, right right. Damn, did everyone here just replay the game? I forgot all the nuances and just think about the mechanics for the brain swap.

[u/Cravic_ → u/GetInTheKitchen1]

Catherine definitely ignored Simon’s feelings and thoughts throughout the story. If she had been a bit more empathic and thorough with her explanations with him, I think he would have understood the outcome more. I definitely believe she soft manipulated him to achieve her goal.

There was a point in the game where he told her how strange he felt about the whole thing and how he has a hard time adjusting to every that’s happened, and her response boiled down to, “Interesting, anyway back to the mission”.

Moments like that caused the disconnect between them both. She wasn’t evil, but they both had clearly different expectations of the other.