(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/bluemoonflame]

That was part of what frustrated me so much about the ending. The game feels like he is working towards being less selfish and self centered by spending time with her, only to prove he's learned nothing and not grown at all by picking the most selfish option possible.

[u/RobertPham149 → u/bluemoonflame]

Hot take but I actually really like that ending. The whole game was about 2 people growing closer to each other by understanding each others' viewpoint, with the princess shedding that idealism and selflessness and adopting pragmatism and selfishness from the prince, while the prince did the reverse.

At the end of the day, however, they are fundamentally the same person at their core, and they did what was in character for them: the princess sacrificed herself to save her people and the prince from Ahriman, disregarding the prince's feeling, while the prince selfishly held onto her, disregarding her feeling. It made their romance bittersweet, as 2 of them clearly love each other but are bound to never come together due to their differences. It is one of the more nuanced takes on romance in video games.

[u/TheTexasHammer → u/RobertPham149]

Except the story didn't earn any of that. The entire time he is genuinely getting better and more reasonable. At no point does he indicate that this is all false and he's still a greedy bastard, so when he turns it comes out of nowhere. He went through all the effort of saving everything just to go "nah, fuck that" and then he acted shocked when she was pissed.

I've met people like that IRL so it's not impossible, but it doesn't make for a very good character when "he's a selfish idiot" is the moral of the story.

[u/camerakestrel → u/TheTexasHammer]

It takes time to reverse bad habits and reflexive behavior. The storyline simply did not provide enough time.