Ranticlimax: Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy

As I pause from my progress through Heavy Rain I find my thoughts drifting back to Quantic Dream’s previous effort, Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy, if you live somewhere that actually thought that was a better name). It seems that bad game endings do not always come precisely in the form of an anticlimax. Sometimes it is more of a slow, inevitable death that you can either walk away from or watch helplessly as it develops.

Like watching a slow motion film of a glass being knocked off a shelf by someone (let’s call him, say, David Cage) you can see the trouble starting way before it happens. First David moves too close, then his elbow juts out as he turns, the glass teeters and you are left to watch its slow, inevitable descent. Finally, the glass shatters and there’s an embarrassed, uncomfortable silence before somebody mumbles “Well, better clean that up then.”

I’m not certain of the exact moment where Fahrenheit passes the point of no return. There are all sorts of signs: The Chroma, which is Lucas’ strange, supernatural power and the Indigo Child, who the factions in the game are trying to capture feel more like plot devices than anything else, the game never taking the time to satisfactorily explain them. However, if there’s one thing that tips the balance from merely “unsatisfactory” all the way to “just plain stupid” then it has to be the introduction of the Purple Clan.

Let’s recap the story so far. Lucas Kane has been supernaturally possessed by strange cultists and forced into performing a gruesome ritualistic murder. He is experiencing strange hallucinations, being trailed by the police and in a whole heap of trouble as he discovers about a child, the Indigo Child who must be protected at all costs from those that would exploit her powerful secrets. What does the story need at this point? Well, let’s imagine the meeting over at Quantic Dream:

David Cage: So what do you have for me?
Minion #1: Perhaps the Indigo Child could run away…
David Cage: Sacré bleu! Too obvious.
Minion #2: How about if Lucas decides to go to the police with this information?
David Cage: Tempting, but it’s not really the sort of thing I have in mind.
Minions #1 & #2 (In Chorus): Well then what do you want from us, David?
David Cage: Here’s what I’m thinking. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a strange species of humanoid AI–
Minion #1: How… does that even work?
David Cage: Stay with me here. A strange species of humanoid AI emerge, with their own plans for the child, causing problems for Lucas and everyone else.
Minion #2: But why?
Minion #1: Yeah, I mean, it seems a little out of place with the story we’ve got so far…
Minion #2: …and isn’t it a little weird to suddenly introduce a new antagonist right near the end of the game?
David Cage: Sorry, I was not listening, I was daydreaming about baguettes or something.
Minion #1: Well, we were just saying that–
David Cage: We’re going with the humanoid AI, then? Great! Let’s call them the Purple Clan. Good work everybody!
Minions #1 & #2 (In Chorus): Zut alors!

To make an ending that just isn’t satisfying for whatever reason is a regrettably easy mistake to make. But to derail a plot so thoroughly as to make any possible ending unsatisfactory takes a special kind of talent. If someone spends an hour poking you in the eye and then offers you a cupcake, you’d still rather they just piss off and never come back no matter how delicious the cupcake. So it is with Fahrenheit: The actual ending was serviceable, if slightly weak but the story leading up to it had so spectacularly misjudged what was needed (or not needed) that when it came I was completely numb. I didn’t care, I just wanted the game to go away so I could move on with my life.

What have we learned from this? I think the most important thing is that the moments comprising itself is only half of the equation when it comes to bringing a game to a satisfying close. The other half is the set-up, the dominoes that get knocked down in the second half of the game as it races towards that final pay-off. Mess up the set-up like in Fahrenheit and you have an audience that just doesn’t care any more, mess up the pay-off and you have an anticlimax, mess up both and you have the final chapter of Bioshock.

A couple of hours into Heavy Rain, I am certainly aware of the multitude of issues that the game possesses. In fact there are so many things that get on my nerves that I could probably talk about the parts of the game I have a problem with as much as the parts I like. However, what will really determine how I feel about the game’s narrative in the long run is whether it skips merrily past that point of no return like Fahrenheit so obviously did. What I’m looking at right now is a teetering glass. Perhaps David Cage was able to keep his elbows in check just enough to let it rock safely back to rest this time – I hope so, because a designer who learns from past mistakes is one worth paying attention to.