Shadow of Destiny

Not sure where to put this. I just finished Shadow of Destiny, all endings and Extra ending with much help from walkthroughs and checking Gameboomers where I heard about it first. I thought that it was a terrific game. The faces were beautifully done, better than any game that I can think of. They were very natural. I have played most of the new games and many of the old and this ranks up there with some of my favorites. Hope that it gets due recognition so that they will come up with new one. You really get envolved in the story. I replayed it as soon as I finished it. It was so creative.

Hi mel22odie

A bunch of us here at Gameboomers participated in a group play of Shadow of Destiny very recently, and we all had a great time with it! Did you find the keyboard controls easy to manage? I'd be interested to learn which story ending you initially got - quite a few of us (me included!) received "B" endings.

I'll definitely be replaying this game very soon, trying some alternative choices, and seeing as many of the different endings as I can.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this game quite as much as I did (mainly due to my horror of keyboard controls). I found it fascinating, and a lot of fun to play.

I read your group's comments. That's why I got the game to see for myself. Yes, at first the keyboard controls were a pain but just like Broken Sword 3, you get use to them.An old game that I loved, Agatha Christie like,"Scoop" use same keyboard, so got use to it. My first ending was D. Very sad, I thought. One walkthrough said that they liked D. I much preferred A (or B). I kept returning as if it were a place I was revisiting. Just finished Remedy which was OK and pretty but every game is going to pale next to Shadow. My favorite game is Gabriel Knight 2, then 1 and 3. As you can see I like compelling and engaging stories.(don't particularly care for doom and gloom unless a bit of humor lightens it up.)Thanks for your interest. It's great fun to share.

I've been waiting for someone in the group playing here to arrive at the "D" ending. The "D" ending (I think) really starts of the 'THIS is what's been going on' thought process.

As I recall, years ago when I played, my first ending was "E."

Needless to say, I don't want to give anything away but my thought, at the time, was not to say anything to Margaret(sp?)re: ancestor. For some reason, I thought that his mother might have descended from her and he wouldn't be born if he changed her destiny. In case someone hasn't played yet, I don't want to say if I was mistakened. D ending was very well done, cinematicallly speaking, however I preferred the happier ending.

mel22odie -- have you done either of the Extra endings? (I think there were only two.)

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The idea is that the lettered endings also give a hint as to what's happening in the story. Once you've seen D, you know who Eike is, at least in every reality except E.
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Yes, I have. They're fun. You start playing just like before, but soon there are different results, depending on, the first time you die, you say, "I'm dead again?" and next comment use Humoculous's name. By the way, in thinking back over the game, I believe that it must have been developed with the thought that you as the player can invision different stories and if there were more time, that even more different endings could be created.

By the way, just noticed the other part of your message. It wasn't there when I looked before. Don't you think that his identity is not necessarily what you can deduce from ending D or E. I think that may also be flexible. I think it might depend upon what happens to Wagner.

Just one more thought. If it is true that we assume from endings D or E that we know Elke's identity then with endings A,B,C-- who would he have been descended from? - Hugo? (that is if Wagner died)

Hey mel22odie -- Well, we're getting into the meat of the game, aren't we? You might want to start using spoiler warnings, because someone reading this who hasn't gotten as far into the game may learn something that's out ahead of where they are in the game itself.

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Obviously, these people seem to keep having descendants who look just the same. It makes you wonder if they are caught in some sort of loop, where they can't leave the town itself, and the generations just keep repeating themselves.

Personally, I think some ancestor of Wagner trapped Homunculus in the stone, and Homunculus has (from his prison in the stone) forced the town to go through cycles of generations until the right combination occurs to where someone could free him/her/it from the stone again -- and that someone will always be someone in the Wagner family, with the stone always initially "recovered" by the Dana character. Homunculus has finally, through frustration, decided to "play" with time in order to make the conditions right to win freedom -- thus his willingness to move Eike back and forth through the time streams, dangerous as it is.

There is an indication, though, that Eike might be traveling either across time streams or across realities. He does appear to have wandered through centuries with the stone in his pocket (IMHO), which might eliminate the idea that he is a descendant of the Wagners. His memory, which was affected by Homlunculus's spell in the "D" ending, seems to last for a few days, and then be wiped, so he remembers nothing of his past, and is continually waking up, blundering along, not really knowing who he is or why he is there.

And yes, there are probably many more endings than are represented in the game. In fact, someone on another thread at Adventure Gamers, found what appeared to be an ending that didn't make it into the game.

Let me see if I can find that thread for you.

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EDIT -- here's the Shadow of Destiny thread on Adventure Gamers -- grazzt is the one who mentions the secret files/other ending. The entire thread itself is a bit long. I didn't realize it was still ongoing as of today! (It started years ago.)

To see the spoiler portions, hold down the left mouse button as you move the cursor over the spoiler field. (Does that make sense?)

Thanks for that very interesting exchange. I marked the spot so that I could reread it. Have to leave because I tutor. Sorry if I gave anything away. Not sure I know how to use the hidden spoiler thing-a-majig. Hate to leave. So interesting. Will be back

Yes, once you're thinking about this game it can be very hard to stop!

We'll see you when you return.

Hi Mel22odie
I loved this game also. The faces are fantastic as is all of the artwork. I was very impressed with the graphics. I feel that a lot of the newer games have characters with terrible faces. They seem to feel that it's not as important as other graphical elements but I find it extremely relevant to my enjoyment. I'm glad I'm not the only one to notice that.

Becky, that's some conversation in the JA forum. Great ideas.

I only had the B ending so far. I have the game waiting for me to finish the other endings.

Melanie

Hey Melanie -- go for it!