My issues with Infamous 2’s good ending

I know this isn’t exactly timely and I’m sure the internet has mentioned this before, but I just beat Infamous 2 and chose the good ending. I think this deserves to be talked about.

Huge spoilers are below. So consider yourself warned if you’ve been slower to this series than me and don’t want things ruined.
For anybody who hasn’t played Infamous 2 but has continued to read anyways, here is a brief rundown of the ending. Infamous takes place in a world where there are people called Conduits who can have any sort of super power. There is an extremely powerful conduit call The Beast traveling down the east coast leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. There is also a plaque devastating the country, killing everyone it infects. You play as Cole Macgrath, a lightning powered Conduit trying to stop The Beast. The way to stop The Beast is with a machine called the RFI. Once Cole has enough power to activate the RFI it will kill the beast and possibly cure every one of the plaque. After spending the whole game collecting blast cores to give you enough power to fire up the RFI you finally meet with your group for the moment of truth.

Before activating it you reveal to the group that The Beast is your old friend John. And although there is mass destruction in his wake his explosions are curing Conduits of the plaque and activating their dormant powers. Quickly after activating the RFI it starts to drain the energy from Cole as well as Kuo and Nix. Zeke being the only human present knocks the RFI out of Cole’s hands, deactivating and damaging the device. This made it abundantly clear that the RFI will not just kill The Beast, but all Conduits. Then all the facts are presented in front of you, your group picks their sides and it is time for you to make a final decision.

You can pick the evil ending, which is siding with Kuo and The Beat to not use the RFI. This will leave The Beast and the plaque to run free. Leaving all normal humans to die, including Cole’s best friend Zeke. But this would at least guarantee that all Conduits will be activated and able to live without the plaque. So at the very least some people would survive the plaque.

Or you can choose the good ending, which is siding with Nix and Zeke to repair and use the RFI. This will kill every Conduit, but hopefully wipe out the plaque. So thousands of Conduits worldwide will die but hopefully the plaque will be wiped from the earth and the other billions of humans can continue to live.

This decision literally stopped me in my place for a moment, for a couple different reasons. The first being that Nix was the good decision and Kuo was the evil one. This was a role reversal compared to the rest of the game. The second reason being that the Magneto influence in me had me thinking maybe the human race is supposed to die to make way for the Conduits. But ultimately I chose the good decision. Honestly for no other reason than it was how I played the game up to this point.

So after a few minutes of having boss battles and running around the RFI is repaired from when Zeke damaged it and Cole activates it. This kills all Conduits on the planet, including The Beast, Cole and even Conduits worldwide who never had their powers manifest. But the wave of the RFI does wipe out the plaque, so all humans can live their lives. Cole is then hailed as a hero for his sacrifice and Zeke buries him at sea.

I’ll be honest and say that this brought a tear to my eye and is definitely one of the better endings in video games. I wish I could just leave it at that, I really wish I could. But I had to go and overthink the whole thing.

The first thing that bothered me was that I felt this decision shouldn’t have been Cole’s to make and it was way over his head. Sure, there have been decisions throughout the game, but all of those only affected your group of friends. Or at the very most the affects will be felt in a small section of the city. Now suddenly one button wipes out humanity as we know it, or another button kills everyone with powers including you. Even he good ending has a man who was delivering packages two or three months earlier deciding thousands should die. It could be argued that Cole should decide how this all ends since he started it. But it is still an overwhelming decision if we had to actually think about it.

The second thing that bothered me was the switching sides of both Kuo and Nix. Up to this point in the story Kuo had been a semi unconventional, ice powered government agent who has always made the decisions to ensure limited damage and casualties. In a stark contrast Nix has been an absolutely crazy fire powered swamp lady. Whose plans usually involved innocents dying and stuff blowing up. Seeing Kuo as the red decision and Nix as the blue one honestly stopped me.

The reasons behind these changes of heart are at least kind of understandable. Nix wants to do what is good just because she is angry about something. This particular fit is because The Beast just trampled around in the swamp killing all of her Swamp Monster “babies”. So she just wants revenge and doesn’t care if she dies in the process, it is just a coincidence that this happens to be a choice for the greater good.

Kuo’s change of heart however is much more uncharacteristic. Up to this point she had done everything for the greater good. But when given the option to sacrifice the few to save the many she sides against it. She selfishly is willing to go against everything she has done up to this point and wipe out humanity as we know it just so that she can make it out of the ordeal okay.

Up to this point every decision I had made was on Kuo’s side and it really felt weird to have Nix be the good decision. Kind of left the feeling that I let Kuo down. This is made better by her admitting just before you use the RFI that she was just scared. This really made the switch seem pointless.

This brings me to why this switch in character was just unnecessary. Kuo could have easily stayed the good option and Nix could have easily stayed the evil option with just a couple easy changes. Just have The Beast not destroy the swamp and kill all Nix’s “babies”. Then at decision time she wouldn’t have her vendetta against The Beast. So she would continue with her craziness and want a world with only Conduits just because it would be fun. This would leave Kuo to be the good decision by simply staying in character. I’m not saying this necessarily would have been better, but it would have made me more comfortable.

My next problem I’ll admit is a selfish one. Sucker Punch had major balls to kill off Cole, who has become one of Sony’s flagship characters. The ending was amazing for it. But I selfishly wish Cole had stayed alive just for me to be able to play more Infamous games and have more Infamous fun. His death makes a sequel seem tricky at best. There is always the potential for something. Maybe you can be a human Cole pre-blast delivering packages. Or maybe you are Kessler doing things before Infamous 1. But it clear that the next game cannot be the same. Maybe a DLC or a PSN game representation of the DC miniseries? That seems to be the only way we can control Cole as we know him.

My last problem is simple and I’ll admit I overlooked it at first. You know who gets their way? Did we ever stop to think who really wins in this situation? Humanity itself? Possibly. But the real winner is god damn Bertrand. He hasn’t been mentioned here yet, so I’ll explain a brief summary of the character. He ran the militia and created both the Swamp Monsters and Ice Soldiers. Other than The Beast and Bertrand himself he made literally every enemy you fought throughout the game. He was also a Conduit himself who could transform into a huge, almost untouchable Swamp Monster.

Where it gets ironic and what makes him a better villain is his plans. He is crazy religious and believes Conduits are an affront to God. So he wants them wiped from the earth. He has an elaborate plan to make this happen. He is making Swamp Monsters and Ice Soldiers to sell to whoever wants them. Eventually when people see all of the destruction that Conduits are capable of the world will turn against them and initiate genocide.
The most ironic part of Bertrand getting his way is that less than 24 hours before Cole activates the RFI and wipes out all Conduits he judges Bertrand for wanting to cause the genocide. Well good job Cole, even though he died before he could see it you ultimately gave the primary villain of the game what he wanted.

In the end, even considering all of this I really loved the good ending to Infamous 2. Looking back I was able to come up with all of this, but when I was watching it unfold I was speechless. Good job Sucker Punch. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the Infamous series to this point and wait to play through the evil storyline and see where you go with the franchise from here.

[SeraphimBlade]

Good read. I definitely agree that while Kuo and Nix changing sides was very interesting, Kuo's decision was a little bit forced. I'd argue she was honestly just scared to die, but it's still a bit of a leap...
i think the problem with the series as a whole is that the writers were clearly capable of coming up with complex, morally gray decisions, but had to color-code everything for the sake of the game, sorta like Mass Effect.

[smashcrashbash]

First of all it wasn't like they had much time to argue about the destruction of or saving of humanity with anyone. The Beast was already doing his thing and whether Cole joined him or not he was going to do it, so there really wasn't much time at all to gather people together to contemplate this.

Second of all if Nix chose the Conduit side that would have been too obvious. That she was a Conduit and she wanted to live? She never said that she enjoyed being a Conduit so her wanting to live was not that obvious. Kuo was revealed that she was afraid to die and throughout the game she was the logical one. Think about the choice. To MAYBE cure the plague or create Conduits which has been proven to work for sure. Nix's choice was still irrational and Kuo's was more sensible. Nix's choice could have killed the Conduits AND the plague might not have gone away.Kuo wanted to save humanity because it was sure thing that some people would survive, Nix wanted to throw everything away for a CHANCE that humanity would survive and for her own selfish reasons.

Thirdly Bertand didn't exactly win. He died in the process and never got to be the leader he wanted to be.Plus he didn't start a war that would have devastated the planet and cause a lot more lives to be lost and more destruction.

Finally since Cole is a Conduit his death may not be as final as you think. If they wanted to Sucker Punch could have Cole be revived. How many times have super heroes be seemingly dead and still return to life? Cole is not an ordinary human and was stronger then most Conduits.

[TopDudeMan]

Did you see the question mark shaped lightning bolt hit the boat at the end?

That's what mostly intrigued me.

As for what cole done... I think it was the right call. The many outweigh the few.

[metsgaming]

yes i remember that, i dont remember it being question mark shaped but i did see it. That leads me to believe he is still alive.

I found the role reversal quite interesting, necessary no but it does make you think. There is a reason that they reversed roles and it was pretty much explained. It makes you think how good people can all of a sudden be bad and bad people can be good. Reminds me of jekyll and hyde there are two sides to everyone and their other sides came out. Being a game about good and evil i think that made it interesting to think about. At the time i never read that book but you still get the general idea and it makes you think. Makes the game deep to think about that.

[SirRidge]

1. I'll admit they just did what the situation called for. Just seemed like a lot for one guy.

2. I see where your coming from. Although I don't agree with all of it, I'm sure we could argue all day. Let's agree to disagree.

3.Bertrand wanted Conduits gone because they are not part of the divine plan. Check out the video for proof. It starts at about 40 seconds in.

4.I know they could easily bring Cole back, and the lightning bolt may have been just that. I just hope they don't, because it will ruin the ending to this game. That being said I know me and abunch of other Sony folks would flock to an Infamous 3. So I won't put it past them. It's just good business.

[SilentNegotiator]

Interesting thoughts, but remember, it was the difference between perceived thousands of deaths vs millions. The belief was that it would stop the plague and only a few thousand would die.

Now maybe Cole wasn't necessarily the one who should have made that call, but he did seem to be the ONLY one who could make that call, otherwise it could be too late.

And Kuo switching sides over fear of death was an interesting idea, but I suppose "unnecessary"

But anwyay, I wouldn't say that anything that you said was wrong. There are just multiple ways to look at it.

[ZoyosJD]

You should have played both endings before posting...the evil ending feels so hard to play though after seeing the results of the good ending.

What I didn't like about it was the fact that you could be a mass muderer the whole game then suddenly save everyone, or vise versa.

There was no real gray area, just unknown results, and that cole was foced into a desicion that only he could make, but could never know what could have been.

[Christopher]

This was done on purpose by the game designers. They didn't ever want the player to feel like any action they had performed in the past would limit their decisions on the ending.

Yes, it's a 'weaker' story, but their goal was primarily on ensuring the choice of the player over a story that had to make the most sense.

[ZoyosJD]

Yeah, I understand the purpose of the choices avalible, but I feel that they should have forced you to make a series of decisions that leaves the game with a clear understanding of your intents and purposes, then adjusted the ending accordingly.

The way I see it any individual chould have had at least three different possible reasons to make either of the choices and the endings don't reflect all those possible trains of thought, just the results of the decision.

They really could have pulled "the all conduits and/or humans must die" card; they could have worked out if the player was willing to die to save one group or the other(maybe both?)

P.S. I can't post in the fourms (no restrictions on record) is this a browser plug-in issue or something?

[Redempteur]

Kuo was naive ...after being forced to bocome something she doesn't want to be , she is afraid of herself but more importantly , she is afraid to die ..the change of personality occurred way before the final choice...being offered words of assurance , of survival from a former friend made her choice even more obvious

between kuo and nix , none were evil , they really had differences in how they view life because they had dramatic different pasts..

Also cole judge bertrand because , he wanted to cause war , to get his point across by manipulating everyone along the way .. Cole GOOD ENDING solution saves humanity in one painless way without any deception because there is a treat to solve ...

[smashcrashbash]

I don't think Kuo was naive at all. You seem to forget that she was an agent of some sorts. She chose the way that would save the most people, the logical way. Like I said earlier think carefully about the choices. The choices of killing most of humanity when you know for sure some would survive or take the chance that everyone including the Conduits would die?

She wasn't just afraid that she would die she probably thought that all of humanity would die if Cole did what he did with the RFI.When you look at it Nix's choice was the riskiest. They could have still become mass murderers and no one would have have survived.At least Kuo's choice guaranteed that people would have survived for sure. Nix's choice could have easily sent the world into a downwards spiral which would have wiped out everyone. She didn't even consider the consequences. She just wanted revenge.

[Redempteur]

The pillar holding Kuo ideals was destroyed when she became a conduit.
And yes she was an agent but never she was depicted as inhuman or as if the job was more important.

In the choice cutscenes and the scenes afterwards, she nevertalked about the risk of the RFI towards humans , heck Zeke being immune to the effects and the personnality of the RFI inventor probably put everything together ..

The RFI was working fine the humanity will be stopped and teh beast with it ... Kuo didn't follow this route for 2 reasons

- john was the beast , someone she trusted
- the RFI will kill her

A perfect logical choice to survive in a world where her place has changed ...

[J86blum]

All I want to say is, we can talk about the endings all day long and what they can mean, but not until 3 drops do we know which ending is canon. I would find it funny if the RED(evil) ending was canon and in 3 you had to go all Prototype 2 in it.

But like most I think Cole will be back, he has been featured int Street Fighter X Capcom, and will probbly be in Playstation All-Stars, and is console exclusive so its almost a sure thing, but I could also be wrong.

Yeah the character switch at the end between Nix and Kuo I felt was forced, its like Ok so all along depending on which side im doing the other badges me on while the other is all up my goods and then at the last second switch sides, and then the CLENTCHER is that now randomly people were getting infected/sick by the after effects.

This was not even a thought in the first title, this thing wasnt emmiting radiation, and if it was should of been covered right away when normale people should of turned up in the hosptials before everything went downhill in the first city.

I just feel the ending was forced no matter the side.

[Ricksta_13]

If Infamous 3 does go ahead, then Good side you have a revived Cole. Maybe with/without powers. Some sort of enemy who also survived or further enhanced their power.

Bad Side, u have an army of people with powers going up against the humans.Hmmmm Infamous 3 could be very interesting