So pretty much everyone here is in agreement that Sumo can tell a good story (up until the end) and he completed a game. I agreed it was far from perfect but dont we want someone like that to stick around and make more games for us??? And do you think giving his game negative reviews and being overly critical and in some cases downright mean is going to encourage someone like that to continue? There's ways to say that I liked 90% of the game but I didnt like the end without being as toxic
Putting aside any "you fucking suck!" style messages, the general reaction is that the dev is a good story teller but becomes a slave to their vision regardless of if it matches what they've actually been making.
We absolutely do want Devs like Sumo around to continue making games. Even with the ending, Sumo and the game continue to get solid thoughts on it. What saddens me is that all the "yeah but..." comments are being either ignored or the problems are being thrown back on the players for being demanding, entitled, or it's the player's fault for wanting something that wasn't the dev's vision.
A creator
must either stick to their vision and make sure everything leading up to the ending fits that vision, or accept that the characters are running away from them and adapt the vision. Note that I said adapt. Rowling messed this up at the end of the Harry Potter series by force Hermione and Ron together because it was her original vision even though it didn't fit how her characters had evolved up to that point. She accepts this and admitted to it.
Sumo's writing of Tales and Nikki was
too good. The players got invested in seeing them as a couple or at least having their own happy endings that fit with their personalities.
From what I've seen, Sumo's public attitude is and always has been (I don't know the dev's thoughts) that it's the ungrateful players who are at fault for the TalesxNikki feels rather than just how good he wrote them together. To put it another way; it's the Star Wars fans fault for backlash when they hated the idea of a Luke Skywalker who risked his life to save his father, the most infamous Jedi Killer in recent history and the Emporer's right-hand man, trying to kill his young nephew and then running away rather than trying to help the immature Ben.
I would love for more Sumo games. What I would hate is that Sumo doesn't learn from this and understand that if a vision is the ultimate goal then everything before that must match the imagined ending or else the ending must adapt to what's come before. And the last option CAN be done without losing the vision.
