I finally got around to beating Grand Theft Auto 4, and much like the rest of the game it left me wanting more. Don't get me wrong, the game was fun, but it is probably my least favorite of the series. One of the things different about this game is choice, and while you only get to make a choice maybe a half dozen times in the game, there are two that are actually game changing. One of which will change the ending of the game, including the last couple of missions (okay, technically I only know it changes one...I have yet to be compelled to reload my save and play the last part again). But the most significant choice involves how you deal with your nemesis.
Before I tell you the end, I will tell you the beginning. Niko Bellic, our main character, is a veteran of the Bosnian War. His unit in the army was betrayed by one of its members, and only three people made it out alive, Niko and two others. He came to Liberty City because he knew one was living there. Somewhere around the halfway point in the game, you find the guy living there, but with no more proof of his innocence than he is scared and gay (literally, no other reason), you are convinced he didn't do it. So you start doing missions and getting contacts so you can find the other guy. And near the end, one of the guys you have been working for is willing to deliver him to you. So you jump in a car with your cousin and head to the drop point, with him telling you the whole time you need to get past revenge and live you life.
It turns out the guy who betrayed your unit, Darko Brevic, did it mainly because of drugs and self loathing, and the whole thing has turned him into a drug addled shell of a man. So you are left with a choice: kill him, or spare him leaving him to suffer with his own life. Your cousin starts in, trying to get you to let him live, but doesn't interfere either way. Both choices have a fairly deep impact on the player...or at least this player.
If you kill him, you get the sense that your story is complete. Right or wrong, just or unjust, you are done. You came here for a purpose. You busted your ass for a purpose. You dealt with your idiot cousin and all the problems he was involved in for a purpose. And, more importantly, you played this 30+ hour game for a purpose. You pull the trigger, enjoy the six seconds of relief at the culmination of the story, and then you move on. But what punches you is the five or so minute drive back. It is raining, the sky is gray, the colors dulled. There is a brief conversation with your idiot cousin where you externalize how it didn't fill the void you felt, and then nothing. The drive is quiet, almost serene, and you have all this time to reflect on the absurdity of vengeance. It ends up feeling quite meaningful, and it gets its point across.
If you spare him, something totally different happens, and I am not sure if it is intentional. You came here for a purpose, but you failed to actualize it. You see him, and you realize that even though his actions had destroyed your life, they have also destroyed his. Death would be a release for him, and a worse hell would be to let him live. But this is also true for you, living is hell. By sparing him, you call into question everything you have done up until this point in your life. Had your cousin not been there, I could honestly see suicide being a viable option for the story, and if done well, it could have made this option worth doing. But your cousin is there to help show you just what your life could be if you were not a vengeance crazy killer. He came to America a decade before the story starts, and spends his time dividing his thoughts between money, titties, and gambling. You are questioning everything about your life, but the stunning example they give you of what you could have been is your idiot cousin. The drive is the same, but it doesn't feel like it. The conversation with your cousin is a waste and serves as nothing more than motivation to put a bullet into his head, but of course you can't (well, you can, but you fail the mission).
So that is the end (or ends) of the important story, and the impressions they left. As for the game's endings, I have only played through one of the two, and I didn't feel like it was that exciting. I might write something up once I finish the other.
