Azteca's Ending: Too Dark?

Warning - if you're not one for spoilers, it's time to keep scrolling to the next post! I'd like to visit a topic today that is quite revealing - the end of Azteca! You see, it's not another Morganthe-escapes-and-all-is-well-in-a-world-you-just-saved sort of deal. Quite the opposite in at least one of those cases. However, the end of Azteca has been widely debated, and I'm here to share my opinion.

For those of you who don't know, you meet Morganthe and The Undying Malistaire on the comet in the sky above Azteca as the final instance. Morganthe has slowed you to the point that you cannot stop, redirect, or destroy the comet, and that Azteca will come to an end.

After no more than a partial Malistaire defeat, Morganthe escapes... but not without doing damage. You can probably tell by the pictures that Azteca is one its way to extinction. Besides the obvious real-life reference to the idea that dinosaurs were all destroyed by a massive comet, this change of pace offers a new perspective on the whole situation.

When asked why Azteca ended the way it did, J. Todd Coleman himself responded, saying:

We thought it would be a good change of pace, and add tension and drama to the story. I look at the end of the Morganthe arc as a new chapter for players; the stakes are higher, as the player is transitioning from "student" to "master."

Wow! I'll spit it right out - I love this whole idea. In fact, I'm going to call it a post-completion environment change. This occurs when the area itself is changed after completing an area. There are already instances which have post-completion NPC changes, where an enemy becomes an unrepeatable ally.

Besides, is it just me, or are we all a little sick of happily ever after? While some people would like the option to turn the falling and shattering meteors off, I think they ought to keep them for effect. It really does create a sense of urgency - and we know that the end of the arc is near. Merle is summoning the forces of light for what is likely to be an epic showdown!

I'd love to see more of this - didn't you find it odd when you went to great lengths to bring down Lord Nightshade, only to find that his undead still roamed the streets? Or how about the boss that you defeated over and over, and they just never seemed to go away.

As for Azteca, lets be honest here, blue skies are nice, but aren't the comets fun as it is? What's your personal preference?

As a side note, I'm semi-back! While I'm due for another operation in a matter of weeks, I'll be at least keeping up with my weekly posts.

Thanks for reading, and see you in the Spiral! Credits: Thanks to Cret92 for taking the comet photos for this post specifically!