The End Cutscene Discussion [SPOILERS] [SPOILERS]

[Slade]

The biggest reason this ending (and all of BO3 Zombies) sucks so much is that this is the culmination of the fatal shift in tone Zombies has received thanks to Dr Monty Jason Blundell.
They dropped the thing that made Zombies so intriguing in the first place - the combination of mysterious real life science programs and conspiracy stuff within a fictitious world.

And they replaced it with the laziest, most cliche plot device of all time.

This isn't any vague "woo-hoo-hoo" plot device. We are talking about

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

What made Zombies so intruiging in the first place was all the crazy science conspiracy stuff in the background that was used as inspiration for the foundation of the mode. They took some real life stuff like the Nazi wunderweapon program and made their own fiction out of it.

In WaW / BO1 everything major that happened was explained nicely. 115 made the Wunder Weapons and teleporters possible but also reanimated dead cells.The Zombies are controlled by  a person in the aether. Samantha can control them because she's in the aether, she got there when [..]. Etc.

Even with BO2's questionable storytelling, they still at least explained the major stuff like by powering up the towers you make either Maxis or Richtofen gain unlimited control of the Aether's energies which allows either of them to complete their real objective.

 

Now they're relying on shoehorning in a random character and making him a fucking god for no reason and with no explanation whatsoever.

This was brought to you by the same person who made the amazingly deep convoluted, poorly-written plothole ridden mess known as the BO3 "Simulator ex machina" campaign.
 

So no surprise there.

I guess I owe you Lenne.

 

 

[Doppelgänger]

Couldn't agree more @Slade. We need Jimmy back. I'll forgive him for Black Ops 2 if we get a story like in World at War and Black Ops 1.

Magic is never a good plot device nor is it a good way to explain things.

[Slade]

And while we're on the subject. Monty has to be the most idiotic omnipotent being ever.

Putting aside the giant plothole that he knew everything that happened in SOE except the Shadow Man being in the key (how again?)

He's followed  stalked our characters for God Monty knows how long, and yet SOMEHOW he did not know or care that Richtofen was getting blood vials? I mean  even Richtofen himself was surprised Monty didn't bring it up earlier.

He must've known by Gorod Krovi that Richtofen had them on his person and also equipped Dempsey Takeo and Nikolai with more bloodvials.

So why didn't he take the opportunity when talking to all of them minus Richtofen to manipulate them into getting rid of those vials? He tried to break apart the group so why not this?  

And how does Richtofen even know what the bloodvials do in the first place. Does the Kronorium have a chapter of: What to do in case a random plot device God complex known as Monty shows up.

And why didn't Dempsey Nikolai or even Takeo speak during any of this? They just stood there like well fuck it this franchise's dead anyway, might as well go up in smoke with it.

And for those thinking there's a 2nd ending. Don't get your hopes up, the Dark Ops challenge clearly said complete all Zombie quest story stuff or something.

Also notice how the children, whilst being the central theme throughout this Origins story, at the end of the day disappear without a single line of actual dialogue ever having been spoken by any of the kids.

This just feels so rushed. I'm betting when Jason said the "If you think you're done with DLC 4 you're wrong" quote he was thinking "This is the time I gotta give them some false hope so hopefully they won't realize how horrible this ending actually is."

Forget it, we're putting more thought into this than the writers of the damn map did.

 

[MysteryMachineX]

I think the idea behind Monty's character was that he was indirectly omnipotent and not directly omniscient. He could do anything, given enough time, but he couldn't see everything. Or rather, he could only see one thing at a time.

[TezFunz]

Not to mention he have to manipulate things, like he didn't actually create the perks.

Quote

"The minute you people teleported for the first time, you changed the rules. How am I supposed to keep track if you keep moving the pieces? Even when you were just a little problem, brewing in the far corner of existence, I tried to throw you a bone or two. I told you this, didn’t I? The magic box of weapons, the little clues here and there. I always tried to give you a little help without drawing too much attention to myself. The thing is though, I can't just magic things out of thin air. I have to manipulate things that already exist in your reality, like the perk drinks. They were something originally cooked up by Group 935. I just (whistles) I just used them for my own ends. Heh, I honestly don't even know how they work. I-I-I swear! As for the songs: Don't get me started!"

 

[Monopoly Mac]

He created a perfect world though. I mean I guess you could argue that he didn't "create it". Perhaps he took a beautiful countryside from the real world and shifted it into its own reality.

[qwest]

I'm REALLY trying to like this easter egg but I can't seem to get there at all. I've gotten passed that zombies isn't what it used to be; what I fell in love with 7 years ago (I was a little late) like @Slade said. I bought into Blundell's storyline hoping for it to be just as good as Zilenski's, and it really could've been that in my opinion. Ever since Monty was thrown in as a cop out last minute I really enjoyed the BO3 storyline, not the maps though. Revelations as a whole just seems very rushed and incomplete. With Sophia becoming our savior despite only being reintroduced to us in GK, to the blood vials not being clearly explained, the Shadow Man being our big "evil" final boss to end the amazing story we've spent so much time deciphering, this last map just seems like a big let down. Really hope that super EE is true and clears up a whole lot more than what we have now while still introducing NEW questions and not leaving the old.

[MysteryMachineX]

25 minutes ago, Monopoly Mac said:

He created a perfect world though. I mean I guess you could argue that he didn't "create it". Perhaps he took a beautiful countryside from the real world and shifted it into its own reality.

Honestly, it should really be called pseudo-omnipotence. What does it mean? It means whatever Treyarch wants it to mean.

[Monopoly Mac]

3 minutes ago, MysteryMachineX said:

Honestly, it should really be called pseudo-omnipotence. What does it mean? It means whatever Treyarch wants it to mean.

True.

[Tattoo247]

That can't be all there is, we are still missing cypher and clues that will hopefully fill in most of the gaps. 

One thing I want to point out is the primis poster, to me, always looked like a group of people who were worshipping the primis group, now we see them go back to a zombie filled universe. How are there still zombies though even though we killed the shadow man, what good would it do to send primis back to the beginning if it means restoring the shadow man's existence? 

I know their answers are all going to be "wait for the comic" but damn...I know they could have done a better outro given tell extra time they had to work on it. It easily could have been 10 minutes, I really wanted to see the group outsmart Monty and the Shadow man...

And for the love of god, someone please explain to me what happened with sophia and maxis??? "Now we can be together forever, but screw my plans and forget about my child, let's just go through this wormhole and somehow take everything with us"...

Something tells me it just can't be over, there has to be something we missed to hint towards the end not really being the end...

They should offer our slap in the face as a preorder bonus so I don't have to wait all year for it next time.

Something else I noticed at the end, the buildings don't match up to the primis poster, and as I said before, the people are now zombies, and even if they were zombies in the poster, they are nothing like the ones we see in this "ending". I believe we have been sent to the frozen forest. I don't have much else after that, but something tells me there is a lot more we haven't discovered.

[Lenne]

Now this is why I didn't care one bit about the story of Black Ops III.

 

They should have stopped with Moon... as much as it hurts to write that.

[Hells Warrrior]

The should have listened to the community more, not just pander to the YouTube community.

Blacks Ops 2 was the start of the downfall but they could have recovered it substantially on BOIII but failed miserably.

[Stop Mocking Me0]

On 9/15/2016 at 5:47 AM, Nieno69 said:

Chill guys.. its a circle... after the Great battle ...but my question is : did the icons change from Pale To deep green in Map Selection?

According to some the super ee is going to be patched in once the game releases on xb1 and PC.  That could explain why the images didn't change. 

 

Also: The zombies community right now: 

 

[Nemesis_96]

I can't stop thinking about how lame the ending is so I made a video talking about it lol... Excuse my crappy mic and stuff, I'm not a youtuber really.

 

[InfestLithium]

I think people are shitting on the ending cutscene too much. Granted, we got very, very minimal answers and a super lackluster conclusion that still didn't quite resolve any problems we've encountered throughout the season. But at the same time, it was nowhere near as twisted and closed-off than the Origins cutscene.

There's an intriguing thread on Reddit regarding the events of the blood vials, and how they pertain to an...alternate scenario.

 

It's a great read; however, the idea of an alternate conclusion seems fairly unlikely. I know many have already proposed a Mass Effect 3 situation with regards to getting a better conclusion, but that's a pretty big stretch for Treyarch to do (considering they've never hotfixed something as large as that before).

[DeltaFlame]

hahaha i waited 8 years to get fucked.

thanks for the memories, codz. 

[Rissole25]

I've since cooled down a little. I'm still disappointed with it. But I don't hate it at all. What I do hate, is them seemingly dragging this out and their being more, gated behind this "Super Egg" thing. Yeah it'll cause people to stick and play with the game longer, but having that as your last cutscene is such a turn off. If you're going to make that the "Bad Ending", at least make it seem like it. Don't put THE END in if it isn't the end. Christ.

[MysteryMachineX]

I really think all the talk about there being more to it is just wishful thinking generated by popular hyped ideas and preconceived notions popularized by Youtube users before the level was even released. The ending was disappointing enough so that people will pin their hopes and dreams on it. Honestly it reminds me of the Ascension easter egg. Dumb Gersch.

[Hells Warrrior]

This is it my friends, nothing less, nothing more - this is it - get used to it. We all got screwed.

[MysteryMachineX]

1 hour ago, Hells Warrrior said:

This is it my friends, nothing less, nothing more - this is it - get used to it. We all got screwed.

I understand how you feel. I feel the same way, well, I have felt this way ever since Black Ops III was released. I didn't buy into the hype. I figured it'd end this way. That's why I'm not surprised. I'm glad I never bought the game. However, that being said, even thought I figured Treyarch would spurn us, I'm still here because I want to finish my zombie storyline from beginning to end.

 

Look, it's not much of a consolation, but I'm working hard at making this compendium of everything that's every happened. And when it is done, I'll be able to present the story in a much more satisfying fashion. Personally, it'll make it worth it to me. This is my way of bringing closure. Once my storyline is done, I'll close the book on zombies in my life.

 

_{(And go back to Homestuck.)}

[DrVonstool]

I feel as if as a community we feel let down by this anti-climatic outro but I feel as if it was to be expected. Call of Duty Zombies as an entity can be embodied by a stripper. There to tease and excite, to rouse a reaction. NOT to give you any type of ACTUAL release. This is actually why I went off and away from trying to understand the story with the community because I knew that when BO3 was coming, the community was put in the backseat. Blundell spoke of putting brackets on the story and I don't believe there is any way to create brackets on a story like this. Before BO3, it seemed linear and possibly repairable. Now, it's omni-directional and can turn itself inside out once again. Maybe that was the goal, to constantly reinvent the same idea (Which is basically Call of Duty the Franchise). 

 

Point being: Leaving the community from a story stand point was very releasing for me, so as to create my own fantasy with my own characters and to have my own linear ending. Call of Duty Zombies was never the climax for me but rather the inspiration for something more. Every story, every cipher, and every radio has inspired me so to create worlds instead of trying to live with theirs. Honestly, this story never made sense. From beginning to end, it's been nothing but fan-fiction. Fan-fics about the nazis and WW2, Fan-fics about conspiracies and time travel, fan-fics about aliens and cthulu. The next Fan-fic might as well be about historical context within the storyline of CoDZ, which might mean sacrificing historical accuracy for story. What I think everyone should do with all this pent up "Frustration" and "Cum" is begin to create your own zombie terror. Write a story that has nothing to do with CoDZ but make it akin to the same concept or make it parallel in style and grit. Then, create a complex tale that reaches beyond the imagination and beyond time itself. Finally, create an ending. Not just any ending, one that makes sense. Once you do, then we can finally talk about how hard it is to actually create a tale like this. More-so, on a fluke.

 

So, just to make it clear... I'm not saying we're spoiled. Yet, Call of Duty Zombies should've never happened. This story, these "Eight Years" I see people spouting. It was a fluke. All of it was a spur of chance. To say that we deserve an ending worthy of our characters is to say that we deserved this story from the get-go. We never deserved this story. Sure, we influenced it and inspired the creators to add storyline to further the popularity. We then as a community went to the troubles of trying to figure out what's going on, but then again we didn't have to. It was a spur of chance that we found something that got our cocks all hard and our cats all wet. The true sign of appreciation for something like "8 years of service" is something more along the lines of a tribute from the fans. Creating an entirely new and fresh story, one separate from our existing tales, and creating a new line of darkness and emotional terror. Thus, the PC community Maps are born. Yet, even if you aren't technologically savvy, you can always write a novel much to the ilk of CoDZ. Fuck, you could write the first Kronorium nd publish it. Even though none of what you said was true, it would still be considered a massive tribute and something for all CoDZ fans to own. It's all about what you take from this experience as it relates to Life in General. Some of us don't depend our lives on what the outcome of a small story in a video game may be. Yet, depend our lives on what comes out of the stories as messages or forwarnings to truths. Dio always said that his songs gave forwarnings to small truths that we all share and know. I believe that CoDZ, in massive subtilty, was giving forwarnings to the old saying "Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely."

[Matuzz]

Hahahaha oh god.  You can't make this shit up. I'm just glad I abandoned this train wreck in time.

[NaBrZHunter]

With all the heavy emphasis on story and its in-your-face presentation since Die Rise, the community seems to be forgetting that COD Zombies has NEVER been about getting answers; it's about asking questions and, for the most part, answering those same questions ourselves with EXTREMELY LIMITED RESOURCES. For instance, how many of you have ever questioned the identity of who I call "The Hanging Man of Shi No Numa?" How many of you believe we know who he is? How many of you who believe that realize how little you know and how possible it is that you are wrong? The fact is, the questions it presents have never been answered and never should be fully answered because that's what this story has always revolved around: uncertainty. 

What does this cutscene tell us? It tells us A LOT, and very VERY few people seem to realize that. I wish I had time to explain, but I'm afraid, like Richtofen, I have a universe to set right: namely, my own real life that has consumed me like the like an Apothicon and a fractured shadow of reality. Thank you, and goodbye.

[Tattoo247]

Quick thought, when we say the group "used" the blood vials, what exactly do you mean? Surely they don't drink them, yet some vials are now empty.

My guess is somehow we have the alcatraz crew, whatever universe they are in, now alive, which could alter the first loop, making it never happen. But then if it never happened, then primis crew never had the blood vials in the first place, so no ace in the hole. 

I just hope the unsolved cyphers and the comics really straighten things up, unlike others, I don't excuse this ending just because they've built a reputation leaving things vague and generalized, to be interpreted. This is supposed to be a conclusion!

Kind of sad when the intro is 10x better than the final cutscene.

[MysteryMachineX]

On 9/18/2016 at 5:44 PM, NaBrZHunter said:

With all the heavy emphasis on story and its in-your-face presentation since Die Rise, the community seems to be forgetting that COD Zombies has NEVER been about getting answers; it's about asking questions and, for the most part, answering those same questions ourselves with EXTREMELY LIMITED RESOURCES. For instance, how many of you have ever questioned the identity of who I call "The Hanging Man of Shi No Numa?" How many of you believe we know who he is? How many of you who believe that realize how little you know and how possible it is that you are wrong? The fact is, the questions it presents have never been answered and never should be fully answered because that's what this story has always revolved around: uncertainty. 

What does this cutscene tell us? It tells us A LOT, and very VERY few people seem to realize that. I wish I had time to explain, but I'm afraid, like Richtofen, I have a universe to set right: namely, my own real life that has consumed me like the like an Apothicon and a fractured shadow of reality. Thank you, and goodbye.

I somewhat disagree. No one ever asks a question unless they intend to get an answer. Or in the case of a rhetorical one, already know the answer. Zombies may be about questions and mystery, but any good mystery answers as many questions as new ones it introduces. I have never been interested in Zombies because I was simply enthralled in the mystery of it. I was interested in Zombies because the answers I did get were answers I had never even knew to expect and changed my perspective of the simple arcade game that unfolded around me.