I have come to terms with how I feel about BO4 and the zombies ending.

[Steelie]

Before I start, there's a TL;DR at the end!

This post as I'm writing this has gone through many, many different iterations by now already, in a very crisscrossy fashion as well. So if it's confusing at some points or if I don't make too much sense, it's because I've moved a bunch of things around as I wrote the whole thing. On another note, this has also most likely been discussed to death by all of you here already as well, but I just needed to get it out and sort my feelings. It has taken me quite some time to finally realize and come to terms with how I really feel about BO4, but here I am.

Oh, I also really really hope that I'm not coming across as some kid having an angry temper tantrum. That's not my intention. It's more me trying to unload a bit as said previously, and also a little bit to try and get my perspective across.

So let's first start with some positive aspects that I like about BO4. I love that you can already see in the lobby who you're playing as, it sure as hell keeps my picky ass's round average higher than 1 because of constant resetting [laughs]. If I'll ever play BO4 again, that is. I kinda uninstalled it because I needed space and was never playing it anyway, and I never reinstalled it again. BUT I also like that you can take bots with you! As a very, very average-to-bad solo player having bots with you can be pretty damn helpful. And of course the easter egg songs. My god I Am The Well is amazing. I'll get to the others in time, but I'm not done with that one yet. I've also been debating about making a post about my impressions of the lyrics because I think about them a lot, if anyone is up for that feel free to let me know.   

 

But. To be completely honest, beyond that? I never liked BO4 from the get go. At first I was thinking that hey, maybe I just had to get used to it. But I know now that was never the case. I just. Don't like BO4. At all. For ME the whole game has been nothing but letdown after letdown. Maybe I expected BO3 too much, but man. No story mode, a battle royal instead. Hop right onto the parade, why don't you? I still love the BO3 story to death, (something I haven't seen with other players at all really, am I the only one?) and I really hoped for another amazing story. That was the first letdown for me. I don't play games online, ESPECIALLY not CoD games. My god people on there are toxic assholes. Doesn't do the already crippling social anxiety well :^(
Okay I'm mildly joking but I AM scared of playing online, mostly with CoD. And I never liked battle royales in the first place. So having 2 out of 3 game modes be online multiplayer was the first letdown.

The second letdown for me was well, zombies. Having nothing really else to play (which is okay, I bought BO3 and DLC JUST for zombies at first, didn't know about the story yet back then) I went there and hooo boy. I thought the visuals were very nice, as far as I played it. I loved the way the magic items look on Voyage, I remember there being a chest that really stood out to me and it looked amazing. But the rest is what I really tripped over. Literally everything changed. You have to select 4 perks, and that's all you'll get. Jug is implemented from the start, as well (which to be honest is not necessarily a bad thing). Also name changes? Where'd that come from? It all just kinda confused me more than anything else, really. I also saw that the A.I. of the zombies is kinda wacky, and that you apparently spawn in with the Miracle Weapon™ of that map already, that you'll get Speed Cola from what was it, Pack-a-Punching a weapon 5 times? Am I the only one wtf'ing at that specifically or have I gone completely off the rails? And this is not me being like "chANge bAD reEeEE", this me just... genuinely not understanding why in the WORLD they'd be taking defining, iconic traits and gimmicks, which everyone knew and loved (most people anyway) pretty much out of the game. Again, I'm an average to bad solo player. There's no way I'm going to be able to Pack-a-Punch a weapon 5 times, good lord. A video I saw today about it perfectly summed it all up, if I may quote: There were fixes of things that were never broken in the first place.

And then, the story of zombies. I actually started with this part in the first version of this post, and it was going to be all I'd be talking about @_@
Anyway, yesterday evening as of writing this I watched the last cutscenes of the Primis and Ultimis crew story and it just... felt like a slap in the face? I don't know how else to say it. It feels like everything in the end, all of zombies, the whole decade of maps and story and whatnot never even mattered. The Primis and Ultimis crews ended up being the ones keeping the multiverses in existence, so Nikolai poisons and kills them all in a horrible and agonizing death while he and Ultimis Richtofen get "mercifully" shot in the head. End. That was the Grand Finale, everything that was built up towards over these long years. It feels awful. Seeing them all the way they were in that final cutscene, with bleeding eyes, foam at the mouths, all soaked with blood, faces all in pain, it was awful to see. Just imagining the pain and panic they must've felt as they died... It makes me tear up. In the end I just wanted to see them having won, having been able to return to their lives, knowing they had saved everything and everyone. I genuinely care about them, and I just wanted to see them happy in the end. This ending was kinda my worst nightmare, personally. And I know that I'm most likely too emotionally attached to the zombies story and the characters, and I hyper empathize with characters in general. Not just in CoDZ, but in everything. But CoDZ honestly has meant the world for me over the years from my childhood from now, as many of you will definitely understand. So I kinda allow myself to with this.

 

But it was the most painful to see them get killed in such a disposable way, especially after the intense and sad deaths of Ultimis Dempsey, Takeo, and Nikolai in BO3. Those were ENORMOUS events in the story, such huge milestones. Kill the old crew and get their souls for the greater good, even if it tears you apart mentally. Those moments really impacted the Primis crew, and they all took it their own ways. Here at the end? They're fucking poisoned. Of all things, after all the fighting and other things they went through with Lovecraftian aliens and Keepers and the Shadowman and Dr. Monty and four different multiverses, it's fucking. Poison. That does them in. You get what I mean? The whole thing just felt rushed as hell and almost like a "Y'know what? We're just going to nuke 'em all, screw it. They're all dead now, show's over folks, thanks for all your money." It really felt like they didn't care. Not about the story anymore, nor about the fans. I know they do, it shows in the retrospect video which I'm not going to talk about because the end of that still makes me cry. At least well, I hope they care. But yeah, it just FELT that way. 

 

I get it was all most likely because of Activision making lots of budget cuts and sudden changes, as well as just wanting another cashcow, and that Treyarch did what they could with the immense limitations that they had. And I respect them for that. But yeah, in the end? Not gonna lie, it hurt a little bit.

So, well, I've kinda run out of fuel at this point. I've been at this for a good while now, probably about an hour or 2 by now? 

Now for a TL;DR/closing note: I've come to terms with the fact that I don't like BO4, be it because of my own expectations or because of how the game is. And that's fine. What were huge disappointments for me might've been sources of rejoice for a lot of other people. And that's okay too. Not everything is for everyone. I'm not going to tell anyone off or anything for liking BO4 because that would be absurd, and I hope they won't tell me off for not liking it either. In the end I'm glad for having written it all down and for having gotten this all off my chest, I feel a lot better now. And of course a big thank you to everyone who read this beast of a post.

-Steelie.

[Lenne]

Hey, Steelie. Thank you for posting your thoughts.

 

While I have different views to yours on the ending itself, cause I loved it. Maybe because deep down I always knew, there is no way this story get's a happy ending. Truth be told I would not even want one even if I had the chance to get one. I do agree somewhat with you on the gameplay perspective, even though I am a good player. Main reason is, strategies these days are just: Get the rocket launcher and shoot the ground after paping it 5 times. I really don't like those camping strats for the most part, cause camping aint no fun for me.

 

One thing that really bothered me is the jug by default thing, just because the majority of the vocal comunity was crying about it.

 

I could go on and on about BO4 not only with bad stuff of course, but I feel like it has been the weakest zombies game so far. Still enjoyable, but not nearly as much as the others.

 

Thanks for checking in. :)

[Steelie]

Thanks for you kind words Lenne, it means a lot to me!

I guess that there really was no way for them to get a happy ending, was there ;v; I think I was just hoping too much in the end? Maybe.
Jug by default really has bothered me as well. I've heard here and there that the community really wasn't happy with it either, but I haven't kept up so much until now. 
I also have a lingering feeling that BO3 set the bar almost too high for BO4.