Prince of Persia's ending and what's worth fighting for

Who would have thought that at the end of such a straightforward, accessible effort as the new Prince of Persia that the developers would throw the player a serious curveball and force him into a pretty tough moral choice. Save the girl, or save the world. You can't fly around the earth and turn back time. You get one, or the other, the world you've been trying so hard to restore, or the girl who you've been with every step of the way. The choice the Prince would make seems obvious. But the choice isn't his, it's yours.

I have to confess, I don't have the same distaste for the Prince that so many others in the sphere seem to have. Sure, he was a pile of cliches wrapped in an Aladdin skin, but I took a liking to him well enough. What's more, I actually sat through a lot of the simple little asides meant to grow the relationship between the Prince and Elika and bought into their relationship at least a little. By the end, I did care about the girl. It wasn't a choice at all for me, though, because I could not have cared less about the world. 

For me, the option to save "the world" was ultimately meaningless. What's "the world" of the Prince? Textures and polygons. A bunch of spires. No people. Walls that you can run on. Oddly placed rings. What's more, this is a world that was meticulously constructed by level designers for the prince and princess. With Elika gone, what's left? Lots of places to fall down and nobody to pull you back up. The ultimate victory of Ahriman and the corruption of the world meant nothing because nothing else the game offers you is worth saving. Were I to think it even possible that this contrast was on purpose, this game's ending would be a brilliant statement on love and relationships. I'm not that foolish, of course.

This is provided as a late addition to a cross-blog conversation with some of the best and the brightest out there in the Video( )Game Blogosphere Fueled By Dew, so below you can find some additional excellent discussion on the ending of Prince of Persia.

• Prince of Persia: The End - Cult of the Turtle  
• Prince of Quitting: The Brainy Gamer
  
• Prince of Persia's Powerful Finish - Tangletown Games
• So long, sucker! - Discount Thoughts
• Prince of Persia's Elika redefines "dying" in a videogame - The CutScene (Variety)
• In Defense of the Prince - Game-ism.com
• With the press of a button - Graduate School Gamer
• Prince of Persia - why? - Sean's Videogame Musings
• Prince of Patriarchy - Experience Points
• re: Prince of Noobs - You Have Lost!

By the way, I'm back.