Final Fantasy XII

[EdenMaster]

In addition, some things you can't avoid spoiling if you're just reading the forums for the game or reviews or something -- people talk about the games extensively and if you want to avoid those spoilers you'd either have had to play the games soon after their release or ignore a lot of stuff... some examples of that would include Aeris dying, Zelda=Sheik, what happens in the last scenes of NWN2 and KotOR2 (it's hard for people to complain about how weak the endings are in those games, as they often do,
without saying what happens in at least some detail...), etc.

I make it a point to avoid such forums. Reviews, for the most part, are usually spoiler-free, and most forum users so try to warn of spoilers in their posts. Hence why we even have a special code for such here at TC. And how is it tough to talk about a weak ending without revealign it? I've never played KotOR, yet you just told me it has a weak ending. The end. Nothing spoiled. If you want to DISCUSS the ending of a game, thats a conversation I know to avoid, as well.

Also, for instance (to counter some of your point), why watch the Star Wars prequel movies? You know what happens at the end... :)

That's different and you know it. The series consists of one very long story, and six smaller stories, and the six smaller are what you are watching, not the whole thing as one entity.

You're right of course that there are some things better not spoiled, such as the whole plot of Planescape: Torment, the game with the best story ever, but that doesn't apply to everything... games, particularly older ones, were usually designed with gameplay first and story second; for the most part, I'd say that the Zelda games still follow that design concept. I think I would have been disappointed if I'd spoiled the ending of Wind Waker, but Twilight Princess... no, not really.

I'm not disagreeing with you that TP did have a fairly lackluster ending, the topic we're on isn't that you read ahead about it, it's that you read ahead at all. Older games, yes, did put story on the backburner, but nowadays it's a crucial part of almost any game worth the $50.

Those spoilers: three games I haven't played, obviously. I've heard of the MGS3 plot stuff, though. Not so much MGS2... I plan on actually finishing it some year (since I do own it for PC now, but haven't gotten around to installing it yet...)... :D

DO NOT spoil MSG3 for yourself. It's got a fantastic story and the final revelation is one of my all-time favorite gaming moments.

I still don't get it.