This is just a repost of a NeoGAF post I made... just in case I want to refer to it again:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13488882&postcount=6042
[QUOTE=sennin]Hmm, we are going to have to agree to disagree here. I typed out a post on why I felt the ending was crap. This part addresses choices and morality at the endgame. Finally, the 3 "choices" given at the end aren't really tests of values. From a pragmatic point, everyone wants the dog, for he's the only clue to finding buried treasures without losing your sanity in some of the postgame quests, and more importantly a tool to fully experiencing the game. From a roleplay perspective, this self-serving justification is one an evil character will take, "fuck the world, I need my dog to find buried treasure! Too bad for you weak folks!" An evil character who is smart will not choose money over the dog when he can exploit the proletarians for easy cash by raising rent and prices. A good character will not choose money either, for his noble self will value lives over material gains. If there is a conflict of values, it is merely a shallow one of society vs. family. Fable II's cutscens focuses so much on the Hero's life being a parallel to Lucien's tragedy that it will result in the same path. Did the game go out of its way to make you feel attached to the common folks of Albion? If anything the game tells you that people of Albion who are in bliss care not for your personal tragedies. In fact, to prevent such tragedies from happening it is best to erase all roots of jealousy, hence if the Hero has a happy family he will not turn into another Lucien. So how is the player coerced into thinking that these are "tough choices", when all roads point to one clear path? [/QUOTE]
See, one of the tests of faith that Job suffers is the loss of his wife and children. Job has always been faithful to God and even after suffering the three trials, from the loss of his wealth to his health to his family, he remains pious to God and refuses to lose faith. He knows that he hasn't sinned and doesn't deserve punishment, but accepts it anyway rather than question the will God him/itself. That's my interpretation of The Book of Job given my non-Christian leanings anyway.
Now, it's not that cut and dry in the game I suppose... because the game isn't trying to convince you that shit happens in life and you have to get over it, but I think the same thing applies to the choices in the game. For the final choice, I think the "bad" choice is the fake out. Depending on how much time you spend buying property and investing, you'll be rich by the time you get to the end game anyway. Between the Sacrifice and Love choices, if you are truly roleplaying a "good" character and believe that being good is better than your own self interests, you'll HAVE to choose sacrifice. The problem is, in The Book of Job, Job gets it both ways. He is able to lose everything to prove his piety and then at the end, God rewards him by giving him more money and bringing back his health and his family.
Here, you aren't so lucky - you choose Sacrifice for the sake of being good. There's no happy ending if you choose to be good, you just have to live with the fact that you made the "right" and "moral" and "unselfish choice" and hope that helps you sleep at night. I think most people will choose the Love choice because they feel it's the compromise choice between the two extremes. And it is. Molyneux wanted to make it extremely difficult to be a good character and it progressively gets more difficult to do so. Losing XP? Not a big deal. Permanent scarring? A big deal, but you can dye your hair and whatnot. Losing your family, your dog and a chance to save your sister (remember that you spend a "perfect day" with her after Lucien shoots you!)? That's the tough choice. Even if you don't care about your spouse or your sister, chances are you care about your dog... and you'll make the selfish choice and choose to keep your dog over doing the right thing. It's the ultimate test of faith if you're playing a pious character and chances are, most people will fail. I know I went with the dog, even though I played the rest of the game as "good" as possible.
Maybe I'm reading too much into the game, I'm not sure. But that's what I see anyway.
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