: I think you make the point that this theory requires that Double Aught create
: two possible endings to the game. This would break with convention up to
: now. It would also deprive fans of playing a major chunk of the ending.
: Sure they could always go back and replay it differently if they were even
: aware that it was possible. But it certainly would not be popular.
If you get rid of my speculating, then the main things I wanted to point out were this: There are two actual exits from this level, and one of them makes a lot more sense narratively, which makes me think that it was meant as the canon exit.
Whether you think the terminals just got mixed up, or whether there were going to be two levels, or whatever, isn't something I feel like arguing about. The main point is that one of those seems like the intended one.
Also, since then I've become more convinced that the lava tunnels were originally meant to be the exit, since the humans state that these lead to the alien fortress, and at the start of Son of Grendel we arrive at what could be interpreted as the end of a cave system.
I'll add one thing about "breaking with conventions". Infinity breaks with its own conventions constantly, whether deliberately or accidentally. Chapter 3 having no chapter screen, Where Are Monsters In Dreams being a dream level completely different in style from other dream levels, are two examples that spring to mind.
