The Narrator's "good ending" is to travel back to a time before he needed Stanley, and Stanley's "good ending" is to travel forward to a time where he no longer needs the Narrator. Ultimately both find freedom only in the absence of the other, so it makes sense that these two endings mirror in a couple ways.
Is it really a good ending? Stanley stuck in a emtpy freedom, and the Narrator telling himself to stop, yet always repeating. As the curator said "They need eachother" There is no Parable without the Narrator, and there is no Stanley without, well, Stanley.
@@creditsunknown7974 The narrator is essentially Stanley in the ending wich Stanley picks up the phone. He keeps saying it will be the last time he lives without having to take care of his life, without spending his time in a dreamland. But he seems to never stop, he keeps getting further and further into his lucid dream.
It’s funny, after all that went down in Ultra Deluxe, doing the normal ending feels genuinely happy sometimes. Part of the “shock appeal” in the beginning is that the normal ending ends with the narrator saying Stanley made his own decisions, even though the player was forced to listen to the narrator the whole time. But as time goes on, and you learn all the routes and the narrator doesn’t surprise you as much, it feels like you ARE in control of that ending when you choose to go back and do it again. And once that’s settled, it really does feel like a happy ending. (However, the happiness pales in comparison to the Silly Birds ending, to me that’s the most happy end!)
@@emblemblade9245 The freedom ending was always the last ending I replayed in the original game, for the same reason. I think it's deliberate that as soon as soon as you exit the facility you lose control of Stanley as it enters a cutscene. On the first run it might be meant to imply that Stanley is now being controlled directly by the Narrator, but replaying it at the end always seems to reframe it as if he's broken free of the player's control; he can only truly be free once you stop playing the game.
...This makes the Narrator's absence during the Epilogue so, *so* much worse . . . . . In his speech, he wants to move on from Stanley, for real, and to think on his own once more... -But I feel like the Epilogue firmly denies its fruition. A forgone conclusion that shows the failure of the Narrator and TSP2. To hear his words during the Epilogue's music is haunting. And tragic as hell.
My own interpretation is that his absence in the epilogue means that he did successfully move on from Stanley and now Stanley has been left in what remains of an abandoned world. The player can use the setting dude to restart everything and keep beating the game into the ground, or they can leave the game behind and with that Stanley is now free of both the narrator and the player and can become his own person no longer controlled by anyone. I prefer to see the game in a more hopeful light, I guess.
And the other thing is that we aren't given a conclusive answer on if the epilogue is meant to take place right after the skip button ending or if everything that happens after it is also supposed to take it into account. When I first played the epilogue it seemed to me that it was a continuation of the skip button ending. Part of me wonders if we're supposed to see it as two separate conclusions for the characters. One where the Narrator has an epiphany on his own terms and moves on and one where a mix of his own insecurities and the player's need for new content destroys him. Stanley is finally free in the epilogue but only after we helped ruined the narrator. Well, either way, I love how open to interpretation the ending is.
@@JustSomeRandomPerson09 True- the ambiguity and openness to multiple possibilities really make the games amazing. (Well, along with other aspects, of course...)
@@JustSomeRandomPerson09 SPOILER WARNING well it is definitely at least a continuation of the bucket escape pod ending if you do that and then go play the epilogue immediately after
All these comments are about how Stanley and the Narrator abandon each other and are finally "free", but... Can't you see? Can't you see how much they need each other? No... sometimes these things cannot be seen.
indeed, although we do not know a lot about the narrator's life and origins, but we can know about Stanley And in the epilogue, he seems to finally get his freedom, but a what cost? The world is now a barren wasteland. Likely Quadrillion years into the future. sure he is free, but it's empty, there is basically nothing to do anymore, he has a house and a generator but everything else is dead. At least he has the trustfull bucket.
@@davisdf3064 I think, with the Ultra Deluxe Figurine ending, we actually know less about Stanley than we thought. At this point, I don't even know if Stanley is real - if he's a figment, or if he's just a vessel for a player, or if he's his own person just like the Narrator is. Fitting with the whole paradoxical theme, there genuinely isn't an answer that satisfies me. All of them are tainted with some kind of existential dread. The Narrator is real but Stanley never was? That breaks my heart because, even though we barely knew anything about him, I was emotionally attached to him - just like the game fools us into being attached to a literal bucket. Is Stanley alive and well and free in the wasteland? That breaks my heart because where is the Narrator? Last we heard from him in the Skip ending, he sounded like he was losing himself. Even if we know for a fact the Narrator is fine, there's still that stinging emptiness of knowing they're separated now - I think they genuinely cared about each other, or at least the Narrator cared about Stanley. And then there's the fact that the entire game is a time loop, and even the Epilogue spits you back at the home screen eventually. In summary, there is no "happy ending" to the Stanley Parable; just the option to cling to whatever headcanon hurts the least.
I think it's more like the REAL developers thinks about Stanley Parable, Davey Wreden and William Pugh. Stanley Parable is their, so far, biggest success. After making Stanley Parable, they splited because of disagreements. Later on, they made similar exploring, narrative games but still they wasn't as success as the Stanley Parable. I think the Narrator's speech shows they want to move on, from Stanley Parable, yet it is their proudest work, so they remake it again, or play with Stanley one last time.
It does make me worry that the epilogues reveal of there being no more Stanley Parable will come true. I wish there were other ways to use the concepts that would make them happy.
@@ninjabluefyre3815 TSP isnt a concept you can spread infinitely thin or build some kind of franchise out of, despite the jokes pretending otherwise in UD. They'll have other ideas, and make other games, but you can't just "make content" for TSP like you can for many games.
It's crazy how well this actually syncs up. When The Narrator says "...This is a story of a man named Stanley." The main theme of the Stanley Parable 2 plays. Like, in a distant memory. The Player is admiring the title screen for the first time. This game before had no true ending. But I feel like Ultra Deluxe really set probably one of the most well thought of endings in the gaming industry in a very very long time. The game blew my mind as whole with the original. But this? Is emotionally amazing. I genuinely cannot think of a better ending.
Whereas in the Museum Ending, the female narrator claims they need each other (also stated by the Narrator in the Other Games Ending), this is only true when you consider that the Parable needs to stay alive. In the Figurines Ending, the Narrator's Speech ends with saying he'll retire Stanley, therefore letting go of the Parable to be on his own once more. In the Epilogue, Stanley is wandering the wasteland on his own, which while not the most ideal situation, is still different from the office he kept replaying through over and over again. No more directions from a voice in his head, no more doors, Stanley is on his own without the Parable. I believe the whole idea behind this is to let the Parable go. It's the ultimate reason why a sequel was never needed. But people are so caught up in having the good old days with characters from back in the day meeting up for "one more adventure" in today's media, even if it tarnishes the legacy of before. The Narrator and Stanley had their fun, but now it's over. They're ready to move on from the Parable, and now it's time for the player to do so as well.
"How they wish to destroy one another. How they wish to control one another. How they both wish to be free. Can you see? Can you see how much they need one another? No, perhaps not. Sometimes these things cannot be seen."
i just love how this game is thought provoking in its commentary on free will, choice, and everything in between one minute, and then has me falling in love with a bucket the next
this is surprisingly beautiful, the narrator having his speech of epiphany synced with stanley's epilogue really does work well together. the narrator decides to let go and stanley is finally free, truly free.
@@bluedarkdarklin2552 That's not what the comment implies, Wisk implies that Stanley creates comfort for the narrator just like the bucket did for Stanley.
I thought it was strange that the comfort item was specifically a bucket for no clear reason. If this parallel was the developer's intention, though, maybe the point is that the bucket is extremely mundane and arbitrarily chosen, just as Stanley is an extremely mundane office drone who is arbitrarily chosen as the Narrator's puppet.
This monologue never fails to bring me to tears, a lot of people find it quite relatable, being alone, creating/clinging to a form of fiction to make it all seem and feel better and then remembering what you used to be like.
"I'll take care of myself. I don't need Stanley anymore. Oh, but he truly was so much fun to play with! You know what? Since we're in the Memory Zone, how about one more good memory? Let's go back, just once, and give Stanley one more run of the office! And then, I'll retire him for good." this actually hits really hard, sometimes you need to move on from something that you really love. Because if you keep bringing it back up, it will became stale and to the point of no fun anymore, staining your happy memories. So it's better to end it on a high note and move on.
The swell of the music always hit me right in the feels, but The Narrator’s dialogue overtop of that really got the waterworks going hard. I enjoy the idea of The Narrator being this omnipotent character outside of Stanley’s world, creating fun new ideas and storylines at will, but deep down, I know it’s realer than that, and how it’s much more rooted in reality. This is not just the story of Stanley, although sometimes it is. But this time, right now, it’s the story of an indecisive man who relied on fiction for too long, watching these old stories of his become lost to time, finding The Stanley Parable that he’s created is losing its merit and wittiness, as he changes into a person who is slowly learning, once again, that he can be stronger. It’s somewhat depressing to have a definitive conclusion in my mind, although it’s only my opinion, because when I first came into The Stanley Parable, I expected to constantly be surprised at new experiences, never looking at it too deeply, leaving at least some room for interpretation. It’s completely lost that aspect for me, to be honest, and I don’t think I can go back into The Stanley Parable as the same person that went into it the first time. Even still, this isn’t a bad thing. I now have a completely new perspective on the most captivating game I’ve played in a long time. I may change my feelings on the game in the future, but it will never grow old for me. Because, after all, The end is never the end.
personally i don't understand this lore and interpretations about the narrator, for me it was just a game of exploration and inaccessible area that you think you can't enter but you finally come, but some of the mysteries stayed in my mind (what happens if you come accross the green bosses office door, what if you could enter the escape pod, what if you can enter all the doors, what if you escape the explosion) this in my mind for like 7 years and with this sequel which didn't added content I returned to the OG 2011 tsp where i found that exploration wasn't the point of tsp, the alternative endings aren't there to be there they always contain story a sense. Stanley parable is just a game where there's a story which is counted by the narrator but you can change it. And since that I've stopped thinking about stanley parable Idk if I should thinking about what you're talking about the story of the narrator etc this game already gave me enough of what i needed. Everything in this world have a reason to exist
My interpretation of the epilogue is that it’s the end, I 100% think no more Stanley parable games will come out. But the ending is supposed to show the message the game has always been trying to show, it might have said before the final room with the title screen guy that they are done with the game, but the title screen guy is supposed to hammer in and *be* the message of the main game, that there is no epilogue, that stanley and the narrator will never be separated, because no matter what *the end is never the end*
The game ends when you say it ends, as the curator says in the museum. The only way for them to ever be separated is to close the game. I would not be surprised if they add additional content to ultra deluxe at some far point, maybe some new lines or a new ending within the fake freedom, but A new game will never occur.
My headcanon: Given that the Narrator knows that the player is real, we are just playing his game. Stanley = the player. The Narrator is just making a game for our benefit and is just an actor playing a part. Of course sometime he breaks character but it's all literally a game. He participates in the marketing, for crying out loud. He clearly remembers everything between loops, anytime he doesn't he's just pretending for affect. And he is trying to tell us a story about video games, with himself as the supporting role to the player.
I wonder if maybe Stanley was ever real or he was literarily just stories from the narrator. If he is that either means the epilogue is a hypothetical and never happens in the narrators canon or that Stanley somehow becomes sort of real and makes his own choices
Perhaps Stanley isn't real but Narrator ended up thinking he is due to how much time has passed. He did mention that he created Stanley as a companion to suffice for his loneliness, so perhaps at first, he treated Stanley like just a doll, but after the years passed, he began seeing Stanley truly as some sort of friend he could rely on, which would also explain as how in other endings, he ends up begging for Stanley's love and attention as if the roles were reversed and Stanley is the one who is above him. Since Narrator has some sort of power over a lot of the 'world', perhaps the environments changes with his emotions which is how a part of the Stanley Parable universe ended up becoming somewhat 'real'?
I think stanley is a representation of an audience. The narrator is an artist, he wants to make things and have his thoughts be seen, so he made an audience. Why would he want this? Was he lonely with his thoughts? Yeah. Probably. But then he let this audience control his work, and he did whatever they thought was right, and while it was sometimes fun, it wasn't really what he wanted out of his work. He just really didn't want his audience to miss the point of his story, or to think it was poorly designed, but that led to him caring too much about what they say But, once every story he could've told to this particular audience was told, he was ready to move on, and make something else, something with passion, with feeling, and not caring what any audience thinks he should do And now, Stanley could also make anything he wanted out of the parable, since the narrator didn't care anymore. He could run the name of the parable through the mud and back, and do whatever he likes with it, they are both truly free And they were both happy
My theory is kinda the opposite of most people, I think the narrator is the one who isn't real. Stanley was just bored in his working station and created the narrator to guide him in imaginary adventures, and he never even left his cubicle in the first place. That's why you always hear keyboard noises when clicking through things, he didn't actually left his office, he's just daydreaming about it all.
@@superjonh1000 It's both. The game is a series of ideas rather than a plot, so it has themes of Stanley being a stand-in for the player spending a bunch of time playing games, and other times it has him as just a character. The Narrator is at times just a commentary on choice, and other times a stand-in for the game's writer discussing how he became too attached to the game. I've honestly never seen a game that melds so many plots and ideas in such a skilled way.
Everytime I here the narrator talk about moving on it makes me sad. Because Im gonna miss TSP too, it really was such a fun experience, and something id wanted to see more of for years before ultra Deluxe was announced. And well. Something about looking so far in the future and everything being abandoned is deeply upsetting.
“Okay. I’m done. I think I explained everything; you can go and play The Stanley Parable now. I hope you like it. I hope you understand it. I hope you set Stanley free.”
The original game was such a big part of my childhood, it came out when i was 8, im going to be a legal adult next year. Ive never had the opportunity to play the game myself, so I would watch playthroughs and walkthroughs here on youtube, no matter how many years passed, I often found myself coming back to this game. Looking back on it now, esspecially, I can pick out little things about me that are so clearly influenced by this game, my love for writing narrator characters and split endings in my own works. What Im trying to say is that I loved the original, Ultra Deluxe is incredible and I love it just as much, and this dialog in particular does make me sad. It reminds me of a time I can never go back to, never revisit. Moments from my life I'll never get to remember as clearly as I should due to struggling with memory issues. But I still love this dialog, this is a lovely video, I appreciate it letting me finally express this. Have a wonderful day, everyone.
The game originally came out when I was 13/14 and I distinctly remember begging my parents if I could buy it. I ended up buying it in secret with my mom's credit card and playing it non-stop looking for clues, unfound secrets and new things the youtube videos I watched hadn't found yet. I feel you on all levels
@Sir Foop A.K.A Jorah Joestar did you watch nerdcubeds original video? I remember him telling his viewers that the game was so good, that they should stop watching the video and buy the game, he even had a little fact sheet to convince the parents 😂 it's tragic Nerd3 has been forgotten on RUclips these days, dude was once quite a large game reviewer around TSPs time, just like TSP life is always changing, and the end is never.
Something about this is truly awe inspiring. The way the Narrator talks is something of emotional baggage that I don't think any of us were prepared for. Truly this ending tells us that if stanley is to what we are when we say it is, then the narrator is something of the sort. Tragic. I think I can say for all of us that this combination of Stanley and the Narrator is a combination of the amazing development that develops the game in ways we could never develop in that of our own childhoods. Bravo.
There's honestly something really sad and sentimental about this. It sounds like something that should be in the Memory Zone. Perhaps it could even be some sort of area hidden far away, farther than the Bad Steam Reviews area. There _are_ a couple of locked doors in the Memory Zone after all. Edit: Now that makes me wonder. Does Stanley know that he's 'not real'? Did Stanley even ever exist as a person in fact? As eccentric and ominous the Narrator is, Stanley is much of the same, perhaps even more. Does Stanley believe he's real? Does he know that he was created by the Narrator himself which is why he has such a habit of disobeying his creator? _Is Narrator's memories of his 'past life' when he made more meaningful decisions actually locked away somewhere in the Memory Zone?_ There's too many looming questions and so little answers. I suppose the end is truly never the end.
@@Shulsa Oooh. It _would_ make sense as of how he would claim he doesn’t really know about it. Though I wonder what the heck does a pink apple that looks it came straight out of a level from Superliminal have to do with the Narrator’s ‘past life’?
@@TrademarkedIPAdress It might be symbolic. I'm still trying to figure out what it means. Or it could mean nothing and they put it there just to mess with people
@@Shulsa It could be. If it _is_ symbolic then maybe it could mean something about deceit? The Bible story of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit which many depict as an apple, and Snow White innocently eating a poisonous apple that obv kills her. Apples have always then been something related to deceit in media. Maybe it could relate to how Narrator ended up the way he was? The Time Guardian guy with the sliders does say in the Epilogue that caring too much about the game was the Narrator’s downfall so maybe it could also relate to that? He was deceived in some way which caused him to end up in such a ‘horrible’ state? But then again, the devs are very memey and _do_ put a lot of random stuff that dont really mean anything, so… Who knows.
sorry to reply to this a year later, but it’s my full belief that (while he is a character created by the Narrator) Stanley is indeed a person with his own free will. however, when we are playing the game, we are puppeteering him. he’s fully aware, but has no control of his body, which is granted to us, the player. there are a few instances that prove this to my knowledge. one, the promotional material for TSPUD, where Stanley clearly does not want to be marketed and forced to be a protagonist once more. two, in TSPUD itself, during the bucket destroyer ending. it’s the only instance where a choice seems clear: either destroy the bucket or don’t, each leading to a separate ending-but Stanley does not let the player destroy the bucket. he exhibits free will stronger than ours. the last example is during the Zending. after each fall, Stanley’s walk pattern gets slower and slower, to the point it’s a crawl by the last jump. while it’s just a first-person experience for us, our choices have very real consequences on Stanley’s body, and he can do nothing about it but suffer them. it’s why the only way for Stanley to be free, though his world is limited, is for us *not to play.* by turning the game off, we are granting him autonomy. maybe that’s why the “Go Outside” and “Super Go Outside” achievements exist in the first place.
I'd like to think that "Stanley" is just his name for us in the story and we are living through what he used to do before he was forced to narrate the story
I have a theory that 'The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe" is a multiverse that colliding, like for example, the epilogue, you have the bucket before the Narrator shows you his ideas for the sequel, the machine that gives you the achievement, going to the Memory Zone a second time without the narrator having any memory about the last time they went in, once you play the epilogue it's the zone after the skip button ending, the timeline still exists, every ending still exists, we just restart and do another one while the one we left behind continues on with the ending we left them with, I have more to say but I've made my point. It's just a theory, my game theory. I did enjoy playing this game, so very much.
Whenever I watch someone play TSPUD, theyre always mildly amused by this speech. But man, maybe its just because of where I am in life but his words just hit me. "Im going to take care of myself" just feels so real.
Unrelated but something to think about : *The end is never.* It never ends with "The end" because it will never truly be *the end.* *..The end is never the end is never..*
This hurts my heart and makes me kind of happy at the same time, its like that feeling when you find a moment of peace after a mental breakdown and just sit there face still wet with tears but you are smiling and enjoying this calm moment
i love this game, this experience that The Stanley Parable is. i love how silly it can be (the broom closet and almost all the buckets endings), but, at the same time, it can be so sad and depressing (the skip buttom, the ending where staley kills himself, for example) one of my favourite moments is that place that is full of Jim buttons, and then one, just one, says in such apathic but solitarie voice "Stanley"... it feel... idk how to describe it, but it was like... i wasn't playing a game anymore.
I got it off of the subreddit maybe a month ago. I'm not sure if its just an in-game screenshot or if it was altered. I don't have a link to it so you'd have to go poking around the subreddit and see if you can find it.
@@JustSomeRandomPerson09 Reverse searching for the image always leads back to you, both on this video and the subreddit. If you still have the image on the computer do you think you could upload it? thanks.
I like to think he never died I think he was just taking a nap I mean you would be tired of rambling on and on maybe he got some nice warm milk and got to bed
Assuming a fresh install: First complete 3 endings of the regular game. Then the door to room 416 will be replaced by a door to "New Content". Follow this door, and eventually the Narrator will be pissed about the disappointing new Ultra Deluxe content, so he takes you to the Memory Zone. Get the ending here, and then the new content door will have a neon sign next to it saying "New new content". This is where the narrator introduces you to The Stanley Parable 2. Visit the bucket exhibition. Then the collectible exhibition to pick up your first collectible. You can then leave the expo. Now collect the other 5 figurines. Their locations are as follows: - behind the bottom of the stairway to the boss's office - in the executive bathroom - at the passageway to the mind control facility, on the right - near the cargo lift on a plank path - take the cargo lift, jump down on the catwalk, then reach the colored doors room and it's in a small corridor After you do this and restart the game, the Narrator will stop you from progressing because he wants to take you to the Memory Zone to reminisce about collecting those figurines. He then wants more, so he wants to go backwards. After collecting them all in reverse order, he wonders what came before the figurines. And then you get this. To access the Epilogue: - On your first start of the game, set the time to anything other than 12:00. - On your second start of the game, set the time to anything other than 12:00. - On your third start of the game, set the time to anything other than 12:00. - On the fourth start just set the sliders to anything you want, and press anything you want for the yes/no questions. - On the fifth start, the "voice" will give a monologue. Click through it. At the end, he says "we might meet again soon" or something similar. Once you've done this and everything above you can play the Epilogue.
The official soundtrack for the game has been released, and the Epilogue music is even longer in this version! ruclips.net/video/QJ_RPw2PdnQ/видео.htmlm9s
Can someone explain me this speech and who is the narrator, a narrator of the game, or a develloper ? i don't understand all this lore of narrator need to think for him
The Narrator is an omnipresent being inside the game. He comments (and mocks) every action you take as Stanley. The game goes far into breaking the fourth wall and meta commentary, and within the universe of the game, its creator is the Narrator. How much of this is what developers feel about the game in real life is anyone's guess.
After that speech, i did one more run, got the normal ending and exited the game. I felt different after that. This was a wonderful game from a wonderful developer.
As for me, I did the epilogue right after the speech, but I denied making TSP3. Didn’t even do the bucket versions of the New Content that you can only do post-epilogue. (Watched them online though because I’m a cheeky bastard lol)
The Narrator's "good ending" is to travel back to a time before he needed Stanley, and Stanley's "good ending" is to travel forward to a time where he no longer needs the Narrator. Ultimately both find freedom only in the absence of the other, so it makes sense that these two endings mirror in a couple ways.
You also find the escape pod in the epilogue with the bucket in
Is it really a good ending? Stanley stuck in a emtpy freedom, and the Narrator telling himself to stop, yet always repeating.
As the curator said "They need eachother"
There is no Parable without the Narrator, and there is no Stanley without, well, Stanley.
@@creditsunknown7974
The narrator is essentially Stanley in the ending wich Stanley picks up the phone.
He keeps saying it will be the last time he lives without having to take care of his life, without spending his time in a dreamland.
But he seems to never stop, he keeps getting further and further into his lucid dream.
I mean, did the Narrator *actually* ever find his good ending? After all, the end is never the end is never the end is never...
The creator also said that the Narrator is the embodiment of divorce.
After his speech and the restart, I went through the original plot the Narrator wanted and then closed the game. It felt poetic.
It’s funny, after all that went down in Ultra Deluxe, doing the normal ending feels genuinely happy sometimes.
Part of the “shock appeal” in the beginning is that the normal ending ends with the narrator saying Stanley made his own decisions, even though the player was forced to listen to the narrator the whole time. But as time goes on, and you learn all the routes and the narrator doesn’t surprise you as much, it feels like you ARE in control of that ending when you choose to go back and do it again. And once that’s settled, it really does feel like a happy ending.
(However, the happiness pales in comparison to the Silly Birds ending, to me that’s the most happy end!)
@@emblemblade9245 The freedom ending was always the last ending I replayed in the original game, for the same reason. I think it's deliberate that as soon as soon as you exit the facility you lose control of Stanley as it enters a cutscene. On the first run it might be meant to imply that Stanley is now being controlled directly by the Narrator, but replaying it at the end always seems to reframe it as if he's broken free of the player's control; he can only truly be free once you stop playing the game.
I did the same thing. Honestly, kinda made me wanna cry.
i just did the same thing. truly agreed
Jim
Jim
Jim
Jim
Jim
Jim
Jim
Jim
Jim
Jim
Stanley
honestly hearing the stanley button kinda broke me for some reason
That button hit so hard
@@SS-rc4rn The only button that ever hit me harder than I hit it.
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
it's the only button that says his name :'(
...This makes the Narrator's absence during the Epilogue so, *so* much worse . . . . .
In his speech, he wants to move on from Stanley, for real, and to think on his own once more...
-But I feel like the Epilogue firmly denies its fruition. A forgone conclusion that shows the failure of the Narrator and TSP2.
To hear his words during the Epilogue's music is haunting. And tragic as hell.
My own interpretation is that his absence in the epilogue means that he did successfully move on from Stanley and now Stanley has been left in what remains of an abandoned world. The player can use the setting dude to restart everything and keep beating the game into the ground, or they can leave the game behind and with that Stanley is now free of both the narrator and the player and can become his own person no longer controlled by anyone. I prefer to see the game in a more hopeful light, I guess.
And the other thing is that we aren't given a conclusive answer on if the epilogue is meant to take place right after the skip button ending or if everything that happens after it is also supposed to take it into account. When I first played the epilogue it seemed to me that it was a continuation of the skip button ending. Part of me wonders if we're supposed to see it as two separate conclusions for the characters. One where the Narrator has an epiphany on his own terms and moves on and one where a mix of his own insecurities and the player's need for new content destroys him. Stanley is finally free in the epilogue but only after we helped ruined the narrator. Well, either way, I love how open to interpretation the ending is.
@@JustSomeRandomPerson09 True- the ambiguity and openness to multiple possibilities really make the games amazing. (Well, along with other aspects, of course...)
@@JustSomeRandomPerson09 SPOILER WARNING
well it is definitely at least a continuation of the bucket escape pod ending if you do that and then go play the epilogue immediately after
@@mybrickhead hey I figured that out too, like less than a day ago
All these comments are about how Stanley and the Narrator abandon each other and are finally "free", but...
Can't you see? Can't you see how much they need each other?
No... sometimes these things cannot be seen.
Woah. You're right
Why did I read that exactly in the Female Narrator's voice-
indeed, although we do not know a lot about the narrator's life and origins, but we can know about Stanley
And in the epilogue, he seems to finally get his freedom, but a what cost? The world is now a barren wasteland. Likely Quadrillion years into the future.
sure he is free, but it's empty, there is basically nothing to do anymore, he has a house and a generator but everything else is dead.
At least he has the trustfull bucket.
@@davisdf3064 I think, with the Ultra Deluxe Figurine ending, we actually know less about Stanley than we thought. At this point, I don't even know if Stanley is real - if he's a figment, or if he's just a vessel for a player, or if he's his own person just like the Narrator is.
Fitting with the whole paradoxical theme, there genuinely isn't an answer that satisfies me. All of them are tainted with some kind of existential dread. The Narrator is real but Stanley never was? That breaks my heart because, even though we barely knew anything about him, I was emotionally attached to him - just like the game fools us into being attached to a literal bucket.
Is Stanley alive and well and free in the wasteland? That breaks my heart because where is the Narrator? Last we heard from him in the Skip ending, he sounded like he was losing himself.
Even if we know for a fact the Narrator is fine, there's still that stinging emptiness of knowing they're separated now - I think they genuinely cared about each other, or at least the Narrator cared about Stanley.
And then there's the fact that the entire game is a time loop, and even the Epilogue spits you back at the home screen eventually.
In summary, there is no "happy ending" to the Stanley Parable; just the option to cling to whatever headcanon hurts the least.
@@drawingdragon
Indeed, it's a game, but with no ending, and only one known beggining. And it's just beautiful
I think it's more like the REAL developers thinks about Stanley Parable, Davey Wreden and William Pugh.
Stanley Parable is their, so far, biggest success. After making Stanley Parable, they splited because of disagreements. Later on, they made similar exploring, narrative games but still they wasn't as success as the Stanley Parable.
I think the Narrator's speech shows they want to move on, from Stanley Parable, yet it is their proudest work, so they remake it again, or play with Stanley one last time.
What are there other games?
@@noneofyourbusiness4133 The Beginner's guide
It does make me worry that the epilogues reveal of there being no more Stanley Parable will come true. I wish there were other ways to use the concepts that would make them happy.
They split up?
@@ninjabluefyre3815 TSP isnt a concept you can spread infinitely thin or build some kind of franchise out of, despite the jokes pretending otherwise in UD. They'll have other ideas, and make other games, but you can't just "make content" for TSP like you can for many games.
It's crazy how well this actually syncs up. When The Narrator says "...This is a story of a man named Stanley." The main theme of the Stanley Parable 2 plays. Like, in a distant memory. The Player is admiring the title screen for the first time.
This game before had no true ending. But I feel like Ultra Deluxe really set probably one of the most well thought of endings in the gaming industry in a very very long time. The game blew my mind as whole with the original. But this? Is emotionally amazing. I genuinely cannot think of a better ending.
You're right
Whereas in the Museum Ending, the female narrator claims they need each other (also stated by the Narrator in the Other Games Ending), this is only true when you consider that the Parable needs to stay alive. In the Figurines Ending, the Narrator's Speech ends with saying he'll retire Stanley, therefore letting go of the Parable to be on his own once more. In the Epilogue, Stanley is wandering the wasteland on his own, which while not the most ideal situation, is still different from the office he kept replaying through over and over again. No more directions from a voice in his head, no more doors, Stanley is on his own without the Parable.
I believe the whole idea behind this is to let the Parable go. It's the ultimate reason why a sequel was never needed. But people are so caught up in having the good old days with characters from back in the day meeting up for "one more adventure" in today's media, even if it tarnishes the legacy of before.
The Narrator and Stanley had their fun, but now it's over. They're ready to move on from the Parable, and now it's time for the player to do so as well.
IM CRYING
NOW IM SOBBING
"How they wish to destroy one another. How they wish to control one another.
How they both wish to be free.
Can you see? Can you see how much they need one another?
No, perhaps not. Sometimes these things cannot be seen."
i just love how this game is thought provoking in its commentary on free will, choice, and everything in between one minute, and then has me falling in love with a bucket the next
this is surprisingly beautiful, the narrator having his speech of epiphany synced with stanley's epilogue really does work well together. the narrator decides to let go and stanley is finally free, truly free.
Stanley is The Narrator’s Bucket
But when the narrator deleted all the buckets in the game he and Stanley were still there, so neither are a bucket.
@@bluedarkdarklin2552 That's not what the comment implies, Wisk implies that Stanley creates comfort for the narrator just like the bucket did for Stanley.
I thought it was strange that the comfort item was specifically a bucket for no clear reason. If this parallel was the developer's intention, though, maybe the point is that the bucket is extremely mundane and arbitrarily chosen, just as Stanley is an extremely mundane office drone who is arbitrarily chosen as the Narrator's puppet.
This monologue never fails to bring me to tears, a lot of people find it quite relatable, being alone, creating/clinging to a form of fiction to make it all seem and feel better and then remembering what you used to be like.
"I'll take care of myself. I don't need Stanley anymore. Oh, but he truly was so much fun to play with!
You know what? Since we're in the Memory Zone, how about one more good memory? Let's go back, just once, and give Stanley one more run of the office! And then, I'll retire him for good."
this actually hits really hard, sometimes you need to move on from something that you really love. Because if you keep bringing it back up, it will became stale and to the point of no fun anymore, staining your happy memories. So it's better to end it on a high note and move on.
The swell of the music always hit me right in the feels, but The Narrator’s dialogue overtop of that really got the waterworks going hard. I enjoy the idea of The Narrator being this omnipotent character outside of Stanley’s world, creating fun new ideas and storylines at will, but deep down, I know it’s realer than that, and how it’s much more rooted in reality. This is not just the story of Stanley, although sometimes it is. But this time, right now, it’s the story of an indecisive man who relied on fiction for too long, watching these old stories of his become lost to time, finding The Stanley Parable that he’s created is losing its merit and wittiness, as he changes into a person who is slowly learning, once again, that he can be stronger.
It’s somewhat depressing to have a definitive conclusion in my mind, although it’s only my opinion, because when I first came into The Stanley Parable, I expected to constantly be surprised at new experiences, never looking at it too deeply, leaving at least some room for interpretation. It’s completely lost that aspect for me, to be honest, and I don’t think I can go back into The Stanley Parable as the same person that went into it the first time. Even still, this isn’t a bad thing. I now have a completely new perspective on the most captivating game I’ve played in a long time. I may change my feelings on the game in the future, but it will never grow old for me. Because, after all,
The end is never the end.
personally i don't understand this lore and interpretations about the narrator, for me it was just a game of exploration and inaccessible area that you think you can't enter but you finally come, but some of the mysteries stayed in my mind (what happens if you come accross the green bosses office door, what if you could enter the escape pod, what if you can enter all the doors, what if you escape the explosion) this in my mind for like 7 years and with this sequel which didn't added content I returned to the OG 2011 tsp where i found that exploration wasn't the point of tsp, the alternative endings aren't there to be there they always contain story a sense. Stanley parable is just a game where there's a story which is counted by the narrator but you can change it. And since that I've stopped thinking about stanley parable
Idk if I should thinking about what you're talking about the story of the narrator etc this game already gave me enough of what i needed. Everything in this world have a reason to exist
The Drop at "I want to think for myself again" felt like genuine World Peace for a second.
My interpretation of the epilogue is that it’s the end, I 100% think no more Stanley parable games will come out. But the ending is supposed to show the message the game has always been trying to show, it might have said before the final room with the title screen guy that they are done with the game, but the title screen guy is supposed to hammer in and *be* the message of the main game, that there is no epilogue, that stanley and the narrator will never be separated, because no matter what
*the end is never the end*
The game ends when you say it ends, as the curator says in the museum. The only way for them to ever be separated is to close the game. I would not be surprised if they add additional content to ultra deluxe at some far point, maybe some new lines or a new ending within the fake freedom, but A new game will never occur.
My headcanon: Given that the Narrator knows that the player is real, we are just playing his game. Stanley = the player. The Narrator is just making a game for our benefit and is just an actor playing a part. Of course sometime he breaks character but it's all literally a game. He participates in the marketing, for crying out loud. He clearly remembers everything between loops, anytime he doesn't he's just pretending for affect. And he is trying to tell us a story about video games, with himself as the supporting role to the player.
I wonder if maybe Stanley was ever real or he was literarily just stories from the narrator. If he is that either means the epilogue is a hypothetical and never happens in the narrators canon or that Stanley somehow becomes sort of real and makes his own choices
I like to think that Stanley is simultaneously real and fictional. To me, The Stanley Parable and everything in it is real and just a game.
Perhaps Stanley isn't real but Narrator ended up thinking he is due to how much time has passed. He did mention that he created Stanley as a companion to suffice for his loneliness, so perhaps at first, he treated Stanley like just a doll, but after the years passed, he began seeing Stanley truly as some sort of friend he could rely on, which would also explain as how in other endings, he ends up begging for Stanley's love and attention as if the roles were reversed and Stanley is the one who is above him. Since Narrator has some sort of power over a lot of the 'world', perhaps the environments changes with his emotions which is how a part of the Stanley Parable universe ended up becoming somewhat 'real'?
I think stanley is a representation of an audience. The narrator is an artist, he wants to make things and have his thoughts be seen, so he made an audience. Why would he want this? Was he lonely with his thoughts? Yeah. Probably. But then he let this audience control his work, and he did whatever they thought was right, and while it was sometimes fun, it wasn't really what he wanted out of his work. He just really didn't want his audience to miss the point of his story, or to think it was poorly designed, but that led to him caring too much about what they say
But, once every story he could've told to this particular audience was told, he was ready to move on, and make something else, something with passion, with feeling, and not caring what any audience thinks he should do
And now, Stanley could also make anything he wanted out of the parable, since the narrator didn't care anymore. He could run the name of the parable through the mud and back, and do whatever he likes with it, they are both truly free
And they were both happy
My theory is kinda the opposite of most people, I think the narrator is the one who isn't real. Stanley was just bored in his working station and created the narrator to guide him in imaginary adventures, and he never even left his cubicle in the first place. That's why you always hear keyboard noises when clicking through things, he didn't actually left his office, he's just daydreaming about it all.
@@superjonh1000 It's both. The game is a series of ideas rather than a plot, so it has themes of Stanley being a stand-in for the player spending a bunch of time playing games, and other times it has him as just a character. The Narrator is at times just a commentary on choice, and other times a stand-in for the game's writer discussing how he became too attached to the game. I've honestly never seen a game that melds so many plots and ideas in such a skilled way.
Everytime I here the narrator talk about moving on it makes me sad. Because Im gonna miss TSP too, it really was such a fun experience, and something id wanted to see more of for years before ultra Deluxe was announced. And well. Something about looking so far in the future and everything being abandoned is deeply upsetting.
“Okay. I’m done. I think I explained everything; you can go and play The Stanley Parable now. I hope you like it. I hope you understand it.
I hope you set Stanley free.”
The original game was such a big part of my childhood, it came out when i was 8, im going to be a legal adult next year. Ive never had the opportunity to play the game myself, so I would watch playthroughs and walkthroughs here on youtube, no matter how many years passed, I often found myself coming back to this game. Looking back on it now, esspecially, I can pick out little things about me that are so clearly influenced by this game, my love for writing narrator characters and split endings in my own works.
What Im trying to say is that I loved the original, Ultra Deluxe is incredible and I love it just as much, and this dialog in particular does make me sad. It reminds me of a time I can never go back to, never revisit. Moments from my life I'll never get to remember as clearly as I should due to struggling with memory issues. But I still love this dialog, this is a lovely video, I appreciate it letting me finally express this.
Have a wonderful day, everyone.
The game originally came out when I was 13/14 and I distinctly remember begging my parents if I could buy it. I ended up buying it in secret with my mom's credit card and playing it non-stop looking for clues, unfound secrets and new things the youtube videos I watched hadn't found yet.
I feel you on all levels
@Sir Foop A.K.A Jorah Joestar did you watch nerdcubeds original video? I remember him telling his viewers that the game was so good, that they should stop watching the video and buy the game, he even had a little fact sheet to convince the parents 😂 it's tragic Nerd3 has been forgotten on RUclips these days, dude was once quite a large game reviewer around TSPs time, just like TSP life is always changing, and the end is never.
This feels like the perfect ending
Something about this is truly awe inspiring. The way the Narrator talks is something of emotional baggage that I don't think any of us were prepared for. Truly this ending tells us that if stanley is to what we are when we say it is, then the narrator is something of the sort. Tragic. I think I can say for all of us that this combination of Stanley and the Narrator is a combination of the amazing development that develops the game in ways we could never develop in that of our own childhoods. Bravo.
Crying sobbing dying Narrator best boy
There's honestly something really sad and sentimental about this. It sounds like something that should be in the Memory Zone. Perhaps it could even be some sort of area hidden far away, farther than the Bad Steam Reviews area. There _are_ a couple of locked doors in the Memory Zone after all.
Edit: Now that makes me wonder. Does Stanley know that he's 'not real'? Did Stanley even ever exist as a person in fact? As eccentric and ominous the Narrator is, Stanley is much of the same, perhaps even more. Does Stanley believe he's real? Does he know that he was created by the Narrator himself which is why he has such a habit of disobeying his creator? _Is Narrator's memories of his 'past life' when he made more meaningful decisions actually locked away somewhere in the Memory Zone?_
There's too many looming questions and so little answers. I suppose the end is truly never the end.
I have a theory that he does have memories locked away and that the pink apple room was one of them leaking out
@@Shulsa Oooh. It _would_ make sense as of how he would claim he doesn’t really know about it. Though I wonder what the heck does a pink apple that looks it came straight out of a level from Superliminal have to do with the Narrator’s ‘past life’?
@@TrademarkedIPAdress It might be symbolic. I'm still trying to figure out what it means. Or it could mean nothing and they put it there just to mess with people
@@Shulsa It could be. If it _is_ symbolic then maybe it could mean something about deceit? The Bible story of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit which many depict as an apple, and Snow White innocently eating a poisonous apple that obv kills her. Apples have always then been something related to deceit in media. Maybe it could relate to how Narrator ended up the way he was? The Time Guardian guy with the sliders does say in the Epilogue that caring too much about the game was the Narrator’s downfall so maybe it could also relate to that? He was deceived in some way which caused him to end up in such a ‘horrible’ state?
But then again, the devs are very memey and _do_ put a lot of random stuff that dont really mean anything, so… Who knows.
sorry to reply to this a year later, but it’s my full belief that (while he is a character created by the Narrator) Stanley is indeed a person with his own free will. however, when we are playing the game, we are puppeteering him. he’s fully aware, but has no control of his body, which is granted to us, the player.
there are a few instances that prove this to my knowledge. one, the promotional material for TSPUD, where Stanley clearly does not want to be marketed and forced to be a protagonist once more.
two, in TSPUD itself, during the bucket destroyer ending. it’s the only instance where a choice seems clear: either destroy the bucket or don’t, each leading to a separate ending-but Stanley does not let the player destroy the bucket. he exhibits free will stronger than ours.
the last example is during the Zending. after each fall, Stanley’s walk pattern gets slower and slower, to the point it’s a crawl by the last jump. while it’s just a first-person experience for us, our choices have very real consequences on Stanley’s body, and he can do nothing about it but suffer them.
it’s why the only way for Stanley to be free, though his world is limited, is for us *not to play.* by turning the game off, we are granting him autonomy. maybe that’s why the “Go Outside” and “Super Go Outside” achievements exist in the first place.
I'd like to think that "Stanley" is just his name for us in the story and we are living through what he used to do before he was forced to narrate the story
I can't describe the feeling I experienced while listening to this.
this game made me cry at the end
I have a theory that 'The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe" is a multiverse that colliding, like for example, the epilogue, you have the bucket before the Narrator shows you his ideas for the sequel, the machine that gives you the achievement, going to the Memory Zone a second time without the narrator having any memory about the last time they went in, once you play the epilogue it's the zone after the skip button ending, the timeline still exists, every ending still exists, we just restart and do another one while the one we left behind continues on with the ending we left them with, I have more to say but I've made my point.
It's just a theory, my game theory.
I did enjoy playing this game, so very much.
Good theory!
Whenever I watch someone play TSPUD, theyre always mildly amused by this speech. But man, maybe its just because of where I am in life but his words just hit me. "Im going to take care of myself" just feels so real.
Unrelated but something to think about :
*The end is never.*
It never ends with "The end" because it will never truly be *the end.*
*..The end is never the end is never..*
This hurts my heart and makes me kind of happy at the same time, its like that feeling when you find a moment of peace after a mental breakdown and just sit there face still wet with tears but you are smiling and enjoying this calm moment
i love this game, this experience that The Stanley Parable is. i love how silly it can be (the broom closet and almost all the buckets endings), but, at the same time, it can be so sad and depressing (the skip buttom, the ending where staley kills himself, for example)
one of my favourite moments is that place that is full of Jim buttons, and then one, just one, says in such apathic but solitarie voice "Stanley"... it feel... idk how to describe it, but it was like... i wasn't playing a game anymore.
“Look at what has become of you, a rat in the desert”
(And for the first time in his life, Stanley found his voice…)
Stanley: “This is the story of a man called The Narrator….”
People in the comments writing how english teachers want their students to write and deconstruct
.......................................................................................................
*hugs Narrator tightly*
I wonder how much of The Narrator is the writers and directors
I had a distinct beginners guide feel from some of the lines, which is made by the same person
Holy shit, no way
Wow they really did a great job with the game
Ah, yes. Nothing like an emotional ending.
good day
literal chills
Wait, so if Stanley is a figment of the Narrator's imagination he created, then who is the Female Narrator in the whole thing?!
his wife? idk
I'd love to see this paired with the sun exploding song from outer wilds
This is in my spotify playlist
0:50 I want to think for myself again
This is perfection in a video
Honestly, really didn't expect one of the games to make me cry & get emotional to be a rerelease of/sequel to The Stanley Parable.
Such a smart game, beautiful speech
The narrator often reminds me of a lonely god.
Nice Wallpaper 😉
Where did you find this speach ? 😭 I can't remember this at the end, I thought the end was when we create infinite Stanley parable ?
Did you make the wallpaper or did you get it from somewhere? I like it and wanna download it but the biggest resolution is 640x480.
I got it off of the subreddit maybe a month ago. I'm not sure if its just an in-game screenshot or if it was altered. I don't have a link to it so you'd have to go poking around the subreddit and see if you can find it.
@@JustSomeRandomPerson09 Reverse searching for the image always leads back to you, both on this video and the subreddit. If you still have the image on the computer do you think you could upload it? thanks.
I like to think he never died I think he was just taking a nap I mean you would be tired of rambling on and on maybe he got some nice warm milk and got to bed
Big glass of milk, took him millions of years to drink it
how do you get him to say this? no matter how many things I look up I can't find it.
Assuming a fresh install:
First complete 3 endings of the regular game. Then the door to room 416 will be replaced by a door to "New Content". Follow this door, and eventually the Narrator will be pissed about the disappointing new Ultra Deluxe content, so he takes you to the Memory Zone. Get the ending here, and then the new content door will have a neon sign next to it saying "New new content". This is where the narrator introduces you to The Stanley Parable 2. Visit the bucket exhibition. Then the collectible exhibition to pick up your first collectible. You can then leave the expo. Now collect the other 5 figurines. Their locations are as follows:
- behind the bottom of the stairway to the boss's office
- in the executive bathroom
- at the passageway to the mind control facility, on the right
- near the cargo lift on a plank path
- take the cargo lift, jump down on the catwalk, then reach the colored doors room and it's in a small corridor
After you do this and restart the game, the Narrator will stop you from progressing because he wants to take you to the Memory Zone to reminisce about collecting those figurines. He then wants more, so he wants to go backwards. After collecting them all in reverse order, he wonders what came before the figurines. And then you get this.
To access the Epilogue:
- On your first start of the game, set the time to anything other than 12:00.
- On your second start of the game, set the time to anything other than 12:00.
- On your third start of the game, set the time to anything other than 12:00.
- On the fourth start just set the sliders to anything you want, and press anything you want for the yes/no questions.
- On the fifth start, the "voice" will give a monologue. Click through it. At the end, he says "we might meet again soon" or something similar. Once you've done this and everything above you can play the Epilogue.
ow my heart
This is quite sad
The official soundtrack for the game has been released, and the Epilogue music is even longer in this version!
ruclips.net/video/QJ_RPw2PdnQ/видео.htmlm9s
I I think the music is a bit too loud compared to the voice at some parts.
What ending is this from?
if you collect all the figleys/stanlurines/collectibles
How do you get this dialogue?
Can someone explain me this speech and who is the narrator, a narrator of the game, or a develloper ? i don't understand all this lore of narrator need to think for him
The Narrator is an omnipresent being inside the game. He comments (and mocks) every action you take as Stanley. The game goes far into breaking the fourth wall and meta commentary, and within the universe of the game, its creator is the Narrator.
How much of this is what developers feel about the game in real life is anyone's guess.
After that speech, i did one more run, got the normal ending and exited the game. I felt different after that. This was a wonderful game from a wonderful developer.
As for me, I did the epilogue right after the speech, but I denied making TSP3. Didn’t even do the bucket versions of the New Content that you can only do post-epilogue.
(Watched them online though because I’m a cheeky bastard lol)
Why does it feel like a wake up call for people who are stuck at home having no friends and watching streams all day?
Where is this voice line heard?
After your second trip to the memory zone after you collect all the figurines
Figuranlerines
@@Salt_Mage Stanlerines
Figleys
Mini-Stans
i was expecting an ending when he said this, like a real end to stanley
this song reminds me of "reborn" from hereditary and i love it