Ideally, I think Sam should have captured Sadiq and he would have found out about the American Dust location through the interrogation. Sure, the current ending leaves that cliffhanger of more to come, but an ending similar to Pandora Tomorrow's small pox with Norman Sloth's attempt to infect the LAX airport scenario would have worked better with Blacklist's plot IMO. Sure, Site F and the final battle with Sadiq was epic, but I really think that Sam should have either captured or killed Sadiq, and then American Dust would have been activated, prompting as the final mission in the game to stop the Blacklist once and for all. I also wish there was an American Dust mission to conclude it. I was also under the impression that Sam would automatically kill Sadiq after pressing X on the "Exercise Fifth Freedom" because Briggs killed the Secretary of State after pressing X when his text read "Exercise Fifth Freedom" as well. After the game let me choose spare of kill in certain instances of the game, it denies me freedom to choose to spare of kill at the end with Sadiq. Not saying that it is entirely a good decision for the player to be in charge of that decision, as we have seen with DA's decision making parts, especially with whether Lambert lived or died - Conviction made it clear that even if we spared him for the best ending, Lambert still died by the hands of Sam. but I wish there was some sort of consequence for either action.Īnyways, back on topic, at the end after Sam stops Sadiq, the text says "Kill", "Capture" or "Exercise Fifth Freedom" Now, this is where I instantly thought that we, the players would have direct control over the outcome of the ending. There was no direct narrative plot arc effect though, because Ubisoft wanted players to discuss why they would spare or kill these men. Of course, sparing Jadid killed him anyways. Throughout the single player, there were instances with Jadid in Mirawa, the drone operator in Chicago, and the Engineer leader in Louisiana, all of which you could decide to spare of kill them.
Now on to the part that perplexes me about the ending. Vic and Sam interrogating Sadiq for answers means he may play a minor or major role in SC7 as well.
The SMI database entry on the Group of Twelve with "no information at this time" points towards a foreshadowing of a continuous plotline for Splinter Cell 7. This way, the news stations announce Sadiq's "death", and the Group of Twelve continues their plans on coordinating other attacks on behalf of Sadiq's operations. On one hand, Sam's decision to capture Sadiq, only to reveal that Sadiq is actually alive was a good twist. What was your reaction to Blacklist's ending? My reaction is mixed.