Bastion - Saving Zulf

Probably the most powerful moment in the game. I couldn't leave that adorable fool.

[bossfight]

It's easy to tell a story through cutscenes and cinematics.

It takes true vision and talent to tell it through gameplay.

[axesaxeofaxeness]

The way the Ura stop shooting in awe, how the one person who killed most of them - killed all who opposed him... Sacrificed himself for the man who caused it all. And then when a cross-bow-woman starts shooting she is struck down for her disrespect.
 And the way Rucks says "Probably dealt with Zulf by now" implies that Rucks assumed Kid would kill Zulf... Jeez, dats powerful.

[cloak]

A bit of trivia: they actually did separate Ura voice recordings for this scene. Before the audacious crossbowman shoots, you hear a female Ura yell something. She says the same line again after striking him down for disobedience; she was ordering a cease fire. Besides that, you can hear several voices reacting with awe.

[redneckedcrake]

Like some of the best antagonists in fiction, Zulf's motives were completely understandable. You just can't be mad at the guy for what he went through.

[DusttheRegulus]

I couldn't leave him. It's very touching. Despite the fact that they try to gun you down at the beginning, they stop attacking you.. they even strike down one of their own for firing at you.

[JswahSwitch]

Still one of the most emotion driven sequences I've ever played in a video game. Not even the triple A titles could bring such a deep, emotional response. It was truely hopeless, but you felt like you where doing the right thing, even as your taking arrows left and right, downing your last heal on a road that is far to long for you to survive. You made your choice and it's time to walk it. This moment will be with me for a good many years. Just pure badass and epic writing

[MrBozuu]

My parents didn't sign permission for this feels trip.

[YaGirlJuniper]

Truly, as the Kid braved the gauntlet, it crossed his mind that taking Zulf might've been his last mistake. The end had been in reach, and he left behind his only weapon, all so he could drag a traitor home. The Bastion was lost. He'd failed.

Then they stopped.

The soldiers stepped aside. One kept going... and got cut down by the commander.

They let him go.

They must've seen it at that moment. He wasn't no murderer. He wasn't the same as the ones who caused the calamity. He was just a kid.

[TopPranksDaily]

I could never leave zulf... even though ive beaten the game 4 times

[KashKey-]

My first playthrough of the game, I saved Zulf. It wasn't personal... He was just doing what he thought he had to. Hell, he even tried to save my ass by warning me before I went back to the bastion, and when I saw him getting hit by the Ura... The grudge I had against was just... Gone. I picked him the hell up and made my run for it. I knew hell was about to rain upon me, I didn't have a weapon anymore. (And thank god for that, I hated the Battering Ram. It was so slow I just couldn't HIT ANYTHING AND GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SHITS SO I CAN END YOU ALREADY!) Then the music kicked in... And as I was slowly gunned down, I was determined to make it through. I used the cover to my advantage, as I kept an eye on my health elixers, and slowly trudged through. I downed my second elixer, as the arrows slowly came to a halt. I kept going on, another archer. WHAM, down it goes... Downed by another Ura. And that's when I realized what was happening, and smiled. I'd made the right choice. We made it back to the Bastion, I wasn't TOO concerned, I had 3 elixers left after all. (Thank you tonics.) And then I made my choice... I evacuated. After all, if we turned back the clock... What was stopping the calamity from happening again? Hell, I didn't even use the Calamity Cannon as a weapon. It was just sickeningly WRONG, as I forcibly brought the calamity into the remains of the Ura town. I despised the thing, it was disgusting to use. Needless to say, when they let me get rid of it for my Dueling Pistols, I was relieved.

[rasmus]

I love how they left the low HP special effects and potion reserves untouched in this sequence. I tried to progress unharmed as long as possible, drinking a potion whenever it prompted me.

After I had chugged the last potion, I said to myself "Huh, so this is where it all ends... wait, hold on, they're no firing O.O "

[courtneykoval]

Just finished playing this game for the first time... This part was incredibly powerful. Definitely on the list of reasons why I love this game. I played through both options, taking and leaving Zulf, and the comparison between the two made this option super special. I love it.

[MrKrashmoney]

The decision to save or leave zulf was one I had to stop think about for at least 10 minutes, pacing around my room weighing the moral and practical implications of either choice. It came down to a very real "I would want him to save me, and he's probably learned his lesson."
No other game has ever stopped me like that.

[samuelcardwell]

Such a profound profound moment. It made me cry the first time and it nearly made me cry again then. Although lots of games have moved me, this is just such an incredible, redemptive moment, accentuated by the way Rucks assumes that you must have killed Zulf.

[MastaDRD]

If you don't save Zulf, you are a fucking monster. This part of the game is no less than a humanity test.

[longan]

I remember I was so touched and humbled when my enemies stopped attacking me out of respect, and even attacked the guy who tried to attack me after all. And that last song... just beautiful

[moonbun]

This was the moment I fell in love with Supergiant Games. Before making the choice to save Zulf, I thought our actions were meaningless, that the two choices were a façade, that we'd either kill Zulf or both die trying to save him.

When the archers stopped firing I inhaled sharply as the realization that the game was letting me choose compassion hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to pause the game and take a break before I could continue. What an emotional trip.

[HarlemHusky]

I like the moment at 1:56 where the dude firing just got smacked.

[YaGirlJuniper]

The Calamity had left a crater in the planet, but there was still a whole world left. You can see this if you choose to evacuate.

The Bastion was never guaranteed to fix anything. All it does is turn back time, but we lose our knowledge. There's nothing preventing the Calamity from happening again. Maybe if it got used enough times, we'd eventually get a future with no Calamity.... but what if, in the process of trying, we ended up with one where The Kid failed or died IN the Calamity?

[psychopomp]

I used to play the shit out of the demo for Bastion on my older brother’s Xbox 360 when I as a kid. Something about the game’s art, music, story, and mechanic effortlessly captured my attention. So when my brother finally bought the full version on his laptop, I of course watched him play it.

The image of the Kid carrying Zulf to safety as Ura soldiers pelt him with arrows had been burned into my mind as a core memory ever since. This was the first time I truly saw how video games can be used as a powerful storytelling medium unlike any other.