Quote Originally Posted by Raype View Post
The resolution doesn't bring him happiness though. At that point, nothing does (if you take the "he's pretty much lost any shred of humanity he could have left" evil options, he even mentions that finding and killing the guy he sees as most responsible for ruining his life just makes him feel far shittier than before. He sounds nearly suicidal, in fact). And it doesn't change the fact that he's still an illegal immigrant with no real control in his life that managed to make a lot of enemies while killing a shitload of people and is tied up in the criminal underworld. How long before that catches up to him again? Never mind all the mental trauma he's endured before the game even started (and during the game, for that matter) Hell the guy who I would most easily identify as a friend to him is packie (he seems to openly loathe brucie, but puts up with him because he has to). He's got a lot of repressed guilt about murdering his brother, and if that fact ever got out things would get seriously bad. And that's if you don't go with one of the endings where they'll probably have a strained relationship anyway.

Roman is about the only guy who gets out with a somewhat happy resolution since he pretty much kept his hands clean. And that's assuming he survives. And part of his new life appears to be somewhat distancing himself from Nico. Cue Nico losing one of his primary reasons to keep things together (he's always kept Roman out of things and tried to make him happy. Without much need to do that he's lost a reason to live. Granted, he finally succeeded at something besides murdering people, but Nico is hardly an optimist).
That's true, but even though killing a certain someone doesn't bring him happiness, he still manages to kill all of the people that were trying to hurt him and his family, and at least finds peace. Also, if you choose not to kill that certain someone near the end of the game Nico seems to come to the realization that finding revenge isn't as important as he once thought, meaning (in my mind at least) that his time in Liberty City gave him a new perspective on life. Granted a lot of this is situational considering all of the choices you can make throughout the game, and either way there's going to be tragedy at the end. I just felt like despite that Nico learned that human life is precious and that he was fed up with killing by the time the game ends, so in my mind that kind of signaled changing his life for the better. I always considered Roman to be the closest friend to Nico throughout the game, but since they're family I guess that's kind of obvious. Packie does have good reason to hate Nico at the end though, unless you chose the obviously inferior choice.

I don't know if I would go so far as to say that Roman distances himself from Nico after the ending, although it's been awhile since I've beaten it and I might be forgetting something. Does he not answer your calls after the end or something? Your description of the plot is spot on though, I just personally felt like Nico manages to "win" at the end, despite everything that ends up happening. It's a very grim ending though, despite the choices you end up making throughout the game.