Ending / Storyline [SPOILERS]

[pokerdan99]

First off, kudos to the developers for a creative, interesting new mechanic and a game with well-designed, tricky (but fair) challenges. I enjoyed the game greatly, despite a memory-leak issue on the laptop (played fine on desktop).

Finished the game 100%, and ran through the developer commentary. Some questions:

1) The developer commentary says that in the circus, there is another main character besides the girl. Does the cat count as a main character?

2) The achievement names and developer commentary both referece purgatory. Did the 3 characters actually die? It seems the miner is rescued via helicopter, the girl in the hospital has a heartbeat, and the little girl was fine - just the cat died (by exploding? Was this a metaphor?). If the characters survived, why the references to purgatory? Is the spider creature a guardian angel trying to lead the characters to safety? Or lead them to heaven?

3) The developer commentary references the 5 recurring character images as 'demons'. What's the deal with them? At the end, when you replace 3 of them with your characters, what's that all about? And if your characters died and replaced the demons, wouldn't one of the 3 be the cat and not the little girl? Me=confused.

4) Early in the developer commentary, it shows that there is a small bonus for those that explore by jumping left into the unknown. I found a ledge, but nothing else. What am I missing?

5). Moths?

Enjoyed the game, but would love to have some of these storyline elements less opaque and more fleshed out.

[Ome]

I was desperately looking for someone talking about this, but it seems there's almost nothing on teh internets.

1) The cat, but I would say it's a secondary character more than a main one.

2) I think they all survive by some mean. The worker by the helicopter, the girl by defibrillation, and the little girl by... exploding the cat? In any case, I believe the spider demon is guiding them back towards the light of the world the living.

3) I'm with you here.

5) Moths... Well, as it seems you become a moth after you "beat" 3 of the 5 demons, it may be a form of rebirth or a transition towards a new phase of living. But the final galaxies that you see flickering are too lovecraftian for me to come up with a reasonable explanation...

I'd love to see other people's opinions to help us figure out better what the heck was going on in the purgatory.

[MegaBrutal]

I only played the Linux version through the Humble Indie Bundle 7 - my only regret that I can't collect Steam achievements... I'm really longing for the Linux release of Steam... I didn't even know this game has achievements until now.

Also, where did you see the developer commentary? :o

I completed the first 3 worlds, though I haven't completed the final part with the alien... I wonder if it reveals more of the story...

As for the worlds (this is all just my guessing):

1. It seemed to me that the miner guy was successfully evacuated from the mine.

2. I think the girl was in coma and dreamed the forest. She finally arrived to the hospital when she found herself.

3. The kid's (boy or girl?) cat has escaped, and the kid's quest is to find the cat. Pay attention to the background art on the level when the cat "explodes". There is a guy with a monocycle on the left and Death (I guess) on the right. It tells me that the cat has wandered into the ring and got hit by the monocycle and Death took him. When the kid finds this out, just goes home (notice that in the last level he arrives to the same house he/she went away from in the first level). It is really sad because it has actuality for me since my beloved kitty died just this week. :'(

[TylerGlaiel]

I told myself I wouldn't say much about the plot but I guess I should say that one of my cats (Yoshi) died too while we were working on that part of the game :( .

[Pater Sin]

you can choose the dev commentary "mode" I guess after having beaten the game (don't need to 100% it) the "normal" ending seems to be enough. Very interesting game!

[pokerdan99]

Was just playing through The Basement Collection when I noticed Tyler's name in the credits for Aether. Impressive work. :) Interesting that there's an easter egg in Aether where the main character shows up as 'The Demon'

http://www.giantbomb.com/the-basement-collection/61-39604/all-images/52-627535/the_devil/51-2307994

You'd think that if he was leading the 3 characters back to safety/life (which seems reasonable), that he'd be more of a guardian angel than a demon.

[Pater Sin]

There is one level (I think it was in the circus) where there are lots of references to other indi games the main characters of Aether is one of them. See if you recognise them all ;)

[MegaBrutal]

I've finished the game (got all Moths and the very ending), and I have still no clue what's the meaning of this game (I mean, story-wise).

So... there is Purgatory, 5 demons, Cthulhu, worker guy, comatose girlie, kid with cat... got it... But how do they connect, and what is the whole picture they form? Any ideas?

I haven't read the H. P. Lovecraft novels, would that help? I mean, does Cthulhu strongly connect to the story at all?

Do the 3 characters die or do they survive? Are the demons good or bad? Since the alien seems to give/offer the characters to the demons... I guess he wouldn't do that if the demons were evil... unless the alien is also evil himself, which we also don't know for sure... I don't even know what is the meaning of this ritual with the 5 demons at all - maybe he doesn't really give the characters' souls to the demons but it means something else.

Maybe the carnival/circus part is really about the cat and not the kid, thus the kid survives, though he tries to save the cat in his dream... But then why does the alien offer the kid to one of the 5 demons and not the cat?

And what does actually happen in the ending part when the alien transforms into a big Moth?

[Arnvald]

I know we are looking for a happy ending, but why do You thing we are saving theme?

[Ome]

I think it's pretty clear. The miner gets to the choppa, the girl's monitor shows signal of life, and the kid retuns safely home. The demon we control just brings them back to life and in some way they are not the same anymore, because their souls (the masks?) are bound to the purgatory.

[Pater Sin]

here are my thoughts. I think you can take the name of the game and the light mechanic rather litteral. Meaning you are bringing some kind of closure to the peaople you are playing (as the deamon, he is guiding them to the light). So I think the 3 characters acutally died at some point and you are guiding them to some kind of heaven maybe.

[Arnvald]

I readed somewhere that the title "closure" is from a guy who was saing something about remembering what is there, but You can't see it any more (referenc to the dark places, without light) or something like that. Sorry don't remember what it was and how it was explained.

Still it can be about clousing some buisnes.

It's not like I dont agree with You but I wanted to look at it from a different angle:
What if all the people were near death, but didn't need our help to be saved? What if the deamon is not saving theme but using them to gather mooths, that are gathering near life force. The only way for him to get near the mooths is when people almoust die. If so, than he must use three persons to gather all the mooths, because someone is saving the people.

Masks: got a question, did any one try to put a mask on the first deamon that apeard in that persons story?

[julb]

man, i've got to know where are the faeries, i just have 14/30, and don't know all stages that they appearing

[Pater Sin]

if you have finished the game you can go back to the level select areas and there it should show you above each door if there is a moth in the level

[Quinterfell]

I was totally surpised that I turned into a moth at the end, but it was somehow fitting that you were the mommy moth or something depositing the little babies to guide someone along to the exit... I dunno. I loved this game. Such wonderful puzzles, such moody art and music. Was sad when it ended!

[Dan_Dan84]

Yeah, Closure is certainly an awesome game! It's gonna stay with me for a while. I think I wanted some closure (ha!), so that's why I seeked out this thread. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one utterly confused by this game. But it's art, I guess; it's not supposed to be easy.