[Spoilers] Do the choices at the end of the game do anything?

[zhunGamerTTV (人^▽')～]

I've chosen the Take Zulf option and the Restoration protocol, but I don't really know if, for example, leaving Zulf there and the Evacuation protocol actually change the outcome. Considering, you don't really know the outcome with the Restoration.

May I take some hints?

[Grenadier23]

I'm currently on my second playthrough after initially choosing Restoration. It doesnt seem like there are any real differences aside from some narration lines. Sometimes the narrator hints at the fact that this has all happened before, and that all your actions have an air of familiarity.

Hope that helped

[zhunGamerTTV (人^▽')～]

Well that's depressing. That would mean my first playthrough 'has been for nothing'. xD

[- Insigne -]

Technically, there shouldn't be anything difference.

The narrator even hints at this when he explains how the bastion works. It might change, or it might not. Also, the starting line "Proper story's supposed to start at the beginning, ain't so easy with this one" makes a lot of sense after the first playthrough.

It also gives the game a slight time paradox feel, where you are stuck on an endless loop, not being able to escape. Having no memory of using the bastion means nothing will change and you'll be stuck repeating the same steps over and over and over and over....

Except the player DOES remember what happened last time, and can change the ending accordingly.

[Revelation 23]

I don't think it matters whether you choose to save Zulf from the Ura that turn on him or not. For the record, I've picked him up every time. Just felt like the right thing to do.

It looks like if you choose Restoration, Zulf and his fiancée get to have a happy life, the Kid still works on the wall, the Stranger continues his research and Zia performs, but doesn't appear to be very happy. True, it could be a repeat of everything that's happened over and over and we could just be seeing the day before the Calamity. But the Stranger does make a comment about finding it hard to believe that they'd all forget about the Calamity after all they'd just been through.

Maybe nothing does change, but I'd like to think that the Bastion still gives it a chance, allowing for one thing to happen differently until the Calamity can be prevented. I prefer the Evacution ending myself. Zulf does lose his fiancée but seems to recover and find a role to fill, Zia gets to be happy, the Kid gets to do something besides work the wall (and maybe has a life with Zia) and the Stranger gets to see what else might be left.

[bvguthrie]

If you leave Zulf you will not hear the song "Mother, I'm Here." Also, according to a video I found, Zulf does not appear in the credits if you leave him, then choose evacuation, so apparently he dies in that case.

[BlackSadbath]

Has anyone chosen evacuation and then started newgame+? Is newgame+ any different if you choose evacuation vs. restoration?

[Rayst]

it's a good game