My disappointment with the 'good ending' in OMORI *SPOILERS*

[..............]

I absolutely loved OMORI when I first played it. Everything from the premise, the music, the artwork and the plot was nothing short of being genius. Unfortunately however, the story takes a gigantic nose dive at the end, which, in many repsects ruins the game.

The idea that Sunny killed Mari in an accident and together with Basil, in an attempt to avoid responsibillity, staged her suicide and virtually got away with it is a massive plot hole and damages the scope of the story IMO.

Sure, all be it VERY rare, it has absolutely happened that a child has died at the hands of another child by 'accident' during an argument, but never in the history of mankind has the same child also disposed of the other persons body by staging a suicide by hanging. First of all, not only is it essentially physically impossible, given Sunny and Basils physical capabilities, to be able to carry Marie's corpse to the backyard and somehow (without a chair for example) hoist her body over a strong enough tree branch with a noose (which are quite difficult to make without any prior knowledge, especially for Sunny and Basil who are experiencing the most stressfull moment of their lives) and make it look believable.

It's also not believable in regards to their characters. Yes, It is true that the human mind does questionable things when under so much shock and panic, but taking it this far is really stretching it. Just imagine what it would take to carry, not only a dead person, but your sister, whom you just killed, whom you presumably love more than anyone else in the world (as for the case with Sunny) to hang her lifless body in your backyard. Not to mention the fact that they seemingly managed to fool everybody including the police, who, atleast where I live would with all certainty follow up on this very conspicous and sudden death of a teenager. In some 'flashbacks' in black space the devs give the player reasons to believe that Sunny's parents knew about what really happened, but didn't act on it in any official capacity. But this does not exempt the police in this example, whom, would find out the truth rather quickly after a not-so-thourough investigation, which again is a massive plot hole.

Normally I don't care for plot holes in games, films or books, but in this particular case, it's hard not to. Partly because the plothole is more of a plot-crater, and also because it shoves a knife right into the heart and soul of the game, which is supposed to be about childhood, friendship, love, grief and learning to move on. Which, in all fairness, still holds true for the ending we were given, but is overshadowed by this very poorly executed idea to own up to your wrong doings. If they had chosen to go down that path, that's fine, but that would have required a lot more build up, and also a much more believable chain of events explaining exactly how Sunny caused Mari's death and how he and Basil dealt with her body.

What probably bothers me the most out of all of this is how easy it would've been to just not include this super edgy, anime-infused dark plot twist. It really feels as if some random guy snuck into their office at night and wrote the script for the last hour as opposed to the actual devs, since everything that comes before it is sublime. It just feels so trite, jarring and pointless, and is therefore a massive disappointment, given the fact that the game would've been perfect had they just not done that in that particular way.

My preferred 'good ending' would be somewhere along the lines of revealing to the player that Mari commited suicide and then later on have Sunny confront his escapism from reality (OMORI and headspace) in the exact same way as he did in the game, by defeating OMORI, and thus letting go of the guilt he has for not being there for her and the grief and utter dispair her death has caused him. He reunites with his friends, and is ready to move on with his life, despite having lost arguably the most important person in his life. I think this ending works, since it honors the games core themes, but also holds true to the rest of the story. Sunny's guilt for example is not something that has to be excluded from this ending since, like all people who loses a loved one to suicide, Sunny would feel immense guilt, as well as overwhelming sadness. A sudden suicide by Mari doesn't have to be a big leap either, since it happens quiet frequently in real life that someone, who seems to have 'everything' in their life, kills themselves due to depression for instance. At the very least it's still a lot more probable than what actually transpired.

All in all I just felt empty after finishing the game, that should've been a masterpiece. If other people can se past this, or if they just simply don't care, or even liked the ending that the devs made, that's understandable to some extent, since art is largely subjective and I can't really judge you for it beyond the concrete points I have made in this post. The ending just didn't do it for me, and was instead just a giant let down.

[Xorik]

Firstly, it's a game. It contains aspects similar to reality, but it should not be seen as a mirror of our world. Some events that take place are not realistic to begin with (ex: Kim and Vance's dad running through a wall and making a hole), which signals us to not perceive the game as our world.

Second, there have been previous discussions regarding the events that followed Mari's death in which the parents could clearly tell it was staged but chose to keep the truth from everyone else (hence the memory of Sunny's mother saying she will protect him). Would you be fine with telling everyone your child knows that they killed their sibling on accident? The staging of the suicide seems unrealistic, but again, this is not our world, and nowhere in the game do they give any sense of anyone's weight or strength at the time it happened. Though, it is implied in the Real World that Sunny is extremely weak given that he stayed indoors for four years. Nor do they show us every moment when they stage the suicide. It is up to us to imagine how exactly they did it and what Basil said to Sunny during all of that.

"What probably bothers me the most out of all of this is how easy it would've been to just not include this super edgy, anime-infused dark plot twist."
This is a plot around someone who is a hikikomori because he accidently killed his sister. I am not sure why you are playing with a certain expectation for how the build-up leads to the big decision at the end when this is a first for most of us.

Third, suicide makes even less sense seeing Basil's Memories and knowing what Mari had in her life and her influence in the story. Suicide is contemplated and done by some who carry the burden of guilt, grief, or other forms mental stress that can be inflicted upon them beyond what they are willing to endure (leading to the player's option at the end of the Hikikomori route), which does not apply to Mari in any sense regarding her character background. It made sense in a game like Blank Dream, but definitely not this.

Once again, your issues with this game's plot have been discussed before by many others. You can look them up and see what others have said. You could just play the Hikikomori route and accept that ending to be realistic and the proper ending if you do not like the Good Ending. As for me, I am content with the plot, Sunny's guilt, and how he faces his internal conflict in the Good Ending.

[CtenosaurOaxacana]

I'd like to point out that everything you're complaining about is still plausible: it's a series of events that could happen in real life, even if it's 'not likely'.

Plus,
Basil thought of this 'Mari suicide' cover-up idea cause he's pretty dark-minded kid and probably already contemplated suicide back then. His 'soft boy' 'everything is fine' persona is a coping mechanism for this, now more than ever.

Mari could've died from a neck injury fall in a way that would match a hanging suicide. That may be convenient, but it's certainly possible.

Sunny's parents could've covered up some evidence that shows the discovered 'suicide' is a red herring, for various reasons like wanting to keep the other kids in the dark, despite also being badly traumatized. And the local police dept might be incompetent. It's possible nobody ever suspected Basil's involvement.

Two pre-teen boys can definitely carry around a dead teen girl, if they wanted to. 12 yr olds are not weaklings, and people can find more strength in desperate moments.

A bit unrelated, but she was definitely dead during all this. Basil & Sunny would've noticed Mari breathing or having a pulse, or some kind of involuntary struggle as she was being hung. I keep seeing talk about 'what if she was still alive' just cause of her open eye... but dead people don't always close their eyes. It's the living people around them that choose to close them, so they don't get potentially traumatized by 'dead gaze' like these two did.

I'm sure there's other considerations too, but those are the main points that come to mind about why this plot reveal is more realistic than not. 'Unlikely' is not the same as 'unrealistic'.