About the Shooting Star Ending. Or it's bad to be nice. (Spoilers)

[Cirno ⑨]

So, that second ending was a bit underwhelming...

To get it you need to go out of your in playthrough. You have to beat harder version of the last boss, that is already hard. And it ends with extermination of remaining cat people. Except for one chubby cat, that will live as the last of his kind.

Meanwhile, in the first ending, humans still survive. And there is a minuscule chance, that remaining cat people will be cured one day. And hairy boy remains with his friend Yi. And the chubby cat won't be the last of his kind. And humans don't have to rebuild on a frothen hell that is slowly returning back to life!

It feels like the game actively punishes you for trying to be nice.

You want to spare the funny robots?
- Lol says the game. lmao.
They are in existential hell now. I want to emphasize that in order to assemble them like this - you need to visit extremely dangerous areas and defeat them. And Yi is the only one that could do that!

Or when you find out about harpy cat's backstory. You start to hope, that when the dust begins to settle she will have a better fate. Because she remained somewhat nice.
- Lol says the game. Lmao.
She either remains vegetable surrounded by foster children (i assume). Or become unmade as a vegetable.

I don't mind when the game can be cruel. But this game actively punishes you for not being cruel!

[Skater901]

Yeah I just did the "save the apemen" ending, and I kinda agree. I think the other ending is better, where Yi and the humans go live on Penglai. But I guess that kind of goes against the themes of the story, which is that everything has an ending, and you shouldn't fight it. That's what Heng was telling Yi all along; when it's your time to die, embrace it, don't resist it. So Yi, New Kunlun, the Eternal Cauldron Project... all of it needs to die, and the Solarians need to accept their fate.

Although what does that mean for Kuafu (Uncle Chubby)? Is he still gonna die of Tianghao on earth?

[Cirno ⑨]

Originally posted by Skater901:

Yeah I just did the "save the apemen" ending, and I kinda agree. I think the other ending is better, where Yi and the humans go live on Penglai. But I guess that kind of goes against the themes of the story, which is that everything has an ending, and you shouldn't fight it. That's what Heng was telling Yi all along; when it's your time to die, embrace it, don't resist it. So Yi, New Kunlun, the Eternal Cauldron Project... all of it needs to die, and the Solarians need to accept their fate.

Although what does that mean for Kuafu (Uncle Chubby)? Is he still gonna die of Tianghao on earth?

Yeah, Heng was one with the nature.
But there were others with strong opinions:
Harpy cat believed in survival of the strongest.
Big red cat believed in "no pain, no gain".
Old cat believed that our legacy makes us what we are.
The twins believed in... culture (?).
Old lady cat believed in science above else.
Prophet was pretty tired of life.
Old cat that teaches us new moves believed that excess leads to violence.
Hairy boy teaches forgivness and understanding.

Yi disregarded other's opinion all his life. And what did he do when he acknowledged his human friend's opinion? Disregarded it!

That second ending was so lazy! It says, that all sacrifices at humans extend, by cat people and player's nerves were meaningless in the end. If all the efforts are meaningless, then why bother playing the game? Why supporting RedCandleGames, hmm?

[sylenz]

In the first ending, Yi is still sacrificing the life of another intelligent creature to keep everything running, which makes him seem autocratic to me.

Initially, Yi treated the apemen as tools, that's true. However, throughout his journey, he learned and changed significantly. If by the end he still becomes a dictator, choosing which apemen survive based on his preferences, continuing to breed them, and killing them to harvest their brains when computing power is insufficient, it renders his entire journey meaningless (to me).

A civilized race should not base its survival on the enslavement of another race. Ultimately, you must atone for past actions. Yet, your race will not vanish from history; your existence will persist through the legacy of your civilization. From my very own perspective, this is the essence of the true ending.

[Skater901]

Originally posted by Cirno ⑨:

That second ending was so lazy! It says, that all sacrifices at humans extend, by cat people and player's nerves were meaningless in the end. If all the efforts are meaningless, then why bother playing the game? Why supporting RedCandleGames, hmm?

I'm not sure I follow. How does the "saving humanity" ending say that all the Solarians' sacrifices were meaningless? Neither ending results in the Solarians being saved from the Tianhao virus, so what makes the saving humanity end worse than the other ending? In both endings, Solarians all die (I believe) and Tianhao is not defeated. The main difference seems to be whether Yi survives, and where humanity ends up; back on Earth, or on Penglai.

[Skater901]

Originally posted by coyotl:

In the first ending, Yi is still sacrificing the life of another intelligent creature to keep everything running, which makes him seem autocratic to me.

Initially, Yi treated the apemen as tools, that's true. However, throughout his journey, he learned and changed significantly. If by the end he still becomes a dictator, choosing which apemen survive based on his preferences, continuing to breed them, and killing them to harvest their brains when computing power is insufficient, it renders his entire journey meaningless (to me).

Wait is that what the first ending means? Yi returns to Penglai with the humans in order to keep using their brains to power the Soulscape and give him more time to find a cure for Tianhao?? That was not clear at all from the ending cinematic.

[Cirno ⑨]

Originally posted by Skater901:

Originally posted by Cirno ⑨:

That second ending was so lazy! It says, that all sacrifices at humans extend, by cat people and player's nerves were meaningless in the end. If all the efforts are meaningless, then why bother playing the game? Why supporting RedCandleGames, hmm?

I'm not sure I follow. How does the "saving humanity" ending say that all the Solarians' sacrifices were meaningless? Neither ending results in the Solarians being saved from the Tianhao virus, so what makes the saving humanity end worse than the other ending? In both endings, Solarians all die (I believe) and Tianhao is not defeated. The main difference seems to be whether Yi survives, and where humanity ends up; back on Earth, or on Penglai.

By sacrifices i mean that cat people traveled a long distance to use humans for their needs. They took the humans, Wrecked Earth to the point of being unlivable. And i am not talking about sacrifices that cat people made themselves for survival.

And it all ends with: "Sorry for all that happened. The death of your ancestors and loved ones were for nothing. Have fun surviving on your planet, while remaining cat people perish".

Also in the first ending we can see pods, wich means that some cat people are still alive.

[Cirno ⑨]

Originally posted by coyotl:

In the first ending, Yi is still sacrificing the life of another intelligent creature to keep everything running, which makes him seem autocratic to me.

Initially, Yi treated the apemen as tools, that's true. However, throughout his journey, he learned and changed significantly. If by the end he still becomes a dictator, choosing which apemen survive based on his preferences, continuing to breed them, and killing them to harvest their brains when computing power is insufficient, it renders his entire journey meaningless (to me).

A civilized race should not base its survival on the enslavement of another race. Ultimately, you must atone for past actions. Yet, your race will not vanish from history; your existence will persist through the legacy of your civilization. From my very own perspective, this is the essence of the true ending.

I an not sure that exactly happened in the ending. I am talking about tyrant harvesting brais stuff...

A civilized race should not just put down arms and die. And they didn't. Yi decided for them.

And cat people's legacy will vanish from history, considering the part Yi took in destroying said legacy.

And Yi didn't learn from his mistakes. He chose for others until the very end. It's just in the second ending he learned that other's feelings and opinions might be important.

[sylenz]

Originally posted by Skater901:

Originally posted by coyotl:

In the first ending, Yi is still sacrificing the life of another intelligent creature to keep everything running, which makes him seem autocratic to me.

Initially, Yi treated the apemen as tools, that's true. However, throughout his journey, he learned and changed significantly. If by the end he still becomes a dictator, choosing which apemen survive based on his preferences, continuing to breed them, and killing them to harvest their brains when computing power is insufficient, it renders his entire journey meaningless (to me).

Wait is that what the first ending means? Yi returns to Penglai with the humans in order to keep using their brains to power the Soulscape and give him more time to find a cure for Tianhao?? That was not clear at all from the ending cinematic.

Yes I'm pretty sure that's what happened or what's going to happen in the first ending. When Yi comes back from flower field, or, I may say, the grave yard, you can see the brain stuff is running in the background as well as the vital sanctums.
Also, the grown apemen stand there telling that he has organized the recent energy reports with Shuanshuan, in short term there shouldn't be any computing shortages, and they are repairing vital sanctums.
So yes, some of the cat people are still alive, and some of apemen is able to learn solarian techs, and they are still using apemen brains to support the whole system. And when they are running out of computing powers in the future they'll need to either sacrifice apemen or let cat people die.

[sylenz]

Originally posted by Cirno ⑨:

Originally posted by coyotl:

In the first ending, Yi is still sacrificing the life of another intelligent creature to keep everything running, which makes him seem autocratic to me.

Initially, Yi treated the apemen as tools, that's true. However, throughout his journey, he learned and changed significantly. If by the end he still becomes a dictator, choosing which apemen survive based on his preferences, continuing to breed them, and killing them to harvest their brains when computing power is insufficient, it renders his entire journey meaningless (to me).

A civilized race should not base its survival on the enslavement of another race. Ultimately, you must atone for past actions. Yet, your race will not vanish from history; your existence will persist through the legacy of your civilization. From my very own perspective, this is the essence of the true ending.

I an not sure that exactly happened in the ending. I am talking about tyrant harvesting brais stuff...

A civilized race should not just put down arms and die. And they didn't. Yi decided for them.

And cat people's legacy will vanish from history, considering the part Yi took in destroying said legacy.

And Yi didn't learn from his mistakes. He chose for others until the very end. It's just in the second ending he learned that other's feelings and opinions might be important.

"Yi didn't learn from his mistakes" is exactly the part I felt like the entire journey Yi and player went through is meaningless. I mean bro you have to have take aways from all those fights and conversations..

For the brain harvest part plz take a look at the background, vital sanctums and brain power system are all running there. The report grown apemen gave says that they are repairing vital sanctums and they have also evaluated energy report, they are not in the situation of running out of energy IN A SHORT TERM. So yes that's what's happening here..

[Cirno ⑨]

Originally posted by coyotl:

Originally posted by Cirno ⑨:

I an not sure that exactly happened in the ending. I am talking about tyrant harvesting brais stuff...

A civilized race should not just put down arms and die. And they didn't. Yi decided for them.

And cat people's legacy will vanish from history, considering the part Yi took in destroying said legacy.

And Yi didn't learn from his mistakes. He chose for others until the very end. It's just in the second ending he learned that other's feelings and opinions might be important.

"Yi didn't learn from his mistakes" is exactly the part I felt like the entire journey Yi and player went through is meaningless. I mean bro you have to have take aways from all those fights and conversations..

For the brain harvest part plz take a look at the background, vital sanctums and brain power system are all running there. The report grown apemen gave says that they are repairing vital sanctums and they have also evaluated energy report, they are not in the situation of running out of energy IN A SHORT TERM. So yes that's what's happening here..

The problem is, that the game refuses to elaborate on vital information.
The point is, that the population of Earth was sufficient to turn on simulation for cat people in stasis. And population of a small village of remaining humans was enough to keep it operational.
At what rate does the brains deteriorate? How long will it take before the need for replacement will arice? Why does the cat people in stasis require simulation in the first place? I've recently finished Chrono Ark, and got answers for that question.
It should be considered, that the initial population of cat people numbered 100,000. And after Yi's mentor intervention - it got considerably lower. Which means that it needs less brains to sustain. Now there is nothing stopping human population to grow after arriving at new home. And considering that Yi is in relatively good relationship with humans now, there might be some volunteers among new generations.
And what need the cat people have in human meat. I speculate that this is mostly remains from wiping out Earth population. Cat people can easily sustain themselves on regular food, and human meat is akin to delicacy for them. The only explanation i can come up with is fertilizer. But cat harpy seemed to make do on what she had. Was all that containers with meat for drama purpose? Othervise it could be ejected into open space - to keep some space for important stuff.

[bbQQQ]

Actually, the main console at Nuwa's place shows there are about 300 Solarians left in hibernation. But according to Lady Ethereal's storyline, how many of them won't be in despair when they wake up? Plus, the new Tian-Huo virus can infect people directly in their hibernation pods, so the Solarians are actually doomed.

[Cirno ⑨]

Originally posted by bbQQQ:

Actually, the main console at Nuwa's place shows there are about 300 Solarians left in hibernation. But according to Lady Ethereal's storyline, how many of them won't be in despair when they wake up? Plus, the new Tian-Huo virus can infect people directly in their hibernation pods, so the Solarians are actually doomed.

Aren't they all infected in the first place? The idea of that whole expedition was to buy time for cure development. It's just that old cat lady found an alternative, that she liked way more. a.k.a. hivemind mutated mess.

[Malboro enthusiast]

Originally posted by Cirno ⑨:

So, that second ending was a bit underwhelming...

To get it you need to go out of your in playthrough. You have to beat harder version of the last boss, that is already hard. And it ends with extermination of remaining cat people. Except for one chubby cat, that will live as the last of his kind.

Meanwhile, in the first ending, humans still survive. And there is a minuscule chance, that remaining cat people will be cured one day. And hairy boy remains with his friend Yi. And the chubby cat won't be the last of his kind. And humans don't have to rebuild on a frothen hell that is slowly returning back to life!

It feels like the game actively punishes you for trying to be nice.

You want to spare the funny robots?
- Lol says the game. lmao.
They are in existential hell now. I want to emphasize that in order to assemble them like this - you need to visit extremely dangerous areas and defeat them. And Yi is the only one that could do that!

Or when you find out about harpy cat's backstory. You start to hope, that when the dust begins to settle she will have a better fate. Because she remained somewhat nice.
- Lol says the game. Lmao.
She either remains vegetable surrounded by foster children (i assume). Or become unmade as a vegetable.

I don't mind when the game can be cruel. But this game actively punishes you for not being cruel!

The point is to learn to let go, Solarians as a group were past their high point and they clinged to life and attempted all sorts of natural transgressions, (Like enslaving a planet full of sentient species to turn them into living computers or putting themselves into the matrix and creating a zombie apocalypse). Shooting star ending just let nature run its course and let them return to Tao, birth, growth, maturation, decay and death. Back into the natural order, he didn't kill them he just released them of this infinite cycle. Were do we have heard this before?

[Cirno ⑨]

Originally posted by Malboro enthusiast:

Originally posted by Cirno ⑨:

So, that second ending was a bit underwhelming...

To get it you need to go out of your in playthrough. You have to beat harder version of the last boss, that is already hard. And it ends with extermination of remaining cat people. Except for one chubby cat, that will live as the last of his kind.

Meanwhile, in the first ending, humans still survive. And there is a minuscule chance, that remaining cat people will be cured one day. And hairy boy remains with his friend Yi. And the chubby cat won't be the last of his kind. And humans don't have to rebuild on a frothen hell that is slowly returning back to life!

It feels like the game actively punishes you for trying to be nice.

You want to spare the funny robots?
- Lol says the game. lmao.
They are in existential hell now. I want to emphasize that in order to assemble them like this - you need to visit extremely dangerous areas and defeat them. And Yi is the only one that could do that!

Or when you find out about harpy cat's backstory. You start to hope, that when the dust begins to settle she will have a better fate. Because she remained somewhat nice.
- Lol says the game. Lmao.
She either remains vegetable surrounded by foster children (i assume). Or become unmade as a vegetable.

I don't mind when the game can be cruel. But this game actively punishes you for not being cruel!

The point is to learn to let go, Solarians as a group were past their high point and they clinged to life and attempted all sorts of natural transgressions, (Like enslaving a planet full of sentient species to turn them into living computers or putting themselves into the matrix and creating a zombie apocalypse). Shooting star ending just let nature run its course and let them return to Tao, birth, growth, maturation, decay and death. Back into the natural order, he didn't kill them he just released them of this infinite cycle. Were do we have heard this before?

By that logic humans should also embrace tao. By the end of the game human population is just a minuscule inbred tribe, that must survive on a frozen hellhole, and rely on help of terminally ill chubby cat. Their technology sure as hell won't help them survive until the ice properly melts. Doesn't seem like the end for them. I prefer examples of other sols, that struggled until their very last breath. So struggle and live, ♥♥♥♥♥! And don't be like Yi!

[kellorkleft]

Originally posted by Malboro enthusiast:

Originally posted by Cirno ⑨:

So, that second ending was a bit underwhelming...

To get it you need to go out of your in playthrough. You have to beat harder version of the last boss, that is already hard. And it ends with extermination of remaining cat people. Except for one chubby cat, that will live as the last of his kind.

Meanwhile, in the first ending, humans still survive. And there is a minuscule chance, that remaining cat people will be cured one day. And hairy boy remains with his friend Yi. And the chubby cat won't be the last of his kind. And humans don't have to rebuild on a frothen hell that is slowly returning back to life!

It feels like the game actively punishes you for trying to be nice.

You want to spare the funny robots?
- Lol says the game. lmao.
They are in existential hell now. I want to emphasize that in order to assemble them like this - you need to visit extremely dangerous areas and defeat them. And Yi is the only one that could do that!

Or when you find out about harpy cat's backstory. You start to hope, that when the dust begins to settle she will have a better fate. Because she remained somewhat nice.
- Lol says the game. Lmao.
She either remains vegetable surrounded by foster children (i assume). Or become unmade as a vegetable.

I don't mind when the game can be cruel. But this game actively punishes you for not being cruel!

The point is to learn to let go, Solarians as a group were past their high point and they clinged to life and attempted all sorts of natural transgressions, (Like enslaving a planet full of sentient species to turn them into living computers or putting themselves into the matrix and creating a zombie apocalypse). Shooting star ending just let nature run its course and let them return to Tao, birth, growth, maturation, decay and death. Back into the natural order, he didn't kill them he just released them of this infinite cycle. Were do we have heard this before?

Building off of this, narratively speaking the tianhuo mutation is the culmination of the Solarian "survival above all" philosophy.

Eigong already spent hundreds of years searching for a cure, the problem isn't that they needed more time. It's the fact that you can't separate the tianhuo virus from the gene sequence that uplifted the Solarians to sapience to begin with. In the end, she embraced the mutations as her solution, partially to satisfy her own pride in spite of the destruction her methods were responsible for, but also because the reason the mutations succeeded where the cures failed was because it required transforming the genetic relationship between Solarians and the Tao from symbiotic to predatory. The mutation literally feeds on the Tao to sustain what is basically immortality.

The message that the game is putting out is that sooner or later the needs (and wants) of a growing society will outgrow the environment they're sustained by. When that moment comes, if your goal is survival above all then it becomes only a path of destruction and spiritual death.