How to get the ending (SPOILERS)

[Otomon]

Had to make this thread for people who buy this game in the future, since most players will be flabbergasted why the game just keeps looping with no end.

On Wednesday, she will tell you to pick up apples then let her know when you have them all, instead of giving the basket to her, run all the way to the house and interact with your fathers vinyl player in the living room... ...

Thats it, no idea how anyone was supposed ever figure that out.

[Clive the Goldfish]

You literally learn how to do this by playing through the game and then doing it on the loop.

[teddy]

there's no signposting for it, how is the player supposed to figure this out? there's no hint like "your father liked to eat apples when he listened to the record player" or anything, which even that doesnt make any sense, it's just such a random ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing to have the player do. like the whole ending just felt so poorly thought out, would have been better if it just started loop 2 and then just cut to credits.

[Levrikon]

So honestly, I DO think it's possible (and even somewhat easy) to get the good ending without looking it up, it just requires the player to keep track of a couple things, and I do think 9 times out of 10 it would require playing the game for three cycles.

Both times Dad calls, he mentions talking to Mom in the orchard Thursday morning - the only problem is the first call with Dad happens Thursday evening, so by that point the player already has to start over to catch the conversation in the orchard. There, Mom mentions that she'll unlock the door to their room Friday evening, so the player can sneak into their room and hide in the closet, which is where Mom talks about the downstairs bathroom and the record player, and leaving the downstairs bathroom unlocked Wednesday afternoon - which means the player has to start a third cycle to get back to Wednesday and then pretty much just do what the OP says.

The only speed bump in the whole game is apple picking (and maybe navigating a couple dark areas), and if you get lucky with apples you can probably complete a cycle in 30 minutes or so, so if you remember Dad mentioning Thursday morning it's pretty quick to get the good ending in like an hour. But if the player misses Dad mentioning that conversation in the orchard, then yeah I could see it getting old fast.

[Alkeras]

Levikron is right, I got the good ending without looking it up or even overhearing the conversation in the closet until afterwards. The game doesn't hold your hand, paying attention is key.

There are only 3 objects you can try and interact with that block your way. You can brute force it if nothing else. Maybe playing The Enigma Machine before this helped me understand, i don't know. Solved it second loop.