Thoughts on the story/ending? {Obviously Spoilers}

[Netsa]

Surprisingly pleasant, this game, especially for the genre. I took more tries on that blue guy than I would like to admit considering I was abusing MSG like crazy for most of the game (who needs a gun when you have *PaRTy tImE?!*). All of his attacks seemed to hit slightly early for some reason.

I thought the main conflict of the story--Kril getting his shell back--was kind of weak, but the ending was strong enough to make up for it. Seeing the bittersweet conclusion where Kril basically chooses to become a folk hero was a nice sendoff.

Most of the events of the story would have happened regardless of whether Kril was there or not, but that fact was pretty well concealed. The characters could have been fleshed out a little better, though. Besides Nemma, it felt like each character had one disconnected cartoon episode dedicated to them, enough to show off their relationship to Kril, but not much more than that. It was serviceable, and more than a lot of games bother with, but it was also just enough to get me interested in a character directly before they died. Especially the bosses; I definitely would have liked to know more about Inkerton, or Voltai (the pink electric eel).

I kinda wish there was an alternate ending where Kril actually does go back to the tide pool, though. Brings the "fork" with him to stab birds and just relaxes by the sunset.

[Chaoz]

This is an older post, but just having finished the game recently and spotting this, just wanted to give a response

I found the ending pleasant, but kind of jarring. The final walk through New Carcinia after beating Firth makes things seem like things aren't gonna be ok. Firth still made it so trash buried much of the city, the Perfect Whorl is shattered, the Gunk is still rampant, and now that the city is covered in trash, its now highly likely the citizens will get gunked eventually too. And it doesn't end on a good, concrete note for Kril either, his talk with Nemma is mostly bitter, especially with how Nemma reacts with bewilderment and shock when Kril states he still is going to get his shell back. Because the game (mostly Nemma, but Chitan as well) keeps reinforcing the idea that Kril going back to his tidepool is a BAD thing. Not only does it mean he'll simply let the rest of the ocean keep falling into chaos and despair, not doing a single thing about it, but near the end, Kril questions if he was even happy in the tidepool. He was safe, but utterly alone, and after the Siphonophore fight he confesses he doesn't want to be alone anymore. He does, right before confronting the prawn for our shell, decide on the vague idea that, while he doesn't want to return to the tidepool, he also doesn't want to stay in the city either, and he just "hasn't found his home yet".

And after ALL that pretty downer stuff, and murdering that prick prawn (which IS pretty satisfying), we get an ending slideshow that shows that, oh, its all good. Everything is fine, New Carcinia ISN'T buried in trash anymore and everyone's doing well! It's not like I wanted everyone to die horribly in the city, I just don't like being told one minute that the city is basically in ruins and things have gotten even worse, only for the next minute to reveal that it all turned out ok, it's super weird. It's not like the citizens got rid of the trash, they LOVE the stuff, they don't wanna clean it up. So yeah, it bothers me a bit.

The ending revealing Kril gave his shell to the homeless hermit is nice, but I don't feel it really wraps up Kril's story, his "ending" doesn't feel like an ending, super open-ended and vague on him still trying to find his place in the ocean.

And on that semi-final note, yeah I wish we knew more about these other characters and bosses, especially Inkerton (we do get a shred of his backstory, but that's it.)

overall, still good, I just wish the ending clarified things better, both on how the city recovered and what happens to Kril, but a flawed ending doesn't change the fact the rest of the game was amazing, so I don't mind all that much

[Netsa]

Just a couple of weeks on a slow board, it's not a necro. Thanks for responding! I agree for the most part; nothing is resolved, and things remain bitter. That's pretty much how Souls stories go, though, so while it felt out of place here, I didn't mind it. Especially since, as you said, the game overall was fantastic.

Below is a bunch more overexamination of the game's story.
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The negative reinforcement on Kril's shell was weird to me, because it only showed up for the first time shortly before they went to pick up the treasure. No one showed any interest in Kril himself or his motivation for fighting until he said he wasn't sharing the money, and they still didn't care afterwards. They were relying on Kril for their survival, but they were so set on Kril being a selfless hero, no one really put any thought into why Kril wanted his shell so badly. It being important to him was thrown away by the story (which easily could have went in a "Kril can bring his home *anywhere*" direction), and no other character, including Nemma, ever shows interest in helping him get it back, despite him constantly talking about it for the whole game.

It's one of the reasons I wish there was an alternate ending, that whole thing was a little messed up. Kril giving his shell away doesn't feel like it wraps up his story because it doesn't. That shell was Kril's whole life for a long time. He cared about it a lot. As sad as the other denizens (and writers) might think that is, throwing it away but *still* leaving Kril aimless and unhappy is a very strange conclusion. It wasn't replaced by anything, he just decided to take up the cape of helping everyone else... at his own expense... for the rest of his life. At his age.

I think the idea with the city was that people died and a large section of the city was buried during the initial drop of trash (which would have been worse if Kril didn't break it up, but he didn't stop it). They used the trash to rebuild, and that's why things seem to be going better. However... gunk wasn't dealt with at all, and it's immediate destruction of the first area makes the second area really inconsistent. Gunk was barely even in Slacktide, but the queen there, the one living in the most luxury, still gave in to it. Carcinia is in a more depressing state for pretty much the whole game, but evidence of people "turning" is incredibly minor there for seemingly no reason.

The only difference I can think of is that Slacktide didn't experience trash days... which kinda sounds like wealth (the primary source of their happiness there) is some kind of antidote to the effects of pollution, which doesn't make any sense. If material wealth is that great, why did we take such a massive dump on Kril's shell?