[SPOILERS]The ending sucks. no seriously it does.

[BAM4000]

The big reveal at the end and what proceeded felt like a wet fart. almost feel like it was a budget thing.
The biggest ♥♥♥♥ you to me at least is that the game makes it seem like you will get to use all these cool curses in different situations(its even in the steam store description) or something and you really never get to use... well ANY of them in the main story paths at all and the button prompt for it is only really used in like one alternate bad end for ONE character..
Also IMO i wish there was an alternate route where shogo goes around fighting all the curse bearers and completes the ritual by learning about the curses and how to stop them due to you progressing in the other paths, would have been a cool bad end.
The game was fun to be honest, i dont hate it, but it felt like there was supposed to be more at least to me.

[Sammun Mak]

So the ending sucks because it wasn't the ending you wanted?

[BAM4000]

Originally posted by Sammun Mak:

So the ending sucks because it wasn't the ending you wanted?

i think its just that the ending was kinda anti-climactic maybe? like i said i actually enjoyed the entire thing. you're probably right and i just expected more haha.

[Albus Dumblesnore]

The ending you wished for was the ending I was hoping for as well, but it sits well with me now. You did go back to get the ending with Shogo right? I found it made sense and even tied up a couple loose ends while explaining the VN meta-narrative and setting.

[Sammun Mak]

The ending bugged me in the way that it meant that 99% of what we did didn't happen, which I always dislike in fiction. It just feels like it was all for nothing even though it was necessary to learn enough. But other than that, I thought it was a very satisfying ending that finally explained what happened during that part of the prologue, something that was stuck in the back of my mind the whole time playing.

I'll also say that the most interesting part of the game was trying to figure out/understand everyone else's curse mechanisms, which is why the whole prologue is so strong. It would have been cool if more of the game was based around that, likely slowly having to figure it out to get past certain situations. That was deprioritized in the rest of the game.

[Ymmas]

I agree that the best part of the game was the first half, and the second part feels like a different genre altogether (paranormal death game vs paranormal mystery).

I still enjoyed the game, but definitely understand how one can feel bait-and-switched.

[MegaMan]

Yeah, I'll agree the first part was definitely way more interesting when you were out and about actually fighting than the second where things just turned into a more detective-like situation.

[Updoggo]

i really liked the ending, but was a bit disappointed with how little you could actually use curse stones, as well as not many like tense moments with other curse-bearers except for the prologue. however, i think this is a great first step for a possible series of games, it has a lot to expand upon and a lot of other cool folklore it could use

[Songin]

Yep. The ending completely nullifies all character development we got throughout the story. It would have been better to have had an ending that allows you to beat Youko in a final chapter, with that being the "True Ending". And then having the Shougo ending be a sort of "secret" ending.

[Jackdaw Mask]

I like the ending and that most of character seems to "normally" get similar character development anyway(Yakko and Mio are friends and exorcise Michiyo, Erio and Mayu start to suspect Tsutsumi knows something about supernatural and Tsutsumi learns Ayame was involved in covering up crime that likely meant they had similar conversation they had in the conclusion ending but with less murder)

My main confusion is "who was that random office lady Namigami killed with foot washing mansion? Just random person he tested it on?"

[Weird_Wes]

I'm definitely having similar Feelings. All the marketing around this game screams "SCARY PARANORMAL VISUAL NOVEL D-D-DONT LOOK BEHIND YOUUUUUU!!" and admittedly, with that First whole Story and most of the early paths in the Morning up till we hit Daylight again were fantastic and suprisingly anxious. It was getting a little like "Jojos Bizzarre Adventure" vibe where there was seemingly a GOAL in mind with the Soul Dregs and learning each Curse Users powers and rules and how to outwit eachother. The little bit of Meta Gaming right out of Metal Gear to deal with a particular Curse User was fantastic even if it was totally a move nobody will EVER figure out within the game itself unless you accidentally check the settings menu and it clicks or you pulled up a Guide.

You barely EVER "use" items in the whole rest of the game despite there being a dedicated button just to keep track of your inventory on screen at ALL TIMES instead of hidden away in the Menus with all the actually important information like the Files? Theres tons of Character Art for people we never meet or even see directly in cutscenes or flashbacks, just to have for the Files as some kind of Red Herring. Some Character Motivations either seemingly REALLY dont fit the persons personality (I dont believe for a second THIS Guy would Restrict THAT person, he has ulterior motives..) or their motivations are so.. inconceivably childish (An Artist? You would waste it on an ARTIST??) that I can't take them as serious threats even when scenes are meant to imply such. Some plot threads almost seem like decoys or propped up to indicate something incredibly dark and tragic and instead its "oh wait really??? Its NOT something REALLY GROSS its??" just "I know what you did Lah-Dee-Dah".

And oh my god, that final revelation is absolutely horrible. Sorry Game Devs, but just because -I- play the game doesn't mean -I- want to be PART of the narrative by including me playing the game as an actual important final story beat. Lazy as hell, awful way to wrap things up. It's great this didn't cost more because honestly, with Steams Refund Policy as-is I'd say playing withing those first 2 hours is the best this game gets and everything after that window of time wouldn't be worth the money.

[Prinny𖤐Wesker]

Man, I absolutely loved every minute of this game right up until the cleansing ritual

Hitting the reset button is such a lame cop out and it renders many of the story's emotional beats completely meaningless

Also this is really bugging me: if we could use player knowledge to influence Shogo and Mayu's actions, why couldn't we stop Mio and Erio from walking away?

"It was the only time she could be stopped" my ass.

[Toren_S [Also Friendly]]

You couldn't influence their actions because they weren't curse bearers, but it does beg the question of why you could see the scene in the first place.

I also don't really like 'but nothing you did matters' although the twist did make sense I had been wondering how she died and that curse was the only one that made sense. And they did sort of show the characters developed mostly the way they did in the story, so it wasn't quite as bad as 'nothing you did matters'. Still agree the start was the strongest part of the game.

I will say though if you didn't pick up that you the player were actively part of the game, it was kinda of beating you over the head with it about how 'well you'll have to activate this ability for them because it's not something they can even be aware of' and bouncing around the story to give people knowledge they shouldn't have. Granted I've played other games that utilize this meta-stuff and liked it there, and it's fair if you don't like it.

[dgresevfan]

The crappy thing about the ending is that a serial killing psychopath got out of jail and is happily working in a school full of potential victims. And nobody has worked out who he is, seemingly.

[GuineaPrince]

Originally posted by dgresevfan:

The crappy thing about the ending is that a serial killing psychopath got out of jail and is happily working in a school full of potential victims. And nobody has worked out who he is, seemingly.

No, pretty sure he didn't get off.

I replayed the ending right now to confirm it, and yeah. After investigating Iwai, there's a later scene with Tsusumi and Nejima.

It's certainly no friendly play date.

[dgresevfan]

Originally posted by GuineaPrince:

Originally posted by dgresevfan:

The crappy thing about the ending is that a serial killing psychopath got out of jail and is happily working in a school full of potential victims. And nobody has worked out who he is, seemingly.

No, pretty sure he didn't get off.

I replayed the ending right now to confirm it, and yeah. After investigating Iwai, there's a later scene with Tsusumi and Nejima.

It's certainly no friendly play date.

From what I saw they were just talking. Nejima, still in disguise, said "hi" to his "favourite policeman". And asked about the daughter.

That was it. No arrest or anything. Justice demands that guy get killed horribly.