So... The ending (spoilers)

[shionch]

First of all, I like this game. It's clever and well made. The ability to choose your gender and profession, the interesting twist on the "silent protagonist" trope, the beautiful art and gorgeous animation - it's all great. But...
The ending is disappointing, to say the least.

"The world would have been better if you never existed. You should kill yourself, and if you don't - everyone you care about will die and you yourself will be mentally r*ped over and over and over again."
^ This is what the ending boils down to. This is what the game tells you. It's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ depressing!

Don't get me wrong, I can enjoy grim finales. In "Primordia" there's a similar decision in the end, and "thanatos" - arguably the darkest of the endings - is my favorite.

But this game... There's no sense of poetic justice, no breathtaking grandiosity in the end. The animation is beautifully done, no arguing that, but there's no beauty story-wise, it's just pain and fear and despair. You don't really make the decision - you are forced into committing suicide. (Whether you erase yourself by demanding to be released, or you actually jump, doesn't matter - you stop existing, the end.)
And I just can't forgive the villain and work with them as they are. It makes me sick, knowing they would force themselves onto you if you said no, it's just revolting.
The whole thing doesn't even feel like a noble sacrifice, it feels like self-interest - choosing non-existence over being tortured. You're an animal chewing off its own leg and bleeding out rather than accepting life in captivity.
It's just bleak and cruel by design, ugly and depressing, and it doesn't feel satisfying at all.

What a satisfying ending for this story would even look like? I don't know. Maybe if we could make the villain feel sincere remorse for their actions. Not that arrogant half-hearted "I need you because you're useful" bs. Maybe if they acknowledged how terrible their actions had been, and apologized for the pain they caused. Maybe if they simply killed you if you refused their offer, instead of that horrible "possession". Maybe if they didn't blackmail you but gave you a genuine choice...
Maybe, maybe, maybe!
I don't know. Maybe it's just the kind of story that doesn't have a happy ending. But it doesn't work as a tragedy either.

As it is, I find the ending disappointing.

[IceLogic]

There are a couple of points where my opinion would differ.

Firstly, I don't find the option of release to be particularly suicidal or horrible; ultimately, you're an eternal (or incredibly long-lived) spirit which has spent just over a year in bondage to a human, and then less than two weeks independently existing in a human body. You're returning to your actual nature, having spent the spirit equivalent of about one second erroneously believing yourself to be a human whose memories you inherited. I actually wanted to return to my "true" existence as soon as it was revealed what I really was, so personally I don't see that as a negative outcome. You do continue to exist and are not erased (although the essentially fictional individual who existed for a week or so is).

The second point actually relies on a different weakness of the game: I think that the antagonist's motivations were so one-dimensional and insubstantial that I don't think it would really make any sense or be satisfying to be able to talk them out of it. They spent the year committing horrendous crimes, and right up to the end, they want to reunite with you and do some more, so you'd need some kind of tremendous leverage to get them to change their mind and show remorse. But there really isn't any leverage to be had; their personality is "I'm evil" and their motivation is "uhhhhh... I don't fit in so I'm going to commit transdimensional massacres to become the god of a new world". Not really any reasoning with that, as opposed to, for example, the antagonist of Arcanum, who actually has a complete and rational motivation that you can unravel with logic or evidence. I know that was only one of your ideas... I just felt compelled to write about it for some reason, haha.

Ultimately, if you take the releasing ending, you are returned to your actual normal existence; the villain is powerless and in jail; and all your friends survive, and continue working as a successful team. I think that actually is a happy ending, personally. But I don't mean to say that your views are wrong.

[shionch]

Actually, yeah, I agree somewhat. Releasing the spirit back to their original form of existence seems to be the best option out of the given ones, it's what the spirit wants from the beginning, they ask to be released.
Still, it feels like a form of death to me. A part of it has to do with what we see the Unavowed building conjure up, those are the things that are supposed to matter to your character, like with a police officer background you have a picture of Vicky and the car, and the description reads as something you actually remember and feel a certain way about. Everything you feel, the connections you have estalished with the other characters, you have to give up. So when you leave the mortal body, you do give up a part of yourself. The person you have become stops existing, and it's sad. Even if this person lived only for a week, you can't just disregard their experience, it happened. Even if you keep the memories, who knows if you'll even care? Because you'll never be this version of yourself again, and you are likely to never see your friends again, and it's sad.
It's a good outcome in the long run, no argument there, but it doesn't leave me happy on an emotional level.

Agreed 100% on the weakness of the antagonist as a character. Their defining trait is the plot twist of them being human. It's an interesting idea, that true senseless evil comes from a regular human and not from demons, that ordinary people are capable of heinous crimes. But in the end the character built around a single idea feels one-dimensional. It's like this character only exists to be punished or to become a punishment, there is really no motivation to choose an alliance / coexistence. If they had at least some redeemable qualities, it could have been an interesting ending, like maybe you two have truly changed each other in some way. But no, the villain remaind the same arrogant prick drunk on power, evoking no sympathy whatsoever.

I'm not disappointed in the game itself, the gameplay is fun and interesting, and each episode offers a compelling story. Maybe I'm just sad the game had to end at all, or maybe I've come to expect more complicated finales from this developer.
All in all, it was really cool to play as a spirit (with a very cool name) discovering themselves anew, learning about the world and their place in it. I would definitely buy a sequel, haha.

[x-calibar]

I beat this a while ago, but still want to talk about it. (A sign of a great game!) And this looks pretty close to the right spot:

What did you think about the final level in particular? Did you like how things unfolded? How would you have made the finale more complicated?

Here's what I wrote earlier:

So, first of all I really enjoyed the game from beginning to end. The voice acting really stuck with me after all of it was over... Really great characters. I want to hear Eli and Mandana again xD

But, about the final level... Well, I was a bit disappointed after being blown away on the Chinatown segment and the big reveal in the subway... Those scenes were just too perfect. I was grinning ear to ear then!

The finale though... it ended up being a linear walk in the park, in my opinion. Each area a reflection of a choice made in the past... One at a time, down the line... There wasn't much thought needed on how to solve things soon as I began summoning... Yes, it was a fantastic chance to get a glimpse of Mel's ability. But imo, there was little room for creative thinking.

For example, I actually held back from using Mel's power on the first two challenges thinking, oh maybe I better hold onto these abilities for the big finale, and solve them using my "human" ingenuity and the party's combined efforts ... Then after wandering for 10 minutes searching for a way to solve the puzzle without using Mel, I found out I had to cave in. And the rest were in my face challenges of how to proceed depending on my previous choices. I couldn't use an alternate summon for the "wrong" challenge :( And there was no possible dead ends D:

...Even if you save a summon to use in the finale, you couldn't cast it at the end... :( :(
That made me sad. I even restarted the entire game to see if I could change things a bit, if I got everyone to reach the finale. Arghhhh. At least I got a little extra dialogue...

Oh, but it looked great, and it was a solid reflection theme to finish the story. But, after wandering the maze, and solving all those cases... the rest of the areas, were a straight speedy road to the end. I was really hoping for one last big case... Hoped there would be a chance to see the player redouble their bonds with everyone before the ending, now they knew the truth. Maybe even learn a little more about the villain... Instead, I didn't even have to escape a collapsing realm! (Thought I was being smart moving that steel beam over the bridge ahead of time x) Maybe I played one too many Final Fantasy games lol.)

Well... I appreciated the freedom ending. (First one I got. Though I went to the edge and tried to back away... whoops, can't do that lol)

Some nitpicks:
A) (almost) everyone else falls asleep and doesn't wake up...
B) The villain remains stationary, and unable to do anything except talk. (guess that's classic adventure style!)
C) The villain doesn't seem to be using their living profession's life skills against you. (Actor for instance... Come on, trick me somehow! Like in the subway! But to be fair I haven't replayed another profession yet to look for changes.)
D) Arggggh, why is it over already!!!

Well I loved the game anyway. And the amount of stuff the devs put into the game already is mind boggling when you consider all the options.
I am really curious what other brainstorms were on the wall for the final area though. If there were other big ideas that had to be abandoned... or really any dev thoughts about the ending area really ;)

[shionch]

I actually liked the final mission a lot! All the choices you've made come back to you. And it's not as straightforward as one might think, I actually made a couple mistakes on my first run, for example, I asked the fire elemental to melt the ice, then at the lava river I tried asking the fairy to freeze it and he looked at me all indignat, "fire is not my domain, I can only control ice", so I had to sacrifice Eli :( but then, I don't want to invoke the fairy's favor at all, because it means losing leverage over him (which, in theory, might lead to him ratting Eli out to the fire mage hunters). And also I didn't know you could ask Vicky to shoot the lock, sparing you the encounter with ligamentals (I used Mandana but luckily, I spared the ligamental in the beginning, so they didn't attack).

Personally, I like it when the final sequence is more or less straightforward, because too much variety and complexity interrupts the pacing of the story - you have to stop and think, and try different things, you might even get stuck if you're a dumbass like me (I got stuck in the jailbreak mission and couldn't finish the game for months :D yes, I'm an idiot).
A finale should be more or less "clean", in my opinion.
The whole final pursuit reminded me of the suicide mission at the end of Mass Effect 2, which is one of my favorite games. So that's a plus in my book.

I think the final mission of this game might feel off because the pacing of the story is a little off, because the revelation that the antagonist is actually human comes too soon (or too late). Being "possessed" works fine as a foreshadowing to the "bad" ending, it gives you a glimpse of what to expect, and it's one hell of a good scare, but... it completely ruins the progression, because you have to do a whole plot mission in between that subway run and the final confrontation.
If the revelation came right before the final mission, when you open the portal for example; or if the truth was revealed from the start and you worked throughout the game to understand the antagonist, then it would have been more impactful, and the emotional payoff would have felt whole and complete.

Like, compare Unavowed with Primordia. Both games follow a similar basic structure: someone steals something from the protagonist, the protagonist learns more about the antagonist to defeat them and in the process learns something new about their own past, a big revelation about the true origin of the protagonist happens, the final confrontation offers a choice between joining forces or dying (simplified).
Except, in Primordia, the option to kill everyone feels fulfilling because there are clues throughout the game, a build-up leading to that choice, so when you receive the deciphered message of what your original purpose was, you go and do it right away, because now you know what you are. It's a very smooth build-up: mystery, clues, revelation, finale. It's a complete experience thematically. And the bittersweet death feels truly like a choice, because there are OTHER choices, because you can walk away from the whole thing and live on your own, so it doesn't feel forced - in fact, it feels liberating.
In Unavowed, it's different - the build-up is full of red herrings, it leads you away from the truth instead of nudging you towards it, it doesn't really explain anything about the antagonist because it hinges on the plot twist... except the twist is dulled because it's misplaced. Mystery, red herring, red herring, twist, filler, finale. So in the end you feel like you've spent the whole game chasing after something, but you're no closer to understanding it than when you've started. And the mission between the "moment of truth" and the final confrontation just feels wrong. Instead of serving to fully develop the antagonist as a character, it has to be the same no matter when it happens, because it's just one of the missions, it's not special, it doesn't really change if you know who the antagonist is or not, so it doesn't offer you a new look inside their psyche or anything like that. And the final choice feels incredibly forced because you can't just walk away, so you feel like there is no choice at all.
There should have been a universal pre-final mission, I think, so we could actually see what the antagonist is like; or no mission at all between the reveal and the confrontation, to make the surprise more sharp and impactful. As it is, it only serves to muddle the water.

Don't get me wrong, every plot mission is incredibly interesting! I loved them all, each has something unique and intriguing to it. Each of them, on their own, is a great story.
The flaw of this game, I believe, is the very freedom it offers you. It suffers from the same lack of thematical progression open world games tend to suffer - one thing doesn't lead to another, each story bit exists in a vacuum, they're disconnected. Each mission offers a glimpse of its own world, but there aren't really any bridges between them, because the developers let the player decide which mission to do first, and they can't track all possible combinations. So, as a whole, the story doesn't form a specific pattern and ends up looking a little chunky.
I like linear stories because they're usually the most well-written, because the author knows what happens when. A little variety is good, but too much variety makes every individual bit less impactful on the story as a whole.

Despite all my complaints, overall, I enjoyed this game a lot. It's a good game, beautifully made and thought-provoking. Most of the characters are charismatic and engaging, both the companions and the allies and the mission-villains. The lore, the promise of more, it just makes you want to come back and think about it again!