Is the ending too confusing? Let me try to explain.

[Asuune]

I'll admit, time traveling is confusing as hell. I had to play the game's ending over a few times to fully understand it.

Old Rufus explains how it works. There isn't just 1 time loop, but rather thousands. A single, stable time loop would be like Back to the Future. Everything that happens has to happen exactly the same way to create a stable time loop. A single deviation would make it fall apart and end the loop. That's why Rufus dissolves if you made him choose the wrong dialog when time traveling in the second game. The first time loop is when the Utopians go back in time. We'll call this the Major Loop.

But what if we introduced another time machine within that time loop? That would be McChronicle's time machine. Each time they go back in time with his machine and change something, it creates another alternate timeline that branches off from the original timeline. We'll call this Loop A.

Now what if yet ANOTHER time machine enters the equation and starts to affect the first time loop again? This is when future Goal jumps into the time machine and tries to save Rufus from falling in Goodbye Deponia, then Goal dies, and then Rufus and Goal from Loop A unthaw in the future and start up a new loop. We'll call this one Loop B. We now have 2 time loops within the Major Loop. These loops repeat over and over again, thousands of times, but not all of them are the same because of tin foil hats.

That's where backseat Rufus comes in. Again, since he is able to remember things from the previous time loops, he's able to change things. He crawls into the backseat of the time machine and is able to stop Loop B by convincing Goal and Rufus to let go.

Why is he able to recall his own death though? The reason: Even though he ends Loop B, Loop A is still repeating itself. He falls to his death, but Goal and Rufus restart McChronicle's time machine to repeat Loop A where you start at the beginning of the game. Rufus can still remember this, even though he dies because he's "born" again when time goes backwards. Loop A finally ends when Rufus headbutts the power inverter.

Now if you watch the credits, you're able to see all the time lines that were able to stop their loops. Future Goal, No-Future Goal, Present Goal with glasses... and of course Wedding Goal, that ends up with Old Rufus and Backseat Rufus in the Stone Age.

I hope this helped. If it's still confusing as hell, I don't blame you.

[badlymadetraveler]

Since this follows a linear chapter progression like the other games the timelines aren't all introduced at once so it's easy to keep track of actually.

Well maybe it's because of that linear chapter arrangement that people might think they could go ahead and forget the other timelines.

The problem is that the last timeline wasn't rewound and that scenario wasn't covered in the tin foil hat lesson so that's also a source of confusion.

[Asuune]

Yeah that Rufus that was left behind in Elysium wasn't exactly explained. I think because he finally figured out how to successfully do something in Elysium, the Utopians had to go back in time to stop him. I wonder if Daedalic was planning on explaining that further but didn't have time to put it into the final game.

[Asuune]

Also, the Utopians mentioned that Elysium was able to to successfully reach their planet, due to Rufus being removed from his timeline and not interfere with Ulysus's plan, and that was never shown either. There might actually be happy endings for Rufus and Goal we never get to see!

[Garryck]

Thanks. That I don't quite understand now is one thing about breaking the loops.

We've got this joke in the Interim Time about determinant time machines (if something chages in the past this future ends) and so we can make a suggestion that utopian time machine and McCrhonicle's machine are not determinant. Just because Rufus&Co. don't turn to ashes all the time.

But. If it is so - what happened to all this Rufuses, Goals and other bunch which is not dead by the end of the game when loops ended? Did they just disappear? Or do we have multiple clones of them, some of which are alive and acting? Like Wedding-Goal in prehistorical times for example. Hmm?

[Asuune]

Nope, they don't disappear. At the end of the credits you get to see what happened to all of them. They are alive, carrying on with their lives in whatever weird situation they ended with.

[KoGe]

Backseat Rufus is still a bit confusing, though. He crawls into time machine in the time line where Rufus dose not steal the time machine, but taken hostage by Utopians. So how the heck he could end up in both time lines.

[Asuune]

Because the timelines overlap and loop many many times over. He's not in both timelines for every single loop.

[KoGe]

Yep. That's clear. But how do they overlap exactly? Because the time machine is situated there only in time lines, where Rufus didn't steal time machine. Utopians wouldn't be there if time machine was stolen. So even with 1000 Rufuses he couldn't end up in time machine, which was stolen.

[KoGe]

Ah. I think, I've got it. They found backseat Rufus before mainstream Rufus. But why?

[Asuune]

There are multiple time lines, not just one. Every time they use a time machine, they are effectively creating an alternate universe. With each new loop, it's a new alternate universe.

If you've ever seen Donnie Darko, there are universes that exist within a pocket of time and space, that will repeat themselves over and over again. That's pretty much what is happening with the time loops. It doens't really make a lot of sense if you think about it chronilogical sense, because time no longer a singular line. There is no "before" and "after" once a time paradox is created.

[Mechaphantom]

I also think, though I have no proof of this that the Rufuss that fell to their deaths didn't really die. Rufus has ablity to surive threw great pain, he fell once and had the end of the world ending, he fell again and he lived and Goal died. So I trully belive that Rufus is still out there going ouch and might meet up with future goal, Depoina 5? Maybeh

[Asuune]

Rufus has died many many times before. Not just close-to-death, but actual dead dead. I'm certain he fell to his death from that height, but there are still ways to bring him back. His genetic information is backed up at Hermes's cloning facilty, so there's that. If one of his corpses were found, that could also be used to bring him back. Rufuses from stray timelines exist, and the story could continue there. There's multiverses through wormholes he could cross into. There's also bringing him back as a ghost, which would lead to some very interesting gameplay... There's a lot of possibilities!

[Mechaphantom]

I'd argue that he fell from that height at least twice and lived once to create Solid Rufus that blew up world and once again to show that future Goal dies if try's to save the falling Refus.

It not logical and even Refus jokes several times he must have survived the fall some how but doesn't remember how.

It very possible and might even be cannon he died but I still think him livening from fall at least twice puts in some dout. That just my opinion lots of people disagree with me but stead fast in my believe.

[Asuune]

The only reason he survived as Solid Rufus is because the thrusters on the time machine broke his fall. But there's bound to be alternate universes where he did normally survive that fall.

[patrynxx]

Course this all could still be Goal dreaming from Goodbye Deponia or whatever she's doing. As if the third episode was confusing enough. Then again thats this series. Probably why it's harder to find a walkthru