About the True Ending.

[Gunheart]

Anyone else bothered how...

...the only difference between the true ending and any other where the Core explodes is that Reynardo and Zenobia survive? The Rebel Councel was slaughtered, meaning Boreas is still without government like in those endings, so a Second Dark Age is certain. I guess Zenobia could rule, but the ending implies they just leave Boreas without a care for anyone left behind.

[Matt]

Seems like even the true ending has branches, the council didn't die in my walkthrough.

[Gunheart]

Wait, what? When I got to the Rebel Base, Zenobia had slaughtered everyone thanks to the influence of the Iblis Stone. And every other "branch" on the true path just caused a game over.

[Matt]

I am tripping balz, my bad. The council did die, but from what I understood only the council, the rest of the resistance wasn't mentioned as being dead, so take that as you will.

[Gunheart]

Yeah, but that's presumably all military might, assuming they aren't vaporized when the core explodes. It's not even clear if the resistence is present with the council dead. I don't think the Rebellion is even mentioned being present at the final battle in any ending where the council dies, come to think of it, since no one is there to give the order to attack.

[Prinz Kasper]

The main thing that bothered me is that behind some of the elemental sword walls you find all these notes from the emperor hinting at all these wild things like sentient islands, old gods etc. but none of that ended up being relevant in any way. I had hoped the true ending was something more interesting.

[Gunheart]

I think the Iblis Stone paths and a few endings elaborated on the Old Gods just enough that it didn't bother me too much (though only now did it occur to me that the Emporer's plan was basically to perform these rituals in order to get the Iblis stone, then sacrifice Zenobia to it to awaken Iblis), but the part about sentient islands never mattering in any story branch really was a letdown.

[Prinz Kasper]

I had really hoped the true ending would have a unique twist like summoning iblis before the emperor and destroying him with his help or something... but as it stands right now the true ending barely differs from the other endings, except that reynardo survives.

[Gunheart]

Also Lapino gets off completely scott free. Zenobia just harmlessly knocks him out and he vanishes from the story completely. Given how he's an envy-driven sociopath who rarely receives any sort of punishment in any ending, it's kind of a let down he escapes the true ending unharmed.

[Namons]

Even in the few stories I've completed he's been killed by Reynardo at the end of chapter 5. There's even one short branch where it skips to the end and says how Zenobia kills the T.E. and then Lapino kills her and then you kill Lapino. Then the core blows. I think the reason the two of them survive the true ending is just because of the lead he has on the other ships chasing him.

I'm overall disappointed with the True Ending just because of a few of the things you mentioned. I disliked how it wasn't part of the normal branching as well. That said I like the game overall. Just nitpicks and such. That and I find a new bug every single time I play.

[That Wun Wabbit]

Gotta love how the Emperor didn't rip a hole in the universe in the True Ending, but when the hero tries to use the Skyripper he gets the 1/128 outcome
I kinda thought Return of the Hippie should have been the True Ending because the evil, legendary weapons were controlled. Oh well!

[Gunheart]

The Emperor apparently only used the core and never got the true Armature. So pretty much what happens whenever you "just" use the core happened; it shoots lasers and explodes.

[SoulEchelon]

Originally posted by Jansteffen:

The main thing that bothered me is that behind some of the elemental sword walls you find all these notes from the emperor hinting at all these wild things like sentient islands, old gods etc. but none of that ended up being relevant in any way. I had hoped the true ending was something more interesting.

You never know. If Stories does well enough, a sequel could be made where all of that comes into focus.

As for the true ending, yeah it does leave a few things unanswered. Even Lapino is still alive - we find him unconscious, not dead. Knowing him, he could very well find himself as the new emperor.

I remember during one of the branches I took, Reynardo ponders if the kid or his mother (forgot her name) ever looked into the book, and realized their deaths and him obtaining the book was the best path. This opens up a ton of possibilities for a sequel or a prequel, all stemming from the power of that book.

Originally posted by Crypt Warden:

Gotta love how the Emperor didn't rip a hole in the universe in the True Ending, but when the hero tries to use the Skyripper he gets the 1/128 outcome
I kinda thought Return of the Hippie should have been the True Ending because the evil, legendary weapons were controlled. Oh well!

The emperor only had the core. The armature basically controls the core and focuses its power into one overwhelmingly powerful beam that can rip into time and space. Without the real armature all the core is, is an extremely unstable bomb.

[Bread-kun]

I agree, it's kind of bizarre just how many things are sort of brushed aside for the true ending. Maybe Lapino dies because he goes back to the Emporer after he wakes up, I don't know.

It feels like if it's the TRUE ending then there should be a hell of a lot more to it.

I also do wish you would actually have to figure out how to get it, instead of the game pointing out what set of endings you need truths from and then just opening a path to reach the true end. While I can sorta understand not wanting to let a player get the best ending right out the gate and I like the idea of the truths, it just kinda feels... Halfway there?

I suppose that's mostly my feelings with the game. It's on its way to be an AMAZING game. But right now it's just a good game, mostly mired by combat that becomes dull later on, and exploration that becomes pointless once you achieve all the upgrades. At that point I was just rushing through the levels trying to blaze through them so I can get to the story parts.

And the story is definitely the strongest piece, and I love the many, many ways you can fail miserably. But 'finding' the truths doesn't feel rewarding since the game straight up tells you which ways to go, and the full true ending just being locked away in it's own little corner away from the rest of the paths.

I think if you naturally came to the conclusion yourself and made choices accordingly to reach the true ending since you learn these 'truths' on your own would be much more rewarding. I suppose I see why you wouldn't want a player to reach the only good end on the first playthrough, and having it locked behind a few hidden choices would make sense. But I feel like this could be expanded upon.

I don''t regret paying the 15 bucks for this game, but I wish it went the extra mile and became something amazing.

[ccc453]

Originally posted by SoulEchelon:

Originally posted by Jansteffen:

The main thing that bothered me is that behind some of the elemental sword walls you find all these notes from the emperor hinting at all these wild things like sentient islands, old gods etc. but none of that ended up being relevant in any way. I had hoped the true ending was something more interesting.

You never know. If Stories does well enough, a sequel could be made where all of that comes into focus.

As for the true ending, yeah it does leave a few things unanswered. Even Lapino is still alive - we find him unconscious, not dead. Knowing him, he could very well find himself as the new emperor.

I remember during one of the branches I took, Reynardo ponders if the kid or his mother (forgot her name) ever looked into the book, and realized their deaths and him obtaining the book was the best path. This opens up a ton of possibilities for a sequel or a prequel, all stemming from the power of that book.

Originally posted by Crypt Warden:

Gotta love how the Emperor didn't rip a hole in the universe in the True Ending, but when the hero tries to use the Skyripper he gets the 1/128 outcome
I kinda thought Return of the Hippie should have been the True Ending because the evil, legendary weapons were controlled. Oh well!

The emperor only had the core. The armature basically controls the core and focuses its power into one overwhelmingly powerful beam that can rip into time and space. Without the real armature all the core is, is an extremely unstable bomb.

---

I'm hoping for a sequel too but if you lookup the dev stuff for game prior to 2016 release, it was supposed to have 32 endings. The next game is a new IP, though unsure if related to this story. They def cut content

[ccc453]

I just honestly feel the 'true' ending would at least you dictate what happens based on the 4 truths, that happens for like the first choice with Lapino. Everything happens so fast after that.

So Lapino picks up and drops the core off to the empire before you get to Zenobia, then the scientists get destroyed, then Zenobia gets the stone from Lapino?

ALSO. Who the **** was the witness you were suppose to show Zenobia. Did I miss that in other playthroughs? My ending would be:

Send Lapino on wild goose chase to get core, get Zenobia to come with him to get stone, trick/convince Lapino (with Zenobia) to purify stone with core, get Scientist Toad (cant remember name) to create safe weapon, hold fleet hostage with weapon and defeat emperor.