So i finished the game.. *SPOILERS*

[rizefall]

Was she real? Seems like they kind of hinted at her being on the mainland, but is it the same Nessa? What do you think after finishing the game?

[noe]

Originally posted by rizefall:

Was she real? Seems like they kind of hinted at her being on the mainland, but is it the same Nessa? What do you think after finishing the game?

Nessa was imaginary yeah, just like how Demelza's entire quest was imaginary. The treasure itself, which would grant Demelza eternal life and consistency, is a symbol for how this quest has been about her trying to find a way to stop her life from changing. But by the end she's grown up enough to accept change and thus doesn't want the treasure anymore, also becoming independent enough that she doesn't need Nessa anymore either.

Nessa being imaginary is telegraphed from the beginning by the fact that no character in the entire game ever physically acknowledges her presence or existence; except for the wizard who was also imaginary.

I assume the Pilot's daughter is probably is either a lot like or basically is Nessa, but the fact that Demelza created a copy of her as an imaginary friend is just a cosmological fate driven coincidence meant to tie the story up in a bow.

[maxj180000]

I could accept that, but for one detail. Oba, he clearly saw Nessa and even interacted with her, to the point of giving her a bike. And when he asks if you want to upgrade your bikes, Nessa is the one who says yes. Later on Oba even wires Nessa's stereo into her bike, so she can chase off the curse. Plus, there's the looming question. If none of it was real, how the heck did Demelza get onto that rock out in the ocean?

[rizefall]

Originally posted by noe:

Originally posted by rizefall:

Was she real? Seems like they kind of hinted at her being on the mainland, but is it the same Nessa? What do you think after finishing the game?

Nessa was imaginary yeah, just like how Demelza's entire quest was imaginary. The treasure itself, which would grant Demelza eternal life and consistency, is a symbol for how this quest has been about her trying to find a way to stop her life from changing. But by the end she's grown up enough to accept change and thus doesn't want the treasure anymore, also becoming independent enough that she doesn't need Nessa anymore either.

Nessa being imaginary is telegraphed from the beginning by the fact that no character in the entire game ever physically acknowledges her presence or existence; except for the wizard who was also imaginary.

I assume the Pilot's daughter is probably is either a lot like or basically is Nessa, but the fact that Demelza created a copy of her as an imaginary friend is just a cosmological fate driven coincidence meant to tie the story up in a bow.

Like Max said, there are people who acknowledge Nessa is there.

[EraserNubs]

My interpretation is that Nessa was real. Nessa steps into the treasure as she intended from the start and my interpretation was the helicopter pilot is referencing is directly Nessa -- his daughter that is on the Mainland and Nessa was a stow-away that came from the Mainland. I felt like Demelza's "shock" at the end was that she'd come to terms and began to doubt her imagination, but the quest ::was:: all real after all.

It's an added pleasure the ending has enough nuance to be open to interpretation.

[Matri Dunadan]

Originally posted by maxj180000:

I could accept that, but for one detail. Oba, he clearly saw Nessa and even interacted with her, to the point of giving her a bike. And when he asks if you want to upgrade your bikes, Nessa is the one who says yes. Later on Oba even wires Nessa's stereo into her bike, so she can chase off the curse. Plus, there's the looming question. If none of it was real, how the heck did Demelza get onto that rock out in the ocean?

How else do you explain Oba accepting junk in exchange for pricey bike accessories?

[maxj180000]

A couple of reasons. 1:He's clearly friends with Demelza. 2:At least some of the stuff they present are ancient looking coins and amulets, so those alone should cover the cost of whatever he gives to them. 3:Just like that guy who gave away the last of the trinkets from his shop. It's off season, so who else is going to buy them?

[noe]

Oba never acknowledges Nessa, not at any point, just like every other real character. He does acknowledge Demelza however, and does things that SHE asks, which seems to be what you may misinterpret as him speaking to Nessa. The only person in the entire game who directly talks to Nessa is the Wizard, who was also imaginary.

[maxj180000]

But, Oba does talk to Nessa. After you beat the boss fight at the end of the scrapyard, you go back to his shop to save the Librarian. Then Oba specifically says he'll wire Nessa's stereo to her bike so she can use it while she's cycling. Does Oba somehow think that Demelza got a gigantic stereo?

[maxj180000]

Now that I think about it, before Nessa Demelza seems to be the only one with a bike. For all we know she could be Oba's only customer outside the tourist season. Which is why Oba developed the habit of trading with her, as she's his only customer most of the time. It might also explain why he follows her around everywhere with sacks of bike parts.He even follows her to the dog park below the quarry and the closed amusement park.

[amills1]

I'm still undecided on it all being real or not. If Nessa wasn't real, why did Oba rent out a second bike to Demelza? What was the race he organised between the girls in aid of if there was only one person? If Demelza imagined it all, what really happened to the librarian and the music shop girl? How could she have ended up on that island all by herself.

My only other theory is that it was all real but by choosing not to take the treasure, Demelza earned herself a potential new friend in the form of the pilot's daughter. The treasure offered her a choice - keep her current circumstances or grow up and seek out new adventures. She chose the latter. Nessa is unlikely to have really been the pilot's daughter or exactly like her. Nessa made it clear she doesn't really have a home or a family.

[MIXED RESULTS™]

Demelza could have just as easily imagined Oba giving the bike/selling bike parts to Nessa.

[Fru Fru Brigade]

Oba directlies acknowledges Nessa *several* times, at leasts in single-player. Nessa is the one who asks him for bike upgrades, he gives Nessa a bike when Demelza alreadies has one, an' he sets ups a race that doesn't reallies serve a purpose if there's onlies Demelza. There's alsos segments -- at leasts in single player -- towards the start, where you *solelies* control Nessa, while Demelza is unawares of her presence or onlies somewhats aware.

There's also things that are jus' nots explained at alls if the entire adventure was imaginaries. Gryffyn confirms thats the fire ats the amusement park an' the crushing ofs the car really happeneds, an' there's no clear reason those things would just happens to have happened anyways if Demelza didn't do at leasts some of what was shown, along with her beings on that island she hads no way to get to 'sides the quest.

Rei... has a theory that actuallies fits wif things betters. As mentioned, most peoples don't acknowledge that Nessa is theres. She keeps mentioning not havings a home to returns to, though her brief allusion to what her home is likes in response to somes smells *does* seems consistent with a home on ors around a coast guard base. She's also pretties clearly outs for the treasure froms the start, or close tos it. ... What if, insteads of being imaginary, Nessa wasn't alives? Whether that means she was deads, or jus'... didn't exists yet, somehows. The treasure is saids to grant immortality... buts... it could be saids, in another sense, to grants life. The pilot's daughter is Nessa, who is alives because she tooks the treasure.

It's jus' a guess, thoughs. Rei doesn't knows for sure. *Forked tailwiggles.*

[Timmy_22222001]

Recently just beat the game and quite delighted at the conversation going on here and some honestly rational thinking of the ending. I wasn't expecting the way it work out and it being in an open minded way for the player to sort of decide what happened or didn't happen. I'm definitely beside myself as well on it., but it left with enough of a positive note and the growth of Demelza and even that of interesting parts of Nessa we discovered.

I don't know for sure if Nessa could have been real, an imaginary friend, but the game leaves these ideas on the table and it helped get me a bit more from just getting the treasure and the day is saved, DONE. Even that last line from the pilot just makes me smile from ear to ear and that final achievement couldn't have been more well timed. Doubt we'll ever really know for sure, but I had a great time with Knights & Bikes and that's all that matters. Take good care everyone.

[Phantom Idol]

What if she was real...until the end?

Spoilers

They followed the pickled knight who told them that that rock pillar was the upper-most part of the castle and then jumped the cliff to reach it. Only Demelza appears on the pillar and doesn’t know where Nessa went and waits for her till Nessa suddenly appears and they go through the last level. Demelza then is then woken up by the Coast Guard who says he has a daughter we recognize as being similar to Nessa.

What if Nessa was real but she didn’t make the jump and Demelza dreamed that they found the treasure together while the real Nessa was dead in the water behind her?

[Rocksteady]

Originally posted by Faetrick:

What if she was real...until the end?

Spoilers

They followed the pickled knight who told them that that rock pillar was the upper-most part of the castle and then jumped the cliff to reach it. Only Demelza appears on the pillar and doesn’t know where Nessa went and waits for her till Nessa suddenly appears and they go through the last level. Demelza then is then woken up by the Coast Guard who says he has a daughter we recognize as being similar to Nessa.

What if Nessa was real but she didn’t make the jump and Demelza dreamed that they found the treasure together while the real Nessa was dead in the water behind her?

That would be the saddest ending.
Now that I've just finished the game, I'm thinking Nessa was real, the adventure was real too, and remember Nessa is an orphan and doesn't have a home, so hear me out, what if by going for the treasure, let's say she got her wish come true and got a family and a home (the helicopter guy) and is actually coming to the island?

Please devs, let me know if I'm correct :D

What a wonderful game <3