The ending (spoilers)

[pythonfp]

From what i have understood, Mr Kotowari (the spirit obsessed with cutting necks and limbs with a huge pair of scissors) is a local deity ? When you discover a shrine with a human shaped symbol littered with trash, an engraved stone indicates it's to revere a god whose name ends with "wari" and it comes to your "rescue" when you say the catchphrase "I can't take it anymore".

[All For Her Smile]

Originally posted by MinagiCN:

Originally posted by Sleeper Agent of Planeptune:

Wait, what? Where did she appear? I just finished the game and I don't remember seeing the girl from the first game anywhere. o_o; Did I miss that part... or did I just not realize it?

after you finished the game (beat the boss)and return to the old town.you will see her several times,will have talks dialogues between 2 girls.and then they become friends.and you will get more story details from their dialogues .

1,when you first time return to the old town,you will seeing the former girl running fast to the northeast. then you will meet her in the nearest ScolopendraShine for the 1st time,will have dialogues in details.

2,move to the far north Railway cross in the top of the map will be the 2nd meet.

3,inside the factory

4, in Poro's tomb.

5, the last one,after you completed meet her all above 4 times,you will be able to meet her in the far east entrance of the tunnel(you should have deep impression where it is).

Notice: you can not finish all 5 meets in one time,you have to refresh the map by often return to the new town ,yes,frequently move between 2 towns.

Okay, so it was a whole mini-quest that only takes place in the post-game. Judging by the first Yomawari game, that only included item collecting and nothing else after the ending, I didn't expect Midnight Shadows to have so much extra content afterwards. At first I thought that there was some point in the main game where you could catch a glimpse of the First Protagonist somewhere (through a window or something) and that I had completely missed it... But yeah, after reading your post I found a related screenshot and then followed the detailed guide here on Steam and watched the five meetings.

I have to admit though, after all the awful horrors that Haru went through while having to deal with and accept the suicide of her beloved friend, I expected something more from their interactions. First of all, the way the First Protagonist talks is weird, she says it's been 2 years so she's now what, 12? 13? What 13-year old says "I have business to attend to" and "I'll be seeing you"? o_o; And up until the 4th encounter she was almost cold towards Haru and they weren't exactly talking to each other, they were mostly monologues from the First Protagonist. I expected some more intimacy between them after the first couple of meetings, I expected them to sit at the park or at a bridge, Haru telling her story and the First Protagonist giving her at least a hug or something. I know it says in Haru's diary that they "became friends", which is lovely, but somehow it didn't feel that way from their interactions. I mean, a one-eyed girl that went through the despair of Night Alone meets a one-armed girl that went through the horrors of Midnight Shadows and instead of sticking together like glue, all they do is casually talk about waiting the train and that the shopping district was taken down and the centipede spirit left? :/

But don't get me wrong. I do appreciate the fact that they eventually tried to patch things up for Haru, but it wasn't nearly enough. But even that failed. In the beginning I thought Haru was moving to the town of the First Protagonist, so I thought "Well, she lost Yui but at least she'll be with that girl now", but apparently she's moving to some other town far away, as the First Progatonist even said "When you move, I'll be lonely without you".... Isn't this all a bit too much? If the cast of the games was grown men or something, it'd be OK, but these are little innocent elementary school girls we're talking about. Am I the only one who thinks that Midnight Shadows crossed a bit too many lines? Just think of what happened to Yui - she lost her father, her mother had a meltdown of some sort, her dog died and then that little bridge collapsed (the mountain god's doing?), separating her from her last remaining dog, leading her to absolute despair and to hanging herself. And of course Haru talking with her while she's already dead and then going through hell to get her back (and even fighting her in her evil spirit form), only to fail and to lose her entire arm in the process. I learnt about the meaning of the arm and strings and such by reading threads like this one, but it still feels like too damn much. x_x

To conclude, I get that the game is supposed to be dark and overly emotional, what I don't understand is why it had to have such a bad ending. At least Night alone fixed things up somewhat in the end, the First Protagonist still managed to save her sister, even at the expense of her eye, so the ending was... bittersweet. It was okay. But in Midnight Shadows Haru both loses her whole arm and Yui remains dead... I don't understand why. The game would've been just as good and enjoyable with a good ending. Hell, an ultimate redemption of some sort would make it even better. For me, at least... ._.

Am I the only one who thinks that what happened in Haru, but especially what happened to Yui is a bit too damn much? And am I the only one who truly wishes that Yui somehow comes back to life in the next game (if there will ever be one)?

...That's all. Sorry for the length, I had to get this out of my system. ;_;

[Shura Matoi]

Originally posted by Sleeper Agent of Planeptune:

Originally posted by MinagiCN:

after you finished the game (beat the boss)and return to the old town.you will see her several times,will have talks dialogues between 2 girls.and then they become friends.and you will get more story details from their dialogues .

1,when you first time return to the old town,you will seeing the former girl running fast to the northeast. then you will meet her in the nearest ScolopendraShine for the 1st time,will have dialogues in details.

2,move to the far north Railway cross in the top of the map will be the 2nd meet.

3,inside the factory

4, in Poro's tomb.

5, the last one,after you completed meet her all above 4 times,you will be able to meet her in the far east entrance of the tunnel(you should have deep impression where it is).

Notice: you can not finish all 5 meets in one time,you have to refresh the map by often return to the new town ,yes,frequently move between 2 towns.

Okay, so it was a whole mini-quest that only takes place in the post-game. Judging by the first Yomawari game, that only included item collecting and nothing else after the ending, I didn't expect Midnight Shadows to have so much extra content afterwards. At first I thought that there was some point in the main game where you could catch a glimpse of the First Protagonist somewhere (through a window or something) and that I had completely missed it... But yeah, after reading your post I found a related screenshot and then followed the detailed guide here on Steam and watched the five meetings.

I have to admit though, after all the awful horrors that Haru went through while having to deal with and accept the suicide of her beloved friend, I expected something more from their interactions. First of all, the way the First Protagonist talks is weird, she says it's been 2 years so she's now what, 12? 13? What 13-year old says "I have business to attend to" and "I'll be seeing you"? o_o; And up until the 4th encounter she was almost cold towards Haru and they weren't exactly talking to each other, they were mostly monologues from the First Protagonist. I expected some more intimacy between them after the first couple of meetings, I expected them to sit at the park or at a bridge, Haru telling her story and the First Protagonist giving her at least a hug or something. I know it says in Haru's diary that they "became friends", which is lovely, but somehow it didn't feel that way from their interactions. I mean, a one-eyed girl that went through the despair of Night Alone meets a one-armed girl that went through the horrors of Midnight Shadows and instead of sticking together like glue, all they do is casually talk about waiting the train and that the shopping district was taken down and the centipede spirit left? :/

But don't get me wrong. I do appreciate the fact that they eventually tried to patch things up for Haru, but it wasn't nearly enough. But even that failed. In the beginning I thought Haru was moving to the town of the First Protagonist, so I thought "Well, she lost Yui but at least she'll be with that girl now", but apparently she's moving to some other town far away, as the First Progatonist even said "When you move, I'll be lonely without you".... Isn't this all a bit too much? If the cast of the games was grown men or something, it'd be OK, but these are little innocent elementary school girls we're talking about. Am I the only one who thinks that Midnight Shadows crossed a bit too many lines? Just think of what happened to Yui - she lost her father, her mother had a meltdown of some sort, her dog died and then that little bridge collapsed (the mountain god's doing?), separating her from her last remaining dog, leading her to absolute despair and to hanging herself. And of course Haru talking with her while she's already dead and then going through hell to get her back (and even fighting her in her evil spirit form), only to fail and to lose her entire arm in the process. I learnt about the meaning of the arm and strings and such by reading threads like this one, but it still feels like too damn much. x_x

To conclude, I get that the game is supposed to be dark and overly emotional, what I don't understand is why it had to have such a bad ending. At least Night alone fixed things up somewhat in the end, the First Protagonist still managed to save her sister, even at the expense of her eye, so the ending was... bittersweet. It was okay. But in Midnight Shadows Haru both loses her whole arm and Yui remains dead... I don't understand why. The game would've been just as good and enjoyable with a good ending. Hell, an ultimate redemption of some sort would make it even better. For me, at least... ._.

Am I the only one who thinks that what happened in Haru, but especially what happened to Yui is a bit too damn much? And am I the only one who truly wishes that Yui somehow comes back to life in the next game (if there will ever be one)?

...That's all. Sorry for the length, I had to get this out of my system. ;_;

Correction she lost her hand not her whole arm and yui coming back is/was just not going to happen.

[All For Her Smile]

Originally posted by Shura Kirigakure:

yui coming back is/was just not going to happen.

I still don't get how someone could give such a miserable, bitter ending to this game, especially after everything that happens in it. If there's no redemption in the end, then what's the point?

[Shura Matoi]

Originally posted by Sleeper Agent of Planeptune:

Originally posted by Shura Kirigakure:

yui coming back is/was just not going to happen.

I still don't get how someone could give such a miserable, bitter ending to this game, especially after everything that happens in it. If there's no redemption in the end, then what's the point?

Simply so that they can both move on, can't dwell on the past forever. One has to move on in order to rest in peace while the other has to move on in order to keep moving forward in life that's just how it is. Acceptance.

[All For Her Smile]

Yes, I understand that the message of the ending was about "acceptance" and "moving on", my argument is that it shouldn't be about that. Considering all the awful things that had happened in the story thus far, an ending not as dark would have been more appropriate. Mostly because it's not as if Yui died for a cause, it was just a malevolent spirit ruining their lives for fun, so adding that kind of ending to that kind of story is just cruel (and repetitive, since "accept and move on" was the message of the first game's ending as well). Bottom line is, they went a bit too far this time. I believe the game would've been more enjoyable with a happier ending.

[Solitude Dragon]

Originally posted by All For Her Smile:

Yes, I understand that the message of the ending was about "acceptance" and "moving on", my argument is that it shouldn't be about that. Considering all the awful things that had happened in the story thus far, an ending not as dark would have been more appropriate. Mostly because it's not as if Yui died for a cause, it was just a malevolent spirit ruining their lives for fun, so adding that kind of ending to that kind of story is just cruel (and repetitive, since "accept and move on" was the message of the first game's ending as well). Bottom line is, they went a bit too far this time. I believe the game would've been more enjoyable with a happier ending.

Sorry for the necropost but, this again echoes a Japanese concept known as しょうがない (shouganai) which is commonly translated as, "it can't be helped."

Due to the supernatural capabilities of the "enemies" in these games, you are limited in what you can do as a "mere mortal" without any real training (look up onmyouji, or better yet, Abe no Seimei). In other words, consider yourself lucky to even get any positive outcome as malevolent youkai tend to "win" against the average person.