Set off credits before killing manticore?

[annika]

Hi, I'm a bit stuck after reaching the credits and after looking through some threads, I'm afraid I "completed" the game incorrectly. I encountered the Manticore once and then died, and after that I decided to go back through the game and clean up some unfinished stuff before proceeding to the end. I went through the whole ending area and set off the credit's fireworks during my second time down there without summoning the Manticore. When I went back down there for my third time and was stuck, I turned to the discussion threads and my new understanding is that I should've killed the Manticore with the fireworks... but now that they've already been set off, I'm not sure what to do. Does anyone have any insight? Is there any way to set the fireworks off again? Do I need to start the game from the beginning??

[Perseus]

The manticore not being there is an intended possibility. Triggering the fireworks without the manticore present did not break anything.
I would know, i did the same thing.

After triggering the fireworks, whether the manticore is there or not, a key should have fallen on the left side of the fireworks room, which can be used to open the door on the right side of the fireworks room and enter the house.
That's the only thing that's supposed to happen no matter what from that sequence, and even if you had not gotten the key for some reason, you wouldn't be locked out of the house.

[Baf]

Same thing happened to me. I had no idea that I was doing anything wrong or that the fireworks were supposed to do anything other than trigger the end credits.

The thing is, not only have you not actually locked yourself out of anything (other than seeing the manticore die), what you've really done is sequence-break. Gaining access to the second "true" ending requires a manticore. If you've killed yours in the ending like most people, you have to go to incredible effort to obtain a replacement manticore. But you don't have to! You've still got the original!

The only disadvantage to your position is that you won't be able to freely explore that final puzzle area for further secrets without a manticore chasing you. But this is not an insurmountable difficulty. Just keep that lantern lit most of the time and use fireworks as necessary to chase it away.