Criteria for Endings

[decorus_veritas]

Just finished Someday You'll Return, and enjoyed the immersive adventure thoroughly. Reminded me most of SOMA and Through the Woods, if people are looking for similar experiences.

The ending I received was the one where the spider tackled me off the tower, and we fell down to the clock, where I had the alternate options of stopping the clock, or winding the clock (with their respective endings).

However, I'm not sure why I received this ending, rather than the reunion with Stela. I purified all the hearts that I could, and I never used the Devil's potion to hide from enemies, so I'm not sure why my karma would be lower. What else is required to reunite with Stela? Do you have to complete the diary as well, because I was missing 3-4 diary pages (I missed some of the forest memories).

Looking at the Neoseeker walkthrough summary of the endings, their explanations for how to get each one make no sense (for instance, they write that to wind the clock and start over you have to destroy the hearts. But I was able to do that even with purifying all the hearts).

https://www.neoseeker.com/someday-youll-return/guides/Endings

[David53]

Although I haven't finished the game, one thing that I was wondering about was what effect doing the optional Lojza quest in Chapter 6 has on the final outcome of the gamer?

Did you complete that quest?

[decorus_veritas]

Originally posted by David53:

Although I haven't finished the game, one thing that I was wondering about was what effect doing the optional Lojza quest in Chapter 6 has on the final outcome of the gamer?

Did you complete that quest?

I don't think I did complete that one, though I tried to respond thoughtfully to every text message and phone call. I'm pretty sure there is some kind of hidden karma system (the tutorial before you're first encounter with the creepy children states this) that plays into the endings; the more you disregard human decency, I'm sure the worse your karma. But I couldn't really tell how the side quests impacted my karma.

I should note I also brought back a broken dolls, rather than a complete one. Maybe successfully completing all the side quests is what I was missing?

[David53]

The Lojza quest was a bit of a downer, at least when I did it anyway. I think i did it correctly, but maybe I missed something.

I did repair the doll, and as far as I know, that does have an effect on Karma.

I think that completing the Mura quest before the end of chapter 5 might have an effect as well, but I cant say for sure.

[decorus_veritas]

Did you get a steam achievement for the Lojza quest?

[David53]

No, I didn't get any achievement whatsoever. I think I did it correctly, since I followed it right to the end, getting texts from Lojza along the way to a rather disappointing conclusion. After climbing out of the cave, I got no achievement. Also, there was no way to respond to any of the texts.

I actually think this one may be broken, and some other people in another thread think the same thing.

[Voss]

i just finished it, i got the card game ending. it just left me confused, no clock .
Did the doll, purified hearts.

[decorus_veritas]

I'm thinking that must be it then. To avoid the bad ending, you have to purify all hearts. But to get the card game ending, you have to purify all hearts and complete all side quests.

[David53]

I'm thinking that Stella's diary is critical to getting the best ending, besides purifying all the hearts. I don't know whether the whole thing needs to be decoded, or whether the game is "forgiving" enough to allow a few pages to be missed and still get the best ending. Perhaps someone who completed the game and got the best ending can elaborate on that.

I think that using the True Sight potion as much as possible in chapter 5 is important, before going to rescue Lea, since some areas are inaccessible after that.

Also, I should point out that I didn't get any pages decoded when completing the Mura quest, but I did get an accomplishment, and a book.

I found 6 "memories" in chapter 6 before going to rescue Lea. Of those 6, three decoded a page in the journal, but three didn't. I have no idea whether that's normal to not get a diary page for each memory, or whether it could be a bug.

Also, I have no idea whether the Lojza quest has any effect on the ending. Although I did that, I got no accomplishment or anything for it.

[Voss]

Dont forget the doll, collecting all the parts for the little girl.

[David53]

Did you decode the entire diary, Tedd, or were you still able to get the good ending with a few pages missing?

Also, did you do the Lojza quest, and get any achievement for it?

(I did give Lea the complete doll, btw)

[Voss]

Originally posted by David53:

Did you decode the entire diary, Tedd, or were you still able to get the good ending with a few pages missing?

Also, did you do the Lojza quest, and get any achievement for it?

(I did give Lea the complete doll, btw)

Only complete set i got was bedtime story when it comes to pages.
Lojza quest, which achivements?

[David53]

As of the start of chapter 10 from an earlier save, I have 9 of the Fairy Tale pages. hopefully, I'll find the rest of them.

As for the Lojza quest, I think that I was supposed to get the "Dark Past" achievement after climbing out of the caves, but I didn't get anything.

The diary that I was referring to was Stella's Diary, which started out with many pages scrambled when I got it at the camp in chapter 4, but pages are decoded as more of the story is uncovered. At the start of chapter 10 from an earlier save, I had just under 10 pages still encrypted. I have since gone back and restarted at chapter 5, to try to unlock more memories, and will be p[laying from this for the rest of the game. I was wondering how many pages you still had encrypted when you finished and got the best ending?

[Voss]

Cant see that i have dark past unlocked.
diary is not done for me, i havent decrypted all the pages. maybe its some of the pages and not all?

Only thing i can find to reunite with steala is purify all the hearts from the first time you can do it. And listen to all hidden stories.

Originally posted by David53:

As of the start of chapter 10 from an earlier save, I have 9 of the Fairy Tale pages. hopefully, I'll find the rest of them.

As for the Lojza quest, I think that I was supposed to get the "Dark Past" achievement after climbing out of the caves, but I didn't get anything.

The diary that I was referring to was Stella's Diary, which started out with many pages scrambled when I got it at the camp in chapter 4, but pages are decoded as more of the story is uncovered. At the start of chapter 10 from an earlier save, I had just under 10 pages still encrypted. I have since gone back and restarted at chapter 5, to try to unlock more memories, and will be p[laying from this for the rest of the game. I was wondering how many pages you still had encrypted when you finished and got the best ending? [/quote]

[David53]

I assume that by listening to "hidden stories", you mean drinking a True Sight potion every time you see one of those "swirls" and then following each one to it's conclusion. So far in chapter 5, by exploring almost the whole map, I found 6 such stories, in addition to the "main plot" one near the totem. Of those 7 stories, 4 unlocked a diary page, but the other three were just a "story" with no diary page unlocked.

I hope that I didn't miss any. (I've now rescued Stela from the fire on my second play through, and have now entered the Beast lair.)

[Caster]

I got the reunion ending after:
- purifying all hearts that I could
- reassembling the doll
- not using the devil pact potion at all
- completing all bedtime story pages
- doing Hata quest

I didn't finish Mura quest, missed Lojza quest, missed the inquisition part, missed a number of true sight places and pieces of journal, missed the hidden meadow place (with watermill), didn't have all myths and legends... so I guess it's just needed to purify all hearts AND reassemble the doll?