I really liked the game. However...

[Beanzoboy]

**Spoilers ahead! You have been warned**


I am pretty disappointed with the ending. The whole game is about saying goodbye and letting go, but we find out that Stella's mother and sister are at her bedside in the hospital. Lily talks to Stella through several events in the last section of the game and is on the ship for the last few hours of game time. When everything is done, though, when Stella finally leaves, the game just ends. I was expecting (hoping) that there would be an emotional final scene where Stella's sister and mother have to finally say their own goodbyes to her. Something to bring the emotional roller coaster to a finish. Many tears to shed and much begging and pleading for a final goodbye to do. But we don't get that. We don't really get anything. This disappointed me greatly.

I spent 26.5 hours playing co-op with my friend over stream sharing (I did buy the game myself, though). While some of the character's stories were compelling, none of them really *got* to me. A well-done final scene would bring the story to a better close. I was preparing myself to finally lose Stella after such a long time, after hearing her story, after her sister's emotional remembrances. I was connecting to Lily as though Stella was my sister. I would have cried such manly tears. Please, I implore you to add a final scene for Lily's goodbye.

We ended the game with three Opol left (100% playthrough), so if it interests the programmers enough, maybe they could add a new scene where you have a final fight with the bird (death?) where you could use the final three Opol to have a second chance at life. Basically like you're doing "community service" faring the other spirits to the afterlife and in exchange you're able to live and see your sister and mother again in an emotional reunion. Essentially, I'd like to see a super emotionally sad ending, or a super emotionally happy ending, or both. Something to really hammer home the emotional impact of death and its affects on those left behind. The ending we got is rather underwhelming, if I'm being honest. And after Stella got the Everlight and did her whole adventure, she just leaves without passing the Everlight to anyone else. Can we tie up this thread too, please?

Thank you for this game, but it doesn't really have replayability for me since the characters and events don't change and there's only one ending.

[Kitty Mauge]

I was ok with the ending, tho I understand the need for closure

[Beanzoboy]

That's the problem, though. It was *only* okay. It could have been fantastic. It could have been a heart-wrenching, emotional tale about letting go. I know that's what they were going for. But then they tripped themselves at the finish line instead of sprinting to the end. It could have been so great, but it wasn't. What's the point of bringing Lily in as a character if they're not going to give her a conclusion. Either use Lily's appearance as a tether for Stella to hang on to life, or give Stella's story an emotional finale. They tried to do it with literally every other character on the boat.

[Kitty Mauge]

I felt that not being able to wake up and say goodbye talks about the harsh reality of being in hospice care, sometimes we just don't get closure.

I agree that two endings would be good, like having two different cakes.

Also I apologize if the wording is wonky, English is my second language

[Beanzoboy]

I'm not saying that Stella has to wake up and say good bye. There should be a scene at the end where Stella's sister and mother watch as her heart rate stops, where she finally does die, and then they (Lily) plead for her to wake up, to beg for her not to go, as they cling to her, only to realize she's gone. Then the scene could end with their final goodbyes. Throughout the whole game Stella has said goodbye to every character she saw off, and this would wrap up her story with the surviving characters saying their goodbyes.

This is literally how people react when loved ones die in hospitals. It's very difficult to just let go of loved ones even when you know it's inevitable.

[Reyes_3435]

I also just finished the game, and I also felt it was really underwhelming. Like, instead of going out with a bang, it just fizzled out.

And I'm OK with that. In fact, I quite like it that way.

I feel like the story does not need to rely on some super emotional catharsis to drive its points home. As I understood it, the game is not really about the spirits, but about Stella. She is dying, and the spirits represent memories and experiences of people she met in life, and the lessons she learned from them. Kinda like a "see your whole life flash before your eyes before you die" kind of thing. It is her dying mind desperately trying to come to terms with the fact that she is about to die. I love the fact that each spirit represents a way to deal with death and grief, and a lesson on how people are so different in the way they deal with the same experience. That is fundamentally what Stella learned on her time as a nurse, and what helps her move on with no regrets: by coming to terms with the fact that loss is painful, but inevitable, and the only way of overcoming the fear and pain is by accepting it.

So, the story just kinda ends. No big resolution, no deus ex machina for Stella to keep living, no miracle cure, not even her waking up to say goodbye. Its just death. If we only got to see her sister POV, it would be a tragedy, it would be just loss and pain and suffering. But we get to experience Stella's inner journey towards her end, and we get the full picture: memories, longing, regrets, love, loss, sadness, joy, acceptance. We get to see how Stella finally accepts her fate and head towards it of her own volition and with dignity. And I think the way it just happens is very grounded and realistic, because that is often what happens irl. People just die. They may suffer, some lucky few get to have a big goodbye, but most just kinda... go. Most lives have a very anticlimactic and underwhelming end, and that's OK.

At least, that is how I choose to view the ending, like a final lesson on how death, despite being something so grand and imposing and terrifying in our minds, its actually something pretty mundane. Unextraordinary. Common. The most common thing, actually, since it is the one and only thing we ALL have guaranteed in this life.

[AA]

I bought the game on sale recently not because it was on sale, but because it had a lot of very good reviews. I hate platformers, but decided to give this beautiful game a try. The concept and art are superb, and when the NPCs start leaving, you feel their absence and the experience puts real life in perspective, in a sad way. After a while, however, the constant resource grind became tiresome. And by the time I reached GreyMist Peaks, I had had enough of platformers. GreyMist Peaks is where I stopped playing; and it is the reason why I hate platformers to begin with.

[Bob Justus]

Life has one ending.