Part 39: Bad Ending - My Path

Bad End - My Path

Before I go any further, I am going to spoil something that is technically revealed later on, but the Bad End is your first chance to see it. I'll revisit this in the main update list, but this is the first time I'll technically talk about it, albeit in spoiler tags. Highlight it at your own discretion. The curtain closes


I'm... I... I...
It's all right, Lulua. It's all right. Thank you, for choosing. Thank you, for deciding.

*sob* ...I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Stia...! I'm so, so sorry...


Do you remember all those bits where the screen went all static-y just before Lulua made an important decision? Like taking on Totori's request when we first got to Arland or blasting open the door to Stia's room? The game never *exactly* specifies what this signifies but now we're seeing Another Lulua and Another Stia, in apparently the exact same context. My personal theory, which I'm pretty sure is quite close to the truth, is that this Lulua went on a journey very much resembling Our Lulua's, but not exactly (the most explicit example of different journeys would be Our Lulua taking on that ghostbusting quest and Another Lulua not doing so). Those static-y moments were points when the two's journeys most exactly synchronized, eventually leading up to both meeting Stia and going on adventures with her.

As for the Alchemyriddle, this is Alternate Lulua's gambit to achieve a different outcome. Taking all the knowledge she had gained on her journey, without the benefit of a magic book that always leads her to the correct answer, she solved all these problems, but eventually ran into a dead end when it came to the most important thing. But where she failed, she figured another Lulua, who met Stia and followed her footsteps, could find a path she couldn't see. She sent the book into an alternate universe far enough into the past to make a difference. Unfortunately, by choosing the Bad End, Our Lulua failed that expectation. I'm only putting this in spoilers in a spoiler "update" because it goes to what happens at the very end of the Bad End but without me kinda ruining the moment by talking.


(Alternate) (No, I don't want you to, Stia...! There has to be another...another way...! Stia...! Stia...!)

(I... I did this for a reason...)
Thank you for everything, Lulua. Good-bye.











Music: Our Future: Bad Ending

Haha, Arklys is as peaceful as ever. Nothing ever happens here. It's... It's all thanks to you, Stia. But... You know, it still bothers me. Was it really the right thing to do? Was there some other way? These thoughts never leave my mind. So, you know, I've decided. I'm going to "change the past". At least... Some version of it. Stia, I want a world where we can always be together. Well, it's time for me to go. But I'll be back, Stia.









I'll be able to change the past. I'll make a world where we can both live, Stia. Well, it's too late for me now... But it'll be a better version of the world, I'm sure.