The Let's Play Archive

Romancing Walker

by Tin Tim

Part 51: Mariel's Ending

Mariel's Ending



"Zzzzzzz~ Yum~"

"Wish I could relax like that~"

"Mm..Ah? Mr. Ryle~??"

"Looks like you're alright."

"Yes, my body is pretty tough."


Mariel just can't catch a break

Let's skip over the back and forth that we've seen a few times already, and get to the cool thing that Mariel does here.



"!!"


Mariel turns to the side...


...and dramatically throws her glasses away

"!?"

"...."

"....Mariel?"

"...."

"Why!? Why do you try to throw your life away? We were able to come this far because we relied on each other. And we fight to survive in order to protect our own dreams and each other's futures. Then why do you try to betray not only our hopes, but also yours!?"

"......."

"I know I'm not smart like the other girls, but my desire to live is as strong as in anyone else. And I worked extra hard not to fall behind! But now Mr. Ryle wants to deny all that and simply give up..."

"Mariel..."

"Please Mr. Ryle, please do not give yourself up like this! And I want to help you...because I am your #1 fan! To me, Mr. Ryle is the coolest man in the world!!"

"......"

"....Mr. Ryle."

"I can't believe you would say that!"

"But!"

"Don't worry! I won't ever do that again!"

"Mr. Ryle~"

Damn, Mariel. Damn

Well, on to the fight then.



"Eh? It's MY turn!?"




This is her single hit attack, and it beats her other attack if you use buffs.




Gekiganger is one of the many robot Animes I believe.




Her multi attack looks sweet, but as said, it's not as good as the other one.

Overall, she is a pretty solid choice for the last battle. She's one of the most durable girls in your party, and can even tank a Dragon break without crumbling right away. Her varied skill range also means that she can throw up a buff or two, so that Fina isn't solely responsible for that.




"Later I started my own business and delivered goods using my Warp. My service is for those who are in a real hurry that even the mail dragon can't keep up with. In fact, sometimes it can be very busy. After the usual work hours, I went back to my newly built house."

You'll notice that this ending starts off different, and I think it's because Mariel was a late addition to the game as we'll see later. I guess Flare forgot about the whole "six months later" deal. Also lol at Ryle becoming a magic mail man



"I'm home..."

"Waa!?...I got a bad feeling about this!"

"Man-! Not again!"





"Kya!"

"Mr. Ryle~ You surprised me."

"Look who's talking! Anyway, why are you cooking?"

"Woo...I just wanted to give a hand while living here~ At least I can fix you a meal."

"Oh come on! But you'll end up making a big mess."

"I don't know. I just wanted to do something with my life~"

"I want to practice now. So my own children can enjoy homemade cooking. Don't you think it's sad to see a child growing up without knowing a mother's warmth?"

"..."

"Oh!"

"..."

"I..I think I better find another place to live."

"Why?"

"I should've been more careful. I know that Mr. Ryle grew up alone and yet I... I'm sorry. I'll move out as soon as I find a new place."

"Mariel!?"

"Thank you for all the help... I won't forget this."


Mariel then storms off...

"Mariel!"


...but Ryle uses his warp.



"What are you doing all of a sudden!"

"Please don't stop me. I know that I shouldn't stay here."






And her glasses fly off again! In favor of the romantic drama, let's say it happened because Ryle grabbed her while she was moving for the door

"...Why did you stop me?"

"Because you were trying to leave!"

"I...I just hated myself for being so dumb and insensitive to your feelings."

"What?"

"Knowing Mr. Ryle's feelings might get hurt, I just went on blabbering about a mother's homemade cooking and... Not only this time, I've caused so many troubles to Mr. Ryle. Yet I repeat the same mistake."

"I didn't get bothered by it. If I did, I would have asked you to leave a long time ago."

"Mr. Ryle..."

"And I never said that I was so unhappy because I grew up without my mother either!"

"..."

"I can say that my life is going well right now!"

"..."

"Because you girls were with me all this time."

"..."

"I think you too knew this when we first met."

"Yes, I understand the feeling of being all alone. That's how I was before I joined you. But at least I grew up happily with my parents."

"Perhaps that made me feel fortunate even after I became alone."

"But for Mr. Ryle...you had to endure all the hardships by yourself since your childhood."

"Yeah you might be right on that. But we would never meet each other if I grew up inside the palace. I still think I was lucky enough to live freely like now instead of being stuck in the castle."

"Mr. Ryle..."

"Even if I could go back and choose, I would still want to be like now. If I chose to live like a monarch, who knows what would have happened to our fate with CHAOS?"

"..."

"And don't say that you weren't any help at all!"

"?"

"We both helped Fina to complete her Cosmos Eternal. You heard it from Fina after CHAOS was gone, right? That she was able to continue fighting because everyone was there to support her. And Mariel, you were there too. You are also 1 of the heroes who saved this world!"

"No...I didn't really..."

"And you know what? Once you leave here, I would become lonely all over again."

"!?"

"Like you said, I have to endure all the hardships by myself again."

"I don't know how long I can last in this empty house which I built specifically for the 2 of us..."

"...But I don't really have anything helpful to offer you!"

"But I won't be happy if you are not here with me!"

"Huh?"

"I'm sure now you understand what I'm getting at."

"Will you be alright with me?"

"With no one else besides you."

"I'm very clumsy and not good at housework like other wives you know."

"Still beats not having you around."

"Do you really mean it? What if someone more attractive appears after it's too late?"

"This house if for YOU and ME. It's impossible for someone else to replace you."

"...*full of tears*"

"Wait! Oh come on~ What are you crying for?"

"How couldn't I~ After hearing all that~"

"My heart is about to burst with joy and happiness..."

"Don't surprise me like that!"

"Ah-!! You try to hide your tears too!"


I think it's safe to assume that Mariel finally got her date

"And so we step into our new future in a small house just for the two of us. Someday we will be together again with our old dear friends who are now walking on separate paths. Mariel and I are looking forward to when that day comes."


I like how the stuff in her hand is totally not pasted over that picture! If you take a close look, you can even see that there is something yellow in her hand beneath it

"Please! I'm busy with coming up with a total surprise for Mr. Ryle."

"I can't shock him with another awful dish again....~"

"That's strange.. I think I just cut this meat in slices~ Is something wrong with this knife?"

"Ale? Where are my glasses?"



"Did I put them in the bathroom?"

"Just another peaceful day..."




"As many of you already figured out by now, Mariel was added far later in the development of the game. She was supposed to be very cute and clumsy as the typical 4-eyed girl character in dating games. Guess I broke the fine(?) tradition hehe..You might find that her colors lack variety due to my color blindness...but hey she still looks or, right?"

And here is the colorblindness thing. Now, to be fair, it could be a translation error, or meant to be a jokey way to say that she just has bad taste in color combinations, so it's up to interpretation. But I choose to believe that it's true, because Polsy showed us screens of how the game looked before it was re-done by RM2KFanBoy, and they looked rather dull and basic. Also, Flare is a nerd, and nine out of ten nerds have some kind of deficiency. I had allergies as a kid, so I know what I'm talking about

"Mariel's childhood wasn't that pretty thanks to all the bullies in her kinder garden years...ah the inevitable fate of being a nerd. Her father was a rather macho person, and of course he taught them a GOOD lesson which scared the hell out of the rest of the children. Which in turn made her very lonely since no kid would dare to even get close to her..~ Also, Mariel's mom passed away during that time. She was five then. And her father who was specialized in gun smithing was killed by the Gaiares invasion during the Demonic War."


Whoa, that came out of nowhere

"Mariel became a gunner just like her father with equal skills that she learned all by herself! And her primary weapon is a multi-purpose pistol which can be combined with many different parts. She can play various roles in combat with this."

Well, ultimately her gun gimmick isn't that useful, but Flare still gets kudos for trying to make her different in an unique way.

"Her father, Gazel Shells, was one of the top gun smiths in Ernest. And her mother, Cetios Shells, was an ordinary housewife with long green hair. Mariel lived her life without any purpose until she met Ryle. She wanted to be needed by someone. So she could have a place where she belongs to. The fact that she was willing to follow Ryle from Cellen...indicates how desperate she was to be accepted by anybody. She needed to find the meaning of her existence this way. Like in her ending, she tried to leave Ryle thinking that she is no longer needed. And we can imagine how happy she was when Ryle told her that he really needs her on his side."

"So how did you feel about her?"


You don't know all that sad stuff about her life before this, so I went with the middle choice. And because there is no choice for mentally challenged

"Maybe she is a little slow from time to time, but she always remains calm and helps others during a crisis. I hope you enjoyed her throughout the game. With her unique francois accent "

Making a character say "Ale" from time to time is not a French accent. It isn't even written or used right in any way

Well, that's it for Mariel! I liked her ending, because it was totally different then what I expected. Instead of being goofy, it was surprisingly mature, and it was good to see Ryle not being an idiot about his relation with Mariel. And the post game stuff also shifts the perspective on her quite a bit. If only Flare would have done that during the actual game, but oh well.