Posted September 08, 2019
Hello everyone! Since we don't want anyone to start feeling frustrated in their search for the endings, and since we really appreciate the fact that you're searching for them in the first place, I've put together this short guide. While it doesn't exactly tell you how to get them all, it will hopefully make things more clear. It also explains some of the in-game choices and their consequences. What the Hades is with that flower anyway?
Obviously, beware of SPOILERS below!!!
***
Let's start from the top - literally. You can always go left, you can always get "To Be With Her Again" (another heavily considered option was "Together Forever", he-he).
But what if you go right? There are three possible outcomes: two main ones and one "secret". Let's start with the two main ones, "A Sacrifice in Vain" and "Left Behind". Which of these two you get depends on your actions throughout the game.
Now let's side step here for a moment. Not all choices and actions have direct impact on the ending of Nod's route. I understand how this might be confusing, but it's a compromise that we had to make to be able to release at this stage. The game remembers your actions, and you will come to regret some of them much later... Just kidding : ) Here are the most important examples:
- The primary purpose of saving Thea and releasing Mentor is to unlock their routes. But note that there are three possible outcomes to Thea's chapter, not two.
- That flower is meant for the veeery end of the game (i.e. not Nod's route, but Richie's, basically). But since you're here, I suggest you take it, since the game will take note of it : )
Let's get back to the two main "going right" endings. You might have already guessed that which of them you get depends on Ollie's energy level. If it's not high enough, "A Sacrifice in Vain" is coming your way. Otherwise it's "Left Behind".
By the way, there's a way to check if Ollie has enough energy at the end of the game, and I really can't stress enough how important that is, because there's even more to it. If she only has one hint for you after the dialogue in the beginning of the last chapter, you're locked into "To Be With Her Again" or "A Sacrifice in Vain". If she has two, she passed her energy check.
- We tried to design this mechanic in such a way as to reward players who're interested in Ollie and care about her (for example, worry that she loses energy if she hacks the Bygone). Hopefully the things that help Ollie conserve energy aren't very difficult to figure out. In almost all cases, we made effort to communicate them clearly. But note a few things:
- For Ollie, talking to Nod (including teasing him with fake versions of his apartment, commenting on various areas of Royce building - things like that) requires much less energy than working on her "project" : ) She mentions this in the dialogue which introduces her hints.
- One thing that I forgot to include into the script (and we'll definitely fix this in future) is that releasing Mentor costs Ollie a bit of energy. So unless you're trying to unlock Mentor's route or purposefully get "A Sacrifice in Vain", I suggest you don't do that.
- Restoring Royce's Axis grid on Unter's floor does not affect Ollie's energy level, since Nod already blew up the Axis panel on his floor.
- There's a hidden bonus to Ollie's energy level - listening to the art skits in which she participates increases it by a bit : ) It's meant as a kind of a handicap for the second+ playthroughs. You can listen to them at any time before reaching chapter 7 start (when a check is made), and the bonus is permanent. Note that Maya's painting skit has two variants, and one of them awards the most points to Ollie's energy level xD
As for the "secret" variation of "going right" endings, which is, in my opinion, the second most impactful ending in the game (it's called "The Final Lesson"), in addition to keeping Ollie's energy level high enough it's important to do something that would really, really piss Mentor off if she somehow found out about it.
Finally, there's the ending that we consider to be the "true" one, it's called "Good Intentions". If you're emotionally invested in Nod's story, I guarantee you that it will put things into a very different perspective. A couple of hints about it:
- Ollie has to have enough energy in order to get it.
- It's a bit meta... Not that you have to go and look through the game files, but still.
- The orange door ultimately leads to it. I think it's a really pretty shade of orange.
Well, I hope that helps : ) I'll try my best to comment on your ideas and suggestions, we'd really love for you to see everything there is to see in Nod's route xD
Cheers!
Nick
Obviously, beware of SPOILERS below!!!
***
Let's start from the top - literally. You can always go left, you can always get "To Be With Her Again" (another heavily considered option was "Together Forever", he-he).
But what if you go right? There are three possible outcomes: two main ones and one "secret". Let's start with the two main ones, "A Sacrifice in Vain" and "Left Behind". Which of these two you get depends on your actions throughout the game.
Now let's side step here for a moment. Not all choices and actions have direct impact on the ending of Nod's route. I understand how this might be confusing, but it's a compromise that we had to make to be able to release at this stage. The game remembers your actions, and you will come to regret some of them much later... Just kidding : ) Here are the most important examples:
- The primary purpose of saving Thea and releasing Mentor is to unlock their routes. But note that there are three possible outcomes to Thea's chapter, not two.
- That flower is meant for the veeery end of the game (i.e. not Nod's route, but Richie's, basically). But since you're here, I suggest you take it, since the game will take note of it : )
Let's get back to the two main "going right" endings. You might have already guessed that which of them you get depends on Ollie's energy level. If it's not high enough, "A Sacrifice in Vain" is coming your way. Otherwise it's "Left Behind".
By the way, there's a way to check if Ollie has enough energy at the end of the game, and I really can't stress enough how important that is, because there's even more to it. If she only has one hint for you after the dialogue in the beginning of the last chapter, you're locked into "To Be With Her Again" or "A Sacrifice in Vain". If she has two, she passed her energy check.
- We tried to design this mechanic in such a way as to reward players who're interested in Ollie and care about her (for example, worry that she loses energy if she hacks the Bygone). Hopefully the things that help Ollie conserve energy aren't very difficult to figure out. In almost all cases, we made effort to communicate them clearly. But note a few things:
- For Ollie, talking to Nod (including teasing him with fake versions of his apartment, commenting on various areas of Royce building - things like that) requires much less energy than working on her "project" : ) She mentions this in the dialogue which introduces her hints.
- One thing that I forgot to include into the script (and we'll definitely fix this in future) is that releasing Mentor costs Ollie a bit of energy. So unless you're trying to unlock Mentor's route or purposefully get "A Sacrifice in Vain", I suggest you don't do that.
- Restoring Royce's Axis grid on Unter's floor does not affect Ollie's energy level, since Nod already blew up the Axis panel on his floor.
- There's a hidden bonus to Ollie's energy level - listening to the art skits in which she participates increases it by a bit : ) It's meant as a kind of a handicap for the second+ playthroughs. You can listen to them at any time before reaching chapter 7 start (when a check is made), and the bonus is permanent. Note that Maya's painting skit has two variants, and one of them awards the most points to Ollie's energy level xD
As for the "secret" variation of "going right" endings, which is, in my opinion, the second most impactful ending in the game (it's called "The Final Lesson"), in addition to keeping Ollie's energy level high enough it's important to do something that would really, really piss Mentor off if she somehow found out about it.
Finally, there's the ending that we consider to be the "true" one, it's called "Good Intentions". If you're emotionally invested in Nod's story, I guarantee you that it will put things into a very different perspective. A couple of hints about it:
- Ollie has to have enough energy in order to get it.
- It's a bit meta... Not that you have to go and look through the game files, but still.
- The orange door ultimately leads to it. I think it's a really pretty shade of orange.
Well, I hope that helps : ) I'll try my best to comment on your ideas and suggestions, we'd really love for you to see everything there is to see in Nod's route xD
Cheers!
Nick