What would happen if you...

[blaksun]

Chrono Trigger has 12 different endings...yeah...okay...mm-hmm...you heard me...

[DSOK]

Chrono Trigger has 12 different endings...yeah...okay...mm-hmm...you heard me...

It's really got more than that, if you count all the variations of which characters you have at the end. (That is, you don't need to have either Crono or Magus for some of them.)

However, the main reason that there are so many endings is that you can basically go to fight Lavos any time you want. You don't have to complete the rest of the story. That kind of scenario really wouldn't work in The Way.

[Amgard]

Plus a lot of the endings were joke endings, or just weird, they didn't tie up the end.

[fwacho]

I believe there are currently 3 possible endings at present based on some factors you can't even imagine. (the "real" ending would need some creative game play.)

[Sage Of The Wise]

Hmmm... here are some possible random factors:
*How many (if any) people Rhue killed after the rabbit race.
*Whether or not you threw the pendant into the river at the begining of Ep.1
*Total Playing time, though i never saw any event that records time in the coding.
*Who you helped at Marna Stretch (Guided, Settlers, no one)
*What choices you made during the story at the end of Ep.1
*Whether or not you beat Strata at the end of Ep. 5 (This is the most logical, so we can rule this out)
*How well you danced in The Shadow Inn with Lexus
*How far you got in the Lide Tournement in Ep. 2
*Whether or not you beat the shadow Figure in Ep. 3
*Whether or not you beat Rosmer before going to see Cetsa in Ep. 4

Wow... Thats alot.

[DSOK]

I believe there are currently 3 possible endings at present based on some factors you can't even imagine. (the "real" ending would need some creative game play.)

I'm sure Lun will produce something good, but it honestly seems to me that The Way is not a game well suited to mulriple endings. Chrono Trigger has many endings because you can just skip to the final battle any time you want. Final Fantasy X-2 has several endings because the game is mostly episodic, and you can skip a good half of the action. The Way, however, is probably the most linear game I've every played. There's practically no variation possible in the major events, since Lexus can't be saved.

There should be some logcial connection between what you do and whether you get the "real" ending. Of course, the logic that connects them might not even be comprehensible until near the climax of the story; however, that logic does need to be present. I've played a couple games where what ending you got seemed to be determined just by your behaviour at a small number of unimportant junctures, and that way of doing things stank.

[Kyle]

I completely agree with DSOK. Multiple endings work great for games that have a new game plus feature, where you can rush through the game again and play things differently to achieve a different ending.

Getting a different ending based on things you SAY to some characters would be a bit ridiculous, I think. I mean, to alter the ending some major things would have to be different, right? Unless of course the different endings don't differ much from each other.

Beating Strata will most likely have a big effect from now on, I think. I mean, if Rhue ever meets him again their reactions are BOUND to be different.

Guessing how the endings will differ from each other is impossible at this time though. fwacho said it has to do with some unimaginable factors, so it's probably something we figure is unimportant or it hasn't been introduced yet. I hope it's the latter, because up till now I can't find any factors I would like to have change the ending.

But hey, it's Lun's game and whatever he does will be good for me!
Hail to our god!

[Sage Of The Wise]

I just thought of another, more serious, possibility for a factor. What you tell the boy (young Slade) in the visions. Think about it, that was the most pointless choice in the game since you don't learn anything from any choice. All that happens is that Slade mutters whatever you said when he wakes up in the Delhara battle grounds, which tells us that Rhue being where ever he was during the visions effected Slade in some way which could defanantly lead to some plot changes later on.

[DSOK]

I just thought of another, more serious, possibility for a factor. What you tell the boy (young Slade) in the visions. Think about it, that was the most pointless choice in the game since you don't learn anything from any choice. All that happens is that Slade mutters whatever you said when he wakes up in the Delhara battle grounds, which tells us that Rhue being where ever he was during the visions effected Slade in some way which could defanantly lead to some plot changes later on.

I had a couple of theories about this, but as I was developing one of them in my mind, I realized that it fits almost too perfectly not to be true. So I'll skip my other (dumb) ideas and give you the good one.

Rhue's consciousness during his visions was contained not within his body, but within his sword. His sword was buried in Slade, and so Rhue's consciousness was experiencing the same powerful memories that the shadow foot was re-experiencing as he lay dying (i.e. with his life flashing before his eyes). Rhue's body regains consciousness when the Phantom Slasher reunites his sword and his body. This doesn't seem to tell us who Rhue was plunging with at the beginning of his visions, although it may indicate that it was somebody in Slade's past; but then, it might also have been a dream of Slade's. It also doesn't explain dream Estrana, but it does provide a neat explanation of the visions of Chasta and the queer fact that Rhue's sword seems to have deliberately melded with Slade's body.

This also casts Gaius' suggestion that Rhue give up his sword in a more sinister light. Without his sword, Rhue's body would cease to have any motivating force and would probably be as good as dead.

This could also provide a novel explanation of how Rhue came to remember the Landorin massacre. The sword was wielded by whoever was trying to defend "Serena." This individual was ultimately killed, along with someone else. "Rhue" takes the sword away from these two corpses and acquires its memories.

Returning to the point Sage Of The Wise was making, it seems like this would probably have little effect on the outcome of the game. It doesn't really affect what Slade does before he dies, so unless there are a lot of dead people in the later episodes (although this is something fwacho's posts might be construed as hinting to), the effect on Slade is probably not important. The effect on Rhue might be more significant, since it appears likely that when Rhue's consciousness returned to his body, he had absorbed some of Slade's abilities. So maybe these memories of Slades will also affect what he does down the road (or Way, rather).

[Sage Of The Wise]

I checked the coding for that event and I found out that there is a variable for him just as there is one for all the other characters. This one seems to reflect a sort of lawful-nuetral-chaotic rating based on passed desisions. On that event if you choose 'Kill that witch!" your rating gos down one. all the other choices dont effect the rating. I also found out that the only place in the game were you could check this rating was in Sacrifa's "demonic" room during episode 4. When you stepped into the demonic circle the better Rhue felt in it the lower your rating was, and if he felt uncomfortable in it you had a higher rating. This variable could become important leter in the game (Maby a deciding factor in which ending you get, if theres multiple endngs?)

Also, DSOK, your therory made me think my own, very strange, therory. What if Rhue is just a collection of souls that the sword has absorbed and he just unknowingly controls whoever owns it. Its kind of out there and theres not alot to back it up.

[DSOK]

Also, DSOK, your therory made me think my own, very strange, therory. What if Rhue is just a collection of souls that the sword has absorbed and he just unknowingly controls whoever owns it. Its kind of out there and theres not alot to back it up.

I'm almost certain that something like the scenario I outlined above has to be involved. That is, by episode 5, Rhue's body has pretty much no consciousness of his own. That's why without the blade he's unconscious, and while the weapon is buried in Slade, he experiences Slade's memories.

My brother pointed out to me that Rhue is separated from his sword earlier in the game. So at that point at least, there was a second, subservient personality contained in his body. (I say subservient, because Rhue was desperate to get his sword back after breaking out of prison.) However, the body's native aura could very well have been removed during Jopaga's experiment. Rhue then goes berzerk, because, for the first time, the sword's consciousness has absolutely complete control over Rhue's body.

Your specific suggestion, Sage, would be an interesting implementation of this, and it sound at least as reasonable as any of fantasy "rationales" that I've come up with to explain the sword's consciousness. If the sword's mind is made up of the minds of people it's killed, then this would be relevant to dream Estrana and to the question of whether Midian was the man hunting Jeruh. (Recall, in that case, that it was Slade, not Rhue, who killed the guy.)

[Sephiroth555]

This also casts Gaius' suggestion that Rhue give up his sword in a more sinister light. Without his sword, Rhue's body would cease to have any motivating force and would probably be as good as dead.

I know this is a bit random, but reading that gave me a weird idea. What if in Episode 6, Rhue and Gaius have an epic battle, Rhue dies since Gaius rids of the sword and Gaius obtains Rhue's aura...

That's a bit wack

[DSOK]

I know this is a bit random, but reading that gave me a weird idea. What if in Episode 6, Rhue and Gaius have an epic battle, Rhue dies since Gaius rids of the sword and Gaius obtains Rhue's aura...

That's a bit wack

I for one would love to see something like this. Whatever aura is controlling Rhue gets transferred to somebody else, and this individual then continues on, believing in Serena and not understanding about the change of bodies. It could be a wonderful opportunity for dramatic irony. (However, the irony wuold probably get very old after about one episode, so something would need to happen to steer the new main character into a different line.)

[Sage Of The Wise]

That would be intresting to see how it goes, but I just don't see that happening.

[DSOK]

That would be intresting to see how it goes, but I just don't see that happening.

No, probably not, but it could be awfully cool if it did.