Sorry for the delay. Last time, the unstoppable leader of NORTH KOREA THE UNSTOPPABLE politely killed himself to absolve the heroes of moral responsibility. Now it’s time for the plot to actually start…like two hours before the ending.

He is not troubled by the fact that Kir’Ssha will now starve (am I the only one who remembers that was a factor?), nor why Zaka was such a stubborn opponent when he claimed he wanted to throw the fight, but why Zaka killed himself. Yes, it is such a mystery, he only explained it in excruciating detail immediately before the battle. Is even the game questioning how little sense that made?

All the surviving secondary characters from previous chapters show up, sans Skint. This is another thing that’s good in theory but fumbled in execution. While it makes sense for Yacatec to express his gratitude, given he was the one who sent them on this mission in the first place, it’s kind of odd that everyone else shows up to talk about how renowned they are in general. Really, what have they accomplished that would win them global renown? Their contributions to Nal were mostly run-of-the-mill and probably forgotten with their abrupt and suspicious departure, their adventures in Fortifel had to be kept secret, and while I’m sure the Berylbrine explorers were very grateful for their help I don’t see that making waves elsewhere. Temporarily placating this regional conflict might eventually make news somewhere, but it just happened, nobody should know about that yet. Saving the world’s breadbasket is really their only accomplishment of global significance, and that was at the beginning of their careers. They peaked early on and have been declining ever since, but the game is trying to insist it’s the opposite. It feels very token, like it’s just there to make the heroes look cool and insist that no really there’s totally an overarching plot going on here. It would be more meaningful for these people to play more significant roles and repay the guild for their aid while citing specific actions of generosity, thus reminding the guild where they came from and what they’re fighting for while they are propelled to greater heights…which is exactly how I Miss the Sunrise does it so I guess the developer figured that one out already.

Fell comes to rain on their parade by reminding them of their obligations.

Havan: “You!!! Temptress, why are you here?!”
Dehl: “It is indeed time, Fell. We are prepared.”
[…]
Havan: “Surely you haven’t been poisoned by her ridiculous nonsense, my friends?”
Dehl: “Attention, everyone. We are departing. I’m sorry we haven’t had time to rest, but…”

I like how dismissive he is here. At the start he genuinely seems to like Havan and hangs on his every word, but as time goes on they start drifting apart. By this point, Dehl’s treating him like some old thing he’s outgrown, only giving him the most token of platitudes before completely ignoring his input and brushing him aside. He’s moved on to more important things now, and Havan is only holding him back. Personally, this mirrored my own feelings toward Havan my first time through; he seemed like an irrelevant side character who was nothing but a distraction. Shush, Havan, the plot is happening now, no time for your theatrics. I think this is what really contributes to the sheer bitterness he feels toward Dehl. It’s not just that he succeeded where Havan failed, it’s that he treated him like something stuck on his shoe while doing so.

Dehl sees Xopi in the crowd for one last guilt trip, then it’s time to follow Fell.

[…]
“This is the first ascension I have presided over. I hope that all goes well for you.”

Wait, does this mean that this is the first ascension ever, or were there previous Watchers who performed successful ascensions? I Miss the Sunrise disproves the latter, though as I’ve mentioned IMTS is super retconny. First ascension ever probably makes more sense, though, given that they don’t seem to know how things are supposed to go.

Nothing happens, and she tells them to be patient. Pretty weird after screaming at them to hurry up, but eh sure. Maybe it’s outside of their control and only triggers when the chosen ones arrive at this spot. Dehl gives another speech that sounds much more heartfelt than his previous one. The snarkers squabble about how they don’t actually know what’s going to happen, and the secondary cast says they’ll hold the fort while the heroes are away.

Hiu: “History’s gonna need one hell of an update to keep up with what you guys have done.”

Not unless we’ve hopped to an alternate universe where they actually did something it won’t.

Havan: “Ilganyag! Take me with you! I do not wish to be left behind! We’re allies, right?!”
Fell: “Absolutely not. Havan of the Blue Guard, you are not worthy to ascend with us.”
Havan: “B-but…! I did what you said! My spirit grew, like you said! I helped save this world!”
Fell: “They have been chosen, not you. Such is the decree of the Voice Himself. Enough.”

Havan may be a monster, but I do feel some sympathy for him here. We’re given no explanation for why he failed the test or what criteria was used. Initially she said his chasing after the artifact was the reason for his failure, but now it sounds like the selection is simply arbitrary and all the stuff about important tasks and growing as a person was crap. That fits with IMTS’ claim that magic talent is the only important criteria, though it does raise the plot hole of why the elaborate tests when most of it is irrelevant. Maybe they just know so little about it that they’re throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. That fits with the kind of terrible science we see them perform in IMTS, so quite possible.

Dehl: “Havan. Yours is the most important duty of all. You must stay behind, for us. The world still needs defenders as grand and stalwart as those in your guild. There is still the possibility of further aggression from Kir’Ssha, and the Silver Army. no there isn’t they’re all going to starve now In addition, Scourgelord Skint is still out there, and may yet prove a menace once more. So you see, there is still so much to be done here, and only you can accomplish it.”

Hm.

This sounds patronizing to me – “we’re going off to way more important things and it’s going to be so cool but the mundane things you’re doing are still totally important no really” – but is probably sincere, given Dehl’s own misgivings about the ascension and the fact he has far more interest in actually helping the world. But I think it’s very likely Havan interprets it as patronizing regardless of Dehl’s intentions, and that’s all that has to happen. He doesn’t care about the duties Dehl is talking about, all he sees is that this guy is stealing his thunder and doing all the cool things he wanted to do while leaving him behind in mediocrity. Both of them are misunderstanding the other, and this fosters more bitterness.

A ladder descends from the sky.

Qualstio: “What the hell…? A ladder? Seriously?”

What were you expecting, a tractor beam? This does serve the purpose of drawing attention to how odd this is, though. I can’t show it adequately because the magic of animated gifs eludes me, but the ladder’s descent is very mundane and anticlimactic. It looks like a magician’s stage trick, not a divine intervention.

Santes: “Where did it come from? How’s it standing up? This don’t make no sense!”
[…]
Fell: “No more waiting. Climb.”

Yet this is immediately countered by a rejection of its mundanity. Which is it? The player is thrown off balance, then immediately pushed onward before they have chance to analyze the discrepancies, left only with a vague sense of wrongness. Something’s off here, but who are you to question it? Move along and pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Speaking of discrepancies, Havan’s artifact is notably absent here. By this point on my first playthrough I had completely forgotten about it, and I think distracting the player with more important matters is intended to ensure they don’t think about it. It’s easy to believe that everything is being wrapped up in a tidy bow, when in fact there’s still a loose end.

Or maybe I’m just really slow. Though I do think this sleight of hand is clever, I also have to wonder if it’s foul play. If the artifact plotline actually went somewhere prior to this and gave us enough clues to figure out the mysery, I think this would be acceptable, but here it’s just ensuring that people won’t connect the dots. Keeping a currently unsolvable plot thread in the players’ heads before the reveal seems like better form, but I’m not terribly familiar with mysteries so I can’t say for certain.

Anyway. They elect Alito to go first, but Fell refuses, saying he hasn’t been chosen. I would accept this, but it raises the plot hole of why everyone who joined the guild after him is chosen if he isn’t. Yfus, in particular, just joined and didn’t participate in any of Fell’s tests. If the idea is that Alito didn’t participate directly in the tests, why does Yfus get a free pass by riding Dehl’s coattails but he doesn’t? It could just be a coincidence that he doesn’t fill the magic talent requirement while everyone else does, but that’s pretty contrived, especially since there are plenty of other fighters in the guild.

Dehl tells Alito to keep their records safe, and…climbs the ladder while wearing full plate armor. You know, I’ve always questioned the logistics of this. How do even the lighter members climb miles into the sky without getting tired? What would happen if someone slipped and fell? And apparently the scientists assumed no one who fit their criteria would have a fear of heights? This could easily be handwaved by saying the ladder is retractable or magic, but it never is. It’s just assumed you know that obviously everyone can climb ladders for miles with no ill effect, no need to explain. But whatever, willing suspension of disbelief, moving on.

High Above the World – A Short Time Later

Everyone boggles at the place and Fell offers only cryptic jargon in explanation before beckoning them onward. Tez has some extra ruminations:

(“Gods, Watchers, Surface and Sky… All of this… I have known it before. So much is coming back to me. I should pace myself.”)

Still tacky, but more acceptable than his previous thoughts. It makes sense that his recall would be triggered by the Watchers’ jargon, and showing someone finally understand what Fell’s talking about is effective.

This looks familiar. They start discussing Tezkhra; the Watchers all recognize him, something that will be explicitly contradicted by IMTS because the developer changed his mind on how the Watchers worked. They also confirm his godhood, and Ques reveals he never believed the claim. This works; though everyone else clearly believed him and there was no particular reason to doubt, Ques is more skeptical so it makes sense that he personally disbelieved it. Varied opinions among a cast are a good thing in general, also. I just wish Ques established his stance before this.

Tez says his head is throbbing. I’m really curious what’s up with that, given that IMTS doesn’t explain it. I initially assumed it was just a side effect of the immortality emitters, but in IMTS Tez is the only one who ever complains about it. Must be a bodyhopper trait, but in that case I’d assume the other bodyhopper in IMTS would have said something similar to make that clear. Guess it’s just another PLAY THE SEQUEL!

Fell starts spouting cryptic stuff about “cycles”. They’re supposed to select candidates once per cycle, and bad things happen at the end of one – the current one is almost at its end, thus the time limit. However, she tells them not to worry; and all they need to do now is relax in the room until the gods come to pick them up. Everyone says a single line to remind you that characters other than Dehl exist.

Qualstio: “Playing a game, huh? Who’s winning?”
Kott: “You are.”
Qualstio: “O…kay.”

Lulz. I am pleased by Qualstio getting trolled.

Falitza: (“The air here… so thin, and yet so heavy with something more. Something… lively.”)

HOW DOES SHE KNOW THIS. In The Drop she says she can’t read Tez, and I would assume the Watchers have the same immunity. Even if they don’t, do they even know how the emitters work? Their creators seemed pretty big on not letting them see the wires. The only possibility is that her wildcard magic gives her a sixth sense for detecting radiation, in which case she’s a sue whose powers run on plot fiat.

Tezkhra: “Since your Watch was a success, does this mean the Surface will be saved?”
Fell: “What would be the purpose if that were not true? You created the terms, after all.”

It seems Tez was originally planned to have a greater role in this. In the prequel his contribution seems to max out at providing DNA; it’s possible he did more in one of his offscreen conversations, but something that important should have been brought up at some point, and it never is. It’s also kind of weird that he cares deeply about saving everyone right now given something he does later, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Yfus: “Does this mean the Supreme One actually exists? Will we be able to… m-meet Her?”
Kott: “Supreme One? You don’t mean the man upstairs, do ya? That’ll be a real hoot.”
Qualstio: “Eh? I don’t see any stairs.”

I get the impression Kott is 110% done with this and just loves screwing with people. Although, shouldn’t they know who the Supreme One is? IMTS implies it’s the first fih’jik, who they should have seen from the start what with the whole watching thing. Eh, maybe she’s a red herring and the religion evolved independently, who knows.

An offhand comment about the third Watcher leads Kott to reveal that Donz has already left. Oh crap, says Fell. This is what she was warning them about: turns out it’s Donz’s duty to end the cycle, and if he succeeds before the gods arrive then it’s all a wash. Fell refuses to explain any details, just that they have to stop Donz.

Kott: “[Donz is] our brother. He Watches the future. Funny thing; he knew this was coming. He probably won’t stop if you just ask him. You might have to get rough with him.”
[…]
Fell: “It is impossible to say what lengths he will go to ensure his Watch remains accurate.”

This is brilliant. Donz is being perfectly set up as the final boss and everyone’s setting off the typical flags for BOSS FIGHT INCOMING. Not misleading the audience but allowing the audience to mislead themselves just by clever manipulation of genre cues; now that’s the kind of clever subversion I’ve been waiting for this whole game!

Nath: “Quite so. He will not take kindly to knowing his own Watch is flawed, or to be broken.”
Kott: “Yep. He’s pretty serious about being right. He’s the only one of us left who still cares.”

It really is a pity we don’t see more of the Watchers. I would have liked to see this analyzed in more detail. What led them to be this way? What does it mean for them to not care anymore? Unfortunately IMTS doesn’t shed as much light on the subject as I would have liked.

Fell starts spouting more jargon: There are “Pillars” at the end of the “Path”, and they have to stop Donz before he activates them.

Qualstio: “Uhh, and, what happens if he does?”
Kott: “‘The sky boils, the sea burns, the soil begs forgiveness.’ You ever heard anything like that?”

This gives Tez a major memory flash and he seems to remember everything now, which makes me wonder if this phrase was supposed to be prominent in IMTS too. It’s odd that this grants Tez an epiphany when all the other terminology didn’t, almost as if it’s a purposeful code phrase. Hm.

Fell tells them to go for the two “minor” pillars first, but if they’re shining, that means Donz already activated them and they failed. They continue on…

So yeah, Tez remembers everything now. He lies and says he can’t open it. This is exactly what I meant when I said thought bubbles are tacky; it presents a stronger narrative if we’re given clues through his outward behavior and have to piece this together on our own, rather than just getting it handed to us right out of the gate. Qualstio even immediately follows it with “You’d think if the gods built all this, they’d at least give them the spare keys,” which is suspicious enough. Have Tez react weirdly to it (what with him being a socially awkward nerd and not actually a suave god) and there, discrepancy established perfectly: an astute player can notice something’s up without being bashed over the head with it.

Dehl tells them to split up, though I only get to follow one party and one path. Bit of a wasted opportunity, but eh, probably would have been difficult to code. On to the gameplay sequence…but first, flavor text!

Classy.

Once again, everyone has a unique line, which I appreciate. This helps build the atmosphere pretty effectively by showing what everyone thinks of the situation.

And whee, tile passability bugs!

This level is a fairly nice puzzle sequence, but the flavor text pictures make this long enough so I won’t go into detail. It requires cooperation from multiple parties and there are no battles to distract you, plus everything is very pretty.

Ominous. They note that the third pillar is still inactive, which means they might still have a chance if they can make it onto the central path. (The format makes it hard to tell, but it’s actually far below them instead of right across, so they can’t just hop onto it. The developer really should have made special background tiles to make that clear.) When they return, Tez says the gate was never opened, and they still have no way through.

Yfus: “We’ve not seen hide nor hair of this ‘Watcher’ fellow. Is it possible we passed him?”

Yfus raises a good point. The logistics confuse me here; he must have come back before the heroes finished the puzzle, but they were blocking the only two routes the entire time. Kott mentions earlier that he has a way to get around the puzzles, so maybe there’s a secret passage?

Dehl concludes that he must have passed by this junction at some point, possibly allowing Fell to intercept him. They decide to return to the watchpost to consult. Qualstio goes ahead, but suddenly starts screaming.