Stay?

(spoilers)

 i can’t remember… exactly how i got there, but after many, many hours of playing this game again today lol, i managed the golden ending in just nine runs — i never stopped to talk to the three villagers, though. i figured out archaic, and the gem stuff and everything early-ish on, so i spent a couple of my runs just repeating stuff and waiting for the game to offer me the opportunity to head for the south. at the start of the eighth run, i was finally offered to leave for the south, and then i got to learn about the plague on their land. so for the ninth run i managed to burn suzette’s reference docs, take the history track after stealing the phoenix gem during graduation, and jo and i banished veris and then used the relics to help the south. after that i chose to go back home and managed to reconnect with mostly everyone! my only regret is that i didn’t connect enough with esteban in this last run, so he never got back into painting, although i just went back to my save file and that was easy to rectify by just choosing to speak to him a bit more in the last run. i used to play this game often a few years ago, and so it’s been really comforting and lovely to rediscover it recently. i love the characters, the setting, and the writing, and how immersive the world is. it really feels like you learn new things about yourself and how your life impacts others as you play, and i love that it has such a wider, profound meaning too. 

i also love how much of effort and care was put into this? as someone who kinda played as they talk in real life, i’d occasionally chose another (small) different choice, and it was really fascinating to see how this would take me to the same point or in a somewhat different direction! i love that it’s better to be kind and better to try, but it’s also better to apologise and make mistakes than not do anything at all. a comment i saw on here about two years ago put it perfectly — that ‘living’ in someone else’s life, over and over, really provides maybe the most ‘outsider’ perspective you can ever have on how your own life and the lives of others are shaped by your actions, your kindness. it really feels like ‘zooming out’ in the best way possible… in a world that makes it very difficult to find hope and meaning, this is such an antidote to the lack of both of those things. i love this game so much :)

two questions, for anyone else that’s played this a couple times — does anyone know if you can leave for the south earlier than your eighth run (and if so, how?), and if it’s possible to change your gender at the start of each life instead of just at the start of the game? (coming from a genderfluid person who doesn’t usually ‘shift’ gender very quickly and so doesn’t mind just sticking with one descriptor, but would love if it was possible to b a bit more flexible)

Did some runs and found that you can get a "Elaia wins the War" Ending under 10 loops but the minimum for the Golden Ending is 10 considering you need to actually travel south personally. Although I do admit that I haven't checked if there are other ways to get the Golden Ending

Anyway loved this game and everything about it. The characters are likable, the endings are diverse, the world-building is interesting, and when you actually manage to save everyone it feels incredibly satisfying.

Run that I ended up staying is 11 loops because I wanted to meet the village people before saving everyone.

27 rounds.

SPOILER INCOMING.
Saved every life and ended my life with Esteban - no war, healed the south, made sure to burn Suzette's documents...

My only wish is that I could have been friends with everyone, but I spent a solid two hours playing this game and it is almost 2 AM. I need sleep.

Just... it was so good.

I was at my 12th loop when I finally stopped the comet and everyone is alive😭

i've gone through 18 runs now. still haven't stopped the comet, but i got to spend the last days with these characters that i have so quickly grown to love over and over again. i love this game. you, author, are a wonderful person. (and i just adore esteban. what a sweetheart)

Spoilers

"You help an old lady with her arthritis and she smiles at you. You remember caring about this, once, so you smile back." Crying, sobbing, throwing up.

Okay, I seriously think the summary for this game needs a bit of a re-work. 

I found this game randomly while desperately looking for something new to play and I honestly didn't think much of it after reading the description. I was going to exit back out to the Itch.io home page but decided to check the comments to see if any of them mentioned game length or if the game was even complete. Then I saw a comment talking about endings and I figured "If it's finished then I might as well give it a try."

Now, I've just spent the last three hours fully immersed in the story and completely determined to get a happy ending. I haven't even finished reaching an ending yet, and I am convinced that this is one of the best games - and if not, definitely one of the best FREE games - on Itch.io. Maybe even one of the most well-written interactive fiction games of all time. And I was about to pass up on it because I of the description!!

I'm not saying that the summary needs spoilers or anything, but maybe something to give it a bit more substance? This game is crazy good so far and I can only imagine how many people like me looked over the summary and said "meh, can't be that good" purely because the summary didn't give them a good enough idea of the game

This was a beautiful game! I saved the world on my 24th loop, but went back because Esteban and got the ending I wanted on the 25th! I managed to save Suzette as well, and the ending genuinely made me close to tears. Thank you so much for making this amazing game!

The thing I struggled with the most was working out how to find the gem - I knew that was the one piece I was missing, and I knew a few of the choices I would need to make, but it took me a while to do so. I almost thought it would be impossible to get the ending I wanted and use the gem, so I'm glad that it was :)

The other thing I like is the protagonist's determination, but also the fact that they can just give up in some loops. It really helps to add some realism to the character's actions. 

Overall, I simply adored this! Again, thank you so much for this masterpiece.

OOOOOOOUGH.

it was such a beautiful game..... I honestly didn't expect it to be so expansive. there's still so much I haven't seen. I decided to

  mild spoilers

marry Suzette, and vanquish the monster after our wedding. this was so good and ill def replay.

- - x spoilers alert x - -

I cried at this game. Multiple times. And I'm really not the type to cry easily actually- It's such an amazing game. The lore is so interesting, currently at my 30th lifetime, I keep discovering new informations and improving my comprehension of the characters. I cried so many times because of Esteban and his doomed fate, whatever I did he kept dying, protecting the city because it appears as his only future and destiny to him and the brief sentence describing his last fight always makes me cry. That and the little paint we do on his grave. Or the fact that Suzette is locking eyes with us before turning to dust. All of their lore.

And I may be a tiny bit desperate because I love all of the babies so, so much and seeing them encountering the same fate over and over again is really slightly killing me. And also because I don't know yet how to get that little piece of information that I need to save everyone for the first time

The true ending is intentionally allowing the war to take place just so you can have a pillow fight with Myka.

Jokes aside, I loved this story. It's so interesting going back and replaying the first loop and realizing how tired Jo is and how much work they did behind the scenes with saving Suzette and warning the generals. It's also kinda ominous if you take the History path on the first loop and Jo isn't there. You really feel their absence. It makes you think that at some point Jo had to have blown up the damn to find the ancient word (unless they found some other way). I really wish I could go back to that original Jo and tell them about the the corrupted land. Or at the very least be able to heal the corrupted land with new Jo. Getting Jo to remember would've been the most cathartic ending in my opinion. But at the same time Jo did choose to stay in the life that they did so it would be unfair to pull them out of that.

Although I think it could work if you found a way to back to the original loop. Like if there was an ending where you brought Mr Pent to the tower and he let you reset the stone to its original state with both your memories and Jo's memories in tact. I would just love to see Jo makes snide remarks about how "Shocking" my choice is until it sinks in that I actually remember and then we both solve all the problems together.

I think the highlight of the entire story for me was blowing up the dam with Myka and seeing her reaction to the witch monster.

I found this game between my bookmarks. I remember playing it for half an hour two years ago but then I must've lost the tab or simply forgot (my mind wanders quickly)

After eight loops I finally managed to stop the comet and lead the people together with Esteban. He's the best <3

I'll be playing around some more to see what else I can achieve

I've spent like 2 hours playing and I just finally got the good ending with Jo and Suzette and I'm so happy????

played ~30 times and got all of the gethame endings and the jo endings.... i love to save the world and all my friends....

i don't know how to block spoilers so please do not read the rest of the comments if you don't want to be spoiled SPOILERS HERE

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I'M SO HAPPY WITH THE ENDING I GOT !!! i burned the papers so suzette could never become the monster, i banquished Veris so the land would stop being poisoned, I ran away with Esteban to the South to recover the land, the war never happened, and i got the phoenix gem so I could save the world. thank you SO SO MUCH for writing this AMAZING story! I've played this game a few times but I never got to finish it because the game was crashing/my computer wasn't saving the files. But today I finally sat down and finished it, and it was definitely worth the wait. I played a new major/a new initial friend for each round, so I ended up saving the world after 6 loops, but I kept playing afterwards because I wanted to save Suzette. Then, when I saved her, Gemma mentioned that she thought that the south was being poisoned because of us, so I wanted to stop the war. Then I got the option to run for the hills, and then I kept looping because i wanted to meet everyone there. Then, I got the option to continue south, and after I met Moretti and confirmed that the land was poisoned, I got the option to go with Esteban and do some illegal shenanigans to save the land, and save the world! This is a FANTASTIC story, you are a FANTASTIC writer, and thank you so much for everything!

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Awesome. Saved everyone and got the myka ending :)

Good stuff! I've gotten the Suzette and Myka endings, as well as the cake-fryer and smith non-endings, but are there also a Gemma and Moretti endings? And, if so, how?

It took me 30 times but i got it and loved it

I am a minor questing page sent here by a princess.

This story is good! I can't believe I got sucked into it so much looking for the answer, going 32 loops for it.

The first few runs made me go "protecc Suzette" because she was my first waifu, which led to predictable consequences. I kept at it for what seemed like ages, but never could find an answer in the 1x runs.  Part of it also made me suffer Bernkastel-disease where I became numb to Suzette's plight after failing again and again.

When I started talking to other people, worlds opened up, but I was still missing the key piece to save the world. Bernkastel-disease got a lot more stronger in the 2x runs as I started dating even the guys, everyone, just to try and find the answer to saving Suzette, eventually bumping into the FRIENDSHIP route without the keyword. Then everything fell into place.

You know what? Even though I didn't end up on an ending with Suzette (I'm pretty sure the story allows you to fix her), the ending still warms my heart. It's an ending that I chose and worked hard for. Thank you for writing an awesome story!

Took me eight loops to save the world. I kept playing because I felt that there was so much more in the world on offer, and there was. I had saved the world, but had I *seen* the world? The city of beginnings is only a small facet of a larger picture, and the enemy not as you would expect.

20 loops to finish the damn book, lol!

One thing though. If you do get to loop in the company of someone else, why not have them loop too? Seems like an exponential level of tracking, I suppose?

Got through the Myka end in eight loops. The worldbuilding is really neat and I quite enjoyed the mechanics.

Wow, this was amazing! I definitely didn't expect this in the beginning.

(spoilers)

I got really frustrated around the 15th cycle, I was stuck. After a break I had an epiphany though, and got it done by the 18th!

After that I've been trying to find a way to both save Suzette and romance Myka. I guess it's just not possible.

The MC, Jo and Suzette trio is really cute, but if I have to choose it'll always be my beloved Myka.

So anyway, great game!  Definitely one of my favorites. I loved figuring out this puzzle. Thanks for making it available for free!

WTF I THOUGHT I HAD SOMETHING WITH ESTEBAN

This game is absolutely amazing but i'm really clueless on how to saved the world lol, but the game is really good! I'm down bad for esteban baby <3

this game made me cry. like badly lmfao. i believe i was on life 17 when i saved the world, but went back for 18th to get with esteban. suzette is happy, everyone is happy. i go out to visit everyone out of town, and seeing mc happy after how exhausted she was for so many lives make me so happy and just wow,

I saved the world on my 6th life, but my mad gal went back again. She's gonna get her perfect ending.

I DID I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT

Just took me 28 lifes!!!!

My poor friends, my poor Estevan, my poor Jo, my dearest Micah.

I loved every single one of them in many ways

I felt my very own sanity going down with my MC mind, When i talked to the characters and they didn't knew me, was heartbreaking.

That's a wonderful game and you're one of my dearest authors, This made me taste billions of lifetimes at once, and gosh I loved it so much, i love it, i love it, i love it, even if it got into down sometimes

The options where MC just accepts death or spend it with a loved one wrenched me good, The fact that we help Esteban paint again is amazing, truly, though i regret i couldn't stay with him in the time i got to "stay" i was too afraid to go back again

Took me 20 but made it eventually! Absolutely wonderful game and now I'm hooked on checking all of the possible endings. Thank you author! :)

It took me 13 lives to stay! I was so connected to the character I wanted to figure it all out with as little do-overs as possible huhu. It tugged at my heart when I read new additions pertaining to the exhaustion of having lived so much. I’m so happy with the epilogue. The character deserves the slow, easy, quiet life for sure.

Thank you for the experience(s)!!

IM CRYING im in my 25th run and i'm so close, I just dont know ow to get the word for protect for the comet T0T and I'm determined to be with Esteban, still an amazing game, I just want everyone to be alive and well LOL

I love to telling Myka "I love you", sometimes I explodin dam just for that line.

End with her at beach are already best ending, imho.

I FUCKING DID IT WOOO!!!!!!!!! SLAY 

This game is amazing T>T Can anyone tell me how to go with Myka to the lake though? I'm trying to find the word for the gem and I've already rerun so many lives already :'>