#megaten has always had all over the place writing and no mainline game has had a perfect story

[elendsessor]

major spoilers for both canon of creation and canon of vengeance

(no i’m not gonna be shutting up about 5/5v for the next month so here’s a long ass analysis)

notice how in both vengeance’s law and chaos routes the mc gets to keep being with aogami meanwhile in tne he loses him even the devs know tne is shit

seriously though i really gotta give at least some kudos for neutral being the worst option especially on a thematic standpoint, and extra kudos for the vengeance endings for better following this idea up and actually improving it somewhat.

there’s a lot of similarities to nocturne aka the multiple endings in canon of creation not having any real alignment and are ultimately mostly flexible but tne definitely mirrors the demon ending (aka the best written ending in 3) with a bit of freedom mixed in for good measure.

both punish you for not picking a side and in some ways tne is both that and the freedom ending. you choose not to change anything therefore everything stays stagnant. you’re basically trying to cheat the system via complicity, which means the problem still exists. for nocturne’s demon ending, the vortex world is officially staying the vortex world, and unless some human with a reason magically appears in it, then it’s forever stuck in time. freedom is basically delaying the inevitable, with naoki and takao—two characters who are incapable of having a reason—being the only ones who know what will happen in an unknown amount of time.

the neutral route is often depicted as one strictly in favor of humanity’s infinite potential, removing or condemning the existence of any other being. while this means humans get freedom, they’re also significantly more unstable, with only a fifty-fifty chance of keeping relative peace. that ends up being the issue with neutral as it doesn’t fix anything except for removing part of the “problem” when said problem could potentially be mutually beneficial or make things better period. strange journey’s neutral route and even redux’s new neutral route do such a good job in showing that. it’s also important to note how many of the games do show or at least mention the importance of having something to turn to, especially considering how humans have naturally evolved to stick together. unless there’s checks and balances, there’s only so long until things go sour.

anything religious or spiritual in nature does help people fun fact feel like they have purpose or find belonging. in smt’s case, having the existence of at least gods helps keep humanity in check, granting ways to further evolve, all while contributing a sense of community. notice how it isn’t until the reps start forcing beliefs onto others that things go wrong, and that’s genuinely what makes the alignment formula inherently work. there’s no wrong answer but no right one either. it’s ultimately up to what the player believes is best (or whatever route they want to aim for) and the consequences follow.

only problem is the biases. the games often push for a specific alignment to such a degree it’s noticeable, be it by having significantly more content or a full on proper ending as opposed to a quick cutscene going “hey look you did it.” i’m not saying there can’t be only one ending, but adding the other options only to not have them have much effort put into the conclusion really shows how the alignment stuff was kept purely out of obligation. neutral tends to be what’s favored the most, which makes it a little too basic and ultimately worth nothing.

that’s probably where tne shines. deciding to get rid of all the gods and demons seems good on paper since the conflicts between them get humanity caught in the crossfire, but that means losing everything else. there’s no higher beings to protect humanity if something were to arise, and considering how a natural part of a universe’s lifecycle in megaten is the inevitable recreation of a dead world, there’s going to be demons returning. if they somehow can’t despite there being multiple dimension hopping shenanigans in the series, the world isn’t capable of killing itself, leaving it permanently barren and doomed once humanity runs its course. the protag still has to be a god of sorts, however with no throne existing anymore, they’re stuck in an observer limbo for eternity, unable to interact with anyone. there’s a reincarnation of himself, sure, but that still isn’t the actual protag. aogami is the only being that genuinely cares for the protag, is with him in every route, and is literally a part of him. however, he’s still technically a god, and thus ends up sacrificing his entire existence, which leaves the protag with nobody else. yakumo fucking hates him no matter what and also hates the throne so there’s no way in hell he’s gonna do god shit, nuwa wouldn’t exist, so yeah it’s the most miserable outcome.

the issue is that this is what the game wants you to get, and every step you need to get that ending is contradictory to the themes. completing every subquest only makes you love the demons more which yes it does have a potential emotional impact (you’re killing literally everyone despite their lives beginning to work out), but doesn’t fit the route. this is something more for the myriad gods/polytheism side or even the destroy the throne ending. i’m all for the clear ending indications but it should be better tied in. best application in my opinion would be the ending being based on what you do both during the story and with all the extra content.

whose quests you complete influence the ending more. completing them for a majority of dark aligned demons gets one ending, light aligned for another, all of them could end in its own split, etc. tne could be gained via not only choosing options during the story that completely go against any of the other alignments aside from yakumo’s “let’s just kill everything that isn’t human” plus having you complete quests for either only humans or no quests whatsoever. you’re basically disassociating as much as possible from the issue, and considering how it’s noted in the beginning that no matter what the nahobino inherently has to be involved despite the protag not wanting to, it could better fit the theme of how not taking a stance in an issue that affects society as a whole does more harm than good.

(i hope people realize there’s a difference between being open minded and being a centrist.)

vengeance’s new endings are at least significantly better in that regard and further push how miserable tne’s outcome is. not only do you keep aogami, but there’s still consequences while complimenting how aogami does mention sticking with you no matter what, being as supportive as possible. law is a nobody dies/everyone lives ending, but that doesn’t mean the threat of gods and demons doesn’t exist. with bethel gone and no system to take its place, it might be even harder to defend humanity. chaos does get rid of humanity and thus all of its flaws, but the future is still uncertain. it could be better, it could be worse, hiromine’s edgy emo attitude is something you’re also doomed to endure.

this is what the original endings should’ve been in my opinion, especially since everything but the tne is appealing. like. these should’ve been in the base game. all the issues with how the original endings were handled can be so easily solved by them adding post credits ending cutscenes like with the new endings.

now idk if that’s entirely not the case since i’m doing a playthrough of the canon of vengeance stuff still and also haven’t seen anything relating to base game changes so for all i know that did happen but hey. at least this does show the wonderful potential tne did have, and if again there was just bonus end cutscenes, tne could actually be good and heartbreaking as opposed to the ultimate nothing ending.