#why show jaakko's brutal death and then make the emotional aftermath optional to witness

[koskela-knights]

Ilmo's Arc + Ending

I might've already talked about this a bit, but @zephyrone01 and I often talked about how Ilmo's character arc/story was just... dropped at the end of the game. And in extension, the whole Cult of the Tree part up to the FBC's intervention and Ilmo's arrest.

It's sad because he is literally one of the leaders of the Cult, the mysterious group you spent a large part of the game, figuring out if they're really bad and what their motives might be. But in the end it no longer seems to have an impact on the story.

You probably have watched this silly guy in the funny commercials and, if you didn't have any suspicions, get surprised that he isn't only in the Cult, he is a main member. But in the jail scene, things are dire so you don't have any time to profile or talk to him because it quickly cuts to a cutscene which then leads to you getting chased by Scratch.

His dialogue with Saga after Jaakko's death is purely optional despite him granting the player crucial information about the Cult and it seems many people overlook him or don't know he's still there. When I watched John Wolfe's LP, he even thought Ilmo had also died until he, by accident, bumped into him. Apparently there are also glitches if you reload the chapter, he just doesn't spawn.

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So let's say, the jail cutscene is the last time you see Ilmo and then suddenly he reappears at the eternal Deerfest. Feels kinda odd, to give him a whole scene in that jail together with Jaakko and Scratch/Alan and then he's never seen again.

Now, if you do talk to him after the jail sequence, he will reveal the truth about the Cult: that they were trying to protect their town and BF from the Taken. Ilmo says he will try to round up the Cult or what's left of them and then again, you don't see him until you're playing as Alan in the altered BF. He just stands there because his dialogue and animations aren't triggered properly. He actually talks about the last Return book, hinting to the player where to get the book. Here's Zephyrone01's video showing him talking and gesturing.

What I might've added to give his story a bit more closure than what we got:

Make talking to him after Jaakko's death mandatory. Unskippable. It's literally a narrative piece Saga was trying to stitch together all this time. Why is it optional???

Involve him in the Dark Ocean Summoning fight. He can be support, similar to Estevez and Casey. Honestly, his mental state aside, he was in the best physical position to actually help out, given the fact Casey and Estevez were injured. (Also, I would've loved to see Ilmo's reaction to that stage fight. His barks would've been great.) It would've helped to 'redeem' him, from being the assumed bad Cultist to helping Saga in her fight.

Maybe mid-fight, he gets a call from the other Cultists to help out in BF which explains why he got absorbed into the changed reality.

If he doesn't get involved in the fight, we could've at least gotten a brief cutscene where he and the remaining Cultists head to BF to continue protecting it or something. Again, this would help portray Ilmo in a positive light.

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TLDR: Ilmo's story arc got cut short after his arrest, revealing the truth about the Cult should've been mandatory and not optional and there should've been at least a small cutscene of Ilmo going to BF to protect it before getting absorbed in the changed reality.