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Different endings


oatssosimple91

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I just finished the game, so I'll try to summarize each ending. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

 

In the Cursed Letter ending, Shiori takes on the role of Aya as part of a ritual. Each year, someone in Aya's former class must take on the role of Aya and convince a penpal that she is real, or else the spirit of Aya will kill one of them. If the penpal discovers the truth, the entire class will be cursed. Because Takayuki finds out that the real Aya is dead, all of the classmates are killed in this ending. Takayuki is the last to die. He finds himself joined in the afterlife by all of the penpals of the former Ayas (one for each year since the death of the real Aya).

 

In the Princess of Himegamori Forest ending, Aya and Shiori are sisters who were separated early on because Aya is psychotic and wanted to kill Shiori. After Aya dies, Shiori takes on the role of Aya to make Yoko (their mother) happy, but eventually the spirit of Aya overtakes Shiori. Takayumi meets Professor Fumino (Aya’s father) at a nursing home towards the end, but he is unable to find Shiori (even though the player can clearly tell Shiori is disguised as a nurse).

 

In the Government Plot ending, Shiori is an alien and several of the townspeople you meet are revealed to be government agents. After finding out the truth, Takayumi and the classmates are captured by the government agents and taken to a holding facility, where their captors debate what to do with them. Takayumi is unable to escape and is sent to a mental hospital, where he spends the rest of his days screaming to the walls about UFOs and government conspiracies.

 

In the Crossing Paths ending, Takayumi just misses Shiori on his way to meet Professor Fumino. Shiori moves to Africa to help the sick. Takayumi returns to Tokyo and eventually forgets about Shiori, until a letter shows up addressed to him. In the letter, Shiori confesses the truth (that her real name is Shiori and she was only pretending to be Aya), and also that she has regrets. Takayumi has similar regrets, as he never confessed his desire to meet Shiori in his letters, but they both seem to have accepted the fact that they will only ever be childhood penpals.

 

The Bond of Marriage ending plays out a lot like Crossing Paths. Shiori takes on the role of Aya to appease a grieving Yoko, but doing so causes her friends to push her away. They are all ashamed of the way they treated Shiori, which is why they were trying to hide the truth from Takayumi. They eventually visit Professor Fumino at the nursing home, where they meet Shiori. Hugs and forgiveness go around. Takayumi and Shiori move in together and get married. The other classmates go on to live their dreams, to at least some degree.

 

Personally, I liked the Cursed Letter ending the most, followed by the Princess of Himegamori Forest. They’re both morbid, but they seem to fit the context of the game better than the rest. Crossing Paths is the worst ending because the events of the story have no impact on the lives of either of the main characters. They might as well have had Takayumi wake up to discover everything was just a dream. Bond of Marriage is the obvious happy ending, and likely the "true" ending to the game.

 

Anyway, I skipped over a lot of details, but you really need to play through the game yourself to see how the events of the story relate to each of the possible endings. I thought it was an interesting idea for a visual novel, but there are several plot holes in each storyline, and I’m not sure any of the endings really make sense. Still, it's kinda cool to see how certain things in the game take on a different meaning, depending on the choices you make in responding to the letters.

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  • 1 month later...

I was curious what the endings were also, thanks. I was reading but couldn't figure out how to save and shut the game off and lost 9 chapters from my first playthrough and skipped a couple endings. I thought the game maybe autosaved since you have to play completely through 5 times instead of using different saves like most VNs. :facepalm:

Edited by Shanehi185
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  • 4 years later...

Thanks for this! I only followed one path/ending and Forced Skip the hell outta this game - this would be my second time playing it with Last Answer being the first - which is the better version than this original one.  So if you only have one time to play Root Letter, play Last Answer in Drama Mode instead!  You are welcome!

 

Now thanks to Oats I know how the different endings went, some of which are really weird and out of place as it shows. Cheers fella! 🍻

Edited by Naps
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