[Analysis] Omori - The Final Battle

BIG OLD MASSIVE SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THE GAME

The first of a series of analysisess? Analysees? Whatever! on the subject of the indie game Omori, by Omocat. I love this game, am obsessed with it at least for the time being, and I have a lot to say. Hopefully I'll actually make more of these but we'll see! Oh also, in addition to complete unmarked spoilers they also just assume you're familiar with what I'm talking about. I don't want to explain that shit.

"He who has a 'why' to live, can bear almost any 'how'." - Friedrich Nietzsche 

A young boy stands alone in a white void.

Well, not alone. True, someone else is there. His shadow? Some alter ego? The real him? Who knows? But that's not why he's not truly alone. If this is part of himself, then he'd alone. All that's there would be him.

But, alone is what he'd been for 4 years. In that same sense, he'd not been; This other him was with his friends, his foes. But, they were not real. They were nothing but a comfort, a distraction. He'd been spending so much time dreaming of not being alone, he'd made himself truly alone.

But he's not now. Though there're not physically there, his friends are with him. You've heard that before, right? A character's friends are in his heart? Usually, no matter how well executed, it always comes off as cheesy and schmaltzy.

Here, it's true. In Omori, Sunny's not alone during the final battle. There are so many stories about believing in yourself, trusting your friends, being supported by them, them being your strength. Sora of Kingdom Hearts literally says "My friends are my power!" at one point. What's different in Omori is just how true it is, in such a grounded way. How hard it is for Sunny to believe in himself and his friends. How much realizing he cares about them can give him strength... and how easily it can not be enough. How in the end, it has to be himself that overcomes his ordeal.

Near the end of the game, Sunny begins to remember what he's done, what he's repressed. Why is that? Is it simply that being there seeing people talking about and fighting over the aftermath of her death, as well as Basil's behavior, reminded him? Somewhat, but I believe that his guilt grew until the truth could not be contained. He felt terrible, though he couldn't have known why, seeing what he's caused. Basil is the route cause of this, really; His idea to get the violin, he just had to show up, he somehow thought of hanging Mari, he kept quiet the whole time, blocked people out, didn't clear up misunderstandings to protect his friend, etc.(note: I'm not saying I blame him at all, what he was going through is tough, and neither him or Sunny are strong enough people to overcome it easily or before damage is done. They wouldn't have been in the situation to begin with if they were). It's true, but Sunny isn't the type of person to shift all the blame over on to him. If anything, he takes too much of it himself; That is, if Stranger is an aspect of his own mind, and not Basil's. If it is, a part of Basil is shifting a bit too much blame on him, though if you spent so much time in Black Space you might end up doing that too. 

So, he kept seeing more and more pain he was causing his friends. Aubrey's anger and hatred, her lashing out, her bullying in order to meet out some kind of punishment. Kel's hidden troubles, how hard he had to try to be happy after this, hell maybe all the effort he's had to go through. Hero's, albeit temporary, withdrawal from life similar to his, and his feeling like the supposed suicide was his fault, trying his best to move on. Basil getting bullied, his feelings of abandonment, his not even managing to hold himself together.  All of this, he at least feels, is his fault. But he doesn't know why. I mean, some of it is obvious, it's why he keeps going out despite how hard it must be, him secluding himself caused much of it. But there's something deeper. He's slowly piecing it together just like you are, what really happened. What he's been hiding from.

Eventually, during the sleepover at Basil's house, the truth can no longer be contained. The main difference in the Sunny Route over the Omori Route, is that since Sunny never leaves the house, the truth can be kept. Omori rescues Dream Basil, removing all other Dream Basils trapped in Black Space, and seems to believe he's repressed the truth once and for all. Maybe he has, as Sunny ends up in Black Space and is nearly destroyed. Instead, the persona Sunny is consumed by the persona Omori. It doesn't help, though, as Something follows him on the last day, everywhere he goes. 

But, in the Sunny route, Omori attempts to simply kill and remove all Basils from his mind, hoping this would be enough to stiffle the truth. It's not. Sunny realizes Omori has hidden something from him, he wants to know, he wants to stop hiding from it because of what it's doing to his friends. He takes the Black Lightbulb and smashes it. He delves into Black Space, and finds what he's done. 

From there, the player has the choice of either hightailing it out of there, or going to see Basil about it. Should he flee, unable to truly face what he's done, too scared to, he'll either kill himself or leave town and probably end up killing himself soon anyway.

Should he confront Basil, he will be pulled into another dream.

This dream is a lot nicer, a voice hints at the presence of hope. A Basil who looks like the real one encourages you, and expressed a desire- no, a wish to go back to how things were. Is this a figment of Sunny's mind, or have Basil's thoughts followed him into his dreams like the White Egret Orchid says? He sees his old home, reminisces. He talks to his sister. Is Mari really there, too? Is it just wishful thinking?

Regardless, he goes to the closet and retrieves the broken violin and sheet music. From there, he takes a trip down a literal memory lane. He sees important memories with his friends; none of them are anything special. Simple games of cards, trips to the beach, having fun and talking about crushes in the rain. That's what makes them so special, now more than ever. As he sees them, they mend his broken violin.

The violin is not real, the real one is well and truly broken. The violin represents his bond with them. Not their bonds with him, just his with them. He remembers why he loves them, and that they loved him. 

It is this which gives him the strength. He sees his friends, their current selves, before the stage where the last battle takes place. They encourage him, give him hope, wish for him to be alright. Once again, we don't know if this is wishful thinking, or how they truly feel. Regardless... it's something he has to believe.

What gives him strength in this fight is his friends. Truly. His memories of them, their belief in him, his desire for them to forgive him... but most importantly, his determination to stop hurting them with the lie. He cares for them strongly enough, feels bad enough for what he's done, that he pushes through.

The final battle is about what to do with these feelings. Sunny takes the position that he must live, make amends for what he's done, tell the truth, hope they'll forgive him but accept it if they don't. The alternative is not worth it. He'd rather lose those friends than do this to them. And, he wants to, has to, believe they'll forgive him.

Omori doesn't agree. He is the position that they're a monster, that what they've done cannot be forgiven, that Sunny will be hated by his friends, that he doesn't deserve to live, that he's selfish and doesn't really care about them. He's not just some introvert who is scared to tell the truth, he's a liar who only cares for himself, and only pretends to care about his friends. He loved Mari, and he killed her.

During the fight, Sunny uses the skill "Cherish" to remember what his friends, even if they were just in his head, told him. He uses it to remember why he's doing this. He is believing that his friends believe in him, and so he won't let them down. He has to have hope. He has to believe they'd want him to do this. That they wouldn't want him to just end it. Besides, he has to let them know anyway, right? They have to know the truth.

But, the truth would hurt them more. It would be so hard for them to come to grips, after they spent 4 years trying and only barely succeeding in coming to terms with the idea she had chosen to take her own life. It might feel like it was all for nothing. Let's kill two birds with one stone: Remove this monster from the world, and protect them from the hurt. It may hurt them to know he killed himself, but they could get over it again, right? Perhaps the experiences on this 3 days will make it easier for them. They can stick together. Basil will get the attention from them he needs so maybe he can feel alright and keep the secret. Maybe he can tell them himself, and Sunny can just die instead.

And so the bad ending can happen. Eventually, remembering his friends just isn't enough, the strength of these negative, destructive thoughts and feelings are too much. Aren't they always? For people experiencing intense and chronic depression, and other such poisonous states of mind, it's always like that. The positive thoughts, the hope, even encouragement can not be enough. Eventually, Sunny will fall in battle. 

If he can't go on any longer, Omori will take him to his final fate, and he will jump from the hospital he was taken to after his fight with Basil. 

But wait! He can't just go off and die leaving his friends to mourn, leaving Basil to tell it all or kill himself. He can't do that, for his friends, for himself, it just has to be done. To keep going you do need that support, that rational positive thought, to tell yourself why you're wrong and should keep going. You need those reasons, but in they end they aren't all it takes. You have to shore up the courage, the resolve to keep going. For many, they can't, god have mercy on their souls. For some, and for Sunny, they can. 

His friends are not enough to win, but they do give him what he needs to.

This is exemplified by what happens when you choose to continue after being defeated by Omori. Sunny stands back up, classic JRPG "You won't beat me, Final Boss!" style, and proceeds to metaphorically kick Omori's ass with the power of friendship. He plays the song that he and his sister were going to before that tragic accident. As he does, he remembers more and more of his times with his friends, the warmth of those memories transforming into the power to stand up to the most dangerous foe: Yourself. He finally and truly comes to terms with the incontrovertible, unchangeable fact that Mari is gone. She loved him, he loved her, she is gone and will not come back, but that isn't the end of the world. Not even if he caused it.

Omori can't fight it, not those strong and powerful feelings. These grand wisdoms that we as a species always say we understand but when push comes to shove seem to forget each time. Sunny stood up, and more than even any Persona 4 character ever has, truly faced himself and his past. He told it to stand down, and it did. 

What comes after that is anyone's guess. We know he goes to tell his friends what happened. We don't know how they reacted, if they ever forgave him, what became of any of them.

But that's alright, one big factor is that Sunny was afraid of what would happen, to him, to them, what they'd say what they'd do how he'd live from now on. Ending himself solved those issues. He had to gain the courage to face the bad possibilities too. One cannot allow a potential bad out come to prevent them from doing what they need to do, what they want to do, what's right. And so he didn't.

Telling you what happened would be robbing you of that. It doesn't hit as hard, because you have no potential bad outcomes to worry about. Even if it said they don't forgive him, there's still no uncertainty to face. 

And so, you're left with the uncertainty, it's up to you how you face it, just as it's up to Sunny.

All I know is, I hope he can be happy again.