Thank you Stanley! I'm really glad you enjoyed the playthrough :) And yes, I agree with your criticisms, having the characters become such huge time and emotional investments has it's strengths for sure!

Congrats!

No worries! I've been using all the statboosters I have as of a couple streams ago, and yes I remember about the pale blue flower seeds, been using them every time but I ran out, gotta go to the store at some point

Glad you enjoyed it! I can try to answer some of your questions, but the answers probably won't be satisfying haha 1. I don't think they look too drastically different, but it's definitely not obvious. It was probably a little intentional to hide the twists better, especially Sigma's. If we saw the hologram of Zero and it looked too much like him, it would potentially ruin the setup for the ending. However, I had a friend who played the game blind and right when he saw the old woman's corpse, he guessed her identity correctly, and then in turn guessed Tenmyouji's identity because of it. I'd say it's still in the realm of believability. 2. This is where the player has to suspend their disbelief a bit haha. I like to think being thrown in a death game would probably keep you a bit distracted and wired, so changes like that wouldn't be as apparent to Sigma. Especially when his arms (a part of your body that you're able to see easily) looked young like they usually do. However, I do think it's ridiculous that Sigma would not try to check his reflection once during the game, when he stated that he felt floaty and that he didn't feel like his body belonged to him. That and the fact that he never tried to touch his face or rub his eye, where he has a robotic eye jutting out. 3. The third game will give closure to this, but I'll try to explain it. The version of Sigma that we followed throughout the entirety of the game was set on a course to learn to master his time-jumping abilities, so that he can go back to the Nevada test site and prevent Radical-6 from ever breaking out. If Sigma fails to prevent Radical-6 from getting out, he will end up in that room with Akane in the year 2029, and swap with a version of Sigma that got hit with the butt of the knife in the garden. The failure Sigma will live out the rest of his days on Rhizome-9 in the timeline where Earth is red. The ultimate goal is for Sigma to succeed and prevent the outbreak from occurring, in which there will be a new branching timeline created where humanity is saved. But just because that timeline is created and exists, it wouldn't erase the other timelines where Sigma made a mistake and failed. It becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. In order for VLR to occur, a future version of Sigma had to fail at the Nevada test site. If the Sigma that we followed fails in the third game, it will be his duty to make sure the events of VLR occur as they do, and the infinite cycle of Sigma's will continue on in this time loop. (And that timeline where Sigma does become Zero and reenacts the events of VLR perfectly only needs to occur once among an infinite amount of differing timelines. There could be billions of timelines where the AB project fails or doesn't even get created in the first place. As long as the successful timeline is recreated once among these possibilities, the loop will continue forever.) I think the thing that doesn't make it a boot strap paradox is that Sigma isn't trying to re-write history, but he's trying to create a path to an alternate timeline. If you look at the "mystery schematic" diagram that explains the AB project's timeline paths, you can see that the event at the Nevada test site has two branching paths, and just because one is traveled down, doesn't erase the other. I hope that helps, it's confusing the think about, but I'm very glad you enjoyed the game and as always, I appreciate the support!

@@SpeedyHawk 1. Yeah, 100%. There is enough to justify the different looks, at least in regards to Sigma. 2. Now that you say it in that way, it is even more ridiculous. That means Sigma did not try to touch his face, scratch himself, anything that might indicate his body is not the one he knows. Also, would no one point out, hey you with the robotic eye? And, there were enough reflective surfaces there to see himself (you start the game in a room that has a blank screen in it). Definitely you have to suspend your belief. But, I feel there is also enough justifications in the game to smooth that over: having radical-6, being in a tense and unknown situation. Still, a suspension of belief, but workable. 3. Thank you for that explanation, it does make it clearer. So, they are not trying to rewrite time, but create an alternate time where Radical-6 never breaks out. So, the timeline of VLR will always happen and the sequence of events that follows will always happen. So, Alice and Clover are stuck in 2074 no matter what. Based on that, and maybe spoilers for the next game (feel free to quack), does the game ever answer why Sigma failed to stop it first time around (whatever "first time" means in this case)? Also, old man Sigma (from 2074) is playing the third game in his younger body… right? So, if it is branching timelines, then fail or succeed, he still returns to his own post Radical-6 timeline in 2074. To that degree, we can say, the AB game was more than a training montage, it was also to teach Sigma to help others, regardless of the inherent value in it. After all, why should old man Sigma care what happens in the past? His 2074 future is set, there is no changing that. It also stands to reason, that there is a timeline where Radical-6 never breaks out and never happens. Perhaps, then, helping a different Sigma to live out his life peacefully is worth it. And, ultimately, to guarantee a peaceful life for humanity, without relying on chance. At least, that's how I see it. Honestly, I love time travel and alternate timelines, I can spend way too much time discussing them. So, thanks for that.

@@jeffl3916 There actually aren't reflective sources aside from that one pond, literally every other mirror or other kind of surface that *should* normally be reflective has some flavor text saying how it's too dirty or cracked or some other reason for it to not actually be reflective when you check it

And this is why I love glitter she's not afraid to voice her opinions and sometimes I agree with them.