It's the Bon Festival, So Farethere Inside Stories (from Segawa's blog)
Hello, it's Segawa.
It's Bon season. Bon-B-Bon-Bon-Bon.
My family's graves are pretty elevated, so it's actually possible to do the thing in movies that's like "Glad it was a place with a nice view... (while visiting grave)"
Going up and down is scary because it's pretty hilly, but it's kinda nice, huh.
Since it's the Bon Festival, this time I'll give away some inside stories about my game Farethere City.
These were stories I didn't really intend to put anywhere to leave room for interpretation, but it's been about 4 years since release, so like, maybe the statute of limitations is up?
And thus I liberate ye, memo doc of antiquity.
This is an absurd amount of spoilers, so for anyone who hasn't played it yet and plans to do so, you shouldn't read this.
I'll leave a link to the page here, so if you're planning to play it, how about now?!
https://www.freem.ne.jp/win/game/7976
(http://vgperson.com/games/faretherecity.htm)
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Q. Why are there some gardens with no manager (Omen) in sight?
A. The managers can choose whether to appear in their garden or not at their own discretion.
Omens who are more proactive about managing their gardens are more likely to appear to their citizens, but hardly any Omens actually try to mingle with citizens.
Q. It sure seems like something happened with Izanai in the past. What kind of manager was she?
A. Since she describes citizens as "ingrates" in the Blue Forest diary, one can assume she used to be fairly diligent about confronting the souls of the dead.
For that very reason, perhaps she felt "all my efforts were betrayed" when faced with souls running amok the instant they became aware.
Q. What exactly is the Otherworld?
A. Currently, it's the largest garden, managed by Izanai, where souls that end up there suffer and get erased.
(The following details didn't end up in the game, but...)
The Otherworld is not actually a garden of Izanai's own creation.
It's said that not only fallen souls, but even the Omens who manage it will be erased (since Omens are originally human souls themselves); it's a garden of punishment that Mitori and Satori force Omens who do unforgivable evils to manage.
It's more or less a lifelong prison sentence, and so the Otherworld has buried many Omens in the past.
However, it seems citizens being stolen from other gardens only began once Izanai was made the manager of the Otherworld.
Ironically, this Otherworld might be more on her wavelength than her own garden she created.
Q. What is Yokai being the "scout-man" actually about?
A. When you travel the Path of Rebirth, your individuality is supposed to vanish for the purposes of reincarnation.
But there are strong-willed sorts whose uniqueness won't be erased after however many years, and those sorts get priority for being scouted as Omens.
Since the goal is to have them create gardens, of course personality is important.
Q. Can other people see the doors to the other worlds?
A. Like how the Thynon Bath can only be seen by the person using it, the worlds the citizens see seem to differ slightly based on their characteristics.
What Pigula sees as "doors to other worlds" might be regular doors to other people, or just walls.
Q. Just before Forgotnot, it seemed like there was something that flashed on screen. Is this some kind of bug?
A. Worry not, it's not a bug.
Since Pigula came to visit Forgotnot, the Omen that was there hides himself (but is still there) out of courtesy, and you just briefly see him.
Maybe Forgotnot is actually saying "the moon is pretty" to him, who stays with her even if hidden.
Q. What's Michibiki's objective?
A. His goal is to create paradise in the afterlife.
He's aiming for "a town (paradise) worth living in, that people will want to stay in even once they become aware"; thus, Michibiki's criteria for selection is "seems like they'd stay in Farethere even after becoming aware."
Of course, he has made a few misjudgements at times...
For that reason, he truthfully desires for citizens to be made aware.
Mitori and Satori respond to Michibiki's city planning project with a wry smile, but for now, they're tolerating it, or else seeing it how turns out.
Perhaps even Mitori and Satori are hoping for a revision of this current system.
Or maybe they aren't.
Gardens are effectively storehouses for souls, so accomodation of multiple souls is a bare minimum requirement.
For that reason, Michibiki isn't sinning as a manager nearly as much as the Omen managing Forgotnot's place.
(Since he created a garden for a single person, and has no intention of adding more citizens in the future.)
Added 8/12
Q. Why did Hopopo become an acting mayor??
A. I removed this since I figured there couldn't be that many people interested in Hopopo, but I received the question, so I'll spill the beans.
As stated above, Michibiki's selections were "people who would probably stay in Farethere after becoming aware."
But actually, his reason for inviting Hopopo to Farethere City is slightly different from the rest.
Hopopo isn't the "acting mayor" so he can deal with the dark underbelly of the town or anything like that, but simply because he's Farethere City's first resident.
As for why Michibiki invited such a thoughtless goofball first, consider if his first resident had been the type to freak out after becoming aware.
Then the foundation of his garden would be shaken, and he'd lose Mitori and Satori's trust.
So Michibiki had to be sure to pick for his very first resident "someone who'd absolutely never become aware."
That's also why Hopopo is constantly being belittled and called a birdbrain.
Thinking about it like that, I feel pretty bad for Hopopo.
Damn Omen... You mess with me, I'll wreck you... (wreck the garden, rather)
I've also given thought to everyone's causes of death, but that might be for another time, if I feel like it.
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Those are about all the notes I had.
There were some details even I'd forgotten about that had me going "whoa..." (whaaa...)
Oh, and I just noticed, but there totally was a "Glad it was a place with a nice view... (while visiting grave)" type of scene in Farethere City too...
You can't become aware, huh...
Well, that's all for this time.