The Thirteenth Year [Fantasy/Philosophical]

[Taleweaver]

I have a few questions:

Answered you with a PM.

[JustAnotherMe]

Uhhhmmm, can you send me a guide for the endings? I can't get the good ending -_-

[Taleweaver]

Uhhhmmm, can you send me a guide for the endings? I can't get the good ending -_-

Another PM is on the way.

[Wright1000]

I am wondering why you are sending the guides through pms.
If you make a post, everyone will be able to see it.

[Taleweaver]

If you make a post, everyone will be able to see it.

That's exactly the reason I'm not making a post.

[Kura]

This is really a brilliant, beautifully told story. I played it through once when it came out (got the 'underneath' ending) but just now finally got the other two, so excuse me for not having as much to say about that one ending.

I really can't even begin to talk about how fantastic the ideas expressed and questions raised were, because it was just about the entire time I played that I was going "Yes, what a perfect way to express that! That's exactly what it's like! Why don't people ever see it this way?!"

Annnd I think I'll just stick everything else I have to say into a spoiler tag, please excuse me for the giant white box...

But I will say, the idea that a group of people created a god that literally becomes whatever humanity wants it to be... gah, brilliant! What a powerful thing to say about the role of religion.

I'm really impressed with the organization and progression of the story. It takes a while to realize that there's more here than just a series of vignettes, but when you start seeing the aftershocks of earlier events, it really hits hard. And I appreciated the little things--a helping hand from Malcolm, an offer to Ivo, even just places from the first chapters being mentioned again. Builds a really solid world. The slow buildup works well too--a girl loses her family (yeah there's a revolution but we aren't really seeing its scope), a scientist casts a blind eye on his daughter, okay--but then we've got a city that kills everyone not of their faith and things are starting to get serious--and then, here comes the war and mass slaughter of children and ohhh yes this is serious business.

I loved chapters 2 and 5. 2 because the satire was clever and enjoyable, and 5 because it was particularly touching, and the way Malcolm talks about his forest is really beautiful. I also really particularly liked the imagery used to describe the train in chapter 10.

I love, too, that the way to do good in each chapter tends to come about by making someone question themself or change their ways. It sort of implicitly makes it easier for the audience to ask their own questions too, which is fantastic.

Another thing I love is how mudane some of the narration can be--this is a story about gods and war and death, but we still get to hear about turnips and rusty old wells. It's a great way to keep the focus on the narrators even though we only see them for a short while, and on their humanity even though we're dealing with gods here.

The parallels to real-world religions were quite interesting, and subtle enough.
Inordinately fascinated that it's called "The Book of the Lightbearer" (because the term lightbearer is in reality associated with two polar-opposite figures), though that's probably just because I already had a fascination with that term. Were you by chance deliberately drawing on that dual usage?

The From Above ending was absolutely touching and beautiful. Astelli at the end there is really, truly, everything that a deity should be. The feeling I had when I read that ending was quite a lot like the one I had when I went to a Unitarian Universalist service for the first time.
And From Eye Level! The first bits of that ending were really quite chilling.

I will say, I think the whole "retrospective narration" thing is a little convoluted. For example, even if Ivo dies without ever knowing Astelli's name, she still uses it in narration. Generally, most of what the narrators say doesn't sound at all like a later recollection of what happened that year. Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but it's still a little murky.

One peculiarity I noticed--Anna referred to Astelli as "her." Was this just an accident, or was Anna seeing Astelli as female regardless of what gender Astelli ends up actually having?

[Taleweaver]

Kura, I'm going to answer that big spoileriffic heap of questions via PM. Just for the sake of not having _another_ huge spoiler block in this thread

[Taleweaver]

Yay, I'm really proud! "The Thirteenth Year" just won Best Drama in this year's contest on Visual Novels Now!

[Wright1000]

Congrats.
I think it deserves that.
It's also the only philosophical VN I have seen.

[xxxSakura]

I finally finished my first playthrough and I got the "From Above" ending. I felt really warm and fuzzy inside when I was reading through that ending xD

Pardon me for repeating what others would have already told you, but this is certainly a wonderful work! I found a couple of typos here and there, but other than that the pacing, the words used and everything else was just brilliant. I even felt a little enlightened by Astelli, being a believer of many religions but a follower of only one myself. Furthermore, this visual novel really played out the severe effects of religion and faith on man, with people twisting the words and interpreting them wrongly, which has really happened more than a couple of times in history. I'm really mind blown by this game ^^

However, I can't seem to reach the neutral ending. Mind giving me a little help?

[Taleweaver]

However, I can't seem to reach the neutral ending. Mind giving me a little help?

No problem! From the "From Above" ending:

If in the chapter before that you chose not to ask Astelli to save your people, do ask Astelli to save your people. Then check if the ending has already changed.

If that didn't work, then in the chapter just before that, if you chose not to shoot Astelli, choose to shoot. Then do as written above. Then check if the ending has already changed.

If that didn't work, then in the chapter just before that, if you told Astelli that the Gods won't allow it, say something else this time. Then do as written above.

That should be enough to get the second ending.

[LeandroP]

The sinposis catch me. I'm going to give it a go.

[Veniae]

I have no idea why I haven't played this till now. Downloaded and I'll give it a try later today!

[SCH]

I've been trying to turn that harsh world into a more welcoming place, trying to make the most fanatical characters soften their opinions, but I can't get the "from above" ending. Can you lend me a hand? Thanks!

[Taleweaver]

I've been trying to turn that harsh world into a more welcoming place, trying to make the most fanatical characters soften their opinions, but I can't get the "from above" ending. Can you lend me a hand? Thanks!

Sure! Each scene (except for the one with the merchant) can influence Astelli towards Light or Dark. I'll point you towards "all Light" decisions, though you may have up to two scenes end differently and still achieve "From Above":

1. Have Ivo answer all of Astelli's questions.
2. Let the guard assume Astelli believes in a comforting religion
3. Have the good doctor trust Astelli enough to talk about Anna, then have Anna give in to her urges
4. Wonder why your dog's acting strange
5. When making the decision, wait a few seconds to think everything over
6. Follow Astelli out of the forest
7. Just do as you think would be appropriate
8. Teach Astelli a lesson. That brat has deserved it
9. The choice that makes Astelli kill the ascet - can't remember which it was...
10. Don't want to see your child
11. Don't shoot
12. See Astelli's point

In my original novella, scenes 5 and 12 end differently.