Shadow of Memories（PlayStation 2）
🔚 Approaching deaths and multiple endings
A methodical approach to preventing an approaching death and working toward different endings.
Shadow of Memories — what should I check first in Preventing death and endings?
When a death occurs, first break it down into when, where, and how it happened. Then identify the past conditions that made that cause possible and consider where intervention could break the chain. Changing causes rather than overcoming the situation by force is the heart of the game.
| Phase | Objective | Checklist |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction: understand the death | Identify precisely the conditions of the death you must prevent |
|
| Investigation: travel into the past | Locate the factors that cause the death along the timeline |
|
| Prevention and branching: choosing an ending | Choose actions that change fate and lead toward an ending |
|
1. You keep dying in the same scene, however often you retry.
Cause: You are confusing the immediate cause of death with its underlying cause.
Solution: Start with the cause of death in the present and work backward through the timeline to identify the past event that produced it.
2. You cannot decide which period to visit next.
Cause: Your clues are not connected to the unresolved cause of death.
Solution: Arrange possessions and conversation notes by cause of death, then prioritize the period containing the information you still need.
3. You reach an ending other than the one you intended.
Cause: You have not recorded the choices and actions that determine the outcome.
Solution: Keep a separate save just before a suspected branch, change your choice, and compare the results.
When a death occurs, first break it down into when, where, and how it happened. Then identify the past conditions that made that cause possible and consider where intervention could break the chain. Changing causes rather than overcoming the situation by force is the heart of the game.
- ▸ Break the death into time, place, and cause.
- ▸ Identify the past conditions that created that cause.
- ▸ Consider how an intervention would change causation.
Choices and the state you reach lead to different conclusions. Seeing them all in 1 playthrough is difficult, so a practical approach is to reach 1 ending naturally, then try other choices from a save before the branch. Avoid assuming an exact ending count or conditions in advance; work backward from your own records.
- ▸ On the first attempt, follow a natural route to 1 ending.
- ▸ Try other choices from a pre-branch save.
- ▸ Use your records to work backward and test ending conditions.
Shadow of Memories: listed problems and solutions.
| Problem | Main cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| You keep dying in the same scene, however often you retry. | You are confusing the immediate cause of death with its underlying cause. | Start with the cause of death in the present and work backward through the timeline to identify the past event that produced it. |
| You cannot decide which period to visit next. | Your clues are not connected to the unresolved cause of death. | Arrange possessions and conversation notes by cause of death, then prioritize the period containing the information you still need. |
| You reach an ending other than the one you intended. | You have not recorded the choices and actions that determine the outcome. | Keep a separate save just before a suspected branch, change your choice, and compare the results. |
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