10 - The Seams of Reality

Quest 10 - The Seams of Reality

Rewards:

The True Ending

The Seams of Reality quest is intended to be well hidden within the game, as it is the only way to get the game’s true ending. The actual first step in starting this game-spanning quest is to return to the Forgotten Plantation.

If you have been following along with the guide, then you will have beaten the game after completing the other nine quests and received an item called The End after returning to Ordolus following the credits. The item itself isn’t necessary to begin this quest, but the final scene with the Composer in the good ending offers a direct hint as to where to find the Abyssal Fragment that he has been talking about since the very first scene in the game.

The hint to discover the quest is that something strange is happening in the Plantation’s basement. You can learn this from the Composer through the good ending of the game or by finding one of the three bloody, pulsating Ordolus sigils hidden throughout the Forgotten Plantation.

Creator Commentary: In the extended mythology of the universe that the Logomancer takes place in, Watchers are typically immortal spirits that observe and gain knowledge for their patron. The Watchers along this bridge are known as Watchers of the Abyss. This is never directly stated, but can be inferred from their appearances in Cynthia’s Aspect of Confusion area as well as later on when they start attacking the party directly.

At point B is a floating head that demands a 4 digit combination. If you have been paying attention to the map names as you entered each new area, then you should be able to deduce that the combination is the same as the map name: 7459.

2. Acquire the Aspirant’s Mask.

After entering the combination, Ardus and company get the Aspirant’s Mask. The way back is blocked by a Watcher so the only way out is to use the bed to escape the Mindscape.

On the way out of the Mindscape, Ardus is intercepted by the Composer once again. The Composer tells Ardus (and the player directly) what to look for in order to stop the Abyssal Fragment. Ardus finally wakes up and a long list of objectives is now available to pick through.

If you have been following the guide up to this point, then the seven Symbols of Avarice will already have been collected. In case you haven’t found them yet, I’ll still explain where they are found.

3. Find the Eyes of Greed and Despair.

Right Eye of Despair

The next objective is to recover the eyes of Greed and Despair. If you have completed the Louder Than Words quest, you might have noticed that the completion screen for the Mindscape Water Spine Cavern map has 2 treasure chests in it. There is one at point C.

Creator Commentary: The point of the easy-to-find treasure chest is to give the player a hint that another chest is hidden somewhere in the map.

The other chest is hidden at point H. Walk through the waterfall at point G and weave around the unseen pots (in-game the area just west of point G is covered in darkness) to reach the treasure chest that contains the Right Eye of Despair.

Left Eye of Greed

To recover the second of the eyes, return to the abyss below Epherus’ house, the Aspect of Blood. Upon re-entering, Ardus tells John and Cynthia this is where he found himself when they got separated during the Haunting Memories quest. He says the rules might have changed since last time which is true.

Examine the rule book at point A to learn that that rule against running inside has been removed. This means you can use the dash action to get around the area faster.

At point C, you’ll notice two red diamonds over the location where previously there as a floating picture of Nicolai. The eyes glow depending on which of the eye MacGuffins you have in your inventory. At the moment, you should see the left (right if thinking about it as a face staring back) diamond glowing red.

The door at point 2 is special. If you examine it, it says that, “only those drowned many times by the red water may proceed”. This should be taken literally. If you have been to the timeout room and tried to leave (thus spawning the red water) at least three times then the door at point 2 will open for you. Ardus reaches into the darkness beyond the threshold and receives the Left Eye of Greed.

Creator Commentary: The names for the right and left eyes comes from the Right and Left Eyes of the World which were plot Macguffins in the Platinum game, Bayonetta. Their functionality is inspired by the objects in the TV series, The Lost Room. Specifically, the left eye is inspired by the story of the Pencil which would create pennies when tapped on a surface.

Easter Egg: If you use the eyes of Greed and Despair to drain the entire party’s WP, then the party will “die”. This is the only way in the game to get a traditional “game over” screen in the Logomancer.

We now have both eyes and can access the Abyssal Fragment directly by leaping into the darkness between the red diamond eyes in the Aspect of Blood. We are not going to do that just yet, though, as we still have a number of items to find before we can get anywhere in that place.

4. Collect the seven Symbols of Avarice.

The seven Symbols of Avarice are found in the Armory below Camp Courtesy. Most likely, you will have found a few during your first trip through this area during the Soldier’s Heirloom quest. There are seven in total as the quest objective indicates. In Armory B1, the strange chests at points A, B, and C contain a Symbol each. On Armory B2, points A, B, D and E contain Symbols. Once you have recovered the last of the symbols, the quest objective will update.

5. Learn the Aspirant’s true name.

At the end of the Haunting Memories quest, there was a Magnetic Tape Recorder hidden in Epherus’ secret basement room. Once you have the ancient artifact in your possession, you will need to return to Hornberg, the paper town from the Fill in the Blank quest and talk to Will, the floating book. It will show Cynthia a technical diagram of an ancient device that can produce the power needed to run the tape recorder. When Cynthia asks to go back to Room 202, agree and watch the scene for some more revelations about the secret history of Ordolus and the Aspirant.

Creator Commentary: There are a lot of small references in the scene in Room 202. The first is that Ardus mentions a Danto street. This is a nod to art critic Arthur Danto who wrote about the “end of art” and said of the modern understanding of artistic works that “there is no special way they need to be”. The broad definition of art as experience or emotional engagement is, in my opinion, a good reason to consider the medium of video games as a legitimate expressions of art. Of course, this presupposes you even care what someone else’s opinion of “legitimate expression” is, which I don’t.

The philosophy commentators that Ardus and John are referring to are the hosts of the philosophy podcast, The Partially Examined Life. It was actually an episode of PEL where I first heard about Arthur Danto (referenced above).

After finishing the scene in Room 202, we now know Nicolai’s father’s name was Edgar and, more importantly, we now know that the true name of the ancient Forstatian magician was Stanislav Anarkum.

6. Learn the Mantra of Binding.

The last piece of the puzzle needed to recall the Aspirant from the abyss is the Mantra of Binding. The Composer directly states in his scene with Ardus that he was going to teach the Mantra to Malebaldur.

Head to 4F of Winthgraden Tower (inside Ardus’ novel) and speak with the fictional sorcerer to learn receive the Mantra of Binding.

7. Perform the ritual inside the Abyssal Fragment.

Now that you have all of the ingredients needed to reveal and face the true last boss of the game, now is the last time you will be able to access the Forgetful Ending of the game. If the Seams of Reality quest has been revealed, but not completed and the party leaves for New Cadence, a different ending scene will play. The party will return to Ordolus after the credits play and will now have the Forgetful End item in their inventory.

The Forgetful End item is one of the only truly missable items in the game as it can’t be accessed after completing the Seams of Reality quest. Thus, now is a good time to get it if you are so inclined. The Forgetful End item does not count towards 100% completion and is just a token proving you've seen the ending. The only thing you are missing by not seeing the forgetful ending is suffering through one of John’s horrible jokes.

Once you are ready to see the true last boss, go back into the Aspect of Blood where you found the Left Eye of Greed. By examining the space between the two glowing diamonds, you can jump into the Abyssal Fragment.

In the center of the Fragment are seven chests surrounding a door. Click on the chests to insert the Symbols of Avarice we collected earlier. This causes the door to transform into a bed. Next, place the Aspirant’s Mask on the bed to be transferred into the Abyssal Fragment Core.

There is a bed (which will return you to the hidden room in Epherus’ basement) here as well as a sparkling spot on the ground. Examine the sparkling object to get the Orb of Recall. This item will allow you to quickly transport back into the Fragment Core if you are not yet ready to face the Aspirant. Note: The Orb of Recall will only work if at least nine quests are completed and all 3 party members are in the party at the time it is used.

Creator Commentary: It can be inferred that the well-wisher that left the Orb of Recall is the Composer, but what do I know?

Easter Egg: It is possible to use the Orb of Recall to escape from Winthgraden Tower as 8-bit characters. Doing so will allow the party to exit the Mindscape into Epherus’ basement while still in the old school style. If this happens, a vision of Malebaldur appears to break the party out of their delusion.

After picking up the Orb of Recall, examine the darkness behind it. You will be asked to recite the Mantra of Binding which will only succeed if you also have the Aspirant’s true name as well. By speaking the Aspirant’s true name into the Abyss, the Malformed Thought appears. This abomination, the combined loneliness, hatred, depression and boredom of the Aspirant Stanislav Anarkum, is the true source of the strife in Ordolus and the foe that the Composer tasked Ardus with locating and destroying. Destroyed with a well-worded argument, of course.

As this is the true last boss of the game, it features a huge amount of WP, a vast number of deadly skills and its own unique musical theme. It's also recommended to complete any unfinished Side Quests before taking on the final boss. This is not strictly necessary, though the abilities you get from the other quests will be helpful. It should be noted that you will be deposited back in Ordolus after the end credits and can continue on to complete any unfinished side quests or beat any of the Optional Super Bosses. In fact, one of the optional bosses is not available until the Malformed Thought is defeated.

8. Destroy the Malformed Thought.

It's recommended to be at least level 22 to fight this monster. Also, be sure to come in with a full stock of items from Sindarin, Black Coffee from Nick and Trout Fillets from the Bazaar.

For the first four turns, the Malformed Thought will not take any actions, instead it will slowly reveal itself and mutter broken lines of dialog. Use this opportunity to get the Research Level up to 4 with Cynthia. Having at least a Research Level of 5 will greatly simplify the battle. On the fifth turn, it will use Thanatos Instinct which will reduce one character to 1 WP and 1 EP. As a side note: throughout the fight, if a party member is too low on WP or is afflicted with too many negative states, it might be beneficial to wait for them to concede and then bring them back with a Smelling Salt or equivalent skill.

A few turns after the fight starts and the final boss theme starts playing, the Malformed Thought will use one of four field skills. The Pathos Field will nullify pathos damage, but boost ethos attacks. The Logos Field will nullify logos damage but boost Pathos attacks. The Ethos Field will nullify ethos damage but boost logos attacks. The Verbal Field will nullify pathos, logos, and ethos damage but boost verbal attack. Finally, the Abyssal Field will nullify verbal damage but everyone including the boss will regenerate EP each turn. Each field lasts for 4 turns before a new one is chosen.

The Malformed Thought is completely immune to Apathy and resists 95% of gnostic damage. The trick to eating through its nearly half million WP is to take advantage of stacking all of the buffs and debuffs available to you. The entire point of the combat system in the Logomancer is centered on this concept and it is needed to swiftly banish the Malformed Thought. The party member you should focus on buffing is dependent on the field effect. Ardus has the best logos skills, John the best pathos skills, and Cynthia the best ethos and verbal skills.

Here's an example of the power of properly stacking buffs and debuffs. This scenario assumes the Logos Field is in effect:

Have Ardus use Reason on the boss to apply the logos state which will improve pathos damage. Have Cynthia use Treatise to apply the Vulnerable state so that the boss takes increased damage from all sources. If Cynthia applies the vulnerable state earlier (which is a good idea), then she can use her turn to use Lily's Vichyssoise on John to increase his PER and ELO. Have John use the Dysphemism skill to do moderate pathos damage and debuff the boss' CON. On the following turn, have Ardus use Cult of Personality to debuff the boss' RES. Finally, have John use the Sarchasm skill. With the amount of bonuses applied to the pathos damage, you can expect the skill to do between 60,000 a 80,000 damage in one turn. Then, have Cynthia use Substitution to give John another turn where he can use Sarchasm again. If John has learned his ultimate skill, Onus Probandi, then it is more than possible to destroy the Malformed Thought in only one or two concentrated attacks.

Once the boss reaches 25% WP or less, it will use the Absolute Weakness skill which will stack all four of the major debuffs on every party member. Trout Fillets and the Reinvention skill are recommended to counteract this one time event.

Once the monster is defeated the Orb of Recall loses its function and the path to the true ending is open!

Examine the bed to wake up form the Mindscape. Cynthia and John will leave the party as they are both going off to pack for New Cadence. If you talk to Epherus on the way out he will ask you if you are still happy. Back on the streets of Ordolus, it is impossible to enter any of the buildings as grave stones fade in to block your path. Each of the Ordolus townspeople on the street say the exact same thing and then vanish when spoken to. Go around town and speak to all of the townspeople to get them to disappear. Once everyone has vanished, the screen will fade to black and an ominous voice will taunt you.

The Composer's voice interrupts the last dying cries of the Malformed Thought and he instructs you to follow him out of the Abyssal Fragment. There's only one direction to go, so hurry through the abstract pieces of the shattered Abyssal Fragment to meet the Composer face to face again. He will debrief Ardus one last time and thank him for giving him the chance to destroy the Abyssal Fragment. He tells Ardus to close his eyes. When he opens them everyone is back, safe and sound in Epherus' basement and some new objectives have appeared in the quest journal.

9. Said goodbye to X out of 6 townspeople.

Before leaving to head to New Cadence, speak to Epherus Maldais, Udumo LaBranche, Sindarin du Vide, Eventide Solais, Johan Oppangelsk and Harlon Waits. They are each in their respective houses / shops in Ordolus. Doing so, will complete the objective.

10. Say goodbye to Glenton.

Glenton is in his house. Simply head to the north side of Ordolus and speak with him there to say goodbye and get a preview of what his next Mindscape project is going to be.

11. Meet at Camp Courtesy and leave for New Cadence.

Once you've said goodbye to everyone, you are automatically sent to Camp Courtesy, just in front of the exit to the road to New Cadence. The Malformed Thought vanquished and Abyssal Fragment finally destroyed, the last quest is officially completed. All that's left is to walk through the northern exit of Camp Courtesy which will start the ending sequence.

After the character endings and credits, there is a post-credits scene that bookends the conversation with John at the beginning of the game and Ardus reveals the working title for his next novel. Pressing confirm on the screen that says "the end" will return the party to the streets of Ordolus with a new item in their inventory, The True End.

Now that the Malformed Thought is gone, the entrance to the Abyssal Fragment has been forever sealed with a Caranthos Mori symbol (a symbol found in other places in the game such as on Lily's grave outside Sindarin's house and behind the Composer in the final room of the Abyssal Fragment Escape).

Congratulations! You've seen the true ending to the Logomancer. If you'd like, there are still a few optional super bosses available, one of which it is now possible to find now that you've seen the true ending.

The previous part of the walkthrough was Fill in the Blank, the next part is Optional Super Bosses