YMMV / Stories: Path of Destinies

• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: "The Fox Who's Knees Hurt" and "Bucket of Death" are the only endings that show the long-term consequences of Reynardo's actions well after his death. All others either end the moment he dies, or very shortly after. This also leads to the Inferred Holocaust below.
• Heartwarming Moments: Finally getting the Golden Ending counts, if only for the fact that Reynardo figures out a way to not screw up horribly.
  • His Anguished Declaration of Love to Zenobia during this run is also rather beautifully done.
• Complete Monster:
  • Lapino is a petty turncoat working for The Empire. Envious of hero Reynardo's fame and riches, Lapino did whatever he could to hinder the rebel's plans. He frequently leaked information that resulted in ships being attacked and missions failing where he was the only survivor; he also aided the empire by having villages and towns sacked and posing as a victim who narrowly survived. Should Reynardo aid Lapino during his journey, Lapino will continue posing as his friend while secretly leaking crucial information to the empire, which will result in the rebel base being attacked, several neutral scientists being murdered, the Empire acquiring the Skyripper Core, and Zenobia potentially dying; all of it culminates in Lapino personally murdering Reynardo. In the canon ending, Lapino steals the Skyripper Core and secretly delivers it to the Emperor before he later steals the Iblis Stone in hopes of gaining ultimate power.
  • The Iblis Stone is a rock secretly housing the demonic entity Iblis. A stone that feeds on pain and death, the Iblis Stone corrupts anyone who uses it by whispering promises of fortune and fame at the expense of its user killing their loved ones and companions. Should Reynardo acquire the stone, it'll tempt him into killing his former lover Zenobia; if he goes through with it, Reynardo will slowly become a merciless killer who slaughters dozens in his path, eventually sucking out the soul of the Emperor and unleashing Iblis, thus ending the universe. Should Lapino or Zenobia acquire the stone, both of them will ultimately give in to madness and kill Reynardo when he tries to talk them into giving up the stone. In the canon ending, Zenobia steals the stone from Lapino, only to later slaughter the rebel council after falling victim to its murderous influence.
• Fridge Brilliance: If you show the Iblis Stone to the scientists, they say that it feeds not on blood or souls, but the pain of killing another living being. That's why it immediately encourages Reynardo to kill Zenobia — since he loves her, killing her would be the most painful.
• Game-Breaker: The magic effect of an upgraded Winterthorne unleashes an Area of Effect attack that freezes not only the enemy you strike, but any nearby, too, regardless of shields. And the next blow landed on a frozen enemy shatters them instantly.
• Ho Yay: One path definitely plays up Reynardo's affection for Lapino. Including an Anguished Declaration of Love. Too bad Lapino is a traitor and very much doesn't reciprocate Reynardo's possible affections.
• Inferred Holocaust: In the Golden Ending, Reynardo and Zenobia both survive, and leave the Isles of Boreas to search for a mythical island where Zenobia might be cured of the after-effects of temporarily wielding the Sealed Evil in a Can Iblis Stone. The Emperor and most of his fleet was blown up by the unstable Skyripper Core, and the Rebel Council were cut down by Zenobia while she was under the influence of the Iblis Stone. Two other endings have the Empire and the Rebels both get wiped out, and then make it clear that with no-one left to take charge, the whole region slide into banditry, anarchy and famine come winter. So it seems likely that this 'Happy Ending' really isn't all that happy for anyone other than Reynardo. In fact, several of the supposed 'bad endings' would likely bode far better for the citizens of Boreas - albeit with Reynardo dead, as usual.
  • Many of the 'bad' endings are treated as such simply because Reynardo dies, but a lot of these endings fail to mention that his death all but guarantees the Emperor's victory, which leads to time itself being destroyed.
• Low-Tier Letdown: Firestorm's magic causes Damage Over Time, which is highly lacking compared to Winterthorne's ability to render all enemies into One Hit Point Wonders. It also lacks the utility of the Hero Sword's healing effect, or the Void Blade's increased movement speed.
• Popular with Furries: Given that this game's cast is entirely made up of Funny Animals, it's pretty much a given that it would gain a Furry following.
• Nightmare Fuel: Some of Reynardo's deaths are extremely violent, especially for a T Rated game. Stabbed to death en-masse, decapitation, slit throat, etc.
  • What the Iblis stone does to you if you let it fully control you results in a highly disturbing timeline, so much so that it could be a contender for one of the most objectively terrible timelines for everyone involved.
  • For such a lighthearted and colourful game, there's a rather large number of horrific atrocities discussed in-game. At one point in one path, Reynardo recounts a scene in which he is confronted with the zombified corpses of children, recounting what the Emperor did to them.
• Scrappy Mechanic: The lack of any kind of map to guide you through the choices you have made can make the game difficult to navigate at times.
• Spiritual Successor: It's a pretty good video game adaptation of Groundhog Day and All You Need Is Kill/Edge of Tomorrow.
• The Un-Twist: The secret of the Iblis Stone is that it is dangerous to use and can corrupt the user. Yes, what a shocker. The horrible, black, whispering stone is evil. Who knew?
  • It's really not hard to guess that Zenobia's truth is that she still loves Reynardo. This one is still debatable however, as you need to hear her admit the truth out loud for it to be unlocked- despite the fact that in many scenarios it is very obvious, it is very possible to never see those scenarios before you get the truth.
    • In many of the scenarios involving Zenobia, Lapino's truth is revealed to the player while hers is only hinted at, and the game can only reveal one truth at a time- so it goes for the obvious one.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The "Return of the Hippie" ending takes a sudden swerve into Black Comedy after a promising setup. Reynardo learns the only way to fully control the Iblis Stone after its been fused with the Skyripper Core is to find inner peace. After simply suppressing his emotions doesn't work, he's told by a sage that, since the stone feeds on the guilt of killing his enemies, he needs to embrace the joy in fighting to overcome it. Then out of nowhere, he finds enlightenment through non-violence and gets killed by a random raven while trying to meditate.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Funny Animals, beautiful colours, a lemony narrator and more. All this hides a fairly dark plot filled with mass murder and several atrocities, not to mention some of the disturbingly descriptive narrations of poor Reynardo meeting his end.