What were your last 2 major decisions? I chose to carry Zulf, and to Evacuate. I really liked the ending, aswell as the story as a whole. Great game, had a mysterious vibe the whole way through that really kept me going. The narrator was an amazing touch.

What did you guys do? How did you feel about the ending?

I choose one of each, a different set per the 2 games I played through.   Endings were alright.  Wish they could have had a tad more to it though.  

I got all 200 Gamerscore in 1 day and all my Achievements say 7/20/2011.  
 
Great game I'm sad to see go so fast...  

Although, I wonder what the last screen would look like if you don't save Zulf, but do Evacuate (or the opposite, save Zulf + Activate)?  Maybe a couple other play-though are still in my future?  

Carried Zulf and chose to regenerate the Bastion. I was a bit confused with the former though. Were you supposed to not die when you were carrying him? And what happened to Zulf?

Also carried Zulf and regenerated.

Carried Zulf, evacuated. Then went back and carried Zulf and recreated everything.

I carried Zulf and evacuated, I thought the ending was a good closing point with that always present possibility of something more down the road. And honestly it just made me want to play it all again to see the second ending.

I carried Zulf and evacuated. I felt bad about evacuating at first but then as the ending went on I thought that i made the right choice.

Yeah, what exactly happens to Zulf? I carried him, but it didn't seem to address that once you get back to the Bastion, he's just not there.

@CookieMonster said:

Carried Zulf and chose to regenerate the Bastion. I was a bit confused with the former though. Were you supposed to not die when you were carrying him? And what happened to Zulf?

My theory is that the Ura were attacking you as you were carrying Zulf, but then realized what you were doing as a gesture of peace and respect and let you go. I don't know, I'm not too good with theories but that's what it seemed like to me.

I'm pretty sure Zulf appears on the ship at the end if you carry him and evacuate.

I chose to carry him specifically because he was a man with no country. His own people attacked him, which meant that he really wasn't an enemy anymore because he had no friends, no side. Decided to save him because of that.

I then chose to evacuate because there was no guarantee that the Calamity wouldn't happen again if I Restored. Likewise, the Restoration option seemed to present the idea of "Hey, it's okay if we cause all this pain and destruction, because we can just undo it!"

Evacuation, then I started NG plus and will go the other way.  Let Zulf die.
 
Convincing my self that evacuation is canon. Great fucking game.

@Noodlearms said:

@CookieMonster said:

Carried Zulf and chose to regenerate the Bastion. I was a bit confused with the former though. Were you supposed to not die when you were carrying him? And what happened to Zulf?

My theory is that the Ura were attacking you as you were carrying Zulf, but then realized what you were doing as a gesture of peace and respect and let you go. I don't know, I'm not too good with theories but that's what it seemed like to me.

If you noticed, as you were carrying him and after they stop attacking, you walk past a group of them in which one of them attacks you. That guy is quickly killed by the others in the group. So yes, they stopped attacking you out of respect for what you were doing with Zulf

Left Zulf behind, wrecked their shit, regenerated. On my second playthrough I will evacuate, but still woun't save Zulf. Damn traitor.

@Slaker117 said:

Yeah, what exactly happens to Zulf? I carried him, but it didn't seem to address that once you get back to the Bastion, he's just not there.

He's sleeping near Zia's pot. If you walk up to him and press X Rucks says something along the lines of "I can't believe you brought him back after everything".

I carried Zulf with me, I felt betrayed by his attack on the Bastion but even so I had hoped to be able to make peace with him, even moreso when I heard his story during the last visit to Who Knows Where. I had a lot of trouble deciding which to choose between restoration and evacuation, but I couldn't help but think about just what The Calamity had done to the world. I felt a lot like Zia did, but ultimately felt like choosing evacuation would be the more selfish option. I don't think there's any right or wrong choice, though.

Weird that so many people saved Zulf even though he caused nothing but harm during the story. Left that shit to die and evacuated. 

@MildMolasses: @MildMolasses said:

@Noodlearms said:

@CookieMonster said:

Carried Zulf and chose to regenerate the Bastion. I was a bit confused with the former though. Were you supposed to not die when you were carrying him? And what happened to Zulf?

My theory is that the Ura were attacking you as you were carrying Zulf, but then realized what you were doing as a gesture of peace and respect and let you go. I don't know, I'm not too good with theories but that's what it seemed like to me.

If you noticed, as you were carrying him and after they stop attacking, you walk past a group of them in which one of them attacks you. That guy is quickly killed by the others in the group. So yes, they stopped attacking you out of respect for what you were doing with Zulf

I actually did notice that. The guy behind the guy shooting you just hits him or something and he falls down. It was a nice touch.

@MildMolasses: @MildMolasses said:

@Noodlearms said:

@CookieMonster said:

Carried Zulf and chose to regenerate the Bastion. I was a bit confused with the former though. Were you supposed to not die when you were carrying him? And what happened to Zulf?

My theory is that the Ura were attacking you as you were carrying Zulf, but then realized what you were doing as a gesture of peace and respect and let you go. I don't know, I'm not too good with theories but that's what it seemed like to me.

If you noticed, as you were carrying him and after they stop attacking, you walk past a group of them in which one of them attacks you. That guy is quickly killed by the others in the group. So yes, they stopped attacking you out of respect for what you were doing with Zulf

I actually did notice that. The guy behind the guy shooting you just hits him or something and he falls down. It was a nice touch.

I chose to save Zulf, and then I evacuated. Gotta do what the women want, you know? 
When I go back to recreate everything in my second playthrough, I'm still going to save Zulf.

I saved Zulf and evacuated. I saved Zulf because I felt bad for him. Obviously he wasn't deserving of being saved with all of the harm he had done, but he was so alone and everyone had turned against him. I couldn't help but feel pity for him.

"I got all 200 Gamerscore in 1 day and all my Achievements say 7/20/2011." - that's a sweet pickup line. You should tell that to girls at bars, "Hey, did you know I got all 200 gamerscore in Bastion on the day it was released?" You wouldn't happen to be a schoolkid on summer break would you? Most people have too many obligations to 100% a 10 hour game in one day. 
 
Anyway, moving on, 
 
 I saved Zulf because I was hoping that I would be able to move a little faster while carrying him than I could carrying that battering ram. 
 
Then I chose restoration because I'm sure the Kid just wants to go back and see his mommy after such a journey. Not to mention, restoration works better canon-wise for your first playthrough. think about it: you restore Caelondia to pre-Calamity, and then life is peaceful for a while, and then the Calamity happens again, thus starting the events of New Game +. 
 
In NG+, I plan on doing the opposite: not saving Zulf, and choosing evacuation. 
 
As for the people who believe that one ending is Canon over another, that's silly. Both endings dialogue is written in such a way that they both seem like the correct ending. I like the way I'm playing through though. Choose restore, Calamity happens again, New Game + (you keep all your EXP because you're the same kid in the same timeline, thus you're canonically going on your journey again). That way both endings can become cannon. Under that theory, Evacuation is what leads to the next game/plot point. 
 
Anyone else think is was gonna be a cheesy "The Old Man is the Kid after saving and restoring the Bastion a million times! You're caught in an infinite loop! Keep playing our game!"? So glad that didn't happen.  
 
EDIT: I started new game plus and the old man goes  "I'll see you at the next one" in a weird voice before the game starts. I don't remember him saying that on the first playthrough.

I saved Zulf and picked Evacuation. I loved the scene when you carry Zulf. It was such a powerful moment when the Ura all just stopped attacking you and watched. 
 
I also really like Zia's voice. I wonder who the actress is?

I saved Zulf and left Caelandia, Zia's voice over line of 'Any moment I would want to relive, happened after the Calamity' rang too true for The Kid - why would he go back? To let his mother die while he was away working again? Even if he'd have no memory of it, I didn't see any reason for The Kid to want to go back. 
 
Loved the evacuation ending and instantly made my head spin with ideas for sequels - I'm thinking Bastion meets Skies of Arcadia (the Bastion is now mobile) where you recruit crew members and complete various upgrades to the home base while adventuring.

@MildMolasses: @MildMolasses said:

@Noodlearms said:

@CookieMonster said:

Carried Zulf and chose to regenerate the Bastion. I was a bit confused with the former though. Were you supposed to not die when you were carrying him? And what happened to Zulf?

My theory is that the Ura were attacking you as you were carrying Zulf, but then realized what you were doing as a gesture of peace and respect and let you go. I don't know, I'm not too good with theories but that's what it seemed like to me.

If you noticed, as you were carrying him and after they stop attacking, you walk past a group of them in which one of them attacks you. That guy is quickly killed by the others in the group. So yes, they stopped attacking you out of respect for what you were doing with Zulf

I actually did notice that. The guy behind the guy shooting you just hits him or something and he falls down. It was a nice touch.

@InertiaticESP: I chose Restoration on my first play through for exactly the same line of reasoning.

This is what choice in games should be, not something completely black and white but something you actually have to think about while still retaining a big emotional impact. No choice, as I see it, is right. The old world was kind of a fucked up place, but even then there was good in it and a lot of innocent people were slaughtered in the Calamity. Then again, however, there is nothing that is stopping the Calamity from happening again. Plus going back means all your work was really all for nothing in a way. All that time you spent rebuilding the Bastion, gathering the remnants of your decimated home, saving Zulf and Zia, all to go back to the way things were before, stuck inside the walls of Caelondia most likely for the rest of your life with your homeland still teetering on the brink of disaster.
 
That being said I chose Evacuation. It's definitely one of the toughest choices I've ever made in a game. Bastion's world is ridiculously well realized and anyone who says otherwise is fooling themselves.

Ultimately, I saved Zulf and Evacuated and I don't regret either choice.  They both seemed like very logical choices that the Kid would and should make.

I saved Zulf but restored the world, I felt like it really was the right choice. Even though he couldn't prevent what happened from happening again, I felt like it was my obligation to save that people and give that world another choice.

Also, it gave the game even more of a Dark Tower feeling, the whole cycling end and stuff.

I saved Zulf and restored because it seemed to make sense from a story perspective to see if the Kid could prevent the Calamity. When the Calamity comes a second time around you kill Zulf because he didn't change his ways in the new timeline and you evacuate because you know the Calamity will just come again if you don't. That's how I saw my choices.

Moral of this story: The end of neigh. Delay it or deal with it.
 
I saved Zulf and dealt with it.

@Noodlearms said:

@CookieMonster said:

Carried Zulf and chose to regenerate the Bastion. I was a bit confused with the former though. Were you supposed to not die when you were carrying him? And what happened to Zulf?

My theory is that the Ura were attacking you as you were carrying Zulf, but then realized what you were doing as a gesture of peace and respect and let you go. I don't know, I'm not too good with theories but that's what it seemed like to me.

If you noticed, as you were carrying him and after they stop attacking, you walk past a group of them in which one of them attacks you. That guy is quickly killed by the others in the group. So yes, they stopped attacking you out of respect for what you were doing with Zulf

@Phonics said:

Weird that so many people saved Zulf even though he caused nothing but harm during the story. Left that shit to die and evacuated.

Would have felt the same way until I played through the side areas and got Zulf's backstory.

I saved Zulf and Restored. At least with Restoration there was a possibility to stop the Calamity and it would bring everyone back in the short term - Evacuation just seemed like a cop out that would make Zia/you happy and leave everyone else to rot.

Firs time through, I saved Zulf and evacuated. In NewGame+, I chose to leave Zulf behind and restore the world.
 
Honestly, I like the evacuation a lot better. How can you learn from the past if you erase it and just start over as a blank slate? Doesn't work. Also, I felt terrible when I left Zulf behind and slaughtered the other Ura with the battering ram. It was much more dramatic and epic when you carry Zulf through the trench while the song plays and they suddenly stop attacking.
 
Fantastic game. I'm kinda sad it's over. :(

I carried Zulf and regenerated. This may sound dumb but afterwards, I felt like I made the wrong choice because there was only an achievement for evacuating and not regenerating. Either way, the game was amazing. Carrying Zulf was one of the most powerful moments I've ever experienced in a game.

@InertiaticESP said:

Not to mention, restoration works better canon-wise for your first playthrough. think about it: you restore Caelondia to pre-Calamity, and then life is peaceful for a while, and then the Calamity happens again, thus starting the events of New Game +.

Totally didn't think of that. That makes me feel a lot better about my decision.

I saved zulf. He was an asshole for trying to destroy the bastion but the Kid would not let him die, also I evacuated to create a new world where the past would no longer matter.

I saved zulf both times. After hearing his story about how he spent his whole life trying to promote peace and then finding out that the calamity was a attempt to wipe out his people made me understand why he did what he did.

As stated before, I chose to regenerate the world first because I felt if fit the story of NG+ better. How I see it is that the Kid tried to reset the world (even though his life and the girls lives were pretty bad before the calamity) because it might save Caelondia. Then the calamity happens again and nothing was changed because most people don't remember the first calamity. I do think that at least the Kid and Rucks have some hazy recollection of the first calamity though (which is why some of Rucks lines talk about feeling like he has told this story before and why the Kid still remembers his skills and has his weapons from the first calamity.) So at the end, the kid chooses the evacuate and let the world move on instead of being trapped in a time loop.

That really is one of my favorite parts of the game, every game play contrivance has a story justification. Buffs are spirits from the distillery, difficulty increases are due to the gods challenging you, and new game + is (potentially) because you reset the world at the end.

I carried Zulf back and evacuated.

I didn't carry that Uran bastard back out of pity for him. I did it because I wanted a trophy. He damaged the Bastion, sent the Ura warriors to clean up after him, then made me get all of those shards, go after Zia, cleaved through what was left (I assume) of the Uran people and left the remaining in ruins.

I'm better than him and now he's on a small island ship with me. He's no longer a person, but property. Spoils of war.

Left Zulf and restored.
In my NG+, I'll do the opposite.

I chose save Zulf and Evacuate because that's what I would do.

Exploring a destroyed world would be more fun than the dreary place they described throughout the game.

I carried Zulf and regenerated. This may sound dumb but afterwards, I felt like I made the wrong choice because there was only an achievement for evacuating and not regenerating. Either way, the game was amazing. Carrying Zulf was one of the most powerful moments I've ever experienced in a game.

Left that punk to rot and regenerated the Bastion so I can leave him to rot again. Lol jk. I wasn't sure what I was choosing, I knew there was NG+ but looking at the last decision it seemed if I evacuated then I may of lost my stuff so I chose Regen. I'll flip it on NG+

I was a bit confused at the end, why was I carrying that large bull head pole thing? What was that all about?!! Kinda sad I didn't get to keep the flip dodge thing you get on the last level for NG+

Kinda sad I didn't get to keep the flip dodge thing you get on the last level for NG+

left him and evacuated, will do the reverse on ng+

Carried Zulf, evacuated. Then went back and carried Zulf and recreated everything.

Chose the Restoration option. Didn't want to move on partly because I was hoping I could change the events some how in a second playthrough...essentially an entirely new game the second time around. Stupid thinking now that I think back on it but at least it fits the logic of a New Game +.  
 
On another note, anyone else get a bit choked up while carrying Zulf through the Ura hideout while getting attacked. I'm not talking tears here, but it did touch me a little bit......or maybe I'm just a sissy pansy.

@Illmatic said:

Chose the Restoration option. Didn't want to move on partly because I was hoping I could change the events some how in a second playthrough...essentially an entirely new game the second time around. Stupid thinking now that I think back on it but at least it fits the logic of a New Game +. On another note, anyone else get a bit choked up while carrying Zulf through the Ura hideout while getting attacked. I'm not talking tears here, but it did touch me a little bit......or maybe I'm just a sissy pansy.

I'm man enough to admit that I'm a sissy pansy and cried. That scene must have hit something weird in my brain. The music, slow walking speed, then they start firing arrows at you... Especially that music. I've been listening to it all day and it still gets me all teary-eyed. When my wife came out of the bath and suddenly found me crying on the couch, she thought my mother died.

I saved Zulf and Restored. At least with Restoration there was a possibility to stop the Calamity and it would bring everyone back in the short term - Evacuation just seemed like a cop out that would make Zia/you happy and leave everyone else to rot.

@MEATBALL said:

I carried Zulf with me, I felt betrayed by his attack on the Bastion but even so I had hoped to be able to make peace with him, even moreso when I heard his story during the last visit to Who Knows Where. I had a lot of trouble deciding which to choose between restoration and evacuation, but I couldn't help but think about just what The Calamity had done to the world. I felt a lot like Zia did, but ultimately felt like choosing evacuation would be the more selfish option. I don't think there's any right or wrong choice, though.

Yeah that's basically how I felt. i turned back time cos my relationship with these 3 people is nothing compared to what I could bring back if I undid the calamity. I thought about all the ash-people I saw in Caelondia.

I KIND OF wanted to evacuate n carry on, cos we could rebuild a new peaceful civilization, but it seemed like the world was actually in a pretty good place before the calamity happened, so I reversed time.

I saved Zulf as a symbol that we're all human and racial grudges are bullshit.

I don't know why the Ura all stopped attacking me though; I was saving a guy who they'd outcasted as a traitor. I'd expect them to just shoot both of us, really.

Sorry for bumping back this old topic, but I finally got around to beating the game, and I've got to say the ending was really well done.

I ended up evacuating because looking at the icons for the choices. Restoration is a loop and evacuation is a forward path. I decided that sometimes we have to live with what we've done and make the best of it and forge a forward path. So thats what I did. Mostly because I feel like going back would just repeat the same hatred as before.