SMT: Nocturne - Ending Choices

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
And the reason is Darwinism

So I have still only beaten Nocturne once but I did enjoy its choices more than, say, Strange Journey. (And with no PS3 or 3DS, I won't be seeing any other endings any time soon, unfortunately) My main problem was that they didn't really do a good enough job selling you on any of them except "True Demon."

From the beginning, you have no real clear goal or direction. You just wander around some then Hijiri gives you orders because... I dunno why. Because it's a video game. The only real central, consistent motivation I saw all game was everything to do with our favorite old man. You collect the Candelabra, you defeat the Fiends, you explore the Kalpa ever deeper, you listen to the Lady speak. It was a mystery, a challenge, that pulled you in further and further. The overarching goal of the game almost became less about finding a Reason and more about speaking with "him." And why not? The Lady tells you a lot of fascinating things. Hell, she was my main source of information all through the game. Without her, would I have a clue who Hijiri really was? Nope.

Through them, you learn that it's all a grand illusion. I was told, going into Nocturne, that the Reasons still aligned with Law, Neutral and Chaos. That's untrue. Whether you go with Yosuga (which seems like definitely Chaos) or Shijima (seems like Law) it doesn't matter because you're still just playing His game. You still just perpetuate a cosmically unjust system.

It's all rather weird I love TDE so much because I loathed Chaos in SJ. I guess it's all about presentation. Nocturne does an infinitely better job of selling it than Strange Journey did.

But I suppose, in a second run, I would be interested in trying another route. I'm not sure which one, however. I'm making this thread at least partly to see what other endings people liked and give me ideas for the future.

It's all about the True Demon ending, though you did forget the Demon Ending, where you're so indecisive the final boss leaves the Vortex World out of disgust, and you rule it as a king until the next Conception cycle.

To me, Nocturne, and MegaTen in general, has always been about exploring the philosophies that govern the world than actual character. It's more about the lore and ideology than people. I always found it amusing that the Darwinian Yosuga faction was the friendliest to you up until Chiaki took them over, whereas Mutsubi (the closest thing Nocturne has to Neutral) are the biggest jerks. With all that said, Lucifer's path and Amala Network are so well done, it's hard not to gravitate towards it. Not to mention it kind of cements the Demi-Fiend as the biggest badass in the series.

Yeah, I think it's a bit of a no-contest here with True Demon Ending triumphing over all.

I did also like the Neutral Ending though. I don't want to spoil too much if you don't know how it goes, but suffice to say it's very different from the TDE one.