IT IS STRONGLY ADVISED THAT THE READER PLAY THE GAME FIRST AND BE WELL ACQUAINTED WITH THE STORY BEFORE PROCEEDING ANY FURTHER. THIS MEANS NOT JUST PLAYING THROUGH IT ONCE BUT SEEING ALL FOUR ENDINGS.

If one were to summarize the game's story in one sentence it would be "Human student is only one of his kind in a high-school full of dinosaurs." Right off the bat, that's a strong hook and a solid elevator pitch for a story. But what is it exactly that makes that concept so interesting? Is it the fact that there exists a world in which humans and dinosaurs live in tandem? Is it that the idea of going to school with dinosaurs sounds like something out of the wildest dreams of a small child? Or is it the far more intimate detail that Inco is the only one of his kind in such an environment?

In the following, I will attempt to present an overview of the game's primary theme, which is self-actualization, and how Inco succeeds (or fails) in achieving personal agency as a budding adult.

During the introductory cutscene, Inco explains that he and his parents have moved yet again and he, for the moment without friends, must adapt to life in yet another new high-school, St. Hammond. With the summary of his situation is his boasting of wearing a new designer jacket which he hopes will garner him approval from his soon to be peers. Upon entering St. Hammond, Inco is almost immediately swarmed by all the dinosaur students.







You are then presented with a choice: either to tell the student body to back off and give you space, or to go along with it. At this stage of the game, neither option will have an effect on the outcome of the story, and eventually the crowd will lose interest in the lone human of its own accord and return to the status quo.



This scene establishes--in the most visceral way possible--that Inco, while not considered an outcast by the student body, is a mere living novelty; one for whom they bear no ill-feeling, but also don't see as anything more than an exotic curiosity.

Thus, the dynamic and tone is set. Inco is socially isolated, but is not actively being gatekept from anything either. He is an outlier, and the choices he is soon to be confronted with are to either go along to get along in order to seek acceptance and validation from his peers, or to take a more pro-active role in order to actualize his under-developed sense of personal agency.

Contrasting this is Olivia, the titual "gator girl" and deuteragonist of the story. She initially comes off as abrasive, what with her introduction being to charge through the school with wild abandon and disregard for whatever hapless dino she may run over. But over the course of the game it becomes apparent that her acerbic personality is to create a barrier between herself and others.

I said earlier that Inco isn't actively being gatekept from anything in the school. This is only ostensibly true as the buxom baryonyx is soon presented as being Inco's sole gatekeeper in the almost literal sense of the phrase (lock and key included). She exists in a depressive state as an introverted misanthrope, and the choices you make will affect her own struggle for self-actualization.

Though there are many options in the game, only ten have an impact on either Inco or Olivia (five each, with a minimum of four each required for the best ending). Both characters must grow and adapt, or be overcome by nascent mental illness.

I Wani Hug That Gator has a wonderful art style. All the animal character's have unique designs which also play off their personalities, immediately telegraphing their character traits. But by far the most subtly important character design is that of Inco himself. One of the students in his initial encounter with the student body remarks that he resembles a mannequin. This may as well be the game momentarily breaking the fourth wall to state outright that he is an empty shell waiting to be adorned with fancy consumer products--such as his signature accoutrements, his prized jacket and shades. At the very least, this is how he seen by the world, whether he knows it or not. And not just his more immediate world of St. Hammond, but the wider world around him which includes the internet.

Inco's minimalist features could be those of a mere blank slate waiting for someone or something to fill him with pre-packaged nonsense; or a stoic visage whom no one can easily assess or manipulate. Which of these two roles he falls into is up to the player's choices. Taking a more passive role in every situation will leave Inco undeveloped, perpetually a puppet of other people's thoughts and opinions; while taking a more active role will alter his personality into becoming more assertive and an independent thinker.



When Inco fails to be assertive, he comes across more as a smarmy know-it-all, only most of what he says is just regurgitating something other people have said, or reiterations of social norms. Worse still, he obsesses over what others think of him, constantly trying to make himself and also Olivia conform to an arbitrary standard. To put it bluntly, he acts like the archetypal Redditor.



Even if you make all the right choices regarding Olivia and her personal growth, failing to develop Inco will doom him to being a spineless conformist who only acts with the approval of others. However, if you make enough right choices with him, it will develop him into someone capable of autonomy who can act free of peer pressure, perceived or otherwise.



He's also able to freely express himself without constantly worrying about the approval of others, though not out of lack of consideration but out of moral fiber.



Inco will become pensive and able to analyze and accept his own shortcomings that he may work through them.




To put it simply, Inco's goal is to evolve from an NPC into an individual capable of exercising full autonomy, and able to shape his own destiny, free from the control of others.

While it's tempting to relegate Olivia's issues down to some arbitrarily diagnosed mental condition, it should not be overlooked that much of her misery and isolation is self-imposed. If Inco is a character who still does not yet know how to actualize himself and attempts to do so by seeking validation from others, then Olivia is someone who actualizes herself by choosing isolation in defiance of the validation (earned or otherwise) heaped upon her--much to her growing detriment. Further, Olivia is crippled not just by her physical condition, but also her fear of failure. She believes, wrongly, that art is the only thing she's good at and that if she can't succeed as an artist then she'll be doomed to eternal dependence upon others.

She is, in short, a talented underachiever.



Olivia is depicted as having a disinterested look as her default expression. This serious attitude is belied by her footwear, which appear to be slippers shaped to look like furry creatures of some kind, possibly chipmunks. This tells us that she is someone who cares less for convention and more for comfort. As her legs don't function below her knees, there's a practical utilitarian reasoning for this as well. If proper footwear is superfluous then she may as well dress her feet for comfort and style. Her slippers also betray a childlike mentality which makes itself present throughout the game, and defines her character for better or worse. At times, she is shown as precocious, with a typical attitude of possessing wisdom beyond one's years; especially with regard to most people having self-serving ulterior motives. Yet at other times, she is shown to be impulsive, inconsiderate, and prone to throwing tantrums if she doesn't get her way. She expresses her happiness in very childlike ways, either by making simple doodles far below her skill level as an artist, or hopping up and down in her seat like a hyperactive kid. Her purple hoodie also reinforces her childlike presence and demeanor by hiding her voluptuous physique which she utilizes more and more as the story progresses in order to charm Inco.



In her introductory cutscene, we see her glowering in Inco's direction with baleful eyes. I say "in his direction" because at that moment, Inco was gazing with admiration at the painting she drew in her freshman year which won her awards. It's interesting to note that in an earlier version of the game, her introduction shows her looking directly at Inco while saying, "Move it, loser!" And in the older demo, she is described as locking eyes with Inco; while in the current version she doesn't specify who--or what--she is looking at, and Inco describes her as "looking through him."

I believe she was looking towards her own painting with obvious resentment, probably without even being aware she was doing so. But at that moment, Inco happened to be between Olivia and her painting, either like an interceding agent of fate, or an errant blank canvas. Whichever of these two roles Inco falls into, as always, depends on your choices.

The dynamic that grows between she and Inco is, I believe, one of self-reliance versus self-sufficiency. Inco is by no means a self-reliant person, being dependent on others for validation and habitually tuning into the internet to listen to video essays on TV shows and video games he's never indulged in himself. He is, however, relatively self-sufficient, being alone at home a majority of the time with his parents' busy schedule disrupting a normal family routine. He has more disposable income than his friends with which he can buy himself lunch from the vending machines and even share with them, and he is accustomed to solitude. Though still lacking in personal-agency, his self-sufficiency and familiarity with solitude at least primes him for the challenges ahead in the story, enabling him to further develop.

Olivia, by contrast, is not self-sufficient. She may be an independent thinker, unlike Inco, but her incapacity for self-sufficiency makes her not just physically but socially dependent on others for her care and emotional support. Her immediate care-takers, the Paynes, dote on her and do not bother her when she wishes to shut herself in her room like a recluse. Damien, her defacto adoptive brother, is the yang to her yin, and a source of unending positivity. She worries about being a burden on them, but also admits that they're too nice to do anything like kick her out of their home if she fails to graduate. She is still very much a child afraid of the coming challenges of adulthood and feels ill-equipped to take care of herself, being convinced that her artistic skill is the only thing she is good at.



During the scene in which Mia confronts her, the red scaled bully insinuates that Olivia is little more than a baby, "stroller" included.



Though Mia's insults are full of malice, the tragic thing is that there is a lot of truth to them, intended or otherwise. If Olivia's character isn't developed enough then she will regress even further into an infantilized state in which she becomes little better than a NEET; shut in her room all day watching anime; terrified of stepping out of her proverbial crib as others have to clean up after her. This is evident in both the Killer (ending 1) and Recovery (ending 3) outcomes. Also worth noting is that since Olivia still has limited use of her legs she is able to crawl around, either at the Paynes' residence or Inco's apartment in ending 3, on her hands and knees like an infant. While this pantomime of infantile behavior isn't necessarily intentional on Olivia's part, it is--I believe--symbolically relevant to her arrested state of development.

*Note: NEET is an acronym that stands for Not in Employment, Education, or Training

The choices that Inco makes which grow Olivia's score are effectively forcing her to take charge of her own life. She is forced not only to accept personal responsibility, but also failure.

Her teacher/mentor Trent Iadakan is something of a surrogate father figure, being there not just to help her grow, but also to encourage her to step out of her comfort zone. He acts more like a father would when said father was focused on being a parent first and a friend second. His dawning realization that Olivia's award winning painting was holding her back is also a warning to the player about being over-protective of Olivia. Continually hand-holding her through life and trying to shield her will only further enforce her feelings of inadequacy. Even if the player successfully develops Inco into an independent actor, it is still possible to inadvertently set Olivia up for failure.

This is as much her fault as it is Inco's. Despite not wanting to be seen only as the pitiable crippled girl, Olivia does want to be protected from failure. In at least two options the player is given to further develop Olivia (in the rain and in the elevator after the Mia chase), she turns to Inco for comfort and protection, wanting him to arbitrate her fate. Further, the more she opens up to Inco, the more she begins to seduce him with her feminine wiles, recruiting him into being her protector, which has the dual component of making Inco behave more aggressively towards Ben in particular (his final encounter with Ben in Ending 3, for instance).

If the goal for Inco is to become an independent thinker and actor, then the goal for Olivia is to accept her disadvantages and become personally responsible for herself, and able to accept help from others without compounding feelings of shame.

As mentioned previously, the player is given multiple choices throughout the game, but only ten have an impact on the characters' development through a scoring system. Both Inco and Olivia can accrue points throughout the game which will eventually affect their date and the ending. Ending 2 (Simp) and Ending 3 (Recovery) are dependent on whichever character has a higher score and is thus--for lack of a better term--dominant in the relationship. Ending 4 (Golden) is when both characters are fully actualized and the best versions of themselves. And the dreaded Ending 1 (Killer) is when both characters have regressed completely, with Olivia becoming little better than an overgrown baby--helpless, prone to tantrums, and lacking agency--and Inco turning into a depraved narcissistic sociopath.

It needs to be said that while Score_Olivia obviously represents the gator girl's development, it also pertains to another aspect to Inco. In summary, if Score_Inco represents his growing capacity for autonomy then Score_Olivia simultaneously represents yet another evolving aspect of Inco's personality, his empathy. Keep in mind that sympathy and empathy are two different things. Even if Inco, and the player, do not pity Olivia for her condition, it is still possible to pity her for her character flaws and be driven to protect her, which in itself is an egoistic action. The effects of Inco having a firmly developed capacity for autonomy but underdeveloped capacity for empathy can be plainly seen in his tirade against Ben during the Ending 3 confrontation with him. Though Inco is morally in the right to harangue Ben, he also inadvertently does to Ben what Mia has been doing to him, which is berate him for the sake of personal gratification. It's likely he's also protecting Olivia for the same reasons. Ending 3 ends essentially with Inco becoming Olivia's newest misguided guardian who desires to protect her without fully understanding her.

On the flipside, if Inco's autonomy doesn't develop in tandem with his growing empathy then he becomes a weak-willed soyboy who puts up with the uglier aspects of Olivia's personality which manifest even with her having a high score: namely, her entitlement and delusions of grandeur. Thus, I believe that while Score_Olivia represents the gator girl's growing self-confidence, Score_Inco represents her growing self-awareness and gratitude towards others. In Ending 2, she is confident in herself to the point of arrogance, taking advantage of Inco's support while continually blaming others for her own failings, and having tunnel vision with regard to her art being the only worthwhile defining trait about her.

The dual nature of the characters' respective scores is, for the purposes of this analysis, a working hypothesis at this point which I will attempt to justify further. But I am not trying to say absolutely that I am correct, this is simply the conclusion I have come to in my analysis.

The following will analyze each choice and its options, the reciprocal effects on the other when one gains a point, and what they say about Inco and Olivia.

For being the first major choice in the game it's a very substantial one. Inco is once again caught in the middle of a note passing game and his choice is to either go along with it to connect with Olivia, or terminate the game entirely. At this point, there are numerous social pressures weighing heavily upon him--and I gotta admit that I felt the pressure too the first time I got to this part (I drew the gator girl on the half-pipe, go me!). For one, there's the obvious pressure from Ms. Prockling, who is every bit the task master as her human counterpart Ms. Pauling from TF2. Then there's also the chance of another reprisal dodge ball to the head from Solly. Finally, there's the unspoken pressure from his dinosaur classmates.

The first time Inco partakes in the note passing game the previous day, all his fellows are going along with it. This time however, they're having none of it. The unspoken status quo is to not engage in it altogether, and while the risks with the faculty are obvious, there's also the risk of Inco alienating himself from his saurian peers. Thus, Inco is facing pressure to conform on not one but two fronts. He can either be a good boy for both the teacher and his peers, or take a risk in order to impress Olivia.

It's noteworthy that before this event, Iadakan pretends not to notice when Inco copies off of Olivia's classwork and even encourages it. Even before Inco is presented with the option to conform or rebel there's already a subconscious hint from their mutual mentor that sometimes it's okay to flaunt convention for the sake of novelty or expediency. Iadakan represents a standard for Inco and Olivia to follow, and his actions throughout the course of the game are congruent with how the human and the gator girl behave when both have reached their maximum potential.

If Inco chooses to draw the gator on a half-pipe they share a silent, intimate moment together. Though Olivia has erected barriers for herself, it's obvious that she's desperate for connection with others, whether she wants to admit it to herself or not. She's disappointed when no one else plays along with the note passing game (and it's unclear if she was the one to initiate it the previous day) but is glad when Inco plays along with her.



With some of her trust gained, she invites Inco to step into the handicap accessible elevator with her. Being that the elevator is only accessible to disabled students, a special key is required to even use it. We don't know if Olivia is the only person who needs it, but since no other disabled characters are present in the story we can assume she is. The elevator may as well be her own private sanctuary, a home away from home. For Inco to be invited to use it (probably against school policy) is a substantial reward for demonstrating to Olivia that he is not a simple conformist and isn't afraid to rebel. At this point, she doesn't understand him anymore than he understands her, but she respects him to a degree now and even makes a light-hearted self-deprecating joke at both their expense.



If you do choose to withhold the note, Ms. Prockling ends up finding it anyway. Further, you're essentially making a choice for Olivia, and the dynamic of making choices in this game isn't only to determine Inco's fate but Olivia's as well. Inco acting as though he knows what's best for her and wanting to shield her from consequence is a road to mutual ruin.

I think there was a missed opportunity by Cavemanon to describe Inco trying not to stare at the buxum baryonyx toweling herself off as she exits the pool in her one-piece swimsuit.

In this choice, Inco tries to convince Olivia to join him outside. This is after the two share an intimate moment where it's clear from Olivia's body language that she has a crush on the human. For now, Inco just seems curious about Olivia, whereas the gator girl can't stop blushing around him. Letting him observe her process of painting him probably makes her feel vulnerable, but she maintains control by making some lighthearted jokes at his expense.

Inco can either invite her outside or convince her to go outside. Inviting her is what gains a point for Olivia, and makes Inco seem empathetic to her, even comparing their situations, given the fact Olivia will have to leave for an as yet unspecified reason and Inco's parents' are always itinerant.



Letting Olivia get her feelings off her chest makes her use the very specific word "accommodations" which Ms. Prockling had used before when Inco was confused as to why Olivia was able to leave class earlier. Even when she does not want for others to remind her of her disadvantage she is always reminding herself. Olivia doesn't feel worthy of being a bother to her adoptive family and isolates herself, either as a form of misguided consideration or self-punishment. Choosing the more empathetic option has Inco admitting he knows how she feels.



On the other hand, choosing the more direct approach makes Inco come across as callus, perhaps even jealous of Olivia considering she has something she takes for granted that he would like, which is familial ubiquity. In option one, he all but admits to her how envious he is, whereas in option two he voices it internally.







Even when intentionally doing an Ending 3 run, I don't like Inco's dialogue in the second option. He's talking down to her and trying to guilt her into compliance. Frankly, it seems more in line with how Ending 1 Inco behaves towards Olivia, even though getting Ending 3 doesn't require Olivia having points, but still shows a gentler Inco. Gentler, though not necessarily more empathetic since the first option shows Inco talking with a degree of self-awareness not found with the second option where he's more authoritative.

For being the first option to develop Olivia, it sets the tone for the rest of her development, which can either be based on self-acceptance, or compliance.

In this encounter, Inco can either try to fight Olivia's battle for her to very feeble results, or just stay by her side for moral support. If you choose to stand up for Olivia, Mia will all but break the fourth wall by informing you your decision won't win you any points. Unfortunately, Inco doesn't come equipped with any witty comebacks, he just threatens to tattle on the trio of instigators.

Choosing to support Olivia will preserve both their dignity, and what's interesting about this option is that not only will Score_Olivia go up a point, but the status that reads Score_Inco_Support will change from False to True. As of writing this, no one is sure how this affects the remainder of the game, but whatever it means, I take it is an indicator that decisions that affect the score of one character mutually affect the other in some way, hence my earlier rationale. I take it as a sign that Inco is acting less on ego and more on empathy for Olivia.

*Long overdue edit: Score_Inco_Support governs how Inco will consider his decision whether to cheer for Olivia during her match with Buster or stay silent. At one point during that scene, he remembers this encounter and questions whether he ought to show support or not. I think it's a clever way to throw the player a curve-ball.



This is also the second time the elevator plays a role in making the right decision as Olivia will pull Inco inside to spare him Mia's wrath.

As both choices come one right after the other (provided you make the right choices--rant on that incoming) there's no point treating them separately as they're both integral, so I'll collapse them both into a single section. Also, this section is going to be much less analytical and more me ranting and giving my opinion, probably with some cope and sneed as well.

This event comes as a turning point in Inco and Olivia's relationship and represents the nexus of Olivia's growth, which can either expand or stagnate. It is also of singular importance as making the correct choices will turn Ben_Story from false to true, which, along with both characters having a minimum of four points each, is necessary for getting Ending 4 (Golden). Analyzing this is both fascinating and frustrating for a variety of reasons.

It's fascinating in that when analyzed in the context of the game's story as a whole, including its endings, it comes across as very complex and nuanced in its characterization of Olivia. What's frustrating about it is that Olivia comes across as infuriatingly selfish and self-pitying, and Inco even more so as a spineless wimp walking on eggshells for her. It's practically a prelude for Ending 2. Although if you go through all the correct choices you'll most likely see Ending 4. Ending 2 is essentially what happens if the issues brought up here do not get resolved, even though it's still easy to get Ending 3 even if you do not.

Now for those who think I'm being too harsh on Olivia, lemme just say that I find her to be one of the most endearing and adorable characters written, who can be very sweet and loving. It's just that her character flaws all but reach their apex here.

Now while I know that's the entire point Cavemanon was going for here in order to make her a flawed, three-dimensional character undergoing necessary personal growth to overcome those flaws, she gets let off much too easy here, even if you go through all the correct choices. My reasons for that are as follows...

1. Inco is too damn nice to her. He of all people has the right to be furious with Olivia. The fact she makes one token observation about his own flawed character doesn't justify her using him the way she did, and he should've been far more direct with that fact. And for those who would argue he does challenge her on her wrong doing, it only comes off as an observation, not him being righteously indignant at having his trust betrayed. He barely shows any damn emotion at all here. It's all very robotic observations that are practically telling the player what they should be feeling via Inco's narration.

2. Even if you choose "let her fail," she doesn't actually face any repercussions and instead begs him to keep silent. She doesn't even get scolded by Iadakan who really ought to have. It's my guess that Iadakan knew what Olivia was up to and allowed it to happen so she could get caught and deal with the repercussions, whatever they may have been. But he still should've done more instead of being a passive witness. Yes, I know he destroys her painting later on in the game, but after Inco and Olivia get out of the rain and talk to him he all but fawns over her. And this is when she is treated like a borderline Mary Sue.

3. Again, even if you make all the right choices the whole thing amounts to little more than an impromptu therapy session for Olivia, who's all like "shucks, I hate to admit it but you are right," and doesn't do anything to try and pay Inco back aside from trying to help him git gud at painting, which happens anyway regardless.

4. The whole conceit of Inco being placed in a similar situation as she, where he's subject to unearned praise, falls flat when the issue of him not actually being able to paint is eventually swept under the rug anyway, never to be relevant to the plot again. It reminds me of that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry defuses any and all challenges to his legendary yet dubious athletic abilities by saying, "I choose not to run!" We can imagine Inco just as easily saying, "I choose not to paint!" and it would amount to the same thing, except even that doesn't happen. Everyone just collectively forgets for the sake of plot convenience.

5. It's obvious what Cavemanon was going for here, which was a message about not being a simp for any girl, and they were attempting to drive that point home in the bluntest way possible by showing Olivia turning into an abusive narcissist in Ending 2, and this is merely the self-destructive mentality leading up to it. Now I'm not saying that they were wrong for doing that. In fact, I think it's brilliant. My issue here is that in trying to create a message about not simping, they end up simping for Olivia themselves by treating her with kid gloves.

I will attempt to delineate the problem as straight forward as I can.



First, Inco confronts her on her misdeed, easily inferring what happened. Then she says, "I can explain..." and goes into some sob story about her feelings and how his mere presence was causing her to have an existential-crisis. And he apologizes!!!

At this point, the player hasn't even been given a dialogue option yet, but the game is practically telling you not to be angry with Olivia.



Second, if you choose the option "But why do all this" (and I hate the wording in that because it's not direct enough) Inco's response is to regret pressing her on the issue because he feels bad for hurting her. Come the [REDACTED] on. This is not normal human behavior. At this point, he's not acting like her friend whom she wronged, he's acting like her therapist. He should've gotten angry. He would've been in the right to be angry, and his absence of anger makes him feel like an impersonal actor.



"Out of respect for Olivia's feelings...because to back down would be to denigrate her." This comes across as so self-refuting. He's walking on eggshells for her even though, cripple or no cripple, she wronged him and he's treating dealing with her like some kind of minefield. What about respect for his feelings? She then goes on a tirade about people not having any agency and treating her that way when she just robbed him of his agency by treating him as a proxy for vicarious self-gratification.

Again, Inco, or anyone, would have every right to be angry, and yet the player isn't given the opportunity to throw it back in Olivia's face. See, even if you go through the responses necessary to FINALLY get Inco to grow a spine and say to her, "no one made you do those things, YOU did it on your own. Stop feeling sorry for yourself," it still just comes across as simping regardless because the backlash Olivia receives is not proportional to what she has done.

Honestly, the more I analyze this part of the game the more I see a big missed opportunity on the part of Cavemanon not exploring the idea of Inco dealing with feelings of betrayal and having to come to terms with them as he struggles to forgive Olivia, who should be working to earn it.

The writing here is also clunky. Normally, I think Wani does a good job of not breaking the Show, Don't Tell rule of writing by either telegraphing aspects of the story, or leaving events vague enough to be left to player interpretation. Not here, however. This section is in dire need of editing. Their conversation drags on for longer than necessary and gets boring after a while. I recommend Self-Editing For Fiction Writers.

There isn't a whole lot interesting to say here. The choice (which is an obvious one) is whether to hand Olivia a pity W as she plays against Not-Bob-From-Tekken in a game of Not-Street Fighter III Third Strike, or to cheer her on and see her lose with grace. That's about it.

It is cute to see she and Inco work in concert as they play the Wani equivalent of Time Crisis, but other than that, not much to analyze here. It's honestly not that interesting of a chapter thematically. Buster is a fat neckbeard who respects but also pities Olivia, and Olivia learns to embrace the moniker "Hotwheels" in order to own it and not feel ashamed of it.

I suppose one interesting thing to comment on is that Olivia's handle on her phone is "Liv Long" which is a play on her name, and also a statement that runs in defiance of her own proclamation that she is a nihilist. It's also cute to see her get excited when Inco says very casually that it's like they're on a double-date. It's obvious that her feelings for him (at this point) are even greater than his feelings for her.

I guess I'll say on a personal note that this chapter did make yours truly quite nostalgic for his own days of going to the arcades at the malls and getting into quarters matches, usually on Tekken 4 and Tekken 5 as that was my fighting game series of choice. I always felt a little bad about not getting into Third Strike.

While Ben focuses on quantity over quality--which also subtly hints at his emotional detachment from people--Inco has an opportunity to stand out by taking more intimate photos. The choice here essentially is to take or disregard the Groom's advice, which is to stop overthinking his feelings for Olivia and embrace what he knows he feels deep down. Choosing to focus on the job is also putting personal responsibility first, and the reward is more praise from Olivia. Inco again is choosing to be assertive rather than passive.

What's interesting about this is that we can imagine Iadakan telling Olivia the same thing Not-The-Monarch has told Inco, which is to stop trying to convince herself that she doesn't have feelings for Inco. From her body language earlier in the game, it seems apparent that she develops a crush on Inco before he begins feeling that way towards her, and her behavior was an attempt to try and convince herself otherwise.



If you choose to appeal to Damien for help he just gives Inco the runaround. What's more, it's Inco falling back on his ingrained habit of turning to his phone for help, which he mentions prior to the choice being presented. Granted, calling a friend for advice isn't the same as turning to a blog or what have you, but it is still trying to outsource one's problems.





By focusing on the task at hand, Inco builds both his confidence and his character, and gets one step further towards self-actualization.

Even before Inco and Olivia's confrontation with Mia, the tone is set by the gator girl having a fatalistic outlook on her future. Inco also has some dialogue variations--when questioned by Mr. Ferris--depending on his character development at that point, with a higher score eliciting a more self-reflective attitude, while a low score will trigger either a sycophantic response, or a creepy response if neither character is developed enough.

After Olivia confesses to Inco her ensnarement in Mia's subterfuge, they try to leave, only to be chased into the sanctuary of the elevator.



This is the third and final time the elevator comes into play in Inco's decision making. The conveyance is small and cramped, like a cell, and suspended over a proverbial abyss which both must cross together.

Mia exists as a narrative antipode for Olivia. Contrasting with the crippled girl, she is an athletic jock type character of a cruel and vindictive nature. The fact she belongs to an herbivorous stock of dinosaur does not preclude her from behaving in a predatory manner as she stalks her prey, the gator girl, in order to enforce a social hierarchy. She exists to enforce Olivia's own feelings of weakness and the false belief that her artistic skill is the only thing she has to offer the world. By this point, the red menace has chased Inco and Olivia into the confines of the handicap elevator, which now serves a dual purpose as both sanctuary and prison for the two, especially Olivia.

When the threat from Mia is neutralized by Iadakan who is forced to use the Estrus Protocol (lol), Olivia, fearing having to confess her scheme to Iadakan, turns to Inco to decide for her. Whereas previously she held the elevator key and allowed Inco to ride along with her, she now surrenders it, and her fate, to him. She has become her own jailor.

If Inco takes the key from her it cements in her mind the need for dependence on others, particularly Inco, and, based on Inco's own thoughts on the matter, erodes some of her own faith in Iadakan.





On the other hand, refusing to take the key will force--or rather encourage--Olivia to take control of her own fate. It's worth noting that before this event, Inco refers to "taking Olivia's reins" implying that he is in control. Inco can either continue to control her or let her control herself.





For being the final decision with the potential to grow Olivia's score to a maximum of five it is no small event in the course of the game. Whether intentional or not, the symbol of Olivia's elevator carries a strong psychological and even spiritual significance. The following is probably me over-analyzing it a bit, so take this with a grain of salt.

Back in the twenty-oughts, I played the Xenosaga trilogy on PS2, having thoroughly enjoyed Xenogears. Playing those games led me down a rabbit-hole of both occultic esotericism and even Nietzschean philosophy. Recalling one passage in particular, I pulled out my copy of The Mystical Qabbalah by Dion Fortune, not far from my copies of Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Nietzsche and Ride the Tiger by Evola. I turned to the passage on Daath and found these which I would like to share.

"The great 'Formula' that expresses the nature of Daath (knowledge) is that of the Empty Room - the phrase 'the Empty Room' has several analogues on different levels. The Symbol itself refers to the 'Absence of Symbol' and the contact with Reality.

On the other and lower levels the 'Empty Room' becomes:-
1. The Monastic Cell where the Personality is whittled down to bare essentials of the mundane conditions of the human being...
2. The Condemned Cell...is a preparation for the next phase. In the 'Empty Room' is the awareness of the Complete Denudation of God into THAT which is neither Force nor Form but contains both and there does in fact exist a 'Condition' beyond all other conditions - a Supreme State.

In the final contact with the 'Empty Room' this, 'the Last Symbol' is absorbed into the consciousness and thus the 'Empty Room' no longer exists. The 'Empty Room' as its name implies has no 'furniture', no forms. It is a narrow confine at first filled with 'Essences' and 'Light', but these also will fade out at the end. The spirit realises this narrow confine as its symbol of itself and absorbs this symbol. Thus does the individual soul attain to perfect free-will through recognition of his own 'field of limitation' which is the complete acceptance of the Past which in turn gives realisation of the Future with the integrated and illuminated man. Thus are 'Past' and 'Future' synthesised in the 'Present' and this is Daath."

To sum that up in simpler terms, Olivia is undergoing a kind of spiritual and psychological hard reboot. She must shed her fears and insecurities, which includes living under the shadow of her own creation, Dreamscape, which she painted her freshman year. This idea of a kind of rebirth on her part is reinforced in the violent destruction of Dreamscape by her father figure Iadakan who then tasks her with creating a new portrait. Thus, we see how Olivia's character growth begins and ends with Dreamscape.

"Why do you care about our opinions so much?" is the quote by Olivia I would like to highlight because it's not only the crux of Inco's problem in this scenario, but of his whole character arc throughout the game. And yet in another more indirect way, it's also the crux of Olivia's character problems as well.

In this situation, their mutual friend Liz has invited them to what she believed would be a double-date with herself and Damien, and Inco and Olivia opposite them. Unfortunately, Damien is a very sick dino at the moment and had to take a rain check which leaves Liz in the unfortunate position of being the odd-girl out to her own luncheon that she suggested. This understandably leaves her feeling disappointed and also a little insecure, being at a perceived social disadvantage.

Contrasting this is Olivia who confides in Inco if you talk to her that she feels very insecure herself around Liz. The brainy brachiosaurus is an ambitious overachiever, from what we can guess is a fairly affluent family; while the buxom baryonyx is still unsure of what do with her life after high-school and feels intimidated by nascent adulthood.

Aside from the obvious social differential between them--rich extrovert, middle-class introvert--there's also a subconscious reinforcement of Liz's position above Olivia. Her very long neck (which is the one thing in Wani to strain credulity with its impossible physiology) gives her the impression of always looking down on others. And Liz does have a tendency to talk down to others, though not out of malice. Olivia, meanwhile, has a lower stature physically with her being wheelchair bound. And even as the trio are walking to their destination, there is a moment in which she lags behind Inco and Liz who have to wait for her to catch up. This may as well be an illustration of how the gator-girl feels in their presence.

This tension reaches its breaking point when Olivia vents her frustration in a very passive-aggressive way by saying she was "dragged" there when she'd much rather be working on her latest painting project--which itself is hampered by the strain in her wrist from being taken advantage of by Mia; who as we've established exists to torment Olivia and remind her of her disability. Olivia feels crippled twice over at the moment.



This eventually causes Liz to lash out at Olivia by calling attention to her inconsiderate behavior, not just at this moment, but as a habitual problem. Although the way in which she does so is quite cruel to Olivia. Liz, who is not normally mean-spirited and probably the kindest of the main cast, immediately regrets her outburst which came also as a result of years of pent up frustration. Visibly hurt, Olivia retreats to another part of the restaurant.

This leaves Inco the middleman (emphasis on "man") who must rectify the situation as he feels responsible since his attempts to maintain the flow of conversation indirectly led to Liz's outburst. If you choose to look for Olivia this will lead to some friendly banter between them wherein she makes a light joke at his expense, which exists narratively to point out Inco's most glaring character flaw, which is his thin-skinned attitude--not just towards himself, but towards others.


If Inco asks Olivia how she handles social situations without hurting others she explains in unambiguous terms that sometimes people need to get their feelings hurt. The example she uses--which is apropos of their shared virgin mimosa--is that enabling an alcoholic with his habit would give him short-term gratification, but not give him long-term solutions. She tells Inco to stop worrying so much about others' feelings and to just do want needs to be said or done.







We can also see Inco admit that he admires Olivia for her independent spirit and mentality of self-reliance, hence my original thesis that the core of their mutual development is self-reliance and self-sufficiency.

Emboldened by her pep talk, Inco takes an adversarial role and tells both Olivia and Liz that they are being childish and petty. Olivia he tells specifically to be more considerate of others. They are on opposite ends of the spectrum as far as caring about others. Inco cares too much, and Olivia too little. The difference being that Inco is potentially hurting the feelings of others in this instance for the sake of telling it like it is, and not childish callousness in the case of both Liz and Olivia. Inco advances further into being more independent minded and assertive with the gator-girl's help, and in turn helps her open up more to her friends.

**Edit 3/4/2025** When I first wrote this analysis the previous year, I assumed Ben had some form of psychopathy due to him taking antipsychotics. However, that doesn't automatically make someone a psychopath. No one's bothered to correct me on this yet, but at this point I'm assuming that Ben's problem is that he has a severe form of bi-polar disorder, and a possible side effect of his meds is that they mellow him out to the point that he acts like a high-functioning psychopath with limited capacity for empathy. That's just my interpretation. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong--which I probably am.***

Assuming by this point that the reader has seen Ending 4, we can dispense with the spoiler warnings. Ben is a literal psychopath who takes anti-psychotics. Since this is as good a place as any to discuss Ben and his effect on Inco's development, we may as well talk about his psychopathy. Provided below is a very good video by Psyche Matters on the character of Lalo Salamanca from Better Call Saul (probably my new favorite show).


Those with anti-social personality disorder lack empathy and see the world only as an exchange of power dynamics. They can also be uncannily charming and adept at manipulating others for personal gain. There are small hints at this throughout the game, such as Ben's nigh immaculate charisma, and the fact that he seems to feel no compunction whatsoever at his girlfriend Mia being a verbally and physically abusive person who routinely derides others for pleasure. He himself may even derive vicarious pleasure from Mia's actions.

When Olivia relates to Inco the story of her once friendship with Ben and how it turned into a one-sided affair in which he manipulated her for personal gain, she describes him as though being unable to comprehend her anger at him going behind her back. This is because empathy isn't an emotion native to psychopaths. And when she says that he later all but admitted to her why he did what he had done she says it as though it's a small point towards his character for being able to come clean and admit a misdeed.



However, we can infer that Ben only "admitted" to it because it was an innocuous action in his warped view of the world. He never makes an attempt at understanding Olivia's feelings because it is simply beyond his capacity, at least as far as we can tell. He sees her disability as something to be ruthlessly exploited for personal gain, either by her own actions or by his. Her unwillingness to take advantage of it to manipulate others is beyond his comprehension.

For being a minor character who eventually takes the role of an antagonist to both Inco and Olivia, Ben also serves as the nucleus of the story's events, being the cause of Olivia's misanthropy and introverted behavior through his abuse and enforcing of her feelings of inadequacy. He is also the first person whom Inco befriends as he sees Inco not merely as the lone human but just another individual. This action isn't as virtuous as it seems, however, since he likely views everyone around him in the most atomistic way possible and can only relate to them in terms of power differentials. He sees Inco, alone and isolated, and immediately views him as a social inferior who must be condescended to by the ever popular student council president.

Throughout the story, Inco witnesses Ben's charisma and social skills and admires him for being able to navigate his way through problems that would otherwise turn Inco into a pariah. This naturally can have the effect of pulling Inco towards a darker form of development, which we can see on display in Ending 1 in which he has all but abandoned his humanity. I'm no psychologist, so I don't know if a normal person can turn into a psychopath, and I believe that Ending 1 Inco is woefully incongruent with how he behaves in the rest of the game, even with all the wrong choices made. But this is the narrative touchstone which Cavemanon was attempting. Even if Inco doesn't become a psychopath in the clinical sense, he does become a narcissist through Ben's caustic influence.



Since Ben is the first person Inco befriends, this, the final choice with the potential to develop Inco, is crucial. Inco can either acquiesce to his friend who holds a position as chief among his peers, or he can side with his beloved Olivia, whom Ben is once again trying to manipulate. Even before having the choice forced upon him, Inco notices Ben's apparent lack of remorse over Iadakan's death. Olivia is very obviously shaken while Ben treats it as simply another social transaction.

If Inco sides with Olivia, Ben becomes visibly upset, and even begins to cry. While Inco takes this as a sign that Ben is grieving for Iadakan in his own way, we, from the vantage point of our hindsight, can infer that Ben is only crying for himself.



But exactly why is Ben crying for himself? The most obvious answer is that he is crying tears of rage and frustration for not being able to make Inco bend to his will in order to put on a facade of empathy for their now deceased teacher. Another more charitable interpretation could be that he sees Inco and Olivia able to experience emotions which are alien to him and he feels remorseful for not being able to feel as they do in the moment. He is remorseful for his own lack of remorse.

Framed in this light, Ben comes off as a tragic figure, which I believe was the intent Cavemanon were going for. In Ending 4, we see Ben come to the end of his rope, no longer able to manipulate affairs to his own end, and all his efforts ultimately futile, and also an ironic karmic twist as Mia is, and has been, manipulating him for her own gain.

As the mutual growth and development of Inco and Olivia serve as the narrative and emotional crux of the story, the outcome of their first official date and their climactic trip to the Winter Formal is affected by their earned scores. Additional to this is Inco's confrontation with Ben and Mia in Principal Scaler's office, which functions as a metric for how far (or little) the human has come in terms of his development.

The purpose of the endings isn't merely to enhance Wani's reiterative potential, but to show different aspects to Inco and Olivia's personalities based on their character development, and what it says about them on a fundamental level, for better or worse.

In these next sections, I will be analyzing each ending out of order, starting with 2 and 3, then 1, then 4. I will also analyze these endings under the working assumption of having gotten the minimum required score(s) (or simply the scores the game gives to you when it tells you to set the score for the ending, which in the case of ending 1 is F---ing double zeroes).

Minimum score: Inco-0, Olivia-4

This seems to be the most common ending first time players get, and I believe it was done that way by design.

This ending portrays Inco as weak and indecisive, especially in the face of the game's female cast, be it Olivia, Mia, and Principal Scaler. I have a theory that Cavemanon may have been attempting to utilize Jungian psychology to analogize Inco's different emotional states with regard to all things feminine, and the four different endings are meant to track the four states of "Anima development" in males across these endings.

It's been a while since I've read Jung's Aspects of the Feminine, and I was never big into Jung anyway, so take this all as a layman's summation. In Jungian psychology, the Anima is supposed to represent the unconscious feminine side of the male psyche. The Anima affects how men interface with women based on its level of development, and this development is tracked by four different levels.

In level one, Eve, the male sees women as mere sexual objects. This is plainly on display in Ending 1 when Inco forces Olivia to wear a skimpy evening gown which she clearly isn't comfortable wearing. He's also abandoned any empathy towards her and sees her only as a thing to be paraded around for social status. The male sees femininity itself only as a cheap source of gratification.

In level two, Helen, the male still sees women as sexual objects, but in a more idealized state. At the conclusion of Ending 2, Inco is still infatuated with Olivia to the point it is damaging his mental state as he feels he can't function without her, and lives a slavish existence supporting only her--all in the thin hope of receiving the validation and gratification he still seeks.

In level three, Mary, the male sees women as a source of spiritual strength and virtue. In Ending 3, Inco derives confidence in himself from Olivia's presence and jealously protects her while asserting himself boldly against adversity. He no longer cares about peer approval and acts with righteous conviction.

In level four, Sophia, the male sees women as a source of wisdom and divinity, hence the name Sophia being the root word for "philosophy" which literally translates to "love of wisdom" (philo Sophia). I don't believe it's a mere coincidence that Damien's mother is named Sophia, I think it's a subtle hint by Cavemanon. Sophia is the closest thing Olivia has to a mother in the game and thus defines Olivia's own perception of femininity, which is warm and nurturing.

On the flipside, the Animus represents the unconscious male part of the female psyche. Women with a healthy Animus are able to think calmly and rationally, while women with an out of control Animus become hyper-controlling with a tendency to bully. Mia represents a female with an over-developed Animus who asserts herself with aggressive physical force. She contrasts with Olivia's own tendency to be nurturing, creative, and supportive. And Olivia herself becomes hyper aggressive as an adult in Ending 2 when she psychologically abuses Inco, seeing him only in the role of her provider and nothing more.

That's about the best I can do as far as Jungian sexual archetypes go, and it's a pretty deep rabbit-hole.



The ending begins with Inco acting weak in the face of peer pressure from Ben, and from Mia's overwhelming presence. Instead of confidently telling his side of the story he allows himself to be intimidated by Mia. He also uses a pathetic rationalization that it's partly his and Olivia's fault for not going to Scaler sooner. Inco acts cowardly in the face of authority which he feels it's his duty to appeal to, not having the backbone or conviction to act as his own authority. Thus, he easily folds under pressure and allows himself to be manipulated by manipulative people.

At one point, he remarks that Ben's "gesture of support" is contrasted by Mia's "evil grin." In reality, there is no contrast; they are one and the same.




When Inco returns to the Payne's, he finds Olivia sulking in her room doing a "performance art piece." She does this in all but Ending 1, and in each ending acts differently towards Inco. Here, she immediately treats Inco like an annoyance, clearly not respecting him and his presence, and treating him like an oaf. In 3, she acts pouty and childish, but still defers to Inco as her guardian and cleaves to him for comfort and emotional support. And in 4, she playfully teases him.



She also refers to her piece as an "act of defiance against the world," which foreshadows her meltdown at the Winter Formal.

Later, when eating dinner with the Paynes, he does the insufferable Reddit crap of saying, "You do realize that blah blah blah blah blah, right?" as he just can't help but act smarmy and condescending around his hosts like a know-it-all.



Funnily enough, even Olivia has to do some Reddit crap of her own with the whole, "shh, just let people enjoy things" garbage. I hate both mindsets because one is condescending and the other is anti-intellectual, and both come from the same cesspit of conformity. Really, on a personal note, I just find both Inco and Olivia quite insufferable in Ending 2.



The next morning as he scrolls through his phone's feed he remarks, "It's simply great how much can be done now with social networks, really giving a voice to the people. I should share it with others...but I don't wanna ruin their fun." He still lets other people do his thinking for him via the internet and rationalizes it with some benign sounding logic as "giving a voice to the people." And to cap it all off, he lacks the conviction to be an agent for disseminating his own thoughts. He's an unthinking conformist. When one has played through this game's four endings and contrasted how Inco behaves in each one, it's clear that Cavemanon harbor a special contempt for this kind of thinking. I should clarify that I'm not saying it's inherently wrong to read or listen to other people's opinions on the internet (otherwise this entire essay would be an exercise in futility), but Inco, by this point, is still an empty-headed NPC full of saccharine.

Also, on an unrelated note, seeing Vinny and Damien get excited about hockey players beating each other up makes me think of the Warren Zevon song "Hit Somebody."

When Olivia tries to ask Inco out on a date he's quite slow on the uptake and she practically bullies him into it. It's clear already that she wear the pants in the relationship.

In the following week when she gets her wheelchair back, Olivia insists they take their date to an art museum which features Iadakan's work. Along the way in the metro, she speaks to Inco in very condescending language, treating him like an idiot while she acts in a very pretentious manner, speaking a lot jargon. The way she acts reminds me of a wife in a sitcom.





While en route, Inco makes a comment about wanting to live in a big city as though being a rodent in the Mouse Utopia Experiment would be living the dream. He and Olivia then enjoy breakfast and hot chocolate while waiting for the museum to open, and the moment they share is pretty cute. Once in the museum, both decide to make an "exhibit" of their own utilizing Olivia's wheelchair and Inco's camera, and they laugh at the expense of the hipsters who think it's a real piece. Really, the whole part with their breakfast and the museum is probably the only enjoyable part of this ending, and for once Inco doesn't come across as a tool.



They then speak to the curator who knew Iadakan years ago, and when she suggests that Olivia could make connections with people who specialize in supporting disabled artists she naturally does not want to, as she still doesn't want to be defined solely by her disability.

They then view Iadakan's art which Olivia explains was expressionist and designed to create contrasting feelings, either as a grim reflection of the subjects flaws or a celebration of their strengths. According to her, the paintings could be interpreted either positively or negatively, but were ultimately meant to combine strengths and flaws together, and that any one interpretation merely showed the bias of the viewer. In spite of her observation, she refuses to see her own flaws and incorporate them as we shall see as we get deeper into the ending.



The deeper meaning of the paintings (assuming there even IS any) is lost on Inco who thinks they're just ugly for the sake of being ugly. However, he's too spineless to voice his opinion in Olivia's presence and just says he likes her interpretation.



Now this next part is interesting to unpack because Cavemanon manage to cram a lot into these next few lines of dialogue.
Inco: I wonder what people would say about Olivia's paintings if they were hung up here. Will she even get that chance? It's a lot harder to get into the mainstream nowadays than it was when Iadakan was her age. Speaking of-

Inco: "Hey, Olivia? Why did you reject Alena's offer earlier?"

Olivia: "I said already, I want to be a good enough artist without that stuff. If I'm Iadakan's legacy, I need to live up to his accomplishments. Iadakan didn't need any benefits to get where he was, so I shouldn't either."

Inco: "Are you sure? It's just a kickstart to your career. A safety-net. It's a guarantee that later you can live up to his skill. It's a better chance to even surpass his acclaim."

Olivia: "But it's not one I want. Iadakan passed on what he knew to me. It's not right to take the easy way up. Besides, I don't want to be shoehorned into some niche category because I was born into it."

Inco: "And what of your own legacy eventually? What happens if you can't find another big break like that? You wouldn't be able to pass on what he taught you to someone else. Isn't that scary?"

Olivia: "It's terrifying."

A little later, Alena, the curator says, "Who doesn't love a good bit of critical analysis?" in regards to Iadakan's art. And yet Olivia is lacking in critical analysis of herself, and this will prove to be her downfall. And when Inco offers to buy her one of Iadakan's paintings she refuses, saying they're where they belong.

So what's interesting is that while Inco at first seems smarmy in his insistence that Olivia accept help from those who would promote the differently-abled, even repeating Ben's saccharine line about having a "safety-net," he still makes salient points and about doing what is best for her career and her legacy, even if it isn't ideal. Olivia keeps trying to compare herself to Iadakan, trying to emulate him and walk the same path as he. She assumes that if she doesn't do exactly as he had done before her then she's automatically a failure. She wants to carry on his legacy, and yet has no fallback plan for if she is unable to do that, which would also seem quite selfish since his legacy would die with her.

Olivia is similar to Fang from Snoot Game in that both are trying hard to be something they are not. And while there are obvious differences between the two, such as Fang choosing her warped identity as opposed to Olivia not choosing to be a cripple, they are both ruled by their own conceit, which itself stems from deep-seated insecurities and self-loathing.

Further, Olivia doesn't see the very obvious problem that Iadakan was not a very successful artist on the whole. We don't know anything about the pterosaur's wealth, yet we can safely assume that the bulk of his income didn't come from sales of his art which, let's face it, virtually no one gives a damn about anymore. He was both a teacher and a professional photographer. And while he was obviously very skilled and talented, he was not the monolithic figure that Olivia has built him up to be.

Olivia is comparing herself to an unachievable level of greatness, and this is why she is setting herself up for failure. Further to that, she is obsessing over her own image now and people's perception of her. Earlier in the story, she calls Inco a "pretentious, self-centered midwit who only cares about his image." This is now true of Olivia, who herself has the glaring character flaw of projecting onto others what she does not like about herself. And it's evident she was always doing that.

It doesn't help when on their ride back home, Inco inadvertently feeds into Olivia's growing narcissism by suggesting to her that she make her eulogy to Iadakan about her and her relationship with him, even going as far as to call her the culmination of his life's work.



When the quartet of friends arrive at the Winter Formal, most of the guests compliment Inco and Olivia, but a few make fun of them. One in particular calls Inco Sisyphus, perhaps as a clever foreshadowing that Inco is unknowingly entering into a Sisyphian task with Olivia and supporting her.



He then lets all the attention go to his head and even concludes that Olivia is getting the attention she rightfully deserves.





Olivia then acts very snappy towards Ben and things only get worse from there slowly. Inco tries feeding Olivia some pretentiously prepared dish because he saw a dumb video on the internet or something. Even after spending a year around dinosaurs and observing their atavistic eating habits he still has to try and worry over presentation for God only knows why. Then Ben approaches her again with very patronizing language, even saying that everyone's experienced loss and they'll understand...which is rich coming from him of all people.



Olivia then gets to her fateful speech, but it goes poorly as she makes it about herself while insulting her peers. What follows is very similar to Fang's concert in Snoot Game, only here Olivia comes across as less sympathetic, and just makes an ass of herself. When Fang played bad music, it was unintentional, and she reacted to the audience's cruel jokes. Olivia just doubles-down on her arrogance instead by monopolizing all the grief for Iadakan.





Inco chases after Olivia who is trying to leave and stupidly tries to convince her to salvage the situation, even though there's no saving it. Olivia accuses everyone else of only caring about themselves, clearly not seeing the hypocrisy in her statement. Had Principal Spears been there, we could imagine him tell her the same thing he told Anon three years prior at Volcano High. "You are not the only one in the world. Everyone is fighting their own battles." They continue to bicker, then Olivia decides it's Incover. She even attempts to bite his hand off for good measure.





Inco's description of Olivia's cry of despair is quite haunting, and a very depressing downer considering how well their night started off.

In the following days, Inco sulks at home, missing Olivia and finding comfort in her past messages and doodles on his phone. He describes being alone for Christmas and it's quite depressing. So much of Inco's problems stem from his isolation. Eventually, he works up the courage to message Olivia. When she replies he pretty much begs her to take him back. It's kinda pathetic, but considering how lonely he is it's understandable. But from how their back and forth messaging ends it's clear that she has the upper-hand and is leaving him hanging in isolation while she spends time with her adoptive family, who by that point are almost as much his adoptive family. It makes her look cruel and vindictive.

Once winter break is over, the status quo returns, and they finish their senior year still as boyfriend and girlfriend.

The game then cuts to what's supposed to be three years into the future and Inco is working some corporate wagie job while Olivia still struggles as an artist. Her art isn't widespread due to her trying to gatekeep her own work from organizations that advocate for the disabled, and she is also working part-time at the gallery selling her art for a meager living. And from how she talks to Inco who is her live-in boyfriend, it's clear she still doesn't treat him with respect.



They agree to have a date night, the first one they've had in years in between Inco's work schedule and Olivia's futile attempts at making it big as an artist, and what ensues is quite depressing and never gets any easier to witness. As funny as it sounds on paper to have a guy arguing with his dinosaur girlfriend like an old married couple, the scene is so chilling that it never fails to make me feel hollow. She still wears the pants in the relationship and treats Inco like dirt while expecting him to continue to sacrifice himself and his desires for her needs. And he lets her.

Olivia is desperate to not be seen only as a handicapped artist, and as understandable as her frustration is, all she is doing is hamstringing herself, and Inco for that matter. In her arrogance, she comes across as a temporarily-embarrassed genius, the kind whose favorite novel is The Fountainhead and regards the rest of the world with disdain. The sad thing is that sometimes art really is a compromise between your vision and reality. But Olivia, in her stubbornness, refuses to outgrow her conceitedness. She started out with a fear of failure, but it may be now that she has a fear of success. And worse still is that she is dragging Inco down with her, and he enabled it with his simping.



Only now he finally grows enough of a backbone to stand up to her abusive and obstinate behavior for once. I can't help but feel sorry for him. He sacrificed his own hopes and dreams for her. I feel sorry for her too, though. I can hear her tears through her rage. But her stubbornness and arrogance is still her own fault. In her own desperation to avoid a "safety-net," she turned Inco into her safety-net, and that's all he is to her.

It's a sickening ending, really. It's even sadder knowing relationships like this exist. And on that note, the more I analyze Olivia's character, the more I have a love/hate relationship with her.

Minimum score: Inco-4, Olivia-0

This was the first ending I got, and remains my favorite despite it being bittersweet and an emotional gut-punch on so many levels. For being only the second best ending (or third worst depending on how you look at it), I believe it sheds more light on the characters of both Inco and Olivia than any other part of the game. Herein, we see Inco grown confident from the battery of choices he has had to make and learned not only to become independent but also to become novelty seeking and quite aggressive and protective of Olivia. And Olivia herself sheds her flaky exterior and reveals a far more vulnerable side to herself as she becomes more comfortable with expressing her femininity, and yes, even her sexuality around Inco.



The ending begins strong by pitting Inco against Ben who is trying to cover for Mia in the aftermath of the enraged parasuar's onslaught on our beleaguered heroes and school property. After their meeting with Scaler, Inco comes down hard on Ben, shedding whatever respect he once had for him and telling him off in a blaze of furious catharsis. Inco even delights in the hurt his words are causing his former friend, and his girlfriend's tormentor. He finishes strong by affirming and reiterating Olivia's hatred of Ben.



As gratifying as is Inco's verbal barrage, the tragedy is that afterwards he refuses to listen to anymore of what Ben has to say, whom we can imagine wanted to confide in him how Mia was abusing him by withholding his anti-psychotics (and doing God only knows what else).



Inco then spends the night with the Paynes while tending to Olivia and comforting her. The next morning, we get an insight into Inco's evolving personality when he notices he can no longer take seriously any of the blogs he used to read on the regular and comments that they are vapid literary static (paraphrased). He then asks Olivia out on a date and our buxom baryonyx responds with barely contained ecstasy as she overpowers Inco and smothers him in her ample bosom. With the human firmly in her grip, Olivia does an impression of a sideways spindash (death roll), giggling happily until she tires out and rests from their play, with herself on her back and Inco on top in the dominant position.



As cute as this display is, there is a tragic subtext to it. I'm not quite sure if dinosaurs in Snoot Game and Wani are supposed to be stronger than humans and by how much if they are. But it's clear here that Olivia can easily overpower Inco if she wants. Yet she chooses to end their dance on her back with Inco on top. She is submissive to him, and we can further see over the course of the remainder of the ending that Olivia expresses her love to Inco in meek acts of surrender.

For those who think I'm reading too deeply into this, this is simply the conclusion I have come to after comparing and contrasting her behavior and body language in Ending 3 with how she behaves in Ending 4, which is much more assertive to the point of frequently teasing Inco. This is a version of Olivia who is still not confident in herself and who still feels weak and inadequate, but respects and trusts Inco to nurture and take care of her.



With Inco's newfound zest for novelty, he suggests to his gator-girlfriend that they go on a picnic, which ends up becoming more of a hiking trip. She easily relents to his suggestion and is even wearing a flower clip in her hair for the occasion which he calls "cute," much to her self-conscious delight. Of the four possible dates, this one is the most intimate as it is they in relative isolation walking and talking together away from civilization. Inco describes her with very tender, yet also condescending language, calling two of her actions both "pitiful" and "pitifully," albeit without any malice or contempt. I believe this word choice was intentional on Cavemanon's part to emphasize that this version of Inco definitely pities Olivia. For Olivia to have remained at 0, Inco would have to have talked down to her at the Payne's; attempted to protect her from Mia; not forced her to take accountability in the rain; let her have a pity W against buster; and have taken the key from her in the elevator. Though Inco clearly adores Olivia--calling her smile "cherubic," and admiring her artistic skill which he says lets her see the world differently--it's likely he doesn't respect her own personal agency much, seeing her as in need of a protector at all times. His heart swells with both love and pity for the dinosaur girl.

And she is on some level aware of this--and accepts it.

The night of the formal comes but Olivia is too depressed to want to attend, having been unable to write a satisfactory eulogy for Iadakan. Though disappointed, Inco does not force her and comforts her by saying he'd rather spend time with her no matter what. He tells Damien and Liz to depart without them, in the limousine he ordered no less. He then suggests that they take a ride on the metro to his place. While en route, he gets the idea to not stop at his place and instead see where the night takes them. Inco's increased capacity for novelty and assertiveness has enabled to improvise a different kind of night out to surprise Olivia and create something more memorable, such as their picnic/hike. Along the way, Inco observes Olivia gazing out at the world from the metro car and comments that she sees the world differently and repaints it in her own image in her mind. She still sees the world with child-like wonder, and he admires her for it.



They exit the metro to a part of town neither of them are familiar with. When Inco notices his cold-blooded dino-girlfriend is freezing he surrenders his coat in an act of chivalry to keep her warm, which is something Inco appreciates doing for her as much as she appreciates having it done for her.



At the bistro, they find the family of raptors dazzling the captive audience with their pyrotechnical performance, which they may have never seen without Inco first embracing an adventurous spirit for the unknown. The patriarch of their clan then passes on his title to his granddaughter with a moving speech. Olivia has a moment of realization in which her deceased teacher and mentor Iadakan was more than just an art teacher and she her student. She sees herself now in the role of disciple, inheriting the skills of a past a generation.

It's never stated if Iadakan had children, and we never see his wife. We can infer that he likely never had any children and that Olivia, with whom he shared a special bond, was the closest thing he had to a daughter. In ending 2, we see an Olivia who acts with smugness, convinced of her own talent. In this ending, we see an Olivia who wants more than just to paint, but to carry on a legacy to keep Iadakan's flame alive. In this, we see a glimpse at her truest desire, which is to teach, something which had been hinted at with her willingness to teach Inco, and which seems to be implied in the epilogue after getting all four endings.

Seized by sudden inspiration, Olivia and Inco try and hurry to the winter formal so she may give her final goodbye, but not before Inco quickly buys her a new dress (which is my favorite out of all of them).




Inco remarks internally that it isn't just a speech, but her awakening. It is as though the Olivia who could have been in ending 4 is fighting to get out. She turns to Inco and says she's happy he is with her. Her gratitude towards Inco and Iadakan has blossomed within her a newfound desire beyond what she always believed were her limits as just a mere painter. And yet Inco has at the same time been holding her back, whether he was aware of it or not.



Unfortunately, the couple do not make it in time, and Ben (off his meds) has to rub Olivia's failure into her face. Failure was her worst fear, and now it is inescapable.





Defeated and dejected in their mutual loss, Inco and Olivia go to his place and make the most of the remaining night by star-gazing. Like at the beginning of the school year, Inco goes unnoticed by the other students who occupy their own world, but this time he isn't alone. If loneliness is what he is destined for then he and the gator-girl can at least share it together, making their own world. And it's a loneliness he chooses out of love for Olivia. It makes me think of the Bob Seger song, We've Got Tonight.



The events that follow show Olivia slipping further as she becomes a NEET refusing to attend school and shut in her room playing video games. Inco attempts to help by bringing Olivia's homework to her and helping her with it.



Their homework session is then interrupted by Ben who pays Olivia a house call. Assuming this is the player's first time seeing this ending and they haven't achieved ending 4, it would be easy to despise Ben in this moment considering his callus attitude towards both Inco and Olivia. This, I think, was a red-herring by Cavemanon since this time around, Ben is in the right for once and is coming in good faith to help Olivia, who, according to him, is at risk of failing to graduate. Inco is naturally quite hostile to Ben and is driven to protect Olivia from him. Ben then accuses Inco (in a passive-aggressive manner, albeit) of handing Olivia "pity points," and encouraging her to "fall further into the abyss."





This may as well be another fourth-wall breaking moment in which the game addresses the player to inform them of their miscalculation. Inco was over-protective of Olivia, which has not only encouraged her learned helplessness--which is a recurring theme in the first three endings--but also reinforced her own lack of self-confidence.

Inco, not wanting to hear it, lays into Ben verbally again, finally calling him a psycho before slamming the door on him. While Inco is correct to label Ben a psycho, it was very likely hyperbole and not in the literal sense.



Psycho or no, Ben is still correct, and the following section will discuss why.

Though Ben lacks empathy, it is likely that his psychopathy affords him a darker understanding of social interaction that few people are willing to accept, let alone acknowledge. He sees Inco's relationship with Olivia and probably perceives it as exploitative. But who is exploiting whom? I believe it is Inco in his hubris who is exploiting Olivia. On its face, that may seem like a bold claim. After all, Inco has already sacrificed much for Olivia; his potential social clout from attending the winter formal with a date; his time and money in taking her out and buying her a dress; his jacket which he surrendered to protect her from the cold, which was later ruined; his muscles which he pushed past their limit in their mad dash to the formal at the last minute. On a cursory glance, Inco's actions so far appear quite selfless with regard to the gator-girl. And yet all of those things may as well be worth nothing for he has found within her something infinitely more valuable which fills him with a feeling of power and confidence in being her lover and protector. I believe this to be best summed up with a passage from Friedrich Nietzsche's The Gay Science, Walter Kaufmann translation, pages 88-89, section 14 (no, that's not a "dog-whistle").

"Sexual love betrays itself most clearly as a lust for possession: the lover desires unconditional and sole possession of the person for whom he longs; he desires equally unconditional power over the soul and over the body of the beloved; he alone wants to be loved and desires to live and rule in the other soul as supreme and supremely desirable. If one considers that this means nothing less than excluding the whole world from a precious good, from happiness and enjoyment; if one considers that the lover aims at the impoversihment and deprivation of all competitors and would like to become the dragon guarding his golden hoard as the most inconsiderate and selfish of all "conquerors" and exploiters; if one considers, finally, that to the lover himself the whole rest of the world appears indifferent, pale, and worthless, and he is prepared to make any sacrifice, to disturb any order, to subordinate all other interests--then one comes to feel genuine amazement that this wild avarice and injustice of sexual love has been glorified and deified so much in all ages--indeed, that this love has furnished the concept of love as the opposite of egoism while it actually may be the most ingenuous expression of egoism."

Inco has engulfed Olivia in his love. And she in turn has even erected a fortress out of it. Ben referred to her falling into the abyss. If, following my interpretation, we assume that the handicap elevator represented a kind of abyss or expression of it, then we can infer that Olivia has created a new one out of her room, which she at first shrouded in blackness by first painting its windows. And it is to this new place of darkness that she retreats for comfort, with Inco as its guardian and enforcer.

It's worth noting that before the scene in which Inco explodes on Ben for the third and final time, Olivia is playing what sounds to be a Souls-like game when she talks about her I-frames being ignored by a big sword. Now who could she have been fighting, I wonder? Perhaps it was Siff whom you must defeat to gain the covenant of Artorias in order to access The Abyss, a place of infinite darkness wherein one can find darkstalker Kaath who reveals to the Chosen Undead a piece of forbidden wisdom about The Dark Soul and the true nature of humanity.

Now maybe I'm just reading too much into that, but it certainly is interesting to ponder. Ben himself may as well be a tempting serpent for Inco who also shares darker insights into human and dino nature. If we imagine the abyss as a real manifestation in the story and not a mere analogy then he may even be its agent and avatar.

Whichever the case, Olivia fails to graduate and the following year we see her living with Inco who is attending college while she tries to create a career out of streaming her drawing process.



Both share a small apartment while Inco attends college during the day. She cooks for him using appliances he purchases, presumably while he's still supported by his parents, and she crawls around their dwelling on her hands and knees.



To get off track a bit, I just want to point out how painfully tautological "surreptitiously sneak" sounds. Here's an alternative. "...my girlfriend tries to sleuth towards me..." That would've sounded much better and been more succinct. Seriously, Cavemanon, get a copy of Self-Editing For Fiction Writers.

When Inco suggests they visit the Paynes, Olivia is reluctant to see them again, explaining that she didn't part ways with them amicably. This sounds dangerously close to when she had her outburst in Ending 1 and Damien responded by saying they were considering kicking her out, which coming from him of all people sounded quite shocking. Though the way he explained it was understandable, as she was acting like a fifth-wheel. Even if this Olivia didn't sink that far, there is still much unspoken tension between she and her adoptive family which hasn't been reconciled.



She then laments not having done anything in the past year, feeling like a failure. Inco tells her she's done more than she knows, and thinks to himself that "for me" goes unsaid, as though it is something they both know but won't say out loud. I believe the implication is that Inco feels both gratitude and guilt towards Olivia. He loves her but knows he may have been holding her back by sheltering her. He suggests they return home and visit the Paynes and they leave the next day, first paying a visit to St. Hammond.



While at their old stomping ground, they ride the handicap elevator again, and Inco recalls their moment of terror when it was their sanctuary. He later comments to himself that he's surprised Olivia still has the key which she has yet to return, remarking to himself "maybe someday." I believe the implication here is that Olivia--and Inco for that matter--is still trapped in the proverbial (or perhaps literal) abyss.



"Her landscape is gone. In its place, a plaque." This is what Inco narrates when they go to the place where her award winning piece from freshman year was formerly located. In its place is a memorial to Iadakan. Olivia is still grieving for him, but her grief goes much deeper than lamenting his death. Her grief in this moment is for herself and her failure to live up to what he wanted her to be. She hasn't graduated, and she still has yet to begin the painting of the fountain she vowed to create. The case which once housed her art now houses yet another roadblock she has yet to overcome. Iadakan destroyed Dreamscape and other art pieces in an attempt to set Olivia free of all that was holding her back. Yet in a tragic and ironic twist of fate, his memory has now replaced what was holding her back before, becoming functionally the new barrier towards her self-acceptance.

The tragic irony is compounded further when one considers that by taking the fire-ax and destroying Dreamscap Iadakan may have only shortened his already dwindling life by overexerting himself.

Olivia then asks Inco to take her to Iadakan's grave to pay her final respects. In hindsight, it doesn't seem fair that she and Inco weren't able to go to his funeral. I don't know if Cavemanon will add that in the future, but it might be a nice addition.

When they arrive at the cemetery they scramble to find the grave, worried that they'll keep Sophia waiting, whom they had promised to see for brunch. What follows is somewhat similar to their mad dash to the Winter Formal the previous year, though with less pressure.



The description of Iadakan's epitaph is interesting. Inco narrates that instead of a gold engraving, the words are carved into the stone. This may imply that the other graves use gold lettering and Iadakan's grave is unique for not doing that and thus stands out more. The fact it doesn't use gold also stands in contrast to Iadakan's very flamboyant personality which manifested in his dapper apparel and excited gesticulations. We know from his disturbed looking art, seen in Ending 2, that Iadakan had a dark and serious side to him. The simpler, colder engraving could be a manifestation of that. It could also mean that Iadakan himself is practically carved into Olivia's heart like a grim reminder of something.

In any case, we know his grave is unique, like he was.





Overcome by her grief, Olivia breaks down before the grave of her surrogate father and mentor. She then wills herself to give her belated eulogy, vowing to live the remainder of her life unshackled by fear and doubt. And we can only hope for her sake, as we witness this bittersweet and ambiguous ending, that she is able to do so.

I don't want to analyze this ending so I'm doing this off of memory. My original plan was to at least give the same overview and put in any interesting insights I discover, but this ending is both cringe and sad. It's cringe because Inco becomes willing confederates with Ben and Mia, Olivia's tormentors, and his date with her is lame as all hell. He takes her to the mall, and while that may have been fun back in my day (Millennial here) malls today are bland. And a trip to the mall is so anti-climactic anyway, especially when compared to their hike/picnic. And his idea of a good time is take her to an IRL meet up with some heckin wholesome Big Chungus YouTuber who talks about jellybean mouth cartoons. I can't tell if Cavemanon is trying to make fun of someone in particular, but the cartoon reviewer community has some of the worst, most cringe people you can imagine.

He then pushes her around the mall like a baby in the aforementioned stroller, and buys her a video game. Olivia herself has regressed back into her old depressive state of monosyllabic responses for everything, and Inco's best attempts at cheering her up are to repeat some banal quotes he got off of some inspirational image macros.

Olivia then acts mean towards Vinny which causes the kid to become so emotionally distraught that he gets sick. Vinny himself is something of a living Chekov's Gun. What is that, you might ask? It's a narrative device where an element of a story is first introduced in a very subtle way only to later have a pay off. I believe the quote by Chekov is, "If you hang a gun on the wall in the first act, it has to be fired by the third act." Vinny's acid spit if the proverbial "gun" in this instance.

On the night of the formal, Olivia's sour attitude reaches its apex when she says something incredibly mean to Damien and Liz, and Damien explodes at her with years of repressed anger. I suppose that's one insight into Damien's character that would've been easy to miss. Damien normally comes across as very positive and happy-go-luck, but it's clear here that he has repressed anger and resentment towards Olivia and is secretly thrilled about the prospect of her being kicked out when she comes of age (and that may have been the case with Ending 3 as well).

Vinny, who would normally be at a sleepover at this point, then goes up to Olivia to apologize for whatever he did. He's home sick, but that didn't stop him from making a macaroni picture for her. What happens next plays out almost exactly like this...


Things only get worse as Olivia and Inco take his rented limo to the Winter Formal alone. He stops to buy her a new dress, her current one being ruined by Vinny's acid spit, and while normally that would be a nice gesture, he picks out something similar to what Jessica Rabbit wears and she feels uncomfortable wearing it. It's such an unsettling image that I don't even want to show it. The worst part of the image is that Olivia is still wearing her adorable slippers and the contrast between her innocence represented with the slippers and the skimpy evening gown creates such dissonance that it's hard not to view it as anything but Inco exploiting her sexually.

Things just get worse at the formal as Inco becomes increasingly uncharacteristic in his behavior, treating Olivia like an object to be gawked out.

Then Olivia's speech goes about as well as what happens in the movie Carrie.

This whole thing just seems to have been done for shock value, I guess similar to Ending 1 in Snoot Game, except Anon still cares for Fang right up until the bitter end. Inco, however, doesn't, and turns into an abusive monster.

I can only interpret this ending as Cavemanon's naked contempt for someone. Apparently, this game had a very rocky development cycle and one of the reasons they made Mia into such an unlikable and one-dimensional character was to spite her original creator who became super controlling himself. I get the feeling Inco is supposed to represent that guy. I don't know all the deets, but the Kiwi Farms thread is fascinating to look at.

And that's all I'm willing to do as far as analyzing this.

I don't feel like analyzing this either. As of writing this, I've been working on this analysis for almost a month and I just want it to be done. This game is emotionally draining, and while I thought that analyzing and writing my thoughts on it would be a good way to get it out of my system, it's only worked its way deeper into my thoughts to the point where I'm writing a script for a mod I'd like to make, but that's going to be a difficult task.

Sorry to disappoint you, but hopefully you will have gotten something out of the rest of my analysis. I still had fun making it. I may come back to finish this in the future as I believe there are yet more fascinating insights to be explored in Ending 4 and the Epilogue, but for now I'm burnt out of doing it.