OMORI ROUTE, Part 1: THREE and TWO DAYS LEFT
Once you reach HEADSPACE in ONE DAY LEFT you'll also have, to a degree, reached the end of the road. There's still more story content to be found in the OMORI ROUTE, and plenty of challenges to undertake, but you can end the main story any time you like by returning to WHITE SPACE and having OMORI STAB himself. SUNNY will then wake up, and you can engage in a variation of one of the game's neutral endings. (They're not very happy, but that's the path you chose to walk.)
Head into NEIGHBOR'S ROOM. AUBREY, KEL, and HERO will be here, as always, though they'll act... well, a little too familiar. The events of the last few days have essentially been wiped out for the party, and they retain only partial knowledge of what they've done up to this point. That said, any items you picked up in the world are still gone, side quests you've completed remain complete, and your party retains all of their levels and equipment. Nice! You can explore what's left of HEADSPACE and see what has changed since your last venture.
Head up the stairs. The snake will give you a hefty 6,000 CLAMS, and you'll be on your way. Let's see what the world has in store.
FOREST PLAYGROUND
FOREST PLAYGROUND remains desolate, as all of the kids are still at LAST RESORT. MARI and BASIL are here, however, and the group has a nice get-together. From this point on BASIL will remain with MARI on her picnic blanket, wherever you go. Speak to him to receive a FLOWER CROWN, a powerful CHARM, as well as an achievement. Speak to BASIL again to see his PHOTO ALBUM, if you wish. (You should also have a picnic with the pair while you're in FOREST PLAYGROUND, as you'll get a unique dialogue.)
VAST FOREST
- BASIL'S HOUSE has been restored to normal. Head inside and you'll find a CACTUS HAIRCLIP, a ROSE HAIRCLIP, a TULIP HAIRCLIP, and a GLADIOLUS HAIRBAND. All four are amazing CHARMS.
- FOGGY BRIDGE has no more items of use to you than before. What it does have are several ??? enemies that roam at random and make everyone in your party AFRAID, save OMORI. You earn no EXP, CLAMS, or items for defeating them, just a sense of melancholy.
OTHERWORLD
- If you visit the SPACE PIRATE SHIP in OTHERWORLD CAMPSITE you'll discover that CAPT. SPACEBOY has run off, once again distraught over SWEETHEART'S rejection of him. His father, PINKBEARD, is here, and his SPACE PIRATE CHIEF will stop by with some BATTERIES. Grab them off the floor. You'll need them to complete the SON OF A SPACE PIRATE side quest.
- Go through the secret exit of the SPACE PIRATE SHIP. You'll find PLUTO inside, and THE EARTH will float down to join him. They want to battle you together. Agree and the fight is on!
PLUTO (EXPANDED) and THE EARTH
Remember those two opponents you maybe fought earlier in the game? They're back! Together! Compared to other OMORI ROUTE boss battles this one is pretty simple, so long as you can keep up with the bosses' damage output. PLUTO spends the majority of his rounds hitting a single character really hard, while THE EARTH either attacks everyone for around 70 points of damage or makes your whole team SAD. PLUTO starts the fight ANGRY, so he'll hit SAD teammates extra hard.
Start the fight by making at least PLUTO SAD, then go to town on THE EARTH. It has much less HEART than PLUTO, and won't take that long to trounce. Heal as necessary, and if you made THE EARTH SAD turn everyone ANGRY so you're doing extra damage. Once THE EARTH is out of the way the battle against PLUTO is basically the same as when you fought him at LAST RESORT... at least until he's low on health. Then PLUTO will begin to charge his 'ultimate attack' and you'll have a handful of turns to take him the rest of the way down before he can unleash it on your team. Multi-hitting attacks like HACK AWAY, RED HANDS, BEATDOWN, and RICOCHET are recommended for finishing off PLUTO.
You'll earn an achievement for defeating PLUTO and THE EARTH, as well as a bundle of EXP and CLAMS. Also? You'll have earned PLUTO'S respect, which is the greatest gift of all, or something.
- Head to FROZEN LAKE on the OTHERWORLD OUTSKIRTS. There's an igloo here that has no use normally. If you place the BATTERIES in the singing fish on the wall it'll start to play a song. Let the song finish and you'll earn an achievement... and the trap door in the ice will swing open. Below the igloo is a teleporter that will take you to the G HANGMAN key, as well as the entrance to SNOWGLOBE MOUNTAIN, an OMORI ROUTE-specific area. We'll explore SNOWGLOBE MOUNTAIN in the next article.
- You can now reenter the barn in CATTAIL FIELD. Inside it you'll find more of the ??? creatures that were on FOGGY BRIDGE.
- SPROUT MOLE COLONY is bursting with activity, though if you've been here previously you won't find any new items or quests. (You will, however, find BIG MOLIO if you saved him during your trip through HUMPHREY.)
SWEETHEART'S CASTLE
- When you first enter SWEETHEART'S CASTLE from SPROUT MOLE VILLAGE you'll be in the theater where you first met SWEETHEART (and eventually battled her). In the north is the stage where you found the LOST LIBRARY. The hole has been patched over, though there's a glaring gap in the floorboards. You can drop through it to find the LOST LIBRARY again, which OMORI explored on his own during THREE DAYS LEFT. We'll re-explore this area in another article.
- When in the gardens of the castle you can check the vines in the south to briefly see SOMETHING in the darkness. If you keep checking the vines you'll eventually be sent to a looping, forest version of BLACK SPACE that's filled with weirdness. There's plenty to see, though no tangible rewards to collect. You can either have OMORI STAB himself to leave, or check the back of the chalkboard that's in the forest to briefly enter a new area, which, when completed, will kick you back out of BLACK SPACE.
- In the southwest wing of the castle you'll find the KEEPER OF THE CASTLE, through a set of curtains just south of the entrance to the hallways. You could speak to this creature previously, though now that SWEETHEART is gone it will offer control of this place to OMORI. If you accept its offer the entirety of SWEETHEART'S CASTLE will be removed, replaced by a simple room with a chair for OMORI to sit in. Make sure you save before trying this, as everything - side quests, ROCOCO, all of the NPCs, the LOST LIBRARY, the entrance to BLACK SPACE - will be permanently wiped out when you take this action. (Though you will gain an achievement.) Reload to bring it all back once you've had your fun.
LAST RESORT
First thing's first: Head to MR. JAWSUM'S office. Turns out LAST RESORT is doing poorly without HERO around, and JAWSUM decides he's not cut out for his position. He'll give HERO a GIANT CHECK, and... complete control of the LAST RESORT. Huh. You can now do a few things in LAST RESORT as you head back to the ground floor:
- You can find another BLACK SPACE entrance in JAWSUM'S former office. Interact with the broken elevator in the top-right corner of the room. You'll need to make OMORI STAB himself to leave.
- If you head out to the construction site via the fourth floor you can visit the resident GATOR GUY sculptor, who will offer to make statues of the whole gang for 3,000 CLAMS apiece. HERO'S already done, so that's 9,000 CLAMS total. You'll need to check back in with him from time to time to commission new statues.
- The GATOR GUYS on many of the floors have new, very supportive dialogue of HERO, particularly out on the construction site. One of the GATOR GUYS on the first floor - bottom-left corner, near a few tables - will even give you a RUBBER BAND. Does anyone not like HERO in HEADSPACE...?
- As you descend you'll notice that all of the kids JAWSUM recruited have left LAST RESORT. You'll find them back in their usual spots in FOREST PLAYGROUND. Good!
(There's a section of OMORI here that's exclusive to console versions where HERO takes control of LAST RESORT, and sorta... loses his mind for a bit. I don't currently have access to the console version, so I'll have to puzzle out a way to continue this section of the walkthrough.)
One final note: There's a toilet outside and to the left of the LAST RESORT ship that used to contain RAMEN. Interact with it now and you'll find a direct path to HUMPHREY'S cave in DEEPER WELL. Handier method for reaching him than trekking all the way there.
UNDERWATER HIGHWAY
- If you visit the MUSTARD SUB restaurant you'll find that all of the mermaids who were previously working at LAST RESORT have returned home, and are busy harmonizing up on the stage. Good for you, ladies.
- At the end of the UNDERWATER HIGHWAY, just before you reach DEEPER WELL, you'll find a HITCHHIKER on the side of the road. He will offer to take you to THE ABYSS, which lays beyond the end of the highway. This is an optional location found only in the OMORI ROUTE, and you need to have found every HANGMAN key except for Z (which is right at the entrance of THE ABYSS) to get inside. We'll explore THE ABYSS in another article.
DEEPER WELL
- The connection point to the toilet outside LAST RESORT appears as a whirlpool just south of HUMPHREY'S lair. Handy.
- HUMPHREY has returned to his little pond, and he's as hungry as ever. If you give him the GIANT CHECK HERO received from JAWSUM the whale will be satiated. Alongside a storyline featuring the creations of the three sea witches, you'll find a BOSS RUSH run by, well, BOSS, inside HUMPHREY'S western guts. Participate in the BOSS RUSH and you can fight bosses from earlier in the game. We'll explore HUMPHREY'S insides (again) in future articles.
ORANGE OASIS
ORANGE OASIS is, by and large, unchanged from previous days. The only significant difference is to DINO'S DIG. Though the layout and prizes of the game are unchanged, the enemies become stronger and more numerous - and, most important of all, they now offer more EXP. This makes DINO'S DIG the best place in the game for quickly elevating your characters to level 50, which is as strong as they can get.