Step 4: Broken Seal (Arena of the 16th Colossus)
In the Broken Seal, there is a mysterious place that is accessible using the Cloth of Desperation, the seventh item purchased from the Hard Time Attack.
The fourth step is the arena where we face the 16th colossus named Evis and nicknamed by the players of Malus.
Before entering the Broken Seal, we come across an unknown mandala where we stepped on to open the huge gate. When we open the huge gate breaking a part of the Forbidden Land seal in this sector, we can see the time flowing best with a wind caused when we face the last colossus, unlike anywhere in the Forbidden Land, where time is stopped by being always calm with sunny day.
There is nothing secret in this area except the four stone blocks that make up the second cross on the map. Even so, because it is a mysterious area of the game and a supposed piece of the puzzle, this gives us an idea, that the Last Big Secret may be related to the procedure to be done, that it is necessary to use the Parachute, since we use the Parachute to reach this sector.
The Symbol of Wander's Stamina
In the previous stage of the mystery, the game brought a puzzle related to breaking some egg. We can see, in the images above, several engravings of circles within other circles within a square, indicating something like evolving the stamina until it reaches an evolution in the maximum limit, when the pink circle disappears totally from the screen of the game. The puzzle of "breaking some egg" may be that Wander's stamina is the egg that only breaks when the stamina itself increases in size until it disappears from the screen. Therefore it is necessary to complete the game several times to achieve this feat.
The Columns in the Entrance of the Arena of the 16th colossus
In the previous stage of the mystery, there was a conundrum involving light and shadow on the two bridges. We can see that the four columns behind the mandala, near the gate of the last colossus, have light and shadow. That is, in the two images above, the columns that have shadows are the first, second, and fourth, while the third column is the only one that is illuminated. If we point the Wander to the only illuminated column and check the game map (by pressing Start), the arrow that indicates Wander's location on the map will point to the broken part of the egg (represented by the Temple of the Sun within the Arena of the 8th colossus) as shown in the image below.
In the image above, the map arrow pointed to the broken part of the egg (represented by the Temple of the Sun in the Arena of the 8th colossus). That is, the broken part of the egg represents the Last Big Secret and the egg (represented by the Arena of the 8th colossus) is where it keeps the Last Big Secret.
However, the puzzle of the four columns involved a "column of light", in which, this takes us to Reminiscence Mode.
Reminiscence Mode
Also, at the entrance to the huge gate, behind the mandala on the ground, there are four columns, as shown in the image above.
In the image above, we can see that each column has two currencies. Each currency shows two symbols.
In the currency above the column, they have two symbols referring to Arena of the 1st colossus and Arena of the 16th colossus. The idea that the game passes, is that it is necessary to complete the game several times, defeating from the first colossus to the last colossus, releasing several times the Common Ending, in order to progress the stamina until reaching its maximum upgrade .
At the bottom of the column, they have two symbols referring to the Arena of the 11th colossus and Arena of the 15th colossus. Does this mean that there is a procedure to be done to release a supposed Secret Ending, in which these two arenas are heavily involved?
THE LAST BIG SECRET CAN BE REAL I STEP 1 I STEP 2 I STEP 3 I STEP 4 I STEP 5 I STEP 6 I FINAL STEP
SECRET ENDING (HOW TO RELEASE) I MYSTERY TRACKS (PART 1) I SECRET ENDING (SCRIPT) I VERY HARD MODE
What is Reminiscence Mode?
It is a mode that we face the colossus that have already been defeated, as a kind of memory. It is as if we face the soul of these colossus eternally in their astral planes. This mode is within the Normal and Hard modes, accessible by pressing the O (ball) button on the carcass of some dead colossus, below a "light column" that replaces the clouds that cover the map, at the site of the defeated colossus.
The Reminiscence Mode is useless in the game as we do not get any items or unlock any extras in the game. However, the existence of this mode may reveal something mysterious that concludes the reasoning of this huge puzzle.
On the American cover (NTSC version U / C), a subliminal message is written, on the back of the cover (in the image above):
"SOME MOUNTAINS ARE SCALED, OTHERS ARE SLAINS"
The "MOUNTAINS ARE SCALED" may be referring to the living colossi that we face in the game, while the "OTHERS ARE SLAINS" may refer to the dead colossi that we face in Reminiscence Mode.
There is a rather obscure and enigmatic message that Reminiscence Mode transmits to players, in which it may be the most important piece of the puzzle. To understand the logic of this modality, we must ask the following questions:
- How many colossi are faced in the game? 16 colossi.
- What is the last colossus we faced in the game? The 16th colossus.
- How many colossi are faced in Reminiscence Mode? 15 colossi.
- What is the only colossus we do not face in Reminiscence Mode? The 16th colossus, which is the last colossus of the game.
And what is the hidden message that Reminiscence Mode may be transmitting to players?
To release the Secret Ending, we must avoid confrontation with the last colossus.
- What is the last colossus that we face in Reminiscence Mode? The 15th colossus, which is the penultimate colossus of the game.
This means that if we can not activate the Secret Ending after defeating the last colossus because we can not confront it, then the Secret Ending is released after defeating the penultimate colossus (15th colossus) in the Desert Fortress, whenever we defeat the last colossus, will always release the same end that we are accustomed to do.
That is, if we defeat 15 colossi in Reminiscence Mode, then we have to defeat 15 colossi to enable the Secret Ending. If we face the 15th colossus as the last colossus in Reminiscence Mode, then we have to face the 15th colossus as the "last colossus of the game" to release the Secret Ending. Another interesting detail is that with each defeated colossus, the number of defeated colossi appears as soon as we save the game, after the death of the colossus. When the 16th colossus is defeated, after complete the game, there are 16 defeated colossi when the game is saved, as the limit goes up to 15 colossi. So when we save the game to start a new game of 15 defeated colossi, 0 colossi appear in the save, instead of appearing 16 defeated colossi. And another interesting detail is that the idol of the 16th colossus is the last of the hall's row, to the left of the altar of the Mono, while the idol of the 15th colossus is the last of the row of the hall, to the right of the altar of the Mono. Because they are the last idols in each row, each one releases or can release one type of ending. The 16th colossus releases the Common Ending, while the 15th colossus can release the supposed Secret Ending.
However we must go to the next step which is the Arena of the 15th colossus.
