So Ace killed the captain guy. However, if you choose to go through door six, Seven later mentions there was a dead guy in the captain's quarters. There is no way Ace could've killed him as he was in the engine room/cargo hold with Junpei, Akane and Santa. But why is he dead?

That's the Safe/Knife ending, right? Well, the hint is that Clover ends up with the Captain's note in the Safe Ending, so the obvious answer is that Clover killed him. It's a bit implausible, to think she did so without Seven or Lotus noticing. Plus she seems pretty normal in those endings, not the kind of person to kill him for his 0 bracelet. The only thing I can think of is that she somehow knew that he was the one who orchestrated the Nonary Game, in which case it doesn't seem that far-fetched to think she murdered him... but how could she, without the note in the safe which she only found later? It doesn't make sense that she recognized him somehow, as she didn't recognize Ace either.

Well, here's my personal headcanon. Zero wanted the four perpetrators to confess to and atone for their crimes, right? I think Clover rushed into the room ahead of the others and the Captain confessed to her, thinking he'd be let off and not knowing she was one of the kids he abducted. Maybe he even showed her the note, makes more sense than her searching his body in crazy mode, I think. She knows it's partly his fault her brother died, goes crazy, picks up the axe, bam. Well, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but the evidence points to Clover having killed him...

I agree with you, MJ... that seems pretty plausible. And don't forget, Clover could've had some sort of morphogenetic resonance at that moment in time in answer to your first paragraph. But you pretty much summed it up though. It makes sense in my head. D:

It's a shame that Junpei's going to waste his whole life chasing after June. Especially since, according to the writer, he's never going to find her...

I agree, I wish Junpei didn't end up chasing her, especially considering I'm not much a fan of June in the first place xP I guess endings like this are what fanon's for.

So... say 9-year-old June escaped safely from the incinerator and wandered the world with Santa. What if she didn't realize that she was the one who set in motion the events of the second Nonary Game, and made the link with Junpei possible? What if, instead of spending the next 9 years of her life devoted to creating the second Game, she just... didn't do that? Would she just have died in the incinerator? Were there many different 'endings' where June failed to replicate the second Nonary Game, just as Junpei failed to complete it?

I find June sympathetic, because in my view she was forced to recreate the Nonary Game. Maybe she didn't want to kill the 9th man or endanger innocents, but she saw herself doing so through Junpei's eyes in the future and so was forced to so that she could secure the fact of her own existence. I don't feel June is the ruthless, driven killer as portrayed in the FAQ, but rather she saw that not becoming that person would lead to her death.

But, well, there seems to be a kind of problem with that line of reasoning. June only recreated the Nonary Game because she saw herself recreating it... then who really did make the decision to recreate the Nonary Game? All this time loop stuff messes with my head.

If she didn't set up the second Nonary Game, then yes, she would've died in the Incinerator/drowned. The bad endings, the Axe, Sub, and Knife endings, it's assumed that because Junpei never got to door 9 and found the incinerator/last puzzle, June died. The Safe Ending definitely foreshadows that idea.
According to the writer, Juna became a very manipulative and revenge-filled person after the events of the first Nonary Game, so she used her living brother, Santa, to set up a new Nonary Game to save herself and get revenge on Ace.

Ugu...well honestly I'm going to need to play through the true ending again just to completely wrap my head around it all, but I think she would've been killed. After all, no second Nonary Game, no Junpei to figure out the Sudoku puzzle of doom. I don't really see how she would've escaped from the incinerator, though, considering she didn't seem to have any idea what the puzzle was or how to solve it. She needed Junpei for it, or she would die.

I honestly don't like June very much at all, but I agree with you when it comes to her being sympathetic. I think she might be ruthless as the FAQ says, but honestly, who wouldn't be to save themselves from burning alive in an incinerator? If her excuse was as pathetic as Ace's, I might not have the same view, but she was just a child who wanted to save herself.

Now this part I don't understand, either...the time loop drives me crazy every time I try to make sense of it.

I loved the part where Snake completely loses it in the incinerator. Seeing him take down Ace for killing Clover was just AWESOME.

"Hey, Akane allows me to call her Kanny! This has to be the true ending!" Then I got stabbed. In the submarine ending, you kind of already know that it's going to be a bad end so it's not as shocking anymore.
But that's just me and I can understand people who say the submarine one is the worst, I just don't share their opinion.

I chose the doors I went through purely based on the characters I wanted to go with: first was door 4, because I was interested in the relationship between June and Junpei; then 7, because I didn't want to go with Lotus (I didn't like her at first...), and then 1 because I wanted to know the rest of Clover's backstory. I never would've guessed that was the right combination to get the True ending!

Did you guys notice that that one preview you unlock after the safe ending shows doors 4, 7, and 1 in it?

I chose door 4 mainly because I didn't feel too comfortable with the whole blood scene beyond door 5. Then I chose door 3 because of my curiousity and automatically door 2, leading straight to the sub ending. And yeah, sub was a bit depressing and it left me with a whole lot of questions.

Axe is the one where Clover kills you and Knife is the one where you find Lotus dead and then get stabbed.

I wanted to spare Akane/June from seeing that corpse.

I though it would be a bad idea to choose a room no one else did, so I avoided three and went with 7 because I thought Seven and I made a good team.

I figured going with room 1 on A deck would good since it's near the top and hopefully closer to freedom.

Nope, axe in the back.

Scariest image in the game, right there. That and Junpei's look of complete horror/breakdown immediately prior. Also the best "bad ending" for sure (not counting the Safe ending).

It's burned in my brain.

Honestly, I had the same idea that Clover did at the beginning. I didn't see why they didn't take the 9th man's bracelet to help them get through doors.

Huh, but you DID make the right decisions... I assume you didn't get the clover leaf from Santa in room 4?

I guess not. I don't remember getting a clover leaf at all.

That ending freaked me out the most, especially since I played it at night. I nearly jumped the moment Clover chopped his arm. Bleck! I just knew she was up to something, but I never guessed she would axe me (Junpei) in the end. Good luck with your next ending.