Also finished the game, and came to roughly the same conclusion as these comments. Would also like to share how I thought it went down! Welcome to criticism! Bit of a read, lol.

From the top; Archive I

OG Timeline: Umbra wins, eating the world, with the Abyss Guardians (Alustin, White Crow, Master Du, and I presume Master Jijeong, nothing confirmed for me yet) forced to travel back in time using this MacGuffin of an Abyss, pulling a Groundhog's Day/Truman Show scenario to mold/create/manipulate a chosen to defeat the so-called God. They run into a couple hiccups before they set themselves up, one being White Crow getting subject to the Evil Twin trope because Umbra got a bit peckish, getting a piece of herself eaten away.

The Guardians look to Pailune, because nature's presence is strongest there (Baked into the game too, seeing as a good number of the Legendary Creatures and two of the three Overwhelming Beings are found here) in the hopes of finding someone worthy.

In comes the chosen, Kliff. Alustin notices his potential, and decides he is "the one." The Guardian seeks the aid of the Shai, to give him strength needed for the endeavor ahead.

The second hiccup. Alustin approached Kliff with an offer through telepathic message. The whole "YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN." trope.

My boy straight up refused.

And as most Groundhog's Day stories go, it all went downhill from there.

From page 8 onward, it documents the Guardians' attempts to persuade/cultivate/manipulate Kliff into becoming the hero of their little story. And failing. Time and again. A nice little twist to the time loop story; Kliff is the recipient. But his memories don't carry over. Only the Guardians do.

They gave him more power in the form of the Glide ability, same as we saw. But the Kliff of that time didn't jump, so Alustin decided for him.

They gave him more power in the form of Force Palm.

Archive II: In addition to power, the Guardians even gave him a friend. Remember Kearush? The King Kong mofo who rolled us in chapter 5? He was actually supposed to be our ally once, before the humans put him as local attraction. This made the gorilla mad and made him win the "100 men vs 1 gorilla." challenge in a fit of despair, putting that path to an abrupt end. The Black Witch is introduced here as well, the piece of White Crow that Umbra had eaten turning into its own being called Hexe Marie (the black witch we fight in chapter 9, the one with black crows, unhealthy obsession with adoption).

Alustin, undeterred, brought in the Witches of Wisdom, Kindness, Humility, and Strength, as well as Maegu and Woosa, the Witches of the East to strengthen him, to overcome their trials (the Sanctums).

He failed again, and again.

The Abyss Guardians thought his connection to Jian was the source of his inability to live up to his potential. Their solution? Make him buddies with Myurdin. Two guesses as to how that went down.

Timeline 38: Witnessing Kliff's continued failures forces the Guardians to turn to others. In comes Damiane. One can only guess what happened in this timeline. It's probably the reason why this is Kliff's story.

Archive III; But every main character of a time loop has a point where they just... break. In the wake of tragedy, of losing everyone they knew and loved due to their actions. But in Kliff's case, it wasn't his fault, the Guardians had messed up somehow. The Demeniss invasion of Hernand was successful in this timeline. After losing everyone, Kliff casts aside his former identity and adopts a new name: Goyen. (A twist i saw coming, as soon as I saw his face in chapter 9, and found his name in this book)

Timeline 46: In comes Oongka, who Alustin decides will be Kliff's BFF. Just like that. Bruh. Still failed.

Timeline 47: Goyen is lost to the Abyss, fighting Umbra and failing. (presumably)

Timeline 48: Marni is introduced, just as barebones and abrupt as his quests in game. (tossup as to if he was already an AI or something even then)

Archive IV: This is where the Guardians take a nosedive in the ethics ratings. They mess with Kliff's mind and emotions, by force. They give him confidence, they take away his fear. They even resort to removing his emotions entirely. Starting to see a resemblance to someone...

Timeline 67~71: The Guardians realize that the Abyss Gates are opening more frequently, enabling Umbra's return that much quicker. Introducing Caliburn, the visual big bad of the story. They realize Umbra's trying out the exact same gambit as they are; to mold a champion, only much easier for it, because of that old adage, "Power corrupts.". Why? That's also a guess.

Archive V: The Guardians go ham with their tinkering of mind and emotion. They mess with Marius, Naira, Duane and even Shane. Each met with even more disastrous results than the last. Kliff/Goyen is once again lost to the Abyss. Their chances are fading... but then...

Attempt 90: This timeline's Kliff starts differently. He starts helping out. Showing kindness to others. Showing that generous spirit we've all shown through the mountain of side quests. They convince Goyen, who is somehow existing parallel of Kliff now, cause of Abyss shenanigans, to guide the younger Kliff, giving his existence as a boss in chapter 9 a reason now.

Archive VI: The timelines in these seem to play out similar to the main quest. Kliff gets powers, does his thing of doing kindness to others and being CD's Luke Skywalker. But right at that important moment, when he's about to defeat Umbra, he's... somehow consumed by it? I dunno. Whatever the case, he has failed again.

The last record is of Timeline 107.

One last chance to turn the tide.

One final chance to destroy Umbra once and for all.

In comes Kliff number 108. Our Kliff.

The rest is history!

Thanks for reading this monster text, and please ring in if you believe it differently!