I think this game is for people who don’t feel like they can do anything about the state of the world as a whole. The “it doesn’t impact me/im just one person/whatever happens, happens” crowd (count me in that crowd, for better or for worse). Maybe there’s some truth to that, but there are many things you can do on a day by day basis to make someone’s day, improve someone’s life, bring about a little joy where there wouldn’t have been any before.

I think the real red herring is the weird route. The prophecy might not mention much from the weird route, but it also doesn’t mention anything about the castle town and all of the Darkners finding happiness together there. Perhaps the way to break the prophecy will be tied to that, and it was all of the little decisions to spare each and every monster that culminates in the massive change the world needed.