Um...what? (Spoilers)

There were numerous clues as to what happened scattered throughout the game.

First: The beginning. Polka falling, falling, and falling some more, against a red sky. Given she shows up as the main character as soon as the game starts, that scene is in the future? Probably?

Second: Polka, contemplating jumping off the cliff, decides to throw her stone instead, which Alegretto somehow managed to find before she actually threw it. Indeed, for a few moments, they both had it at the same time. (And when she suggests she jump off, he momentarily panics, because HE has a vague memory of that forgotten past, as well. That's one of the few moments of startlingly excellent pacing, IMO. The first time I saw it, my heart leapt into my throat!) This is the kicker, the great big hint. And she recalls receiving it some time in an unknown past, from someone she loves: someone like Allegretto.

When she falls from the sky as a little girl, her mom expects her coming. I get the impression she's come many times before. Polka is the object of a time loop. She falls from the sky, she grows up, she goes on her journey, only to complete the loop when she leaps the precipice... and starts over again.

But this time it's different. This time, Frederic has entered her life, given her a different perspective. Furthermore, whatever else this world is, it is his Dream. The final battle between his in-dream avatar and your party is, in a sense, his final struggle with Death... which, in the end, he accepts, with Polka's help. She calls the flowers Heaven's Mirror, and so he decided to call his death.

Polka's impact on Fredric: when death comes, he accepts it gladly. Fredric's impact on Polka: when Fredric contacts her, one last time, she decides it is time to end the time loop, and reverses her death and rebirth, to remain with Allegretto, instead. A sweet moment for then, and bittersweet for her mother.

It's a trip, it really is. To me, it's a fun trip.

quote Lost Rider

quote Tarvok

First: The beginning. Polka falling, falling, and falling some more, against a red sky. Given she shows up as the main character as soon as the game starts, that scene is in the future? Probably?

I think it was actually in the past. Because at the beginning of the game she says "If I blow him a kiss, I wonder, will it reach him up there?" and follows it up by saying "No, I guess it won't..." whereas in the ending she says "I hope so. I really do."

Thanks again!

Ah, I wasn't clear enough. "...that scene is in the future? Probably?" was an expression of my original response to that scene. Once I reached the end, I realized that it was a scene from the past, and I suspected as much during Allegretto and Polka's exchange on the cliff near her house.