I've been trying to put into words why I have such visceral hatred for Lost Records since finishing it. I think this image captures it more than anything else.
The story is so clearly designed to have all three of you reuniting in 2022 and opening the box together. If this was a non-interactive medium, such as a novel or TV show, then there's no doubt that's what they would go with.
Instead, the game is so far up its own ass with its gamey relationship points system that they treat it as a reward for successfully kissing everyone's ass constantly and saying the right thing every time. Only 19% players got the "right" outcome. 81% of players get an ending where the game goes out of its way to remind you of how this isn't the right ending and make you feel bad for not getting enough of their fake bing bing wahoo points.
>WE SHOULD HAVE DONE MORE TO GET NORA TO STAY...
>HMMM IF ONLY NORA WERE HERE... OH WELL
>HEY GUYS ITS KAT AND I'M SO GLAD YOU GUYS ARE OPENING THIS MEMENTO BOX... TOGETHER
>NORA, KEEP BEING YOU... OH NEVER MIND YOU'RE NOT THERE LOL SHAME ON YOU SWANN
>*see you in hell plays with ghost teen nora model and re-used adult nora singing audio*
Like why even bother, this is not a satisfying experience. No one thinks to themselves "oh I'm so happy I got the wrong ending".
The dirty secret of this genre is that these stories really would be better off in other mediums. But I have NEVER played a game that makes this more blatant than Lost Records. Every deviation from Dontnod's "canon" (e.g. 2022 characters leaving, picking the wrong romance, not kissing Dylan's ass, getting the wrong person possessed at the Abyss, getting the wrong Abyss outcome) only serves to make the story worse.
Hopefully one day Dontnod will reflect on the connection between putting in more pointfag systems in their games and their sales dropping. Or maybe Michel and his friends will quit gaming for other storytelling mediums instead of arbitrarily punishing innocent players.