not done with the game yet, but... yeah this segment absolutely destroyed me man.

@Kagekokoro I know nothing about the ending but I'm afraid you're right. I did look into how to achieve the secret ending though so I still have hope it will change something! You basically unlock an extra mode after you beat the game and it puts you into your save file right before the final boss so you can go and get 100% area completion everywhere and a few other things.