....at the same time this is the game that got me tear up the most.

Just finished CSIV yesterday and oh man. I think quite a few of the others already mentioned the gripes for this game (lack of urgency, tension, minimum death whatsoever etc) so I won't be talking about those. But man, this game knows how play with your heart strings especially when you played with all the rest of the arcs prior to this. Also seeing all this kids grow up to where they are now...damn it really hits pulls on those hearts strings (just like what Sara said in the last dungeon). To name a few (the one that stick with me the most) :

1. Right at the beginning, when Altina woke up and remember everything that happened and just screamed.
2. When they rescued Rean from the workshop
3. Arianrhod backstory and death (along with Rose reaction)
4. That little Hamel sidequest towards the end where Loewe make a very brief cameo

And I'm pretty sure I got a few more that I missed but the most tear inducing one to me is the normal ending. Honestly I love that ending more compared to the true ending ( >! where everybody got their happy ending !< ) since it just have more impact to it. (Rean sacrificing himself, and Crow and Millium who both supposed to be dead, accompanying him making the ultimate sacrifice and with this probably Crow can redeem himself after the whole ILF debacle). But man I freaking love that ending. And with that I have 2 questions though :

1. So canonically, the true ending is the actual ending. But however, I read somewhere that the normal ending actually have more context in Hajimari. So how does that work (alternate timeline etc) ? Or just some new exposure? (if possible no spoilers please. Just the context. If it's a major spoiler then never mind).
2. Also what's the premise of Hajimari? Since all the current issues have been tackled. So is there suddenly a new baddy show up? Or is it more like the 3rd where focus on 1 character, and the rest just pops up to help? (No spoilers as well please or maybe keep it to a minimum)

Thanks! :)