Why did he hide the letter from Maelle, is he stupid?

players' favorites characters

Gustave

pAlicia

What will Sandfall do with this information?

I bet they'll make an ending where everyone I like is happy with no ambiguity!

I'm afraid you'll have to move on.

Cinèma......

The game was beautiful and the story doesn't need anymore. We have to accept, c'est fini.

He didn't open it and it could lead to no one fighting the paintress or worse, fighting Renoir.
That's basically killing his mother.

Lead writer herself said that the endings are escapismland or touch grass

OHNONONONONO

Anon, I wanted a happy ending that made my brain feel good. I didn't get that. I need to blame someone and that's going to be Verso.

you people are so easily moved

What's so bad about the Maelle ending?

poor verso has to play the piano

He promised. Get over it.

Maelle will die

She won't live forever no matter where she is.

Renoir might smash things in the future

The future is not yet decided.

It's the good ending. For those who come after.

thinking there's a good ending

kek

Nothing, probably.

Verso ending has happy plappy music, sunshine, and rainbows

Maelle ending is in black and white with horror movie visuals

Yeah, they’re totally on the same level

I'm simply not going to give the nigger baboon Verso anything resembling his goals being successful. He should have known better not to lie.

he just KNEW better somehow, it's okay to unknowingly kill all other possibilities

Eat shit

Why are half of aliciafags literally just this guy

STILL seething about chadso erasing the canvas

you do realise that no ending is "better" than the other right? It's the entire point of having both endings.

TPD is inevitable.

I think Sandfall made one mistake in the script in the Maelle ending to have Verso only beg to end his life, making it seem like that was his ultimate motivation, when literally all the game up until that point his whole motivation was saving his mother. He even wanted to go along with Alicia's canvas life idea until Renoir showed Alina suffering in the real world, that's when he flipped towards ending it all.

Even though I am painted I still love my mother and don't want to see her kill herself even if it means destroying the world

is a much better motivation than

I am tired of living

This, and it's really obvious that this is the case by the time you finish the game. I'm honestly amazed at how many people are confused by things that happen in this game's story, some of you fuckers are legitimately stupid.

Of course I do, both endings are almost entirely up to the player's interpretation, almost every detail. I've just noticed an odd trend where half the maelle pickers are mad that her ending was "framed more negatively" and the other half are motivated purely by psychotic, seething rage about Verso (see ).

How did he give P!Alicia the letter when he threw it away in the ocean after he read it?

It was more interesting when it was an adventure.

I think Sandfall made one mistake in the script in the Maelle ending to have Verso only beg to end his life, making it seem like that was his ultimate motivation, when literally all the game up until that point his whole motivation was saving his mother.

What if it is intentional, and that WAS his actual deepest motivation after all? He is a hypocrite like everyone else.

I think when he's saying that it's because he just for the latest in a series of desperate life-and-death battles and is currently physically fading away. He lost this time, there's no longer any hope of him deciding what happens in the canvas. He will not be able to resist Alicia, and all he can hope for is not being forced to stay alive and watch her crumble like Aline - whom he already managed to save, at least for now.

she deserved better

My beautiful angel

just for

just fought*

Only the parts with the quotes are from the writer

Another ending is possible.
Inb4 DLC where Verso's soul stops painting, but a part of Alicia's soul continues in his place.
This outcome resolves several plot points:

Verso's soul can move on and is no longer forced to paint

With Verso's soul having moved on, Aline has no more reason to cling to the canvas

With Aline no longer attached to the canvas, Renoir does not need to destroy the canvas as it now belongs to Alicia

Aline and Alicia can potentially reconcile, while Real Verso died for Alicia, his soul was being smothered into paint slavery by Aline and Alicia thus at least saved his soul and his creations by taking over the painting herself

Everyone lives. Everyone happy.

the ending and big reveal ruined this game for me
I do not give a fuck about this redditor le painter family
I cared about Lune, Sciel, Maelle and most of all Gustave
and the reveal is that the entire world is fake
after Gustave's death I was hoping he would at least play some part in the ending by inspiring Maelle or something for the final blow
this is all just fucking retarded and I'm not gonna finish the remaining POIs on the map now

He is trapped in a decades long inner conflict where on one side he finds himself becoming attached to people in the world, meeting expeditioners and making friends, falling in love with them, and believing that he deserves to live and isn't to blame for all the bad things happening, and the other side is the inescapable knowledge that his existence is destroying a family of people outside the canvas, including leading his "mother" to her death, while also being the reason for the fracture and Verso's canvas being slowly destroyed.

Also on the other side, he understands that he is simply an artificial and dishonest representation of Verso as Aline saw him. One of the most tragic parts of his character is that he never ultimately manages to reconcile his relationships and experiences with the fact that he understands he isn't truly his own real person. Up until the final moments of the game, in either ending, he can only see himself as a painting that wants to be undone. Same as how neither ending sees Maelle truly heal from her loss and grief, neither ending sees Verso overcome his cynicism and perceived lack of identity or self determination.

Only person who could replace Verso is Clea since she painted half of the canvas.

requires Verso not to be a 2deep4u Light keikaku retard

Not happening

Cries and kills himself

Chad

He had a hundred years to reconcile with himself and his own existence, wanting to take it out on the whole world is textbook villain motivation in some FF game.

It was this moment that solidified that Maelle was dead. Only a cunty 15 year old paintress remained.

verso's soul moving on

Alicia doesn't want that. She wants the canvas for the same reason Aline does - she can delude herself into not feeling guilt and grief about his death.

Everyone lives. Everyone happy.

kek

smugposts

'jakshit and unironic gigachad edits

lame and boring

loyal imouto

pianoposting

funny and soulful

Verso painted the entire canvas. Clea only added nevrons. Renoir also added some nevrons, and the axons, and Aline added Lumiere. No one came close to half. Verso brought it into existence, creating the landscapes, the gestrals, the grandis, Esquie, the rules by which it operates, it's his creation. Can't even really be sure that it could continue if someone else replaced their soul fragment with his, though there's not any particular reason to be sure it couldn't, since the rules for painting are left intentionally vague.

Finish the Endless Tower.

Sorry Alicia, looks like he also had deathbomb equipped!
What of it? Clea mentions there that she created nevrons and that Alicia should make her own decisions and live as she pleases, but I'm not sure what point you're trying to make.

Alicia doesn't want that. She wants the canvas for the same reason Aline does - she can delude herself into not feeling guilt and grief about his death.

It's not really true. The reason she's attached to the world is actually not Verso, but all the painted friends she made.
She is contented to let Verso's soul keep painting to sustain them.

The resolution involves her realizing she can and must sustain them herself.

pianoposting isn't smug

oh aliciafags

Okay.

I dont get a few things
-how comes aline is the good guy and renoir the bad inside the painted world?
-whats the meaning of Maelle face at the end?
-why the painted numbers?

how comes aline is the good guy and renoir the bad inside the painted world?

There's no good guy or bad guy. Aline created Lumiere to live out a fantasy where her son is alive. Renoir is trying to destroy the canvas to bring her back to reality. Renoir is antagonistic to the player characters.

Maelle face

Alicia is succumbing to the same madness that claimed Aline.

painted numbers

Aline giving a cryptic warning to Lumiere that she could only protect people under that age (she was gradually losing chroma because every Lumieren killed by nevrons did not return its chroma back to her)

How is it possible my wife is so cute? It's beyond my understanding.

Alternatively, he managed to push Alina out of the canvas, and during the "YOU LIED TO US" talk at camp he basically said that was his motivation, to get Aline out, and to break the cycle of grief. He knew Renoir was gonna fuck shit up but he never outright said "I am tired of living" until the very end. And even at the end I think he was ok with Alicia's idea until he saw real-life Alina, and the fact that she found the canvas again in what would have to be minutes in the real world.

there's a cutscene where he tells maelle the truth about how he was able to save gustave but choose not to
you can either choose to lie to her or tell her the truth
in pretty much everything else he lies
youtube.com/watch?v=c17YTgxMZDU

She's not your wife, she's my daughter.

The reason she's attached to the world is actually not Verso

you didn't play the game

she is my wife and not your daughter. you have to get out the painting, you are losing your mind (verification not required)

Her little smiles or so adorable.

Alicia is succumbing to the same madness that claimed Aline.

the other characters you meet with hole-faces aren't all crazy like Aline, i assume you just start looking like after staying in the canvas too long?

Because he knew that Maella was a stupid child that would make a stupid decision based on her peak retard emotions.
And he was right

it's probably default way painters look in general and they have to actually put effort into painting a look over themselves
explains why Aline never looks "normal" because why bother looking normal to a bunch of paintings
and why Renoir only looks normal when talking to Alicia probably would be weird to talk to his actual daughter looking like some nightmarish ghost
and Alicia is full on delulu and always wears "a costume" even puts white hair on it probably because muh COOL

I think that Aline and Renoir look so shattered because every ounce of their ability is devoted to opposing the other one. But I also believe that Alicia's appearance in her ending is meant to signify that she's losing herself. She's not even bothering to fake having a right eye anymore.

What's so bad about Alicia's —reminder, she is NOT Maelle, Maelle is dead— ending? The threat of Aline, Renoir, and Clea are still hanging over the Canvas. And all Alicia had to do was leave the Canvas. Verso was willing to give up his desire for non-existence if Alicia just stepped out. She could have helped her family grieve, she is really the only one who can since she is partially responsible for everything after she helped (naively or not) the Writers. And after helping her family heal she could have come back, and restored the Canvas to glory. But instead she decided she didn't like the real world because in the Canvas she has no scars, both eyes, and can talk, and that is all that matters, fuck everyone and everything else.

"What's so bad about Alicia's ending?" you ask. Alicia is a monster who cares about no one other than herself, is the problem, and she has doomed the Canvas to another apocalypse in the future, and it will be worse the next time.

What if Verso, as all evidence has pointed to, is a complex character with multiple motivations, while Alicia is, in fact, the character with a singular selfish motivation despite being initially shown to be more complex?

The great irony of Alicia fags is they can't see that at the end Alicia is everything they hate Verso for, and Verso is everything they claim to love about Alicia. Alicia is the selfish lying one, and Verso is the selfless truth teller. Oh, wait, Alicia is a girl, that's all that really matters.

dlc with new secret underpainting
new big worldboss
painted aline

reminder, she is NOT Maelle, Maelle is dead

AI post too

Truth is, it's what these sad lonely people want. Of course they prefer the ending where their waifu is using a fake world full of fake people to escape her real life problems.

No, he's not stupid, he's just right.

Alicia becomes completely dependent on the canvas and refuses to leave because of the constant threat of it being destroyed and losing it forever. You can see how mentally unstable she has become in the last scene with her father, "I've lost so much". All she can think about anymore is not losing the last thing that makes her happy. That desperation was created by Renoir and Verso's plans to destroy the canvas, and Verso's plan to destroy the canvas is in turn motivated by her declining mental state. That's why the only possible endings are two opposite extremes with no compromise.

game literally states it openly that both of them are liars and hypocrites trying to get what they want by ruining what the other person wants

"All evidence points to only one of them being complex and right while the other one is actually simple and wrong with no depth"

are you serious

Endingniggers are all delusional.

My ending is better because I hate x

Well MY ending is better because I hate y!

Literally all they do over and over and over.

The writers fucked up by including the detail that Maelle is basically just going to go crazy and die if she stays in the painting. There's a lot of interesting moral and philosophical stuff going on between the two endings, but only one of them involves Maelle basically just dying of a magical drug overdose. It's obviously the less-happy ending whether you want the best for her or not.

Alicia is, in fact, the character with a singular selfish motivation

It's weird how your brain worked in the first half of the sentence and then immediately swapped to off.

He wanted to die

fake people

Maaaaan, you people are boring.

is correct, Verso even admits to being a hypocrite. He grandstands about the morality of his arguments but he never is actually doing it for that reason, always for a selfish one. I think the most telling thing is when in his ending, her tells Alicia to "be Maelle in another canvas." He doesn't actually care about if she loses herself in grief, he just wants to die.

There's reason to believe the original Verso committed suicide, letting himself die in that fire.

Look at how that character is framed. He's wearing masks and always making jokes, he's the whee and the whoo. His painted version is ultimately suicidal. His sliver of soul that is that child also wants to die. In the cutscene vision of Verso in the fire he just stands there looking at the camera.

Verso's death was probably on Verso.

The writers fucked up by including the detail that Maelle is basically just going to go crazy and die if she stays in the painting.

Nah, it just shifts the question to "Is Alicia sacrificing herself to maintain the independent minds of the Lumierens" or "Is Alicia sacrificing herself to play with dolls and pretend her brother is alive?" It's left up to you to interpret whether she's a skilled enough painter to bring everyone back.

Painted Verso was painted by Aline, her ideal version of her dead son. Even if real Verso was suicidal, it's unlikely that she would have painted him as also suicidal in the canvas, especially considering he's fucking immortal and can't kill himself.

Because even though he's just a painted person he was made with enough knowledge about the real Verso to know that there is no third way. That's why Alicia's letter is labeled "a life to dream". The idea that both Lumiere and her family can leave each other be is pure fantasy, a dream.

whats the meaning of Maelle face at the end?

That's how they look when they use their paintress powers. It's weird that a lot of people are trying to say it's something else.

in the exact moment verso begins playing the piano, they cut to show maelle is actively using her powers as a paintress

I wonder what she's doing in that moment and what it says about her mental state...

Painted Verso isn't depicted as idealised. It seems more like he's an accurate facsimile. He also apparently 'had the original Verso's memories', whatever that means in particular. Seems kind of like a metaphor but doesn't really make perfect sense.

Clea's fades because she pops in and out quickly. Alicia acknowledges that she plans to stay in until the day she dies. Over time, it absolutely, objectively fucks you up. We see it with Aline.

Verso is a chad, soistave did nothing for me and I was glad he got replaced

what's the lore reason behind Verso painting so much FUCKING FOG I CANNOT SEE ANYTHING WHERE IS THE GODDAMN SKY

Maelle ending is "A life to paint", same as REAL Renoir's battle theme

Therefore Maelle's ending is the real one

I accept your concessions.

you not turning off volumetric fog

Reminder that if you could put yourself in a coma and while your body is dying you experienced in your mind a perfect, happy, long life, then there is no reason not to do so. Your experience of life is your experience of life, what is 'real' is subjective to your experience.

Meaning that if Alicia was happy dying in the painting then he's happy in the painting. Not a problem.

The tragic parts of the Maelle ending does not include her dying while in the painting. Only that her family will be sad and, if you are morally bankrupt, that Verso gets just retribution for his mountain of heinous crimes.

I think Gustav would have pushed for Maelle to leave, or at least try to find a middle ground.

IT'S STILL THERE

Why didn't Aline paint a fake Clea in her painted family? This feels like a kinda massive plothole.

then there is no reason not to do so

In this case it's putting yourself in the coma that causes your body to die, and regardless I'd rather spend my time left with loved ones.

I guess "ideal" is the wrong word, because painted Renoir is a jackass which isn't "ideal" but it is how Aline sees him. However, Aline loved Verso and likely didn't see him or want to paint him as suicidal. He's a miserable edge fucker by the time we meet him because he's been around for 100 years and Clea has long since blackpilled him on the canvas and what's going on outside of it. We don't know what painted Verso was like when originally painted by Aline aside from a few lore/journal entries which all suggest he was loyal to Renoir for a time.

It's not clear how much and which aspects of painted Verso is the memories of Verso as he was, the demeanor of Verso as Aline painted him, and the personality of Verso as a painting who's been alive in this world for 100 years and seen/heard some serious shit. It makes his character kind of hard to get a read on, but that's part of the fun.

I'd rather spend my time left with loved ones

Exactly. So did Maelle.

Nah it was his motivation from the start. If his reasons were saving his mother, he would have told the truth.

She did. Real clea painted over her and turned her into a nevron factory to continuously make creatures that would brutally slaughter lumierens. She also painted over her painted husbando and made it kill Renoir's clea axon and then threw him in a dark hole. Clea is a based psychopath.

Any time i see someone even hint some bullshit like "I WANT LE HECKIN SEQUEL OF CLEA FIGHTING THE WRITERS" I know they are an underage shitty plebbitor with negative IQ and their opinion doesn't matter.

What do they fucking imagine? Some shitty shonen slop?

Alicia chose to delude herself into feeling like her brother Verso (who painted Verso is not) is still alive. >b-but she talked about the lumierens to Renoir
She said whatever she needed to to get Renoir off her back, the same way any addict lies.

Her loved ones? She's basically a schizophrenic that gave in to the voices and made friends with them

Maelle's ending on canvas (2025)

That's my point. To the individual there is no problem with living in happy delusion.

If you were born completely psychotic, in the sense that every part of your experience of life was abstract from the reality other people experience, but you were happy from beginning to end then to you there would be no impetus to break that delusion. Become sane? Why? That wouldn't help you. That wouldn't help Maelle.

To the person who was born into a psychotic delusion of happiness nothing is wrong. You are considering things from the point of view of Alicia's family, who would be sad. They are in a tragic situation, but she is not. She's fine.

It looks pretty and ads to the atmosphere.

b-but people told me that complaining about fog is cool

There is now shortcut to wisdom and taste. Don't fall for their trap and think for yourself. It only counts as thinking for yourself if you agree with me.

i don't even remember when or how he got the letter lmao

these are my own original thoughts after being blinded by the sun filtering through it for the 10th time

After beating the two axons, during when everyone else was getting drunk off of his secret stash.

There's also a nation worth of people hanging in the balance.

Renoir was in there for 67 canvas years and Clea said not to worry too much, they have been in other Canvas for way longer than that.

if you were suffering and had the chance to end it quickly and painless, would you still do it if you had the pressure of a whole universe on top of you?

Yeah, voices that have free will to the point where they can rise up against their creators, creativity that lets them create new art and technology beyond the knowledge of those who made them, have their own hopes and dreams and could probably explain to you why being this reductive is very simple minded.

did p.alicia give it to him? man i was super high for half this game

She did. Verso was staring at the monolith and painted Alicia shows up to give him the letter.
painted Renoir shows up too but wasn't out to cause trouble.

Wow, it's just like VR. Finally I understand.

thx, i remember now

if

if

if

why do we need comparisons and metaphors? We have the game situation and understand how it works. Alicia in the real world is burned badly. She's lost one eye and cannot speak. Conversely, she's also rich and has magical powers. She'll have a great many hardships that others will not have. She'll also have some opportunities that they won't. We don't know the full extent of her psychosis in the painting. She could just feel high, she could be borderline unthinking. It's not clear.

a nation worth of people

Sciel and Lune are all that's left.

67 years

Yeah, time passes way faster inside than out, but you run the risk of losing yourself. It happened to Renoir and Aline pulled him out. It happened to Aline and (You) kicked her out. The Verso canvas is particularly dangerous because of his soul fragment. It's already happening to Alicia in her ending.

Reminder that if you could put yourself in a coma and while your body is dying you experienced in your mind a perfect, happy, long life, then there is no reason not to do so.

You can overdose on black tar heroin RIGHT NOW, you will literally die feeling full-body orgasmic bliss. Go do it bro, if you insist that it's philosophically and morally sound.

why do we need comparisons and metaphors?

Says while discussing a game which narrative is entirely based on metaphors

Are you one of those leftists that assumes everything in Lord of the Rings was supposed to be representative of a real world concept when Tolkien disliked allegory and did not use it? The gamedevs were clear - E33 is just a story, of things that happen, the rise and fall of characters we grow attached to. We're meant to feel it and interpret the details in whatever way we feel compelled to. But that's all beside the point, you KNOW the events of the game, which are very clearly laid out, do not make your point well enough, so you bring up irrelevant situations like every faggot who tries to win an argument with a food analogy.

IMAGINE BEING AT COMPUTERS

It happened to Aline and (You) kicked her out.

Did it? Or was she only still in there to stop Renoir from destroying it?

There's also a nation worth of people hanging in the balance

At the end of the second act there is no such thing as a nation of people. Lumière got wiped out after they beat the paintress

yeah man she looked fine

maelle brings them all back

did you not see her ending

nobody:

literally not a soul:

not even a mouse:

this anon: FUCKING LEFTISTS

Up to (you) to interpret if they're fully realized independent people or of Alicia wasn't skilled enough to make them more than playthings.

there's no reason to believe they were anything less than what they were before

she brought back lune and sciel fine enough with no issues

Begging Alicia to end his life is a way to make it ambiguous what his true aims were, which makes it fit even better his character (guarding truth with lies).
If he begged for her to leave the canvas, it wouldn't be as kino. All you have to do is go one step further and wonder why this life is such torment for him, and you reach the conclusion that's it about Alicia and Aline.

Unless you're clinically retarded, then you just double down that he's just suicidal and there's nothing else to his character.

a nation

It's literally one city, and it only exists because Aline painted it anyway. It's a blight on child Verso's canvas. Fuck Lumiere and its fake denizens.
Maelle uses the chroma that Renoir was gathering to restore, at minimum, the opera house and whatever people we see watching totally-not-a-slave-Verso's piano concert. We have no idea how many people she managed to bring back. She's limited by her skills and the amount of chroma available to her.

Because she's spent enough time with them to fulfill painting's whole "caputure the essence of them" thing.
By Maelle's own words everyone else in Lumiere avoided her and treated her as the town weirdo. She joined the expedition because outside of Gustave and Emma she never felt that she fit in.
Does that sound like someone who would be able to faithfully recreate everyone else that got gommaged?

Are we gonna ignore the fact that Alicia "resurrected" former expeditioners to fight for her like a fucking necromancer? That should give an hint to what happened in her ending

How does that address my point about WHY she was still in there?

you are saying she brought lune and sciel back not as themselves but as what maelle could remember? then how do they retain their memories that maelle doesn't know about (sciel trying to kill herself, for example)?

you CANNOT interpret it differently than me

Lumiere is in the same ruined state as before but the opera house is fully restored
Everyone outside is near perfectly still, dressed in one of 4 identical white outfits, in an unmoving queue despite all the empty seats inside
Everyone inside is positioned randomly and also wearing one of a few different identical white outfits
Alicia pretends to look for her friends as if they're not going to be right up front.
She spots them right up front, dressed identically to her
Gustave and Sophie are simply wearing the last thing Maelle would have remembered them wearing
Nobody else is moving around or talking
She repainted verso despite him begging her to let him go. (You) may think "the faggot deserves it" but Alicia claims to love him but is already overriding his will.

The game gives us plenty of reason to doubt. (You) don't have to. I don't think it's objectively the case that Alicia can't bring them back. But I do, personally, based off my own opinions, feel that what I saw suggests that. She grabbed Lune and Sciel's chroma moments after they disappeared and was able to recreate them after spending a good amount of close personal time getting to know them, and even then, I didn't feel they felt the same.

Are we gonna ignore the fact that the devs were gigajews about keeping Gustave dead when Maelle is literally given magical resurrection powers? "Muh chroma" go fuck yourselves, it would have been easy to say she had just enough to bring him back too. BRING BACK GUSTAVE

maelle brings them all back

For her to bring them back, they had to be gone in the first place. All these anons are right. They were all dead, only Sciel and Lune were left.

is anybody else think sciel have a weird face in the maelle ending? Just before the maelle screamer, sciel shift her head to the right and start to look weird

What point are you trying to make? Do you think if Renoir hadn't intervened, Aline would've just left on her own? No one else in the family seemed to believe that, but fine, I can't say it never would've happened.

Sciel especially both also Lune looked weird, too. I do think it's meant to convey that something is not quite right. A generous assumption is they're concerned about Verso, a sad assumption is that their Alicia programming is short circuiting.

, it's unlikely that she would have painted him as also suicidal in the canvas,

when Sciel tells him the story of drowning herself he says he often had those thoughts too

Post yfw first time hearing Flying Waters battle and boss themes

They were all dead, only Sciel and Lune were left.

what?

No. I'm saying she brought them back capturing the true nature of them as characters, and their memories just fill in along with it.
It's pretty much also the only way painted Verso being made of Aline's memory of Verso yet being acknowledged by Renoir as Aline's finest work would make any sense. Aline couldn't possibly know EVERYTHING about Verso. Renoir flat out says that Verso is he who guards truth with lies, which means there ought to be things Verso kept secret that Aline shouldn't know of.

See It's hard to tell what real Verso was like based only on what painted Verso is like because, by the time we meet him, he's not only a different person from real Verso but a different person from how he was originally painted due to 100 years of experiences and knowledge.

Funky as fuck

She looks like she's about to cry.

No. I'm saying she brought them back capturing the true nature of them as characters, and their memories just fill in along with it.

that's a bit of a stretch considering they both act the exact same and have the exact same memories, including those that maelle knew nothing about. you'd think that if there were any "glitches", so to say, it would have been brought up somehow

bringing back gustave for act3 would have ruined the game even more for me
seeing him """alive""" in Alicia's ending was fucking terrible for me

Both hers and Lune face partially covered in shadow hints that something in that happily ever after vaudeville doesn't seem right

I was being facetious because I think the permanence of his death works well but I don't think it would have RUINED the game if he was rezzed. Why would it have bothered you so much?

I don't understand.

In my neighborhood, this girl is MID

Nigga forgot about the gigagommage at the end of the second act

Imagine how original Verso must have felt if he got trapped inside of his own canvas. No matter how good the canvas, Verso would have surely hated being trapped inside of it.
Now take all that, but also add the detail that Verso isn't even the original and it surely ought to make it many times worse.

Are painted people "real" and do they have rights etc, etc? Sure. They're as real as any other.
But Verso isn't just a painted person. He is painted but with the memories of a man who is not. Trapped inside of a canvas, painted by the man who his memories are modelled off of.
Other painted people might feel at home inside of the canvas. It's their real world after all. But it's no wonder that Verso could never feel at home inside of the canvas. He has had his fill and he wants to return home. But he can't. But he really wants to. He misses his family, and especially when they're all hurting because of "him".

Yeah it'd be dumb, but I am curious about what the writers' "books" would be like. A short VN would be a pretty cool idea to keep the hype up while they work on the DLC that they are allegedly potentially making

Reddit writing, who cares?

Why would there be glitches though? Anon's post was basically "get the form right, the rest will follow". Alicia got the form perfectly, so the memories followed flawlessly.

because his death pissed me off so much to the point I was about to stop playing
then I read people saying that Gustave's death had meaning and you will find out later why it's important he died
bullshit

...lune and sciel got gommaged too

It was the moment I first felt like something was seriously wrong.

Considering the grand majority of Anon Babble (Anon Babble in general) is much less than mid, she may as well be a 10.

Exactly, she never even got the 1 lifetime she wanted before Renoir intervened. It's not like we find out this is the 3rd painted family or something, there's nothing shown that she was ever actually "lost".

this
I was shouting

that's not him, YOU'RE NOT REAL

if i can easily cosplay most of the male characters by just tossing on an appropriate outfit, would this game be popular enough for people to recognize it at cons?

And they were resurrected, meaning that both of them were the only lumerians left

Nigger you can just wear the fucking baguette outfit and people would recognize it.

Basically this

because if they were created exclusively via maelles memory of them there would certainly be things that weren't quite right

idk havent played it. just wanted costume ideas.

May i ask in which neighborhood do you live?

and if they got resurrected, that means that....
you are almost there

I still can’t get over Esquie and Monoco just walking out to give Verso a quiet bro hug as they died

Irrelevant trash slop

His death is the onus for Maelle obsessive revenge plot against painted Renoir, which plays into Verso's plans perfectly. That's why Verso admits he let Gustave die.

By the end you learn that Gustave died like a dog to serve the purpose of something far greater than him. It's part of what's so tragic about his death, which is also why reviving him would really undercut it.

Grim

Based

That she spent enough time with them to understand their essence and their chroma was taken apart recently enough that she could adequately recreate them.

EUROPEANS DATE HOT 15 YEAR OLDS, MURICUNS DATE GRANNIES AND TRANNIES.
MURIKA = FAT UGLY OLD BITCHES.

FAGGOT JANNIES DATE UGLY OLD LADIES WITH USED UP GAPING FLAME VAGINAS.

EUROPEANS DATE HOT 15 YEAR OLDS, MURICUNS DATE GRANNIES AND TRANNIES.
MURIKA = FAT UGLY OLD BITCHES.

FAGGOT JANNIES DATE UGLY OLD LADIES WITH USED UP GAPING FLAME VAGINAS.

EUROPEANS DATE HOT 15 YEAR OLDS, MURICUNS DATE GRANNIES AND TRANNIES.
MURIKA = FAT UGLY OLD BITCHES.

FAGGOT JANNIES DATE UGLY OLD LADIES WITH USED UP GAPING FLAME VAGINAS.

EUROPEANS DATE HOT 15 YEAR OLDS, MURICUNS DATE GRANNIES AND TRANNIES.
MURIKA = FAT UGLY OLD BITCHES.

FAGGOT JANNIES DATE UGLY OLD LADIES WITH USED UP GAPING FLAME VAGINAS.

EUROPEANS DATE HOT 15 YEAR OLDS, MURICUNS DATE GRANNIES AND TRANNIES.
MURIKA = FAT UGLY OLD BITCHES.

FAGGOT JANNIES DATE UGLY OLD LADIES WITH USED UP GAPING FLAME VAGINAS.

It hurt but Lune seething hurt more.

You are a retard and I hope you don't have any person who loves you when you inevitably kill yourself.

Painted Verso wanted death. There was no reason to expect him to walk back to the Lumiere side of the portrait.

recreate them perfectly as they were with memories that maelle knew nothing about

new narrative dropped

Wowie

That's horrifying

Maellefags would unironically defend this

Yeah given that memories are a physical part of our brains, sciel and lune's may have been a physical part of their chroma. Alicia still had to understand their essence to bring them back. If (You) feel that she's capable of doing that for every other Lumieren, then her ending makes a lot of sense. I personally do not.

do people not realize that Alicia's ending just means you restart the same cycle?
do you think her family will accept her being stuck in the canvas as the new paintress?

I held it together until then, then I started fucking crying.

Not knowing those memories don't matter. Just capturing the truth of the character. Verso and Monoco's lessons say it's not about verisimilitude.
This also applies to shit like chroma. You can remake Lumiere and all it's people on any other canvas using different paint, as long as you can portray the very same essence of the characters as they were previously painted.

Fucks one of the girls right before betraying them.

Fuck her (again) right before betraying them (again)

Why was he so based

and if they got resurrected, that means that....

They got ressurrected, meaning they were ressurrected. Everyone else was dead. Exactly what people have told you.
There were only two people left.

Nah she'll get yanked out immediately. But IF (big if) she can really bring back the lumierens, given how fast time passes in the canvas, she may give them a lot of time.

i guess i got my answer to my original question of if you saw maelles ending

immediately

meant to say eventually

the one with all these meaningless coincidences we're meant to think nothing of?

The ending where they're later all ressurrected.
People being ressurrected at a later point in the story does not invalidate the "they were dead" affirmation.

Yeah, I think the Verso we meet in the game is the culmination of the guilt felt by two different people who lived two different lives, just like how Maelle feels the loss and sadness of two people after living and losing so much as both Alicia and Maelle. They make for such stirring characters to represent the final choice of the fate of the canvas in the end. I don't usually care much for painted world stuff, but this game's story does some interesting stuff with it.

i've noticed there's one of two guys in every E33 thread, including on Anon Babble, who make up a bunch of headcanon bullshit with no supporting evidence and get mad when people don't accept it

Damn that clears up a LOT. So what was the deal with painted Alicia giving him the letter? Did she not know that he knew the truth? How did she find out?

Yeah I've never seen an E33 thread without endingniggers duking it out. This time the aliciafag came in pretty late but the tone instantly shifted. They're like natural disasters.

nigga are you retarded

This was it, this absolutely broke me. All the hours with her as a key party member, she's been through so much and it's all just gone up in smoke.

Just that look of absolute judgement and resignation.

So what was the deal with painted Alicia giving him the letter?

She's tired of Aline and Renoir fighting and was hoping Maelle could come up with a solution that makes everyone happy. Spoiler alert : she doesn't.

Key party member

She's kind of a cunt in act I, she does nothing in Act II, and I had her benched for a while. I thought it was funny Verso pumped a song into her womb and then peaced out.

Anon. Look at how this thread started, it was an ending thread from the beginning.

resignation

Nigga you blind? If she were resigned to oblivion she would have gone across and done death by trespass like the rest of the party.

No problem bro.
In fact the majority is like you. They didn't see this scene. This is why they chose Verso's ending and why you probably did.
Verso is in fact a complete traitorous lying piece of shit.
I'm currently replaying the game and there are so much hidden things that really make you think that Maelle's ending is the good one.
I'm not saying this is the absolute truth but there is a good 65% chance that Maelle's ending is in fact canon.

Endingposting can be lighthearted or... Well, you've seen the alternative.

This is why they chose Verso's ending and why you probably did.

That scene changes nothing. Alicia didn't even care. Painted people just aren't that important, unless it's Verso, because Alicia can pretend he's her real dead brother.

She's just super logical in Act 1. She's trying to keep everyone on mission when Gustave just wants to grab Maelle and book it.

In act II she's the one who kills Sirene.

My party for most of the endgame was her/Maelle/Verso. I haven't been going around doing many sidequests though.

She's not running away, she's sitting down because that's the only thing she can do. She's resigned to her fate, not accepting of it, which is why she doesn't walk through like Sciel.

I saw this scene
I still chose Verso
Fuck you

Verso's ending: Spiral ending
Maelle's ending: Anti-Spiral ending

Spoiler alert : she doesn't.

Because Verso didn't give her the letter and she didn't read it until it was already too late

In act II she's the one who kills Sirene.

You know as much as I do that the kill hit for the two axons was embarassingly bad. The two side characters came from nowhere for the kill just so we don't forget these characters exist.

Sorry anon, my mom's getting freed from this canvas :)

And I respect your choice. But I do believe you are completely in the wrong.

Her reading the letter wouldn't have changed anything

Verso's obviously a lying douchebag, he lies throughout the game. And yet his ending is still more persuasive because the alternative is that Renoir kills himself getting Maelle out of the painting for good and it just does more damage to the family.

He was completely fine with Maelle's initial solution until he clocked that she was never going to leave.

One thing that does bother me is that the other characters can clearly tell that Verso knows a ton, ton more about the situation than he's willing to reveal and none of them challenge him even close to enough before all the big betrayals.

What could she have done differently, anon?

inb4 I DON'T HAVE TO KNOW SHE WOULD'VE FIGURED IT OUT!

Oh and she would know the truth because she’s hanging out with the real Aline. I keep forgetting there isn’t a painted one

But I do believe

And who are you exactly?

We do see that Verso defuses their suspicion with humor and selective or even misleading truths. The only one not satisfied immediately is Lune, and we're TOLD that he stays up all night answering her questions, but there's a lot that we don't see, you're right.

Was it dumb, maybe. But you said "she does nothing during act II" and I just pointed out what she does during act II. She's definitely got more story presence than Sciel who basically fades into the background entirely.

You can believe that if you want to, but thanks to Verso we'll never know. Look at the scene where they meet painted Alicia in the reacher, it's pretty clear that she sees the current state of things as his fault.

Anon, none of any of Alicia's ideas ever work out.

trust writers : Verso dead

hide painting : mom finds it in no time flat

ask papa to help with the painting : surprise he wants to destroy it and talk no jutsu doesn't work on him

The delusion that she would have found another way when the game is basically "Maelle/Alicia can't have nice things : the game" is hilarious.

The only one not satisfied immediately is Lune

That's when the thunder cock came into play.

I like to think they know it's what child Verso would have wanted, and as his childhood sketches, they came to terms with it.

So you have no suggestion for how it could've just all worked out if Alicia had read the letter?

What would Clea say?

hide painting : mom finds it in no time flat

Versonybros confirmed as not actually playing the game

I thought it was funny Verso pumped a song into her womb and then peaced out.

The black haired kid isn't her son, it's one of Gustave's apprentices, iirc it's the one Maelle gave Gustave's journal to at the end of act 2 who runs away in sadness.

LINEN
AND COTTON LAY

That bit actually really bothered me because I was also interested in what he had to say but they didn't bother telling us what questions he was answering.

As soon as the manor disappeared in Old Lumiere they should have been demanding he explain what the fuck was going on and why there's a teleporting manor and a faceless woman and a bunch of stuff he clearly knows and isn't spilling the beans on.

Renoir: I NEED mom

Clea: I NEED mom

So what was the deal with painted Alicia giving him the letter? Did she not know that he knew the truth? How did she find out?

She genuinely wanted her family to survive as well as Maelle/Alicia's, she held no jealousy for her despite not being disfigured like she got painted as, and wanted to tell her the truth and entrust her that she'd find a way to let everyone live, not just let the strong erase the weak
Except Verso didn't allow it.

Anon, how much time do you think passed in the real world during the little recruitment montage?
Renoir even states it's too soon for Aline to enter any canvas.

Verso is working towards that solution for all of act III until he clocks that it doesn't exist and that Maelle is just going to do exactly what her mother did

You can believe that if you want to, but thanks to Verso we'll never know

Maelle doesn't wake up herself as Alicia and doesn't manifest her paintress powers until she gets gommaged but instead of being kicked out on death she just remakes herself with the memories.
A Maelle that just reads the letter still has no idea what the fuck is going on with canvas worlds, painted clones, all the bullshit that's utterly unbeliavable; she might, in fact, just not believe it. The point of inflection in her character is when she regains her memories and then she knows all these things, but she didn't regain these memories from a chat, or from events reminding her. She complains Verso didn't "help her remember", but if she could be reminded of who she was, the events of Act I and II would, and she still doesn't. She had to die to remember it.

You think the majority of people missed the scene that you see after going to a place that's literally marked on your map as an objective? It's literally Maelle's max relationship scene, who wouldn't max the relationship with all of the characters let alone Maelle?

It would've been hours of Q&A, probably too much to write and animate. As for after the end of Old Lumiere, you're totally right. That moment and when you find Julie and Verso's journals, Lune and Sciel just let way too much go. It's my only big gripe about the story.

Play the game. I'll even give you a hint: final battle against Renoir.

gustave

i don't get it

Can you explain how that ending may have come to pass?

I do, but I know it would hold little value to you, we're both in the realm of speculation at that point. For starters they wouldn't have ejected Aline first, while she still needs to be kicked out it would have been better for everyone if Renoir was the one kicked out first.

Why did he hide the letter from Maelle, is he stupid?

No, he's quite smart. He's just a selfish asshole. This is why Maelle Ending is best. Instead of getting what he wants, he resigns himself to his role. That's character development.

T. Zoomie with nonexistent attention span didn't paid attention during the final boss fight

He pumped a song, not a son

Painted renoir ambushed them when they were looking for rocks to throw at the monolith.

Bear in mind that less than 40% of Anon Babble is white. That should put things in perspective.

I do, but I know it would hold little value to you,

Weak cope.

eject Renoir before Aline

Congrats now no one in the canvas can challenge Aline. Next.

Gustave's 'tism is throwing rocks in the direction of the monolith.

He could have been too much of a overused Reddit mascot character but every line of his was landing in the later acts

Verver

Bad things happen when we get mad

Congrats now no one in the canvas can challenge Aline. Next.

They could challenge Aline just as they could challenge Renoir when he was the one who held sole ownership of chroma in the canvas

clea mentions how well the canvas is hid

aline still pops in shortly after to btfo renoir

dumb nigger

oh duh. deadass forgot about most of gustave's character outside of his death being a vehicle for the plot to actually start

just as they could challenge Renoir

Oh, the guy they only defeated with Aline's help? Next.

Without Renoir's help, they can't cross the barrier or even kill Painted Renoir.

FRANCOIS

YOU GOT SMAAAAASHED

Ok? They aren't even given the letter until after the barrier is broken. Why would that matter at all?

meets sciel

immediately jokes about her trying to kill herself

Child verso was based for creating such a friend.

Because they couldn't even REACH Aline without Renoir's help. They're sure as shit not going to defeat her without it. They can't even defeat HIM without HER. Which is why you ignored this

youtu.be/n5StbilWhRw?t=162

Child verso was based for creating such a friend

Clea was the one who created it

That would be up to the writers to figure out, not me.

It matters because your what-if scenario of kicking Renoir first rests on them being able to get to the monolith by themselves, when they could not. Aline wouldn't have helped them because her mind is gone, she barely even knows what's going on.
The party needs aid from one of the two inside the monolith to succeed against the other, and the only aid they can secure (not only in this scenario, but realistically, in any scenario) is Renoir's.

nah man Esquie is 100% Verso's. Francois was probably Clea's.

No, I can't even imagine a scenario where it could've worked out, but I demand that you accept it anyways.

okay

Aline might have helped them kick Renoir out, she told Expedition 60 about him. But it also seems like she didn't help them since they got BTFO, so you're probably right.

At that point it enters the realm of fanfiction. Like imagine the opposite situation and I said something like

maybe Aline could come back in the canvas and tip the scales in the fight against Renoir

and then you would say some response like

that's just dumb fanfiction shit. They literally hid the canvas and that would defeat the point of kicking her out.

The writers of the game can write something like that, we can't, there's no right answer to that kind of question

Not just the final fight. They talk about the canvas being hidden at the start of act 3.

Aline might have helped them kick Renoir out, she told Expedition 60 about him

Aline back then wasn't in the same mental state the Aline we encounter is. The Aline we encounter is so far gone she keeps babbling incoherent shit, day dreaming about Verso, and immediatly burns Maelle's face the second she looks at her because she's spiteful towards Alicia and the fire.

I could see a what-if scenario if they had the aid of another painter, but there is no character that would help them. Clea is sided with Renoir and is so detached she doesn't even bother fixing shit herself because she thinks it's a waste of time. At that point, our speculation jumps to "well, maybe another painter from the guild!", but then our what-if scenario went completly out of the rail when we have to add in OCs for it to be possible.

that trait alone gives him more personality than painted verso

The final fight is when it becomes obvious Aline already found it

Okay but what if verso survived the fire but it turned him into a bimbo and then she entered the canvas and turned luna into a 7 foot tall tanned futanari with a 16 inch cock and she fucks the entire female dessendre (including renoir who is turned into a femboy) family into her mindless sex slaves?

Verso's character is the biggest retard filter in the game. If you don't understand him then you're low iq.

I can't think of a way it would work but I demand you accept that it could

okay

Verso is literally me
Intelligent, nihilistic and with a wicked se se of humour

Maelle's ending being "bad" is also kind of a retard filter. The game is surprisingly a retard filter in general, I don't think the story is that deep but I guess people have had their senses dulled by how dogshit most vidya storytelling is.

Gustave is the one with edgy jokes like comparing Sophie to a wilting flower.

I understand him fully and his motivations but he's still wrong.

Definitely explains why so many "people" on this board are seething over this game's success kek

Bad or good are just wrong words to use. It's not a satisfying ending though.

Clea is sided with Renoir and is so detached she doesn't even bother fixing shit herself because she thinks it's a waste of time.

While I admit this is just speculation, the lore presented to us suggests the reason Clea doesn't blow too much time resolving family drama is because the responsibilities as head of the painter council got dropped on her shoulders. We know that she snarkily comments that Aline retreating to the painting caused her to abandon her responsibilities as well as lose the position of council head (Clea specifically says she WAS head of the painters council rather than IS). Add to this the fact that the fight of painter v writer isn't just isolated to her family, and she's trying to keep the painters from getting wiped out, and you can see how I'm thinking she got the mantle foisted on her shoulders.

Neither is meant to be satisfying.

Understanding him and picking to fight as Maelle is low iq.

I feel like that's true of both. That being said, Verso's ending felt a lot more like the release of tension whereas Maelle felt like a continuation of it. Maybe that's what you mean by "unsatisfying".

If you understand Verso, as a family man, you must pick him to save Alicia.

Maybe if you don't agree with the director. One is clearly more saitsfying.

okay

Yes, he specifically doesn't want to comment on it so people will keep arguing. But he knows the actual story ending since he fucking wrote it.

he doesn't want to comment on it but i know how he feels about it

Did you talk on the phone or something?

Sensical anon that understands there is no "good" ending, just the tragedy of what-could-have-beens

It's all in the direction, just ask anyone and they will tell you Verso ending feels better.

Of course it's up to interpretation.

But mine is right AND it's what the director liked more AND everyone agrees with me

kek

These niggas need to learn to hide paintings better

Keep coping, you delusional man. There are some things that are clear cut like atmosphere.

Oh yeah that reminds me. Why did Esquie recognize Sciel?

One thing that bothers me is that Verso seems dead set against killing the Axons in act 2 even though that's the best way to carry out his plan

She attempted suicide by drowning after losing her child and husband. He saved her.

The writers might want for the endings to be neutral and up to interpretation. But the end product is not really that. One is bittersweet family reunion, the other is drug-induced suicide.

Could you have saved Gustave

yeah lmao

Oh ok, it ees what it ees

She just didn't give a shit about anyone after finding out she was Alicia huh?

She didn't
It's all about Versoand herself when she remembers who she is
She's no longer that defiant, courageous street urchin

I've seen people pick the maelle ending just to spite verso, since he lied to everyone throughout the game up until that point and people assume that means he's evil

I say this as a versofag, but if you presuppose that Alicia is capable of really bringing back Lumierens, she could provide them with many, many years of life to find closure and make peace with their existence. I don't think that's how it went down, but I get why aliciafags might see it that way.
Yup, Maelle was dead at that point.

why do you think she punished verso

I think she's gotten detached because she thinks she's going to bring them back again anyway.

That wasn't punishment, you didn't understand the ending at all if you think it was your personal vengeance over you disliking verso

Because fighting Axons was an absurdly dangerous prospect and he didn't want Alicia to die. Part of him still sees her as his sister, even if he knows he's a knockoff of her real brother.

Anyone got the maelle mod?

Forcing him to play the piano was his punishment.

But he must have had his rock. How the hell does he lose it so often?

She realized he could have saved Verso a while ago, this was just a shit test. That's why, if you lie to her, it locks out her relationship from maxing. She knows, and she's just testing to see if Verso will tell the truth.

he's just a silly little guy

If she dies she just gets booted back to her normal body though right?

On purpose so he and his buddy Verver can go on adventures

i didn't say it was her whole motivation
she also punished him by gommaging painting alicia without letting him say goodbye
and like someone else said she knew she could rez gustave at that point anyway

Yes, but he needs her to help kick out Aline. Verso's primary motivation is getting Aline out.

Speaking as someone who picked the Verso ending he is a shockingly big dickhead even if it's for a good long term cause. He manipulates every other party member throughout the entirety of act 2 including two women where he can potentially sleep with one of them. Then as soon as he realises Maelle lied to her dad he moves to destroy the canvas with no hesitation.

His reaction to Lune at the end shows it all, he knows that he's absolutely fucked over an entire town's worth of people just to save his (sort of) mother and sister.

She isn't punishing Verso for anything. That interpretation is literal headcannon because YOU dislike him and wants her to take your frustration out on him.

Same ;_;

he knows that he's absolutely fucked over an entire town's worth of people

At that point in the story the only remaining resident of Lumiere is Lune. You can't really call that a town's worth.

French developers need to imagine the strongest being in existence

Literal sentient giant walking wineskin

who else can be added to the did nothing wrong squad besides

Gustave

Simon

Lune

Painted Clea

Esquie

Expedition 60

wineskin

It's a plush doll in the setting.

In act 2 it was a town's worth, albeit one getting Logan's Runned to death. In act 3 he's destroyed the chances of the previous expeditions mattering at all. 67 years of suffering and it was all for nothing, whereas Maelle could at least have tried to preserve Luminarian society.

But I picked Verso's ending, mainly because I felt he had the much better arguments in the moment. But this was not a one sided situation.

He's literally full of wine.

Lune is not real. The only thing he did was break Aline's toys

In the painting, yes. But he's based on kid Verso's plush doll, the one you see on his bed in the manor. From here you can argue that either the painting came first and his parents commissioned someone to make a plush doll based on the painting, or that somehow the Dessendres are poorfags that had to cobble together a stuffed toy out of a wineskin, or the more likely explanation that Clea painted Esquie as a gift to Verso.

Damn, Maelle is too OP. Couldn't even see what Clea does since Virtuose marked Gommage does way too much dmg.

wait a second
if Verso and Renoir just wanted Aline out then what was the point of Renoir doing the giga gommage right after? because that one obviously didn't kill lil Verso
Verso should have entered that soul room where his real me was painting right after and ended it without giving Maelle a chance to remember and prevent everything
when you do the Verso ending it becomes clear that once lil verso stops painting it can't be reversed, he's dead and so is the canvas

Lune's as real as Verso himself is. It's impossible to say that the painted characters don't count as sentient when they clearly can make their own decisions. Verso spends the entire game doing exactly the opposite of what he was created for, for instance.

I don't know how anyone can be challenged by Clea unless you're underleveled. The manor literally gives you a picto that turns phys into void damage which she's weak to. Just slap that + cheater on Verso and steeled strike her into oblivion.

Are all French women as sexo as the ones in this game?

I think Verso clearly painted Esquie. Franc misses Clea because she painted him, Esquie is content with Verso because there's a facsimile of him there and part of his soul too.

It's possible that Esquie was a stuffed toy that Verso just painted as his first project.

But he is certainly full of wine.

I think Verso clearly painted Esquie.

The game tells you that the portrait everyone fights over is Verso's only painting.

He's basically mopping up, he can't turn off the mini Verso yet because that would kill Maelle while she's still in the canvas.

historically yes. women in france now are mostly of african or middle eastern heritage.

have you guys unlocked real alicia yet?

I'm gonna fight her again without Gommage. 10 million dmg on demand is too broken.

so I finished the game and it feels kinda weird now
I ended it at lvl54 and everywhere I went postgame said "danger" or was tedious to beat
I finished all the side quests and that got me to around 61
but now I'm at the same point again
almost everything I approach seems too highlevel and I have no idea what to do
am I supposed to go back to Lumiere and the Reacher area and just grind levels on the normal nevrons for like 10 levels? 20 levels?

The interesting thing about Verso is that he lies aad fucks people over constantly but he never actually makes his own choices. Everything he does he's doing it for his mother, or his sister, or his dad, people that are just using him or see him as a stand-in for the dead "real" verso. All of Verso's relationships are tainted by this; his only actual friend is Monoco, and you can see that in the dialogue. Even with esquie he knows he's just "fake verso." Even in his fucking ending he's only doing it because Maelle is going to kill herself in the painting, and in Maelle's ending he just quietly resigns himself to being Her Verso instead of Himself. Verso is constantly used by other people, and he just views the world in that transactional way because of it.

The one of the family? Where does it say that? The Gestrals were created by Verso too, that's why Monoco says he can't remember a time he didn't know Verso.

I went to Dark Shore until I hit 70 and now I'm just cruising around seeing what I can do.
Problems is, I'm never going to remember what I have and have not done.

try the midnight woods / red forest and the endless tower. There are also a couple other areas that I don't remember the name of that have long dungeons attached that aren't actually that bad at 60.

I think we have a disconnect here. I'm talking about the Esquie portrait hanging by the fireplace. That one Clea had to have drawn because Verso only ever had the one painting.

Spoilers incase anyone is scared of zone names.
Gestral Beach 1
Blades' Graveyard 1
Boat Graveyard 1
Twilight Quarry 1
Lost Woods 1
Ancient Gestral City 1
The Meadows 1
White Tree 1
Spring Meadows 3
Flying Waters 8
Flying Casino 10
Ancient Sanctuary 12
The Small Bourgeon 13
Gestral Village 15
Esquie's Nest 16
Hidden Gestral Arena 16
Stone Wave Cliffs 19
Yellow Harvest 21
Stone Wave Cliffs Cave 22
Forgotten Battlefield 23
Monoco's Station 25
Crushing Cavern 27
Old Lumiere 28
Esoteric Ruins 28
Abbest Cave 30
The Carousel 30
Stone Quarry 30
Visages 32
Coastal Cave 36
Sirene 37
Sinister Cave 38
The Monolith 40
Falling Leaves 41
The Barrier 41
Monolith Peak 43
Inside The Monolith 43
Lumière 48
Crimson Forest 52
Endless Tower 55
White Sands 55
The Canvas 55
Endless Tower 55
Floating Cemetery 55
The Reacher 58
The Chosen Path 60
Red Woods 60
Sky Island 60
Sacred River 60
Sirène's Dress 60
Frozen Hearts 63
Isle of the Eyes 65
The Crows 65
Dark Shores 68
Endless Night Sanctuary 73
Dark Gestral Arena 75
The Fountain 80
Flying Manor 83
Painting Workshop 90
Sunless Cliffs 92
Renoir's Drafts 93
The Abyss 99

When Renoir starts lecturing Maelle, I sat there thinking god damn he's telling me to stop playing forever games and go touch grass. Heckin' based.

Only Versofags are emotionally invested into the rubbish story.

On the contrary he is making his own choices. He was painted to be a replacement Verso and therefore to help protect the canvas, but he's made his own choice to ally with the Real Renoir instead.

The final 3 zones are Flying Manor, Endless Tower and Renoir's Drafts so just do everything else before those 3.

Whats Endless Night and Sunless Cliffs? I think I've found everything else.

I highly doubt this. Picking the Maelle ending for reasons like "fuck that lying fuck Verso" or "that stupid family deserves to suffer" paints an equal or even greater emotional investment in the story.

No idea. I got the list from this mod. I think imma just install it since I'm at the end of the story.
nexusmods.com/clairobscurexpedition33/mods/200?tab=files

He's not doing it FOR himself, is the thing. He's just doing it because he thinks it's what his family needs. The only genuine choice you get as Verso that he makes for himself is whether or not to fuck Sciele, and once she finds out her husband can be brought back she tells verso he can be a fuckbuddy until then or just to pound sand, another example of him just being used for something by someone else.

Lune, Verso, Maelle is unironically the perfect team.
What's even the gameplay purpose of Scielle and Monoco if you're not going for a challenge run?

There really shouldn't ever be a point where you have to grind in this game except maybe for one specific, very hard superboss. Levels mean less than just having a good build, or successfully parrying everything.

Head to danger areas that have lootable items and grab some strong pictos, rethink your party comp, and upgrade your weapons. I would suggest going to Frozen Hearts next, it's very doable at level 61.

Maellefags literally pick the ending where you cling desperately to the fictional world and characters that you've had fun exploring and hanging out with for 50+ hours, you think they're not invested in the story?

I want to have sex with Clea

remind me what Verso's last words in Maelle's ending are

I flipflopped between Scielle and Verso until I got Combo Attack I and realised the potential of Duelliso. Monoco I never really understood, introducing a blue mage type that late was not fun and the random wheel spinning was even worse.

Lune was benched for almost the entire game for me, I have no idea why people use her. Sciel is great midgame but falls off a bit unless you go full support with her. I ran Sciel and Monoco for all of act 3's content, including the endless tower and all of the superbosses. Had to switch things up a bit for Simon though.

Verso's on a typical 1hp glass cannon build that Sciel spams fortune's fury and intervention on, and Monoco stacks shields for damage (and to keep him from dying if I fuck up parries obviously). They're great supports if your Verso is strong.

Reading these threads is making me realize I barely experienced the game. I skipped like half the content you guys are talking about. Gonna have to replay it someday

Is the number next to it supposed to be the level you should be at? Because I beat everything minus Simon, and I was at most level 88

In my neighborhood, this girl is MID

Where the fuck do you live nigga?

Monoco is easily one of the best characters in the game from the moment you get him.
The move that drains 90% of your hp (triggering every single low HP picto because this game calculates buffs on the fly instead of turn start) pretty much solos every small enemy in the game. He was also my first character to start hitting the 9999 wall with every move (as early as the first axon).
In the early game I had him setup to do crazy break damage but I'm finding that niche useless lategame.

I think those are the levels where the portal to the area turns white.

He was also my first character to start hitting the 9999 wall with every move

Is that earthquake skill glitched? It says 3 medium hits but that shit hit 9999 every single time pretty much out of the gate. I have no idea why it's so strong.

With the exception of one weapon it's not random. Each skill tells you how many slots the wheel moves.

I think the position of the wheel at battle start is random, although there are some weapons that force it to start at certain stages (I know there's one that always starts on almighty).

I have no idea. I too have noticed WILDLY different "medium" damages without factoring weaknesses.

Lune equipped with Typhoon plus the appropriate Lumina gives every buff plus 9 AP to herself all teammates constantly. Not to mention she can dump out empowered Hell and Lightning Dance to obliterate everything.
If Maelle didn't exist she'd be the strongest party member (post Superboss Verso is broken too tho).

have first strike on entire party

no problems for many hours of play

suddenly fighting a petank

he goes first, despite my entire party having first strike

Excuse me but what the fuck?

That's kind of irrelevant in act 3 when ap is plentiful in other ways and you want the inverted damage buff

the way his right eye is wonky like Renoir's

This shit right there. These kind of little things are what make the writing special. It's these little things that tell you the story beyond what you see at first glance.

This "Gustave" is not the same Gustave we know. It's not possible to just repaint the same person. Not for Alicia at least. This "Gustave" is some weird amalgamation of characteristics Alicia projected from her experience. It's as if someone who can't draw for shit tried to trace someone else's art and but came out all wrong.

Yeah he says 'I don't want this life" and "Help me" and her answer to that is just to repaint him and make him be Verso again, and he just kind of gives up and lets it happen. It's him just reverting back to "going through the motions" like he was before

Didnt PAlicia say he could choose to giver her the letter or not? Could have sworn I remember he read it and it said that.

Medium isn't real. Every move has different multipliers. Earthquake skill has a 10x multiplier for some weird reason so it outdoes a lot of Monoco's kit. The funniest part is that 10x doesn't even require a mask so it's a great move on offturn plays too.

In general I felt like I had no tools to really know how to build shit, but balance is fucked so it's easy to break the game anyway. Tons of stuff like "this does more damage" that doesn't specify any percentages or anything, situations where I can't tell if increases stack additively or multiplicatively, not knowing the difference in scaling between "low"/"medium"/"high"/etc. Just really opaque in terms of info.
Yeah I had her as a Typhoon bot, it's really good with the right pictos. But eventually I realized Monoco could just stack shields on everybody so you can perfect every fight without even having to nail dodges or parries half the time, and like another anon said, once you get the picto that doubles AP gain then everyone basically has 9 at all times.

Am I the only one who went with 100% crit Lune? The skill that gives all elemental spheres on crit + elemental genesis which requires all elements feels REALLY nice.

okay thanks
now give me a fun build for maelle/sciel/lune because right now I'm just doing Hell and Sword Ballet spam coupled with pictos that give me AP and heal on parries

Monoco says it a couple times; when you bring someone back, it's never the same person. Memories are gone. I wish they leaned way harder on that in act 3 because apparently a lot of people missed that!!!

Yes, but he made the wrong choice, thus why she wanted to kill herself afterwards.

You could go full burn maybe, Maelle has a strong burn build. Sciel is kind of an odd one out there, I guess you could just have her spam Intervention on Lune/Maelle (+4 AP and ally moves instantly) so they can spam more fire.

I dont see how that's betrayal then if she said he can choose to do that if he wants.

You bring up a good point and I think back to when Monoco was talking about reviving the gestrals and Noco, saying yes they can revive Noco but his memories what made him, him is gone forever.

Have these values been datamined and dumped somewhere? 10x definitely sounds like a bug or something. I'd like to know what the skills actually even do, even though I don't have anything left in the game to beat with that information.

Sciel is kind of an odd one out there

I don't want to play Verso anymore after he confirmed he let Gustave die
and I don't like Monoco's wheel

Maelle build for me is all 3 painter abilities plus Pyrolyze, Gustave's Homage and Mezzo Forte. Use the Lithum, it's by far her best sword as long as you're not a shitter at parrying.

I don't know why you think choosing something makes you immune from consequences. He made the decision that her world was worth sacrificing and as a result she made the choice to kill herself. Cause and effect

It's not random but it's a huge amount of setup especially since you need to farm Nevron feet to build pathways for him. Whereas the other characters get their skills normally.

There's a guy on youtube who dumped them into spreadsheets. There's also a mod on PC that shows the actual multipliers.

Yeah i get that, but anons say he betrayed her, when he just made a choice she gave him

Damn should have known there'd be a mod like that out there somewhere. That would have removed a lot of frustration I had trying to minmax.

mod that shows multipliers.

INCREDIBLE!
nexusmods.com/clairobscurexpedition33/mods/134
nexusmods.com/clairobscurexpedition33/mods/105
gunna look at these and pick one. thank you.

He did betray her hopes, she had hope for a path of co-existence, but he rendered that impossible. Painted Alicia knew that by giving Verso the letter he would have to make a choice between "his" real family or pursuing a path that can help both, by choosing the real one she knows where his priorities are, and it's that he holds no practical regard for her, her painted family or anyone in the canvas really. He sacrificed them all. She knows that it's a choice he could make, but that doesn't mean it's not a betrayal.

Whereas the other characters get their skills normally.

If by normally you mean at the glacial pace of one skill every 2-10 levels versus just going and getting it from winning one fight per monster in Monoco's list, sure.
Both Monoco and the rest of their cast have their growing pains when it comes to skill acquisition.

I think the Maelle ending is deceiving , the devs put great effort in the camera work during the scenes of the game.
Now what I''m saying is that while the Maelle ending may seems happier at 1st glace the last shot of the ending is terribly sad, she is shown alone in front of the tomb of her brother with nobody to support her and I think it's deliberate

Alright, I could see that point of view.

There was never going to be a path of coexistence, the mom wouldn't leave the painting until she was forced out or died. Renoir technically could have just left, but he would lose his wife and daughter and basically only have one living family member left, who is a total bitch and is probably just going to kill herself in her stupid war anyway. There's no good end for everyone here.

Listen to the song and read the lyrics. It's not a sad ending at all.

Sciel is godlike. Verso + Maelle + Sciel is probably the strongest team overall. Sciel spams Intervention and Fortune's Fury to support Verso and Maelle's insanely OP damage output, and she can also use Our Sacrifice to bring them to 1hp which not only sets up low hp builds (the strongest things in the game) but also does a metric shitload of damage on its own. Verso has tons of builds that can start him at S rank and keep him there for the entire fight, and Maelle is obviously the strongest single damage output char in the game.

Most team comps are good though. The game's pretty easy and most characters' kits play well enough off of each other that any combination will work fine.

The truth is Maelle killed Monoco and Esquie

that scene is from the Verso ending

Did you really expect ranjesh to have played the game enough to know what he's talking about?

I'm frog, i know what the song is saying, and i don't think it invalidate my interpretation

711036237

yes my bad I meant the verso ending

Then why do you think it's sad? The bonds will remain with her forever.

she had hope for a path of co-existence, but he rendered that impossible

No, she did that herself by opting to test her brother for some reason instead of delivering the letter herself. Or, you know, actually talking to Maelle.

it can still be sad, even with the "bonds in the drawing/lines".
I think it's just a way of saying "they are still with you, in your heart"

I think she wanted her brother to take her side by his own choice, not to try and go around him.

To add to the points you've made, just delivering the letter sooner would have been a greater step toward finding a path to co-existence. Dumbass literally waited until the night before the group was gonna set off to kill the paintress and really expected they'd what, just turn tail and throw out all the progress they've made so far?

Renoir would eventually try to yoink her out, probably with the help of Clea.

He IS aware that Alicia was lying about leaving the canvas, but he was too tired and worn after all the battling to give a shit at that very moment - plus, he was still hoping Alicia wouldn't turn into Aline 2.0.

I'm amazed a western game has swimsuits in 2025. Lune is so distracting whenever she floats up with her ass on full display when you cast Typhoon.

He doesnt if Alicia's ending is anything to go by. Bitch is old and he never came back to get her out.

Yeah. That's certified bittersweet ending (so a bit sad I guess).

There's a surprising number of ass shots in cutscenes too. Do I get to keep these in NG+? I wanna play the entire game with them on.

He IS aware that Alicia was lying about leaving the canvas, but he was too tired and worn after all the battling to give a shit at that very moment - plus, he was still hoping Alicia wouldn't turn into Aline 2.0.

He's also not batshit insane like Aline who would try to jump back into a canvas after a prolonged stay with all the physical debilitations it comes with.
Time flows faster in the canvas. Renoir is probably still laid up from when he left.

That moment and when you find Julie and Verso's journals, Lune and Sciel just let way too much go. It's my only big gripe about the story.

They were way too lenient with him, especially after his first big betrayal after Act 2. But then again, they're both women, so my headcannon is that their unsated cocklust in combination of their women logic of

I can fix him

got the better of them.

Maelle has a swimsuit? Wtf, why are the French like this?

Why wouldn't she have a swim suit?

Monoco is talking about Gestrals, but without Gustave's chroma (like Lune and Sciel) Alicia had to draw him from scratch and she is not an experienced painter.

They're based.

Was it kino?

She attempted suicide by drowning after losing her child and husband.

Almost correct, but also wrong.

Her husband died in an accident early, so she lost six potential years with him before their gommage.

She then tried to kill herself via drowning, Esquie noticed her sorrow and saved her.

What she didn't know was that she was pregnant from her husband and that little suicide stunt killed their baby, thus the last thing she had from her husband.

She's 16

It’s not Alicia’s ending, it’s Maelle’s ending. Verso cries precisely because you choose to save Maelle, not Alicia.
Meanwhile, in his ending, you save Alicia and kill Maelle, that’s why she disappears along with everyone else in the end.

She's able to conceive a child

Ok? Is she meant to be locked up in some burqa? It's just a swim suit, it's not even a bikini.

OUT OF 10

I think her mom hates her. The Paintress burnt her face even in the painting.

Meanwhile, in his ending, you save Alicia and kill Maelle, that’s why she disappears along with everyone else in the end.

Lune didn't disappear though.

I think Aline blames Verso's death on Alicia, which is why she paints her scarred.

If you read Aline's journal entry it becomes apparent that she painted Alicia to function as an anchor to reality, except that it didn't work at all.

everyone waving goodbye

Gustave beckoning her to come with them

huh? interesting

It hurts bros, I haven't had post game depression like this for a long time.

Did you know if you go to the beach you can see 8 yo girls in bikini? Sometimes even younger!

And then there are all the sear catalogs and clothing ads. I wonder if they still do those models.

No, Verso says that she'd be Maelle in any world because she'd take those experiences with her.

Maelle should've been older

Honestly the type of people crying about a girl in a swimsuit in a game, the fuck is wrong with them? Are they perverts or something?

Doing the lower floors of Endless Tower early is good. The level range is very high because of the floors. The highest floor feels like it has a level around Renoir's Drafts

Her and Lune's expressions are incredible and this is the most kino shot I've seen from a game

Only her memories remain. The real Maelle, the Maelle who lived in Lumiere and in that world is dead.
Just like you can paint Gustave and Verso on 99999 canvases, but they’ll never be the same as that one.

I unironically reloaded just to save that screenshot when I got there. I know it's overused but that final sequence is absolute cinema.

16 years as Alicia

16 years as Maelle

she's been alive for 32 years like the Expedition

it's poetic

it's been sticking with me for a week

I never though that, actually kino

Asking the company who obviously wants to expand the series about making the ending that limits the world into one canvas, Canon

Are Maellefags this delusional?

Yes but when you view everything through the lens of hating verso for being a sexhaver you have to paint all of his action as maximally evil for no reason but to fuck people over

Because it's not really true, she's lived a total of 32 years but across the lifespan of two 16 year olds. So she's still mentally 16. No 5000 year old vampire loli magic here. Plus she doesn't remember anything about being Alicia for most of the game.

Unequivocally.

Yeah nothing had gotten me this bad since true detective season 2's ending

Because he wants you to defeat the paintress so Renoir will kill him and if the party finds out his intention and knowing Paintress dies = our world ends and she isn't the one doing the gommage too his plan would fail

He knew what was going to happen.
He suspected the letter could have exposed his real intentions or restored Maelle memories so he kept it hidden

Renoir recruits pAlicia, Gustave and (Original Character for DLC) to stop Alicia and get her out of the canvas

Renoir promises to keep the canvas alive, but in a secret place.

Rate my DLC.

0/10 misses the point of the first two endings.

The Axons are made after the negative traits of the REAL members of the family and were not made inside verso canvas too.
Real renoir just repaitended them in

Party member is THE BOY REPAINTED AS GUSTAVE

For maximum fuckery.

Is the boy in Maelle's ending supposed to be Scielle's kid?

It's one of Gustave's apprentices.

yeah, mine

It's one of Gustave's apprentices.