obie52.bsky.social
I am the default options in character creation.
311 posts
38 followers
29 following
Getting Started
Active Commenter
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Reloading is always an option
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The upper end of the tech industry runs on "trust me bro" energy in order to get free money from other rich people who have more money than they know what to do with. The lower end meanwhile sighs while trying to compete for second-to-last place in closed tickets.
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Like, most of my fellow peers aren't in college for the experience. They are in college because a Bachelor's Degree is required for any job that pays $50k+, and a Master's is required for any job that pays $100k+. If you wanna fix that attitude, you gotta fix the economy.
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I mean, until people can buy a house and raise a family with a job right out of high school, people are going to see college as a societal and economic requirement for comfortable living rather than a pursuit for knowledge and self improvement.
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HOW DID YOU KNOW!!??
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Don't forget about the people who didn't vote at all because "both sides are bad." Because when you abstain, the greater evil always wins.
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A.) it still took 4-5 turns for him to "get his gimmick off."
B.) he didn't allow Gage to get his gimmick off, so why should Gage let him get his combo off as well?
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Either way, 10/10 game, will be NG+ it, and would definitely recommend it for everyone to play!
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I hope you and down that Sandfall makes some optional content that can answer that question. The game is only a month and a half old and the studio is still a very small team, but I would love an after story DLC that covers "Clea's Story" and focuses on outer world events.
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Now, while those two endings are their own master class cinema endings, the game still left a lot of questions. Who are the Writers, and why did they start the fire? How is Clea's war against them going, and what does she do when every other member of her family is in the canvas?
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And just like that route, it shows that despite the dream world being more pleasant, it also doesn't help you heal, and it traps you into a hole where you can't grow or heal. In Maelle's ending, she ended up trapping herself in this more pleasant world, avoiding the more painful real world.
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This ending in particular gave me huge Hikikomori route vibes from Omori, in how Omori secluded himself inside the home, shutting himself away in the more colorful and less terrifying dream world as a way to cope with his sister's death.
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The epilogue ends with Verso accepting his fate, both literally and figuratively as Maelle's puppet, performing on stage for her. After all, Maelle, as a Painter, is the God of this world now. She gets to make the rules and live how she wants, even if it makes others unhappy.
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At the base level, it shows that Alicia is losing her humanity, if she has not lost all of it. That despite appearing normal in this canvas world, not having any injuries, she still is disfigured and damaged. That this isn't Verso's canvas, it is hers now.
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Maelle's face, showing signs of being painted over. Signs that we saw in the first epilogue from Aline, Renoir, and Clea, the consequences that Painters face when they live inside the canvases. And this has so many levels of symbolism.
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And right after Verso sits down, and breathes reluctantly, we see cutting shots to Sciel and Lune, expectantly waiting for him to begin, and then a damning reveal that shoots down all hope for this to be considered a good ending, and suggests this to be quite the horrific fate.
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He is also the only one who seems sad and reluctant, fitting for someone who did not want this life, and yet is forced to live it anyway. He reluctantly steps up to the piano, despite everyone, including Maelle, smiling and clapping for him. This part of the scene is monochrome btw.
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So far, everything seems good and happy, and one would think this is the happy ending, and then we get to the real meat of the epilogue. The show starts, and we see an aged Verso reluctantly stepping up to the piano, suggesting that he is the only one who is actually aging in this world.
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Sciel has her husband who had died in an accident sitting next to her, completely alive. Lune has a kid with her, probably one of Gustave's apprentices. Speaking of which, both him and Sophie are alive, and Maelle is sitting with them all, looking happy and alive.
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The epilogue that follows, "A Life to Paint," is the reason why escapism is one of the most major themes of this game. We cut to the Lumiere Opera House, where Esquie and Monoco have found jobs as staff apparently, and Expedition 33 sitting for the upcoming show, with everyone back.
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Regardless, Verso fades away, still pleading that he "does not want this life" hoping that he might hear the hidden message, but alas, she does not. Instead, she decides to resurrect him, asking "if you could grow old, would you find a reason to smile?" Leading to Maelle keeping the canvas intact.
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That said, you can't help but empathize with Alicia's reasoning. Not only do we have the fact that she doesn't want to live a life scarred and damaged, but this is a world where she can have her brother, alive again. She even states that she just wants to live a life time with her brother.
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And Alina, already grieving the loss of Verso, will most likely be broken with the loss of Alicia, even if Alicia was her least favorite of the three children. Point is, Verso doesn't want his family to die, which will happen if Alicia chooses to live as Maelle.
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Which means that not only does Alicia never get to heal and live a life despite her injuries, his family will forever be splintered, damaged, Verso's family will never heal. Renoir will lose another child, and might lose every child with Clea focused on her war with "the Writers."
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Despite Maelle telling him to stop saying it, he keeps repeating "I don't want this life." One could immediately assume that he means he doesn't want his life, but he could also be talking about Maelle's life. If he doesn't get unpainted, Maelle will only live inside the canvas...
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So what about the other ending? Would that be better? Nope. In Maelle's ending, we see Verso begging Maelle to stop his fading self from painting as he gormages (initially). As he lies fading away, he begs Maelle to unpaint him, that he doesn't want this life.
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This was something that was forced upon Alicia without her autonomy. Verso made the decision, not Alicia, and therefore she didn't choose this path willingly, and that even if she is on the path of healing, will she ever truly love due to her disabilities? Is a life of suffering truly living?
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The epilogue itself ends with Alicia watching a vision of the people in Verso's canvas gormaging away as she stands over Verso's gravestone, conveying the feeling that she does let the pain go, and thus starts her path of healing. One could say this is the good ending, except...
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And when Verso finally walks away with his faded self, with the knowledge that you essentially backstabbed everyone whom you made serious connections with, and with the thought, "Did I choose wrong," the epilogue "A Life to Love" shows the family mourning together, Alicia holding a toy Esquie.
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She had spent the entire game fighting to survive, fighting for not just her life, but for the lives of everyone in her home. And Verso had basically betrayed her. You had betrayed her for siding with Verso. And she will silently remind you that you betrayed her, that you killed her.
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And then we get to Lune, who is the one who will make you feel the consequences of your choice, and remind you that Verso's decision is still a dick move. You see Lune, gormaging, looking the most angry you have ever seen her, and she sits down and gives you a death glare of all time.
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We then see Sciel, who has already accepted her gormage due to having a more accepting view of her mortality, silently understanding Verso's actions, though not necessarily forgiving him either, fading away with a very hurt expression on her face.
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After Maelle fades away, Verso then witnesses the consequences of his actions as the rest of the world starts fading away, starting with Esquie and Monoco, who console due to them knowing that this is what he wants for his family (due to them being his family in a way) before gormaging.
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Given Alicia's physical disfigurements and disabilities from the fire, one could argue that living in the painted world until she dies is the life that she wants. Why live a life of suffering and pain when you could instead live in a perfect fantasy world?
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If you decide to fight as Verso, you are met with Maelle begging Verso to reconsider as she is getting ejected, begging him to "not leave her again." And although Verso tries to reassure her that she has an incredible power, and that she "never has to suffer a life she doesn't want..."
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You are then given the choice for the fate of the canvas, where you choose who to fight as, Verso or Maelle, each resolution leading to a different, heart wrenching ending. And as I said before, neither of them are really "Good Endings."
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HOWEVER, Maelle comes in, inducing an argument about how she wishes for everyone in this world to live, that she doesn't want the canvas to be destroyed, while Verso wants to pass on, and for Alicia to go back and live an actual, real life, not a fake one in a fake world.
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Ultimately you stop Renoir from reading the canvas himself, but instead of there being a celebration, Verso is seen entering "the end," and if you take a look at the objective, you will see the ominous message of "It's time to stop painting."
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Alicia, now fully adopting the persona of Maelle, has decided that instead of allowing Renoir to destroy the canvas, she would not only stop him, but make the canvas world into a utopia of sorts, and live in it.
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And with Act 2's ending and the "epilogue" in between Act 2 and Act 3, we learn that Renoir was trying to help the Expeditioners destroy Aline because he is scared of losing her too. Alicia initially goes in to try and bring them both out and help Clea against "the Writers," but...
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The game itself tells a story about Grief, Loss, and another theme that I don't see a lot of people catch onto - Escapism. After all, the whole plot of Acts 1 and 2 center around Aline escaping to Verso's canvas initially as a way to escape the pain of grieving Verso's death.