Only chance for you to leave is now because this is open spoiler country for this games story.
Can someone explain to me one thing I didn't get:
Alicia goes into the painting because Clea asks her to. Her mom plays with her chroma when she gets in.
From there Alicia seems to continue to exist in the painting similar to how Renoir , and Mama paintress. Real body for Renoir and Alicia are supposedly outside the painting.
However, mama decides to paint Maelle so she has a chance to experience a full life of happiness.
Eventually Alicia decides to be killed at the third Axon area. Maelle even before then is acting as if she had both Alicia and Maelles memories and is now both at once.
Ok. However, once Alicia dies, and say you opt for Versos ending, what's back in the real world is Alicia, correct?
Otherwise how is a painted version being able to survive outside of the canvas?
They really didn't explain this well. The way it's laid out makes it seem a painted person can exist in the real world and that the real person of them doesn't have to exist anymore.
Which then begs the question of why the fuck didn't they bring painted Verso to the real world?
I just finished the game too. I was a bit bummed out by this having a A/B ending. It goes against that classic JRPG spirit of a predetermined ending. Personally felt like Clive's choice was correct. The mother had turned into a horrible monster trying to preserve the canvas and all its creatures. What's to say the same would not have happened Maelle?
I watched Maelle's ending too and yeah the game more or less paints this as the bad outcome. Everyone is seemingly happy at the theatre but Verso's expression implies his presence there is forced on him. They're all existing for the purpose of keeping this ,even if well-intended, teenage girl happy. It's a facade that will come breaking down as its contradictions clash with a teenager acting like its ultimate authority.
Yes, right. I was actually going to post this a few days back but... my body feels extremely empty, void, after this game. Alas, here are my final summaries and thoughts of the game:
(NOTE, this is coming from a 85h playthrough where I've quite literally 100% everything about it)
+ The story feels VERY similar to one of my favorite RPGs of all time; FFX
+ There are moments, especially early on, that felt extremely inspired by Chrono Trigger
+ Pictos ala FFIX gem system works amazing in FFIX and works just as amazing in this game
+ Running around in zones and suddenly encountering a boss that's 30+ levels above your level and getting one shot is giving me FFXII-vibes
+ World map looks, feels and plays wonderfully
+ Costumes and hairstyles are obtainable in-game
+ One of the best RPG combat systems of all time, on par with SMTV:V Press Turn Icon system (although if you're not fan of timing inputs, this might not be for you)
+ There is a town I reached that VERY MUCH resembles one of my favorite towns from FFIX (I'll let you guess which)
+ No quest log, no mini map, no radar. Reminds me of how PS1 RPG was during the golden era
+ More references, I think?! Booskaboo from Seiken Densetsu 3 is pretty much in this game
+ Story and dialogue has the perfect blend of humor and serious moments
+ Not open world MAJOR PLOT TWIST: DO NOT CLICK THIS AT ALL!! DO NOT CLICK THIS!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
Killing off the main character was a ballsy choice. I still don't know if this was a good idea or not because I know people are gonna love this character.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED MAJOR PLOT TWIST: DO NOT CLICK THIS AT ALL!! DO NOT CLICK THIS!!!
+
Crushing Cavern = Demon Wall
+ Mini games! Platforming ones, volley ball ones, casino! Even the mini-game that Sean in Third Strike does to the player is in this!
+ Pontiff fucking Sulyvahn (he was in the trailers, so not gonna spoiler tag this one), and the build up to him was one of the coolest boss battles of all RPG history
+ Maelle. Just... Maelle.
+ I can't believe they straight up added a Blue Mage to this game. Needless to say, I mained him throughout the entire campaign.
+ Running around in ultra high level areas (60+ when you're half the level) and just avoiding enemies and grabbing a bunch of overpowered items lying around gave me the exact same feeling I had when I discovered Necrohol of Nabudis from FFXII. This was always my most fond memory of FFXII and Expedition 33 just replicated that feeling.
+ End-game sub-character plot twist:
Noco's death was actually very sad and it reminded me of Cait Sith's death. They even specifically say that he will be able to resurrect but it won't be the same (with Cait Sith, they mention that it'll never be that exact same toy ever again).
+ The games currency (money) is valuable from beginning to end game and is a hurdle many JRPGs tend to ignore.
+ Tower of Babel
+ I don't recall ever seeing optional and end game dungeons that include fully voice acted AND motion captured (cutscene engine) scenes. Budget feels MASSIVE.
+ The QOL that makes the controller vibrate whenever you reach a grapple location is amazing and has actually saved me from accidentally missing out spots I hadn't otherwise been able to find.
+ Do I even need to mention itemization? It's so unbelievably good in this game; I can already sense how many builds you can make by tweaking the luminas.
+ No filler. Like, what the hell? Even when I'm doing optional dungeons (these have the "right" to be fillers), they somehow connect the dots to the main story, the characters or the world lore —or all three—.
+ The music changing pace and/or adding extra instruments the further into a dungeon you are is spectacular.
+ I'm gonna be real, there are not many JRPG world maps where I know every location and its geographical position. FFVII is one of them, but I've had 28 years of "routine-practice" for that game. Expedition 33, however, does the unthinkable. Even a dumb-fuck like me, is so engrossedly fascinated by the world, that I know almost all locations after a single 100% playthrough.
+ Colour of Lumina is a genius design item because it feels rewarding no matter if you get five of them early on, or five of them later on. RPGs have a hard time figuring out how to have rewarding items be useful throughout the entirety of a game. You can never have enough Lumina because there are hundreds of pictos to absord so you feel like you can become endlessly powerful.
+ I always found it oddly cozy when you could actually see your parked vehicles in a JRPG. Like in FFXII, even though Strahl is in fact invisible, you could see how it's anchored to the ground and you see the chains leading up to the airship. In Expedition 33, you can almost always see Esquie "parked" somewhere, even when you're in a dungeon.
+ Enemy variations. Whilst it is not FFVII: Rebirth, it still contains a shit load of enemy variations - something JRPGs for some reason tend to lack.
+ The super boss of the game (there are 2, I'm talking about a male character) is harder than Emerald Weapon, Omega Weapon, Ozma and Yiazmat together. And this is if you don't look up strats online and/or create certain OTK-cheese builds.
- The cutscene engine is so unbelievably realistic and the jump from that to in-game is very jarring from time to time
- I expected more options on the PS5 Pro
- No retry button in battles ala Metaphor
- No way to continue on dialogue without a button press
- Having to go to camp to save instead of just being able to save anywhere in the world map is… meh [UPDATE: Found a solution to this! No longer an issue]
- The game needs to be clearer where the cursor is in the menus, it's very vague for some reason
This is a game about grief and overcoming that. That's why (and without spoiling much) the so called "good ending" it's for me the most unjust for the players, because we (the player) connect with the characters, our party.
One thing for sure, there are no happy endings in this game.
We definitely needed a Gustave ending. I feel like if you max out and do all the character specific sidequests it should of opened up a 3rd ending. However I get that the story is about making an impossible choice. Reality or Fantasy. Logic/Order or Emotion/Chaos.
To answer the questions though. Real Alicia regained her memories when Aline(Paintress) was defeated and forced out of the Canvas. So all her memories were restored prior to her final confrontation with Painted Alicia. You have to remember that in Aline's delusion she created a fake family in Verso's Canvas world.
Verso ending results in Verso forcing Alicia/Maelle out of the Canvas before destroying it and everything in it. The only way anything survives is if a Painter recreates it and theoretically moves it to a new Canvas world. As a Painter determines the essence or core of their creations.
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What doesn't get talked about a lot is the subtle background plot between the "Painters" and the "Writers" and I hope the game's success leads to a sequel or maybe DLC that expands on this front. As Clea's War against them for the death of Real Verso is a interesting hook to explore further.
And I suspect with Verso's love of music I think the "Writers" are more in line with Songwriting then say Poetry.
Another thing I'd like to add is I think it's implied that Monoco is supposed to be the dog in the family photo.
We definitely needed a Gustave ending. I feel like if you max out and do all the character specific sidequests it should of opened up a 3rd ending. However I get that the story is about making an impossible choice. Reality or Fantasy. Logic/Order or Emotion/Chaos.
To answer the questions though. Real Alicia regained her memories when Aline(Paintress) was defeated and forced out of the Canvas. So all her memories were restored prior to her final confrontation with Painted Alicia. You have to remember that in Aline's delusion she created a fake family in Verso's Canvas world.
Verso ending results in Verso forcing Alicia/Maelle out of the Canvas before destroying it and everything in it. The only way anything survives is if a Painter recreates it and theoretically moves it to a new Canvas world. As a Painter determines the essence or core of their creations.
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What doesn't get talked about a lot is the subtle background plot between the "Painters" and the "Writers" and I hope the game's success leads to a sequel or maybe DLC that expands on this front. As Clea's War against them for the death of Real Verso is a interesting hook to explore further.
And I suspect with Verso's love of music I think the "Writers" are more in line with Songwriting then say Poetry.
Another thing I'd like to add is I think it's implied that Monoco is supposed to be the dog in the family photo.
Yes Monoco is the dog. You see how Monoco has dog like terrier features even.
I think Verso's ultimate argument in ending the canvas was letting his soul rest. The fading boy expressed some sort of suffering trying to preserve the canvas. I think the whole painter/writer war is just adding another layer of fourth wall breaking narrative. The writers could very well be to the painters what the painters are to Lumiére. Beings that exist on a higher plane of existence. The writers may very well refer to the game's actual writers. After all they're the reason so many characters are suffering
Maelle is Alicia, the real Alicia. When she gets into the canvas she basically loses control of chroma and ends up being absorbed into the world. Hence she is born and lives a second childhood in lumiere.
After fighting the paintress she regains her original memories and now basically has memories of both worlds in her.
The painted alicia was the grey one with the burn marks that dies at the axon's lair. In Verso's ending the Alicia that is back in the real world is Maelle.
I do feel we needed a third ending. While I do understand what they were going for with both and agree that verso's ending is the good ending, it leaves me a bit sad and dissatisfied that in a game that kept repeating that family is complicated and flawed there was no room for nuance in its ending.
After the final fight with Renoir, he is able to accept Maelle's choice and wants to believe her lie of her coming back soon. Yet in Verso"s ending he presumably destroys the canvas as soon as Maelle leaves.
But why? If he was willing to conform with his daughter staying there indefinitely while slowly dying in the real world, he should have been willing to compromise on keeping the canva alive without Alice in it, maybe even allowing her to come back every now and then.
The good ending also fails to aknowledge how terrible it is for everyone else, the game goes to great lengths to show that the characters inside the canva are real, they feel emotions, they fall in love, they die, they birth others and create life. They have their societies and all of it is real in their world. Yet we are supposed to accept that its for the greater good that such a magnificent world is just wiped out so that 2 women without self control can move on with their lives.
The other ending is even worse, a petty child rebelling against her father and against her "fake" brother because she can't compromise and won't accept any less than what she exactly wants. Painting Verso back against his will and not allowing him to cease existing, the very thing he's been longing for all this time, was a very cruel move.
I do feel we needed a third ending. While I do understand what they were going for with both and agree that verso's ending is the good ending, it leaves me a bit sad and dissatisfied that in a game that kept repeating that family is complicated and flawed there was no room for nuance in its ending.
After the final fight with Renoir, he is able to accept Maelle's choice and wants to believe her lie of her coming back soon. Yet in Verso"s ending he presumably destroys the canvas as soon as Maelle leaves.
But why? If he was willing to conform with his daughter staying there indefinitely while slowly dying in the real world, he should have been willing to compromise on keeping the canva alive without Alice in it, maybe even allowing her to come back every now and then.
The good ending also fails to aknowledge how terrible it is for everyone else, the game goes to great lengths to show that the characters inside the canva are real, they feel emotions, they fall in love, they die, they birth others and create life. They have their societies and all of it is real in their world. Yet we are supposed to accept that its for the greater good that such a magnificent world is just wiped out so that 2 women without self control can move on with their lives.
The other ending is even worse, a petty child rebelling against her father and against her "fake" brother because she can't compromise and won't accept any less than what she exactly wants. Painting Verso back against hill and not allowing him to cease existing, the very thing he's been longing for all this time, was a very cruel move.
Yeah the game lacks a truly good ending because's even Verso's end a lot of lives. However the alternative with his child soul being a slave to the canvas, with Maelle acting as a God resurrecting people (or atleast reimagining people based on her memories) is the worse ending and does indeed signify how fake/fickle the canvas world is, being so easily twisted by painters. In the end, they were all looking out for their own interests but Verso was the one who atleast tried to see the bigger picture (heh) here and end a non-sustainable cycle of suffering.
The people of Lumiére were screwed regardless really. The painters had already shown utter indifference to their suffering and the way Aline's painted family slaughtered them hints to me this mentality eventually passing to Maelle aswell. The latter who preferred the canvas maybe more to escape her reality of pain and ugliness.
I get where you're coming from. Learning "it was all a dream" usually leaves me apathetic. Like the movie Vanilla Sky--total waste of time.
Here, though, the constructed fantasy world reveal works for me; I think because it contextualizes the weird stuff we'd been seeing (Esquie is a child's invention; Chroma is "paint"; some enemies have a painterly theme). And Canvas people can influence people in the real world and vice versa. It's similar to the worlds of Inception or The Matrix in that way, where knowing it's all a dream/fantasy doesn't leave me going, "Who cares?"
I wondered about this. My interest was piqued as soon as the Dessendres off-handedly mentioned The Writers. I hope the DLC or inevitable sequel tell us more about them. Sandfall could go all Stanley Parable from here.
I just finished the game too. I was a bit bummed out by this having a A/B ending. It goes against that classic JRPG spirit of a predetermined ending. Personally felt like Clive's choice was correct. The mother had turned into a horrible monster trying to preserve the canvas and all its creatures. What's to say the same would not have happened Maelle?
I like the death glare Lune gives Verso in his ending. Like "I'm so fucking pissed off at you that I'm just gonna squat down and wait for death to overcome me".
This is a game about grief and overcoming that. That's why (and without spoiling much) the so called "good ending" it's for me the most unjust for the players, because we (the player) connect with the characters, our party.
One thing for sure, there are no happy endings in this game.
Exactly this. This why I chose to fight Maelle. I understand her pain and desire of running away from it but it just not healthy and also it's not fair to her parents losing another child like they did with Verso.
I wondered about this. My interest was piqued as soon as the Dessendres off-handedly mentioned The Writers. I hope the DLC or inevitable sequel tell us more about them. Sandfall could go all Stanley Parable from here.
Meant Verso of course. Same voice actor as FF16 Clive so mind went a little bit haywire.
The best ending would probably have been if Maelle just left the canvas so they could live without a God running around treating them as personal pets. But that still leaves the issue of Verso's tired soul endlessly laboring away in pain to preserve the canvas. The Dessendres are all assholes regardless IMO. They create sentient lives and treat them like toys.
Found a condensed summary of what happens in the game for those interested. Comment taken from this video from one C0smicshadow2. It's spoilered because it's a long read.
The Dessandre family are a group of artists, specializing in painting, but they dabble in the arts in general, like music and sculpting. They live in a fictionalized town in 1903 France called Lumiere. They have the power to make a canvas thats essentially another world. When Clea and Verso were kids, they created the canvas that acts as the main setting. They made the Gestrals, and since these creations were made by kids, they are usually on the goofy side and dont really die. You can just take them to the spring and they are reborn; a pretty childish interpretation of death. They also created Esquie, who was made to be the best friend of Verso, and Monoco and Nico, who are based on their pet dog and cat. Verso came to really like all the creatures of the painted world, but he preferred to play piano. Clea was a great painter, but she never cared for the world itself. It's a project or hobby to her, nothing more. The canvas ended up being abandoned for a bit, but it seems like verso still occasionally dropped in as an adult.
The group they are a part of, the painters, are in conflict with the writers. For one reason or another, alicia went to meet the writers and fell into a trap. Verso sacrificed himself to save her, but she still ended up horribly scarred. The family fell into grief. Alicia retreated into a place of guilt and shame, Clea wanted revenge, Aline withdrew from the family all together, and Renoir was caught in the middle, unable to stop the family's descent into despair. Aline eventually decided to spend time in Verso's old Canvas, since it still had his essence in it. This wasn't an immediate concern since the family has spent extended time in a Canvas before, but then Aline started reaching the point where her body started to decay. Renoir and Clea go into the canvas to see if they can bring her back.
As they enter, Renoir gets repainted as the Curator by Aline, but Clea seems to be the most talented out of everyone, so she comes out fine. They discover Aline has made a new family (and possibly painted lumiere as well) consisting of a painted version of Clea, Renoir, Grey Alicia, who is forced to live without color (basically hell for an artist) and has to keep her scars as punishment for getting Verso killed, and a new painted Verso (I'm going to just call him Verso since he's really the only one without a doppleganger). This family not only has Aline's memories of them, but they are also immortal, signaling that Aline is prepared to remain in the painted world until her grief takes her real body. Real Clea and Renoir (Curator) almost immediately decide this cannot continue and so, accompanied by the Curator's axons and some Nevrons created by Clea, they launch an attack on Aline, leading to the fracture.
The battle eventually led to the mother being sealed at the top of the monolith and the father was sealed below. The citizens of Lumiere rally themselves to begin rescue efforts from the aftermath of the battle, but they still have to contend with the leftover Nevrons. This leads to the first set of expeditioners. Sometime prior to that, Clea had kidnapped painted Clea to force her to make more Nevrons in her stead. This was because anyone killed by a nevron doesnt release their chroma, the life energy of the painted world. This also allowed her to leave the canvas and hunt Verso's killers. Without chroma from the dead, Aline cant repopulate the world (cause who wants to live in a city with just your immortal family) without using her own reserves. This became a bigger issue since Aline still needed to focus her chroma on keeping the father sealed away so he wouldnt gommage everyone at once. Once she figured out how much energy she needed to keep anyone below a certain age alive, she used her giant form to write that number on the monolith to give a warning to the citizens. However, since it started at 100, almost no one was gommaged, and for the few it happened to, itd be hard for witnesses to explain someone just combusted into rose petals. Keep in mind, the battle between those two and the appearance of the monolith happened pretty quickly and close to one another, so no one, save for the Dessandre family knew what any of it meant.
The citizens spend time rebuilding what they can on the chunk of Lumiere that separated from the continent, periodically returning to look for survivors and investigate the monolith. However, as time goes on and the paintress paints a lower number each year, more and more people start getting gommaged, and once the connection between the monolith and the gommage is established, the expedition switches from search and rescue to a milita group, hoping to save what remains of their people.
This part requires a little guess work, but after Clea kidnapped her painted version, she basically blackmailed painted Renoir and Verso to help the expeditioners, either by helping defeat her mother directly and force her out that way, or just lead the expeditioners to their deaths, so Aline cant get their chroma back. This is when Verso meets Simon (he'll be important later) and possibly Julie, and joins expedition zero and any potential expeditions that come after. Since either plan results in getting Aline back, real Clea and Curator dont really care if they succeed or die in the process, which is why Verso can betray both groups without any real consequence.
A few problems happened along the way though. One was that after a while, Verso's secret would come out. In one expedition, he got wounded bad, but healed in front of a woman named Julie. She rallied a few other expeditioners to torture the truth out of him. Fearing they would jeopardize the mission, painted Renoir and Verso killed them. Verso was especially hurt since he loved Julie. Verso also mentioned some people started recognizing him, so helping the expedition would raise too many questions. The second issue is that on the few occasions the expedition would make to the monolith, they would learn the truth and indeed abandon the mission and try to go after Curator. This was an issue because this meant they couldnt get their sister back, but luckily by the time this happened, the Gommage was already underway and there was no way for them to make back to Lumiere in time to warn everyone. The third problem was that Aline erected a barrier to protect herself. With Renoir sealed away and Clea refusing direct involvement, they would need a large amount of chroma to make a weapon capable of piercing it. The only source for this were the axons. Problem is Axons are extremely powerful, and every attempt to face one (save for Simon) resulted in the complete annilation of the squad. This left slaughtering the expedtioners as the only viable option with the least amount of risk. Verso wasn't too keen to the idea of massacring a bunch of unknowing volunteers just trying to survive, which led to his falling out with the family and him and painted renoir scarring each other.
Now to give a little bit of backstory on Simon: on top of being one of the first (and strongest) expeditioners, he also was in a relationship with painted Clea. When she was kidnapped, the Real Clea took her place and manipulated him to push his way towards the Paintress. She then grants him the power to single handedly slay the axon in Old Lumiere. With a legitimate means of collecting the chroma needed to break the barrier, he leads the group towards victory, but somehow (probably from the torture of Verso) he learns the truth and basically gives up. Aline then approaches and tells him that eliminating the curator will save not just Clea,but also his world. With new resolve and golden blade in hand, he travels to the bottom of the monolith to confront Renoir. This ends horribly for him. Since it was Curator's domain, He used what little control he had on the canvas to corrode his mind, causing Simon to release him (or at least a part of him) and Simon simply withered and died a husk. The Curator then retreated to the manor.
After this, it basically became a waiting game until Alicia decided to help the family. After moving the Canvas, she entered in to see if she can do anything, but her mother senses her presence and seals her memories away and makes her experience a new life in the painted world, giving her friends and a family, effectively emotionally blackmailing her with the perfect life under a new name: Maelle. Clea then finds Verso, guilt ridden that his family fighting over his soul, and tells him that his "sister" is coming and that they can finally end the cycle. Before, Clea had promised she would bring everyone back once everything was over, but now Verso knows that his mother is reaching her limit and won't stop, so he's completely on board with the Gommage. He keeps an eye on Maelle until she is old enough to join the expedition and then inserts himself into the group once Gustave dies.
Fast forward to the end of the game when all this revealed, and Verso and Renoir realize that Maelle has no intention leaving the canvas. She's already deemed her real life not worth living and has no issue potentially ending up like her mom. Renoir does what he can as her father to respect her choice and wishes her peace. Verso realizes that the family is on verge of collapse and jumps into the "backroom" of the canvas and talks to what remained of real Verso; the little boy. After the boy responds he doesn't wish to be the reason the family is fighting or maintain the world now that mother has been forced out, Verso tries to end the world, leading to the fight between Verso and Maelle. The ending is based on how you feel about grief, the role of god in the world, and how much a life is really worth.
Just finished it. My 'real choice' was the Maelle ending and then I watched the Fake Verso ending. The ending in general was really well done (except you may be insanely OP by then) in that I could understand where everyone was coming from, and it was a choice which provoked some thought.
The game is asking the player to consider what it means to be 'real', and whether being the creation of a creator / God is the same thing as being imaginary. I don't think that it is. The people etc. in the Canvas are portrayed as being sentient, possessing of free will, and I don't think their being created by a creator means they should be considered disposable just because it's convenient for the God/s of their world. Essentially they are us, if we definitely had a creator.
If it was just about whether Maelle and Aline should take the blue pill (Canvas world) or take the red pill (suck it up and deal with their real life problems) I would agree with Fake Verso, but it isn't. These people / Gods assumed a responsibility when they created these other people.
Fake Verso's behaviour in his ending honestly struck me as a little hypocritical - I don't think he can make the decision he did unless he considers all the other Canvas bros (and himself) to be 'less than' / disposable due to their 'created' status. Fair enough if he thinks that, but I don't think he should then be treating them like they are meaningful entities with inherent value right after he just made a choice which means he considers them disposable.
I think Fake Verso's ending has to be the canon ending if they wish to continue (forward) with this setting, but I don't in any sense consider it to be a morally good choice.
Just finished it. My 'real choice' was the Maelle ending and then I watched the Fake Verso ending. The ending in general was really well done (except you may be insanely OP by then) in that I could understand where everyone was coming from, and it was a choice which provoked some thought.
The game is asking the player to consider what it means to be 'real', and whether being the creation of a creator / God is the same thing as being imaginary. I don't think that it is. The people etc. in the Canvas are portrayed as being sentient, possessing of free will, and I don't think their being created by a creator means they should be considered disposable just because it's convenient for the God/s of their world. Essentially they are us, if we definitely had a creator.
If it was just about whether Maelle and Aline should take the blue pill (Canvas world) or take the red pill (suck it up and deal with their real life problems) I would agree with Fake Verso, but it isn't. These people / Gods assumed a responsibility when they created these other people.
Fake Verso's behaviour in his ending honestly struck me as a little hypocritical - I don't think he can make the decision he did unless he considers all the other Canvas bros (and himself) to be 'less than' / disposable due to their 'created' status. Fair enough if he thinks that, but I don't think he should then be treating them like they are meaningful entities with inherent value right after he just made a choice which means he considers them disposable.
I think Fake Verso's ending has to be the canon ending if they wish to continue (forward) with this setting, but I don't in any sense consider it to be a morally good choice.
From I can understand in order to keep Canvas alive the "real" soul of Verso is curse to paint forever, thats not good either and another problem is they just cant trust Maelle comeback to real world even if they keep the Canvas.
From I can understand in order to keep Canvas alive the "real" soul of Verso is curse to paint forever, thats not good either and another problem is they just cant trust Maelle comeback to real world even if they keep the Canvas.
It's not good, just less bad than murdering everyone in Canvas world imo.
Ultimately I guess it comes down to whether the player considers the Canvas people to have inherent value or not, and how that compares to the value of their creator/s, which is what the game wants the player to consider.
Yes, right. I was actually going to post this a few days back but... my body feels extremely empty, void, after this game. Alas, here are my final summaries and thoughts of the game:
(NOTE, this is coming from a 85h playthrough where I've quite literally 100% everything about it)
+ The story feels VERY similar to one of my favorite RPGs of all time; FFX
+ There are moments, especially early on, that felt extremely inspired by Chrono Trigger
+ Pictos ala FFIX gem system works amazing in FFIX and works just as amazing in this game
+ Running around in zones and suddenly encountering a boss that's 30+ levels above your level and getting one shot is giving me FFXII-vibes
+ World map looks, feels and plays wonderfully
+ Costumes and hairstyles are obtainable in-game
+ One of the best RPG combat systems of all time, on par with SMTV:V Press Turn Icon system (although if you're not fan of timing inputs, this might not be for you)
+ There is a town I reached that VERY MUCH resembles one of my favorite towns from FFIX (I'll let you guess which)
+ No quest log, no mini map, no radar. Reminds me of how PS1 RPG was during the golden era
+ More references, I think?! Booskaboo from Seiken Densetsu 3 is pretty much in this game
+ Story and dialogue has the perfect blend of humor and serious moments
+ Not open world MAJOR PLOT TWIST: DO NOT CLICK THIS AT ALL!! DO NOT CLICK THIS!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
Killing off the main character was a ballsy choice. I still don't know if this was a good idea or not because I know people are gonna love this character.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED MAJOR PLOT TWIST: DO NOT CLICK THIS AT ALL!! DO NOT CLICK THIS!!!
+
Crushing Cavern = Demon Wall
+ Mini games! Platforming ones, volley ball ones, casino! Even the mini-game that Sean in Third Strike does to the player is in this!
+ Pontiff fucking Sulyvahn (he was in the trailers, so not gonna spoiler tag this one), and the build up to him was one of the coolest boss battles of all RPG history
+ Maelle. Just... Maelle.
+ I can't believe they straight up added a Blue Mage to this game. Needless to say, I mained him throughout the entire campaign.
+ Running around in ultra high level areas (60+ when you're half the level) and just avoiding enemies and grabbing a bunch of overpowered items lying around gave me the exact same feeling I had when I discovered Necrohol of Nabudis from FFXII. This was always my most fond memory of FFXII and Expedition 33 just replicated that feeling.
+ End-game sub-character plot twist:
Noco's death was actually very sad and it reminded me of Cait Sith's death. They even specifically say that he will be able to resurrect but it won't be the same (with Cait Sith, they mention that it'll never be that exact same toy ever again).
+ The games currency (money) is valuable from beginning to end game and is a hurdle many JRPGs tend to ignore.
+ Tower of Babel
+ I don't recall ever seeing optional and end game dungeons that include fully voice acted AND motion captured (cutscene engine) scenes. Budget feels MASSIVE.
+ The QOL that makes the controller vibrate whenever you reach a grapple location is amazing and has actually saved me from accidentally missing out spots I hadn't otherwise been able to find.
+ Do I even need to mention itemization? It's so unbelievably good in this game; I can already sense how many builds you can make by tweaking the luminas.
+ No filler. Like, what the hell? Even when I'm doing optional dungeons (these have the "right" to be fillers), they somehow connect the dots to the main story, the characters or the world lore —or all three—.
+ The music changing pace and/or adding extra instruments the further into a dungeon you are is spectacular.
+ I'm gonna be real, there are not many JRPG world maps where I know every location and its geographical position. FFVII is one of them, but I've had 28 years of "routine-practice" for that game. Expedition 33, however, does the unthinkable. Even a dumb-fuck like me, is so engrossedly fascinated by the world, that I know almost all locations after a single 100% playthrough.
+ Colour of Lumina is a genius design item because it feels rewarding no matter if you get five of them early on, or five of them later on. RPGs have a hard time figuring out how to have rewarding items be useful throughout the entirety of a game. You can never have enough Lumina because there are hundreds of pictos to absord so you feel like you can become endlessly powerful.
+ I always found it oddly cozy when you could actually see your parked vehicles in a JRPG. Like in FFXII, even though Strahl is in fact invisible, you could see how it's anchored to the ground and you see the chains leading up to the airship. In Expedition 33, you can almost always see Esquie "parked" somewhere, even when you're in a dungeon.
+ Enemy variations. Whilst it is not FFVII: Rebirth, it still contains a shit load of enemy variations - something JRPGs for some reason tend to lack.
+ The super boss of the game (there are 2, I'm talking about a male character) is harder than Emerald Weapon, Omega Weapon, Ozma and Yiazmat together. And this is if you don't look up strats online and/or create certain OTK-cheese builds.
- The cutscene engine is so unbelievably realistic and the jump from that to in-game is very jarring from time to time
- I expected more options on the PS5 Pro
- No retry button in battles ala Metaphor
- No way to continue on dialogue without a button press
- Having to go to camp to save instead of just being able to save anywhere in the world map is… meh [UPDATE: Found a solution to this! No longer an issue]
- The game needs to be clearer where the cursor is in the menus, it's very vague for some reason
+ the fact you can see a characters health status visualized outside of battles baffled me from beginning to end. Sometimes it was even included in cutscenes, just like their wardrobe. An amazing detail that additionally adds to the authenticity of the game.
It's not good, just less bad than murdering everyone in Canvas world imo.
Ultimately I guess it comes down to whether the player considers the Canvas people to have inherent value or not, and how that compares to the value of their creator/s, which is what the game wants the player to consider.
I mean, everyone in canvas world was already gone by that time. It was just Luna/Sciel, and the fantasy creatures left. That's why to me, Maelle End was just true delusion. Like you want me to believe that Maelle managed to remake the entire population. 99% of people she never knew. And it was how they were before? Hell, I don't even know if the Luna/Sciel we see in the epilogue is the ones we had in the game, for all I know, she made new ones that are just oblivious. Everythings all perfect and is just her playing house now. I call her evil maelle now.
The 'fantasy creatures' are also portrayed as being real imo, albeit pretty dumb in the case of most of the gestrals. Just as the elves and dwarves are supposed to be seen as real in LOTR.
Hell, I don't even know if the Luna/Sciel we see in the epilogue is the ones we had in the game, for all I know, she made new ones that are just oblivious.
We can't rule out that they are oblivious automatons (I can't rule that out for people irl either) or Maelle's 'chinese whispers' version of Lune/Sciel. I don't believe the game ever gives us any hint it wants us to believe that is the case though. If they are different to the Lune and Sciel from before, I was unable to tell.
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I am curious whether 'Painted person = fake / imaginary' believers consider Painted Verso in Maelle's end cutscene to be imaginary? That cutscene seems to be framed very strangely if we are supposed to believe the Verso sat at the piano is imaginary.
Obviously the good ending (canonical one) is where Maelle and Aline move on with their grief and canvas is destroyed. After all, grief and moving on from it is the central theme of the game.
But it does invite uncomfortable "is this genocide?" questions, given that all the characters in the painted world are portrayed as sentient.
Obviously the good ending (canonical one) is where Maelle and Aline move on with their grief and canvas is destroyed. After all, grief and moving on from it is the central theme of the game.
But it does invite uncomfortable "is this genocide?" questions, given that all the characters in the painted world are portrayed as sentient.
I really hate "It was all a dream" or "the protag is crazy it was all in his head", but at least it's done well here. With how strong the writing is in act 1 they should have played it straight and kept the 2nd and 3rd layers for a sequel that directly references the ongoing world of the first game (if going with evil Maelle ending). Similar relationship which Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross have for example.
Anyways great game, I also like how new game + or continuing after act 3 integrates well with Maelle's ending. By continuing playing you are indulging in the same vice as her.
So where do I go after finishing the game? The world is open to explore, but the areas vary greatly in terms of difficulty. Is there something I'm missing that explains where to go first? Do you just start again and move from the south to the north? Or do you really just have to enter every separate area and see if it's too hard for you yet?
So where do I go after finishing the game? The world is open to explore, but the areas vary greatly in terms of difficulty. Is there something I'm missing that explains where to go first? Do you just start again and move from the south to the north? Or do you really just have to enter every separate area and see if it's too hard for you yet?
Just finished it last night. I felt somewhat letdown at first, but I picked Maelle's ending at first. The dissonant chord and seeing her face painted was jarring, but after watching the other ending that's the point. From a gameplay standpoint, I hate the 2 endings but narratively it makes sense for this story, as long as you peak behind the curtain afterwards to make sure you see both endings. Each ending poses it's own questions and both are sad as hell. Truly a breakthrough in interactive story telling and I honestly believe it's one of the great works of fiction to describe the human condition. The reveals and twists are very well timed and there's no wasted exposition or over explanation of anything. The game trusts you to figure everything out yourself, or not and just appreciate the beauty of it. Anyone play the game in French? I bet that's the best way that hits the hardest emotionally since it was written in it.
Not really. They're dubs and considering the English VA's, you'd be doing yourself a huge disfavor for not playing it in English, especially considering who is voicing Renoir.
Not really. They're dubs and considering the English VA's, you'd be doing yourself a huge disfavor for not playing it in English, especially considering who is voicing Renoir.
Yes, actually the voice cast in English couldn't be better. I guess knowing French and English would be best so you could understand the lyrics in all the music.
Only chance for you to leave is now because this is open spoiler country for this games story.
Can someone explain to me one thing I didn't get:
Alicia goes into the painting because Clea asks her to. Her mom plays with her chroma when she gets in.
From there Alicia seems to continue to exist in the painting similar to how Renoir , and Mama paintress. Real body for Renoir and Alicia are supposedly outside the painting.
However, mama decides to paint Maelle so she has a chance to experience a full life of happiness.
Eventually Alicia decides to be killed at the third Axon area. Maelle even before then is acting as if she had both Alicia and Maelles memories and is now both at once.
Ok. However, once Alicia dies, and say you opt for Versos ending, what's back in the real world is Alicia, correct?
Otherwise how is a painted version being able to survive outside of the canvas?
They really didn't explain this well. The way it's laid out makes it seem a painted person can exist in the real world and that the real person of them doesn't have to exist anymore.
Which then begs the question of why the fuck didn't they bring painted Verso to the real world?
The painters can enter the painting and live in it. If they die in the painting they get kicked out against their will back to reality.
The painters leave a piece of themselves in the painting. The painting in the story was made by child Verso. Real Verso later died IRL, but a piece of him remain in the painting. The mother get obsessed with seeing her dead son by visiting the painting, but at no point can painted people EVER leave the paint, they are not physical.
The Verso in the painting is real but he is trapped in the paint forever. There is no getting the dead back. Verso loved his family and sees that it is better that his family move on and have a life, instead of hanging on to his ghost. There is a real world and a real war going on and the family needs to get it together.
Obviously Alicia would rather live in the painting forever rather than deal with real life issues. She isn't doing it for the painted people; she is doing it to feel better. Like mother like daughter. And the painted people are under her command and control, they are only as free as she lets them. Hence she forced Verso to obey her.
Not really. They're dubs and considering the English VA's, you'd be doing yourself a huge disfavor for not playing it in English, especially considering who is voicing Renoir.
Indeed the french dub was not consider at first. It was primarly english.
I would say it a huge disservice not playing in french. I am french and usually don't stand French dub but here they're quite good.
And french had some punches here and there. Like when Esquie reveals he saved Sciel and she speaks about the loss of her husband Pierre. Esquie says something like " I know what it feels to lose stones" in French "stone" is "pierre".
Love this play on words.
People say the French voices is good too, but having not ever seen a French play or show ever, I can't tell the quality of the French voices, it's all just blah blah blah to me. Including any tone or pitch changes that comes with French voice acting.
People say the French voices is good too, but having not ever seen a French play or show ever, I can't tell the quality of the French voices, it's all just blah blah blah to me. Including any tone or pitch changes that comes with French voice acting.
Of course if not understanding French it makes no sense.
I watch some English playthrough and voices are very good. (If I am honest I am tired of Jennifer English voice. Like it in BG3 but here it's too similar).
I have to say the use of swear words in French for the english dub sounds a bit weird.
Renoir is of course very good in English (Love Andy Serkis) but I find the french voice did a pretty good job too.
I'll do my third run (later) in English to fully appreciate it.
The painters can enter the painting and live in it. If they die in the painting they get kicked out against their will back to reality.
The painters leave a piece of themselves in the painting. The painting in the story was made by child Verso. Real Verso later died IRL, but a piece of him remain in the painting. The mother get obsessed with seeing her dead son by visiting the painting, but at no point can painted people EVER leave the paint, they are not physical.
The Verso in the painting is real but he is trapped in the paint forever. There is no getting the dead back. Verso loved his family and sees that it is better that his family move on and have a life, instead of hanging on to his ghost. There is a real world and a real war going on and the family needs to get it together.
Obviously Alicia would rather live in the painting forever rather than deal with real life issues. She isn't doing it for the painted people; she is doing it to feel better. Like mother like daughter. And the painted people are under her command and control, they are only as free as she lets them. Hence she forced Verso to obey her.
After completing the game, I spent next 12 hours going through the lore and side stories.
I wonder if anyone called out Coe33 as being a regressive game lol. So easy to cancel it on toxic patriarchy, all white casting besides Lune (yay) and black guy first to die, the 2 female paintress are emotionally weak succumbing to imagination than rational logic, the third paintress is girl boss but presented as someone cold and toxic. The mothers are casted as oppressive. The cool personalities like monoco, noco, esquire, gustav are males.
After completing the game, I spent next 12 hours going through the lore and side stories.
I wonder if anyone called out Coe33 as being a regressive game lol. So easy to cancel it on toxic patriarchy, all white casting besides Lune (yay) and black guy first to die, the 2 female paintress are emotionally weak succumbing to imagination than rational logic, the third paintress is girl boss but presented as someone cold and toxic. The mothers are casted as oppressive. The cool personalities like monoco, noco, esquire, gustav are males.
The men in the story love their female family members and want what is best for them. None of them did what they did due to their gender, unless you want to see it that way. The mother had lost her son and is hanging on to the last sliver of him out of desperation, it is not a weakness to love. But the son himself wants his mother to go without him.
If you insist on seeing this as gender politics, you are ignoring the fact that it is about a FAMILY. If you want women to win in everything you have plenty of failed games and films in the last decade to enjoy.
After completing the game, I spent next 12 hours going through the lore and side stories.
I wonder if anyone called out Coe33 as being a regressive game lol. So easy to cancel it on toxic patriarchy, all white casting besides Lune (yay) and black guy first to die, the 2 female paintress are emotionally weak succumbing to imagination than rational logic, the third paintress is girl boss but presented as someone cold and toxic. The mothers are casted as oppressive. The cool personalities like monoco, noco, esquire, gustav are males.
I think you over simplify characters.
And somehow occult Lune and Sciel (you know the 2 who were able to finish the axons) on the cool characters.
Lune is the most rational of the party. She always think logical and proceed with caution. When Gustave was losing it because Maelle was missing, she was still there rationalizing and analyzing the situation.
Sciel is the free minded. Independent, she's the one going for Verso. So not into the cliché "Male wants sex and should do the first step". And when she's gommaged (ACT2 end and Verso's ending), she's accepting it (Whereas Lune is more panicking). She has accepted her fate. Find it really cool.
Difficult to classify Noco and Esquie as strictly male. They are voiced by male (and still Noco it's just a high speech voice) but they are a representation of a puppy and a plushie/imaginary friend.
I wouldn't say the Paintress is oppressive. She's mourning in her way : denial. She wants to keep as much as she can her "son".
Personally I find denial (for having seen it IRL from far) extremely scary so I am 100% for Renoir but I wouldn't say Aline (or Maelle but what she does to Verso is pretty bad for me) are wrong (actually I am not a fan how Maelle's ending is clearly shown as "evil/bad" on the presentation). Sometimes you have to go through it. When losing someone, in unexpected condition, it can be difficult to accept. Last year I lost someone of my age (36), till the funeral I could truly believe she was gone and constantly thinking "no she's still alive". Her mother took a quite some time to accept it, still sending text to her and speaking to a picture of her like she was there. It's very scary but somehow understandable.
I find Clair Obscur treating the subject very well.
Renoir could be seen as an oppressive husband on his way to force his method on Aline to accept Verso's death. I like Verso's ending (mainly for the rejection of denial, which again I find horrifying IRL) but find the apparent reconciliation between Aline and Renoir a bit easy. I would have prefer a more bittersweet ending where they are not hugging together in front of Verso's tomb. Some distance between them to show some resentment from Aline.
Cléa is cold but she's also grieving and want to protect her family. She has no time to be sad and be emphatic with those who don't accept Verso's death. She's angry and sad about Verso's death but there is a war going on and she's the only one that take care of it.
On Verso's ending I find her quite emphatic on her expression. When I see her I hear "I am here", like Gustave said to Sophie at the beginning. She's definitely more that the cold hearted and toxic behavior she shown on ACT2 ending.
The 'fantasy creatures' are also portrayed as being real imo, albeit pretty dumb in the case of most of the gestrals. Just as the elves and dwarves are supposed to be seen as real in LOTR.
We can't rule out that they are oblivious automatons (I can't rule that out for people irl either) or Maelle's 'chinese whispers' version of Lune/Sciel. I don't believe the game ever gives us any hint it wants us to believe that is the case though. If they are different to the Lune and Sciel from before, I was unable to tell.
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I am curious whether 'Painted person = fake / imaginary' believers consider Painted Verso in Maelle's end cutscene to be imaginary? That cutscene seems to be framed very strangely if we are supposed to believe the Verso sat at the piano is imaginary.
I think the way they don't seem to acknowledge verso freezing in the middle of the stage at all seem to imply they are somehow manipulated, otherwise the camera li gearing on their faces seems like it has no reason since there is no reaction, unless the lack of reaction is the point.
Also the game is really unclear about how repainting someone works... Verso says that it's memories, that you have to capture the essence of the people you are painting.. But then are they actually the same person, or just clones based on the memories that the painter has of themwith implanted memories?
The painted dessandres are different than their real counterpart, so would that also apply here?
Also the game is really unclear about how repainting someone works... Verso says that it's memories, that you have to capture the essence of the people you are painting.. But then are they actually the same person, or just clones based on the memories that the painter has of themwith implanted memories?
The painted dessandres are different than their real counterpart, so would that also apply here?
What I get is a skilled painter (like Aline) can reshape the person she painted.
I think it was stated (by the real Maelle at the end of Act 2) that Aline chose to give Verso the memories of the real Verso.
Painted Renoir is different from the real one. But is it a choice by Aline ? Or a representation of how she see him ? How she liked him to be ?
Is it a conscious or unconscious process ?
Also the game is really unclear about how repainting someone works... Verso says that it's memories, that you have to capture the essence of the people you are painting.. But then are they actually the same person, or just clones based on the memories that the painter has of themwith implanted memories?
The painted dessandres are different than their real counterpart, so would that also apply here?
Imo it's more that Painted versions of people who originate from outside of the Canvas (eg. the Painted Dessendres) have to be created from memory / the Painter's view of that person. The 'original' person can visit the Canvas (and act akin to a God within the Canvas), but they are not native to the Canvas and do not have a chroma 'soul'. If they 'die' or get their ass beat while in the Canvas, they just get ejected from the Canvas. A Painted version of them can be created, but it will inevitably be imperfect due to the inaccuracy and bias of the Painter.
The people who originate in the Canvas (including Painted Verso etc.) do have chroma 'souls'. If they die, their chroma 'soul' still exists within the Canvas, and it is that which allows them to be resurrected 'properly' rather than a different version of them being created.
I'm sure the Painter could make a different version instead of resurrecting them properly if they wanted to, but I don't think the game ever gives us reason to believe we are seeing an altered Lune or Sciel, or that Painted Verso becomes a different Painted Verso each time he is resurrected.
Yes, though I don't believe it is possible for Aline to give him OG Verso's memories in a genuine sense. I think those 'memories' are a combination of events (involving OG Verso) which Aline witnessed -reimagined from OG Verso's perspective- and a whole lot of guesswork on her part to fill in the gaps. It's what Aline believes or wants to believe OG Verso's memories would be like, not the real deal. I think this is contributing to Painted Verso's sense of 'unrealness', because not only did he not experience those 'memories' personally, but those 'memories' are probably largely artificial to begin with.
Obviously the good ending (canonical one) is where Maelle and Aline move on with their grief and canvas is destroyed. After all, grief and moving on from it is the central theme of the game.
But it does invite uncomfortable "is this genocide?" questions, given that all the characters in the painted world are portrayed as sentient.
It's absolutely genocide but clearly something a lot of people do in that world. I'm sure they have painted many other worlds and destroyed them without a second thought of the sentient creatures in them.
Just, we give importance to sentience because we ourselves are one. It's inherent to being empathetic.
But do we think about the billions of animals that we slaughter each year? Do you care about the billions of bugs that die every day probably? You can use the 'they're not sentient' argument all you want, they're clearly all living creatures with the ability to feel some form of pain (Even Bacteria feels something similar to pain). What I'm saying is that Life is inherently meaningless and we give it importance by being empathetic creatures.
Over the years, I have accepted the idea that we likely do have a creator (not counting our existing religions obviously which are basically superstitious books that the Middle east wrote, used as 'comfort drug' by humans). But for that creator, the idea of helping the good people, the weak is ridiculous as it not only goes against the rule of evolution 'survival of the fittest' but also likely that we are nothing more than bugs in the grand scheme of things and our lives are equally as important.
Imagine a bug praying to a human to save it (a 'superior' living creature, not neccessarily the creator). How ridiculous is that? Now imagine a being painted our world for some reason unknown to us. Why in the world would he care what happens to it? Maybe he doesn't want to destroy his art which would result in a genocide of all humans but obviously, he would care more about the former than the latter which may not even be a passing thought.
Imo it's more that Painted versions of people who originate from outside of the Canvas (eg. the Painted Dessendres) have to be created from memory / the Painter's view of that person. The 'original' person can visit the Canvas (and act akin to a God within the Canvas), but they are not native to the Canvas and do not have a chroma 'soul'. If they 'die' or get their ass beat while in the Canvas, they just get ejected from the Canvas. A Painted version of them can be created, but it will inevitably be imperfect due to the inaccuracy and bias of the Painter.
The people who originate in the Canvas (including Painted Verso etc.) do have chroma 'souls'. If they die, their chroma 'soul' still exists within the Canvas, and it is that which allows them to be resurrected 'properly' rather than a different version of them being created.
I'm sure the Painter could make a different version instead of resurrecting them properly if they wanted to, but I don't think the game ever gives us reason to believe we are seeing an altered Lune or Sciel, or that Painted Verso becomes a different Painted Verso each time he is resurrected.
Yes, though I don't believe it is possible for Aline to give him OG Verso's memories in a genuine sense. I think those 'memories' are a combination of events (involving OG Verso) which Aline witnessed -reimagined from OG Verso's perspective- and a whole lot of guesswork on her part to fill in the gaps. It's what Aline believes or wants to believe OG Verso's memories would be like, not the real deal. I think this is contributing to Painted Verso's sense of 'unrealness', because not only did he not experience those 'memories' personally, but those 'memories' are probably largely artificial to begin with.
But the description of what is needed to paint someone is given exactly when lune and sciel are being painted again, and it helps maelle accomplish where before she was failing, so we know that memories still apply.
Also, gommaged people turn into chroma which then can be used by the "leading painter" to create
Maelle creates again lune and sciel by using the little bit of chroma that she stole before fleeing lumiere... , are you telling me that before fleeing she was able to exactly locate the "soul" of lune and sciel, specifically in the the chroma that Renoir was conjuring to create his "soldiers" and create them from that?
Seems farfetched to be honest.
But I do agree that at least during playing time we are not given any indication that they are any different... The second painted verso is definitely different and seems from the cutscene to be under the control of maelle
Not in a canvas. But it could be that the real world is in a book. They are talking about the writers causing the fire etc. Or they know they are in a game and are talking about the writers of the game.
Oh I'm no gender politician, just observing how certain games are treated by certain media, like edge/polygon/guardian/gamespot trolled FF16 hard about the lack of black characters, they even entrap yoshi-p during his media tour promos. It escalated into forums hating on Jill end game portion
I get that Coe33 is leagues above FF16 as a game, but criticism about FF16 gender politics looks outta the blue…
Like clockwork, gamespot just did a hit piece on death stranding 2 tropes about women…
Verso ending is definitely presented to be the "better" one. You can see Alicia giving off a real smile, Clea quietly and respectfully nodding in approval towards Alicia, the team waving goodbye. In contrast with her stiff smiles and ghastly b&w ending with Maelle. Im surprised with the great work this small team did for the action animations and facial expressions that tells you half the characters feelings moment to moment
12:45 mark iirc
But that said, giving Maelle a sadder ending because of women tropes of letting her heart win over her head… that just bait for gender politicians…
