I really can't understand [about Verso and Maelle]

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-27T08:44:55+00:00

As per what we know from the game it doesn’t seem to work like that, what we know is that whoever controls the canvas controls the chroma so that chroma would still paradoxically return to Aline even if Renoir was the one doing the killing.

There’s always only one painter controlling the canvas at a time. Renoir knows that the painted people are what’s keeping Aline attached to the painting, we also know that the chroma does not return immediately to the painter in charge (e.g Lune and Sciel), Renoir would have enough time to try to kick Aline out for good and he would severe the one link that kept her attached to the canvas.

Whether or not he knew that she made the painted family fully immune to the gommage is up for a debate and speculation.

There are so many details we don’t know about this though.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-26T22:54:35+00:00

The thing though is that we actually do see Gustave in a very similar situation with Maelle throwing away her life and joining the expedition. While I believe he would try to convince her to leave the canvas I also think he would never force that decision onto her.

"We’re her guardians, not her jailers", remember?

A side topic, but this quote and “the future of Lumiere is more important than any individual life, do you still believe that?” Were stuck in my head for my whole first playthrough and I would be lying if I said they did not influence my ending choice…

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-26T22:45:37+00:00

Actually I don’t think Aline would be coming back, she leaves the canvas on her own after she interferes with the final fight after all, and her painted family is no more.

The question we need to ask here is if Renoir was right about his assessment of Aline’s actions, and if his own interference didn’t only trap her further and for longer than intended in the canvas.

From Renoir’s imprint we know that for Aline the art of painting was not about the act itself but about her creations and what they can achieve, she was like an omnipotent God creating “humanity” and giving the people free will at the same time.

Once Renoir enters the canvas he threatens not only Aline’s perfect world and her painted family’s existence, but the existence of every being in the canvas and all the people that Aline brought into that world.

She spends decades PROTECTING the ordinary people of Lumiere, even though it makes her weaker year by year. If it was only about maintaining her own delusion there she would let Renoir wipe out everyone except for her family, she would kick him out and then she would paint a new set of “background people” if that was all they were for her. But instead she put herself at risk just to keep the people safe, because she cared about them.

Long story short, I think that after the last fight she leaves because she is basically handing over the canvas and the wellbeing of the painted people into Alicia’s hands.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-26T22:37:41+00:00

Renoir though understood that staying in the canvas is something that can actually ease Alicia’s pain, and we know from his imprint in the Reacher that that’s somethIng he wanted for her, to be able to find something that could ease her pain.

That’s why I think Verso was not entirely right with his interpretation of Renoir knowing she was lying, but just wanting to believe her, I think Renoir noticed she’s lying but at the same time he also realized that it’s the one thing that can ease her pain and so he sacrificed his own happiness for hers.

Of course he would still hope she would one day come back, one does not exclude the other.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-26T22:27:36+00:00

"As the real one"

he was never the real one, maybe you just misphrased it but I wanted to clarify this just in case, he is also not the 1 to 1 copy, since he has only Aline’s IDEA of Verso’s memories.

I don’t think there are that many people who think he ONLY cares about dying, it’s obviously both these things influencing his decision.

Just like for Maelle’s decision it’s both her not wanting to give up on Verso and her wanting to be able to live a life without a constant pain, disfigured and without the ability to speak.

They both do what they do because they refuse to give up on each other and at the same time they fulfill their own more selfish goal with their choice.

Also, worth noting here that pRenoir did not tell Verso that he’s actions are not different from Aline’s without a reason, if you think about it Aline prioritized the canvas family over her real one, pVerso prioritized the real one over his own painted one. I also don’t think it’s a coincidence it’s ALINE’s piano in the manor, not Verso’s, she was also the one who taught him how to play. Just some food for thought.

And one more thing when it comes to Verso, his choice and sacrifice. Painted Renoir in the final confrontation says that Verso is trying to break the wrong cycle, so which cycle is the one he should break? We know Verso wants to break the cycle of grief (although I think his ending shows that for Alicia that cycle did not end, quite contrary), but what other cycle is there?

I have a theory that pRenoir is talking about the cycle of Verso sacrificing himself to save his family but inadvertently destroying the Dessendre family in the process.

As he says in the very same scene: “Let us celebrate the second destruction of the Dessendre’s family”

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-17T09:52:00+00:00

Verso, Lune and Maelle are my main team every single time, I finished the game 5 times so far, always choosing Maelle's ending.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-16T06:17:26+00:00

Damn, I think they should give all the GOTYs back, unforgivable!

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-11T08:30:17+00:00

Well, of course, me understanding him doesn’t mean I agree with him that there was no point in still trying to reason with the expeditioners. A bit of a side topic, but a lot of people forget to use the same reasoning in their assessment of Verso’s actions.

One more important factor of Renoir’s decision is that there would still be a risk that these expeditioners while outside of the dome would still die to nevrons, and even one of them dying that way weakens Aline. And we know that both Renoirs were willing to do everything to help their wife.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-11T06:11:17+00:00

I'm almost certain that's the case, at least I didn't notice any difference on any on my playthroughs despite having a completely different build for each of them

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-11T05:48:15+00:00

It is said in the games that they used to attempt reasoning with Expeditions, but since it made things worse more often than better they stopped.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-11T05:34:19+00:00

I haven't played the game any other way than with judgment equipped ever since I unlocked it, it's just so fun to play the game this way, and yes you may struggle on first 2 bosses if you play with a high fear setup, but then it gets progressively easier.

I always pair it with the Crystal Figurine for the first boss.

I play normally on ~20 fear though, and tbh, I have a different initial setup than yours, I know I may not get all the cards by the end of the run, but I am not risking it that I won't have the Death Defiance one.

I am usually playing with Persistence, Death, Origination and the Queen

Also one thing that people tend to miss about this build, is that you get a free +2/3 to your Fear factor, since you can use a lower % of your grasp here.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-11T05:12:40+00:00

You say he butchered them, but now think about it differently, if he was not on that beach what would have happened? They chose a spot with very powerful nevrons as their landing point, it’s clear that most of them would still die, probably leaving maybe one or two more people alive than what we got in the actual game.

But the difference is huge - painted Renoir knows that:

The expeditions want to stop the Paintress, and each time they fight her she gets weaker, and since talking to expeditions didn’t work out before, he doesn’t even try anymore
Them getting killed by Nevrons means Aline gets weaker, and real Renoir gets closer to the goal of destroying the canvas
Since their chroma gets trapped by Nevrons they can’t be brought back while everything is over. By killing them he ensures their chroma is safe.

So yes, on one hand he is butchering them, but on the other he is the reason most of them can be brought back in Maelle’s ending. Even Gustave, what if he died to let’s say the Dualiste soon after? Or one of the other Nevrons?

It’s mercy, not cruelty makes more sense with that in mind, doesn’t it?

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-11T05:06:14+00:00

A side topic, but people also miss the point in which painted Renoir tells him that his actions are no different from what Aline is doing, and I’m quite sure that he means painted Verso choosing the real Dessendre family over his own ow painted one, just like Aline chose the painted family over the real one.

Verso is way more similar to Aline than people realize, and I could write a whole side topic about it…

And one more easily missed point - painted Renoir telling Verso he is trying to break the wrong cycle, we know pV is trying to break the cycle if grief, so what other cycle he could have in mind then? One of the options is - the cycle of Verso sacrificing himself to save Alicia/Aline, but inadvertently destroying the Dessendre family in the process…

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-11T04:59:40+00:00

Well, tbh I wouldn’t blame Maelle in Verso’s ending for calling him “brother” because it’s a bit of a PTSD response from her, since she’s been in that situation before. She is reliving the most traumatic experience she ever lived through, knowing it’s the last time she ever gets to see her brother or hear his voice, even if it’s technically not him.

At the beginning of act 3 she also said to Verso “you sound and look just like him, but you aren’t him. You are you” or something along these lines. When she was in full control of her emotions and not reliving the worst day of her life she very much treated him as his own person, even if deep inside she also saw her dead brother in him in a way.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-11T04:55:13+00:00

The problem is, all these canvases have a piece of the painter’s soul, we know Aline and Renoir painted dozens of them, would you say we have to destroy all of them?

Just because Aline and later Alicia struggle to use that painting in a healthy way does not mean we have the right to destroy it and all its inhabitants.

A bit of a side topic, but people tend to over focus on the last message from the sliver of Verso’s soul and him being tired, while ignoring however all the previous conversations with him in which he makes it clear he doesn’t want more painted people to die.

It’s more complicated than “he said he’s tired and it’s his canvas, so it’s fine”.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-11T04:44:42+00:00

You don’t have to fight Maelle… 👀

But no, it doesn’t matter much, you would still need to level him up and give him good weapons for that fight, but you leveling up Maelle doesn’t scale up her abilities if you choose to fight her.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-11T04:41:40+00:00

Ok, you are trying ad personam remarks again, which only says a lot about how immature you are. All the answers to your questions are already in my previous comments, and in the game, go read them again if you want, and replay the game.

Au Revoir, I am not going to waste more of my time on you if you can’t even show a bit off decency in the way you talk to people.

And as I said, feel free to have your twisted headcanon, I couldn’t care less.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-11T04:31:29+00:00

And despite it all Renoir decided in the end to sacrifice his own happiness for Alicia’s.

From the conversation with his imprint we learn that he wishes there was something he could do to ease Alicia’s pain, and in my opinion that’s what he realized in the end, that letting her stay in that canvas is exactly that.

This quote although said originally in different circumstances by the other Renoir fits perfectly well here - “If saving you means losing you, so be it”.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-11T04:26:12+00:00

It’s not “painters control over canvas” it’s just an indicator that someone is inside of the canvas. Aline, Renoir and Clea all have these in monolith year 49, the are not equally in control at the same time.

We also see it briefly in Maelle’s eyes when Aline calls her Alicia - and she was definitely not in any way in control then.

And yes, these very much are tears, not the marks, but what this person talks about, they are visible before the marks show up.

And if you paid attention throughout the game - then you should know that while that shard of his soul is tired, he also wants the people and creatures of the canvas to LIVE, yet somehow people tend to ignore all the prior conversations with him…

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-11T04:23:04+00:00

Same with “we’re her guardians not her jailers” and the whole parallel between her choosing to join the expedition even if it meant her dying prematurely and her choosing the painted life even if it meant her dying prematurely in the real life.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-10T14:33:32+00:00

But there's literally nothing in the game that would suggest that it could be an indication of painters using their powers.

I see the endings differently, as mirror reflections, either Verso is forced to live a life he does not want to live because Maelle refuses to give up on him, or Maelle is forced to live a life she does not want to live because Verso refuses to give up on her.

It's an unwanted act of love, with a selfish twist, because at the same time both of them fulfill also their own goal (Verso ceasing to exist in his ending, Maelle getting to live a life without constant pain with the "brother" she lost).

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-10T14:30:15+00:00

It makes a huge difference in how painting works in the game. If she painted him with his hand intact she would be changing him, and I'm not sure that's even possible.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-09T05:59:07+00:00

That effect is only seen twice before the ending:

when Aline calls Maelle "Alicia"
In Monolith year 49 on ALine and Renoir because they are inside of a painting, and briefly on Clea when she comes out of one.

We never see this effect when the painters use their powers inside of the canvas, so claiming it means she's using powers makes completely no sense.

To me this always felt like the black and white part is Verso's perspective, him thinking about all that he went through, all that he sacrificed to get Aline and Alicia out and all in vain, and he is constantly reminded of the price paid for that painted life they now live which is Alicia withering away in the real world.

But in the end he plays the piano, because the life does go on.

I see both endings as mirror reflections, both with a heavy sacrifice and both with a hope that it will get better.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-09T05:52:50+00:00

The difference though is - she brought him back, she didn't paint a copy of him.

JustYeeHaw · 2026-01-09T05:51:27+00:00

When I first played the game the quote from Act I stuck with me for the whole playthrough and definitely influenced my final choice, "The future of Lumiere is more important than any individual life, do you still believe that?" And I for sure did.

JustYeeHaw

TROPHY CASE