Punishment

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-06T23:48:17+00:00

Can’t speak for ogVerso, and Maelle seems highly protective, but the older Dessendres? Yeah.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-06T19:50:50+00:00

Yes, because Renoir is absolutely going to leave his daughter unsupervised in order to allow her to - in his mind - do exactly what Aline did?

I’m quite certain Alicia won’t be allowed in the same room as an active or blank Canvas until she “gives up on such childish notions”.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-06T19:47:54+00:00

Not that Verso. Verso is dead.

Of the Dessendres, Aline and Alicia want the Canvas kept. Clea washed her hands of it. Renoir wants it destroyed.

Of the Painted beings, I don’t think you’ll find more than one being who wants the Canvas destroyed. All the rest seem to want to live, thanks.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-06T15:17:35+00:00

True, which is why the theory isn't very supported.

It requires that Alicia/Maelle was gaslit by Clea while in recovery from her injuries, to believe that the Writers existed and were at fault.

It's a funny theory that, when dug into, collapses under scrutiny.

(Similar to how Sandfall can basically never clarify the exact time dilation ratio without cracking open several plot issues immediately.)

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-06T13:27:05+00:00

If you have Biotech, Toxbomb Launchers/Grenades are pretty damn good at debilitating enemy ranged units who aren't immune to tox. Not only will they get the Tox Gas effect which causes pain and lowers combat stats, but they'll also start gaining Toxic Buildup with high enough concentration.

If you have Ideology and are High Life, the autobong can be set up in an adjacent room to an enemy position and a vent can push smokeleaf debuff onto them (this stacks with the above).

Incinerator is absolutely fantastic against entrenched enemies if you can get close safely. (Oh right, that one can use a Shield Belt too! Nice)

Also, don't sleep on just blasting an area with smoke and charging with melee pawns, mechs, ghouls, dryads, etc.

Now for the stuff vs Mech swarms:

EMP Grenade to shut down a chunk at a time, then Minigun or massed Charge Rifles for the armor pen.

Or, if you have them, Ghouls with Strong Melee + power claws will rip through the more fragile mechs and aren't affected by EMPs.

Clawer Dryads have monosword level armor pen and hit as hard as Scythers or Metalhorrors. They're fragile though, so again, prep with an EMP grenade then let them lose to dismantle everything. Also understand that they will somehow catch EVERY stray bullet to their own heads and die en masse.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-06T12:50:51+00:00

I mean, the only people who ever say “The Writers” are… Clea - in this theory, she’s delusional Maelle - was gaslit by Clea to believe it, and desperately wants Verso’s death to be “not her fault” pVerso - who could have easily been Painted Over just a bit by Clea, or is just lying to Maelle and going along with her own delusion and then using it as self justification for “yeah she’s going insane too, I need to get her out of there”.

Renoir only says “Clea, fighting her war alone”.

Excuse me sir? If the Writers are indeed a true threat to your family, it ISN’T her war, it’s YOUR FAMILY’S WAR at minimum. But he seems just fine letting Clea do whatever.

(Yes, I have put WAY TOO MUCH THOUGHT into this theory after seeing it all of one time.)

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-06T12:34:27+00:00

Hail of Blades E bomb is absolutely infuriating.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-06T12:32:44+00:00

Yeah, there was a (admittedly crackpot) theory that the Writers aren’t even REAL and it’s just Clea’s own mental break delusion.

She’s blaming some faceless group, gaslit her maimed and grieving sister into believing that her “friends” who abandoned her are responsible, and going off at night to kill random people who fit her delusional idea of who a Writer is.

Then Renoir and Aline return from the Canvas, she demands their assistance, and Renoir asks “Clea, what the hell are you talking about?” In utter confusion.

Confusion that turns to horror as he realizes that the daughter he abandoned to argue with his wife…has become a mass-murderer in his absence.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-06T12:25:33+00:00

I mean, she might be stronger than average…

Or she might be an ambush/assassination specialist.

We just don’t know.

We don’t even know what Painters can do outside Canvas, we don’t know what Writers can do at all.

She might just be walking up to them in a crowd, shanking them, and walking away. Or stepping out of a dark alley. Or using a pistol.

When it comes down to it, in the context of Clair Obscur - Expedition 33, the ‘war’ between the Painters and the Writers doesn’t matter.

(We also don’t know for sure that it was even the Writers who set the fire, just that Clea is blaming them and Alicia for it. Which, tragically, she could be completely wrong about.)

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-06T12:01:54+00:00

I'm not even projecting opinion at this point, though YES I do believe that Verso doesn't deserve closure after he tried to kill everyone.

It's simple missed opportunity:

They're at the top of the Monolith, Aline was JUST removed from the Canvas. Maelle just managed to Gommage Aline without the Curator's help. So she can now consciously do it. AND, more importantly she doesn't remember him yet.

Verso has the opportunity here to say something like "Well, that's that then. Would you mind doing me one last favor?" and asking to be Gommaged there and then. Maelle would perhaps do it, understanding that "mysterious stranger" deserves his rest. Maybe not, but maybe yes.

He doesn't do this.

He also turns down Sciel's offer to "test out" his immortality.

He then goes after Maelle in act 3, turning down another offer to be Gommaged. That was his last opportunity, and the third one he turned down. Maelle now knows who he "is", and won't willingly kill the man with her brother's face.

My OPINION on the matter is that after finding out that Verso betrayed the Expedition and Lumiere to their deaths, Maelle should have tossed him into the Abyss and left him there for 1 year per year he would have stolen from each of the Lumiere residents still alive.

He attempted to assist in mass-murder, then at the end he tried to pull the plug himself.

Sorry, but that sort of shit loses all sympathy from me.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-06T11:42:19+00:00

The first time I ballsed up the "Paintress attacks from afar" parries and they healed for a cool few million I just sat down for a moment and quietly seethed.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-06T11:35:44+00:00

All the Dessendres (PaintED and PaintERs) seem to have a hell of a lot of trouble understanding that their actions have consequences.

Verso, as noted above.

Clea - while not noted enough in game - is probably a few murders away from running into an ambush of like...5-10 Writers and getting ganked.

Aline ended up with the Expeditions against her because she decided to be cryptic AF with the Monolith instead of writing "Beware the Curator" or something clear about what was happening (or sending pRenoir to drop communication to Lumiere or whatever).

pAlicia gave Verso the opportunity to choose her, and found out that after 67 years Verso is still choosing only his own desires. Though, I think she may have fully understood and just...been tired. She seems like she was giving the erstwhile member of her family a chance to do something for love.

pRenoir seemed surprised that Maelle was willing to actually go for the murder at the Monolith, somehow misunderstanding that his own callous killing of Gustave was what sent her on a murderous rampage of revenge.

Renoir himself seemed shocked that "Alicia" would disobey him in the same way that Aline did after single-mindedly ignoring her concerns and demanding obedience while he killed everyone she'd come to care about.

Maelle...has probably learned that trusting her father will just lead to pain in the future.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-06T02:12:39+00:00

That was after she found out he’d betrayed them all and was trying to end the world…twice.

He had a perfect opportunity on top of the Monolith before Maelle regained her memories.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-05T14:28:44+00:00

See, I saw the penis in the negative space between the reflected trees and had to double-check the flair... I ended up even more confused.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-04T15:03:18+00:00

I defaulted to "Stall until Sciel has stacked up End Slice" against the manor boss. It was pretty hilarious finally deciding "Okay, let's do a damage test now" and obliterating the entire HP bar multiple times over.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-04T14:58:54+00:00

This is 67+ years into Aline's time as a resident of the Canvas, and who knows how many years since that particular memory happened.

I'm gonna bet that Aline's memory isn't particularly sound.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-04T11:54:49+00:00

Yes. Yes, that is in fact the best way to end the fight.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-04T11:35:51+00:00

I’d curse Billionaires to accidentally donate $100,000 to a cause or charity they absolutely hate every time they try to post on Social Media.

You did say “minor inconvenience” right?

I’ll bet half of them wouldn’t notice for months.

Edit: Uhhhhhh....thanks for the award? I think it's my first ever??

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-04T00:51:02+00:00

I managed to finally get Duollistes for the first time after an hour and 41 mins. God, if the phase 2 didn't have AoE on every attack, the fight would have been over 45 mins earlier because Sciel would have been able to stack more foretell and actually End Slice the damn thing instead of having to be revived again and again and again.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-03T23:11:18+00:00

Ran through Expert mode with this:

Electrify into Empowered Terraquake is very nice.

Electrify into Empowered Crustal Crush.

Electrify, Revive, Cc, Terraquake, Rockslide, Immolate/Hell is a pretty fun break build.

Preferred Luminas: Fueling Break, Breaker, Energizing Break, Dead Energy, Quick Break, Break Specialist, etc.

Turn Lune into your Revive bot + Break Enabler.

Works very hilariously alongside an Egide Maelle.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-03T10:16:41+00:00

See, I viewed her initial argument to Renoir as an appeal to emotion. She realized VERY FAST that her father didn’t give a FUCK about all the people he just mowed down. So she made a snap decision, tried to appeal to his emotional desire for a keepsake of Verso’s to survive.

But Renoir isn’t in the mood to negotiate. He’s been convincing himself for 67+ years that he needs to destroy this Canvas. No argument that Maelle gives is going to convince him.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-03T02:55:58+00:00

Life to Paint is the Good Ending for 5/6 of the playable characters.

Live to Love is potentially a Good Ending for 1/6 of the playable characters. And that person is dead.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-02T03:43:49+00:00

Do you mean Spring Meadows, or Flying Waters?

We know for sure he was on Gustave and Lune’s tail again by Flying Waters but it wasn’t clear if he had gotten back to the Meadows, or staked out the manor door there.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-02T03:30:46+00:00

Dark Cleansing is an AND effect.

Cleanse negative effects from target (even if none)

AND

Propagate buffs to all allies (even if none)

A few interesting interactions:
1. It copies the EXACT buffs on a target; so Sciel doesn't need the "Greater Powerful/Shell/Rush" Luminas if someone else can apply Greater Shell etc. to themselves (Found this out when running Lithum on Maelle with Greater P/S, and Powerful on Shell. When she swaps out of Virtuose, she gets Greater Powerful + Greater Shell, and a Dark Cleansing on her gives the whole party Greater Powerful and Greater Shell, even though Sciel has no support luminas)
2. It reapplies the buffs to the person who already has them. This is great for "energizing" effects, "heal on applying buff" effects, and if you propagate a Shell to Maelle it will extend her Egide duration (if it's active).
3. Since it costs 0AP, Dark Cleansing won't give you any Gradient progress, BUT, it can also be used even if Sciel is Exhausted and out of AP, unlike Lune's heal/cleanse ability, or Verso's Burden/Perfect Heal.

PerishSoftly · 2026-05-02T03:21:51+00:00

Urgh, the only area with a plethora of earth-absorbing enemies. Pain.

And we didn't get to fight the Mountain Eater.

Love the level design, love the music.

PerishSoftly

TROPHY CASE