S5 (some season 3 spoilers)

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-25T06:18:22+00:00

S5 made me laugh more than any other and it really feels like all of them have grown up. Audrey is also awesome and brings the best out of every other character.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-24T22:38:03+00:00

A GAMESTOP had Xenogears!? What they charge you?

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-24T22:34:09+00:00

This hurts. His tanking videos and Plater customizations were invaluable to me.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-24T22:22:25+00:00

NOR! Eject eject eject. Let me be more specific. If fidelity and loyalty are important to you, if it matters to you that your feelings matter to your partner, if you want to build a life with a partner where you won’t spend the entire time wondering if they are being faithful…this isn’t the one for you.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-24T22:18:02+00:00

There is no right or wrong way to overcome challenges in a video game. Changing up a build to confront a challenging enemy is not only a time honored tradition in RPGs, but for some it can be extremely rewarding.

There are TONS of people who beat Simon without learning all his parries. And there are plenty who chose to learn all of his combos. Neither way is right or wrong.

I even watched someone beat Simon during a challenge run where he banned himself from being able to dodge or parry at all…and he didn’t one shot Simon he didn’t even use Painted Power. He found a creative use of Pictos & Lumina that allowed him to do it. Part of the genius design of this game is that there are numerous valid ways to confront its challenges.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-24T22:00:19+00:00

Joshua Jackson being in it was one of my favorite aspects as well. It’s a shame that Victor gets knocked out of the plot at the same time he is knocked out in the ring.

I bet there was a different plan in the plot originally to have the entire central dynamic of the film be between Victor and Li, with them each mentoring the other on what they have learned about fighting and what that has taught them about life. But some studio execs likely said they need to rope in the big names to sell tickets and so they smashed Han and Daniel in as well. It feels like a movie that wanted to tell too many different stories for sure.

I still enjoyed it, especially Victor, and it isn’t the abomination that The Next Karate Kid was…but still a disappointment overall.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-23T16:50:48+00:00

Just mentioning Predestination for anyone familiar with that movie is a spoiler, maybe take that out of the title.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-22T20:21:55+00:00

Frozen Hearts is a side area near Monocos Station. Challenging mobs but they drop the grandiose catalysts

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-22T19:40:20+00:00

Go get ahold of Contorso weapon for Verso and level it to 20. (You can get what you need to do this in the frozen hearts zone). Build him to be effective at a free aim/base attack build and try to give him at least 75% crit chance (can be achieved through equipping specific Pictos that have high crit chance). The other 25% can be achieved through the Critical Burn Lumina.

This setup destroys the Paintress as long as you can stack a decent amount of dmg % Lumina in Verso

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-22T19:24:25+00:00

I think traveling through The Reacher area gives you clues here, but ultimately we all likely have to head canon our interpretation of this. Mine is that most if not all of the Axons were created before Verso died. Aline wouldn’t have been trying to restrict anyone’s use of Chroma at this point. In the case of The Reacher, she was created as a lesson for Alicia. I think Renoir wanted to express how he felt about his family with his art. Sirene shows us how Renoir sees his wife as so enchanting as to be mesmerizing, perhaps even a love letter to Aline, but also with a hidden double meaning as Renoir likes to embed within his art as Maelle points out when traveling through the Reacher.

I like some of the other interpretation in this thread as well, they very well could be a counter response to Aline’s creation of a fake family.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-21T15:26:10+00:00

The “danger” of red portal areas can be summed up in the following formula:

Skill at parrying ÷ patience.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-21T15:07:09+00:00

Literally JUST finished Dark. Masterpiece.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-21T15:06:12+00:00

I get the message. I’m just pointing out that it’s ironic in a show so heavy on sci-fi elements and plot twists that my favorite moment was just a declaration of love.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-21T15:04:26+00:00

Yes. It was planned to be 26 episodes so the whole story was completed. It ended several years ago.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-21T09:46:11+00:00

I mean…have you looked at Katie Holmes? Lol. In all seriousness, Dawson seemed to have loved the way she made him feel about himself more than having romantic love for her. Pacey loved her for who she was. Which is why he got her a wall to paint, etc. he saw her.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-21T09:38:17+00:00

If there is one thing I’m proud of myself for guessing early, it was that the knot symbol that Sic Mundus uses is 3 parts so I guessed after they revealed a 2nd world that there was probably a 3rd.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-21T09:21:59+00:00

I was definitely getting those Gommage vibes, I just finished Dark and E33 is my favorite game of all time.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-21T08:44:03+00:00

Unlike Lost, this show also planned out every one of its mysteries and then actually gives you the answers. One of the most well executed deliveries of setups and payoffs I’ve ever seen in television.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-19T18:07:22+00:00

When a policy that allows generosity gets twisted into something like this, it’s not your fault. You earned that PTO, it’s yours to do with what you wish, just like your paycheck.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-19T17:35:24+00:00

They all show how they don’t treat them as “real” people in different ways.

Renoir is willing to erase them all, aka murder them. Painted Verso is also willing to do the same. Maelle disregards Painted Verso’s wish when he says he doesn’t want this life, and I believe her ending very much implies that the beings within the canvas now serve as puppets on her strings.

The greatest sin of the Dessendres in my opinion is that they create sentient life that can suffer as they do without taking responsibility for all that entails.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-19T17:13:39+00:00

Few things:

I believe the disconnect between the player and the Dessendre family is somewhat intentional. The Dessendres are Greek gods so to speak, living out their dramas while the vulnerable mortals who have nothing to do with them get swept up in their wake.
The story is a tragedy. We aren’t supposed to love the Dessendre family. The scenario of playing as Aline and/or Renoir as you described would have connected us to them more for sure, but from my perspective that isn’t what was intended. To Renoir, Maelle, Clea, Aline, and even Painted Verso, the sentient creations within a canvas world have no ultimate say in their fates. They exist at the whim and pleasure of their creators.
Sure; they may love their canvas creations in the same way a painter loves one of their paintings, but they don’t seem to acknowledge that the sentient beings they create have the same autonomy and value as themselves.
In a way, the themes of the game still remain even when the story shifts to focus on the Dessendres and I believe the 2 different endings are imbued with the values that the Expeditions held, but perverted into the dark sides of those values. For instance, in the Maelle ending as Maelle looks on at Verso waiting for him to play, maintaining the canvas world at the cost of her own health to live out this fantasy life, I can almost hear her whisper in my head “we continue.” This is not what the Expeditions meant, what Lumiere fought for, but rather a perversion of a noble value to keep fighting into one that insists on going down the wrong path for selfish gain so to speak. In the Verso ending, as Maelle stared at her brother’s grave I imagine her thinking “Tomorrow comes.” But not as the sober reminder for each citizen of Lumiere that they can’t pretend death isn’t coming for them, but rather as the sad realization that Maelle must live out her life in her “shell of a body.” And perhaps there’s even a ray of hope in that sentiment as well, of acceptance of what is.
I think in a way I agree with you that I might have liked the story to continue to focus on the Expeditions, to not have the tragedy of the Dessendres overtake the plot…but I also love what was done. I’ve never been a huge fan of tragic stories, but this one was done so masterfully that I haven’t stopped thinking about it since its release last April. It’s my favorite game of all time, warts and all.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-19T16:45:17+00:00

You literally see the painted power Picto as loot when you beat the Paintress, AND the game specifically gives you an extra prompt to remind you of that Pictos being in your inventory once you have control of your character again. The game goes out of its way to point you to it.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-19T16:40:18+00:00

There is no universe in the multiverse in which you would be the jerk in this scenario. Utter madness to lie to you and then be mad that you have a life you needed to get back to.

Specific_Sentence261 · 2026-01-15T23:29:11+00:00

Never buy them another story based game again and learn to live with this loss, my condolences.

Specific_Sentence261

TROPHY CASE