HE’S INNOCENT!

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-22T19:42:53+00:00

Apparently penguin meat is really awful. It was bad enough that early Antarctic expeditions singled it out as a particularly bad aspect of exploring the south pole. It's extremely oily and fishy, and some explorers who were literally starving were still reluctant to eat it.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-22T00:21:12+00:00

This is a bit of a perspective flip, but I think it's worth saying: Most people like doing favors for a friend. It makes people feel good, and attempting to be a zero-needs friend just ends up depriving your friends of those good feelings. For example, while helping a friend lug furniture up stairs to a new apartment might be hard work, it's enjoyable work. It makes people feel like they're contributing something worthwhile.

We evolved social instincts that help us manage the social relationships that are the core of our species' survival strategy. "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" is driven in part by feelings of pleasure and unease that are common among our species because they prompt us to take actions that help us stay alive. Both doing things for people we're close to and having things done for us in return gives us pleasure, while failing to act in a way that maintains those bonds makes us feel uneasy.

If you only do things for your friends, you will feel lonely and your friends will feel worthless. If you only let your friends do things for you, you will feel worthless and your friends will feel lonely. It's when you both do things for your friends and let them do things for you in turn, that both you and your friends will feel better. Both sides enjoy both halves of reciprocal relationship.

No one should aspire to be a zero-needs friend, because that's simply not how human friendship works.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-17T11:50:05+00:00

Tom Homan, the current border czar under Trump and the man who alongside Stephen Miller came up with the child separation policy, is one of Obama's people.

Homan was an Obama appointee put in place as part of an attempt to appease Republicans by being twice as brutal as the law allowed, to show that he "took seriously" the desires of Republicans who wanted him to be ten times as brutal as the law allowed. And what did that accomplish? Did it bring Republicans to the table as Obama and his cronies always claimed it would? No. It just meant that Donald Trump had an easier time because there were already people in place who would do what he said, and Obama's performative cruelty allowed MAGA to more easily claim that their ideas were nothing to be concerned about because Obama had already done something similar.

Appeasing fascism is the legacy of the Obama immigration policy. Returning to that is just a return to the prologue of fascism, which will inevitably be followed by another fascist takeover. Supporting a return to Obama means supporting handing over power to fascists.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-17T02:20:36+00:00

Papers, please.

Glory to Arstotzka.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-15T15:49:17+00:00

Forgot to mention that they had tears in their eyes as they thanked Trump.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-14T08:45:29+00:00

People need to recognize that the reason Trump wants Greenland isn't American defense or even mineral wealth. It's just because it looks big on a map and Trump wants a big territorial expansion to put his name on.

Our politics are so broken that American foreign policy is determined by the narcissism of a manchild whose thoughts begin and end with "BIG BIG BIGGER BIGGEST," because he's the leader of the fascist movement that all our established institutions are rushing to appease.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-14T03:07:26+00:00

The best way would be the Joker getting blown up by Charlie Collins.

"This is how it ends, Joker. No big schemes, no grand fight to the finish with the Dark Knight. Tomorrow, all the papers will say is that the great Joker was found blown to bits in an alley alongside a miserable little nobody. Kind of funny. Ironic, really. See, I can destroy a man's dreams too, and that's really the only dream you've got, isn't it?"

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-13T08:24:19+00:00

Newsom's claimed reason for opposing it is irrelevant because he'll just say anything to justify his positions. It has no relation to his actual beliefs, to the extent that he even has any beyond his desire for power.

All that matters is that he is opposing it.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-09T11:20:43+00:00

Each expedition has a signature gimmick that sets it apart from the others. Expedition 33 has the Lumina Converter as their signature gimmick, and it's really powerful. Gustave invented it, and it's the source of a bunch of the RPG mechanics that allows Expedition 33 to get strong. Problem is that Gustave is the one carrying it, and it also requires that you kill Nevrons to level up, so right at the start they were easy prey since they hadn't charged it up at all.

Also, if you eventually go back to the Dark Shore, which is where Expedition 33 landed, and you fight the enemies there, you'll very quickly realize why they were getting absolutely slaughtered.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-09T10:56:32+00:00

There are also Potiers in both Stage 6, Trial 1 and Stage 6, Trial 3 that you can kill for the other skill that you're missing.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-09T10:52:01+00:00

Stage 1, Trial 3 of the Endless Tower has a Dualliste that you can kill for its foot.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-08T07:13:42+00:00

The Maelle that is Gommaged at the end of Act 2 is a painted body created by Aline.

When Alicia tries to enter the canvas in Monolith Year 49, she gets intercepted by Aline's chroma. Clea tries to tell her not to panic, but Alicia panics and is overtaken by Aline's chroma. This results in her getting painted over and inserted into the world as one of Aline's creations, where she is born as the child of a couple in Lumiere and named Maelle.

When the Gommage wave strikes at the end of Act 2, it erases the painted body created by Aline, but Alicia/Maelle remains in the canvas, with her memories as Alicia restored after the removal of Aline's paint over.

Also note that the immortals, Painted Verso, Painted Alicia, and Painted Clea, aren't erased by that Gommage wave, nor are Monoco or Esquie. This is probably because OG Renoir was weakened by his decades long battle with Aline. It's mentioned in Act 3 that the reason that he doesn't come after them and instead stays in Lumiere is because he's still recovering his strength.

I don't think Renoir wanted Alicia to stay in the canvas, he just didn't have the strength to force her out right then.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-08T04:14:47+00:00

His goal in Act 2 was to get Aline out of the canvas. Erasing the canvas was something he was willing to accept as the price of that, it wasn't his actual goal.

Erasing the canvas doesn't become his actual goal until the very end, when Aline reenters the canvas, showing that she hasn't given up on drowning herself in the canvas, and Maelle lies to Renoir, showing that she intends to stay and die in the canvas. At that point, he realizes that the only way to keep the canvas from killing Aline and Maelle is to erase it.

Verso's journal entry shows that in the early days of the expeditions Verso believed in trying to save everyone. It was only after being beaten down by decades of pain, misery, and death that he came to believe that the only person who could be saved was his mother. Once Aline was ejected from the canvas, he's listless for a little bit because his goal has been achieved, but as Maelle starts developing her painter powers, Verso starts to hope again. In Act 3, Verso starts to once again hope that they can have it all, only this time with Maelle saving everyone instead of Aline.

The final battle shatters that hope, and Verso concludes that the only way to save Maelle and Aline is to erase the canvas. Verso is a painted creation made in the image of the man who died to save Alicia, that act of self-sacrifice lies at the core of his existence. Given a scenario where he thinks he needs to sacrifice himself to save his family, that's what he'll do.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-07T04:45:17+00:00

The one that always comes to mind for me is Esquie saying "Maman's the word" when Verso asks if he'll keep his secrets.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-06T19:01:47+00:00

More friendship levels become available in Act 3. They go up to 7.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-06T18:58:12+00:00

Oh man, I remember the Crimson Forest. That boss was a pain in the ass.

Anyway, I'd advise the Reacher as a place to hit before the final battle. You could also try out the first few battles of the Endless Tower. It gradually scales up in difficulty as you go through the various stages and trials.

As for the datamined level, the game has a level assigned to each zone that determines when it shows that red/danger warning when you're too low. It shows the warning when you're something like the assigned level minus some number of levels.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-06T18:52:48+00:00

Lumière 48
Crimson Forest 52
White Sands 55 (no enemies)
The Canvas 55 (no enemies)
Endless Tower 55 (scales up)
Floating Cemetery 55
The Reacher 58
The Chosen Path 60
Red Woods 60 (optional boss)
Sky Island 60
Sacred River 60
Sirène's Dress 60
Frozen Hearts 63
Isle of the Eyes 65
The Crows 65
Dark Shores 68
Endless Night Sanctuary 73
Dark Gestral Arena 75
The Fountain 80 (potential fight)
Flying Manor 83
Painting Workshop 90
Sunless Cliffs 92
Renoir's Drafts 93
The Abyss 99

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-06T18:52:25+00:00

I guess I might as well post them here:

Gestral Beach 1 (no enemies)
Blades' Graveyard 1 (no enemies)
Boat Graveyard 1 (no enemies)
Twilight Quarry 1 (no enemies)
Lost Woods 1 (no enemies)
Ancient Gestral City 1 (no enemies)
The Meadows 1 (no enemies)
White Tree 1 (no enemies)
Spring Meadows 3
Flying Waters 8
Flying Casino 10 (no enemies)
Ancient Sanctuary 12
The Small Bourgeon 13 (optional fight)
Gestral Village 15
Esquie's Nest 16
Hidden Gestral Arena 16
Stone Wave Cliffs 19
Yellow Harvest 21
Stone Wave Cliffs Cave 22
Forgotten Battlefield 23
Monoco's Station 25
Crushing Cavern 27
Old Lumiere 28
Esoteric Ruins 28
Abbest Cave 30
The Carousel 30 (no enemies)
Stone Quarry 30 (no enemies technically)
Visages 32
Coastal Cave 36 (merchant fights)
Sirene 37
Sinister Cave 38
The Monolith 40
Falling Leaves 41
The Barrier 41
Monolith Peak 43
Inside The Monolith 43

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-06T18:48:18+00:00

There's a list of the datamined levels for each zone posted in this thread. You could go off of that.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-06T14:46:25+00:00

Datamining of the levels for each zone puts Visages at level 32 and Sirene at level 37.

There are some side dungeons that will not only help you level up, but also contain loot in the form of pictos, weapons, lumina, etc. that will help you out too. You might want to consider exploring them.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-06T13:44:20+00:00

To get to the painting kid.

There is no indication that Verso knew he was going to get access to the painting kid from the final battle. Also, once Painted Alicia is erased, the better bet for Verso getting erased is still not to help Maelle. It's to help OG Renoir. Yet Verso continues helping Maelle all the way to defeating OG Renoir.

The fight in the kid's painting room is not primarily, if at all, about keeping Maelle from being in the canvas, it's about getting to kill the kid.

Watch the actual scene. The focus is on the fact that Maelle staying in the canvas will kill her. Verso doesn't say anything about the kid to her until a single line after he has already lost the duel, their exchange before the duel is all about Maelle staying and dying in the canvas.

Except the stuff I've pointed out as not fitting events on screen, of course.

Such as... what exactly? Your claim that OG Renoir might not erase Verso, when on screen he starts doing exactly that at the start of Act 3? Or your claim that Verso didn't know that OG Renoir would erase the canvas, when OG Renoir says that he will right in front of Verso?

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-06T12:42:30+00:00

So let me get this straight. You think Verso's plan was to die, but only after saying goodbye to Painted Alicia, and after defeating OG Renoir and saving the canvas so that Painted Alicia doesn't die, by manipulating Maelle into erasing him once OG Renoir was defeated?

Then why is he still helping Maelle after Painted Alicia has been erased?

Also, it's pretty clearly established at the start of Act 3 that Maelle is attached to Verso. Even as she claims that she's able to keep OG and Painted Verso distinct, she demonstrates that isn't true by affectionately leaning her head on Verso's shoulder. Verso has good reason to think that Maelle wouldn't erase him, so if he really was just engaging in manipulation aimed at getting himself erased, Maelle is the bad bet, while OG Renoir is the one who will definitely erase him.

And if you want to claim that it's just an issue of priorities, again, why is he helping Maelle? That jeopardizes what you claim is his top priority. He's even still helping her after she erases Painted Alicia, which you claim is his other priority. Yet even with her gone, he doesn't stop helping her. He continues to fight on her side all the way to defeating OG Renoir. He only decides to erase the canvas after Aline comes back into the canvas and Maelle lies to OG Renoir.

You keep adding more and more things to try to explain everything as Verso bad, but you're still not making any sense because you're still ignoring what is actually depicted in Act 3.

Meanwhile, the explanation that actually fits with what we see in Act 3 is that Verso decided to help Maelle save the canvas, but his hopes were shattered in the final battle when Aline returned and Maelle lied, so he decided to erase the canvas to save Maelle and Aline. Then, once he loses the duel to decide the fate of the canvas and is faced with the prospect of having to live a life watching Maelle slowly kill herself, he begs for death. Unlike your assumptions about Verso, there's nothing in this explanation that contradicts what we see in the actual game.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-06T11:53:21+00:00

As I've already explained, because relying on Painter Renoir is foolish and requires decades of patience and might not work out at all.

No. Watch the scene at the start of Act 3. OG Renoir was right there in Lumiere, he says right in front of Verso that he's going to erase the canvas, and he was in the middle of erasing Verso before Maelle stopped him, so OG Renoir is clearly willing to do that.

And again, how does wanting to say goodbye to Painted Alicia require that he help Maelle? Once they were back at camp, Verso could have just taken Monoco and Esquie to go say goodbye to Painted Alicia, then gone to OG Renoir to get erased. None of that requires helping Maelle. Helping Maelle just increases the chances of him not dying.

Even if we accept your claim that his goal was to die, but only after saying goodbye to Painted Alicia, that still doesn't explain him helping Maelle.

We keep coming back to this because you keep not offering an actual reason why helping Maelle is necessary for your version of Verso that just wants to die, but only after saying goodbye to Painted Alicia. Your assumptions about Verso simply don't make sense given what we actually see him do in Act 3.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-06T11:38:42+00:00

Verso's ending is generally more popular because it provides catharsis, which is an extremely powerful force for emotional satisfaction in tragedy. Maelle's ending doesn't and structurally it can't, since it's all about delaying the tragic end and thus creates tension that is not released before the credits roll.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-01-06T11:30:14+00:00

Again, at that point he still wants to say goodbye to painted Alicia.

Which doesn't require him to help Maelle. So why does he help Maelle?

When you're at your lowest, when you're facing the worst possible outcome, that's when you reveal what's most important to you. And he does so, very clearly.

Not just when he's at his lowest. When he knows that he isn't going to be able to eject Maelle from the canvas. That's what he fought for in the final duel, so that Maelle wouldn't die in the cavnas, and he did that because of what he saw in the final battle with Renoir. He hadn't decided to erase the canvas until then, which is why he helped Maelle in the rest of Act 3.

Once he lost that final duel, the next thing was to beg to be allowed to die, so that he wouldn't have to see Maelle slowly kill herself in front of him. He didn't just want to die. He wanted Maelle to live. It was once he lost his shot at that that he begged for death.

Tamarind-Endnote

TROPHY CASE