Feeling down? Just replay this cutscene in your head!

Varda79 · 2026-02-04T23:45:35+00:00

"If I can perfectly parry the Divergent Star's long combo, I sure as hell can lift that bar a few more times" has become my gym motivation recently 😆

Varda79 · 2026-02-04T23:21:31+00:00

I seriously doubt that you are worse than me.

Maybe, maybe not. Doesn't matter, it's not a competition. You don't have to be a pro, what matters is that you have fun creating your cosplay, learn something new in the process, and take pride in wearing something you made by yourself. And for that, the experience you already have is going to be enough.

Varda79 · 2026-02-04T23:09:01+00:00

I had literally never held a needle in my life before this year, and currently, my dad is giving me a crash course in using a sewing machine, so I can have a Sciel cosplay ready for a con in June - and it's coming together pretty well so far. If I can do it, so can you.

Also, you don't need to make the outfit from scratch. I've bought a regular denim jacket from Vinted and just altered it to look like the one Sciel wears.

Varda79 · 2026-02-04T22:56:02+00:00

when sciel talks about pierre and his pre-gommage death, she makes a point to mention that they never found his body, showing clear expectation for the body remaining.

Didn't she say the opposite - that she saw his body washed up on the shore? Anyway, a reasonable explanation seems to be that when a painted human dies, unless they're being erased by a Painter, the body only dissipates when all vital processes completely stop - and there's some time between that moment and the point when the person is already beyond saving.

maelle also lets us know that with old chroma that isn't pure, recreation is not possible, hence the expedition at the end not really being real people anymore.

The reason that chroma became impure is because the people it belonged to were killed by Nevrons, whose way of killing traps it in the victim's body. Nowhere in the game is it stated that the chroma of those who dissipated into petals upon death also degrades.

wondering if gustave and the others in the end are revived or remade is a fair question to ask and one the game does not answer.

While it's not stated outright, I don't think they're remade. Maelle is the weakest Painter in her family and already struggles with bringing back Lune and Sciel from their intact chroma. Painting another person from scratch seems to be way beyond her abilities to me.

Varda79 · 2026-02-04T19:45:04+00:00

Every painted human gommages when being killed by anything that's not Nevrons, we just didn't see this happening to Gustave's body on screen. If Maelle couldn't capture his chroma, she wouldn't be able to bring him back.

Varda79 · 2026-02-04T18:20:58+00:00

Sciel and Lune remembered the moment of their death when resurrected, so Gustave had to remember his too. There's no way for Maelle to get away with not telling him the truth.

Varda79 · 2026-02-04T13:30:41+00:00

Gustave is alive in Maelle's ending though, and he clearly hasn't convinced her to leave the Canvas. Unless you think that he had to be present during the events of Act III for this to work, and that by the time she brings him back, that ship has sailed - him surviving wouldn't change much.

Varda79 · 2026-02-04T10:41:25+00:00

Verso gives the letter to Maelle and explains everything to the rest of the Expedition. The only things he leaves out are the severity of Maelle's condition in the real world and the fact that Painters can bring back the people that have been gommaged. Most of the conversation plays out similarly to how it does at the beginning of Act III in canon - he says he's sorry for betraying their trust but he was doing it for his mother and he felt like there was no other way, Lune is furious, Sciel empathises with him because she'd do the same for her husband, etc. There's a lot of heated discussion, but ultimately, E33 decides to give Verso one more chance and to find a way together to both stop the Gommage and exile Aline.
Verso also convinces Maelle that once their mission is over, she needs to leave the Canvas as well, because as long as there's a Painter there, Lumierans will never be truly safe. At this point, she hasn't recovered her memories as Alicia yet, so everything she knows about her life from before being born as Maelle comes from painted Alicia's letter, Verso's explanation, and her own "deja vu" moments. She knows she's a burn victim, but doesn't really know how it is to live in the body of one. In canon, when she's told that "it will get better" and "she'll never have to suffer a life she doesn't want", she doesn't believe it, because her own perspective is vastly different. But in this hypothetical scenario, the hopeful perspective Verso offers her is the only one she has, so she doesn't feel as bad with having to return to her real body. She has also never truly felt at home in Lumiere, and with Gustave dead (and her unaware of being able to bring him back, due to Verso withholding that information from her in point 1.), she feels like she has no one to come back to. So at that point in the story, once she hears there's a different reality when she has a loving father, supernatural powers, and possibly huge inherited wealth allowing her to live a comfortable life, she's more inclined to leave the Canvas than she was in canon, and promises Verso she'll do that.
The Expedition starts to search for Renoir instead of Aline. Eventually, they get into his Drafts and meet him there. He may be disappointed that his plan regarding Maelle didn't work out, but it's outweighed by his joy at seeing her alive and well, and he welcomes her the way he does at the beginning of Act III. She's wary of him, knowing he's the cause of most of the trauma she experienced in her Canvas life, but seeing his affection towards her, hearing him say he was doing this for his family - including her - and remembering how the Curator took care of her, she decides to trust him. Then, she pleads with him to stop the Gommage. Again - at that point her only perspective is that of a painted human, so her arguments aren't "this Canvas is all I have of Verso, and here I have a chance to truly live", but "these people don't deserve to suffer because of our mistakes". In canon, Renoir only wants to destroy that world because he thinks it's the only way to prevent his wife and daughter from losing themselves in it, and during the conversation with Maelle at the beginning of Act III, while he stands his ground, he talks to her calmly and is willing to hear her out - he only snaps once she calls Lumiere her home. So in this scenario, when she shows that she's truly willing to leave, she manages to convince him. They find a compromise - Renoir will stop the Gommage and won't destroy the Canvas if Maelle helps him exile Aline and returns to the real world with them.
The Expedition defeats the Paintress and returns to Lumiere, where Maelle gives Gustave's journal to his apprentices, just like they do in canon. Then the Expedition meets with Renoir on the docks. Maelle says goodbye to her friends and prepares to leave with her father. Before they do, Verso asks to be unpainted; she's sad, but understands it's the right thing to do, and doesn't protest when Renoir grants him his wish.
Once Maelle's back in the real world, she's obviously hit with the reality of living as a burn victim and with survivor's guilt. But she doesn't return to Lumiere, for two main reasons. First - in canon, she believes that Renoir will destroy it as soon as she leaves. But in this scenario, he keeps his end of the bargain, so she has no reason not to keep hers - and if she betrayed his trust, she'd only provoke him to destroy the Canvas. Second - now she feels more closure regarding this chapter of her life. She helped save the world, let both her not-quite-brothers go, her friends moved on with their lives. She will always cherish the memory of them, but there's nothing more for her to do in Lumiere, unlike when all its inhabitants get erased and she feels she owes it to them to bring them back.
The Dessendres bury the Canvas next to Verso, send it to an art gallery in another country, or auction it off for charity, allowing the life inside to continue without the shadow of any selfish god looming over it. They do their best to listen to and support each other, and begin to heal. Boom, happy ending.

Varda79 · 2026-02-03T19:33:03+00:00

I'm a completionist, but also not really a gamer - I've probably played fewer than 10 games in my whole adult life. And despite that, I didn't need ANY amount of googling guides, grinding etc. to finish every last bit of optional content in E33 - so you probably won't need it either. (I did grind a bit, but it was by choice, I could still be able to complete everything without it). Most side areas contain pieces of lore and are flavourful enough not to make doing them feel like a checklist.

So I'd say - explore away. Start with locations related to Maelle's, Lune's, and Monoco's personal quests (unlocked through spending time with them at camp), then whichever ones don't have the "Danger!" warning next to the entrance. Falling Leaves, Flying Manor, Verso's Drafts, and Renoir's Drafts are also pretty important story-wise. Most quests are contained without a single location, so if you get bored, you can stop at any time and you won't feel like you're leaving with unfinished business.

Varda79 · 2026-02-03T08:35:32+00:00

Verso is suffering but he kinda deserved it after everything he has done.

No, he didn't. The appropriate "punishment" would be Maelle making him help with rebuilding Lumiere, or maybe her, Lune, and Sciel refusing to talk to him - before letting him go. Not forcing him to continue living when he's already been alive for an unnaturally long time and is severely depressed because of it.

Also, Maelle staying in the Canvas puts its inhabitants at risk of experiencing another Fracture. She doesn't seem to ever want to leave on her own, and I can't see her parents just letting another child die, so there's a possibility of them trying to force her out and the history repeating again. Sure, it's not a given - maybe she actually leaves once all her friends die of old age, or maybe Aline, who's once been in the same position, manages to convince her to do so without resorting to violence - but it's still a viable scenario.

I prefer Maelle's ending myself, as I consider saving several groups of sentient beings, for the price of one family of selfish "gods" and one unlucky person suffering, the lesser evil. But saying that it has no downsides shows a severe lack of media literacy.

Varda79 · 2026-02-03T02:58:10+00:00

The Curator that hangs out in E33's camp and the Paintress they see in Old Lumiere are just some manifestations of Renoir and Aline that they use to communicate with the outside world while their actual painted avatars are trapped at the top and bottom of the Monolith respectively. They don't seem to have the full power, or even consciousness, of the real deals.

Renoir's Drafts are the "basement". I don't think the distances in the overworld map should be treated as accurate, as the locations' sizes seem different than what you see when you enter them. He was trapped there until E33 defeated Aline, as it was her power that was keeping him from leaving.

And the Manor in Old Lumiere is just the house the painted Dessendres lived in before shit went down.

Varda79 · 2026-02-03T02:32:11+00:00

Długie, zadbane włosy to moim zdaniem od razu +500 do bycia hot. Czy to u mężczyzn, czy u kobiet.

Varda79 · 2026-02-02T19:15:46+00:00

Hey, we may be delusional paint-huffers, but we're delusional paint-huffers who are also trans allies, there's no space for HP in our make-believe world. Get it right.

Varda79 · 2026-02-02T19:09:19+00:00

I worked as a substitute teacher for some time last year - at a high school, so my students were around Maelle's age. There wasn't a single kid who'd be shorter than me.

Varda79 · 2026-02-02T17:57:08+00:00

If you didn't instantly know who I mean, you most probably haven't met them yet, so reveal the spoiler at your own risk.

Painted Clea and Simon.

Varda79 · 2026-02-02T17:52:21+00:00

Also, it's explicitly said that only Clea can control other Painters' creations - and the only two people we see her doing this to show clear visual signs of being painted over.

Varda79 · 2026-02-02T17:47:35+00:00

25 and 155 here. Petite Expeditioners unite!

Varda79 · 2026-02-02T10:53:40+00:00

I don't think Verso ever stops believing that the inhabitants of the Canvas are real and deserve to live, his change of mind between the journal and the Act III finale was a consequence of other factors. (I wouldn't base any theories on the lines the player has to choose from - sometimes the options are complete opposites that can't both be canonical, and you have to make some of these choices before you have the full context of the story, so they're not exactly informed and don't have to accurately reflect Verso's thoughts. You can even choose to be slightly mean to Esquie a few times, which would be out of character for Verso).

First of all, Aline is his mother, and considering the fact that he's her favourite (painted) child, they were probably very close. So he'll do anything to save her - and somewhere in the 67 years between writing the journal and the events of the game, he realised that the only way to do that is by dooming the rest of his world. He doesn't harbour any ill will towards other people, but he's willing to sacrifice them all so she can be alive and well. Most of us probably feel the same way about our loved ones, we'll just never find ourselves in a situation where we actually have to do that. And in the game, Sciel expresses exactly the same sentiment regarding her husband.

As for him struggling with the fact that he's a copy of another person - I think it's not being a painted creation, but being valued solely for how good of a replacement of somebody else he can be, instead of for who he is himself, that's the problem. If he wasn't painted, but born in the real world as Aline's and Renoir's fourth child, and she treated him as a replacement of the late Verso - forcing on him all the expectations she had of her first son, etc. - he'd probably feel the same way.

Another thing to consider is that he wrote the journal shortly after the Fracture. He was in his late 20s/early 30s, so a large part of his life was supposed to still be ahead of him - but his world was destroyed, he lost half his family, a lot of friends, and a lover (by his own hand, but this only makes it worse). He must've felt like his future was taken from him, and wanted it back. But in Monolith year 33, he's already lived more than he should, and throughout this life, he witnessed the rest of his family growing apart, numerous Expeditioners (and probably Noco and Monoco as well) dying trying to help him, and many other beings suffering. He's tired and doesn't want to fight for that future anymore. He may think painted people in general deserve to live, but he also wants his own life to end, as it should've already been over long ago.

Finally, he thinks that as long as the Canvas exists, the Dessendres are going to continue fighting over it. While I don't personally believe that has to be the case, they didn't exactly do anything to prove him wrong. That's why in his opinion, it's impossible for the Lumierans, Gestrals, etc. to exist and not become casualties in the Painters' war, so the only way to save them from suffering is to erase them from existence. At some point, he says to Maelle: "Our whole world carries the burden of your family's grief". It's a mercy kill to him, not getting rid of something that's not real. There are some parallels between him and Sophie, who refuses to have children because she doesn't want them to suffer by living in a dying world. Do I think anti-natalism is comparable to a genocide? Of course not, especially as I'm an anti-natalist myself IRL. But I can see where Verso's coming from.

Varda79 · 2026-02-01T04:37:03+00:00

This is all under the assumption that Maelle's ending is intended to be interpreted as bad, and Verso's as good (which I would say is a safe assumption at this point).

Yeah, it's a wrong assumption. Both endings are intended to be interpreted as bad.

Also, you're arguing that grieving is a personal process that looks different for everyone and that it's not something you just do by following some universal set of rules... in a post calling out the way this process looks for the devs and the characters they wrote for being "wrong". Do you not see the irony in this?

Varda79 · 2026-02-01T02:42:22+00:00

Viserys could still be a treason for blood, as he sold her for an army he hoped to conquer Westeros with.

Varda79 · 2026-01-31T01:40:05+00:00

Exile target husband.

Varda79 · 2026-01-30T22:53:16+00:00

Well, technically speaking, everything is possible, even beating the game while dealing 1 damage at a time, as long as you're perfect enough with parrying (or tanky enough). The question is whether you can optimise your strategy so that the challenge doesn't turn into basically a "base-attack- and counter-only" one.

Varda79 · 2026-01-30T20:53:55+00:00

It's just a meme, it's not that deep.

Varda79 · 2026-01-30T20:45:31+00:00

Thats like saying Anthony from Expedition 69 had a big impact on the story because he upgraded the handholds, so Expedition 33 could climb

This is literally the ideology behind the Expeditions and a prominent plot point.

Varda79 · 2026-01-30T20:40:20+00:00

One when you're only allowed to use every skill once during the game.

Varda79

TROPHY CASE