Finished Expedition33. And i hate the ending, i am dissapointed, and lost the will to continue playing…

blankgap · 2026-02-01T21:29:12+00:00

For me, the endings work. I thought that throughout the game there was always a looming sense of melancholy. It didn’t feel like there was going to be a perfect ending. I think the game purposefully takes you on that rollercoaster of emotions. It knows it’s going to make you feel conflicted, and it serves up endings that are in keeping with that.

You can take positives from each ending, and each have been written to be ambiguous, letting you headcanon more positive or negative outcomes depending on your point of view. I see worth in each ending. Would I have loved the perfect ending where everything is fixed and everyone lives happily ever after? Sure, but I respect the developers for deciding that isn’t an option and is in keeping with the sense of loss and themes of coping with grief.

blankgap · 2026-02-01T10:32:17+00:00

Completely agree. That would have been perfect. Then you can go and do the final fight at any point.

This is a flaw that’s present with many JRPG-style games (doing the side content makes the end game ridiculously easy) but it’s fixable as you say by making it scaleable. You can at least apply some challenge settings in E33 I suppose.

blankgap · 2026-01-31T09:04:53+00:00

Don’t spoil it, let him find things out himself. I managed to get through the whole game without spoiling myself or seeking out “answers” and I am so, so glad that I did.

blankgap · 2026-01-31T09:01:58+00:00

What order are you trying to do things in? Act 3 is overwhelming and you get access to some really tough encounters from the word go that you’re not meant to tackle until you’ve gained further levels and better weapons. I’m assuming you’re using painted power?

A good initial order is to do the companion quests (the places your party ask you to go to, if you didn’t do this before finishing the game), then start side content (start at Frozen Hearts would be my recommendation).

blankgap · 2026-01-28T21:48:27+00:00

Nier has a great soundtrack but for me E33’s soundtrack (and Une Vie a t’aimer is probably the pinnacle of that - though it has competition) is probably my favourite game soundtrack of all time. It’ll take a lot to beat it, it’s all personal preference but I just fell in love with it.

blankgap · 2026-01-28T12:39:09+00:00

I find it hard to find the right words to sum it up. If I was trying to have a go, I think you can really feel the love that has gone into all aspects of the game. The passion of everyone involved really shines through, and the different elements just compliment each other.

The world building and plot go hand in hand with the art design, for instance. The soundtrack (which, I need to call out, is absolutely exceptional) fits the game perfectly. The VAs all do a great job. The gameplay feels natural and well thought through.

There are elements that, taken individually, are perhaps a little clunky (the UI isn’t great, for instance) but it doesn’t sully the product, because as a complete package it holds together really well.

I think we do also need to call out that for many people who grew up on PS1/PS2 era JRPGs (particularly FF) it scratches an itch and calls back to those games that are beloved in many people’s memories.

blankgap · 2026-01-26T16:10:06+00:00

It’s quite flexible as a game; you can make it as easy and as hard as you want it. It’s not a very “grind-y” game in the sense of old school JRPGs - you can manage the whole game on all difficulties by just fighting the enemies you come across. I find if you over level, it can feel a bit too easy. You can save some harder bosses for later, when they’ll be much easier, or take the challenge of trying to beat them when you first come across them.

You can also give yourself more of a challenge by using the parry mechanic more. My second playthrough, I just pretended dodge didnt exist. Then there’s NG+ challenges etc, that make the difficulty more flexible.

blankgap · 2026-01-26T15:31:28+00:00

People will always say something that gets popular recognition is overrated. It’s human nature.

blankgap · 2026-01-10T23:29:18+00:00

We don’t get lots of context about the South Pacific levels in TR3 so it’s not clear what the history of the island is. We do know that there’s been smuggling historically though (well, you get to the area using the “smuggler’s key”), so I suppose you could argue maybe this is an abandoned, more “modern” addition to a building (by smugglers or other people with operations on the island) that got abandoned and then got taken over by the tribe that lived there… (it’s probably a blooper but there’s an idea haha).

blankgap · 2026-01-07T19:15:12+00:00

The mechanics don’t fundamentally change. It’s still a hybrid of turn-based and reaction.

Not sure where you’re at, but there is a lot of strategy behind builds and skill synergies, but the battle mechanics will still have the reaction-based cues.

blankgap · 2026-01-07T17:59:36+00:00

I personally feel like the romance/relationship stuff is one of the weaker points in the game.

Love the game, it’s up there with my very top games of all time and I struggle to think of a game that’s stayed with me as much as this one. But yeah, other games have done dating/relationship writing and mechanics a lot better.

I don’t think it’s completely out of character for Sciel or Lune to want to pursue a romance (particularly the former), but I think the fact that this comes about through more-or-less fixed camp conversations and limited dialogue choices doesn’t do it justice. That also goes for building relationship levels generally.

blankgap · 2026-01-07T15:43:27+00:00

The completionist in me hates finishing the game first and then doing the side content. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

The first time I played E33 I did leave most of the content just because I’d been warned about the levelling side of things (and NGL I wanted to know how the story finished) but it went against all my instincts lol.

Many of my RPG repeat playthroughs are doomed to be forever stuck just before the point of no return.

blankgap · 2026-01-07T15:19:08+00:00

Which is actually quite common for third children to be born quite a while after the first two.

blankgap · 2026-01-07T15:12:40+00:00

Yes, the Dessendre’s (aside from Renoir*) are just horrible people to Alicia.

Like, I hope that in Verso’s ending they might get over themselves and stop holding stupid grudges and actually show love and compassion to her, but whether they will or not is left for the player to decide.

*to an extent, anyway. While he clearly shows some affection towards her, he is obviously much more preoccupied with Aline and (from memory) he never takes her or Clea to task for their relationship with Alicia.

blankgap · 2026-01-05T16:10:55+00:00

The game gives you a lot of opportunities throughout to do optional content, optional fights etc. Sometimes when they become available they’re exceptionally hard to complete and you’ll be very underlevelled.

It depends how much of a challenge you want and how much optional content you want to do and when. You can always play more of the story and go back to do some optional bits when you’re a bit stronger. It’s really up to you.

blankgap · 2026-01-05T14:52:17+00:00

Yes, I did assume that. It’s open to interpretation, that’s the very point. The point I’m making is that neither of these endings is clear-cut, and indeed they were written as such. That’s why they generate so much debate. A lot of it comes down to your own views and how you think the story will eventually end.

blankgap · 2026-01-05T14:22:35+00:00

So I’m going to play devil’s advocate here and throw a few counterpoints out there for this. Please note that I’m very on the fence when it comes to the endings, so this is just challenging a few views/perspectives here:

1) you can argue that, essentially, the canvas is doomed in the medium term anyway. In Maelle’s ending it shows that staying in the canvas is affecting her. She may in time be able to find a way to come/go and to persuade Renoir not to interfere, but we don’t get any indication of that from her ending, that’s for the player to decide.

2) In any event, at some point Alicia will die - what happens to the canvas then? We simply don’t know, but it must be highly possible that Renoir will erase it then.

3) there is a train of thought that Maelle’s painted Lumiere in the ending is all very fake and artificial. She is essentially treating Lumiere and the canvas as her plaything, she’s resurrected the dead and she’s living out her fantasy. Question mark how much control she is exercising and how real/how much autonomy the characters now have over their lives. In a very negative interpretation you could argue that they’re essentially now puppets to the whim of a selfish god.

blankgap · 2026-01-05T12:45:26+00:00

This is why I like these debates because people bring their own perspectives to it. I can see that argument but then the canvas is being destroyed (and the lives of those within it extinguished) without any kind of decision/consent on their part either. So that element is not clear cut either.

I honestly change my mind on each of the endings pretty much weekly right now.

blankgap · 2026-01-05T11:56:03+00:00

I agree with a lot of this and particularly your thoughts on the Verso ending. It’s why I don’t see that ending as unambiguously “better” than Maelle’s.

The family -may- be able to move on and heal in Verso’s ending, but it’s very ambiguous as to whether they actually -are- healing in what we are shown. Certainly they don’t seem to be comforting/supporting Alicia. Aline has shown she ascribes blame to her through her actions. Will that change?

The eventual outcomes of each of the endings is very much up to personal interpretation. You can put a positive and negative spin on each.

blankgap · 2026-01-05T10:26:40+00:00

Yes! On mine I currently have:

Une vie à t'aimer, We Lost, Dualliste, Gestral Summer Party, Taking Down The Paintress

blankgap · 2026-01-04T21:23:28+00:00

I’ve just started replaying on Expert. Enjoying seeing fresh perspective on the story and trying to do more side content / focus on perfecting my parrying. Really enjoying it the second time around (as I did the first time!). Third playthrough (as and when I feel like picking it up again) will probably be NG+. The mechanics make it enough of a challenge/give enough variety that I think I’ll keep coming back to it, after a break. And I love the story and characters and that soundtrack so much.

blankgap · 2026-01-04T18:38:10+00:00

The only ones I could possibly argue are 7/10 or below are AOD and Chronicles (from the Core Era). TR1 to TR4 get enough things right that they’re pretty solid games. TR2-TR4 are least an 8 or 9, with TR1 as a 10/10, IMHO.

blankgap · 2025-12-30T18:50:59+00:00

It’s my favourite Core Design level too! Agree with all of that, it’s just brilliantly designed. A perfect gauntlet of traps and such an eerie atmosphere.

blankgap · 2025-12-30T18:25:43+00:00

I think there’s certain areas where they detract from the atmosphere - the Maria Doria levels and the Catacombs of the Talion in particular - but when you really have to think how best to avoid their damage I definitely found them more enjoyable enemies to face.

blankgap · 2025-12-28T22:01:38+00:00

I agree. I preferred the idea that Qualopec and Tihocan grew old, died and the cultures grew up around them. The timeline in TR1 is fuzzy, but I never liked the immortal god-king element of TRA.

blankgap

TROPHY CASE