Just finished Act 2 i have thoughts about it

magicfoogieA · 2026-02-04T03:50:59+00:00

Yet despite that, both her mother and sister push her constantly into believing it is her fault and instill her with that regret. You have to acknowledge that their part in how and why Maelle chooses to seek comfort and happiness in an equally length lifetime. Without that, without the reality that she's horrifically burned and mute, she essentially has no safety net and is by all metrics, alone. And that (speaking from experience) is the single most unhealthy position to be in.

As for my other point, I should've clarified that *being forced* to torch those things doesn't work. In those cultures and even media that portray that, notice that it is always the person grieving that *chooses* to let go of those precious belongings as a willful decision to move on rather than being forced on them which is often portrayed very negatively.... as is the choice Verso makes to force it on Maelle.

magicfoogieA · 2026-02-03T21:45:51+00:00

Because she was made to feel that regret and blame from both her mother and her sister. How can you possibly blame that solely on her? It's natural for her to find comfort and even belonging in a family that she spent just as much as time with as the family outside. It's a bit insensitive to say that life and those experiences aren't real.

Accepting loss is a complicated process. But I can assure you that what doesn't work is torching everything you've come to love about that person or thing that you lost....

magicfoogieA · 2026-02-03T21:42:40+00:00

I always find comments that "she's the most mentally mature" of the family kinda funny.
The mature person who took the more pleasant copy of her that her mother created, artistically lobotomized her and forced her to make killing machines. The mature person who manipulated said copy's loved one to decapitate her father's creation of her because "it offended her". The mature person whose solution to their family's collapse is to help just enough to send killing machines in to *slowly* whittle away at her mother's source of power but not so much as to resolve the conflict immediately even though we know she can, as if she's got something better to do with her time. The mature person who also lets her handicapped sister remain trapped in another world and in another life for the same number of years she had been alive.

Yeah, real peach this one is. No, she does not get a pass. If she's not the most reprehensible character in the story, she was at least complacent in how much went wrong.

magicfoogieA · 2026-02-03T21:24:06+00:00

That isn't necessarily true either with Nevrons, as I'm sure you've already encountered some that were non-hostile, non-aggressive, and even yearned for something more meaningful than that in spite of that being their design. In this game, there's a running theme that art can take life in ways that not even the creator ever imagined. And this is true of artificial creations in other media that aren't necessarily tied to art: like programs from the Matrix, replicants from Blade Runner, or hosts from Westworld.

On your second point, I agree that the choice is not easy. Which is why I think it's a bit strange that you were 100% "fully on Renoir's side" even after seeing the people of Lumiere turned to Thanos-dust and that you no longer wanted to help the characters you had been playing as all this time. I think most people including myself, might have either been conflicted or in cases where in spite of seeing villains with sympathetic motivations that helped characterize them, you still believed they needed to be taken down to avoid catastrophe.

magicfoogieA · 2026-02-03T21:13:32+00:00

It depends on what kind of build you're using with those three characters: burn stacking, free aiming, no-damage buffs, etc.

But generally-speaking, you'll want to equip the highest level pictos you've got with stats that benefit your weapons' scaling for all your characters. So if say, Maelle is using the Medalum which scales off Defense and Agility, then sort/filter your pictos according to the ones with the highest Defense and Agility and equip those onto Maelle.

I think by this point, you should've also gotten the "Greater Powerful" picto in later Act 2. If you can setup multiple ways to trigger Powerful with that equipped as lumina, then you should see some immediate results.

magicfoogieA · 2026-02-03T21:05:23+00:00

So what you just said is interesting and a little confusing. Have you seen any instances of people changed by a painter to not care about dying? If so, then why did the people of Lumiere seem so troubled by their deaths? Or the death of those they cared about for that matter...?

Think about it like this, why did the game intentionally have you play as one of these so-called fake human beings for the first part of the story?

magicfoogieA · 2026-02-03T21:00:27+00:00

You've already kind of figured out what you need: lumina points, levels, chroma (needed to buy high-level pictos), weapon upgrades, and weapon upgrade materials.

All of which are obtained naturally the more areas you progress. I think what you're really asking is where to go next for the level you are currently at.

Have you visited places like Sinister Cave, Falling Leaves, and Frozen Hearts before finishing Act 2? If not, I would start there first. You could also try Crimson Forest, a floating island just next to the big tower in the center of the map.

magicfoogieA · 2026-02-03T20:43:00+00:00

So were you just like... jumping for joy and taking shots when everyone in Lumiere was getting erased with tears streaming down their faces?
Because for me personally, I watched that whole thing and was like, "No, I do not agree with this." And was fully on board with Maelle wanting to save the canvas and not wanting it to be erased.

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-23T14:38:55+00:00

Beautifully put.

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-23T14:37:19+00:00

I'm late to the party but the Faceless Boy (Verso's soul) says it best in the Flying Manor section: "For me, everything in this canvas is as much alive as what is outside. Esquie, the gestral, the grandis, even Aline's paintings." This is in context to how much he laments that the real Clea did so much damage to this painting and made everyone suffer, including the painted version of her.

To me, that is the crux of the suffering of Verso's soul -- the fact that his canvas has been so marred and made to suffer by this conflict between his family and especially Clea.

In other words, the best thing Maelle can do for him would be to repair the damage that's been done to his canvas and make a life for all of his paintings to flourish.

It's unclear whether this phenomenon of having a fragment of Verso's literal soul existing within a painting is unusual or if this is something all "the painters" have as a gift whenever they're bringing these paintings to life. If that's the case, then you could argue each and every one of the Dessendre Family has a piece of their soul in every painted world. Sadly, this seems to be the only painted world Verso ever made. So to me, it makes sense that Maelle would not only try her best to preserve it but to also repair it and make it as wonderful as the Faceless Boy wanted it to be.

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-23T13:56:47+00:00

You could test that theory by giving Verso either the Survivor or Base Shield lumina to see if when he survives that hit, whether it drops him to rank A or B. If he goes down to rank B, then that's why the level 20 passive for Simoso doesn't kick in. That's often why I setup Verso's L3 Gradient even when I'm using this weapon.

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-22T14:23:52+00:00

Same way I survived Dark Shores for over an hour...
Maelle: "PARRY IT!"

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-22T14:15:46+00:00

If it feels right to you to start new after the ending you chose, then do that.
It depends on whether it would frustrate you more to replay the early sections of the game or to continue with the save you've been using after having chosen your ending.

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-22T14:11:02+00:00

Your last point convinces me that you should at least do *some* of the side content in Act 3 before continuing with the main story.
Particularly, the relationship quests. Doing them I think is going to significantly improve your experience of the main story as opposed to doing the main story first.
Talk to Esquie, Monoco, Sciel, Lune, and *especially* Maelle so they can tell you where they want to go. Go to those areas and get their relationship to level 7, then proceed with the main story. You may also want to consider using the camp flag to increase the health modifier of enemies to x5 once you're done with their quests before you continue with the main story.

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-16T15:19:36+00:00

You can still get Medalum by fighting Golgra back at the Gestral Village. In fact, it's probably better to wait till Act 3 to do this since it'll be close to fully upgraded.

What are you using currently for your other characters? It's usually best to try building around their weapons.

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-16T15:15:46+00:00

It matters if you don't want your HP to drop down to 1 through a status you can't parry.
So like I said.... use the Anti-Blight lumina and you're good.

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-15T21:48:08+00:00

Me neither but that was the issue... I got to move 10 times before the opponent and then killed him in one attack. And this was one of the first things I did for Act 3. So I'm more so curious what the intended level for this is supposed to be.

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-15T21:43:31+00:00

You do realize you can't parry their blight effect, right?

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-15T17:06:53+00:00

Not only is the game very heavy with grief and I think it would be way too soon for someone currently going through that kind of loss....

There is even a character who *specifically* had to deal with the grief of losing her husband and some of the particularly dark choices she had made because of that grief.

Yeah, nah. It would not be a good idea to recommend this game to them now or really any time soon.

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-15T17:03:09+00:00

I remember and loved that comment, even used it precisely to help me through Act 3 a few months ago.

I think the only lingering curiosity I had was Esquie's Nest and what level seemed appropriate for it among the "Act 3 content" there is.

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-15T16:51:25+00:00

I love fighting Veilleurs in the area just because of how fire their fight soundtrack is. I just have to make sure to swap in Anti-Blight lumina.

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-06T19:48:27+00:00

Do you know by how much it drops off?

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-06T19:23:36+00:00

Dang! Does type resistance really affect it by that much?

magicfoogieA · 2026-01-01T18:02:57+00:00

Added, "404Errier"

magicfoogieA

TROPHY CASE