Why didn't Gustave go out to rescue Sophie a year earlier?

[通粉]

I initially thought that Gustave was going into battle to save Sophie’s life. But in the next moment, Sophie died...

Why didn't Gustave go into battle a year earlier? That way, he at least had the chance to save his girlfriend and reunite for a happy ending. Now, he has to endure the pain of losing her while facing his own impending death. How could he possibly fight with all his strength? Even if he successfully stops the Paintress, he would still return home single.

The current story really stirs up the players' emotions, but I feel a bit frustrated and disappointed. I really wish there was a chance for everyone to survive.

[Sunsetter]

Heh, I opened the topic with the same question

[StoneyWoney]

Originally posted by 通粉:

I initially thought that Gustave was going into battle to save Sophie’s life. But in the next moment, Sophie died...

Why didn't Gustave go into battle a year earlier? That way, he at least had the chance to save his girlfriend and reunite for a happy ending. Now, he has to endure the pain of losing her while facing his own impending death. How could he possibly fight with all his strength? Even if he successfully stops the Paintress, he would still return home single.

The current story really stirs up the players' emotions, but I feel a bit frustrated and disappointed. I really wish there was a chance for everyone to survive.

EX-girlfriend

[EJR]

To my knowledge, he wanted to be there for Sophie until the bitter end. The expeditions were already known to be complete failures, considering they had 67 in the past, so he wanted to spend Sophie's last year at her side instead of having her worry for his safety across the sea.

[Willow Rivers]

Sophie is a ex girlfriend, they broke up.

[通粉]

I know they broke up, but until Sophie’s death, I felt that Gustave and Sophie’s interactions were almost indistinguishable from those of a couple reconciling.

Maybe Gustave really wanted to be with Sophie until the end. But in reality, they had no interaction for that whole year. He only sent her flowers before her death after being encouraged by friends. If he truly wanted to be there for her, he should have mustered the courage to reconcile much earlier.

I understand that these are just two choices with no right or wrong. I just really feel it's a pity.

[Gin]

So this entire case is explained if you actually payed attention in the begging of the game.
1. Gustave was not the commander he couldn't just go.
2. Sophie broke up with Gustave because 1. he wanted children and she did not want to bring children into this world and 2. he was keen on wanting to go and change things and at this point 100s if not thousands have already gone on their explorations to the island and never returned she made it very clear she had no hope in it happening deep down that someone could make the change let alone Gustave (which if you cleared act 1 in story you kinda know at this point i wont say). Where Gustave wanted to join earlier expeditions sophie wanted him to be there for her gommage to say good bye.
3. The story clearly shows that he wasn't in the right space after Sophie's death by how he responded on the beach scene which i wont go into details for spoilers
point is the story works as is and if you found yourself disappointing simply cause you did not understand it when they literally explained exactly what your talking about well that's kinda on you also wanting everyone to survive in a world where people automatically die at a certain age seems unrealistic that's like if the world just started firing all their nukes at once and wishing everyone found a rock to stay safe under.

[Cleril]

Only thing to correct from other posts is that Sophie claims they broke up because Gustave wanted children and she didn't. Gustave's motivations to do anything are for other people, not himself. Sophie was against the idea so Gustave stayed behind. Given Sophie was now going to die, Gustave has only Maelle left, and he doesn't even really want Maelle to come with them.

He joins the expedition just to give others the chance at a future, especially Maelle. He bought into the kool-aid.

Gustave is so beholden to other's whims that he won't argue with anyone. Not a criticism of the writing. Just who Gustave is as a character.

[Horrible Marksman]

The split is pretty explicitly stated to be a result of a difference of opinion when it comes to children. Whether you want to interpret that as their literal children or prioritizing the future generations is up to the viewer I suppose.

As to why he didn’t go, remember he’s an engineer and not necessarily a soldier. The Lumina Converter was supposed to be the game changer he invented and this was their first real test run.

Edit: didn’t he also mention his apprentices maintaining the towns defensive shield or something such while he’s gone? Probably necessary to train some of the newer generation until they can manage that.

[Icospawn]

if you talk to everyone. You know that he wanted a baby with her but she did not want to bring another life into a dying world where the baby would be an orphan. "I lost the love of my life because of that" They prob had a bad argument and now at the end and with regret he wanted to be there for her. The expedition is prob his idea of redemption and vengeance.

[SeraphLance]

Originally posted by Gin:

So this entire case is explained if you actually payed attention in the begging of the game.
1. Gustave was not the commander he couldn't just go.

They don't really go into all that much detail about how the expeditions work in the game but seem to imply that they recruit every year, and we know they go every year. Maelle is also proof that you can go without being in the last year of your life.

I think a more plausible argument is that nobody wanted to let him go because he was an accomplished inventor.

[Tr0w]

Originally posted by Icospawn:

if you talk to everyone. You know that he wanted a baby with her but she did not want to bring another life into a dying world where the baby would be an orphan. "I lost the love of my life because of that" They prob had a bad argument and now at the end and with regret he wanted to be there for her. The expedition is prob his idea of redemption and vengeance.

Also when you're playing as Sophie if you speak to one of the NPCs on the way to the harbour she asks Sophie something like if this means they're back together and she responds with something along the lines of i think so or i hope so.

@Seraph, you don't need Maelle as proof of that, the countdown started at 100, i doubt expedition zero was full of 99 year olds.

@Cleril He has two big arguments with Lune early in Act I...

[Icospawn]

Also pretty sure by 33. no one is force to go. It was suicide to go by this time people just accepted death. Most people have given up. He had nothing else to lose at this point.

[Stavvy]

Originally posted by Icospawn:

Also pretty sure by 33. no one is force to go. It was suicide to go by this time people just accepted death. Most people have given up. He had nothing else to lose at this point.

Yep, they said that they get less and less sign ups each year and while you could attribute that to the falling population, it's much more likely that people see *not* going on the expedition as their final form of fighting their fate - though it's just accepting it in truth.