the endings

[Nobody]

just wanted to hear some of your thoughts on the endings i went with versos since i feel it truly is the best ending although it IS sad, its life, while the other ending is almost like a horror movie, everything LOOKS right but doesn't feel right and that shot with verso in fear of maelle with the painted eyes just doesn't sit right with me.

[phantommail]

They did good job preseting both points as valid through the game.

But endings feel different yes. Verso's one feels "right" and Maelle's one feels dark and sinister even.

Also I don't think that Verso in fear. In fact it's probably not even the same Verso. More like version painted by Maelle herself

[Pariwak]

I've only seen the Verso ending but I think it's the right choice. Hopefully the family can finally heal from this tragedy.

[Nobody]

Originally posted by phantommail:

They did good job preseting both points as valid through the game.

But endings feel different yes. Verso's one feels "right" and Maelle's one feels dark and sinister even.

Also I don't think that Verso in fear. In fact it's probably not even the same Verso. More like version painted by Maelle herself

yea very well said, but at end when hes getting ready to play the piano, he sits there and it looks like he doesn't feel good we then get the shot with maelle and her eyes and he starts playing almost like she forced him to play. thats what i took away at least.

[Albedo]

I found the Maelle ending to be pretty overly condemning on the part of the storytellers, repainting verso who pretty clearly wants to not exist, the uncanny and eerie colorless presentation, and the imagery of whats happening to Maelle. I think repainting verso really just presented it as a selfish escapist ending. I do get that verso's ending about accepting reality and being able to heal as a family from there but an entire reality is wiped out in the process.

Maybe the game has more existential weight than what it intended. The world of the canvas is a reality and the ones that live in it are real from an existentialist perspective. They have consciousness, free will, and the ability to go beyond the scope and control of their creators. Essentially painters are just higher dimensional beings than the ones that exist in the canvas. In the same way that if we have an all creator that could will us from existence wouldnt mean we arent real.

I feel like the game doesnt really reckon with that, it concerns itself with more the emotional weight for Maelle/Alicia and her family. Both endings are tragic which i think can be fine but the one where Maelle chooses life in the canvas with those she has connections to (along with a not hellish life not being able to speak, being scarred and in pain, and with a mother who blames her for her brother's death) I think gets shown through a much harsher lens than the other tragedy.

[Leopanther]

Originally posted by Albedo:

I found the Maelle ending to be pretty overly condemning on the part of the storytellers, repainting verso who pretty clearly wants to not exist, the uncanny and eerie colorless presentation, and the imagery of whats happening to Maelle. I think repainting verso really just presented it as a selfish escapist ending. I do get that verso's ending about accepting reality and being able to heal as a family from there but an entire reality is wiped out in the process.

Maybe the game has more existential weight than what it intended. The world of the canvas is a reality and the ones that live in it are real from an existentialist perspective. They have consciousness, free will, and the ability to go beyond the scope and control of their creators. Essentially painters are just higher dimensional beings than the ones that exist in the canvas. In the same way that if we have an all creator that could will us from existence wouldnt mean we arent real.

I feel like the game doesnt really reckon with that, it concerns itself with more the emotional weight for Maelle/Alicia and her family. Both endings are tragic which i think can be fine but the one where Maelle chooses life in the canvas with those she has connections to (along with a not hellish life not being able to speak, being scarred and in pain, and with a mother who blames her for her brother's death) I think gets shown through a much harsher lens than the other tragedy.

Thanks, had to search a bit to find any discussion about this and I very much agree with your opinion. It kinda pained me that there was no option for an ending where the world of the canvas just gets to keep existing and the characters that I've come to really like through the adventure with them can at least have a normal and fulfilling rest of their life. The way they depicted the Maelle ending made it look like a charade, like pointing out how the characters are fake and not real and how it's all just a fantasy for her to escape to.

It made me feel a bit hollow and makes it hard to start a second playthrough. I enjoyed the game so much and the characters and their dialogues felt very real. But the game gave me no other ending option besides destroying the world of the canvas along with the people I care about, or letting it live on as a fake fantasy of a paintress goddess as her escape from reality. Makes me question what it was all for. Cause I really wanted for Lune, Sciel, Verso and Monoco's struggles to pay off in the end, I kinda hate how the way they made Maelle's ending made me dislike both her and the writers of the story.