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So that ending is even worse then it seems on the surface.
On the flip side the Maelle ending seemed to have been made only as if to say ''you should have picked the other, terrible ending''. They could have done so much with this ending, but instead they decided to use it only as a tool to tell the player they picked wrong.
Neither of the endings are satisfying.
Great game, some of the worst written endings ive ever seen (and as ive played a lot of VN's, ive seen a lot of them). Maybe they will fix it in the future at some point, but im not hopeful.
From the beginning the choices and endings should have been Maelle's to create. Not imposed onto her by others. That is also what the story was leading up to before the end.
But I apparently chose bad? XD
I remember Verso calling her out on her bs at the end but the gist was Maelle didn't want to go back to that life of pain (can't fully remember her reasoning) so I obliged.
At the end, the others are there, happy, there's a little boy (idk who that is supposed to be) and a guy who looks like Verso takes his sweet time to play the piano. The camera then cuts to Maelle looking freaky.
What was actually happening here?
It was kinda clear from most of act 3 that Maelle/Alicia was completely lost to the canvas, i don't really understand why anyone would think that letting her stay in the canvas alone would be a good idea when choosing to side with her. There could have been a good ending if Aline and Alicia decided to leave willingly instead of losing their mind there, but sadly they could not.
To be fair Alicia was never meant to enter the canvas, and it was kinda a ♥♥♥♥ move from clea to let her go.
Clea doesn't see a problem with her family members working through their grief in this way, she says as much, so she didn't see an issue with sending in Maelle. Renoir is the one who tried to force Aline out creating a stalemate in the canvas.
Painting is clearly a power that takes a lot of self control and responsibility to wield, and not even Aline and Renoir can handle it. Maelle never stood a chance, maybe Clea will have to rescue Maelle in her ending, maybe the cycle will continue. It's a good ending, it really resonated with me.
I enjoyed Verso's too, but it's a bit more scorched earth, so it's just inherently a bit less interesting to me.
Verso’s personality re-painted by Maelle’s was brutal in my opinion.
But on the other hand they are representing real memories and emotions of the painters. So they are very real but in a very different sense.
Like, I went with her for whatever reason, but if you knew it was gonna be the 'bad' or 'evil' choice before hand, would people still have taken it? All you wanted was for the canvas people to still be around...
One thing that I noticed immediately was that the song "Clair Obscur" from the OST, only plays in her ending. I thought it was interesting that the name of the song and name of the game sync up beautifully in her ending as it very much the definition of "Clair Obscur", especially with the contrast of colors.
In Verso's ending, I also felt that the character's weren't just waiving at Alicia, but the player; except Maelle, who tilts her head to not look at Alicia or the player; in addition, her gommage flowers aren't red or white, they are a unique color.
The other thing I noticed is that the Maelle that doesn't wave to Alicia has red hair and not white, like she does in act 3.
Personally, I think both endings can occur in the same time-line and that a third ending, if the rumors are true, will have a branch at the start of act 3 that leads to its own outcome.
Are they real before? Were Sciel and Lune real in Act 3? Are they real in the epilogue? I think the answer is yes to all three, but I can see an argument that they never were or that now Maelle has made the world as she wishes. The game seems to suggest that the chroma is what makes them who they are, at least in spirit, that's their essence even if they are reborn (the Gestral reincarnation through Noco explores this).
That's why I like endings like this, ambiguous and open to interpretation and whatever you project onto it through your own philosophical lens.
Kojima is one of my favourite directors, but he does not do this, and I think his excessive exposition and explanations are rightfully criticised. I loved Death Stranding, but would have preferred it if he had more stuff like this, if more was left as a mystery to unpack.
Really wanted to get Maelle out of the Canvas, but the way the game presented this outcome was wrapped in such a vile way by making Verso a traitor to the cause, betraying Lune/Scielle and forcing the choice upon Maelle while quoting Renoir about making cruel choices.
Although the message of the story is crystal clear, turning Maelle into Aline 2.0 and Verso into Renoir 2.0 just to make that point made neither characters grow as a result by forcing the choice upon one another and therefore both endings disappointingly unsatisfying.
It's the same exact repetition of Renoir vs Aline story, but unlike their story which had all the build up, Maelle and Verso did not, in fact it straight up ignored the supposedly "unbreakable" relationships established prior to the end which should've played a huge part in this section of the story.
Both endings were disappointing, so just went with Maelle.
It's easier to live in an ideal fantasy, but sometimes you have to make the tough decisions and let go. He could have stayed in what is essentially a delusion, but he chose to let it go, and force he's family to accept and face reality. They seemed better for it.
Unlike the unaware characters in Maelle's ending. Seemingly happy, but unaware that their very existence is actually forced upon them.
Verso's ending also kind of negates tye who whole game, because it defeats the point of the expeditions, which is to essentially keep the canvas world alive.
But then, I began to question all of it since the end of act 2. Especially when Lune and Sciel were brought back. I wish the two endings could have been more distinct in tone, instead of both kind of being downers for the player, but in the context of dealing with grief, it's not always pretty.
But man, Verso went from stand in Gustav to such a compelling character for me. At one point I even dressed him like Gustav as a joke, but by the end, I really felt sorry for him. He watched us beat up and destroy so many aspects of him. Must obviously he's mum, dad and sister.
That bit when fighting the paintress and she costs protection on Verso, boy that was amazing and sad.
Unfortunately he wasn't part of my fighting team. Just couldn't wrap my head around his moves set. I used Sciel, Lune and my man Monoco.
NG+ I'll roll with Maelle, Verso and Monoco.
Well the expeditions were essentially Verso's mission, so far from negating them they were necessary for all of the endgame events. It's just the expeditioners thought they were fighting for something else.
I played Verso a lot more once I got his weapon that started battles on S rank.
The only thing the expeditions achieved was to accelerate the inevitable. Aline was already losing to Renoir, and the people of Lumiere would have all been gommaged sooner or later. (Plus, Clea mentions this isn't even the longest Aline and Renoir have spent in a canvas, so neither was really in immediate danger.)