Hellblade 2 > Fake Expedition 33 [spoilers]

[Jiggy Von Liggy]

Three months, counting down the days, for this game and Act 3 drops the ball so hard emotionally, mentally, spiritually. I actually quit the game and want to uninstall it.

Its remarkable that I watch streamer play the Act 1 and its great, the story building, the world building.

I dont know if its the same as The Last of Us 2 killing Joel but I imagine it is. Rips out your heart, runs over it with a semi and shoveled off into a sewer.

The scene at the prologue that broke so many people, meaningless. An emotional grab to hook you into the game. Gustave's quiet resolve to end the Paintress in that moment of mourning his ex, meaningless. So many little things.

I get that they want to make a series out of the Clair Obscur name. Continue the paintings maybe. We could had a satisfying ending with this style game with just ending the Paintress and celebrating in Lumiere but no.

This game had alot going for it, UE5 looking good, QTE in a turn based RPG. I like it. Skill trees need work but Lumina, Pictos, enjoyed it. Bosses were interesting and skill animations needed some love, some were lack luster, some were off the charts.

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Hellblade 2, while it may not be for everyone, was PHENOMENAL.

The action pacing, keeping the player engaged and not having alot of downtime without purpose. Final Fantasy with Clyde that ♥♥♥♥ had major downtime at the hideout after EVERY fracking objective, just too much boring stuff, check the mail, check the bounty board. PFFT.

The story, this mystery of the giants unfolding about emotional trauma and unique way of defeating the boss.

The cinematography, no UI, more immersive, high fidelity with UE5, everything looked gorgeous, remember that water dripping down her face. Whew.

The fighting, intense, unique, fun.
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I dont want to type anymore, so disgusted.

[blackdeath]

Yeah, I raged quit at the end of Act 1. Strange take on my part, but it reminded me too much of The Last Jedi with Luke throwing his Saber over his shoulder, and Joel getting deleted in The Last of Us 2. I can't stand it when the MC is deleted for no really reason. Fun game in Act 1, end of Act 1, nah, i'm out, I don't want to start over with a replacement MC.

[Andras Zodon]

Originally posted by blackdeath:

Yeah, I raged quit at the end of Act 1. Strange take on my part, but it reminded me too much of The Last Jedi with Luke throwing his Saber over his shoulder, and Joel getting deleted in The Last of Us 2. I can't stand it when the MC is deleted for no really reason. Fun game in Act 1, end of Act 1, nah, i'm out, I don't want to start over with a replacement MC.

You spend more time without him than with him. Pretty rash decision lmao. Finish the game.

[FISHINGPLANET]

Originally posted by blackdeath:

Yeah, I raged quit at the end of Act 1. Strange take on my part, but it reminded me too much of The Last Jedi with Luke throwing his Saber over his shoulder, and Joel getting deleted in The Last of Us 2. I can't stand it when the MC is deleted for no really reason. Fun game in Act 1, end of Act 1, nah, i'm out, I don't want to start over with a replacement MC.

get a load of this guy

[Tiasmoon]

Originally posted by blackdeath:

Yeah, I raged quit at the end of Act 1. Strange take on my part, but it reminded me too much of The Last Jedi with Luke throwing his Saber over his shoulder, and Joel getting deleted in The Last of Us 2. I can't stand it when the MC is deleted for no really reason. Fun game in Act 1, end of Act 1, nah, i'm out, I don't want to start over with a replacement MC.

It was a great scene. Its just a shame that in hindsight it was a warning for the direction the rest of the story was going to go in.

Gustave got replaced by Verso. The hero got replaced by the villain, and that is the story that was told from that point onwards. Not the heroes journey, but the villains journey.

[Visser]

iono, this little discussion probably needs some spoiler warnings...
saying that, the ending of act 1 can be seen from a few different POVs... and i think until the end of act 2, the devs wanted you to see and FEEL the weight of mortality in the world.

there are expedition corpses freaking everywhere, tons of blood and gore, expedition logs left over from the prior teams. the world THEY were in was savage and full of monsters.
our main team started off like 30ish strong? and it's down to just a handful, and they still need to press on cause thats the mission.
from that pov the ending of act 1 works really well for me, and when verso shows up. we get our first glimpse of another world, his pov is very different.
Lune is somehow surprised by the gestrals? monoco and esquie are fantastical entities, but mundane to verso. he also has a history with other expeditions and the world in general.

once you find out whats going on, verso can be seen as a villain... or just like his sisters, he knows what must be done. i was a bit miffed that both sisters chose the particular ending they did, but once again, they know the truth and have lived a cursed existence for awhile now. verso had monoco who knows the truth, and verso would sometimes live a lie with the other expeditions. the sisters had nothing and no one.

and as far as the big reveal at the end of act 2 -> act 3. if you have ever played ff 10 or star ocean till the end of time (or various other rpgs), this situation was understandable. their world is very artistic, so many hints about music and paint.
i dont really see verso as a villain with the reveal. he knows whats really happening, and wants to save the mother. he knows no matter what gomage will eventually win and kill everything but his family. and then clea had him join maelle. after dozens of years and many failures, he did what he'd been trying to do since the start. if i understand some of cleas lines, and monoco and esquie, if the father wasnt set on destroying everything, they could have forced the mom out and their world would have been able to continue and rebuild.