Expedition 33 ending poll and discussion (MASSIVE SPOILERS)

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Current Events » Expedition 33 ending poll and discussion (MASSIVE SPOILERS)
I selected "A Life to Paint" but immediately regretted it because it's a fucking existential nightmare waiting to happen. As evidenced by the last shot of Maelle very obviously losing her mind.

Plus once the Canvas inevitably kills her Renoir and Aline will destroy it anyway. At least Verso's ending gives the family a chance at some sort of healing.

gawd damn i love this game

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Picked the wrong one. so subtract one for the Maelle and add it to Verso. Like you said. The Maelle one has so many issues and the painting ends up destroyed anyway. Verso ending is sad, but at least there's an element of hope for someone in the story with it.
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Verso or bust, for much the same reasons you mentioned, TC. As I said in another topic, both endings are soulcrushing. One just a bit less than the other.

I hate that Verso literally threw away the good ending with that letter, though. What a dick.
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Xenogears15 posted...
I hate that Verso literally threw away the good ending with that letter, though. What a dick.
Wdym?
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Is it possible Lune lived on in Verso's ending? Everyone was gommaging because they entered the painter area, but Lune stayed out and never visibly gommaged. She might've lived the rest of her life with the Gestrals considering the time dilation in the canvas.
https://i.imgur.com/TWsfIIj.gif
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It was so clear the Verso soul fragment was suffering that ending it all was the right thing to do to finally let the family move on.
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Doom_Art posted...
Wdym?

The title of that letter, IIRC, was "A Life to Dream", wherein painted Alicia begged for Verso and real Alicia to find common ground between the painted and real families so they could live in peace.

And Verso symbolically tosses that letter in the ocean because he just wants to end it all.
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sabin017 posted...
Is it possible Lune lived on in Verso's ending? Everyone was gommaging because they entered the painter area, but Lune stayed out and never visibly gommaged. She might've lived the rest of her life with the Gestrals considering the time dilation in the canvas.

The only way she lives is if Renoir didn't destroy the canvas when Maelle/Alice got out of it. But yeah you are probably right about the time dilation.
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sabin017 posted...
Is it possible Lune lived on in Verso's ending? Everyone was gommaging because they entered the painter area, but Lune stayed out and never visibly gommaged. She might've lived the rest of her life with the Gestrals considering the time dilation in the canvas.

It's pretty clear to me that the Canvas went kaput, along with her and the Gestrals in it. I have little hope she survived, but I hope she did.
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M-Watcher posted...
It was so clear the Verso soul fragment was suffering that ending it all was the right thing to do to finally let the family move on.

Yes. That's what sealed the deal for me in choosing Verso's ending. Real Verso *and* painted Verso wanted the torture to end. Maelle wanted to prolong it for ultimately selfish reasons.
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Xenogears15 posted...
The title of that letter, IIRC, was "A Life to Dream", wherein painted Alicia begged for Verso and real Alicia to find common ground between the painted and real families so they could live in peace.

And Verso symbolically tosses that letter in the ocean because he just wants to end it all.
That slid past me, damn
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I picked Verso but didnt love either choice

i was really invested in the Act 1/2 story and that took a major sideline in the ending
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Xenogears15 posted...
It's pretty clear to me that the Canvas went kaput, along with her and the Gestrals in it. I have little hope she survived, but I hope she did.
I mean we know next to nothing about how the Painters work but there's nothing to say that Alicia can't work through her grief and maybe paint a new, better world with her old friends in it again someday, right?
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Doom_Art posted...
I mean we know next to nothing about how the Painters work but there's nothing to say that Alicia can't work through her grief and maybe paint a new, better world with her old friends in it again someday, right?
That sounds like the Paintress 2.0.
http://i.imgur.com/jgYSN8l.gif
Yamata_Demon posted...
That sounds like the Paintress 2.0.
Ehh the Paintress was a unique set of circumstances, and a lot of that stemmed from the grief and trauma the Dessendre family was trying to work through.

They've mentioned before they've painted hundreds of worlds before and most of those are probably not... quite that bad I imagine
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I can see the creators stating there's no canon ending because that's what creators do, but the Verso ending was so clearly better in almost every way.
We're a forest of lives, but we grow tall and wide.
We'll never be cut down.
I chose Maelle simply because she was my main damage dealer and I did not care much for Verso as a character in the final third of the story.

But I will admit I liked Verso's ending cutscene more.
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Doom_Art posted...
Ehh the Paintress was a unique set of circumstances, and a lot of that stemmed from the grief and trauma the Dessendre family was trying to work through.

They've mentioned before they've painted hundreds of worlds before and most of those are probably not... quite that bad I imagine
The circumstances are actually worse for Alicia. Aline lost her son Verso and she retreated into a canvas because she couldn't overcome her grief. What do you think Alicia will do if Verso's canvas is destroyed? Alicia effectively lived a second life in the canvas and her friends and family reside inside the canvas. Destroying the canvas literally puts Alicia in the shoes of Aline. Alicia is highly likely to create another canvas and recreate Gustave, Lune, Sciel, etc., just like Aline recreated her family.
http://i.imgur.com/jgYSN8l.gif
Yamata_Demon posted...
The circumstances are actually worse for Alicia. Aline lost her son Verso and she retreated into a canvas because she couldn't overcome her grief. What do you think Alicia will do if Verso's canvas is destroyed? Alicia effectively lived a second life in the canvas and her friends and family reside inside the canvas. Destroying the canvas literally puts Alicia in the shoes of Aline. Alicia is highly likely to create another canvas and recreate Gustave, Lune, Sciel, etc., just like Aline recreated her family.
If you take an optimistic outlook on the Verso ending, particularly with how the family behaved at the funeral, then you could probably imagine that Alicia comes to some sort of acceptance and resolve down the road.

Who's to say she doesn't create a new Canvas, not as a way of avoiding her grief, but as a way of celebrating her brother?
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Doom_Art posted...
If you take an optimistic outlook on the Verso ending, particularly with how the family behaved at the funeral, then you could probably imagine that Alicia comes to some sort of acceptance and resolve down the road.

Who's to say she doesn't create a new Canvas, not as a way of avoiding her grief, but as a way of celebrating her brother?
There is absolutely zero reason to have an optimistic outlook on Verso's ending through the lens of Maelle. You cannot force someone through the grieving process. Maelle does not want the life painted Verso forced upon her. And if you truly looked at the family during the funeral, you will notice Maelle is completely alone, with no one to support her. The other family members may overcome their grief, but there isn't any evidence to suggest Maelle will suddenly overcome grief after her second family was taken from her.
http://i.imgur.com/jgYSN8l.gif
Maelle's ending is just an even more shitty Verso ending.

In Verso ending, the canvas is destroyed and Alicia & Aline have to move on however much it sucks.

In Maelle's ending, eventually, Alicia & Aline die in the Canvas and Renoir destroys it anyway.
It says right here in Matthew 16:4 "Jesus doth not need a giant Mecha."
https://i.imgur.com/dQgC4kv.jpg
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M-Watcher posted...
It was so clear the Verso soul fragment was suffering that ending it all was the right thing to do to finally let the family move on.

Debatable tbh. The soul fragment just seemed more bored than anything.
Hmm...
The fact that this poll is split almost 50/50 surprises me.
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The Verso ending has Maelle left alone by her family and shes hallucinating the friends she lost in the painting with Gustave beckoning her over to them. The whole family is full of terrible people who dont know how to talk to each other and they give you no reason throughout the entire game to care about any of them. The characters you do care about end up dead.
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I don't know why everyone thinks Renoir will destroy the canvas after Maelle dies. It's his last link to his son and her, I doubt his wife will let him burn it.

Anyway this is hard. I think the people in the painting are real, they are sentient. So killing them all is wrong, Maelle also has a painful life but shouldn't give it up to keep living in another world when her family needs her.

Verso is a liar who used people and tricked them into killing themselves because he wants to die, yet he should be allowed to die.

Life keeps forcing hard choices.
"I will either find a way, or make one."
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Holy_Cloud105 posted...
The Verso ending has Maelle left alone by her family and shes hallucinating the friends she lost in the painting with Gustave beckoning her over to them. The whole family is full of terrible people who dont know how to talk to each other and they give you no reason throughout the entire game to care about any of them. The characters you do care about end up dead.

Suicide by Canvas isn't much better. Alicia slowly deteriorating while puppeting the worlr around her.

Then she dies, the Dessendres are down two kids now, the Canvas and everyone in it is erased anyway.

At least in the other ending she and the family a CHANCE, however miniscule and flawed it may be
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Picked Maelle at first, but like you said it turns into a nightmare. People say theres no wrong or right, but the mood of each ending kinda tells you which is the correct one.

Like being able to grief and move on its the healthiest choice you can do
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Also Maelle basically turns into Anthony Fremont/It's a good life in her ending, except It's a good life is generally thought of as horrific and oppressive.
It says right here in Matthew 16:4 "Jesus doth not need a giant Mecha."
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Verso. Had been primed to pick it the entire game by paying attention to the dialog, especially Renoir and seeing IRL Clea during that flashback (?) of Alicia entering the painting.

"I treat you as if the shadow from the worst day of our lives is going to suffocate you, and take you from us to!"

Took about three seconds flat to pick Verso after hearing that line. Watched the Maelle one on youtube and it's a fucking horror movie of an ending lol.
Since only from below can one better see the heights.
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Can't even fathom why there's a choice when the developers clearly wanted one to be "right"
There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.
I picked Maelle's ending. Mostly cause it didn't feel right condemning the people of Lumiere to oblivion. They didn't ask to be made and then used as playthings for their god/creator.

Of course, it's a temporary solution and they'll die when Maelle/Alicia goes... but until then, they will live.
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Holy_Cloud105 posted...
The Verso ending has Maelle left alone by her family and shes hallucinating the friends she lost in the painting with Gustave beckoning her over to them.

I didn't take that as a hallucination. I took it as her biding goodbye to her second family. She accepted her grief and moved on. I mean, they faded out and all. Yeah, Gustave was beckoning her, but Esquie was very clearly waving goodbye.

IMO, she made her peace.

The whole family is full of terrible people who dont know how to talk to each other and they give you no reason throughout the entire game to care about any of them. The characters you do care about end up dead.

Yeah, agreed. It took me a second palythrough and a lot of thinking...but Aline is a godawful mother, Clea is a cold asshole, and Renior is a control freak (even if he IS right in this instance). Even Alicia is gullible enough to fall into a trap of the Writers. Verso isn't painted in the best of light either, framed as a two-faced liar, even in his real self.

The entire Dessendre family is just full of terrible people.
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HighSeraph posted...
Can't even fathom why there's a choice when the developers clearly wanted one to be "right"
"Life forces cruel choices"

I think the Verso ending is probably better but there's major ethical and moral problems it raises, namely that everyone in the Canvas is definitely sentient and you've basically condemned all of them to die

The Maelle ending has its own, more obvious drawbacks in that we actively see Maelle deteriorate and start puppeting those around her. Also the implication that she'll likely die from staying in the world too long.

I wouldn't say either is the "right" ending
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Doom_Art posted...
I wouldn't say either is the "right" ending
This falls apart when you recall the painted world dies when Maelle dies. If the painted world is doomed either way then the decision that doesn't prolong Verso's suffering is clearly the correct one.
There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.
Shouldve had a middle ground ending. Maelle gets banished, painting remains forever inaccessible but intact and all your friends survive. The stakes that come with both endings make it seem so forced.

but drugs! Knock her out then.
Xenogears15 posted...
I didn't take that as a hallucination. I took it as her biding goodbye to her second family. She accepted her grief and moved on. I mean, they faded out and all. Yeah, Gustave was beckoning her, but Esquie was very clearly waving goodbye.

IMO, she made her peace.

Yeah, Im not sure what to make of Gustave appearing to be beckoning her, but the others are all clearly waving goodbye, so I took it as her making peace with it.
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Doom_Art posted...
Suicide by Canvas isn't much better. Alicia slowly deteriorating while puppeting the worlr around her.

Then she dies, the Dessendres are down two kids now, the Canvas and everyone in it is erased anyway.

At least in the other ending she and the family a CHANCE, however miniscule and flawed it may be
Except who cares about Renoir, Clea and Aline. Were never given a reason to care about them over Lune, Sciel, Esquie, Monoco, etc. I view both endings as bad because Alicia is left completely disfigured with a family that doesnt know how to talk or listen to each other and all the characters I actually cared about were genocided. For all we know Alicia ends up committing suicide.
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Holy_Cloud105 posted...
Except who cares about Renoir, Clea and Aline. Were never given a reason to care about them over Lune, Sciel, Esquie, Monoco, etc

I mean we're not really given a reason to care about Lune or Sciel either. It's set up deliberately so that by the end of the game, the only characters that we truly have an emotional stake in are Maelle & Verso.
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shinymon posted...
Shouldve had a middle ground ending.
There was the possibility of a middle ground ending. Maelle's is a "A Life to Paint", Verso's is "A Life to Love", and the third one would've been "A Life to Dream", but it became unachievable because of some certain decisions the characters made. By the end there was no middle ground left to take. That's part of the whole tragedy of the story.
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M-Watcher posted...
That's part of the whole tragedy of the story.

Thank you for saying this. The debate over the ending both here and on Reddit kind of glosses over this fact: because of Verso making the choice he did, there is no good ending. The whole game is just meant to be one big walking tragedy that gets worse and worse the longer you play, until it culminates in a finale that either horrifies you or makes you cry (okay, I cried, at any rate).

10/10 game would play again, but damn is it sad.
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Maelle's ending is cruel and straight up selfish. She essentially gives in to what is described as a drug addiction and the family is forever torn apart.

Renoir is a good dude who was just trying to get his family to heal and back on track, he did nothing wrong.
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Verso full stop. It's the only ending that has any semblance of hope involved.
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voldothegr8 posted...
Maelle's ending is cruel and straight up selfish. She essentially gives in to what is described as a drug addiction and the family is forever torn apart.

Renoir is a good dude who was just trying to get his family to heal and back on track, he did nothing wrong.

Renior is a control freak. He's 100% correct in this one instance, but he's not faultless.

But Aline? Aline is honestly the true villain here for just being a shitty, controlling mom that set her kids on a bad path.
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Xenogears15 posted...
Renior is a control freak. He's 100% correct in this one instance, but he's not faultless.

I never got this impression. He's not trying to control anything. He just wants is family to stop shooting heroin.

Xenogears15 posted...
But Aline? Aline is honestly the true villain here for just being a shitty, controlling mom.

Aline is a shitty mom but not because of being controlling. She's a shitty mom because she's addicted to heroin, refuses to seek help, and doesn't talk to anyone when she's sober.
It says right here in Matthew 16:4 "Jesus doth not need a giant Mecha."
https://i.imgur.com/dQgC4kv.jpg
Maelle's ending.

After spending the whole game trying to keep the protagonists alive, I of course had to pick the ending that kept them alive. My personal goal was to try to revive Gustave. It boiled down to a choice between a bad ending solely for the Dessendres vs. a bad ending for all people in the Canvas world. So it was an easy choice to make.

Verso's ending is the one the game is pushing you to choose, but it's just too cruel for me.

I do appreciate how there's no actual good ending, though. Even if it did depress me in the moment.
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If Maelle allowed Verso to finally die instead of keeping him around as a piano playing pet I'd be more accepting of her ending. Maelle's implied descent into madness and eventual suicide by canvas aside, as much as the people in the canvas deserve the chance to live I cant personally rationalize it when the cost is forcing the Versos to continue acting as cogs in the chroma machine against their will.
a
Somebody gets the shit stick no matter what ending you pick. Picked Maelle's cause I really didn't care much for Verso. Just let her stay in the painting and keep all the homies alive.
BlueAnnihilator posted...
Somebody gets the shit stick no matter what ending you pick. Picked Maelle's cause I really didn't care much for Verso. Just let her stay in the painting and keep all the homies alive.
The only people who get the shit stick in Verso's ending are a bunch of fictional characters, destroyed by their creators. As pointed out Renoir probably would have eventually destroyed it anyway after it took Maelle.
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Current Events » Expedition 33 ending poll and discussion (MASSIVE SPOILERS)
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