I finally beat the game earlier today, chose Maelle's ending because I felt bad about her life in the real world and assumed she would be strong enough to leave the Canvas whenever it started to become unhealthy. Obviously I was wrong, and her ending is clearly the bad one where she gets sucked into the delusion and continues the cycle of the Paintress. Verso's ending, while bittersweet, is also clearly the healthier choice, as it gives everyone a chance to heal and move on and grow.
So anyway, I went online to join discussions on the ending and noticed something kinda interesting. The people who preferred Maelle's ending were using a lot of leftist-coded language while defending it. Stuff like "media literacy", "genocide" "body autonomy" and that they preferred the female characters and thought the men were all being "oppressive jerks". Thinking on it, it makes perfect sense, as Maelle's ending of living in a delusional childrens world instead of facing reality is leftism in a nutshell, while Verso's ending of taking responsibility and dealing with grief in order to overcome it and grow, is very rightist. I dont think the dev's intended it this way but the online discussion of it has turned out like that.
I've also noticed it's mainly women who prefer Maelle's ending and men who prefer Verso's. So im curious, I assume most people here are right wing and male, which ending did you guys prefer?
Haven't played E33 but out of curiosity, where on the internet (other than here) can you even go for games discussion which isn't going to be biased towards this kind of language, after several years of only leftist perspectives being permitted in almost every moderated space? I guess rpgcodex wouldn't talk about E33 in those terms but I also kind of doubt rpgcodex has much to say about it at all. X is shitty for discussions with strangers, reddit is obviously hopeless, Discord isn't much better, ditto Steam, /v/ is infested with bots and tranny discord raiders...
Seeing these kind of terms used in discussion could be more a reflection of the modern internet rather than anything related to the game themes, speaking as someone without much knowledge or opinion on the game.
Your comment is exactly why I posted this here. I'm curious what discussion of this game is without leftist/activist infestation.
Preferences will depend on the point of view on how you view the Lumierans, Gestrals, and Grandis; and in comparsion, what sort of value you'd put on the abilities of the Painters. The Painters are essentially gods when it comes to the people of Lumiere. Unfortunately, the writers made it absolutely clear that "certain Painters" would absolutely end up killing themselves in deluded fantasy, out of grief for Verso. And "Verso" absolutely understood this, wanting above all to prevent that.
Verso ending: There is at least a chance of a future, as depressing as it is.
Maelle ending: It makes it look like it could be a happy ending, but it's a total lie, and has no chance at a future.
I think "verso" had the better/more moral ending. I think maelle/alicia made the wrong choice since she also traps verso along with being stuck in a fantasy world, but given how the world building is it's also keeping everyone who was painted "alive" (sciel, Gustave, the gestrals, etc etc etc), which I think is the positive part of that ending.
Also worth noting, Alicia's real life does in fact blow. And her sister might be part of the writers who tried to kill the rest of her family. So that's an additional wrinkle.
Both are sad in their own way though.
Also the music for E33 is incredible.
The hell? SHE'S GOING TO WAR AGAINST THEM BY HER FUCKING SELF, since her parents are too busy quarrelling in the Canvas, and Alicia is useless. That was made clear at least twice.
Her sister has a typewriter. It's something to note here.
Interesting, I didn't notice that. Maybe she's studying thier ways to fight them better. Though we know so little about that conflict it's hard to speculate anything really
She could be, or she could be a writer.
I agree we don't know that much though, so it's speculation on my part, but if she is then it's an interesting twist on how she's trying to run the house for everyone.
I put down the game in disgust after beating The Paintress and finding out 99% of everything and everyone up to that point was fake. Dogshit lazy writing. Overrated game.
I haven't played it, but I vaguely understand the major plot from watching a streamer go through the end of [one act] and the beginning of [another]. I felt like it was pretty clear how the two felt after Maelle returned to Lumiere. She wanted to preserve it and he didn't.
Funny how that wouldn't apply for one person if Maelle had her way. Even if she could escape herself, she would basically have kept him as a plaything to enjoy at her own whim.
I think they knew there would be debate over it, but perhaps just not a clear gendered breakdown if what you're saying is true.
Its not really as clear as one wanting to preserve it and the other not.
Verso, or more accurately the part of him left and his painted self, were tired and wanted to just be done with with. They both still felt bad about everyone they knew and loved dying/vanishing/being unmade/whatever you want to call it.
The scene with Monoco and Esquie is rough, and the music is especially hard hitting there.
There just isn't (as far as we know) a middle ground of saving everyone in the painting but letting verso finally rest and alicia and the family to move on.
I am not fully versed on the world inside the painting. Are the people real in some way, independent of the painters? It presents an interesting wrinkle if so, but still arguable that it is still a fiction that might only serve to trap people from reality.
I think the only dependence Canvas-life has is Chroma, which is mostly controlled by the dominant Painter. Considering how many different complex thought processes all the non-Painter characters go through, there is clearly a sense of free will within them. Hell, "Verso" was literally going against his direct creator of his own decision, with the full knowledge of what consequences it would bring.
So there's a lot that isn't really explained, but it seems like the painting was started, but then takes a life of its own. So you can paint people, but then they sort of do their own thing, can even have kids, etc. Or that's how I read it, at least.
So I'd argue they're real, or at the very least real enough. It's why it's an interesting quandary.