It's wild to me to see how many people not only learned nothing playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but also got the ending so wrong
I just saw some online communities for the game and I am losing my mind. So many people went the Maelle ending, like it is superior in every way and everyone gets what they want and lives happily ever after?
I honestly don't know if these people have never experienced trauma or something. But just no? Like someone even said to me they like how in the Maelle ending, they "accept" that they shouldn't be immortal and choose to give that up???????????? And like, that isn't what happens in the slightest?????????? And people, to my surprise, view Verso so negatively, yet see no faults in Maelle/Alicia?
Like okay, let's just dive into the Maelle route. When you choose Maelle, you're not coping with your grief, you're not accepting your trauma or the part you played in it. You are running from everything, and you are sacrificing everything to momentarily live in a world where you feel better. It isn't healthy or good, and it isn't accepting anything, except accepting sacrificing everything because you are consumed by grief
But even for Verso. Like, Verso's world is fractured and destroyed, everything and everyone he has ever loved is dead. Also, Verso, the real Verso, cared about his family more than himself, and painted Verso, he both cares about his painted and real family. Like you see it, any time one of his painted family are removed from the canvas, it destroys him. And then when he sees his real family are killing themselves to stay in his world, after losing everything in the world he once loved, as well as now risking his real family, he wants it all to go away, he regrets painting and wants it all to end so his family can live
But let's say you chose the Maelle ending. What about in the near future? One day, Maelle/Alicia is going to die, so is Aline, so is Renoir, and Clea could too if she gets too involved. By this point, Verso's world is destroyed, his painted family are dead, his real family are dead, the people he cared about in Lumiere are dead. Yet Verso is stuck being immortal, in this world he already wanted gone due to feeling like he had nothing left. Now he really does. So Verso has to suffer eternity so Alicia can momentarily escape her grief? Verso will be trapped forever, no way to escape, no way to die, with everything he ever cared about no longer existing
And the thing is, does it suck that this all comes at the cost of every living creature and person in this world? Yes. Do they deserve to exist and live? Yes. But the Dessendre's sacrificed all of it in a war to show each other who's hurting the most. They destroyed the last shred of Verso and his soul, the thing they supposedly care about, all to fight each other on who has the strongest grief and shame
The Dessendre's, they can recreate the world, the people, or they can make new and wonderful things, we see that Alicia is capable of all these things. Yet Verso, he would be stuck suffering for eternity, having lost everything, because the Dessendre's, and the player, couldn't process their grief or be able to let go. It's like i said at the start, it makes me question if these people have even experienced trauma. And Verso isn't evil for this? He cares about his family far more than they cared for him, and to him, oblivion is the only way that they can be free and move on
I've seen clips of the Maelle ending, not the full thing but pieces of it. And from what I have seen, to view that and walk away with the take of "Man this is so good and everyone is so happy :)" is fucking wild to me. Like, this isn't even touching on how Aline, Renoir, Alicia, and Clea could further destroy Verso's world by further continuing to fight over and in it, like, it could get even worse
Given how heavy handed the game can be in ways, given how beautiful the story telling is, the characters, the world, the way the characters are and interact with each other. I have no idea how anyone's takeaway is Verso is evil, and giving Maelle what she wants is the best ending? It's like they didn't even play the game or focus on the story and dialogue? I try to avoid online communities now, I find them toxic and hostile, and I am aware I am being like "No you're wrong." but these people are genuinely wrong? And i can't see how they understood the game or the message? Like it fucking sucks sacrificing everything you loved and cared about. But that's the point. Am I crazy???????
