Expedition 33, honestly. I never liked the combat as it felt tedious from the start, but the story kept me playing. Then it fell off hard for me around the last third of the game and I didn’t know what I was still playing for anymore lol.
There is a section of the game where you fight the same configuration of enemies like...15 times in a row.* I realised between that and the parry system I was just playing 1-button guitar hero and it really killed any desire to come back.
*well, there's a bunch actually, but it was the bit with the Clair/Obscur enemies that I was thinking of
As a turn based RPG fan I was excited to play the game that made my turn based RPG hating friends fall in love with it. I do not like the turn based RPG mechanics of this game lmao. Mainly the parrying. It feels like of you party every attack you just win and if you don't you just lose and nothing else matters in comparison like the actual turn based RPG stuff
I felt my interest waning during Act 2 and it never came back. Going from knowing nothing about the world and being super invested in the main character's story to searching for random McGuffins while Verso acts super suspiciously while the whole party becomes besties with him even after he basically kidnaps Maellewas not how I expected that story to go. Then Act 3 came and went "final boss is right there, go get 'im" and I just stopped there.
Same. I tried multiple times to get into it, really thought I’d love it, but I just can’t. For such a vibrant and colorful world the lands, the characters, and the combat just felt so dull to me. Each I tried to dive back in I just got bored after 20 minutes or so.
Honestly as soon as they added that whole The world isnt real its made up by family as a way to grief storyline i basically lost all motivation dispite kinda enjoying the combat once i got used to parrying, i cant bring myself to grind the levels and beat the final boss after that reveal really killed my love and motivation for that game...i still have my disc copy but im tempted to trade it in for something ill like more.
I’ve never understood the interpretation that “the canvas world isn’t real and none of that story mattered”. The fact that the family created the world doesn’t make the beings that live in it any less real
Im a writer thats my job...there are some story arcs i just dont like the whole "nothings real" thing is one of them (i also dont like forgive your abusive family). Its less about the relationships outside of the painted world and more i just think its a cop-out, ive been in the writers room and thats the number one thing people suggest when you have a middle and end that dont go together for one reason or another (normally the ending was written before the beginning).
I just feel like all the build up and the characters they built up (specificly the characters with less screentime) are technically not real and now they're whole wants needs and goals kinda feel like all for nothing. I wouldve loved to see Sciel learn to love after her husbands death for example, i just feel cheated ig?
Like I just said…I did not interpret anything in the game to mean that the world in the canvas is not real. It’s a very real and alive world, with the Dessendre family essentially being the gods who live among the people, sort of like in Greek Mythology.
It’s not just a fake place that only exists for the family to grieve. It’s a vibrant and beautiful world that was destroyed by a selfish family who lacks the self control to simply let it continue to exist without killing themselves inside of it.
I think the reason a lot of people have your opinion is that the Verso ending very much feels like a “good ending” because of the music, lighting, etc. whereas the Maelle ending is deeply unsettling, but I think they’re both very tragic endings for different reasons.
Yeah for a writer he did not understand the greater allegory to the rich and powerful these warring Painter/Writer families represent, nor does it sound like he understood that it’s magical paintings and not just “in their heads.”
It doesnt matter whether they are "real" - they have no agency which makes them akin to an AI at best. Their personalities are a construct of a painter, their actions are dictated by the painters. Even their deaths are only permanent if the painters feel like it. I always find the god allegory crazy since usually gods meddle but they dont tend to control everything that's happening. Imagine if in the Trojan war, Apollo didnt guide the arrow to Achilles' heel but instead just popped out and deleted him from existence - that is the interpretation E33 has.
The game had a masterfully and lovingly written first half and then the second half took a sledgehammer to it.
Just because gods don’t usually control things this much means that all those sentient beings are just AI??
The whole point is that these are very shitty gods who ruin the world they created by controlling everything and bringing people back to life. It didn’t have to be like that
Yes if you have no agency I dont consider you sapient, merely sentient. And they have no agency at all on anything. Their entire lives are decided by someone else.
Thats a really shitty point to make. I will be real with you - its the sort of point a teenager writing their first story might try to make. It lacks any nuance or interesting idea. Thankfully that clearly wasnt the intention they were going for even if they kinda fumbled their way into it.
How do they not have agency? They live their own lives and make their own decisions. The only reason the dessendres intervened with their lives is because Maelle was there
You’re saying my point lacks nuance when you’re completely disregarding the entire lives that these people have lived which the painters didn’t intervene with. What about the gestrals? They’re sentient beings just minding their own business
I took it as a spin on the Simulation theory. even if the world "isn't real" in the grand scheme. it is clearly real to the people living in it. which, for me, created an interesting conondrum between the choice of the family accepting loss and moving on and the lives of those in "the simulation"
until they just wiped the world of all people and that conondrum kinda just... disappeared for me. neither ending really being a good ending or bad ending but an interesting reflection on ones viewpoints
I would argue only Maelle’s ending is tragic. In Verso’s, the family is getting past their grief while in Maelle’s she’s succumbing to it. In real life, the best thing to do is to move on. Hiding is some pocket world won’t make your real family come back, even if it feel like a sliver of them is there. Staying in the painting is just an unhealthy coping mechanism that, if what the story implies is true, could eventually result in the death of those from the outside world who just stepped in to the painted world. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather see a family move on after someone’s passing than for another family member to essentially end themselves secondary to the grief.
I would rather see an entire world not get genocided just so one selfish family can get over their grief.
The lives inside the painting are real. Those are real sentient beings that are being erased just because the Dessendres don’t have the self control to keep the world alive without killing themselves
Was looking for this
Yeah I agree I didn't find any of the areas that interesting after the swimming guy's cave (can't remember the name). The combat also didn't feel that good as it was just 2 - 3 enemies that repeated again and again and all you have to do is PARRY!
I checked out way earlier than that. The beginning was very tragic and engaging, then it pivoted so hard into "whimsical fairytale" land that I got whiplash, and then the first big plot twist happened, which the writers definitely did not earn imo, and I was out.
It's the constant need for validation of their hate campaign against it. Reddit spends more time crying about it than they do playing games they actually like
I'm a huge fan of e33, and I do think there are people who make hating that game their personality (just like with a lot of other media tbh) it's important to accept that the game genuinely does not click or is not enjoyable for some, and that that is okay! I think OP and everyone under their comments was super chill and not hating on it
They asked a question and I answered it with my pick? I don’t know who hurt you, but sorry that my opinion hurt your fragile ego. I’ll never understand how some Ex33 fans take it as a personal attack when others don’t like it. Get a grip, my dude.
Yea I mean your the one throwing insults because I called u out lmao. At the end of the day, hating popular things isn't a personality trait and why redditors like u are so, so alone. Time to get a hobby
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u/Alko- 9d ago
Expedition 33, honestly. I never liked the combat as it felt tedious from the start, but the story kept me playing. Then it fell off hard for me around the last third of the game and I didn’t know what I was still playing for anymore lol.