1:07:52: Quick clarification: Simon did have a connection, but it was with Painted Clea. Real Clea had taken her away, locked her in the Flying Manor and repainted her to make the Nevrons for their war with Aline, then used Simon's love for her to manipulate him into going after Aline by pretending to be Painted Clea ("That Paintress... she fooled me, she looked so much like you").

Dan said it best:  "Good choice, patrons.  Goodness!"

~28m this applies to WAY more than this conversation, kind of to the entire game, but maybe my favorite thing about this game's writing is that even if you disagree with a particular character's words or actions, their motivations make sense for who they are and what they've experienced. It makes sense that even though a lot of the game's conflicts could be solved with conversation (and therapy), they don't get there. Like when fighting Renoir in act 3 before choosing an ending, he and Maelle argue past one another but it makes sense. Nobody just gets the idiot ball and does something bad purely for advancing the plot forward

I have been waiting for this boss fight: ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... Simon, Consort of Clea🤩🤩🤩

Thank you Dan and Carrie for all the work you put into this LP! I really appreciate all the editing, grinding, commentary, and everything else that you did to let us see such an incredible game.
For those who come after!

54:15-ish - I still remember this moment from my playthrough 😂

"I finally beat this fight!"

The cutscene's voiceover starts playing

"...I have made it to phase 2 of this fight 😅"

Simon says die

Simon is straight up Artorias with the Moonlight Greatsword, and he even does the Bloodborne "ah, you were always by my side" phase two

the key difference is that Teaming with Maelle gets you an unhappy ending, Teaming with Verso gets you an unhappy beginning.

also, i love that Lune unlike the rest decides to keep existing until the canvas gets erased, she still has things to live for, also because Verso is a filthy liar so screw him.


YEEESSSS DURMIN FINALLY RETURNS!!

Thank you so much Dan for how thoroughly you explored the best parts of the bonus content. I really appreciate you sharing this wonderful game with us.

Simon on expert with no cheese strats is definitely one of the hardest things I've ever done in a game, up there with pantheon of hallownest.
Also, fun fact: simon has a phase 3 if you don't one shot him, where he insta-wipes your team. Meaning you have to use your reserve to win, and you lose immediately if you had already wiped before phase 3.

1:33:30 hard agree on grief being a central and primary theme that you cannot remove, but I think they also touch on so many other things and weave them in to the central theme of grief just....beautifully. Parenthood, morality, trust, purpose... game's good.

"You can paint any world you imagine."  Maelle could even repaint this one but hopefully after realizing she shouldn't try to copy Verso and live in there full time.

So, my promised further comment once Dan played the second ending! This gets a bit personal, so bear with me...




Back in January, my older sister died from brain tumour (as a secondary cancer to earlier cervical cancer). We knew from before Christmas that she wasn't going to keep going for long, and her last few weeks were...not nice.
The thing is we didn't really have any sort of ceremony afterwards. She had insurance to cover a 'cheap and cheerful' cremation, and her remains were buried around the grave of my younger sister, who died nearly 40 years ago.
So that last scene of the Verso ending, with the family around the 'real' Verso's grave hit me really, really hard. Not just because of the death of sibling, but that there was actually a grave for them to mourn at. The first time I saw that ending, I absolutely wept buckets! I had to go downstairs and have a good hug from my wife and talk through the whole thing.

The thing is to get such a visceral reaction, and giving me a framework to examine my own grief, that makes this game capital 'A' Art to me. I've really not stopped thinking about since I finished it myself about a month ago. 10/10 game, possibly my favourite ever, certainly top 5.

(Just to round off tales of my awful year, a couple of months before my sister died, I was rushed to hospital with bilateral pulminary embolisms (blood clots in both lungs), and could have died if things had gone badly, plus my wife had a kidney cancer scare, 3 years after finishing treatment for breast cancer. Luckily the growth turned out not to be cancerous once it was removed and tested, but I really do not want another repeat of the last year any time soon...!)

Cheesing the Simon fight. Tale as old as time.

I love how the community responded to the Simon fight. Basically, you can be a masochistic gamer and learn every parry timing and take an hour on a victorious attempt, or assemble this (or a similar) one-shot setup and just nuke the guy. Either way, you're demonstrating some mastery of game mechanics. Defeating Simon regardless of approach is commendable.

maelle vs verso is also aline vs renoir
verso's grave
beloved verso dessendre has forever painted in our hearts

Simon feels so much like a Fromsoft boss. You make his sword the Moonlight greatsword and boom.

19:00 this feels like a throwaway line but it's honestly one of my favorites in the entire game

Just finished this series! A random stranger at DragonCon recommended your channel to me and I am thoroughly pleased they did. You have a new fan and I've already watched a bit of your other stuff AND recommended you to someone else. Word of mouth works. <3

This has been a fantastic playthrough, and I'm so glad you were able to show us the end game story bits that I was too intimidated by to get to.

I have to say, the return of Durmin Durami, Snack Mage of Light, absolutely brings a smile to my face.
I'm up to date with 14 as of the previous patch, but I truly can't wait to see it again through Durmin's eyes. Just an absolute joy.