I have struggled with it a lot in recent weeks, yeah.
I'm not sure how much I love the whole "canvas" twist in the first place. I'm into the whole story about grief, avoidance of it, the family's reaction to it, the symbolism within the world through the Axons, etc. I'm also into the whole classic adventure, the "fighting through a strange fantasy land to fight a clearly-defined villain in order to save the world" thing, Gustave's old-school sort of heroism, all that.
I'm just not sure I'm into both of those things within the same game.
I'm definitely not sure about the former completely eclipsing the latter. Maelle returning the journals to Gustave's apprentices when they return feels so pointless because she either brings back Gustave or all the apprentices cease to exist anyway, rendering their grief irrelevant. It's a bittersweet moment that the game actively undercuts. Gustave's death is genuinely sad, and heroic, which the game also actively undercuts. Then the exploration in Act 3 feels like a different game entirely.
I did go with Verso's ending. The world was doomed either way when Maelle eventually lost herself, and in doing so she poisons her relationship with Verso by forcing this facsimile of him to stay alive against his will. Miss Lune and Sciel? I'm sure they can just be (more or less) painted again. Their new painted versions in another canvas could, I'm sure, be as similar to the originals as painted Verso was to real Verso (because they aren't the same. Was real Verso over a hundred, unable to be killed, and tired of living?).
And speaking of which, Sciel and Lune becoming completely pointless later on was really shitty. Right before the final boss where they both approach Renoir and have a 60 second chat with him was so transparently the writers realising that and giving them something to do - so obvious that it almost insulted me. As if I would see it as anything else but that.
Anyway, eh. Terrific game, and I don't hate the twist, but replaying it makes the entire first act feel like it's patronising the cast, particularly Gustave. "Aww, did the nasty Sakapatate shoot you with its cannon? Poor fake thunder man, don't worry, run along in your silly ignorance and play with the quirky paintbrush people. You blind moron."
Is it possible that the bolder choice would have been to establish the painted world from the start and try to invest the players in the expedition quest while knowing they're all inside a canvas? We've seen "this isn't the 'real' world" twists before but it might have been more interesting to play those two stories simultaneously somehow instead of one eclipsing the other so completely. You'd have to change a lot but I might have enjoyed that more.
Not to be confused with XIII_Minerals.