Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (April 24, 2025)

[Fillerguy]

Finished it this morning. I'm glad I went back as some of you said, during the epilogue. I would've hated the ending choices otherwise.

But I was overpowered as fukk during the last fights lmao. That boss fight was a cake walk. And that final dual I kilt my opponent before they had a turn.


Its a fun game with a unnecessarily convoluted, but philosophical story (my favorite). I didn't realize you could romance the paag...i romanced that black pawg and was acting kind of funny when bringing up her husband towards the end. shyt cool when were on a death march. I didn't think the paag was trying to get dikked down given the situation.

And Maelle fell off for me so hard. Character wise and game play wise. She was my "Mario", consistently carrying my team. Towards the end, on higher levels and pictos....she started sucking and her character started acting stupid.

Whereas Verso did the complete opposite. He started off being "I'm the mysterious stranger for no reason who gets two shot by every creature." To the only person who's makes sense to the nuke character.

I think there are too many weapons and passives that help you overcome poor skill or strategy. I'm still shyt at the game but I almost nullified Verso's perfection playstyle while tanking most hits.

 

[hex]

And Maelle fell off for me so hard. Character wise and game play wise. She was my "Mario", consistently carrying my team. Towards the end, on higher levels and pictos....she started sucking and her character started acting stupid.

As far as her being stupid....she's 16.

I don't know what you were using towards the end of the game. Maelle should've been putting out insane damage. I was hitting 100+ million damage (check earlier in the thread) in Act 3. She was so over powered I had to stop using her.

In my coworkers defense he is a hardcore gamer, he's played all types of JRPGS before and has all platforms. I just was surprised he said he was grinding. If anything I only had trouble with a few enemies and not bosses. He says he sucks at parrying lol.

Yeah I dunno then.

I switched to Expert because the game was too easy. Even then the only time I struggled was towards the end of Act 2.

yeah I remember seeing that shyt. it was beyond corny. Instead of being glad that E33 brought more eyes to the genre they bytch online Like E33 being as great it is will result in more folks giving more jrpgs or even just turn based games in general a shot. I can say that was the case for me when it came to BG3, I mostly played fighting games/shooters before that.

Yeah man they don't see it like that. They want these random ass anime inspired JRPGs to get the same attention as "E33" and that was never going to happen.

Fred.

 

[Fatboi1]

As far as her being stupid....she's 16.

I don't know what you were using towards the end of the game. Maelle should've been putting out insane damage. I was hitting 100+ million damage (check earlier in the thread) in Act 3. She was so over powered I had to stop using her.



Yeah I dunno then.

I switched to Expert because the game was too easy. Even then the only time I struggled was towards the end of Act 2.



Yeah man they don't see it like that. They want these random ass anime inspired JRPGs to get the same attention as "E33" and that was never going to happen.

Fred.

Lol I just saw him beat the paintress' second form since he was playing it on the Steam deck. This dude refused to dodge any of her attacks and instead parry them. I don't know why he's playing it that way. Taking damage unnecessarily lol

 

[JoelB]

@spliz @Ziggiy yall play this yet?

 

[spliz]

@spliz @Ziggiy yall play this yet?

Yessir I copped it when it dropped.

 

[tripleaamin]

After "E33" got all those nominations at the Game Awards there was a bunch of people on social media crying about this game "white washing" JRPGs. Most JRPG protagonists do not even look Japanese, they look white.

This game is receiving the attention and praise they think other games deserve. And instead of just admitted that they been coming up with all these weird ass reasons to criticize it. That's all it is.

Just weird, goofy sh*t like that. A decent chunk of JRPG fans come off like weirdos.

And I'm saying this as someone that has played several "Ys" games, several "Tales" games, "Trails" games, "Star Ocean" games, "Ni No Kuni", all kinds of sh*t. The reason those games haven't gotten this level of attention is because frankly they aren't remotely on the same planet in terms of quality, and JRPG fans don't want to admit it.

Fred.

I think the biggest thing for Exp 33 is that it takes the best stuff that JRPGs get right while not including the worst aspects. Too handholdy in tutorials, gameplay sometimes being too overcomplicated, inventory management being a mess, etc. Gameplay in Exp 33 is just simple, but you have so many options built on them. I loved how in the beginning of the game you are thrust into the world and you play with all the tools at your disposal early. Gradient parry and gradient attacks, to my knowledge, are the only two things that are added gameplay-wise.

I loved how your inventory is so simplified because, oh, I can just rest, and they come back. The same with the picto systems. Simply, but there were many layers to it.

I think the thing with JRPGs is that the majority of them are from the same market that shounen manga are aimed at. Trails, Persona, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, etc., all aim at this market just from a JRPG perspective. Exp 33 uses much more show, don't tell than these series, as it respects your intelligence to understand. Using it in manga terms, it's closer to a seinen manga story like Vinland Saga, Berserk, or Vagabond.

I think SMT (NOT PERSONA) & Drakengard + NieR are the only JRPGs that touch on the storytelling aspect and go for more mature writing. Granted, SMT V's story was a bit of a mess.

A big appeal of JRPGs is comfort food, which has its own appeal. Dragon Quest is an example of how big it is in Japan compared to the rest of the world. When you play a DQ game, you know what you are going to get. While FF is known as being an experimental with higher highs and lower lows.

It feels like with JRPGs, it's more of a comfort place, which is how games like DQ, Yakuza, and Ys thrive. Though a big problem with games like Persona & Trails is that they want to build up a massive story, they never want to take the risks that we saw with Exp 33. Which is what separates Exp 33 from them. Honestly, Act I is something I don't think you would ever really get in a JRPG. So many JRPGs have the mentor death trope. But Exp 33 had it too but had us in the role of mentor. Great execution on their part.

 

[Styles]

I haven’t really seen JRPG fans hating on this, actually the opposite. I’m a big JRPG guy and I see a lot of posters in this thread who I know like Jrpgs as well and they love this game. Feel like yall complaining about the bottom dweller weebs that are chronically online who hate on everything. Who cares about them.

 

[storyteller]

Just finished Act 2

So much makes sense now. But now I've got about 100 new questions. Worst part is I prolly can't sink too much more time into this until the weekend now.

 

[Kidd Dibiase]

man i wish i could play this again for the first time

 

[42 Monks]

Finished it this morning. I'm glad I went back as some of you said, during the epilogue. I would've hated the ending choices otherwise.

the bolded

 

[The Mad Titan]

Soundtracks must be hard to nail nowadays in games. I really wonder why more games from indie to triple A struggle so hard with sound tracks.

If feels like after the PS2 and original Xbox era gaming music took a steep fall outside of Nintendo's stuff.

 

[Black Magisterialness]

Finished it this morning. I'm glad I went back as some of you said, during the epilogue. I would've hated the ending choices otherwise.

Its a fun game with a unnecessarily convoluted, but philosophical story (my favorite). I didn't realize you could romance the paag...i romanced that black pawg and was acting kind of funny when bringing up her husband towards the end. shyt cool when were on a death march. I didn't think the paag was trying to get dikked down given the situation.

And Maelle fell off for me so hard. Character wise and game play wise. She was my "Mario", consistently carrying my team. Towards the end, on higher levels and pictos....she started sucking and her character started acting stupid.

1.

Spoiler: not spoilery if you finished

Verso and Lune is actually spoiled in the very first song on the title screen. There's a lyric in it to the effect of "Verso soilders on and Lune is by his side." Also, that song is called Alicia and sung in a semi-fake language (just like the canvas) while the EXACT SAME SONG is played in the end credits in actual French and is called....Maelle.

2. Maelle is 16 years old....

Spoiler

also....she's her mother's daughter.

Soundtracks must be hard to nail nowadays in games. I really wonder why more games from indie to triple A struggle so hard with sound tracks.

If feels like after the PS2 and original Xbox era gaming music took a steep fall outside of Nintendo's stuff.

There's a thing in music production in general that happened at the turn of the century. When production software became consumer grade that meant everyone had access to basically any sound they wanted. So instead of relying on melody, tone and timbre, producers started to rely on FIDELITY. This is extra evident in game music.
You don't hear catchy melodies or leitmotifs as much anymore (outside of Final Fantasy or fighting games) because composers just want it to sound "epic" or "somber" and just make it sound like Hanz Zimmer or whatever.

In many ways, this game is the perfect example of creativity through constraint. In music, it's even LESS constraining.

 

[tripleaamin]

Soundtracks must be hard to nail nowadays in games. I really wonder why more games from indie to triple A struggle so hard with sound tracks.

If feels like after the PS2 and original Xbox era gaming music took a steep fall outside of Nintendo's stuff.

Music can add a lot of depth to a scene in media. In general, you could argue modern games lack soul where they don't put as much effort because they think gamers don't think it's a big deal. For JRPG's a great OST can take a game to another level. As seen with Exp 33.

It's more inconsistent than it used to be.

• Xenoblade trilogy
• FE 3 Houses
• Octopath
• NieR games
• Exp 33
• Ys VIII (altho calling this game modern might be a stretch)
• Persona 5 (though this OST is weird to listen to outside the game)

Easily been the best OSTs in terms of modern JRPG stuff. I did hear FF XVI's OST is great but never played that.

A lot of the other stuff is more so average. Of course, the worst example of OST is Dragon Quest 11. Which was a really good game, but man, the OST sucks in that. Imagine if they had nailed the music in that, especially since Dragon Quest's biggest appeal is as a traditionalist series.

 

[Black Magisterialness]

• Persona 5 (though this OST is weird to listen to outside the game)

Easily been the best OSTs in terms of modern JRPG stuff. I did hear FF XVI's OST is great but never played that.

Persona 5 might be one of the FEW OST's that people don't realize it's a game ost when you play it. I wholeheartedly disagree.

And yeah, XVI's soundtrack is great, but Soken's best work is arguable FF XIV: A Realm Reborn, Heavensward and Shadowbringers.

 

[JoelB]

i regularly play the soundtracks for

P5R
Nier Automata
FF7 Remake
FF13
Octopath Traveler
Genshin Impact

and now Clair Obscur....there are alot of dope OST out there