Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

[rusty_shackleford]

It is a Belle Epoque inspired France, stretched out of a canvas and placed into a fantasy world. It is barely historical. Now, Paris was not that cosmopolitan at the time, but we did have a massive colonial empire, so seeing some Black characters, mostly in worker or servant roles, or among front-line soldiers, is much less shocking than usual.
This is very different from Musa from Mali appearing in 15th century Bohemia with no context, or from Henry in Kingdom Come 2 suddenly having a Jewish brother without any buildup, just to make gamers care a little more about that community, which obviously does not work.
There is no lecturing, no girlbossing. The only time an Asian character yells at you is when Gustave is sitting next to a pile of mangled corpses and is about to give up and shoot himself. That is hardly Bethesda-level storytelling.

There were barely any blacks in France in the 19th century, low hundreds across the entire country. And certainly not multiple black male white female couples just standing around Paris with their multiracial children.

This is all over the intro area:

If you can find data to the contrary that would suggest a higher black population, I'd love to read it. To me, this is just purposeful rewriting of Fantasy France to reflect what they wish history was like due to their liberal worldview. i.e., woke.

There were apparently between 2,000-3,000 frenchmen of color registered as living in Paris during 1777-1790, so it could be easily surmised the numbers would only grow a century later with the influx from the colonies and the repeal of Louis XVI's anti-colored decree.

I have no idea if they went full modern DEIversified Paris with the quantities shown in-game, but claiming there were low hundreds in France during the 19th century is a bit silly for any relevant colonial power in that era.

Napoleon expelled them

En juillet 1807, Napoléon Bonaparte ordonne une enquête visant à dénombrer le « individus noirs et de couleurs » en métropole, craignant les « nègres sans fortune dont la présence ne peut que multiplier les individus de sang-mêlé[52]. » L'enquête révèle une décroissance entre 50 et 70 % de la population noire par rapport à la période pré-révolutionnaire, passée en vingt ans d'environ 5 000 à 1 700 personnes. Elle se trouve surtout dans les villes côtières et se voit interdite de séjourner dans la capitale. La mise en spectacle des Noirs et le début d'une raciologie à prétention scientifique commence, avec l'exposition de Saartjie Baartman, connue sous le nom de la Vénus hottentote, dans les cabarets et les salons de Paris après l'avoir été à Londres, puis étudiée par Cuvier[53].

In July 1807, Napoleon Bonaparte ordered a survey to count the number of “black and colored individuals” in metropolitan France, fearing “negroes without means, whose presence can only multiply those of mixed blood[52].” The survey revealed a 50-70% decline in the black population compared to the pre-revolutionary period, from around 5,000 to 1,700 in twenty years. Blacks were mainly to be found in coastal towns, and were forbidden to stay in the capital. Saartjie Baartman, known as the Hottentot Venus, was exhibited in the cabarets and salons of Paris, after having been exhibited in London and studied by Cuvier[53].

[Cedric]

The only thing blatantly woke is the excess black population in the game. But fortunately, we don't have a case of an emasculated white male or insufferable female characters here.

Probably, someone can fix the blacks with a mod....

I've played this 8 hours or so and there are no black people in the party nor have I seen any in the last 7 hours and 30 minutes.

I really sort of fail to see the point.

I feel like we've become the same people we used to make fun of for 20 years, taking one look at "the graphics" and ignoring the entire rest of a game based on some murmuring in an echo chamber.

[rusty_shackleford]

I feel like we've become the same people we used to make fun of for 20 years, taking one look at "the graphics" and ignoring the entire rest of a game based on some murmuring in an echo chamber.

I did play the game, the first hour is full of blaxx

[Statesman]

There were barely any blacks in France in the 19th century, low hundreds across the entire country. And certainly not multiple black male white female couples just standing around Paris with their multiracial children.

This is all over the intro area:


If you can find data to the contrary that would suggest a higher black population, I'd love to read it. To me, this is just purposeful rewriting of Fantasy France to reflect what they wish history was like due to their liberal worldview. i.e., woke.

There were apparently between 2,000-3,000 frenchmen of color registered as living in Paris during 1777-1790, so it could be easily surmised the numbers would only grow a century later with the influx from the colonies and the repeal of Louis XVI's anti-colored decree.

I have no idea if they went full modern DEIversified Paris with the quantities shown in-game, but claiming there were low hundreds in France during the 19th century is a bit silly for any relevant colonial power in that era.

Napoleon expelled them

En juillet 1807, Napoléon Bonaparte ordonne une enquête visant à dénombrer le « individus noirs et de couleurs » en métropole, craignant les « nègres sans fortune dont la présence ne peut que multiplier les individus de sang-mêlé[52]. » L'enquête révèle une décroissance entre 50 et 70 % de la population noire par rapport à la période pré-révolutionnaire, passée en vingt ans d'environ 5 000 à 1 700 personnes. Elle se trouve surtout dans les villes côtières et se voit interdite de séjourner dans la capitale. La mise en spectacle des Noirs et le début d'une raciologie à prétention scientifique commence, avec l'exposition de Saartjie Baartman, connue sous le nom de la Vénus hottentote, dans les cabarets et les salons de Paris après l'avoir été à Londres, puis étudiée par Cuvier[53].

In July 1807, Napoleon Bonaparte ordered a survey to count the number of “black and colored individuals” in metropolitan France, fearing “negroes without means, whose presence can only multiply those of mixed blood[52].” The survey revealed a 50-70% decline in the black population compared to the pre-revolutionary period, from around 5,000 to 1,700 in twenty years. Blacks were mainly to be found in coastal towns, and were forbidden to stay in the capital. Saartjie Baartman, known as the Hottentot Venus, was exhibited in the cabarets and salons of Paris, after having been exhibited in London and studied by Cuvier[53].

Am I supposed to take a quote from that book seriously?

Napoleon's Crimes: A Blueprint for Hitler (French: Le Crime de Napoléon) is a book published in 2005 by French writer Claude Ribbe, who is of Caribbean origin. In the book, Ribbe advances the thesis that Napoleon Bonaparte during the Haitian Revolution first used gas chambers as a method of mass execution, 140 years before Hitler and the Nazis. His accusations in the book have caused a minor political and academic storm when it was published, and its premise remains under contention to this day.

Nevertheless, the text quoted simply states Napoleon's dislike, not an actual policy...while also confirming there were more than low hundreds just in Paris, nevermind France as a whole. Napoleon also died in 1821, so there was plenty of time for that population to increase even further within the 19th century. After all, the Belle Époque is supposed to be between 1871 and 1914.

[rusty_shackleford]

There were apparently between 2,000-3,000 frenchmen of color registered as living in Paris during 1777-1790, so it could be easily surmised the numbers would only grow a century later with the influx from the colonies and the repeal of Louis XVI's anti-colored decree.

I have no idea if they went full modern DEIversified Paris with the quantities shown in-game, but claiming there were low hundreds in France during the 19th century is a bit silly for any relevant colonial power in that era.

Napoleon expelled them

En juillet 1807, Napoléon Bonaparte ordonne une enquête visant à dénombrer le « individus noirs et de couleurs » en métropole, craignant les « nègres sans fortune dont la présence ne peut que multiplier les individus de sang-mêlé[52]. » L'enquête révèle une décroissance entre 50 et 70 % de la population noire par rapport à la période pré-révolutionnaire, passée en vingt ans d'environ 5 000 à 1 700 personnes. Elle se trouve surtout dans les villes côtières et se voit interdite de séjourner dans la capitale. La mise en spectacle des Noirs et le début d'une raciologie à prétention scientifique commence, avec l'exposition de Saartjie Baartman, connue sous le nom de la Vénus hottentote, dans les cabarets et les salons de Paris après l'avoir été à Londres, puis étudiée par Cuvier[53].

In July 1807, Napoleon Bonaparte ordered a survey to count the number of “black and colored individuals” in metropolitan France, fearing “negroes without means, whose presence can only multiply those of mixed blood[52].” The survey revealed a 50-70% decline in the black population compared to the pre-revolutionary period, from around 5,000 to 1,700 in twenty years. Blacks were mainly to be found in coastal towns, and were forbidden to stay in the capital. Saartjie Baartman, known as the Hottentot Venus, was exhibited in the cabarets and salons of Paris, after having been exhibited in London and studied by Cuvier[53].

Am I supposed to take a quote from that book seriously?

Napoleon's Crimes: A Blueprint for Hitler (French: Le Crime de Napoléon) is a book published in 2005 by French writer Claude Ribbe, who is of Caribbean origin. In the book, Ribbe advances the thesis that Napoleon Bonaparte during the Haitian Revolution first used gas chambers as a method of mass execution, 140 years before Hitler and the Nazis. His accusations in the book have caused a minor political and academic storm when it was published, and its premise remains under contention to this day.

Nevertheless, the text quoted simply states Napoleon's dislike, not an actual policy...while also confirming there were more than low hundreds just in Paris, nevermind France as a whole. Napoleon also died in 1821, so there was plenty of time for that population to increase even further within the 19th century. After all, the Belle Époque is supposed to be between 1871 and 1914.

So what you're saying is even the pro-black propaganda says there were at most about 1,700 in the entirety of France?

[Statesman]

Napoleon expelled them

Am I supposed to take a quote from that book seriously?

Napoleon's Crimes: A Blueprint for Hitler (French: Le Crime de Napoléon) is a book published in 2005 by French writer Claude Ribbe, who is of Caribbean origin. In the book, Ribbe advances the thesis that Napoleon Bonaparte during the Haitian Revolution first used gas chambers as a method of mass execution, 140 years before Hitler and the Nazis. His accusations in the book have caused a minor political and academic storm when it was published, and its premise remains under contention to this day.

Nevertheless, the text quoted simply states Napoleon's dislike, not an actual policy...while also confirming there were more than low hundreds just in Paris, nevermind France as a whole. Napoleon also died in 1821, so there was plenty of time for that population to increase even further within the 19th century. After all, the Belle Époque is supposed to be between 1871 and 1914.

So what you're saying is even the pro-black propaganda says there were at most about 1,700 in the entirety of France?

Well, that is a book trying to push a genocide narrative It wouldn't help their cause to explain there were unsurveyed/unregistered blacks "without means" running around in Paris, were the missing ******* moved to...or how many blacks there were in the entirety of France at the time.

[methoxetamine]

I've played this 8 hours or so and there are no black people in the party nor have I seen any in the last 7 hours and 30 minutes.

16 hours for me and I haven't encountered a ****** in the last 15 hours and 30 minutes

[rusty_shackleford]

The reality is that it doesn't matter if there was 100 or 10,000. France's population was 36 million. Even if all 10,000(a figure far above any academic estimate for the entirety of France) lived in Paris in 1850, that would still be about 2% of the population of the city.

Now I know you will say I am merely making a mountain out of a molehill. Fine! Let's see how the game portrays fantasy Paris. I loaded up a save and walked around for a bit:

(quality is a bit **** because the game already runs meh without recording)
Judge for yourself whether you think this is promoting some sort of normalization.

"b-b-but it's fantasy!"
Weird that you would decide to depict a fantasy version exactly as modern day Paris looks like, innit?

---

You can eat that turd, but don't lie to me and say it's chocolate.

[Revyscutlass]

The reality is that it doesn't matter if there was 100 or 10,000. France's population was 36 million. Even if all 10,000(a figure far above any academic estimate for the entirety of France) lived in Paris in 1850, that would still be about 2% of the population of the city.

Now I know you will say I am merely making a mountain out of a molehill. Fine! Let's see how the game portrays fantasy Paris. I loaded up a save and walked around for a bit:

(quality is a bit **** because the game already runs meh without recording)
Judge for yourself whether you think this is promoting some sort of normalization.

"b-b-but it's fantasy!"
Weird that you would decide to depict a fantasy version exactly as modern day Paris looks like, innit?

---

You can eat that turd, but don't lie to me and say it's chocolate.

I was just wondering about this game since people wouldn't shut up about it because of the redhead
and here I thought it was being bold in some way
To me I don't see much to care about at all.

[rusty_shackleford]

I was just wondering about this game since people wouldn't shut up about it because of the redhead

Unless there's a timeskip(very doubtful) she's 15 fyi. Main guy says she still has 9 good years left, implying she'd be 24 because the counter is at 33.

[methoxetamine]

I was just wondering about this game since people wouldn't shut up about it because of the redhead

Unless there's a timeskip(very doubtful) she's 15 fyi. Main guy says she still has 9 good years left, implying she'd be 24 because the counter is at 33.

She's 16, it's explicitly stated

[rusty_shackleford]

I was just wondering about this game since people wouldn't shut up about it because of the redhead

Unless there's a timeskip(very doubtful) she's 15 fyi. Main guy says she still has 9 good years left, implying she'd be 24 because the counter is at 33.

She's 16, it's explicitly stated

They lost half the jrpg audience by making her 10 years too old

[methoxetamine]

They lost half the jrpg audience by making her 10 years too old

Even worse, she's middle-aged in this setting

[rusty_shackleford]

They lost half the jrpg audience by making her 10 years too old

Even worse, she's middle-aged in this setting

Guess they still can get the big jrpg bucks by making a sequel titled Expedition 12

[Breathe]

Any verdict? Is the game worth playing?

[rusty_shackleford]

People do this weird thing where if you point out a game they like is woke they get really defensive about it. I play a bunch of woke garbage, I just have my cutoff limit and it has gotten more conservative the worse it gets. I beat Dragon Age Inquisition a couple years after release, I'd be unable to play it now. I beat BG3 at release and it's one of the most libtarded woke games I've played, because it was still very enjoyable(very few woke games are)

I didn't find this game interesting or enjoyable enough to overlook the fact that it's pushing an agenda that france — even a pseudo-historical fantasy version — was not full of Frenchmen.


The propaganda is never-ending and relentless. If you can deal with it, well, enjoy your game.

[rusty_shackleford]

Any verdict? Is the game worth playing?

You've seen my cons already surely, so I'll list the pros:

• The story seemed quite good, and I was intrigued.
• Some of the things you can do in combat were neat and novel. e.g., the main character can pull out a gun and shoot on his turn without using his turn up. You manually aim the gun so you can do things like blow explosives up, shoot off pieces of armor, etc.,
• Excellent soundtrack
• The female characters were, in general, cute.

If you think you can look past the cons I'd say give it a pirate and try it out

[methoxetamine]

Any verdict? Is the game worth playing?

It's unironically ******* amazing in every way. The only possible complaint is that there's a few ****** npc's in the prologue whom you literally never see again. It has some of the best art direction I've ever seen, very fun and unique combat, the best OST in many years, an interesting story and world (I won't call the story great until I see the ending, but it's great so far), rewarding exploration and build variety, feminine and beautiful female characters who aren't girlbosses, it's simply flat out God tier

[Finarfin]

IF you wanna listen to the music outside of the game, don't listen to anything past act 1. Spoilers.

[Breathe]

Interesting... Alright, on the list it goes.

[KOS-MOS]

The reality is that it doesn't matter if there was 100 or 10,000. France's population was 36 million. Even if all 10,000(a figure far above any academic estimate for the entirety of France) lived in Paris in 1850, that would still be about 2% of the population of the city.

Now I know you will say I am merely making a mountain out of a molehill. Fine! Let's see how the game portrays fantasy Paris. I loaded up a save and walked around for a bit:

(quality is a bit **** because the game already runs meh without recording)
Judge for yourself whether you think this is promoting some sort of normalization.

"b-b-but it's fantasy!"
Weird that you would decide to depict a fantasy version exactly as modern day Paris looks like, innit?

---

You can eat that turd, but don't lie to me and say it's chocolate.

Thank you.

I was already not thrilled with the crappy character design. They all look awful.

Now I see they couldn't help but put ******* here and there. Because obviously, a media can't exist without their glory *******

[rusty_shackleford]

The reality is that it doesn't matter if there was 100 or 10,000. France's population was 36 million. Even if all 10,000(a figure far above any academic estimate for the entirety of France) lived in Paris in 1850, that would still be about 2% of the population of the city.

Now I know you will say I am merely making a mountain out of a molehill. Fine! Let's see how the game portrays fantasy Paris. I loaded up a save and walked around for a bit:

(quality is a bit **** because the game already runs meh without recording)
Judge for yourself whether you think this is promoting some sort of normalization.

"b-b-but it's fantasy!"
Weird that you would decide to depict a fantasy version exactly as modern day Paris looks like, innit?

---

You can eat that turd, but don't lie to me and say it's chocolate.

Thank you.

I was already not thrilled with the crappy character design. They all look awful.

Now I see they couldn't help but put ******* here and there. Because obviously, a media can't exist without their glory *******

Some of the users here say the blacks disappear after the prologue so YMMV.

[KOS-MOS]

The reality is that it doesn't matter if there was 100 or 10,000. France's population was 36 million. Even if all 10,000(a figure far above any academic estimate for the entirety of France) lived in Paris in 1850, that would still be about 2% of the population of the city.

Now I know you will say I am merely making a mountain out of a molehill. Fine! Let's see how the game portrays fantasy Paris. I loaded up a save and walked around for a bit:

(quality is a bit **** because the game already runs meh without recording)
Judge for yourself whether you think this is promoting some sort of normalization.

"b-b-but it's fantasy!"
Weird that you would decide to depict a fantasy version exactly as modern day Paris looks like, innit?

---

You can eat that turd, but don't lie to me and say it's chocolate.

Thank you.

I was already not thrilled with the crappy character design. They all look awful.

Now I see they couldn't help but put ******* here and there. Because obviously, a media can't exist without their glory *******

Some of the users here say the blacks disappear after the prologue so YMMV.

Even if they do it wont change my mind on this game.

I don't think it's a bad game, but I wont pay full price for this. Uncreative chara-design + dei ********, it's enough for me.

[rusty_shackleford]

Even if they do it wont change my mind on this game.

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:weeb:

[7Trickster]

I feel like we've become the same people we used to make fun of for 20 years, taking one look at "the graphics" and ignoring the entire rest of a game based on some murmuring in an echo chamber.

I did play the game, the first hour is full of blaxx

Yes, and they all die after a while. There aren't that many of them. If we have to be fair, then asian foot-fetish lady Lune shouldn't be in the game either.

Honestly I don't mind some variety. When it's obviously overdone with whiteys getting ****** and ****** on, then I have a problem.

[Mortmal]

The reality is that it doesn't matter if there was 100 or 10,000. France's population was 36 million. Even if all 10,000(a figure far above any academic estimate for the entirety of France) lived in Paris in 1850, that would still be about 2% of the population of the city.

Now I know you will say I am merely making a mountain out of a molehill. Fine! Let's see how the game portrays fantasy Paris. I loaded up a save and walked around for a bit:

(quality is a bit **** because the game already runs meh without recording)
Judge for yourself whether you think this is promoting some sort of normalization.

"b-b-but it's fantasy!"
Weird that you would decide to depict a fantasy version exactly as modern day Paris looks like, innit?

---

You can eat that turd, but don't lie to me and say it's chocolate.

Thank you.

I was already not thrilled with the crappy character design. They all look awful.

Now I see they couldn't help but put ******* here and there. Because obviously, a media can't exist without their glory *******

Some of the users here say the blacks disappear after the prologue so YMMV.

There is not a single one past the prologue, and even in the prologue they are not interactable, just some in the crowd done with a low budget using some copy-pasted character types. That is really nitpicking because yes, it is fantasy. It is post-apocalyptic, just in a different style. Paris is basically a shredded piece of civilization with a few surviving humans slowly withering away. So even if in true historic Paris there would have been only a few thousand black people at best, here, which again is not a historical setting but something loosely inspired by it, it is not far-fetched at all to see some, since it is a gathering of the remnants of humanity.

Avoiding a god tier game, as said before, which I fully agree it is, because of that kind of nitpicking is insane and borderline cult behavior. It is exactly like the woke religion.

[7Trickster]

Thank you.

I was already not thrilled with the crappy character design. They all look awful.

Now I see they couldn't help but put ******* here and there. Because obviously, a media can't exist without their glory *******

Some of the users here say the blacks disappear after the prologue so YMMV.

There is not a single one past the prologue, and even in the prologue they are not interactable, just some in the crowd done with a low budget using some copy-pasted character types. That is really nitpicking because yes, it is fantasy. It is post-apocalyptic, just in a different style. Paris is basically a shredded piece of civilization with a few surviving humans slowly withering away. So even if in true historic Paris there would have been only a few thousand black people at best, here, which again is not a historical setting but something loosely inspired by it, it is not far-fetched at all to see some, since it is a gathering of the remnants of humanity.

Avoiding a god tier game, as said before, which I fully agree it is, because of that kind of nitpicking is insane and borderline cult behavior. It is exactly like the woke religion.

Even Synthetic Man who is very picky about games said he enjoyed it a lot at the end of stream. So I'd say the game is definitely worth checking out.

Also Paris being a ruined shithole is accurate to Paris IRL

[rusty_shackleford]

Thank you.

I was already not thrilled with the crappy character design. They all look awful.

Now I see they couldn't help but put ******* here and there. Because obviously, a media can't exist without their glory *******

Some of the users here say the blacks disappear after the prologue so YMMV.

There is not a single one past the prologue, and even in the prologue they are not interactable, just some in the crowd done with a low budget using some copy-pasted character types. That is really nitpicking because yes, it is fantasy. It is post-apocalyptic, just in a different style. Paris is basically a shredded piece of civilization with a few surviving humans slowly withering away. So even if in true historic Paris there would have been only a few thousand black people at best, here, which again is not a historical setting but something loosely inspired by it, it is not far-fetched at all to see some, since it is a gathering of the remnants of humanity.

Avoiding a god tier game, as said before, which I fully agree it is, because of that kind of nitpicking is insane and borderline cult behavior. It is exactly like the woke religion.

Actually, I'm avoiding it because I don't like the dork souls combat.

because of that kind of nitpicking is insane and borderline cult behavior. It is exactly like the woke religion.

I don't consider it 'nitpicking' when I can look at the news and see supposed academics saying things like "Anglo-saxons never existed", widespread portrayal of historical European figures by black actors in media depictions, so on and so forth.
Consciously or subconsciously, it's a depiction that pushes a certain multiracial agenda such that Europe was always multiracial. In historical or fantasy depictions, all of Europe was always a multiracial society until the evil Anglos invented racism in the late 19th century and genocided all the minorities in Europe.

I'm tired, Boss.

[Oyster Sauce]

Can't wait 'til the people playing this beat the final boss and the characters go back to Niggertopia to celebrate

[rusty_shackleford]

And to add: I'm not going to interrupt anyone who wants to actually discuss the game, I'm just discussing how I viewed the game for the short time period I played it. I already asked people who were veering too far off topic to make a new thread so it doesn't derail and stays on topic.

I posted what I thought was neat from what I played:

Any verdict? Is the game worth playing?

You've seen my cons already surely, so I'll list the pros:

• The story seemed quite good, and I was intrigued.
• Some of the things you can do in combat were neat and novel. e.g., the main character can pull out a gun and shoot on his turn without using his turn up. You manually aim the gun so you can do things like blow explosives up, shoot off pieces of armor, etc.,
• Excellent soundtrack
• The female characters were, in general, cute.

If you think you can look past the cons I'd say give it a pirate and try it out

and if you can stomach the turnbased dorksouls combat, you will probably enjoy it.