Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

[ArcaneLurker]

You're complaining that they haven't done anything to make it more interesting, when ATB is vastly better than "press circle to not die"

Autists hallucinate more than AI. I said, originally, that the aspect which you called Dark Souls, has nothing to do with Dark Souls, because numerous "turn-based" games have tried to make it more engaging, using that method. Then this other autist tit dragged me into an argument about it not being turn-based, and got offended because I didn't recognise his waifu, when it literally is the only word you could use to describe it. I don't care if you think ATB is better, it's not an ATB game, because there's no ATB system.

Imagine getting into a discussion about a genre — say, versus fighting — with actual passionate fans, while being unable to even recognize an iconic game like Virtua Fighter-for example-, and still expecting to sound credible.

Calling KOS-MOS a 'loli' when she clearly isn't one, then a 'waifu,' in a desperate attempt to mock a game you know nothing about — simply because you're ignorant — is just ridiculous and pathetic.

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[Unhelpful Contrarian]

I can't stand seeing all these casuals pretending that this game somehow 'saved the turn-based RPG genre,' when, year after year, we keep getting games that actually respect the genre and are doing incredibly well.

Anyone who says such retardation should be laughed at and their opinion to be immediately disregarded.

[KOS-MOS]

I can't stand seeing all these casuals pretending that this game somehow 'saved the turn-based RPG genre,' when, year after year, we keep getting games that actually respect the genre and are doing incredibly well.

Anyone who says such retardation should be laughed at and their opinion to be immediately disregarded.

A lot of the so called "based" youtubers have been spreading this nonsense and their comment section isn't any better

Casuals truely believe this slop game is some sort of a masterpiece saving a whole genre, for real

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Timed button presses/QTE stuff during turn based combat isn't intrinsically bad. It can be used to spruce up the gameplay like in Xenogears, Legend of Dragoon, The Last Remnant, Utawarerumono, etc. I thought learning and mastering Ougi's long string of unusual button press timings in the third Utawarerumono game was pretty satisfying. But in those games, the timed hit thing is a cherry on top and not the end-all-be-all like it seems to be here.

[Finarfin]

[rusty_shackleford]

It's lying re: Expeditioner difficulty, dodging/parrying is mandatory unless you overlevel the content.

I played to level ~17 and did the arena area, that would have been impossible without landing ~90% of dodges.

[edit]
44 combined dodge/parries in the final fight

Arena.webp.webp

[rusty_shackleford]

I'd probably be more kind towards the mechanic if it was based upon attributes somehow — mixing character/play skill is fine.

[rero13]

Looks interesting, I want to try it. I'm skeptical though, did they conceal gayshit with cute girls? Are they stunning and brave girlbosses lecturing the mc?

[Cipher]

It's not "input events", it's "press circle at the right time(there is no consistent dodge window) and you don't lose"

This is a complaint about whether it's fun or not, and I agree, it's not fun to have to perfectly repeat the same exact mundane thing millions of time or lose.
This is irrelevant to what I'm talking about.

Fair enough, but even if I conceded these points, I still don't see any similarities in overall game design.
You level up stats, you save at bonfires, you have estus flasks, there's combat, parrying, dodging, some kind of story.
Bot one game has RT combat, the other is turn-based with QTEs, one has almost no cut-scenes or dialogue, the other is an interactive movie for two+ hours etc.
If anyone recommended this to me because I love Dark Souls, I'd be done with him.

Yes, it's silly to call it Dark Souls just because of a single superficial element (which I didn't know about because I don't care about this game).

They already melded real-time with turn-based years ago, it's called active-time battles. JRPGs have had it as far back as Chrono Trigger, probably earlier.
And it was done a lot better than "press circle to not lose", it was more like timed chess.

---

ATBs could be improved by letting you select the actions for your characters before their gauge fills tbh. Have any games done that?

Grandia also has one of the best ATB systems, where attacks can actually stun and delay the ATB gauge filling for enemies, and thus their turn. It also has actual distances, so even if the enemy gets their turn first, if they use a melee attack they have to move at their own internal move speed towards the member of your party they want to attack and then strike, if someone else strikes them with a ranged attack first and kills them, then they deal no damage.

Grandia 1 an 2 have a superb and very fun and engaging turn based battle system and this is why are fondly remembered by anyone that played them.

[KOS-MOS]

This is a complaint about whether it's fun or not, and I agree, it's not fun to have to perfectly repeat the same exact mundane thing millions of time or lose.
This is irrelevant to what I'm talking about.



Yes, it's silly to call it Dark Souls just because of a single superficial element (which I didn't know about because I don't care about this game).

They already melded real-time with turn-based years ago, it's called active-time battles. JRPGs have had it as far back as Chrono Trigger, probably earlier.
And it was done a lot better than "press circle to not lose", it was more like timed chess.

---

ATBs could be improved by letting you select the actions for your characters before their gauge fills tbh. Have any games done that?

Grandia also has one of the best ATB systems, where attacks can actually stun and delay the ATB gauge filling for enemies, and thus their turn. It also has actual distances, so even if the enemy gets their turn first, if they use a melee attack they have to move at their own internal move speed towards the member of your party they want to attack and then strike, if someone else strikes them with a ranged attack first and kills them, then they deal no damage.

Grandia 1 an 2 have a superb and very fun and engaging turn based battle system and this is why are fondly remembered by anyone that played them.

It's not important but Grandia was my very first JRPG when I was kid, so many good memories with that game

[Cipher]

They already melded real-time with turn-based years ago, it's called active-time battles. JRPGs have had it as far back as Chrono Trigger, probably earlier.
And it was done a lot better than "press circle to not lose", it was more like timed chess.

---

ATBs could be improved by letting you select the actions for your characters before their gauge fills tbh. Have any games done that?

Grandia also has one of the best ATB systems, where attacks can actually stun and delay the ATB gauge filling for enemies, and thus their turn. It also has actual distances, so even if the enemy gets their turn first, if they use a melee attack they have to move at their own internal move speed towards the member of your party they want to attack and then strike, if someone else strikes them with a ranged attack first and kills them, then they deal no damage.

Grandia 1 an 2 have a superb and very fun and engaging turn based battle system and this is why are fondly remembered by anyone that played them.

It's not important but Grandia was my very first JRPG when I was kid, so many good memories with that game

They gutted the remaster on Steam with the ugly ******* filter for the 1st one. The 2nd is great on that one because it runs better than the PS2 on emulator so... there's some silverlining. The 1st one is still best experienced in Duckstation with some tweaks to make it look better than the original for the 3D stuff without filtering and mushing the 2D stuff.

The 2nd has some trade offs in emulation but still great but, if you have never played it before and/or want the convenience to switch English and Japanese audio on the fly, then the Steam version is worth it as its fairly cheap.

3 wasn't bad but the story is a little on the generic side and inferior to the 1 and 2 but if you haven't played it, it's worth the investment on a PS2 emulator. But yeah, Grandia 1 was such a treat on the PSX and one of the best on the system that already was stacked with gold.

[KOS-MOS]

Grandia also has one of the best ATB systems, where attacks can actually stun and delay the ATB gauge filling for enemies, and thus their turn. It also has actual distances, so even if the enemy gets their turn first, if they use a melee attack they have to move at their own internal move speed towards the member of your party they want to attack and then strike, if someone else strikes them with a ranged attack first and kills them, then they deal no damage.

Grandia 1 an 2 have a superb and very fun and engaging turn based battle system and this is why are fondly remembered by anyone that played them.

It's not important but Grandia was my very first JRPG when I was kid, so many good memories with that game

They gutted the remaster on Steam with the ugly ******* filter for the 1st one. The 2nd is great on that one because it runs better than the PS2 on emulator so... there's some silverlining. The 1st one is still best experienced in Duckstation with some tweaks to make it look better than the original for the 3D stuff without filtering and mushing the 2D stuff.

The 2nd has some trade offs in emulation but still great but, if you have never played it before and/or want the convenience to switch English and Japanese audio on the fly, then the Steam version is worth it as its fairly cheap.

3 wasn't bad but the story is a little on the generic side and inferior to the 1 and 2 but if you haven't played it, it's worth the investment on a PS2 emulator. But yeah, Grandia 1 was such a treat on the PSX and one of the best on the system that already was stacked with gold.

Oh I still have my old PS1 game. I bought the Steam version for nostalgia but haven't launched it yet.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

I can't stand seeing all these casuals pretending that this game somehow 'saved the turn-based RPG genre,' when, year after year, we keep getting games that actually respect the genre and are doing incredibly well.

Anyone who says such retardation should be laughed at and their opinion to be immediately disregarded.

A lot of the so called "based" youtubers have been spreading this nonsense and their comment section isn't any better

Casuals truely believe this slop game is some sort of a masterpiece saving a whole genre, for real

It’s even worse on twitter.

[rusty_shackleford]

Anyone who says such retardation should be laughed at and their opinion to be immediately disregarded.

A lot of the so called "based" youtubers have been spreading this nonsense and their comment section isn't any better

Casuals truely believe this slop game is some sort of a masterpiece saving a whole genre, for real

It’s even worse on twitter.

How much are they paying these shills?

[methoxetamine]

Looks interesting, I want to try it. I'm skeptical though, did they conceal gayshit with cute girls? Are they stunning and brave girlbosses lecturing the mc?

There's no faggotry in this game whatsoever, and the girls aren't girlbosses. The only remotely woke thing about it is that 10% of the NPC's in the prologue are *******, and after the first 30 minutes of the game you will never see one again. Play it, the game is incredible

[methoxetamine]

twitter post

People say this same recycled line every time a remotely successful turn based game comes out. Yeah sure it's ********, but it isn't exclusive to this game. I've seen this exact post except about DQ3 Remake, Metaphor, and others plenty of times

[psychic_dream]

Seeing the success of this game and the Oblivion remaster, both talked about here and in mainstream spaces, really left me scratching my head and wondering what’s actually going wrong with the gaming industry.

It makes more money than the movie and music industries combined (though a lot of that comes from mobile games and microtransactions), yet we’re stuck in this doomer mindset, with a lot of people claiming the industry is broken and unsalvageable. Some blame out-of-touch investors pushing crunch time, others point to laziness from developers and the release of unfinished games. Some blame Black Rock and their cronies for ruining the hobby with wokeness, but honestly, there’s more to it than that.

For me, it feels like since around 2017, we’ve been seeing a lot of uninspired, forgettable games come and go, with only a few like Elden Ring, Breath of the Wild, and Red Dead Redemption 2 really leaving a lasting impact. Despite the constant stream of new releases, we tend to overlook that most of the disappointment comes from AAA games that take years to make—long enough for a baby to be potty trained and start talking.

Take Starfield, for example: it came out almost two years ago, with hundreds of people working on it, outsourcing, and millions spent. Yet, most people had forgotten about it within a month. Same with Spider-Man 2. Now they’ve released something that’s basically Oblivion in Stutter Engine 5, and everyone got hyped about the remaster, which worked, unlike Slopfield.

Then you’ve got this game, made by just 30 people, which feels slightly above AA level but has great graphics, a killer soundtrack, and stunning characters. People got excited, and it ended up being a huge success.

So what’s the root cause here? You can’t convince me that Spider-Man 2 would’ve made Sony more money if Mary Jane were attractive. What’s fueling our fatigue with modern gaming?

[rusty_shackleford]

Seeing the success of this game and the Oblivion remaster, both talked about here and in mainstream spaces, really left me scratching my head and wondering what’s actually going wrong with the gaming industry.

Neither of them actually sold all that well, they just did well vs development costs which is why they're successes.

Oblivion remaster is probably successful because it was outsourced for the absolute lowest cost to ******, with most of the game already finished.
Clair whatever number 34 had a very small development team and not an overly long development time.

Probably will sell a couple million full price copies each. Which would be considered a failure for a …I won't even use AAA, because it has no meaning anymore — there are 'AA' games with budgets/dev times far beyond AAA of yesteryear now. Basically, whatever slop most publishers are funding, and that's just the average slop.

Make no mistake: The industry is broken. Because developers are completely incapable of actually making games.
The studio behind eclair pastry 74 will increase in size by 2-300%, make one more game(overbudget and overschedule, but sell OK), then fall flat on their face due to management issues, new hires not actually doing any work, etc.,

[Cipher]

You can’t convince me that Spider-Man 2 would’ve made Sony more money if Mary Jane were attractive. What’s fueling our fatigue with modern gaming?

TLDR: Insomniac's Spider-Man 2 has considerably more issues than just Manly Jaws and the issues with that game are indicative of the decline in good games over the years and why people are rightfully skeptical of anything coming out nowadays.

► Show Spoiler

Manly Jaws was the least of that game's problems. The gameplay was very fun and specially the swinging is awesome because it's one of the best things about Spider-Man as a whole. Both games nailed the swinging but the 2nd has an option to remove the swing assist and that makes it even better.

The problem with both games is that the writers just hate Peter Parker and white men in general. In the 1st game, MJ is a girlboss bootleg Lois Lane because the writers didn't want to use the actual Mary Jane, who is a drop dead gorgeous model and actress in lore that is also 100% supportive of her man. There was no way they can allow that in their precious little game. Peter also takes on the Tom Holland loser boy portrayal of Peter Parker from the MCU.

The 1st one has a lot of good things going so most normies and even some noticer chuds let the woke **** slide. But the 2nd game reveals their hand all along in a very similar way that happened with KCD1 to KCD2. MJ gets equal protagonism and billing alongside Peter Parker. Heavy push for ******-Man as Peter's equal, when in this universe Peter has been Spider-Man for a decade while niggermutt has done it for almost 2 years at best.

The push to normalize niggermutt as Spider-Man's not only equal but better version with extra diversity, instead of the sidekick he should be in context. Peter with the Anti-Venom suit doesn't even get to finish off Venom, its niggermutt that does it and he also ends up reviving Harry afterwards with his plot warping powers.

Peter retires as Spider-Man at the end of that game because that's woketards want, as well as Disney and Marvel who is filled with woketards. The reason is very simple and obvious. Spider-Man is the most popular superhero in history and because Spider-Man is, has and always will be Peter Parker who is a straight white man, they have to **** him up, make him a pussy that apologizes to girlboss Manly Jaws for everything, feels sorry for himself and thinks all his accomplishments are thanks to Manly Jaws and also the writers, even in the comics, have to make Peter an eternal loser because they hate him.

For 15 years they have tried to push niggermutt as the new Spider-Man but just like the New Coke, no one wants ******* niggermutt because he is just Peter Parker but ****** and mongrel to make him a doble whammy in the intersectional chart and with more and more powers than Peter to try to make him more awesome. HIs comics always tank after less than 20 issues. The ONLY time niggermutt has been popular is with the Lameverse movies of recent times and even then, although he is the main protagonist, he cannot carry the movie on his shoulders and they have to include Peter Parker, the REAL Spider-Man and Gwen who is the blonde, blue eyed white girl that falls in love with him because of course they have to surrender the white girl to the niggermutt.

[Statesman]

It's lying re: Expeditioner difficulty, dodging/parrying is mandatory unless you overlevel the content.

I played to level ~17 and did the arena area, that would have been impossible without landing ~90% of dodges.

[edit]
44 combined dodge/parries in the final fight
Arena.webp.webp

Why do you torture yourself by playing a game you are clearly looking for reasons to hate?

[rusty_shackleford]

It's lying re: Expeditioner difficulty, dodging/parrying is mandatory unless you overlevel the content.

I played to level ~17 and did the arena area, that would have been impossible without landing ~90% of dodges.

[edit]
44 combined dodge/parries in the final fight
Arena.webp.webp

Why do you torture yourself by playing a game you are clearly looking for reasons to hate?

Because I was supposed to be doing work so I needed to find something else to do

[Statesman]

What did the French mean by this?

[Irenaeus]

What did the French mean by this?

Horrible.

[methoxetamine]

What did the French mean by this?

She's 2/3 of the way through her life, she has 9 years to live. Let her live a little

[rusty_shackleford]

alright hear me out

what if it was named Clair Obscur: Rule 34

[rusty_shackleford]

jrpg fans are ******* annoying, they're all repeating the exact same line now

Selection_028.webp

"HAHA SQUARE ENIX PROVEN WRONG!! THIS GAME SOLD 1 MILLION COPIES!!!!!!"

[rusty_shackleford]

Forgot to add that all the levels are 90% corridors, sometimes you get a little detour area with side paths that loop around then you continue the corridor.
No idea why people are pretending this is one of the greatest games ever made. JRPG fans need help.

Also, anyone who tells you that you can just backtrack to the 'optional' bosses is a TUTSI LIAR because they don't mention how ******* terrible the backtracking is. You have to go back to the actual area on the world map, it's not like the world is one connected map.

[Vergil]

This game looks really ugly and the gameplay unappealing. I don't like the ****** up trooncore UI style these games all copy from Persona 5 either.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

JRPG fans need help.

From what I have seen on the forums I frequent, most of the praise is coming not from JRPG fans who have played lots of JRPGs, but from normies or people who dislike JRPGs. In one Discord I am in, a guy is saying that this game is innovative for its merger of action with turn based, even though that has been done several times since the PS1 era.

It is odd to still see the Square bashing. It was in vogue in the mid 2000s through FF15's release in 2016 when you had a lot of disgruntled fans still angry that the franchise had become a skinsuit, but it's 2025. No one cares anymore. People looking for turn based JRPGs stopped paying attention to Square and have been following Gust, Falcom, and Atlus for almost a decade now. Feels a little like a How Do you Do Fellow Kids.

[Vergil]

TUTSI LIAR

Cut de tall trees cut de tall trees