Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

[Element]

During the 00s this would have been a 7/10

[DDC]

► Show Spoiler

Maelle seems essential because she gets a 5-hit attack that has a damage multiplier based on how many burn stacks the enemy has.

The funny thing about that is the strongest ability in the entire game is a single hit attack of hers, Stendahl. Not sure if that's the case until endgame though, I didn't even start using it until I did the "superbosses" (which it trivialized)

Anything else as broken as Medalum & Stendahl?

Hell no, with the right build, weapon level, etc you can one shot anything in the game multiple times over

I never tried Stendahl, but I went back and tested it last night and the damage was about on par with Burning Canvas with 150 stacks of burn. So if you're far enough along the power curve to be one-shotting everything, it's better due to the lack of ramp-up and maximizing early-turn damage buffs. But for a long fight, Burning Canvas is cheaper to use and doesn't have the defensive debuffs and has a theoretically higher ceiling.

Endless Tower was one of the first things I did in Act 3 so the fights were pretty long for me (plenty of 10 minute+ fights). I leveled up my weapons a bit first by killing enemies on the shipwrecked beach and downed a couple of chromatic enemies on the world map, but that was about it. And I didn't use Medalum because I wasn't aware that it was glitched to do double damage on everything, not just burn. I just went by what the descriptions said and what stats they scaled with, and Brulerum seemed a bit better. Now that I'm knocking out more of the other stuff and seeing some of the other pictos out there, it definitely would have been way easier to hold off on endless tower. But I enjoyed the challenge of it.

[DDC]

Just went back and wrapped up the story:

► Show Spoiler

I liked the final choice/battle and both endings were executed just about as well as they could have been given the rest of the story.

That said, it was absolutely preposterous to have this "story" anchor a 35-60 hour JRPG. The scale of the story did not match the scale and type of the game. It might have been a nice little narrative for a 7-12 hour game, or for a longer soulslike game where plot is less important, but a JRPG needs a lot more than this. Abruptly swapping in Verso then concealing his backstory to avoid giving away the plot means that the player gives absolutely zero fucks about him. And he has zero chemistry with any of the rest of the cast.

Sciel has no reason to be in the game and feels tacked on like a Yuffie/Vincent despite being a mandatory "main" character. The only thing she does of consequence is be the biggest ***** imaginable if you choose to romance her. Her entire character arc is being sad that her husband died, and when she learns that Maelle will theoretically be able to bring him back, she fucks Verso to "make sure he understands how much their time meant together." Surely the gommaged husband will be pleased to learn that his wife was out riding strange **** with full awareness that he would be un-gommaged soon. Absolutely repulsive. But on the other hand, this depiction of female behavior and psychology has more than a tinge of realism.

Lune also didn't end up having any real character arc. She wants to find out what happened to her parents on a previous expedition. A late-game sidequest lets you find their journal (consisting of a few sentences) confirming they died. Again, inconsequential. She remains entirely undeveloped.

Which brings me to Maelle, who I spent most of the game liking, but who reveals herself as childish, selfish, and immature at the end. This is where the weak writing and protagonist swap really hurt. She wants to stay in the canvas because she cares so deeply about "everyone," but she wasn't close friends with Lune and Sciel at all. So her motivation is riding almost entirely on wanting to stay around fake Verso, but they are never shown to enjoy each other's company much. That and the prospect that she can re-create her other fake brother figure, Gustave (who she had decent rapport with) and be around him too. But the problem is that in the key scenes, her professed focus is on Verso and she never mentions Gustave, which doesn't match what we were shown during the rest of the game so her desires ring completely hollow. Splitting her motivation between two fake brothers is terrible writing and destroys most of the impact of the story. There had to have been a way to write the same general story but with only one fake brother.

Needless to say, I picked Verso and kicked her out of the canvas, as any good big brother should, and that was the only time I slightly cared about him for a moment.

[rusty_shackleford]

the story sucks

[1998]

Well, RPGOTY so far

[J1M]

Do all of the characters look like they were purchased on the Unity asset store?

[1998]

Do all of the characters look like they were purchased on the Unity asset store?

At least they look pretty normal

[Statesman]

► Show Spoiler

Maelle seems essential because she gets a 5-hit attack that has a damage multiplier based on how many burn stacks the enemy has.

The funny thing about that is the strongest ability in the entire game is a single hit attack of hers, Stendahl. Not sure if that's the case until endgame though, I didn't even start using it until I did the "superbosses" (which it trivialized)

Anything else as broken as Medalum & Stendahl?

Hell no, with the right build, weapon level, etc you can one shot anything in the game multiple times over

Not for long.

[Cipher]

the story sucks

Big time. It really really sucks.

[maidenhaver]

I'm saying the thing, rusty!

There is no though. It sucks, and you're a gay asian.

[methoxetamine]

The story was very good

[fork]

It's fine when playing for the first time, but it really sucks *** if you start thinking about it. The premise had much more potential than what the story turned out to be in the end. There's creativity there, some good humor, seems deep at first, but it's actually pretentious nonsense.
Still glad that a new IP with good production values, a somewhat polished and enjoyable combat system and only minor wokeness (by current year standards, it's still absolutely there) is seeing some success. 50 bucks and no micro-transactions.

[fork]

Even the OST is overrated as **** and another example of quantity over quality.
There are maybe a dozen tracks which are really superb and stay with you long after the game. Of the remaining 150+ songs, about half are okay in setting the mood/atmosphere but ultimately unremarkable, but also not annoying at least. And then there's the rest...
Jeremy Soule this is not.



And man, the balance starts to suffer in Act 2 already if you do all the side content and/or are engaging even rudimentarily with the character building options (skills, weapons, pictos/luminas). In Act 3, after defeating the paintress, balance goes completely out of the window.

[fork]

It's funny how many ******* whine about the Gestral mini-games, especially the "volleyball" and "only up" ones, when they're not only quite easy, but also fun.

https://gamerdvr.com/gamer/ahwa1a/video/194851596

People ragequit over this...

[Nemesis]

It's funny how many ******* whine about the Gestral mini-games, especially the "volleyball" and "only up" ones, when they're not only quite easy, but also fun.

https://gamerdvr.com/gamer/ahwa1a/video/194851596

People ragequit over this...

Skill issue. Nothing more, nothing less.

[psychic_dream]

Was the excitement behind this game really genuine, or was it astroturfed? seems like everyone has forgotten about it now.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

Was the excitement behind this game really genuine, or was it astroturfed? seems like everyone has forgotten about it now.

Vastly overrated by all indications but still a slightly above average game which by today standards might as well be a masterpiece in many people eyes.

[Breathe]

Was the excitement behind this game really genuine, or was it astroturfed? seems like everyone has forgotten about it now.

Average game, heavily astroturfed imo.

[arisen]

This thread still alive? Come on. The game never deserved any attention from the start. It's not "average" or "playable", people, don't ******* embarrass yourself. I thought RPGHQ meant to roast whoever enjoyed this weebless Twilighg JRPG pile of ****.

[rusty_shackleford]

This thread still alive? Come on. The game never deserved any attention from the start. It's not "average" or "playable", people, don't ******* embarrass yourself. I thought RPGHQ meant to roast whoever enjoyed this weebless Twilighg JRPG pile of ****.

most of us already called it **** or meh and moved on

[Xenich]

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.

This is because you have been conditioned with the propaganda all your life. You have yet to fully recognize it and because of this you aid those who execute it through your conditioned acceptance.

[LMR843]

Cringe ******* video, thought you guys would enjoy it

Literal reddit browsing fucks made this game, well at least now we have a better reason for why the story sucks *** apart from the fact that it was written by a ***** larping as a frenchy.

The game was always a ****** movie turned based rpg that was supposed to look like a game engine demo.

We went from Baldurs Gate 3 being heralded as the future of RPGs and GOTY to now sucking off a glorified walking simulator games with turned based jack off combat.

"30 people created this game. it amazing !" ........ **** off, its a cgi movie with turned based combat a bug could make that. Hell an entire landmass of bug people have been making these types of games for lesser budgets and better for year.

日本が大好き！！！

Troika with a team of 32 people made VTMB, one of the most complex and groundbreaking RPGs in about 3 years with immense amount of development struggles. That **** is 10 times the game this new frenchy turd is.
If you were still on the fence on the topic of if gaming was dead, its beyond dead, its in hell and all of this is it being tortured.

[Cipher]

Was the excitement behind this game really genuine, or was it astroturfed? seems like everyone has forgotten about it now.

Vastly overrated by all indications but still a slightly above average game which by today standards might as well be a masterpiece in many people eyes.

"The Joker" movie effect.

[rusty_shackleford]

Cringe ******* video, thought you guys would enjoy it

Literal reddit browsing fucks made this game, well at least now we have a better reason for why the story sucks *** apart from the fact that it was written by a ***** larping as a frenchy.

The game was always a ****** movie turned based rpg that was supposed to look like a game engine demo.

We went from Baldurs Gate 3 being heralded as the future of RPGs and GOTY to now sucking off a glorified walking simulator games with turned based jack off combat.

"30 people created this game. it amazing !" ........ **** off, its a cgi movie with turned based combat a bug could make that. Hell an entire landmass of bug people have been making these types of games for lesser budgets and better for year.

日本が大好き！！！

Troika with a team of 32 people made VTMB, one of the most complex and groundbreaking RPGs in about 3 years with immense amount of development struggles. That **** is 10 times the game this new frenchy turd is.
If you were still on the fence on the topic of if gaming was dead, its beyond dead, its in hell and all of this is it being tortured.

6 years to hit her with an ugly bat

[J1M]

Cringe ******* video, thought you guys would enjoy it

Literal reddit browsing fucks made this game, well at least now we have a better reason for why the story sucks *** apart from the fact that it was written by a ***** larping as a frenchy.

The game was always a ****** movie turned based rpg that was supposed to look like a game engine demo.

We went from Baldurs Gate 3 being heralded as the future of RPGs and GOTY to now sucking off a glorified walking simulator games with turned based jack off combat.

"30 people created this game. it amazing !" ........ **** off, its a cgi movie with turned based combat a bug could make that. Hell an entire landmass of bug people have been making these types of games for lesser budgets and better for year.

日本が大好き！！！

Troika with a team of 32 people made VTMB, one of the most complex and groundbreaking RPGs in about 3 years with immense amount of development struggles. That **** is 10 times the game this new frenchy turd is.
If you were still on the fence on the topic of if gaming was dead, its beyond dead, its in hell and all of this is it being tortured.

6 years to hit her with an ugly bat

When you need that ESG funding you do what is required.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

Cringe ******* video, thought you guys would enjoy it

Literal reddit browsing fucks made this game, well at least now we have a better reason for why the story sucks *** apart from the fact that it was written by a ***** larping as a frenchy.

The game was always a ****** movie turned based rpg that was supposed to look like a game engine demo.

We went from Baldurs Gate 3 being heralded as the future of RPGs and GOTY to now sucking off a glorified walking simulator games with turned based jack off combat.

"30 people created this game. it amazing !" ........ **** off, its a cgi movie with turned based combat a bug could make that. Hell an entire landmass of bug people have been making these types of games for lesser budgets and better for year.

日本が大好き！！！

Troika with a team of 32 people made VTMB, one of the most complex and groundbreaking RPGs in about 3 years with immense amount of development struggles. That **** is 10 times the game this new frenchy turd is.
If you were still on the fence on the topic of if gaming was dead, its beyond dead, its in hell and all of this is it being tortured.

6 years to hit her with an ugly bat

When you need that ESG funding you do what is required.

Sad but true. Game devs will almost always sell out given the opportunity.

[rusty_shackleford]

seems more likely that the artist who tried to redo her in a more realistic style just couldn't

[Oyster Sauce]

Are we talking about how the character everybody was jerking off to when this thread started is suddenly ugly now

[rusty_shackleford]

Are we talking about how the character everybody was jerking off to when this thread started is suddenly ugly now

she looks really weird ingame

[Val the Moofia Boss]

but it's actually pretentious nonsense.

Could you describe why you feel it is pretentious? Why would this be so, as opposed to Final Fantasy or a CRPG or whatever game you think has a deep story and is not pretentious?