Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

[methoxetamine]

I highly doubt this is actually a better game than Metaphor: ReFantazio, mechanically. And the story of Eclairs was just as gonzo as a typical JRPG.

I loved Metaphor a lot, it was my 2nd favorite game of 2024. I won't give my final verdict until I'm done with E33 but as of now they are at least very close IMO, recency bias probably pushing me towards E33

[Brother Chad]

What really gets me is everyone calling it a sleeper hit when I've been slammed with adverts for it and there was literally a giant splash for it on Steam when it launched.

I've never seen "le tiny indie" game get as much marketing as this thing.

[rusty_shackleford]

What really gets me is everyone calling it a sleeper hit when I've been slammed with adverts for it and there was literally a giant splash for it on Steam when it launched.

I've never seen "le tiny indie" game get as much marketing as this thing.

Smol indie game with a publisher ran by a former Tencent executive with Netease funding

[Irenaeus]

What really gets me is everyone calling it a sleeper hit when I've been slammed with adverts for it and there was literally a giant splash for it on Steam when it launched.

I've never seen "le tiny indie" game get as much marketing as this thing.

It's published by huge Asian (Armenia/Singapore) publisher




Ultimately it has Chinese money behind it.

[Cipher]

What really gets me is everyone calling it a sleeper hit when I've been slammed with adverts for it and there was literally a giant splash for it on Steam when it launched.

I've never seen "le tiny indie" game get as much marketing as this thing.

Normie cattle. The same people claiming BG3 was done by a tiny indie studio because big ol' Papa Swen broke his little piggybank and almost went bankrupt.

[rusty_shackleford]

What really gets me is everyone calling it a sleeper hit when I've been slammed with adverts for it and there was literally a giant splash for it on Steam when it launched.

I've never seen "le tiny indie" game get as much marketing as this thing.

Normie cattle. The same people claiming BG3 was done by a tiny indie studio because big ol' Papa Swen broke his little piggybank and almost went bankrupt.

BG3 is closer to being an indie game than this is

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

What really gets me is everyone calling it a sleeper hit when I've been slammed with adverts for it and there was literally a giant splash for it on Steam when it launched.

I've never seen "le tiny indie" game get as much marketing as this thing.

Normie cattle. The same people claiming BG3 was done by a tiny indie studio because big ol' Papa Swen broke his little piggybank and almost went bankrupt.

BG3 is closer to being an indie game than this is

BG3 has 100 million budget, but considering how much marketing and Celebrity VA Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 had I wouldn’t be surprised if it was more.

[rusty_shackleford]

BG3 has 100 million budget, but considering how much marketing and Celebrity VA Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 had I wouldn’t be surprised if it was more.

BG3 was probably funded entirely out of pocket, with the caveat of the Tencent link that nobody really knows what they did(Tencent owns 30% of a related holding company, but not Larian itself)

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

BG3 has 100 million budget, but considering how much marketing and Celebrity VA Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 had I wouldn’t be surprised if it was more.

BG3 was probably funded entirely out of pocket, with the caveat of the Tencent link that nobody really knows what they did(Tencent owns 30% of a related holding company, but not Larian itself)

I would say 40%- 50%.

[rusty_shackleford]

BG3 has 100 million budget, but considering how much marketing and Celebrity VA Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 had I wouldn’t be surprised if it was more.

BG3 was probably funded entirely out of pocket, with the caveat of the Tencent link that nobody really knows what they did(Tencent owns 30% of a related holding company, but not Larian itself)

I would say 40%- 50%.

They had no publisher, and definitely had the money after DOS2. Most recent update I can find has DOS2 nearly at 8 million copies sold about two years ago, and it was never on sale for more than half off until a couple years ago(around the same time)

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

BG3 was probably funded entirely out of pocket, with the caveat of the Tencent link that nobody really knows what they did(Tencent owns 30% of a related holding company, but not Larian itself)

I would say 40%- 50%.

They had no publisher, and definitely had the money after DOS2. Most recent update I can find has DOS2 nearly at 8 million copies sold about two years ago, and it was never on sale for more than half off until a couple years ago(around the same time)

That’s true .However I find it hard to believe that it was able to almost entirely fund BG3 without any private investment even with DOS2 success . Now I can’t prove it either way if it was or wasn’t but I have strong hunch that there was a lot of investment not publicly disclosed.

[methoxetamine]

Counterpoint: BG3 is ******* gay, has hideous characters, and is one of the most pozzed games ever made

[rusty_shackleford]

I would say 40%- 50%.

They had no publisher, and definitely had the money after DOS2. Most recent update I can find has DOS2 nearly at 8 million copies sold about two years ago, and it was never on sale for more than half off until a couple years ago(around the same time)

That’s true .However I find it hard to believe that it was able to almost entirely fund BG3 without any private investment even with DOS2 success . Now I can’t prove it either way if it was or wasn’t but I have strong hunch that there was a lot of investment not publicly disclosed.

They already started getting money from BG3 flowing back in when they launched on early access in 2020. It seems very possible to me.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

They had no publisher, and definitely had the money after DOS2. Most recent update I can find has DOS2 nearly at 8 million copies sold about two years ago, and it was never on sale for more than half off until a couple years ago(around the same time)

That’s true .However I find it hard to believe that it was able to almost entirely fund BG3 without any private investment even with DOS2 success . Now I can’t prove it either way if it was or wasn’t but I have strong hunch that there was a lot of investment not publicly disclosed.

They already started getting money from BG3 flowing back in when they launched on early access in 2020. It seems very possible to me.

Also true. I really wish the game industry was open in there budgets as the movie industry instead of being extremely secretive in how these games are financed.

[Nessa]

OK, I'll pirate this one.

[Tangerine]

Also true. I really wish the game industry was open in there budgets as the movie industry instead of being extremely secretive in how these games are financed.

Hollywood movie budgets are made the **** up. It's called Hollywood accounting for a reason. Because saying Jewish accounting is auntie cementism.

[Breathe]

We already know they've bought out journos, but I think we might be seeing a successful attempt at manipulating user reviews. Maybe bots, not sure.

[DrSneed]

Hate japs
Hate jrpgs
Making Paper Mario with frogs and no hideous ******* is enough to make me pirate this
Simple as

[rusty_shackleford]

We already know they've bought out journos, but I think we might be seeing a successful attempt at manipulating user reviews. Maybe bots, not sure.

yuge astroturfing campaign, no way it's organic

Not saying the game is necessarily bad because of it. But it's definitely not natural.

[Valter]

We already know they've bought out journos, but I think we might be seeing a successful attempt at manipulating user reviews. Maybe bots, not sure.

yuge astroturfing campaign, no way it's organic

Not saying the game is necessarily bad because of it. But it's definitely not natural.

I've definitely been hyped for this game since the first trailer dropped 10 months ago, so I might be more biased to see the buzz around it as natural.

I will point out some numbers though. The first reveal trailer has steadily increased in views along the months, not suspiciously explosive, and now sits at a comfortable 500K views. Make of that what you will.

As happy as I am about its success, there is indeed a lot of interest not only in the quality of the game, but what it represents: a middle finger to ***** devs who keep shoving faggotry and ugly people in every game. Right-wing grifters are always on the lookout for a decent game that hits those checkboxes in order to throw it at other devs' faces.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

We already know they've bought out journos, but I think we might be seeing a successful attempt at manipulating user reviews. Maybe bots, not sure.

yuge astroturfing campaign, no way it's organic

Not saying the game is necessarily bad because of it. But it's definitely not natural.

I've definitely been hyped for this game since the first trailer dropped 10 months ago, so I might be more biased to see the buzz around it as natural.

I will point out some numbers though. The first reveal trailer has steadily increased in views along the months, not suspiciously explosive, and now sits at a comfortable 500K views. Make of that what you will.

As happy as I am about its success, there is indeed a lot of interest not only in the quality of the game, but what it represents: a middle finger to ***** devs who keep shoving faggotry and ugly people in every game. Right-wing grifters are always on the lookout for a decent game that hits those checkboxes in order to throw it at other devs' faces.

If progressives were smarter and the least bit competent they would have taken over the industry a lot sooner.

[rusty_shackleford]

yuge astroturfing campaign, no way it's organic

Not saying the game is necessarily bad because of it. But it's definitely not natural.

I've definitely been hyped for this game since the first trailer dropped 10 months ago, so I might be more biased to see the buzz around it as natural.

I will point out some numbers though. The first reveal trailer has steadily increased in views along the months, not suspiciously explosive, and now sits at a comfortable 500K views. Make of that what you will.

As happy as I am about its success, there is indeed a lot of interest not only in the quality of the game, but what it represents: a middle finger to ***** devs who keep shoving faggotry and ugly people in every game. Right-wing grifters are always on the lookout for a decent game that hits those checkboxes in order to throw it at other devs' faces.

If progressives were smarter and the least bit competent they would have taken over the industry a lot sooner.

Attractive women as the baseline are inherently counter to the feminist & ***** ideology, it's not something they can really compromise on. Also why when you see it happen, the team is mostly male(even if libtards)

[1998]

What's the verdict on this one? How great is it?

[rusty_shackleford]

What's the verdict on this one? How great is it?

turn-based dark guitar hero souls / 10

[1998]

What's the verdict on this one? How great is it?

turn-based dark guitar hero souls / 10

Haven't played DS or GH, but that sounds ****.

[Brother Chad]

What's the verdict on this one? How great is it?

It's a competent but ultimately mainstream normie french anime JRPG with all the usual tropes you've seen a million times.

Is it good compared to the trash that AAA companies are putting out? Yes. Is it overrated? More than likely.

The vibes and music are good enough for me to like this despite hours of psuedo-anime cutscenes and horrible combat.

[Tweed]

Why should I care about this game?

[DDC]

I am done with Act 1 and this is my favorite JRPG in years (keeping in mind the lack of worthy competition in recent years). Great graphics, great soundtrack, artistically strong, fun combat, and well-written. Has a world map and it's beautiful.

Some might levy charges of wokeness against the game, but in my opinion it is not. There are a few cut-and-paste ****** character models in the opening area that you never see again. This I found comical more than anything because there were so many of these clones in close proximity to each other. There was also a named black who seemed like a throwback to a 90s/early 2000s jestermaxxing token black focused on comedy and drunken revelry. I was disappointed he died early because he seemed like a chill bro and I wanted him in my party.

The other potentially stronger critique is that one might point out that Gustave is a sensitive beta male. Moreover, most of the party members are women, and one of them (Lune) borders on being a girlboss. There is a scene early on where she lays into Gustave with a fair amount of intensity, and if that was the only scene you saw, you might indeed deem the game woke. It was fairly grating because her dramatic tone and teeth-baring facial expressions are ripped straight out of Hellblade 2:



However, it was just that one scene, which hasn't been representative of the rest of the game. I found Gustave a likable character, and while one can definitely tell that a woman wrote this ****, it doesn't seem to be pushing any kind of untoward agenda. It's just the identity of the artist being reflected in their work, and I don't mind that. I enjoy the occasional emotional JRPG along the lines of Shadowhearts 1 & 2, and that subgenre has been basically dead for a long time, so it's nice to have something new. It's ******* rare to even have a JRPG with adult, non-anime protagonists.

As for the combat system, initially I hated it because some of the early fights where you need to parry to win had truly bizarre animations and attack timings and it seemed extremely sloppy and jank. And I beat Berzerker Khazan (and every other souls game) on the hardest difficulty, true ending, no summons, so it can't be said that I don't know how to ******* parry. Later on, the timing becomes more clear and the attack animations less stupid, and now I really like the combat. It's totally subjective though, and I understand why JRPG purists might hate it, although the genre has a long history of games with timed button presses impacting combat with games like Legend of Dragoon and Valkyrie Profile. I think it's cool that you can be down to your last party member but still finish off a boss if you get dialed in and parry everything.

I gather from this thread that the game is now being memed by influencers, but I don't follow or pay attention to any of them so these are my own, un-influenced impressions. I like it a lot more than Metaphor Refantazio. When I first posted this thread, I said best-case scenario was Lost Odyssey-tier and it seems like they've delivered on that.

[rusty_shackleford]

fun combat

As for the combat system, initially I hated it because some of the early fights where you need to parry to win had truly bizarre animations and attack timings and it seemed extremely sloppy and jank.

I had a near zero parry/dodge rate on some enemies. That one enemy that does the rush attack, for example. My guess was it was bugged, because no matter what I did it never seemed to work.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

Why should I care about this game?

You shouldn’t.