First Impressions: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - Seeking Light

[BrawlMan]

Yahtzee reviewed E33 earlier today, and he likes it. According to him, he really started appreciating the dodge, jump, and parry mechanics when finally got all of the timing right. Yahtz does feel the magic or character specific stances over complicate things, but appreciates the effort, Expect many British vs. France jokes.

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[BrawlMan]

This game has so many different builds that it's ridiculous. I've never seen nor heard so many character builds in a turn based RPG. Nor that I think it would be that possible. Strap in folks, this video is about an hour long.

Expédition 33's Endless Build Possibilities
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[Old_Hunter_77]

Yeah, so, like...um.. fuck this game?

To me the mark of good gameplay is the consistency. A game mechanics are set up to put set of challenges in front of you and give you the tools to overcome it.

So I'm gonna whine about dodging/parrying....

I ran up against new enemy and I struggled with it- it's a basic field enemy, just a humanoid beast with claws or something- and I figured ok let me hunker down and master dodging its two attacks. One attack is just an overhead swipe (twice, of course) and another is dashing at you (three times, of course). Dodging is supposed to be easier than parrying so I figure let me just focus on dodging this one dude's attacks (it was an encounter with two of them so plenty of practice).
And for the life of me I simply could not consistently dodge any of the second attacks. I understand that the second dash was a bit slower than the first one and the third a bit faster and the timing to get it had to be so freaking perfect. Mind you- dodging is the easier evasion tactic and I have to be a robot to execute it consistently.

So... that, plus the tedium of attempting turn based combat with each failure, plus the inability to use healing items outside of combat or rest points (at least that I could find), plus the lack of minimap and or quest objectives... nope, that's too many annoying things. Nor did I find the story or characters compelling enough to push me through the multiple levels of annoyance (always a bad sign when you're checking your ebay auctions while the characters are yapping away around a camp fire).

I swear, between this and Blue Prince, the metrics for critical appraisal at this point are just "in how many ways can a game piss us off?"

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Well, yes, I'm not saying that RDR2 isn't a really good game. But I will say that RDR 2 could have probably been made on, like, 30% of its budget and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference because so much of it went to stuff you barely notice while playing.

OTOH It’s the stuff you barely notice that sets it apart. If it didn’t have all the stuff that YouTubers like Strange Man are still making videos of six or so years later then it would’ve been just another pretty game.

The Making of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2

How the creator of the megahit Grand Theft Auto digitized the West for its next blockbuster.

www.vulture.com

Rockstar’s goal is to “slip as much art under the hood without players noticing it — but they don’t have to notice it,” says Dan. If you want, you can bypass much of the story with just a tap of the controller. “It can just be mud, blood, and gore.”

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

OTOH It’s the stuff you barely notice that sets it apart. If it didn’t have all the stuff that YouTubers like Strange Man are still making videos of six or so years later then it would’ve been just another pretty game.

The Making of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2

How the creator of the megahit Grand Theft Auto digitized the West for its next blockbuster.

www.vulture.com

Rockstar’s goal is to “slip as much art under the hood without players noticing it — but they don’t have to notice it,” says Dan. If you want, you can bypass much of the story with just a tap of the controller. “It can just be mud, blood, and gore.”

Exactly.

Honestly any youtube video that focuses on a couple of screen shots and gifs to make some point about some little detail can be ignored because they remove context to make some point that seems clever without that context. It's the same technique used to cry about wokes and trans and all that shit. Oh look, chin hairs = gender ideology. Oh look, horse testicles = conspiracy to sell graphics cards.

It's easy to declare a game could have been cheaper and just as good because that's an unfalsifiable argument (means it's literally impossible to prove or disprove).

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Expedition 33 Becomes Metacritic's Highest-Rated Game of All Time

Gamers have awarded Sandfall Interactive's masterpiece with a score of 9.8 on PC and 9.7 on consoles.

80.lv

Considering that last I checked Metacritic's highest-rated game of all time was still Ocarina of Time at 99 (from critics, 9.1 from players), there's at least some argument to be made against that assertion, especially because since this article was published Expedition 33's critic score went down to 92. Admittedly this is me nitpicking, and a score like that is fairly impressive however temporary it might end up being; if it lasts, I (as one of the resident JRPG people) might just have to look into this.

 

[BrawlMan]

Considering that last I checked Metacritic's highest-rated game of all time was still Ocarina of Time at 99 (from critics, 9.1 from players), there's at least some argument to be made against that assertion, especially because since this article was published Expedition 33's critic score went down to 92. Admittedly this is me nitpicking, and a score like that is fairly impressive however temporary it might end up being; if it lasts, I (as one of the resident JRPG people) might just have to look into this.

User score is still a 9.7, so it's not that much of a big deal withe critic score.

 

[BrawlMan]

It's easy to declare a game could have been cheaper and just as good because that's an unfalsifiable argument (means it's literally impossible to prove or disprove).

It's even more annoying when the opposite happens. You're gonna want to strap in for this one. Every time a new Double Dragon game is revealed, people get mad, for either not looking like the previous game or the games from their precious childhood. And saying they either "look too cheap, a flash game, or a mobile title". In order: DD Neon, Gaiden, and now Revive. Even though it's clear, each game took effort to make and at least the first two I mentioned have stand out unique art styles, aesthetics, and great gameplay. Gaiden took 5 years to make, It's sure hell, don't look too cheap nor overly expensive. Yet you have these idiots going on around about how this game? We're only great that they added more money to us or try to make a look as realistic as possible.

When Streets of Rage 4 got revealed back in 2018, Had a few hardcore knuckleheads or those claiming to anything fan. Saying how the game didn't look like the game from the childhood or looked like a "cheap flash game". With either of these fools say that it doesn't look like the game for their childhood and want pixels or saying that it should just be 3d and "evolve with the times (ie:look realistic and be gritty as possible)". Even though once more got revealed, especially when the game came out, all those people in decided that shut up or act like they never hated it to begin with. Get into the behind the scenes of DomEmu and Lizard Cube, the two developers (both of them hard court fans on the franchise), The game was made on a low budget, but you wouldn't know by looking at all the hand drowning animations of the characters in backgrounds. They were working with a limited budget, but because of high sales and going above and beyond expectations for Sega. A lot of that money they made went back into the game to add new characters, new modes, and a physical re-release that has all the dlc packed in one.

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Start at the 12:43 minute mark. It won't let me copy the time stamp on my phone for some reason. I'll come back and edit it later on laptop. Fixed

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

plus the inability to use healing items outside of combat or rest points (at least that I could find),

Yeah, that's on you, you get multiple full heals at each check point and all you have to do to use them is go in the pause menu and hold Y.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Yeah, that's on you, you get multiple full heals at each check point and all you have to do to use them is go in the pause menu and hold Y.

Fine.
But I'm not the only one who struggled with this game's shitty UI, even reviewers that praised the game complained about it. So maybe I'm a dummy for not seeing that mechanic, or maybe the game should have demonstrated it better to me.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Fine.
But I'm not the only one who struggled with this game's shitty UI, even reviewers that praised the game complained about it. So maybe I'm a dummy for not seeing that mechanic, or maybe the game should have demonstrated it better to me.

I'm not sure what to say, man.

It says Y - Heal Party right there on the right of the screen where the healing items are. I'm not sure how the menu could have made it any clearer that you're supposed to press y to heal the party

 

[BrawlMan]

This is pretty neat, and I love it when different game creators do this.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 And The Hundred Line Creators Mutually Promote And Celebrate Each Other’s RPGs

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and The Hundred Line creators mutually promote and celebrate their RPGs, spotlighting two of 2025’s biggest narrative titles.

noisypixel.net

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

This is pretty neat, and I love it when different game creators do this.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 And The Hundred Line Creators Mutually Promote And Celebrate Each Other’s RPGs

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and The Hundred Line creators mutually promote and celebrate their RPGs, spotlighting two of 2025’s biggest narrative titles.

noisypixel.net

I think I'll take that advice and play Hundred Line once I'm done with Expedition 33.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I'm not sure what to say, man.

It says Y - Heal Party right there on the right of the screen where the healing items are. I'm not sure how the menu could have made it any clearer that you're supposed to press y to heal the party

View attachment 13208

On the bottom right corner, in the pause menu, with no point in the game's many tutorializing to call attention it especially during the non-pause menu (traversing the world) when the player would actually need it.

Showing a screen shot that something exists is not a proof that it's good UI, trust me I literally sat in many client meetings where this happened and failed.
You can argue that it's my job as the player to poke around all the menus and options to figure it out and that's fine but I will argue that I'll only do that if I'm into the rest of what the game is presenting.

 

[meiam]

So has anyone went and smacked the higher up at square enix behind the head for the dumb insistence that turn based JRPG don't sell? At this rate this will sell better than FF7R2 on like 1/10 the budget or something and no recognizable IP.

 

[TyrunnAlberyn]

On the bottom right corner, in the pause menu, with no point in the game's many tutorializing to call attention it especially during the non-pause menu (traversing the world) when the player would actually need it.

Showing a screen shot that something exists is not a proof that it's good UI, trust me I literally sat in many client meetings where this happened and failed.
You can argue that it's my job as the player to poke around all the menus and options to figure it out and that's fine but I will argue that I'll only do that if I'm into the rest of what the game is presenting.

I am mostly lurking; already was mostly lurking on the first iteration of the forums a long time ago, but literally the first tutorial popup after you finish the prologue teaches you that you can hold Y to heal the entire party on the Y overview of the status from the main game or from the menu.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I am mostly lurking; already was mostly lurking on the first iteration of the forums a long time ago, but literally the first tutorial popup after you finish the prologue teaches you that you can hold Y to heal the entire party on the Y overview of the status from the main game or from the menu.

I feel like now it seems I quit the game because I didn't know you could heal in between fights.
And, again- fine, I'm a fucking retard who is bad at games, I missed it, whatever, I've done dumber things in games.

But that is not the reason I quit the game lol. I have pushed past way more obstacles to get through games I actually like (if y'all had seen my first attempts at Skyrim or The Witcher 2 you would literally laugh at me).

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

So has anyone went and smacked the higher up at square enix behind the head for the dumb insistence that turn based JRPG don't sell? At this rate this will sell better than FF7R2 on like 1/10 the budget or something and no recognizable IP.

I don't think it's fair to compare sales for a new IP from a small studio to a massive franchise tentpole.

I am not saying I agree with any claims from Square or the game's director that turn-based is an inherent obstacle to success, but I do understand the thinking that action is more palatable to "western" audiences because- well, that certainly applies to me personally- but they were clearly looking at the Sony and Ubisofts and EAs. I know this crowd hates that Assassins Creed and Last of Us type games are the most popular single player games in North America but they are.

I legit don't think anyone serious claimed that turn-based JRPG don't sell- it's that they weren't selling as much. And it was true.
Now if you wanna question them for chasing sales instead of being artistically true or whatever- sure, that's fair. I would even question that a bit simply because FF16's combat was implemented with thought and quality, it's not like they threw in whatever is trendy to chase sales (something I see in almost every action game with the goshdarn parry craziness).

I'm kind of glomming on to your post because I joked that this whole discourse of "omg finally a turn-based" in reaction to this game (again- as if Baldur's Gate 3 didn't dominate gamer discourse for 2 years!) is just extended sourpuss reaction to FF16 but the more I think about it the less of a joke it is, it's real. And it's a bit odd- I mean there are 15 other FF's ffs.

 

[BrawlMan]

I legit don't think anyone serious claimed that turn-based JRPG don't sell- it's that they weren't selling as much. And it was true.

It still doesn't change the fact people were hitting the panic button or going on about how "Japanese gaming/JRPGs are dead!" a lot during the 7th generation. They were selling lie multiples times either out perceived clout, desperation, or chasing temporary trends that would not last forever. To companies like Square, not selling as much is the same as not making all the money in the universe. As we've seen play out again, and again, and again, and again.

• Gaming journalism for most of 7th generation and part of 8th generation.
• Square Enix themselves when they were shocked their non-FF turn based JRPG games sold great on 3DS and later Switch. Especially with Bravely Default.
• The anti-Japanese stance from many gaming journalists, professional critics, and certain snooty indie devs who couldn't make it into the business and quit after one game, because they couldn't handle the same criticism they dished out (Phil Fish and two others). Ironic enough, most indiviidual or small to medium YouTube channels weren't doing this.

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Don't forget, Square is never satisfied and games like Sleeping Dogs, Hitman, and Tomb Raider all sold "below expectations". And all those are Western titles, with none of them being RPGs at all. Not helping matters is that Square can't even make up their fucking mind about FFXVI and FF7 Rebirth. Until finally came out and said they either "sold below expectations" again, or spent too much money and lost money because of the timed exclusivity bit them in the ass.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

> Don't forget, Square is never satisfied and games like Sleeping Dogs, Hitman, and Tomb Raider all sold "below expectations"

In this way, they are like the "western" studios. Everything is "below expectations" and that's one big reason why we're seeing studios shut down and mass layoff and all this nonsense.