I’m back, and I’m going to do an actual review of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive). This is the first day I’ve not played it since I started playing, and it’s with a sense of relief that I’ve put it down. I’m trying to decide what to play next because Nightreign (FromSoft) is dropping in three days. I have a feeling it’s not going to be for me, but of course I’m getting it. My only qualm is whether to get the Deluxe Edition or not. It includes DLC for sometime down the road. I’m going to get it at that point, sowhy not get it now?
By the way, FromSoft is one of the only developers I will pre-order unhesitantly anything they put out. Even if it’s not for me, I want to at least see it. If I can. Ahem.
Back to this game. In this post, I’m going to go over each aspect of the game and give it a rating. Then I’m going to give a number to the game overall. Why? Because I feel like I could muse about it forever, but I’m ready to move on. Oh, and there will be light spoilers in the post.
Let’s start with the good.
Art and music
I put these two together because they are linked in my mind. Plus, they both contribute to the mood and vibe of the game. Which, I have to say, is top-notch. Well, it would be except for a few things, which I’ll get to later. In general, though, the music and art do a lot of heavy lifting in this game in giving it a mood. The visuals are stunning. Each area has a distinct look and feel to it, but is still unified in theme.
The music, I’m a bit more fractured on. It’s all lovely and when I first heard several of the pieces, I was blown away. However, the more I heard, the less impressed I was. The pieces sound too much alike. It’s not just that they have a similar theme and feel to them–I literally cannot tell some of them apart. I can describe them as moody, lush, and redolent with cello (which is a good thing, the last. Cello is by far my favorite instrument). They’re all verging on/plunge into overwrought, and, in general, the OST is missing something to make it stand out in my mind.
I have included Lune’s theme song below. It’s the first time I have really listened to it. She’s my favorite character, but I’m a bit disappointed in her theme. It’s too ethereal for her. She’s pretty pragmatic. And, dare I say it? It’s pretty boring. I felt she deserved more than that, to be honest.Something more dynamic and fiery.
I will give the overall vibes (art and music) an 8.5.
Voice acting
It’s great. Top notch. I still winced a bit at Sciel’s dialogue, but I tihnk that’s more the writing than her acting. Her character just did not vibe with me for a variety of reasons, and I would say she is my least-favorite member of the party. In fact, if it weren’t for her, I would have given the voice acting a 9. But because of her, I have to knock it down to an 8.5.
Characterization
This is really good as well. I think the most of the characters feel authentic and multi-layered. I could see myself hanging with several of them, and I liked how they interacted with each other. I have to give this a 9, even given that I did not vibe with Sciel.
Exploration of the overworld
I liked that there were secrets all over the overworld. And that there were things you could not do at the beginning, even though you had access to them. This was reminiscent of FromSoft games, which is my favorite aspect of those games. I will admit that the lack of ability to fast-travel to where I wanted to go in the overworld did dampen my enthusiasm for visiting places later in the game. By the end of the second act, I didn’t want to go anywhere, even though I had unlocked different ways to travel that made it easier.
I have said that I understand why devs decide to limit fast travel and workable maps, but I don’t agree with it. They could make it optional so people who don’t want to see it don’t have to. Of course, those people would complain about having a map at all.
I give this a 7. That was my instincive response when I asked myself what I would give it, and it felt right to me. Put a better map with indications of what dungeons were finished and which were not, a checklist of things I still have to do (and what I’ve done), and fast-travel, and I would have given it a higher number. But those things combined impeded my enjoyment of traveling through the overworld quite a bit.
Gestrals
I love them. I hated fighting them because they exploded as they died, and I was never able to dodge or parry it properly. I had been able to do it 1 out of 50 times–or so it felt like. But they are aces as characters, and I would hang out with them anytime. This is a metaphor about much of the game, come to think of it. I like a lot about it individually and from an outside-in viewpoint, but as a gameplay mechanic? No.
I’m not actually going to rate the gestrals; I just wanted to give them a shoutout.
I have to say,t though, the Gestral Beaches can go fuck themselves. Over and over again. They are games that the gestrals rigged up just to have fun. And they are atrocious. They don’t handle well, and some of them include platforming. I’ve said many times in the past that games that aren’t platformers should not have platforming. I solely use Lune to navigate the overworld because she glides, which is gaster than anyone else’s running, but that makes it even easier to fuck up the platforming/jumping in the game.
I fully admit that because of my personal issues (spatial, reflex, depth perception, and others), these kind of mini-games are harder for me than for others. I tried each a half dozen times or so, but eventually gave up. I was sad because a cosmetic for Lune was locked behind one of those. Oh well.
Which leads me to the negatives of the game. First up is the big one.
Combat
I should say, this is mixed. I have been very clear that I never gelled with the combat, which is arguably the biggest thing about the game. Or rather, the prime attraction. The game is a JRPG-inspired turn-based, real time RPG, and it never really worked for me. You can dodge or parry the attacks, and you have to QTE your own skills. There’s the ability to disable the latter, but then you only got the mid reaction to the QTE and not the more desired perfect. Of course, you wouldn’t miss it, either. I did not use it, and by the time I decided to try it out, it was after the second act (I believe), and it was too late.
They throw a lot at you, and then introduce game mechanics late in the game that you have not had to deal with before. By the end, I was overwhelmed and just could not take it all in.
I have more to say, so I’ll be doing one more post tomorrow.