I have mentioned a few times that I have a love/hate relationship with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive). Now, I would switch that to a hate/love relationship. I know that sounds melodramatic, but it’s a matter of degrees. I have always been very divided about this game. I have said in all my prior posts that I like much about the game–except the combat. And, of course, that is the main thing about the game. I’ll get to thet in a minute.
I mentioned in the last post that I was reeling by the end of the first act. Now that I’m in the second act, I’m even less enamored with *gestures vaguely* everything. Well, not everything. The music is still lush and gorgeous, and the environments are beautiful. I often take a minute to just soak it all up.
I still love all the characters and am constantly amazed at how fucking good they are. The relationship thing I mentioned in the last post has an actual use–it gives you *sigh* OK.
*SPOILERS*
I mentioned there’s a new attack introduced in the second act. It’s called a gradient attack and you have to spend AP (action points, the things you use to do your skills) in order to fill up the bar. You can have 1 point, 2 points, or 3 points in the bar/meter. Or, at least you’re supposed to be able to. So far, I have gotten 1 point during any whole fight. There are pictos you can equip that will fill the bar, apparently. They are really cool when you pull them off (you get a whole mini-cutscene), but I don’t even bother checking because I never get the points.
I Googled it, and people confirmed that you didn’t get many points when you first get the attack. Which, I mean, why? Why make it that hard? Yes, it’s super-powerful, but what’s the point if I never get to use it? The new defense is the gradient counter. It’s on RT and the whole screen goes gray, and then you have to wait for the actual attack before pressing RT. I was able to get it the first few times, but now, like everything else, I miss more than I make.
It’s way too much. As I said before, I don’t have a full grasp on how the characters I’ve had the whole game work (except Lune. She’s the easiest to understand), let alone the new characters.
In addition, I mentioned a storybeat at the end of the first act that really shook me. The game earned it, but the further from it I got, the more I questioned the inclusion of it. I’m not going to say more about that because it really should be experienced. It’s still a powerful moment, but it’s starting to feel a bit hollow.
Why? Because there is so much shit coming at me in the second act. In the first act, the story beats were very sparse. In the beginning of the second act, it’s been boom boom boom boom. Also, there’s a character who is used to traverse the space (and he is to be protected at all costs), and he gets additional abilities at certain times. The first one he got was the ability to swim, which opened up the map a great deal. The second was the ability to crash through the coral in the waters. I’m assuming at some point, we’ll be able to fly. Oh, and I finally unlocked the ability to go to the overworld from any expedition flag (I think? At least the beginning/end ones), which is such a relief. I think it has to be any flag because you can do it from just outside a dungeon, anyway.
This is another thing that I don’t like about the game, though I understand why the devs decided to do it this way–you have to travel by foot throughout the overworld. I don’t think that’s changed, but it’s so fucking slow.
I really like how things unlock at different times, though. There are always things to find in the overworld. I do not like running into rock-hard bosses this early on, but I don’t have to fight them. It’s hard to know what I should avoid and what can be fought at the moment, though.
I will say that I’m overleveled for where I am. I’m getting level 8 or 9 pictos when I already have level 10 and higher. Then again, you get better rewards from more difficult enemies/bosses. I appreciate that they have a big red danger/dangerous warning at the outside of any cave that is too much for me. I will still step in and take a peek, but usually, I will dip out again after getting immediately creamed. In the last one I went into, I actually managed to win two fights and got some really good rewards. I noped out after that, though, because as I have mentioned a time or ten that I hate the combat.
I still do. Hate the combat, I mean. It doesn’t help that they have dumped so much more shit on me. not just combat-wise, but also story-wise. There was the prologue, which was an hour long (well, not quite, but I really took my time), followed by a big story beat that kicks off the action. The putative baddie shows up, does bad man stuff, then disappears. There are flashes of him in the first act, but nothing that notable until the aforementioned end of the first act scene. And the really weird boss fight that, quite frankly, took me out of the moment.
In the second act, there’s a big confrontation in the second storyline biome. And, there’s something about the man (not going to say what, but it’s a concrete thing) that makes the whole thing, well, ridiculous. By the way, he’s voiced by Andy Serkis, who does a terrific job. I would never guess it was him, but then again, I’ve only heard him do his Gollum voice.
I just could not get into the story. As it was unfolding, I was thinking, “This is so ridiculous. Whyyyyyy??” I was impatient throughout the whole scene–and the fight. I have said that the story is the weakest part of the game, but that the strong acting has elevated it far above its station. I am emotionally attached to the characters, but, my god, I wished they were given a better story.
To be clear: I don’t mind the basic premise of the story. It’s not great, but it’s serviceable and provokes some interesting questions. But every time the game breaks away from the game to do a big, emotional scene, I feel a dichotomy inside my brain.
“God, the acting is so fucking good!” “Man, this story sucks.”
And the more the game continues, the less the former matters as the latter gets stronger and stronger. It’s so emotionally manipulative, I can barely stand it at times. I know it thinks it’s being deep, mysterious, and passionate, but that’s not how it’s coming across to me.
Look. I fully acknowledge that I’m a weirdo when it comes to stories. This is why I don’t like movies and TV. They don’t go into the depth of emotions and rely on shorthands to convey their meaning. I get it. I get why they do that. I can even understand it in games because you’re trying to move the game along. As much as I adore the characters in this game, a lot of it is from what I’ve supplied with my own brain. And the exemplary acting by the cast.
I know I’ve harped on that, but I truly believe every actor in this game did an outstanding job. Because of them, I was able to overlook my issues with the story in the first act. Which is a huge feat for me! I’m the person that if a movie is not engaging me, I start looking at things like clothing inconsistencies in any given scene.
Once I reach the point of noticing the issues with the story, well, let’s just say there is no going back. And I have reached that point with this game. The story went from slender, but serviceable to eye-rollingly ludicrous for me in the first hour or so of the second act. I really don’t understand the choices the devs made in this act. Well, yes, I do. I get why they went this route; I just don’t agree with it.
I have more to say, but I’m going to end it here for now.