Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

[Maryokutai]

 

 

So this impressed a lot of people, myself included. Some Triple-A 'J'RPG with turn-based combat was not on my bingo card for today. I can see why maf got some Lost Odyssey vibes from this. While it has a more clear western aesthetic, the overall melancholy and atmosphere is very reminiscent of Mistwalker's game, as is the combat screen's presentation and the addition of Shadow Hearts-esque QTEs. Really impressive reveal.

 

Edit: Homepage with additional info, screenshots, soundtrack examples etc.: https://www.expedition33.com/

[mfnick]

Yea I’m really interested in this. Being able to parry in a turn based JRPG? Fuck yes. Something I never knew I needed or wanted. 

[one-armed dwarf]

Sounds like Ben Starr, checked his twitter and it seems it's him.

 

This looks really good but it needs a toggle to turn the screen shake off when you're doing all that Legend of Dragoon contextual button pressing stuff. Would give you a headache if you're grinding for hours

[Maf]

Another cool thing about this game is the premise. Can't say many games at the Xbox show had me interested because of the story 

[Maryokutai]

Looked into the developer because I never heard of Sandfall Interactive. It's a French studio (guess we should have known, the Eiffel Tower was right there after all) founded in 2020, this is their first game and it's a super small team of about 30 people: https://www.sandfall.co/team

 

Very impressive, hope it all works out and the game is both great and does well.

[HandsomeDead]

So I thought it looked a bit too western to be an actual JRPG and it is French.  But the gameplay style definitely looks JRPG.  I don't think I've seen that at this scale since that Lord of the Rings game that took loads of influence from FFX.

 

Same time post.  Nice.

[mfnick]

I need to start saying turn based RPG instead of JRPG. 

[Maryokutai]

12 hours ago, mfnick said:

Yea I’m really interested in this. Being able to parry in a turn based JRPG? Fuck yes. Something I never knew I needed or wanted. 

 

You forgetting about a-me, you soft-boiled pasta.

 

[mfnick]

That’s not the same, it’s just a block. There’s a big difference. 

[Maryokutai]

Not to derail the topic too much, but from what I can tell the move in 33 is a parry with an automatic counter follow-up, which is exactly the same thing as Super Guard in Paper Mario TTYD (I'm not talking about Block, but Super Guard specifically).

 

Of course it does things that go beyond what we usually see in the genre, like the free aiming and stuff. Really cool mix of features to have in a turn-based system.

[DANGERMAN]

8 hours ago, Maryokutai said:

 

You forgetting about a-me, you soft-boiled pasta.

 

Super Robot Wars.jpg

[mfnick]

2 hours ago, Maryokutai said:

Super Guard in Paper Mario TTYD

I do not remember that at all! 
Fair enough. 

[Nag]

 

[one-armed dwarf]

Cool looking game but that camera movement will never stop being really annoying to me, I don't think I'll buy this to be honest if it's actually going to be bouncing around like that. Imagine grinding for an endgame boss and how sick it would make you

 

[Nag]

I'd posted the video without watching it, done that now... yeah, I'm really up for this, it's what Final Fantasy should be in my opinion. Can't wait for some turn based combat with a bit of added interactivity. 

[Maf]

Looks awesome to me, too. I love the style and UI

[Maryokutai]

Ben Starr swearing in French, if that's not a reason to buy I don't know what is.

 

I still like what I'm seeing. Maybe some slight readability issues around the environment but that's always difficult to judge when you're not moving the camera yourself. I wish it did have a proper battle theme for normal encounters though, I think those lack some impact if the soundtrack just plays along. But maybe that's just for this area or not implemented yet.

[DANGERMAN]

Clear Obscure, right? 

[HandsomeDead]

The camera is a bit overdone when you see it in uninterrupted gameplay like that.  I know it's to make these turn based battles more exciting in an SMT way but it doesn't quite have the class.  I guess they make it look easy.

[Maryokutai]

 

Pretty cool cast. I don't think Charlie Cox has done a game VA job before? Couldn't find something on imdb at least.

 

Bit of a tangent related to the last discussion, but I'm currently replaying the Tomb Raider reboot from 2013 and the permanent shaky cam does get on my nerves quite a bit this time around, so I approach this with a slightly altered mindset now. Still hopeful it won't look as intrusive when you're actually playing the game normally at your own pace.