Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

[main olive]

Oh my god

[nova temple]

surprise

[main olive]

I'm like actually shocked

I knew the name was familiar

Honestly this game doesn't feel real

It's like several planets aligned at the same time, generational stroke of coincidences and work in a concoction

[dawn spindle]

You know, I didn't recognize that picture as Daredevil until you said it, and I did watch all of it.

[halcyon elbow]

He is a closet Englishman

[coral trout]

It took me longer to realize this as well.

[pure forge]

Finally caved and dropped to Expeditioner to beat ||Simon. || (act 3)

Also caved and turned the music down to hear the parry prompts.

[nova temple]

You are going to want to include some indication about where your spoiler is from

At least an Act 3 mention

Otherwise people who are still playing the game don't know if they can click on your spoiler tags

[dawn spindle]

Yeah, I have to click the one word to know if I can click the one word.

[ionic kite]

Act 3 ||The squad boutta rock up to Renoir in their bathing suits.
(Side note why is Maelle the only human with an interesting swimsuit. Why are Verso, Lune, and Sciel's so boring)||

[pure forge]

I mean, the best one is all the way over to the right. :^)

[dawn spindle]

I really really dislike Maelle's

You should have seen my reaction up above

This was my reaction

[ionic kite]

Facts

[ionic kite]

I really like it

It has color

[dawn spindle]

Only thing I like is the colour, yeah

[silver pawn]

https://tenor.com/view/chris-pratt-rubbing-hands-smile-happy-plan-mischief-gif-11789692

E33 time!! Haven’t played in a few days

[dawn spindle]

Same 😔

[ionic kite]

I just realized
||Is Verso's Pelerin reference a FF16 reference|| Act 3

[coral trout]

I just started replaying ffix, and exp 33 Luminas system is basically a version of FFIX's ability system. 😂

[halcyon elbow]

It is very FFpilled

[coral trout]

Yeah, but I forgot how much it took.

[exotic ember]

Got my curiosity piqued

[slate ginkgo]

hot dang tricky game

good combat

[analog tiger]

FF9 is an incredible game

much slower than e33 though

and the combat is less involved

it feels especially inspired by FF7, 8 and 9

though I'd say 8 and 9 more than anything else

probably 9 more than any others now that I think about it (ff9 gen) ||since 9 brings old FF's thing of every character being a very different class that plays pretty differently to the other ones and while this was a thing in ff8 and ff7 it was to a much lesser extent than say FF6 or FF4||

[exotic ember]

One day I’ll have to check out some FF games

[dawn spindle]

I think they are very very different from E33

I don't mean this detrimentally but more like, just to set expectations

E33 clearly drinks from all the old jrpgs but it's still fairly it's own thing and the experience and feeling is widely different.

[exotic ember]

Yeah I don’t expect something like E33 exactly at all

[halcyon elbow]

Final Fantasy is itself not a consistent bag of experiences, by design

[dawn spindle]

That is true as well, but you could lump similar things through the times i guess.

[main olive]

Act 3
||I need to know more about Clea, like right now||
||Next game, Clea vs the Writers||
||https://fxtwitter.com/MeeloIsTrying/status/1938623922095755284||

Meelo🦦 (@MeeloIsTrying)

Clea and her trusty assistant! 🐢 #expedition33

**💬 7 🔁 193 ❤️ 1.0K 👁️ 11.4K **

FxTwitter · Jun 27, 2025, 3:42 PM

[nova temple]

wait, stop, I love her

[halcyon elbow]

https://x.com/tylorhepnerart/status/1938678304380235965

Tylor Hepner (@TylorHepnerArt)

Monoco✨ Commissioned by @RichKeeble ✨ #Expedition33

X · Jun 27, 2025, 7:18 PM

Looks like this is gonna be a whole line

Or already is? I think the only missing major character is Sciel

[nova temple]

yeah

[halcyon elbow]

Wonderful style

For reference, this is the same painter Andy Serkis commissioned

[halcyon elbow]

https://youtu.be/I0WhyDmH_Bc

The second bit of this, on [act 1 end] ||Lampmaster|| is very funny

She still hadn't played the game by this point but says she has played the whole thing since she did the recording

I wonder if ||directly sampling Handel|| is a relic of this piece specifically coming out of Lorien's musical refuse pile, where he hadn't finished it when Broche found it and put it in the game anyway

Which is to say, ||maybe it was placeholder and he never got around to writing his own orchestral bits||

[nova temple]

Expedition 33 composer
exposed as a
FRAUD?!

free thumbnail

[main olive]

Incredible how much of this soundtrack includes remixes of other songs or the same lyrics but chopped up and remixed and it still slaps really hard

[halcyon elbow]

To be fair it is eight hours of music

Even removing reused ideas it is a monstrous amount of musical ideas

[ionic kite]

COMBO ATTACK 3 LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOO

||VERSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO||

Oh no

||Golgra fight TWO?! I can't even beat her FIRST fight||

Oh

That wasn't so bad

Watching my friend play the start of E33

||How the hell did Gustave survive the start||

||Why did he wake up in the meadow||

Also, can you actually go back to the place you landed?

[nova temple]

Yeah, it's accessible in Act 2, but it's an Act 3 area

[nova temple]

Spoilers through the start of Act 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvb2CeG_GTc

[wheat reef]

AMAZING

[silver pawn]

I love this so much!!!

I’ve penciled in Act 2 ||Monolith|| ||my meeting with the Paintress for this evening! Wish me luck 🫣||

[nova temple]

🤞

[silver pawn]

End of Act 2 || Aha!!! I was on the right track! But seems like the story goes like fifty layers deeper than that. We’re living in a simulation!

I’m still kind of confused, so much happened at once. The curator is Renoir, but is he fake Renoir or real Renoir? And Verso is fake Verso cause real Verso is dead. But I’m confused about creepy mask girl - is she real Alicia or not? Cause Maelle is Alicia. Hmmmmmm. I think I’m going to have to try and find that ending on YouTube or something to watch it all over again because it felt like too much info all at once and my brain just went 🤯🤯🤯||

^||the actual fight with the Paintress(es) wasn’t particularly difficult, but I’m guessing that’s a product of playing on Story Mode still. ||

[halcyon elbow]

End of act 2 answers/clarifications ||The Renoir you fought twice is Painted Renoir. The Curator is real Renoir. Alicia with the mask is Painted Alicia. Maelle is real Alicia||

[silver pawn]

Ahhh ok gotcha! Thankyou for clarifying 😅

[dawn spindle]

||It is quite a lot of info at once lol||

[silver pawn]

Ok so Act 2 Ending || now we just hunt down real Renoir because Maelicia wants to stay in the painting with fake Verso, and real Renoir wants to destroy it? Hmmmmm. Im having trouble seeing how that will be as narratively satisfying as the end of Act 2. The twist was just SOO GOOD. Well, we continue…||

Act 3 ||Wait, can I just go fight Renoir right now? What did you guys do?||

[nova temple]

^ ||You can. I think most people take time to go explore. How thorough you are is up to you, but there are some new camp scenes, some of which lead to character quests, so that at least is worth doing||

^ ||You can also go fight him, end the game, and then explore - you'll have a save just before the final battle||

[silver pawn]

Hmmm choices choices.

[dawn spindle]

I think what makes the most sense story wise ||Is to do the camp stuff to get the side quests and at least do those first, but I've not gone do the end yet so idk for sure||

[silver pawn]

Act 3 || well given that, I’ll probably do as much exploring as I can, and the new camp scenes, and then save the fight for the last thing I do.||

Appreciate the advice 🙏

[dawn spindle]

Note that ||the camp stuff is kind of weirdly coded and you need to exit the camp and go back in and you will have more conversations/scenes because it's a bit weirdly put 😅 ||

[silver pawn]

Act 3 ||Lore question, so what was the Fracture, in the end? Renoir coming to fetch Aline out of the painting? ||

[nova temple]

more or less

[silver pawn]

Ok gotcha! Definitely need to go watch some YouTube videos breaking this all down haha

[silver pawn]

I’ll keep this in mind!

[halcyon elbow]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaJ6TZOJ9HI

[halcyon elbow]

Amy: What's Clair Obscur mean?
Jeb: ...... no idea
Amy: You didn't look into it?
Jeb: Nope

[shell minnow]

Oh, Jez stealing Raz's signature series :0

[halcyon elbow]

He has been for some time

This is Amy's.... fifth? game

D2, Elden Ring, Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077

This so far has easily been her favorite

[errant wedge]

I have acquired the Expedition game.

Just spent a while yesterday getting the light & shadows to look right and doing the Prologue. Won't be able to play til the weekend now tho. 😔

Can already feel that this combat system is gonna be a lot of fun tho.

[halcyon elbow]

Maxence Cazrola says Sandfall is working on an official behind the scenes coming soon

[main olive]

It makes you think why there's not more turn based rpg's with parries and dodges

[halcyon elbow]

They do exist, just not with the extreme level of commitment to the bit that E33 has

[main olive]

I do remember it being a thing in other games but yeah this one uses it like, everywhere, it's one if not the core of the gameplay loop

[halcyon elbow]

Which I think is an ingredient of E33's success. Everything it chooses to do it carries to its logical extreme

[main olive]

I think, other than the big questions, the one I'm thinking rn is
(Ac3/all)
||What's the deal with Painted Renoir's giant lion.||

[halcyon elbow]

Act 3 ||I think that's just how Aline sees him. Painted Renoir is also thicker at the shoulder (even accounting for the jacket he wears over his shoulders like a cape) and at the waist, and just a burlier man in general, and I think that's artistic license in her vision of a man she was clearly once attracted to||

[slate ginkgo]

first boss done had fun

still on expert and liking it so far

[wheat reef]

What Kon said but also because its COOL

[analog tiger]

Act 3 ||by that point I was getting pretty tired of the game so I just maxed out most companions' relationships and went to the fight||

[analog tiger]

act 3/all ||imagine one of the Painter powers is to be able to summon stands, that'd be dope||

[halcyon elbow]

https://x.com/tylorhepnerart/status/1941214255224877291

Tylor Hepner (@TylorHepnerArt)

Sciel✨ #Expedition33

X · Jul 4, 2025, 7:15 PM

[halcyon elbow]

Act 3 ||https://x.com/99hunters1408/status/1941234325409890548 ||

99hunters (@99hunters1408)

Little spoon
#ClairObscurExpedition33

X · Jul 4, 2025, 8:35 PM

[exotic ember]

I’m feeling the itch to NG+

[dawn spindle]

Do you live with the itch to NG+?

I still haven't advanced at all since the last time I posted here

other things overtook me

[exotic ember]

I do lol

So many books to read though too

[dawn spindle]

I get you

[exotic ember]

Books to read, games to play, books to write, games to make, etc.

But Clair Obscur NG+ I may start soon regardless

[ionic kite]

||Does the third Axon represent Alicia or Clea? I thought it was Clea at first, but then when we got to the top and saw Alicia, I thought "maybe it is Alicia"|| The Reacher

Oh boy

[halcyon elbow]

Act 3 ||The Clea Axon you've already seen. It is the dead one in Old Lumiere. This is the Alicia one||

||If you fly by it you can get a good look of it holding the city up even in death||

[ionic kite]

||I'm not gonna lie. i forgot there was a dead one.||

[halcyon elbow]

||For some reason a lot of people do even though Verso won't shut up about it for a hot minute there ||

[ionic kite]

Remind me

||Was there a painted Clea||

||I feel like I remember seeing a painted Clea when we saw Alicia and Renoir at the mansion, when we learned that Verso was Renoir's son||

||But I can't for the life of me remember if that was real or if I'm just gaslighting myself and that was like. Aline or smth.||

||Or there was no other person there at all||

[halcyon elbow]

||There is a Painted Clea. More than that will require a RAFO||

[ionic kite]

I see

||Did she appear at the mansion||

[halcyon elbow]

Keep doing side stuff

[ionic kite]

||Or was that me gaslighting myself||

Okay cool

Gaslit myself

Awesome

[halcyon elbow]

No

||That was Aline's avatar||

||Real Aline, the one you fight at the Monolith||

[ionic kite]

Okay

||I was right that there was another person||

[halcyon elbow]

A lot of that mid act 2 stuff is a bit of a jumble until you go through it a second time with full context

[ionic kite]

||When I got to all the lore reveals I was like "Was there another woman with Alicia? Was that Aline or Clea?", I couldn't remember, but I figured it had to be Clea since Aline was at the top of the Monolith||

But that makes sense

[halcyon elbow]

Act 3 I guess ||When Verso talks about the "heart of the Paintress", that's what he means. For whatever reason she was hanging out at the manor. Unclear if that's the same version of it that you access and that the Curator hung out at, but there are definitely some distinctly different instances of the manor making things a little confusing there||

[ionic kite]

||I'd be surprised if it's the same manor. The manor that we saw when we learned who Verso was went on to that one cliff in the location with the weird poetry. The manor we found Maelle in should still be in whatever weird second dimension it's in that lets you access it from like 20 different places, because I doubt that real Renoir and Aline's painted family would hang out in the same location. I imagine Aline painted one manor for her family, and then Renoir came in and painted his own, just like they did with each of their kids and each other.||

[halcyon elbow]

||I saw a theory indicating that the Curator Manor is actually the one you can find that was Alicia's Painting (the only one Aline allowed to be hung on the wall in the house) and that when Maelle says she hid the painting, she hid Verso's Canvas inside her own and that manifests by the manor being accessible separately in the way it is||

No idea if it is correct but a cool idea

[ionic kite]

Hmm

Also, I'm watching the final Maelle event

||When Verso says he met Clea, does he mean the real Clea?||

||I assume he does||

Okay

||Did Verso save Gustave too? Why did he save Gustave specifically? Just because he was watching Maelle and knew she cared for him?||

[nova temple]

Can we throw some labels on these tags? I have no idea how far you are

[ionic kite]

Those last three are the final Maelle event

The tags before it are The Reacher

All Act 3

[halcyon elbow]

Act 3 ||I don't really think so. They never really explain how Gustave, Sciel, or Lune survive and I think you're just supposed to take it at face value that the Nevrons weren't perfect at killing everyone. If you go back and watch the cutscene you can see Verso out of focus in the background picking Maelle up at the beach and I think if something similar were intended for Gustave there would be some kind of indication to that effect||

[ionic kite]

||Ohhh I didn't realize that you could see Verso pick up Maelle, that's neat.
When it comes to Lune and Sciel, I assumed that they just got away on their own, since they're not the only Expeditioners we see having escaped. When it comes to Gustave, though, he just wakes up in the middle of the forest. He clearly didn't leave by his own power, cuz he got blasted by one of the hand dudes||

[halcyon elbow]

Act 3 ||Verso is so obvious in the scene if you know to look for him that it feels wild that you could ever have missed him ||

[ionic kite]

Yeah lmao

I just went back to watch it again and

||It's so obvious lmao. I just didn't really take it in before, I thought it was some other Expeditioner checking on Maelle and I just never questioned how she vanished||

[halcyon elbow]

Act 3 ||Sciel somehow ends up all the way in Yellow Harvest before making her way to the Gestral Village, so ||

||Yellow Harvest was apparently intended as the main quest dungeon where you recruit her, as opposed to her showing up in Gestral Village at the tournament, but it was busted down to side content for pacing reasons. But she still says she ended up there when she's explaining how she got to the Village||

[ionic kite]

Okay now I've cleared most of the obvious side content, outside of the dungeons that kick my ass

Now to have the fun of trying to figure out the not obvious side content

Oh wait I missed one area

Ah ||this must be where painted Clea is|| Flying Manor

[halcyon elbow]

https://youtu.be/RqmbsolPMyI

(The lede is somewhat buried here, Austin Wintory is the interviewer)

[pulsar citrus]

Razbuten! I knew this guy was different somewhere in my heart but I never questioned it, I had already watched his (Witcher, Cyberpunk and Exp 33 ) videos.

But I thought this was the same guy who made the "Gaming for Non Gamer" that long that I had watched

[pulsar citrus]

Oh same, I can't get enough of the high from the game that I keep watching other streamer's reaction.

My face were Luality and SebbyWebs and Conner

Guys I have a question, can anybody tell me a game I should play if I want to experience the same depth in gameplay and playstyle variety that this game offers?

After finishing this game, I want to experience that feeling I had playing this game but with a different one as I am a bit done with fighting the same enemy with the same patterns.

I know I am being greedy but I wish they would release more kinds of enemies sometimes later

But for now, I guess I should move on and search for another game.

I know Pokemon is the obvious answer with the infinite amount of pokemon and each with their unique abilities and skills but I want something a bit different.

Persona is also on my Radar but I have heard that it is very long and grindy in nature in the main story as well

[wheat reef]

Maybe not exactly what you're looking for but I can recommend turn based games with fun gameplay:
Triangle Strategy
This Way Madness Lies
Unicorn Overlord
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Chained Echoes
Rise of the Third Power
Slay the Spire
Dark Deity 2

[shell minnow]

TriStrat mentioned

https://tenor.com/view/simon-cowell-laser-eyes-gif-10617238

[errant wedge]

[halcyon elbow]

Unironically, if what you're looking for is
A) Learning complex fight patters, and
B) A wide variety of buildcrafting options and playstyles
your best bet is almost certainly Elden Ring

[pulsar citrus]

Man 😭 I don't like sweaty realtime recation games.

I highly enjoyed the parry mechanics in this game because I at least had time to prepare for it.

I am the kind of guy to get stressed even when traversing through the area and monsters in E33 are chasing me.

And I don't really do well in pressure.

Some of my favourite skills in this game were the Meta skills (even if I don't ever use them) like Egide, Fortune's Fury, Typhoon (okay I did use these 2) etc.

Sometimes Skill do damage and boost applied is good but don't give the creative playstyle depth.

Even Follow up and Ascending Assault were cool

Not to mention the Weapon Passives and the Character abilities.

[dawn spindle]

I think Sea of Stars has similar mechanics in the turn based. I have however not played it so idk how good/bad it is

[pulsar citrus]

I have heard much about Slay the Spire

( 1. That it is associated with Northern Lion a lot.

2. That Maelle's Stances are a mechanic in the game )

So that one is on my Radar.

I also have heard about Fire Emblem. Mostly for the story and the political and thematic dialogue between few character

Ah yes WaT/FE || it was when compared to Jasnah debate I guess||

But I know nothing about the gameplay, I honestly thought it was a mobile Gacha game.

Other than that I have not heard anything about the other games.

[halcyon elbow]

Typhoon gang rise up

If you're looking more turn based, I'd throw Baldur's Gate 3 (and in fact kind of that whole avenue of modern CRPG) and XCOM on the list, though those are more tactics games than what E33 is

Final Fantasy Tactics is also getting a remake and is fantastic for both the tactics combat and the buildcrafting

[pulsar citrus]

I think I had heard SebbyWebs bashing on Final Fantasy for so long that I can just instinctively not play FF for some time but it also definitely made me curious to play it as well.

My previous tirade would make one think that I am solely against Real Time action games but that's not the case. It's just a lot of the times it is just attacking and attacking if the enemies are too weak.

Or just blocking and blocking a very tough enemy to no end. Just adding multiple ways to deal with an enemy is already making the combat engaging.

[wheat reef]

Im one of the people that liked that game a fair bit but i wouldnt say its because of the gameplay

[pulsar citrus]

This was brought back to me when I played Prince of Persia Warrior Within and God was the combat a bit dull. (even though the 3D platforming was God tier for something that old and something that I missed in E33 ) You just are attacking the enemies a lot. A new weapon unlocks more damage and also a combo? Okay?

I have also just started Hollow Knight because it was light and easy to download and I had heard it's praise and Silksong is coming.

[halcyon elbow]

Sebby is very passionate about JRPGs to the extent that he's transitioned into ragebaiting about modern FF in a way that I find has crossed fully into disingenuousness. And FF Tactics is a classic, probably has his seal of approval

[halcyon elbow]

I think there's a significant case to be made that Hollow Knight is notably harder than Elden Ring

[fallow geode]

Less build complexity though

[pulsar citrus]

It definitely feels like that. I think I clocked that when someone was talking about them liking one of the later FFs and found some of the characters actually interesting, he said that there is a toxic positivity. Where people are just trying to say the games are good when they are not.

It does get a bit much when he talks about them a lot to say those very things, but I just go on with it because his personality is very fun to watch when he is playing the game or talking about anything else very much.

[analog tiger]

oh there's so many. My instant recommendation would be Shadow Hearts: Covenant. It's better if you play Shadow Hearts but SH is a much worse game so it's hard to recommend 😔

Mario RPG too either the pure Mario RPG or the Paper Mario series. Bravely Default, Octopath Traveller, Chrono Trigger, Vagrant Story (though that one is not really turn based; well it kinda is but isn't. It's less straightforwardly turn based); Valkyrie Profile (less turn based, but more than Vagrant Story) and Valkyria Chronicles are a few other great choices

and then there's Lost Odyssey if you want to see one of the sources this game is heavily drinking from (and Eternal Sonata if you want to see another source, Eternal Sonata is way better than Lost Odyssey tho)

there was at least one more game I wanted to recommend but I forgot x_x sorry

[pulsar citrus]

No worries these are great sources

[foggy rover]

I wouldn't consider Elden Ring hard by any means the open world kind of killed the difficulty level if you wanted to go level up like crazy do it. Hell speed runners get a basically max weapon with only needing one boss fight

[exotic ember]

It’s hard if you just go straight to the first main boss without leveling first 😅 Granted I haven’t gotten very far at all so I can’t speak beyond that basically

[foggy rover]

Absolutely that's the beauty of the game it's as hard as you want it to be you can even beat the game at level 1

[exotic ember]

Idk if someone else posted this here or if it was randomly surfaced to me but this is so interesting to watch https://youtu.be/BaJ6TZOJ9HI?si=57gyso8l2OjrxP1M

E33 prologue || Also when it got to the prologue ending not me being like NO NOT AGAIN and then tearing up once again. Ugh, they really knocked it out of the park it’s so good ||

Gah, best game ever

I’m playing more this weekend

I have to do it

Going to load up a guide and comb through to grab any pictos, weapons, and expedition logs I missed and then start NG+

I swear if this doesn’t get GOTY I am absolutely rioting

[analog tiger]

https://tenor.com/view/dk-nintendo-donkey-kong-gif-4472496

[exotic ember]

I know you have you’re opinions. You’re entitled to them, even if I think they’re unhinged

[halcyon elbow]

Yeah I posted it when it came out

[exotic ember]

Thought that may be the case. Unfortunately discord seems to still not let you search within threads which is infuriating

[exotic ember]

I just finished watching the video. That was cute. Very fun. And very neat from a game dev and UI design perspective

[halcyon elbow]

I think the most notable thing about it was Amy wanted to experience more! (I expect Jez is more likely to have lets played it for her than she is to have finished it herself, of course, but that's a notable difference from his other videos of this kind)

[exotic ember]

Yeah that was a cool note there at the end

The story is so peak

The characters

[halcyon elbow]

She also really hated Elden Ring. I don't think they've done a video since the Elden Ring one where she hasn't made a pointed comment about something [current game] is doing better than Elden Ring

[exotic ember]

The music

[exotic ember]

I may have to check that out… after I make more progress on Elden Ring

[halcyon elbow]

I believe you're further than she's made it

She's some side stuff I think you have not though

[exotic ember]

I basically just went straight to || Margit ||, died a bunch, and then finally caved and left to do other stuff. Barely have touched it

I thought I’d play during my 2 week vacation but nope I just did a ton of reading

[nova temple]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3YE4TnQqWE

full game ||kind of calling what people did to/with Verso's Canvas fanfiction or fanart is hilarious to me, but not inaccurate ||

[silver pawn]

I gotta get back and play some more! It’s been almost two weeks

[silver pawn]

Ok real talk. I love Sciel so much, I’m genuinely questioning if I’m having a bi awakening or not haha! I dunno if it’s her emotional vulnerability or her voice, or (let’s be real) her tats and her abs, but she is my favourite thing about this game right now.

Act 3 ||Sciel story|| ||finding out about how Esquie saved her after her partner died, and that’s why she has the fear of swimming, just ripped my heart out in the best way||

[nova temple]

hehehehe

[dawn spindle]

This is totally reasonable

We don't talk about enough about "have a card'

[silver pawn]

Amen.

I’m going to be so sad to finish the game. I think I’m almost avoiding playing, so that it doesn’t feel like the end haha

[pulsar citrus]

Yup she comes out of nowhere, makes us think maybe I won't like her as much and then shoots to become your favourite.

[pulsar citrus]

I use "Intervention" , so whenever she says "your time to shine" I stifle a smirk.

[dawn spindle]

It is the voice she uses specifically to say "have a card"

[halcyon elbow]

Self-described crack theory on the mimes [all, to be safe]: ||https://youtu.be/qVLzvMQUGh0 ||

||This is the second take on the "Alicia hid Verso's canvas within her own canvas" I've seen, though Kala gets there a very differently than I've seen before||

[nova temple]

Yeah, I thought that idea sounded familiar

[errant wedge]

@halcyon elbow So I'm not very far in (I am currently at ||the Gestral Village and just recruited Sciel||) but I gotta ask, did you invest at all in the defensive stats in this game? Vitality and Defense.

Agility seems to be the stat (I'm playing blindly so I don't really know if it's gonna hit diminishing returns tho), since action economy is always fantastic in a turn based system.

I am running a decent amount of Vitality tho because at this point the returns on it are so huge and it makes a difference in learning new attack patterns (a difference between learning in the same pull or dying and repeating, which frankly isn't huge given that there are no runbacks).

Might doesn't seem important yet because its returns are tiny compared to finding stronger weapons and upgrading weapons. Seems like something that'll come in later when that avenue of attack power gains starts to tap out.

It's interesting that Defense for DR is a separate stat tho because all the heals are % based. In most games that have HP and DR as separate defensive systems, heals are constants and not (or rarely) %s, so the appeal of DR is that it not only increases your EHP but also the strength of healing effects. Which is not relevant in this system. I guess this stat is just something you want because of specific weapon scaling?

And Luck also feels like something that'll come in later when there are more Skills and Pictos and maybe Weapons that play around Crit effects.

[halcyon elbow]

Might is the bait stat

Defense is less good than Vitality, I do agree. You should know that scaling Defense also reduces your burn tick damage as for whatever reason your Defense is a negative modifier in the burn damage equation

It is still worth having some though so you don't get oneshot later on

[reef iron]

vitality and defense are useful and good and you'll actually notice the difference between investing in them and not. i agree, i wouldn't go crazy in putting a ton in defense, but some is good

[errant wedge]

I'm gonna level Vitality until the HP gains stop being so massive before considering Defense. Right now I am gaining some passive Defense through leveling Agility anyway (which is my #1 stat on everybody).

[halcyon elbow]

Luck is very good, you can get insane damage off Luck eventually

[halcyon elbow]

Preach got Maelle to 99 Agi before putting anything in any other stat and it turned out to be unironically decent

His chat was malding about it the whole time too and the joke it turned out was on them

[wheat reef]

Full speed is very good

[exotic ember]

I didn’t touch defense stats unless I was scaling off defense on weapons

But I also kept my team at 1 HP

[halcyon elbow]

(He streamed at the height of the E33 crowd going around and demanding streamers play "correctly" as well, that was part of it)

[wheat reef]

I thought the "correct" way of playing was to be a god gamer and parry everything so why would you need defensive stats then?

[errant wedge]

I mean, theoretically that is, I have sometimes done fights where I just basic attack to get my turn over with and focus entirely on learning the attack pattern until I perfect parry everything.

But that's... boring? When there are all these cool abilities and crazy flashy animations to play with.

[wheat reef]

agreed

[halcyon elbow]

To be fair, the intensity of the attack chains is very low in act 1 generally

[errant wedge]

I do fear that at some point the attack patterns will shift from

"enemy swings a weapon at your actual character"

to

"3 minutes and 26 seconds of interpretative dance where at the 1:29, 1:43, 2:13: 2:26 and 3:01 timestamps your character takes damage, the exact cause of which is a mystery"

[halcyon elbow]

The attack chains do get longer but with some I think specific and notable exceptions remain quite readable

I think there's one attack in the entire game I never figured out how you were supposed to parry it

[exotic ember]

Por que no los dos?

[exotic ember]

I do think that there were a few attacks from act 2 || monolith || || the paintress phase 2 || that I straight up never got the parry window for

[halcyon elbow]

||I got all of those. The only one I never got was Renoir's banish||

||But fortunately his moveset is so diverse that it came up only infrequently||

[exotic ember]

That’s the beautiful thing. Everyone surely has that “make you want to tear your hair out” attack sequence and/or fight

[wheat reef]

Act 2
||Yeah the frost Eveque having its desperation attack be a sped up version of one of its normal attacks was pure evil and having it hit 10 times on top of that ||

[halcyon elbow]

They love playing with your timing expectations

Get used to that

They hired a team of sadistic Koreans specifically for that purpose

[exotic ember]

It’s so peak

The animators killed it and I hope they get the chance to go even harder and get even more sadistic

-# This is why my gf asks “what’s wrong with you”

[halcyon elbow]

I imagine Sandfall will look for excuses to work with these animators again in the future

[exotic ember]

I sure hope they work with them again

[nova temple]

I enjoyed this video essay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsO3A5tsyW4

vessay?

we say vodcast for video podcast

[halcyon elbow]

It does seem like it needs a dedicated word at this point

[analog tiger]

you should try devil may cry

especially 5 but I recommend starting with 1 (then skipping 2)

[exotic ember]

Duly noted. I'll add it to the list. Have seen stuff about it over the year but never tried the series

[pulsar citrus]

You mean our defense decreases burn inflicted on enemies by us?

Or the burn inflicted on us by the enemy?

Because if it is latter I would not understand why you would think it is weird

Agility is great on Verso as well. Sciel too.

[halcyon elbow]

The higher your defense stat is, the less each burn stack does to enemies

[pulsar citrus]

Jeez

I wonder why

I also have questions about burn stack, is the burn damage counted for the each character's individual applied burn on the enemy or the one who last applied the burn.

The former makes more sense but the latter sounds more fun.

[halcyon elbow]

Each burn stack a character applies lasts for a default of three turns and is calculated based off their attack power and their defense stat

(As in, Pictos that give you DR or DR from other stats do not count toward the reduction)

[pulsar citrus]

So it is based on the damage of the person applying it always. Got ut

[halcyon elbow]

The stack will do roughly half what a normal attack would do, modified downward by your Defense stat

So for the gunslinger build where you are applying (often) hundreds of burn stacks

It is as if you had just normal attacked hundreds of times

[pulsar citrus]

Then it is almost funny that Defense is the S modifier for Medalum of all weapons

[halcyon elbow]

The Medallum ain't what it used to be

And was never really for burn builds

(In fact on release as I recall it was negatively bugged for burn builds)

[pulsar citrus]

Then it is crazy cuz even with all these debuffs I could do crazy damage with burn damage build and never use Stendhall.

[halcyon elbow]

Yeah

Burn is just inherently good

Though the best applicators now are probably Lune and [Act 2] ||Verso||, with their given gunslinging builds

[wheat reef]

I heard that burn used to be really good but unless they buffed it again it has been nerfed hard. When i tried it the damage was capped at 1-2 million no matter how many stacks i put on while my biggest hit I could do was over 100 million

Not that having burn is bad but actually building to stack as much burn as possible was a huge bait

[exotic ember]

Wait when was this? Because Burn was outperforming Stendhal in damage when I played

[wheat reef]

About a month ago
Full gameplay spoilers ||The burning canvas skill with max burn stacks did rival Stendhal which is cool since it doesnt remove shields from Maelle. But the burn damage itself is not that high. I think both the burn damage and Burning Canvas scaling with stacks is just hard capped at somewhere between 100-500 stacks. Didnt do very exact science.||

[exotic ember]

|| Hmm I feel like I remember things continuing to scale up into the 1000s. I may pop the game open to test in a bit||

[pulsar citrus]

Yup, I was using that exact skill

[exotic ember]

Doing damage testing in act 3 || Endless tower 5-1 || || Chromatic Veilleur absorbs other enemies when low health? That’s awesome! ||

[exotic ember]

Act 3 || Alright yeah wtf I don't remember them capping damage like this. Maybe I just didn't notice before because of roulette or something.

Tower 5-1. Virtuose burning canvas. Defenceless applied.

649 burn stacks. 6 million damage
1104 burn stacks. 6 million damage
2410 burn stacks with mark. 6.6 million damage.
3384 burn stacks. 7.2 million damage

LAMEEEEEEE. Those cowards.

Stendhal 2.9 million damage.||

[wheat reef]

||ye i did 10k stacks and the burn was still ticking for 1 mil damage only I guess its because the burn stacks are infinitely stackable but idk its a single player game just let the fun builds exist||

[halcyon elbow]

I wonder if it is bugged

I'm not seeing anything indicating that burn damage has been changed in previous patches

[exotic ember]

Yeah it’s possible I never noticed due to roulette

[exotic ember]

|| Yeah :/ I wonder if there’s a mod to uncap burn damage ||

[pulsar citrus]

Jeez I never reached more than 150 burn damage

[halcyon elbow]

Yet

[pulsar citrus]

I have only got Simon left and I don't have much ways to level my character above 90 other than just repeatedly fighting the same enemies again for some times.

I also have some Pictos to pick as it seems my thorough searching in each level was nowhere near thorough. So I would have to go look for them as well. Overall I don't think it has left enough juice to make me pick it back up again.

[halcyon elbow]

https://x.com/comickergirl/status/1946378700213342284

Sarah Leuver (@comickergirl)

Another silly #ClairObscurExpedition33 drawing.

X · Jul 19, 2025, 1:16 AM

[silver pawn]

I love that their baguettes mimic their weapons

[exotic ember]

En guarde

[dawn spindle]

Sciel is wielding the receipt

[silver pawn]

“Have a receipt”

[fallow geode]

"Let's eat faster"

[scarlet trout]

I want bread now

[sullen quartz]

I've decided that I don't want to play Expedition 33, but I still want to experience it, so I'm watching a four-hour cutscene compilation like a movie.

Everything about this game looks beautiful: the art and design, the story, the music, all very compelling. But after seeing the trailer and the beginning of a walkthrough, I realized that the gameplay was a turn-off for me. I just don't jive with it, so it's probably not a game I would enjoy playing. So I've decided to go for the second-best way for me to experience it, because this sounds like something I don't want to miss out on!

[reef iron]

what don't you like about the gameplay?

[sullen quartz]

That kind of turn-based type combat isn't really my thing. I don't like the general look of it and I often find it rather immersion-breaking. Everything's open until suddenly everyone just stands in a line taking turns with specific limited actions. I prefer the action adventure type of "see enemy, pull out your sword and go ham" without any real kind of gameplay transition from what you're doing before. If I'm gonna fight an enemy, I'd like to be moving freely while doing so.

I'm not at all saying I think the turn-based strategy system is bad, as it clearly works for a lot of people. It's just not my cup of tea. Purely a matter of opinion.

But I suppose another reason I haven't gotten this game is that I'm not sure I'm willing to invest the time and money into it. If I were to get it and play it and even if I liked the gameplay, it would undoubtedly take up many, many hours of my time in addition to and in competition with games I'm already playing. I'd probably fall down a rabbit hole, and I'm in too many rabbit holes.

Checking what consoles it's available on has also clarified for me that I couldn't play it if I wanted to. 😅

But anyway, I want to say something positive about it: everything looks so beautiful. The artstyles, the warped architecture, the animations, the characters! It's breathtakingly beautiful to look at.

Speaking of beautiful, Lune

I've only seen a few cutscenes so far

[fallow geode]

I'd just like to say that I felt the exact same way about turn based games until I played E33.
I used the PC gamepass edition as a "demo" of sorts to try it out, knowing that I might hate the gameplay, but had really liked the look of the trailers.

[nova temple]

Same - turn-based was never my thing (and it still isn't), but I find it enjoyable here

[analog tiger]

while expedition 33 is not the kind of game where the gameplay is integral for the experience, you are still missing quite a bit of it by watching just the cutscenes. it's like watching half a movie, and the missing parts are interspersed with the existing ones

[merry lance]

To needlessly nitpick your simile, I'd say it's slightly more like like only listening to a whole movie. You still get the full story (more or less), but you're missing the reason it's in the medium its in.

[analog tiger]

nah you miss some of the story too

[dawn spindle]

That's always going to be the case when you watch someone play vs playing

I don't really see the problem

[analog tiger]

not really, you can get a lot of the same experience by watching someone play versus playing yourself

but if it's just a cutscene movie you are going to be missing quite a bit

[dawn spindle]

Ah, I see, yeah I don't think a 4h cutscene compilation is gonna do anything

Show that its pretty at most

The game is kind of generic on the outline of the story

On another note im going back home today which means i can finally retake E33

and not just buy Date Everything or something silly like that after the book excess I've just done

[analog tiger]

I mean it's kinda generic on pretty much everything :x

[dawn spindle]

Yes, yes.

[halcyon elbow]

https://x.com/tylorhepnerart/status/1947012903921463376

Tylor Hepner (@TylorHepnerArt)

Esquie Wallpaper✨ #Expedition33

X · Jul 20, 2025, 7:17 PM

[sullen quartz]

I must say, what you all have to say about this game is really making me want to actually play it.

But there's still the issue of console 😅

I don't have any of the ones it plays on

[halcyon elbow]

Yeah Expedition 33 is worth not knocking until it has been tried

It does a lot of things that aren't normally appealing to many people but does them with a high enough degree of execution that it commonly overcomes reservations

[sullen quartz]

That's what I've been hearing from this channel. Maybe it would make me actually like turn-based strategy gameplay, who knows? I just don't have a console to play it on. 😔

[analog tiger]

you can just watch someone play the full game

you won't really lose anything from that

[sullen quartz]

I did see another "cutscene movie" upload that was over 7 hours long that includes cutscenes and the gameplay tying them together in addition to the 4-hour cutscene only version. But maybe I could find a full walkthrough too.

[nova temple]

I'd say that's the second best thing

You get a lot of the emotions kind of second hand too

[dawn spindle]

Yeah a walkthrough is the best option, main storyline isn't that long so if you don't want to spend a lot of time surely you can find someone that did main story only.

[dawn spindle]

It is time, I think.

I bet I've entirely forgotten how to parry

[analog tiger]

Shirrako usually does commentaryless playthroughs of popular recent games

[dawn spindle]

okay... I instantly died once then I proceeded to parry everything perfectly.

[analog tiger]

and they have a Hot Wheels Acceleracers nickname which is pog

[dawn spindle]

I think also watching the beginning and the actual combat will clue you in if you actually want to give it a go or not

[analog tiger]

though they also rush through the games which is kinda eh

not a completionist's playthrough

[dawn spindle]

I am fighting this enemy Act 3 ||Chromatic Benisseur||

And I can do perfect parry with one character and keep failing it with the rest

for who knows what reason

[pulsar citrus]

I have felt that

[dawn spindle]

I'm sure it's the angle or something silly like that but lol

[pulsar citrus]

I think it is always various minor reasons, sometimes it is about character's frame blocking the the attack in a way or the positioning of them.

Or sometimes before an attack the characters do a "ready to react to attack action" that is not related to the input (Ex:- Maelle flourishing her sword or Monoco with the staff) that is different. It just piles up all for the wrong reason.

[dawn spindle]

hmmm

I was parrying this based on sound except the 4th attack which i wasn't failing

no matter it's dead now just kinda dumb issue

like I'm parrying by sound by this being a thing clearly implies some visual input is shortcircuiting my brain

[halcyon elbow]

https://tenor.com/view/clair-obscur-expedition-33-maelle-nopers-shaking-my-head-gif-11950782421148648122

[dawn spindle]

What are y'all favourite Sciel's weapons?

Love the invisible walls, my favourite game mechanic, of all times. Specially the ones that make perfect sense. (I'm looking at you DE) Act 3

[pulsar citrus]

I think some attacks are just absolutely impossible to read by visual

Act 1 || I remember the Gestral Sakaptate with hidden dagger being really hard without the sound input. ||

[dawn spindle]

No I do most of them by ear anyway

Act 3 achievements

after all this long, I still can't get the 3 hit from the hexga right

[exotic ember]

Hard disagree

[dawn spindle]

Am in one of those red places that idk what kinda red it is so...

ah, it was fine

Act 3 ||The Fountain|| ||I was gifted 100 lumina 👀 ||

[pulsar citrus]

Yeah || it feels great to be rewarded when you try to go the pacifist route.

I have heard that the Nevrons attacks if you had killed one of the white Nevrons. ||

[nova temple]

||It's about helping (or not) more than half||

[dawn spindle]

||a part of me really wants to beat them all just for the challenge ||

I guess I could go back after I'm done and go on a murder spree

[halcyon elbow]

Interesting

[dawn spindle]

No.

Also someone told me the Act 3 ||Chromatic petank was really hard||

but my fight was very anticlimatic 😔

[halcyon elbow]

https://tenor.com/view/the-witcher-geralt-henry-cavill-hmm-thinking-gif-15910543

[dawn spindle]

https://tenor.com/view/bunny-cute-sleepy-eepy-coffee-morning-bnuuy-gif-14722932369724160750

[dawn spindle]

to be clear, or clair if you may, Maelle had one of those parries that just... and deleted the thing on turn 2

That was the second try

the first try I was doing the fight proper and was looking to be a fun fight

[errant wedge]

Another fine bnuuy. 🐰

[dawn spindle]

That was is quite literally my spirit animal.

Just bathing in coffee

the whole initial bunny thing (including my alt nick, Ushagi) comes from a picture of a bunny high on caffeine.

Act 3 ||I left at The Infinite Tower|| ||or whatever that challenge arena-ish place is called yesterday 👀 the stupid dualliste has one attack I legitimately don't understand how to parry||

[dawn spindle]

I hate this

[dawn spindle]

i got it!

||And with Monoco on the team too||

[dawn spindle]

Act 3 ||Endless Tower||||Stage 3 Trial 2 is where I'm stopping for now||

[exotic ember]

Progress!

[dawn spindle]

Act 3 general (but still Act 3) 👀

||2 left!||

[exotic ember]

Same tags || So close! ||

[pulsar citrus]

Wait, Act 3 || Endless Tower || || I had thought maybe you would be very high levelled when you talked about the Chromatic Petank but you are still yet at Stage 3? ||

[dawn spindle]

I'm confused at how those things relate and if they do at all then I don't want to know.

I was level 66 or so for ||the petank||

[pulsar citrus]

Oh that is a reasonable level actually

[pulsar citrus]

||Cuz the tower levels you like crazy|| and I thought || you might have one shot it because you were level 80 or something||

[dawn spindle]

Aaah i see

I'm now level 70

I suppose I should go do other things instead

[pulsar citrus]

Act 3 || How much tower did you finish?||

[dawn spindle]

here

[pulsar citrus]

Ah ok. I thought maybe you might have done more. But that sounds a bit stupid as the previous message wasn't that long agao

[dawn spindle]

yeah I've stopped for the day I think.

[sullen quartz]

I've been listening to the Clair-Obscur soundtrack, and it is gorgeous. 😍

[exotic ember]

This popped up on my feed from my watch later and I finally decided to check it out. Just watched the first of the reactions to the whole boss and my god Clair Obscur is so goated. Just peak all around. I NEED to play this game again after metaphor.

Act 2 ||Forgotten battlefield || (Language in video) || https://youtu.be/BgQ-2sD2rG4?si=uQJDDsEwgq06wmpc ||

They really cooked so hard with the animation in the game

[dawn spindle]

yes

||it is a shame that fight is total BS but it is cinematic as hell||

[exotic ember]

|| BS how? But yeah that team execution is so freaking good it’s unreal ||

I love this game with every fiber of my being

[dawn spindle]

||I mean I was playing in hard difficulty, I failed to parry anything, the thing just died, very anticlimactic, was easier than any of the regular mobs around that area.||

||I was expecting like an actual fight||

Act 3 ||Endless Tower|| ||I got a taste of it proper here at least ||

[exotic ember]

Huh, I also played on expert and it took me all night to beat. Literal hours to learn to parry. It was very much a real fight for me.

But again, I put everything on my characters to give no survivability, so none of them could take a hit lol

[dawn spindle]

same

no health or defense, and no pictos with health or defense

I did get oneshot by the mobs in that area in fact

quite often

[exotic ember]

Oh I put on the pictos and luminas that actively made my characters get one shot by any hit. And I probably entered the fight at 1 HP on everyone too because of at death’s door

[dawn spindle]

I didn't use that, the 1hp one

but the rest yeah, I have all the glasscannon builds, too

[exotic ember]

Gotcha yeah I actively made the game masochistic for myself for some reason

[dawn spindle]

You see why I found it disappointing

[exotic ember]

For sure

[dawn spindle]

It is extremely fun ngl

I was fighting some guys in Act 3 that are pretty tough and one kept blighting me and I was like "my dude, there's no difference oneshot is oneshot"

[exotic ember]

Oh 100%. Like I said, it took me HOURS to beat that boss

[nova temple]

Oh yeah, Blight can be such a non-mechanic 😅

[exotic ember]

I was probably fighting that one for 3-5 hours before I got it

I’m bad at the game, but persistent

[dawn spindle]

Act 3 ||Endless Tower|| ||It took me a couple of hours in Endless Tower because there is one attack that hits the entire expedition that basically took me the entire 2 hours to learn how to parry , it was more in line with what I was expecting in Act 2!||

[exotic ember]

Act 3 || Golgra took me probably like 5 hours to beat with the whole team in Gestral village. Probably half of that time was getting the first win ||

[dawn spindle]

I've not done that yet!

I am scared

[exotic ember]

Sounds about right. Great attack sequences

[dawn spindle]

Act 3 ||Imma stop the Endless Tower though, because I realize I'm overleveling the crap out of myself for the rest of the areas so Imma leave and come back later||

I think the one status mechanic that is actually relevant has to be Exhaust

[exotic ember]

You should be! I did it around level 60 I think. So ymmv

[dawn spindle]

I am 70

But I suck

[exotic ember]

Gotcha so you may at least be dealing more damage than I was

[exotic ember]

I mean, same lol

Act 2 || Monolith peak || || The paintress fight took me multiple days to beat ||

[dawn spindle]

mhm took me like day and a half or so? Though I did start one day pretty late

I don't know how many hours in total though

it was like 30 attempts iirc? I know I said it here

[exotic ember]

Yeah I didn’t count attempts or hours. Act 2 || Monolith peak || || Her rock throwing attack was such BS. I couldn’t get it consistently. And phase 2 there are some sequences I still never got a counter attack on ||

[dawn spindle]

||the metheor one was annoyin me, by the end of it I'd get every metheor parry except the first one! The rock throwing attack I did get but one of the chroma explosions I did never get ||

[exotic ember]

|| Yeah meteor was annoying too. I’d have it DOWN and then I’d just whiff on my parries a few times ||

I am definitely glad I played in super masochism mode because I had such a great time with it learning all the attack patterns

The friend who didn’t know about luminas until near the end of act 2 has beaten the game like 3 times now

[dawn spindle]

I still am

[halcyon elbow]

https://fixvx.com/expedition33/status/1948007845817119041

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (@expedition33)

VINYL SOON???? (TOMORROW)

QRT: The_Ben_Starr
An important announcement from Jen Starr and Bennifer English. 🥖

▶ Play video

vxTwitter / fixvx 💖 65 🔁 7 · Jul 23, 2025, 1:10 PM

[dawn spindle]

the way parry works in E33 certainly did something to my brain

[halcyon elbow]

This is perhaps the most unhinged product announcement of all time

[dawn spindle]

lmao

I love it

Also "Bennifer" as usual wearing the best outfits

[exotic ember]

Omg

Their energy is so good

Vibes off the charts

[exotic ember]

And yeah huge same. I pivoted so quickly from “I don’t like parrying in games” to “I am never going to press the dodge button. Only parry. I must do the counterattacks”

And then it proceeded to be the most fun I’ve had in a game in ages, if not ever

[dawn spindle]

I have watched it twice because once was not enough to process this

[exotic ember]

I also didn't open up my laptop to watch it again on a larger screen

|| Like feet? ||

[errant wedge]

The dodge is pretty much just a learning tool right? Since there is no positioning element in this game it doesn't do anything mechanically different from a parry besides having a wider timing window and no riposte.

[wheat reef]

Its an easier timing to hit but with less reward yup

[exotic ember]

I mean some people only dodge and never parry

[errant wedge]

I dodge until I see "Perfect" pop up which is my cue to switch to parry.

[halcyon elbow]

You can build into dodge a little bit but not nearly as deeply as you can into parry. I never bothered even learning on dodge because I didn't want to get used to the more relaxed timing

[dawn spindle]

I have to say in a couple of fights I was thoroughly failing at parry I tried to switch to dodge and I was completely unalbe to dodge properly

like I was making the dodge so tight that there was no point on trying to dodge over parrying after like 50h of only parry lol

[halcyon elbow]

That ended up being my mindset too; if I was missing parries the likelihood of me suddenly not taking hits because I dodged instead seemed pretty low because of how punishing the cooldown for missed parries and dodges is

[errant wedge]

I've never switched from parrying to dodging.

Learning on dodge feels like it materially reduces the number of pulls to clear a boss for me tho. Which, if you don't care about # of Expedition Failed screens you go through because of the absence of runbacks, is an irrelevant thing to optimize, but is how I like to play.

[dawn spindle]

yeah, it isn't that I'm parrying too early, is that i parry too late

so there's no point on me to dodge

[halcyon elbow]

One of the little (missable) training events in Lumiere requires dodges but otherwise the dodge button was dead to me

Nothing quite like hitting a perfect parry chain first time, too

[errant wedge]

That just means the animation is an easy one.

[halcyon elbow]

Not all of them

[dawn spindle]

with melee attacks it's the sound

I have parried many things on first try once I understood the sounds

many range attacks do have a distinct sound too

I thought at first they don't

but some type of actually do

[errant wedge]

They do right from the start.

[halcyon elbow]

Melee attacks have a standardized sound, ranged attacks often have a sound but it is not standardized

[dawn spindle]

they do yeah, I just didn't learn it that quickly

[halcyon elbow]

Honestly, one in a million sound design on the melee attack, it manages to be quite subtle but also very obvious once you know to listen for it

[dawn spindle]

Yeeees

It was like a veil removed from my eyes that little ziiing that is hidden within the completely normal sound of a melee swing

very pleasing

[halcyon elbow]

https://tenor.com/view/matrix-gif-5613476

[exotic ember]

Yeah I specifically manipulated the save system to save as close to a boss as I could just to minimize runbacks and maximize time in fights, which helped for me because I died a ton to most bosses

[errant wedge]

Change to Sakapatate outfit, make the game save on location

[exotic ember]

I didn't even know outfit changes forced saves

That would have been good to know. I was using lumina/pictos/weapon/skill changes

[pulsar citrus]

Oh hey Krystll. She is fun to watch but also a bit frustrating as she would intentionally decide to not optimise the build and that would be fine but that makes the fight incredibly long and death very frequent.

[pulsar citrus]

Act 3 || I had encountered the Chromatic version of it before I met with the normal version so I when I actually did meet that guy on the Reacher. It was easy. But I was malding when I fought the Chromatic. Especially since I didn't have the picto that lets me lose an AP to dispel status affects. I made my build around using Verso's burden and then dispelling his status instead. But that waste turns a lot.

By the time I fought the Aberration I didn't even know that they also applied Blight.||

[nova temple]

heh, the classic "run into chromatic first"

[pulsar citrus]

Act 2 || Monolith peak || || The most problematic attack for me was Void Meteor. Neither could I defend myself nor was I getting turns due to the stun. At least with the monolith I could just heal myself. ||

Which is funny cuz

Act 3 || Lumiere end || || The void Meteor of Renoir was super easy, barely an inconvenience. ||

[pulsar citrus]

Act 3 || The part time nuclear explosion 😂😂😂

So true!!! ||

[exotic ember]

Same tags || Meanwhile me: Wait, the game has healing? (Jk) ||

[exotic ember]

Same tags || Yeah void meteors were brutal for sure ||

[wheat reef]

||The first void meteor hit ||

[sullen quartz]

This Monoco song is a BANGER 🗣️

[fallow geode]

💯

Act 2 ||Monoco|| ||Hands up who else delibrately threw the fight to hear the song some more||

[pulsar citrus]

Act 2 ||I didn't land my first attack for quite some time.

Though I wasn't as patient as someone else in YT comment who listened to it so much that the song and he learned (and from this, I) that the songs don't loop back so he had to play the whole game with awkward silence and SFX and dialogues. ||

[dawn spindle]

Act 2-3 ||Sprong hard 😭 ||

[nova temple]

||well, sprong him harder||

[dawn spindle]

I hate that

got it to 50% on try 3 though

[nova temple]

should be perfectly doable for you, this is one of the easier overworld bosses

[dawn spindle]

yes yes

I just went in and got wiped in one second haha

[nova temple]

believe in the heart of the cards

[dawn spindle]

I have a severe skill issue of parrying some of these attacks

even though they seem fairly easy, I'll get them completely right then fail them thoroughly, at seemingly random

this basically means I will get wiped out on the first second or go down to 40%, you never know!

done

Act 3... (probably 2?) ||Went into the crows now ||

[nova temple]

Well, I went there in 2, and that was a mistake 😄

[dawn spindle]

Oh I did too lol

But I gave up in try #1

Act 3 ||The Crows|| ||At least now I only need to do the chromatic fight||

I think it's probably fine just need to learn to parry this

||It is one of those where the sound of the melee happens a bit earlier than when you actually need to parry and it's exploding my brain ||

[dawn spindle]

one more try before bed...

... one more for real

that was so close...

nope, screw that attack

after 2 more tries I did get it, once more, because Maelle parries are absurd

Act 3 ||The Crows|| ||Is ther anything else for me to do here besides kill this chromatic guy?||

[nova temple]

Just a journal

[dawn spindle]

🤔 I wonder if i had already gotten that? it seems completely empty

[nova temple]

very possible

it's not hidden

[dawn spindle]

I swear to go I was leaving when I realized I had nearly 300 lumina...

[pulsar citrus]

Hahaha it happens

[wheat reef]

||Wait where was the chromatic enemy? I thought the crows was a tiny area with a log and a colour of lumina||

[pulsar citrus]

Crow's || yeah if you shoot all the crowd then it appears. That little freak. ||

[wheat reef]

Oooh i need to boot up the game again to see that

[halcyon elbow]

https://x.com/lorien_testard/status/1948367582924300348

Lorien Testard (@lorien_testard)

Hello Expeditionners,
Today we are three months after the release of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33! I’m happy to announce that pre-orders for the physical editions of the original soundtrack are now open! 🎶🎷
https://t.co/gEaYkW3jNV

Thanks to the love and enthusiasm you’ve shared

X · Jul 24, 2025, 1:00 PM

Long post. TLDR:

1. Vinyl preorders are up
2. 8 hours of music simply was not enough so there's another 1.5hr available. It is on streaming services but also free on Steam and Bandcamp
3. The original soundtrack has had some tracks remastered. Doesn't say which ones
4. The manor music has some kind of forthcoming project associated with it? to get it to how he imagined it, he asks for patience and time before he's ready to put whatever that is out

In the podcast I posted a while back with Testard and Austin Wintory, Wintory made a comment about how much he hates that composers are normally paid per minutes of music as a sort of industry standard, since it incentivizes devs to minimize the quantity of music produced to keep costs down. Testard agreed and indicated that this is not how he was paid (though he did not specify exactly what his pay structure was of course)

And you can tell. There's now nine and a half hours of published music and Testard says he submitted between 16 and 20 hours of music, much of which was never used

All for a game that is really at most 70-80hr

[wheat reef]

Oh thats a very interesting about the pay. Big agree that it hurts the games to do it that way becausse the variety of music really does so much for expedition 33 and the same goes for any longer game. Even if you have great music listening to the same thing for the Nth hour will eventually get exhausting

[dawn spindle]

Act 3 ||The Eyes done|| ||There were eyes, and they exploded, it was pleasing in a gross way.||

i hate hate hate hate the Act 2 mob ||Chevaliers||

[wheat reef]

Same, their attacks was just something that never clicked

[dawn spindle]

Act 3 ||I did manage forthe bit where you go with Maelle alone eventually but dammit! I'm now facing this overworld group that has one of them and I'm getting insta whiped||

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

am here changing my skills like that's gonna magically solve the issue of being unable to parry this thing

[exotic ember]

Omg I didn’t realize the manor was missing from the soundtrack

I love that one

I am so curious to find out what he’s cooking

[halcyon elbow]

It isn't, is what's weird

[scarlet trout]

Pictos might help here though

[dawn spindle]

not interested

I did get it eventually though

[exotic ember]

I couldn’t find it when I scanned the list and a search seems to show it missing. Was it renamed?

[halcyon elbow]

It might have been. It is normally called ||Our Painted Family|| but I can't find it now either

[exotic ember]

Ahh

[pulsar citrus]

|| If you are talking about that island near Visage and you only shot the eyes and the Petank then I guess I should tell that shooting all eyes opens a bridge that lets you fight a chromatic enemy. Ignore this, if you had done it. I had just not seen it mentioned in your message so I thought I might say. ||

[dawn spindle]

... i know

I meant "area done"

[pulsar citrus]

Okay yeah then ignore it

I said so because I almost ignored it

[dawn spindle]

I almost did.

Act 3 ||The isle of Eyes|| ||I did see the bridge at first however but took me a second to clock I had to shoot the eyes and then took me a whole minute to find the one in the little cave ceiling||

[errant wedge]

Gonna start Act 2 today.

Just got back last night and finished Act 1 after a week+ of not being home. Did not realize how close to the end of the Act I was.

||The Continent enemies near Stone Wave Cliffs amusingly were way way stronger than the enemies inside that actual location. Before I left I fought a red Bourgeon just by the entrance who took 10+ minutes and 49 parries to bring down. Meanwhile SWC itself was all trash mobs, dudes with simple moves, one unique but fragile enemy guarding the Manor entrance, and a creepy looking but actually easy zone boss who went down first try. It was very funny when this boss tried to do Oracles in the second phase, but Expeditioners make their own fate.||

||RIP Gustave you were a real one. 🫡 The ludonarrative synergy of using the battle UI to dramatize a cutscene was just brilliant.And I'm glad he got one good hit in even if it cost him his arm (and then his life). Now we've got Ben Starr in the party who has inherited Gustave's Pictos and collection of swords, gonna bench Maelle for a while to see what he plays like.||

[errant wedge]

Act 2 ||Completed 2 more territories - Yellow Harvest, seemed to be an optional zone near Stone Wave Cliffs with not much story, and then Forgotten Battlefield. Yellow Harvest's Chromatic trio boss was a tough one, set up a save right next to them and then several attempts to nail the spin attack from all camera angles, ultimately took 56 parries on the successful pull. Forgotten Battlefield's Chromatic fire dude was easier, just a couple tries to get his moveset, the only thing was him being immune to Burn threw off Lune's skill loop a bit.||

||And then the actual story boss, the Dualliste, first try. Granted, Verso went down several times but Lune just brought him back up every time. Verso does a lot of sustained DPR while hanging on death's door. Aesthetically this was the most Dark Souls lookin boss so far, appropriate for an area that's frankly more metal than even most regions in Souls or DOOM games.||

I think my order of favorite characters in the current party is ||Lune > Sciel > Verso > Maelle||.

[halcyon elbow]

||Yellow Harvest was actually cut from the main story. It was intended to be where you found Sciel, and in the version they shipped Sciel still says she wound up there (somehow) after the beach before making her way to Gestral Village (and somehow she still gets there before Gustave et al)||

[errant wedge]

||Yeah her mentioning it was why I went there, I thought she'd have something to say there but she didn't.||

[ionic kite]

Honestly I might switch to Normal Mode for the rest of the game
This game is really fun and I really enjoy hard mode
But part of the reason I haven't been playing as much is because I know I need to buckle down for some hard fights and be prepared to spend a while at one fight
And I just haven't been in the mood to do that

[exotic ember]

Totally valid!

Do whatever you find most enjoyable!

And whatever suits your mood!

[dawn spindle]

||The story stuff is faaaaar easier than literally anything else, I was just commenting the other day that I found Dualliste easier than the mobs around that area myself.||

[errant wedge]

||It's pretty common trope in game design that main sequence bosses have a lot of drama but aren't that strong, while the unassuming optional dude hunched in a corner is actually a baller.||

||The regular mobs in this game haven't bothered me much yet because I've been able to alpha strike them with Skills, so they don't get do many moves.||

||Battlefield was all trio fights so all basically went Lune Wildfire -> Sciel Searing Bond -> Verso Berserk Slash deletes the biggest enemy -> Troubador buffs the other enemy -> the other enemy dies to Burn or gets to do one move -> Expedition mops up.||

Lune really is the best. She responds to most situations in a way I think I would if I were in this hellhole of a world. Also I love that she floats so I 'main' her as my exploration character. No run animation and no running sounds so I can listen to the music or sounds of nearby items/monsters better.

[boreal galleon]

I think it helps that she had a unique running animation, and I kinda wish the others were more unique

Like imagine if Monoco turned into a fast running Nevron for his or something like that

[errant wedge]

Act 2 ||I just got Monoco yesterday, what a cool character. Smart game design to reuse a bunch of existing Nevron animations for his Skills. Spent a while roaming the Continent farming Skills and trying them out; the Wheel system makes the term "rotation" more literal than usual.||

||Gestral Beach is the toughest location I've been to by far, could not clear it. But I've just learned there is a way to cancel the automatic roll your character does when they fall. Might try it again some time when I have more patience.||

||Old Lumiere was amazing. What a vibe. The music just getting slower and sadder when you enter a battle. The split party. Maelle alone. The Renoir boss fight.Took 3 tries on that because I kept missing the Gradient Counters to not get characters instantly Vanished.||

||Somehow, Jennifer English is the Plot-Relevant Special Girl again. That is kind of making Maelle my least favorite character for now, but hopefully she does something neat later on that defines her actual character better.||

[pulsar citrus]

|| I think just checking up on all the character dialogues and cutscenes in the camp alone is enough to make you like each character a lot. ||

[errant wedge]

I do.

Least favorite =/= actually dislike.

Left last night upon arriving at Camp following ||Old Lumiere|| so we'll see what there is to learn now. 👀

[halcyon elbow]

You probably don't have the blue mage context

It is a Final Fantasy thing. Blue mages learn the spells of monsters, usually by having the spells used on them and even then it is occasionally an RNG thing

[errant wedge]

Monoco is not that, he is very obviously a Wukong reference.

[halcyon elbow]

Truly the only difference between Monoco and a typical Final Fantasy Blue Mage is that he is a little more forgiving

[dawn spindle]

I think it can be both?

He's my least favourite character though

[halcyon elbow]

Oh and I suppose the rotating mask gauge

Surprisingly, I think he's pretty resoundingly the least competitive in terms of the big damage builds, though I'm not entirely sure if that's because he's more complicated or if that's because he's actually just got less damage potential than everyone else

[errant wedge]

I did find it amusing that his Gradient Attack says "double damage on Stunned targets" but it does 9999 x2 normally and on Stunned targets it does... 9999 x2.

[halcyon elbow]

I think he's fun though

[dawn spindle]

I think Monoco has great skills but I find him boring to use

so opposite of Kon, as usual

[errant wedge]

The hell is the popcorn for

[halcyon elbow]

Eating

[dawn spindle]

Eh...

I suppose I do eat popcorn if you put in front of me but not a fan I'm afraid

Unless it's pure butter bliss then I'm a fan, but then might aswell just eat anything else buttery.

[errant wedge]

I just popped some popcorn for the F1 race and ate it all before the race actually started 😔

[dawn spindle]

I don't ever eat popcorn out of my own volition

Monoco is my good to when I need special utility things though, has a really good skill set to cover all your needs.

[halcyon elbow]

Popcorn was banned in most places in the military because there's always someone who gets irritated by the smell it leaves behind

[errant wedge]

So far I've found the Cultist Blood to be one of the best "AoE" type Skills I've seen so far, great for slaughtering groups of regular mobs. I like the "just go again lol" Agile skill he has too.

I don't like him as much as Sciel rn tho and obviously he doesn't do the 9999x3 turn after turn after turn that Verso does.

[dawn spindle]

the thing is that if I'm fighting hard mobs and I don't need special utility Monoco barely brings anything to the table

[halcyon elbow]

You should be aware that the various "just go again" skills are all limited to two consecutive turns regardless of source

[errant wedge]

Yup, I did learn that with Lune's Thermal Transfer pretty early

[halcyon elbow]

Mmm the other question is

[errant wedge]

Monoco is also the first one to get a Skill that applies Shields which is kinda nifty.

[halcyon elbow]

https://tenor.com/view/you-like-jazz-bee-movie-meme-cartoons-pick-up-lines-gif-14435291196456056643

[halcyon elbow]

I get most shields from Pictos

[errant wedge]

I don't have those yet.

[fallow geode]

I need to figure out shields when I get back to this game

[dawn spindle]

I don't get shields

Just don't get hit smh

[halcyon elbow]

Shields are very good or very bad and the difference is fight dependent

[dawn spindle]

don't get hit

[fallow geode]

Act 3 ||(IIRC) I just want them for the dumbass flying snake||

[dawn spindle]

Do shields nullify status?

[errant wedge]

I think I would like to know exactly how Speed works, like it feels at a certain Speed delta you no longer get extra action economy relative to the enemy.

And then like, how much Speed is the Rush status, how much Defense is the Shell status. Those are a bit opaque. A lot of the buffs and debuffs are clear +/-25%s to things but these ones are vague. The amount of damage Burn does is also vague, I think it's scaling with the weapon Attack but then how does it work when multiple peeps are applying Burn.

[halcyon elbow]

The Burn calculation is known

[errant wedge]

But what is it

[halcyon elbow]

All damage scales off your weapon attack

Its basically half your base attack damage per stack, with a modifier in there bringing it down based on your Defense stat

Lemme look it up again

[wheat reef]

I dont know anything about the calculations but you can 100% take several turns for each enemy turn by being fast, using speed buffs, and applying slow

[halcyon elbow]

Each stack is calculated individually based on the character's attack stat when it was applied and each stack lasts for a default of three turns modifiable by specific Pictos

[errant wedge]

Defense reducing Burn damage is weird.

[halcyon elbow]

There are a couple of abilities that add burn stacks based on existing burn stacks (say, doubling the quantity) but it should be made clear that this only doubles the quantity, not necessarily the quality, of the stacks. The new stacks' damage is derived purely from the character doing the doubling, not the existing stacks

[fallow geode]

so the doubled stacks are calculated by the character doing the doubling, not the original caster?

[halcyon elbow]

This is also mostly relevant for Maelle, whose attack power is a moving target due to her stances. Stacks applied in Virtuose keep the Virtuose damage even if she leaves the stance at the end of the turn

[errant wedge]

That's immediately relevant for me lol because she's currently on a build where she sets herself on fire and applies a bunch of Burns with a multihit Basic Attack.

[fallow geode]

if you're playing on PC, and willing to mod, there is an enhanced descriptions mod that exposes most of these numbers https://www.nexusmods.com/clairobscurexpedition33/mods/134?tab=description

the comment thread is also full of number crunching

[halcyon elbow]

When I NG+ I will be using that mod

[exotic ember]

Gotta make it with some duck fat, olive oil, chili oil, and a little flavacol. Maybe toss it with some garlic powder or something afterwards too.

-# Oh gosh now I’m wondering what it’d be like to mince up a bulb of garlic and add that to the oil and kernels

[dawn spindle]

But then I might just eat anything else with that combination too

[errant wedge]

That's some rich popcorn

[exotic ember]

Oh yeah it’s not good for you lol

[errant wedge]

Minced garlic is a winning move I reckon

[exotic ember]

Yeah I think so

I think I’m going to have to try that tonight

Oooo maybe add some lime too

Chili lime garlic popcorn?

That sounds like it could be fire maybe

[dawn spindle]

I put garlic on everything by default

[exotic ember]

As you should!

One bulb minimum too

None of that clove BS

[halcyon elbow]

The biggest victory the French ever scored against the English was convincing them that garlic is too French

[pulsar citrus]

That's kind of good cuz I can maybe double the stack done by Maelle from Verso and since he doesn't have any defense. His burns would hit harder.

While I could invest in Maelle with defense to strengthen her skill attacks

[exotic ember]

Oh my gosh

It just occurred to me how messed up it is that (Act 3) || Verso is the best at stacking burn on enemies ||

[dawn spindle]

Haha

SA all ||Kinda Evi-jokes vibe ||

[errant wedge]

This dude has so much HP. A 9999 is like a pixel on his health bar.

His own moves are incredibly easy to counter but the number of parries to beat him is gonna give me a repetitive strain injury so I'm leaving.

It would be neat if the overworld had fast travel, I want to take Monoco back to the earlier zones to farm some skills but they are so far away.

[halcyon elbow]

Imma tell you what I told Usha here: keep trying

You can beat this boss

[dawn spindle]

He was right! Though I wondered if he was trolling. ||I do recc using Monoco to get the leg though||

[errant wedge]

The sheer amount of time it takes to watch his animations isn't worth it at my current damage output lol.

Not gonna spend 2 hours watching a goofy head bounce.

Did grab the weapons from the cave tho.

[pulsar citrus]

Act 3 ||There is a certain insight that they are lacking. I don't know if I should tell them that.

They could also get the monster whenever they want. And there is a second one available anyways||

[halcyon elbow]

I agree and my recommendation stands

[errant wedge]

Took down several Chromatics and got lots of weapons / weapon upgrades tonight. Will proceed the actual main sequence next time.

This particular region of the overworld is very God of War 2018 vibes, being just a bigass lake with points of interest scattered on beaches or islands.

[halcyon elbow]

I thought the same thing

[nova temple]

I didn't think that (because I am a dummy), but totally see it

[halcyon elbow]

https://x.com/sorrowny/status/1918355120997191759

soroni (@sorrowny)

Clair Obscur - Expedition 33
33/100

X · May 2, 2025, 5:21 PM

[wheat reef]

Beautiful

[errant wedge]

Obscur outfit.

Last night ||just killed the first Axon on Visage. All the enemies on Visage were hella weak as is typical of story zones when compared to the Continent dwellers. Boss included, another dramatic dude died on first pull. Only the Chromatic was a bit of a threat initially but then it also turned out to be made of paper. Other island next time.||

||I think the relationship system in this game is kinda cute but did they really need that big dumb screen that shows a number going up with confetti? Is that another JRPG trope? Anyway Verso and Monoco both have cool hair now.||

[dawn spindle]

||I do think it's a jrpg trope yeah.||

||My only issue with the relationship stuff is that it's pretty badly paced and the camp stuff is not very well done. Like sometimes you can have the same conversation 3 times in a row to prompt various camp scenes.||

||at least give me new lines instead of hearing the same conversation to prompt something new||

[errant wedge]

||Or let us chain Spend Time sequences if there are multiple stacked up without having to reset the camp.||

[dawn spindle]

||yeah, though I think that does require another twist into the code, while the other solution is a bit more simple. But yeah there are multiple solutions with various degrees of complexity that'd make it more immersive. Hearing the same lines to be able to progress is very immersion breaking||

||At least usually if you hear the same line you know you've no new stuff in literally every other game so this feels very anti-gaming senses ||

BG3 act 3 all ||At least it's better than Gale spoiling me Act 3 though ||

[errant wedge]

||I am intrigued by the Space Withers in this game, he hasn't done anything at all story-wise yet but he took the first Axon mcguffin from Maelle (Alicia?). Hopefully he does something cool after the next island.||

[dawn spindle]

I need to get back into playing.

[halcyon elbow]

The Withers comparison is fairly common

[dawn spindle]

I've been trying to do so many things at once since I'm currently only busy with work instead of work + 2038402938 other things, that I'm doing nearly nothing

[errant wedge]

He has been Space Withers in my mind the entire time.

[dawn spindle]

I can't imagine anyone who hasn'tdone that comparisson if they're even remotely familiar with Withers lol

[exotic ember]

|| Yeah super valid criticism ||

[dawn spindle]

okay imma go in for just a little...

my controller has quite literally collected a bit of dust 😭

Act 3 ||I had seemingly left it off right at the beginning of the Endless Night Sanctuary||

[dawn spindle]

... i just got attacked at the same time the text of the attack was appearing on screen

A bug?

Like i was reading "xxx prepares to--" and I died

[wheat reef]

I dont remember anything specific but i have a vague memory of sometimes feeling like that happened. Like the text baits you to read it and then BAM, dead

[dawn spindle]

It hadnt happenef so far

[pulsar citrus]

Act 2 ||Visages || || I was having a very terrible time with this Axon because when I was given option to explore the other paths. I obviously decided to do those first. I wasn't stupid (foreshadowing)

I killed the Joy Mask boss and then when I was trying to find the other side area I went to the final boss area by mistake and then had to fight at that very point. (I was stupid after all)

And it was getting really hard when I had to fight the guy when the masks constantly made me exhausted and Anger masks made him go twice. At least he wasn't also healing himself as well. But I had gone very near to defeating him twice but died. Ultimately, I had to loop back and find the other areas and kill those bosses. At first I only found Sad Vale and was confused as I remember there being another mask. Only after looking at YouTube did I find the area and then defeated the Mask Keeper.

||

[halcyon elbow]

Ayyyyyy a restart battle button

Autoplay dialogue

Lune's Thermal Transfer now requires you to get the stain consumption instead of just giving the extra turn

"Environmental polish", probably referring to places you can get stuck on the overworld among other things

[pulsar citrus]

Thermal tranfer was too goated

[errant wedge]

Ooh patch notes.

So they've completely eliminated runbacks without the whole "just go into wardrobe to force a save" thing. Good.

All these QoL changes are good. I was guessing the having to press buttons for every line of dialogue was a JRPG trope but I didn't like it.

[halcyon elbow]

I almost have a hard time even calling it a trope, its a pretty normally accepted interface

[errant wedge]

I like my BG3 dialogue style where the conversation just happens unless you have to make a choice.

Thermal Transfer bugfix is good. That skill giving extra turns based off of incorrect triggers was both confusing and OP.

Icons for the Stains is also good. I'm not colorblind but the Lightning and Light Stains can sometimes be hard to distinguish.

[wheat reef]

I think having the option to autoscroll is the correct choice. Sometimes its nice to watch it like a movie and sometimes im doing other stuff on the side and dont want to have to remember to pause every time i look away

[halcyon elbow]

https://x.com/yennyu_/status/1950841928074842268

yenn | comms open (@yennyu_)

Clair Obscure commission

#Expedition33 #Lune

X · Jul 31, 2025, 8:52 AM

[nova temple]

https://fixupx.com/Leon_Chiro/status/1950363559361225167

Leon Chiro (@Leon_Chiro)

“Just another day on Gestral Beach.” 🏝️🥖🤍
︀︀
︀︀At this point I’m literally just doing Real Life side quests as VERSO. 🤩
︀︀
︀︀@expedition33 // @SandfallGames 🤍
︀︀
︀︀#Verso #Expedition33 #LeonChiro #ClairObscurExpedition33

**💬 16 🔁 250 ❤️ 2.6K 👁️ 65.4K **

FixupX · Jul 30, 2025, 1:11 AM

Ah, here's the full set https://x.com/TylorHepnerArt/status/1948098289599164517

Tylor Hepner (@TylorHepnerArt)

My full #Expedition33 art series so far!✨ New art incoming✨

Which art is your favorite?✨

X · Jul 23, 2025, 7:10 PM

Alright, that's it for now https://x.com/BeneceaDraws/status/1948800636495028669

💜 Bene 💜 (@BeneceaDraws)

If Expedition 33 was an Anime Part 2
#ClairObscurExpedition33

X · Jul 25, 2025, 5:40 PM

[dawn spindle]

I feel itd fit just as fine if she said

"In the name of baguette, parry it!"

[nova temple]

valid

[wheat reef]

Moonbaguette

[wheat reef]

Also these look fantastic dangg

[errant wedge]

Act 2
||Cooked tonight, been carving a path through Sirene and then the Monolith. Where I've left off is just after defeating the Clair-Obscur-Mime trio. I will continue to seek answers tomorrow.||

||Inside the Monolith is giving me some Pale Heart of the Traveler vibes, but also just how it's recapping Act 1 is so neat. It shows how far you've come, just shredding through these enemies and these old bosses. Monoco got so many feet without having to actually sail all the way back to those early zones!||

||The Axons were honestly underwhelming and Sirene was less interesting than Visage. Visage at least had-inducing things to say, Sirene was just a bag of Investiture to be beaten into a sword by Space Withers. However as soon as Renoir is onscreen again it's just👀.||

||I don't think any boss tonight needed more than 2 pulls. Of course a lot of em were old bosses with old movesets. 2 Chromatics but with simpler movesets, I don't think the Bourgeon did anything differently to a regular Bourgeon. Sirene was a story boss so first try. The Clair-Obscur-and-Mime fight was that 2 serious dragons, 1 goofy dragon meme. Monoco's newly acquired Sakapatate Cannon did really well against them. The Aim Trainer Petank was pretty neat, used my mouse against it.||

||Even the many-hit attacks are clocking 9999s now, surely they're gonna break that limit at some upgrade point so all the single-hit abilities and like 75% of Maelle's kit don't become terribly outscaled...||

[nova temple]

Feels like your Lune might be a little busted right now

[dawn spindle]

the game is too easy

[wheat reef]

Thats why we have 100x enemy health option

[errant wedge]

She's doing her best

[rancid vessel]

Hm... I think I'm about ready for a second, hard playthrough, this time shooting for 100% completion

[errant wedge]

I uh... I completed Act 2. I think?

I am so confused.

That cutscene sequence went on long enough my controller turned off. I've saved out right after ||taking control of Alicia||.

||The Paintress was a cool fight. First attempt got to second phase then wiped because I did not immediately intuit what the "tear in reality" attack was doing (actually just a simple projectile sequence). Second attempt cleared, still, she had some moves and some health so she wasn't a pushover. Not a clean clear by any standard, I just had enough defensive synergies to keep trucking through 40k incoming damage lmao.||

[errant wedge]

This playthrough is on Expert, I wouldn't say it's too easy but rather it's just right , at least through the first 2 Acts.

I really want to find out what happens next. But it's late and I have plans tomorrow, it will have to wait. 😩 Good night.

[dawn spindle]

I played in expert too

That said Act 2 ||Monolith top|| ||paintress in 2 tries is kinda ||

Kon, you might need to start sharing your crown.

[errant wedge]

My Sciel build is inspired by my BG3 fourth playthrough Crown Paladin and she helps a lot when facing the unknown.

[dawn spindle]

No, you're powergamer now. 👑🧎

Just take it, Kon has been trying to shed the crown by unhanded dirty methods but hasn't managed yet.

[errant wedge]

||Her Grim Harvest triggers Protecting Heal and Accelerating Heal, Protecting Heal triggers Greater Shell, Longer Shell and Powerful on Shell. Powerful on Shell triggers Greater Powerful and Longer Powerful. So it's very similar to how my Paladin's Turn The Tide Channel Oath both heals and triggers Bless and Blade Ward as "rider" effects. Sciel restores a chunk of HP (or all of it with Foretell consumption) and applies a big damage boost, big DR boost and speed boost while dropping a 9999 on the enemy.||

||Lune also has her Rebirth ability but other than that I don't have any heals on her. She's on a Trebuchim build that fishes for Elemental Genesis and takes Mayhem as a consolation prize if the Stains don't line up.||

Fishing for Elemental Genesis is really fun btw, sometimes I get a Burn and 2 Earth Stains which means it's time for a free Thermal Transfer and then more fishing. When it lines up it's a 7,9992 damage fireworks show. 🥳

[nova temple]

I am an EG stan

[halcyon elbow]

Skrimit actually is more of a min maxer than I ever have been

[dawn spindle]

I was already aware of that

[fallow geode]

I'm sure he's used to it, he already shares with you :p

[dawn spindle]

Nu uh, I'm but a humble apprentice

[errant wedge]

Carbot is playing E33. 👀

Oh he's exactly where I left off lol.

These accents lmao.

||https://youtu.be/vw7OCLU3YHw?si=hubeONWYdRXzOJzE||

The Swen Vincke speech.

[halcyon elbow]

I've been wondering where that was

[halcyon elbow]

Yeah making that the [Act 2] ||Lettre A Maelle|| was very funny

[errant wedge]

I really hope this game gets GoTY.

[halcyon elbow]

(Incidentally, that was the first piece of music Testard composed for the game)

[nova temple]

Not the twerking Sirene 🙈

[boreal galleon]

SLA ||Am I the only one who thinks that every single one of them would've been absolutely fantatic Knights Radiant?||

[pulsar citrus]

Act 3 || I learned of EG verrrryyy late and by then there was only the last fight of Endless Tower and 2 more side bosses left in the game to actually revel in her glory. Stormcaller is also a great one that I only realised when I was at the very final side boss.||

[halcyon elbow]

I like Hell/Stormcaller better than EG

[pulsar citrus]

Hell is super cool but has an absolute abysmal AP cost

Act 3 || Post Sprong || || I am using Cheater and that means I can use two skills in a row if I am smart with AP management so I don't deal with Hell as that leaves me with nothing meanwhile ET and EG combo while on full crit rate build is insanely efficient. ||

[halcyon elbow]

AP is an axis my Lune build does not operate on

So long as Typhoon is active she can go twice in a row and have full AP both turns

(And of course maintain all the buffs)

In effect, you lose a turn every once in a while to keep Typhoon back up but with good Stain generation, she has the AP and the stains to swap back and forth between Hell and Stormcaller more or less indefinitely

[errant wedge]

Nothing beats EG for Act 2. 8 hits all on damage cap, to each target if there is more than 1, and you can trigger it at battle start sometimes and just win any non-bossfight right then.

Hell is only 2 hits.

[wheat reef]

Im surprised it doesnt seem like many people use Lightning Dance. For the majority of the game it was my main damage skill

[halcyon elbow]

I was using Stormcaller in act 2, which if your lightning strikes all crit you get twelve hits

[errant wedge]

That's Lightning Dance.

[halcyon elbow]

Yeah sure whichever is the big hitter

[errant wedge]

Stormcaller is a small zap riding on other damage sources.

Lightning Dance is good, I played with it a while, you need to build hard into crit rate for it for it to beat EG.

[pulsar citrus]

Hmm I haven't tried Lightning Dance in a long long time. Is it better than EG at 100% crit builds?

I seriously need to watch that

Deep dive of each character's skill video

"What is low, medium, high... " set of videos

[wheat reef]

100% crit is easy to get with a little help from Sciel

[halcyon elbow]

There's more to it than that in act 3, but last I checked EG was like fourth or fifth on DPT

[errant wedge]

It should be about 50% stronger than EG on a 100% crit build according to the actual "what does low/medium/high/extreme actually mean" spreadsheet that I'm looking at.

They do the same damage per hit.

So yeah. It's just 12 vs 8 lol. Single-target tho while EG is AoE.

[pulsar citrus]

Hmm that's nice

[wheat reef]

oh yeah Lune is the Queen of AoE

[pulsar citrus]

Didn't know that

[halcyon elbow]

Low/Medium/High etc is just plain unuseful information

[errant wedge]

It's Destiny-ass terminology.

[halcyon elbow]

Many of them are simply incorrect indicators of actual damage done per-hit

Recommend using the mod that just gives you numbers if you want to get into the min-maxing of it all

[wheat reef]

SMT and Persona uses the same sort of light/medium/high/etc damage and its very unhelpful there too

[pulsar citrus]

Is that the status when she has all the right stains or without it?

[errant wedge]

With the correct Stains of course.

[pulsar citrus]

Ah

[wheat reef]

needs the correct stains, the difference between having them or not is huge

but elemental trick sets her up for lightning dance so its just as easy

[pulsar citrus]

I genuinely thought that I could spam that ability twice actually

[errant wedge]

Glamdring will really enjoy this game. Maybe not the gameplay. But the world and story and aesthetic are so up his alley. Will pester him about it later this year.

[halcyon elbow]

The Light Stain and Dark Stain weapons are popular on Lune for this purpose

(Can't remember their names offhand)

[errant wedge]

Whateverim

[wheat reef]

ohh i thought if you got a dark stain it would get deleted the next time you used elemental trick?
i was mainly using the weapon that increased lightning damage by 20% and then swapped to the one that increases damage by 20% for each elemental spell until you use one of the same element. Although i have no clue if that second one actually gets charged to 80% by elemental trick but it sure felt like it with the damage that was being dealt

[halcyon elbow]

I stopped using Elemental Trick altogether

[wheat reef]

what did you use instead?

I do think the strength of the games gameplay system is that there are so many different powerful feeling combos to find and enjoy

it seems that so many people found so many different things that they built into and felt rewarded by

[halcyon elbow]

Turn 1 Typhoon -> Terraquake (I used this more for the stain generation than the ability, but the damage is decent and operates on the same timer as Typhoon) -> Hell/Lightning Dance or Lightning Dance/Hell depending on if the target has burn stacks, for increased crit (it almost always did) -> Typhoon/Terraquake again to get them the full 5 turns off having Stains already -> LD Hell ad infinitum because you basically never get enough turns in to need to reset Typhoon and Terraquake again

I'd been using Rockslide before Terraquake

[errant wedge]

Listened to a video of Une vie à t'aimer with an English translation onscreen, and now I am sad. 🙁

[halcyon elbow]

When you're done you can listen to the whole thing

Un vie a t'aimer is the first movement, with the other two being Un Vie a Pendre and Un Vie a Rever

Each movement is precisely 11min and the whole thing is precisely 33min

[errant wedge]

Interlude(?) ||I like how Alicia can play her own theme on the piano if you remember the rhythm well enough from the main menu.||

[halcyon elbow]

||All characters do this! If you go to the manor and play the piano with the full party whoever you are actively controlling plays their own theme||

[errant wedge]

||oh lol, I knew the piano was interactable but never bothered to play more than one key when passing through the Manor before ||

||Noco and Monoco as puppers 🥺 ||

Fun BG3 fact: Gustav is the name of one of Swen Vincke's doggos, and is the reason why Tav is named Tav. However Gustav also appears in Act 3 as an actual doggo you can speak to with Speak With Animals.

[halcyon elbow]

Monoco being named for the office dog is actually misinformation

He is named for an energy drink that was very popular around the office, Nocco

As a result, most ||gestrals|| have a name that resembles an energy drink, and the dog is named for the character not the other way around

[errant wedge]

||so 9999 was an artifact of the simulation, that's trippy as heck||

||Clearly the "real" Paris in this world still has literal paint magic so they're more fantastical than our Paris.||

||All we have as simulation artifacts are the darn light speed limit and the uncertainty principle. 😔 ||

[halcyon elbow]

Act 3 ||I'm surprised you didn't see it in the loot in the picture you posted above lmao||

[halcyon elbow]

This one

[errant wedge]

To be fair you are immediately hurled into a long ass sequence of cutscenes like right after that screen.

You don't get a chance to read what that Pictos does.

Oh lol it is on that screen. But there is so much happening at that moment lol.

[halcyon elbow]

Yeah I noticed you not notice and then waited for the spash screen that makes it more obvious

[wheat reef]

Act 2 end ||It would have been so cool to know french just to have the experience of listening to it and getting that one final juicy bit of foreshadowing before the reveal||

[sullen quartz]

Without knowing the context, I love all three of those songs. And somehow the 33 minute thing didn't occur to me even know I knew they were exactly 11 minutes each, that's cool.

[errant wedge]

Act 3 exploration ||found this dude close to where you spawn in the overworld after the "Maelle farms Investiture" montage. Blud has over twice the HP of the Paintress (both phases combined), but it's a different life post-9999 I guess. I'd say he took a dozen tries but most of them were very quick wipes trying to get the read mostly on his big AoE slam, which was an instawipe vs unaugmented HP (no Shell or Shields). When I went for the 'concerted effort' pull I brought Monoco for a Shields-based strategy and learned that you can actually just keep stacking Shields if you don't get hit.||

Also went back and ||fought bouncy head dude, but lol Kon you were right that fight is actually a troll. He just gave up and died like a turn later than the point where I had previously given up. Granted there are no messages or anything to indicate that he would unalive himself like that.||

Also went back and cleared this chullcrem. With the only advancement relevant since last time I visited being that I learned to animation cancel, which actually made this so much easier.

Next place I'm gonna explore is ||the backdoor to Sirene's colisseum||. ||This is just completely free exploring now.||

[halcyon elbow]

||It bounces precisely 157 times||

||Then dies||

[errant wedge]

Act 3 story ||still processing the "it's all a simulation" reveals. Does the canvas need to be "powered" in the outside world like a server would need to be in our world? Also Lune and Sciel are both processing living in a simulation... in ways that kinda make sense if anyone were to kinda verifiably learn that their universe is, in fact, a simulation. Being run by a godlike-to-you but actually still-just-a-human figure from an "outside" universe. And so was the Fracture the point at which Renoir entered cyberspace and started messing with everything? Renoir and Aline must be hardcore netrunners to spend years on the dive like that, I assume their outside-world bodies are just in some kind of magical stasis during that time where they don't need to eat.||

[halcyon elbow]

That's a very good way to think about it

Act 3 ||Consider also that Aline is a very strong netrunner to be able to functionally create people, as seen by comparison to child Verso's gestrals||

Oh yeah

You need to go to camp again if you have not already

[errant wedge]

In the words of Carbot in a bad French accent: "Zhis game... is so tight."

[halcyon elbow]

For whatever reason, after act 2 they drop you in camp as is usual, but then they require you to go to camp again to get the "side" missions for the act

The conversations you have at the end of the act won't do it, you have to go back

(Camp is very clunky in E33)

[rancid vessel]

Powered through all of act 1 on expert today
Even though it's been a few months since I played it's fun to see just how much better I am, both at combat and navigation. I'm actively seeking every challenge I can find

My goal with this playthrough is to challenge myself as much as possible

[exotic ember]

Nice!

[halcyon elbow]

https://x.com/konburice/status/1952080697889522049

kon🐱✩comms open! (@konburice)

#ClairObscurExpedition33 #Expedition33

X · Aug 3, 2025, 6:54 PM

[errant wedge]

I'm wondering who to give the ||Cheater Pictos|| to that I got last night. Which character can make the best use of it. I assume it can't break the "never more than 2 turns in a row" rule that Thermal Transfer / Abbest Wind / Dualiso / Gradient Attacks etc. follow.

It's probably not gonna be Monoco because Abbest Wind + Energising Turn already lets him adjust the Wheel for free.

[wheat reef]

Everyone wants it really, its that good. And yeah you cant go more than 2 turns

[errant wedge]

Mhm. Seems like the kind of spice that's worth dropping 40 Lumina on to for that matter.

[halcyon elbow]

Act 3 ||I found Cheater was something sort of aspirational in the build if there was already another source of two turn happening. Didn't put it on Verso until very late because of Dualiso||

[errant wedge]

Yeah that's why Monoco definitely isn't getting it, because of how frequently he's using Abbest Wind or a Gradient Attack.

Sciel on the other hand never goes twice unless she's activating Shadow Bringer.

[halcyon elbow]

||Especially since I was gunslinging on him, I was doing basic attacks at the end of the first turn even with Cheater||

||I put it on everyone eventually||

[wheat reef]

Genereally speaking i found i could use the two turns for more useful stuff instead of something that basically does a little damage and gives an extra turn. Act 2 ||Dualiso being the exception since Verso was a utility bot for me||

[errant wedge]

I think Sciel will get the actual Pictos and Lune will spend the 40 Lumina to start with.

I need to figure out something neat to do with Maelle. Ignored her for most of Act 2 because her array of single-hit abilities didn't play nice with 9999.

She's got some mad weird animations now tho.

Always astonished by how underwhelming her tier 1 Gradient is. It's just an excuse to go into Virtuose and that's it.

[halcyon elbow]

Act 3 ||Would it surprise you to learn that even after nerfs Maelle has the highest damage potential in the game?||

[errant wedge]

I am not aware of any nerfs.

[rancid vessel]

Her most OP skill got heavily nerfed

And it's still broken

[halcyon elbow]

It is only kind of a nerf and more on the order of a bugfix

Had a broken interaction with one of her weapons that let her ||clear billions of damage with Stendahl||

Still a very good ability of course

[errant wedge]

Act 3 ||I am only seeing an all-in mult of 15 on Stendhal tho which is not that high? For comparison Verso's 1 HP Berserk Slash is slightly over 14. Lune's Mayhem and Rock Slide are 12 and 12.5 respectively and those are far from her strongest abilities, and Sciel does 13.5 on a 10-Foretell Phantom Blade.||

||I am guessing Maelle gets weapons with really high base Attack at some point tho?||

[halcyon elbow]

Act 3 ||Stendahl is not her hardest hitter anymore||

||It was at the time, because of the bug. So it went from god tier to merely great||

[errant wedge]

Looking at old news about this nerf ||it's original mult was 25 which is very impressive esp. considering the tripling if you are in Virtuose, that's higher than Elemental Genesis, Sakapatate Fire and End Bringer.||

[halcyon elbow]

Mhmm

[boreal galleon]

I'm not sure if anyone is interested, but my friend did a speedrunning marathon and did Clair Obscur, and asked me to help with commentary. If you were interested in seeing what that is like, here is the vid of it! https://youtu.be/ewu7kTqUzUE?si=9UFfG7ROWlcYLoCF Also, important to mention it does discuss the entire game and the endings, so there are spoilers in it

[errant wedge]

Knocking out these character quests before proceeding the mainquest.

||They're so different in scale. Lune just got a tiny zone out behind Sirene's colisseum with one weak Chromatic dude as a boss. Monoco got a small but really nice area and a solid boss in Golgra... and the surprisingly badass Pictos Trader. Maelle of course being the Important One gets a full-scale level with a unique aesthetic and so so many enemies in it, including Mime and Petank and whatnot. I got up to the cutscene with the green dude and saved for now.||
||Sciel of course didn't get a sidequest per se, just a story that is .||

[halcyon elbow]

At this point I would go finish the game and then do all the other side stuff, if you don't think getting the narrative resolution will kill your momentum

You're probably already well-leveled against its difficulty but if you put if off until you're in the 80s like I did you will stomp the ending quite hard

[errant wedge]

My highest level character is Lune who is 60.

Definitely going to deal with ||this Axon|| before proceeding with the main story since I'm already so deep into this area.

We'll save ||underwater exploration with Esquie|| for later.

[halcyon elbow]

Oh you're not done with it okay

Yeah do this first

[errant wedge]

Virtuose Stendhal is a very good ability even after the nerf. I have Maelle go third, someone on the team has set up a Burn on some enemy by then so she just Swift Strides into Virtuose Stance and then immediately Stendhals whatever the biggest target is.

It's not the strongest ability just raw multiplier wise, but when you consider how little setup it needs compared to other high-mult Skills it does shine. Like, a Twilight state 20-Foretell Twilight Dance will do more than a Virtuose Stendhal, but that's not something you can do as immediately or as frequently as Stendhal.

Also the animation is wild.

[halcyon elbow]

Act 3 ||As a little lore note, Stendhal is the pen name of a French author||

[errant wedge]

I will say one thing I get to experience playing on a slightly later patch than everyone else is that the dialogue autoplay clarifies how long all the many "..." pauses actually are, since they're part of the tuning on that system.

I do like it a lot better than pressing A for every line outside of a major cutscene.

[errant wedge]

Act 3: that's all the companion quests done. ||RIP Painted Alicia, your moves may have the same names as Maelle's but those animations are not the same. In what world is Fleuret Fury a 6-hit sequence?Maelle with Cheater and Painted Power has become a really strong character tho. Just the ability to go Offensive or Virtuose on an attack and then switch back into Defensive before the enemy moves, combined with healing Luminas, makes her a very survivable duellist.||

||Lune is still my favorite tho and I am still sticking to an EG build. 2/3rds of the time she can EG immediately first turn, and she can kind of reliably EG on most turns. An AoE with a base mult of 24 will never not be good. Absolutely crushes any multi-opponent fight and does good DPR on single-target bossfights too.||

Story ||It isn't clear to me why Painted Alicia wanted to gommage. Is it because her (and playable-Verso's) dad is gone? Does she have that "I'm a fake" syndrome that player-Verso has except much worse? She doesn't exactly speak much and I'm lacking silent black & white film interpretation skills here.||

[merry lance]

Act 3 ||Companion Quests|| ||She's suffered from grievous burns that have left her near mute for 66 years or so||

[halcyon elbow]

Act 3 side stuff ||Painted Alicia is Verso on steroids. The Painted family are all born from Aline's interpretations of them, but she's also inflicted things on them as well in terms of who they are. Renoir feels the loss of real Verso even though Painted Verso is right there. Painted Clea is a big bag of weird that isn't terribly relevant. Painted Verso is interesting because both the Axon of Verso (who wears masks) and Painted Verso (who lies constantly) tell the story of a pair of parents who felt like their son kept them at arms length and did not feel comfortable showing them his true self. Painted Alicia gets the worst of it though. Aline blames Alicia for Verso's death. So Painted Alicia feels the pain of the burns and the guilt of having killed Verso, its defining for her in a way it obviously is not for Maelle. And she's lived with it for 100 years (not 66)||

[merry lance]

||There might be a decent dose of literal imposter syndrome there too, but she was painted into existence by Aline at the peak of her grief.||

[errant wedge]

I think this is a little beyond where I am at.

[halcyon elbow]

Act 3 ||The Painted family was around for 33 years before Renoir entered the painting and the Monolith cycle began||

[errant wedge]

||I haven't met Painted Clea, and Verso's first mention of her at the end of this sidequest was hella ambiguous.||

[halcyon elbow]

It isn't, though you may need to go back and see some stuff a second time

Expedition 33 is an entirely different experience the second time you see basically everything

[errant wedge]

||It is definitely a bad feeling for Painted Alicia having been created burnt, while outside-world Alicia upon entering this world was given a fresh start and a new life, and now that Alicia has the memories of this Alicia minus the extent of suffering over several extra decades.||

||I guess I can kind of interpret her intention to gommage as a sort of peaceful reintegration.||

I really want to call the ||outside world versions of the Dessendres 'outies' but that actually doesn't make a ton of sense here.||

[merry lance]

||Spite the French developers and call them "Bloody <name>"||

[halcyon elbow]

Fun fact: ||Lune and Sciel and Gustave are obviously 32. Monoco is functionally ageless. But Painted Verso is frozen at ~33, and Maelle has lived 16 years in the real world and another 16 in the painted world, making her also roughly 32-33 in terms of lived experience. Something they seem to have gone out of their way to orchestrate||

[errant wedge]

Yup!

||She is two parallel 16-year-olds instead of one serial 32-year-old tho.||

[merry lance]

It's still amazing and fortuitous that I turned 32 this May

[errant wedge]

Damn, game came out just in time for you.

[merry lance]

Right?

[halcyon elbow]

For me too, I turned 33 just shortly after I played it

[errant wedge]

I still have a couple years before my gommage.

This is a good game for making peeps in their 30s still feel like we have reflexes tho.

This game is closer to rhythm parrying than any of the Soulslikes tho just because the concept of positioning doesn't exist. I tend to parry sequence attacks off of 1 animation tell and then remembering the timing gaps. The audio element is also huge in a way that it isn't in Souls games.

[halcyon elbow]

Yeah

Both of those are how the game justifies its very tight parry window

[errant wedge]

1.5 tenths of a second is the figure I've seen getting thrown around, not sure where it comes from, but it feels right.

[analog tiger]

wait this game's window is tight?

[wheat reef]

I believe its a bigger window if you arent on expert

[dawn spindle]

I died before playing I guess

[analog tiger]

o fair

[pulsar citrus]

I had heard that the parry and dodge window don't change but that the damage dealt at each level is increased. And the bosses use their trickier moves more frequently.

[merry lance]

From what I remember hearing, between normal and hard the timing and windows stay the same, but on easy they're much more lenient

[wheat reef]

Looking online its definitely a bigger window on easy but only a few vague claims that expert is tighter than normal so maybe they are the same

[nova temple]

It's only different on easy

[dawn spindle]

I think they felt the same on normal and hard for me but it's been a while since I swapped

[analog tiger]

o lmao

[errant wedge]

Spotify algo doesn't know what to queue after listening to a Clair Obscur track. It's picked:

• unrelated French stuff I've never heard (ok, I guess)
• Woodkid (I can kinda see the logic here)
• Witcher 3 music (it loves Witcher 3 music)
• new era Linkin Park (WTF? how even?)
  ...but it basically never queues another track from the E33 OST on its own accord. 😔

Lorien Testard needs to become more popular.

[halcyon elbow]

Victor Borba is the Linkin Park connection

He screams similarly, I've heard him talk about it

Surprised it hasn't thrown any Grissini Project at you

[rancid vessel]

Mmm made good progress through act 2 today, clearing a lot of stuff I didn't in my last playthrough
Meaning I've been FINDING a lot more stuff too, so figuring out builds will be more complex because I'm not sure what I'm going to do for most characters

My one flaw is sometimes I get too stubborn with trying to party
Sometimes it's just easier to dodge until you learn the timing lmao

[halcyon elbow]

Act 2 all ||https://x.com/tylorhepnerart/status/1953895902931816803 ||

Tylor Hepner (@TylorHepnerArt)

The Paintress✨ Commissioned by @TracyWiles herself✨

X · Aug 8, 2025, 7:07 PM

Also

https://x.com/geoffkeighley/status/1953471201738698949

Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley)

Experience the hauntingly beautiful music of Clair Obscur: @Expedition33 LIVE at @gamescom Opening Night Live — featuring composer Lorien Testard and Alice Duport-Percier.

🎵 Don’t miss the performance streaming live everywhere on Tuesday, August 19 — only on #OpeningNightLive

X · Aug 7, 2025, 3:00 PM

[errant wedge]

In Cologne, Germany?

Looks like it.

[halcyon elbow]

I wonder if this is a dry run for a TGA performance

[errant wedge]

I hope they get a solo performance of probably Lumiere, and aren't just thrown into the medley.

[halcyon elbow]

They could do it, while this isn't the actual recording the performers are the ones who did this music and they are performing here:
https://youtu.be/4FIMsKKvBRM

What makes it more feasible is that a lot of the music is pretty chambery and can be performed with a small mic'd group

The real coup is if they can get Ben Starr to sing live

[halcyon elbow]

If forced to choose I think Broche would probably insist on Alicia

[errant wedge]

Most of the peeps in that video are Orchestre Curieux. For TGA they'll probably lean on whatever orchestra is running all the live music that event.

[halcyon elbow]

That's why I wonder how much of the Gamescom in Cologne performance is a dry run for a potential performance in LA. Much easier to organize

[exotic ember]

Dang… Germany is too far for me to reasonably have an emergency flight to

Fingers crossed for LA, even though that’d be such an expensive trip that I probably still wouldn’t go to

[errant wedge]

Couldn't help but to sidequest a bit more.

||Completed the Grandis trader's sidequest from Monoco's Station which involved traveling to Frozen Hearts. Actually got lost there for a while before realizing you have to climb on trains to get up to the boss. That was a full-scale zone, with a little bit of character dialogue, a Petank playing a piano, standard Mime and a Chromatic dude. Got some good Pictos, quest was worth.||

Then I ||flew towards Lumiere but got distracted by "ooh what's that"... several times. I fought a lightning Eveque, the second flavored Eveque I've seen after the ice one back in Act 2. Implies that there is a fire and an earth one somewhere. Then fought a Chromatic Petank which was cool, chased it to its trap on Esquie, got an Achievement. Then fought a Chromatic cuphead dude who had a mighty alphastrike but no followup moveset. And then finally something called a Glaise and some other big guys who were chillin on a beach.||

Now my characters are in the level 71-70-69 range and finally parked ||outside Lumiere||. Main story next time.

||Monoco's skill tree is almost complete.||

[pulsar citrus]

Act 3||My advice would be to double the health of the enemies in this act while on the flagpost||

[rancid vessel]

Act 2 ||wow I forgot how LONG the inside of the monolith is. I just want to get to the end with the epic fights ahhh||

But it's late so I'll continue tomorrow

Act 3? ||it's also really frustrating now that I'm hitting the 9999 ceiling with almost every hit even though I planned for this and chose multi hit skills to get me through the paintress and I'm just like
PLEASE I NEED THAT PICTO I CANT STAND THIS PIDDLY DAMAGE I NEED TO SEE MY BIG NUMBERS AHHH||