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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Thread starter Bongo
- Start date
Sarge
hardcore retro gamin'
That fight is a whole other level. Clea was rough overcoming the healing, but doable. Simon just cheats. So I say cheat back.
If you want to learn the fight legit, my advice is set up something that gives you a lot of shields, even if he steals them. You have to have time to get the patterns. I took a hybrid legit/cheese approach that focused on doing as much damage as I could, without following a guide (lots of ways to damage stack and usually you're dead if you miss a dodge anyway, so might as well go for all the high-risk stuff). My setup was able to one-shot his first phase (which isn't that bad, honestly), and then get him to roughly halfway where I just survived long enough to get Maelle's max Gradient attack to finish him off. I was around level 83-ish when I pulled it off.
I'm around 70 with my team, give or take, but I think I might be done. I dunno how much content there is left for me to engage in without grinding to get more levels for the remaining superbosses and mega-challenges, et cetera, and I'm not nearly good enough at dodge/parry stuff to go in without many many more levels. This isn't me complaining or giving up in anger or anything, I think I've just gotten what I wanted out of the game and can walk away feeling satisfied.
MrBlarney
(he / him)
That's a wrap on the game for me.
Well, I certainly got the downer ending I expected, siding with Verso the first time. I do think that it was 'right' to force Maelle back to live her life as Alicia in the real world and try to find a way to move on, though it definitely sucks that Verso's Canvas had to be completely erased in order for that to happen. It would have been nice to have had a positive ending where Maelle restores Lumiere to prior to Renoir's erasure of its citizens, and then she willingly leaves to let Verso's Canvas be its own preserved clockwork world and we get epilogue scenes of the Canvas being its own thing and the Dessendre family moving on with life. Unfortunately, with Maelle's ending, we can't seem to have it nice that way as she's too stuck in her own grief and unable to cope with the thought of adapting to life outside of the Canvas that she's unhealthily set in her idea of making the Canvas her life instead. (And the Canvas would probably end up erased anyways after she dies at some point, but what does that matter for anyone except for her.)
I unfortunately trivialized the final battles by thinking that, since Frozen Hearts was part of the Monolith, that I could tackle that before going to the final assault on Lumiere. But after Frozen Hearts, completing the party members' side quest areas, and completing Crimson Forest since it was along the way, I ended up going through Lumiere at level 70 and nothing there stood a chance. (Music was pretty rocking, though.) I think I might have to look at some streamer's playthrough to see what kind of developments each of the final battles. I actually reloaded a save before the Alicia duel in order to see some of what she could do, but I don't really feel like fiddling around with my setups on everyone to accommodate that kind of exploration on the final battles.
I do think I'll do some more exploration of the other parts of the world I haven't cleared out yet, though. There's still more I'd like to learn about the world and I think that there's probably some information I could learn from continuing to clear things out. In particular, I find the absence of a painted version of Clea to be a major hole. If Aline created a painted version of her family in her grieving, surely Clea should be part of that? There was also a pointer from the Expedition 60 log that underneath the Monolith would be the true challenge, but who knows if I'll be willing to put in the time to get strong and optimized enough to tackle that.
I unfortunately trivialized the final battles by thinking that, since Frozen Hearts was part of the Monolith, that I could tackle that before going to the final assault on Lumiere. But after Frozen Hearts, completing the party members' side quest areas, and completing Crimson Forest since it was along the way, I ended up going through Lumiere at level 70 and nothing there stood a chance. (Music was pretty rocking, though.) I think I might have to look at some streamer's playthrough to see what kind of developments each of the final battles. I actually reloaded a save before the Alicia duel in order to see some of what she could do, but I don't really feel like fiddling around with my setups on everyone to accommodate that kind of exploration on the final battles.
I do think I'll do some more exploration of the other parts of the world I haven't cleared out yet, though. There's still more I'd like to learn about the world and I think that there's probably some information I could learn from continuing to clear things out. In particular, I find the absence of a painted version of Clea to be a major hole. If Aline created a painted version of her family in her grieving, surely Clea should be part of that? There was also a pointer from the Expedition 60 log that underneath the Monolith would be the true challenge, but who knows if I'll be willing to put in the time to get strong and optimized enough to tackle that.
R.R. Bigman
Coolest Guy
I played about 3 hours of this game when the autosave got messed up and caused my PS5’s system software to crash twice in thirty minutes. I ended up deleting the game. It’s neat, but not enough to risk goofing up my console.
Damn, that's weird. Is your PS5 updated? Is the game? Does the PS5 need a cleaning? For the common but incredibly unhelpful comment, I never had any problems with it.
R.R. Bigman
Coolest Guy
My PS5 has done some bizarre things over the three years I’ve had it, including turning everything on screen green, shutting down by itself, and other fun problems. This one got its unique error code, which after looking it up, could mean anything from “update and/or clean the system” to “just play another game” to “the hard drive is dying”. I’ve tried to clean it before, but couldn’t get the sides open. Maybe I’ll try again.
As I said, I think Expo 33 is neat, though it hadn’t grabbed me yet. A bit too FF13 for my taste so far.
As I said, I think Expo 33 is neat, though it hadn’t grabbed me yet. A bit too FF13 for my taste so far.
Meanwhile, I just beat
Simon with the same build I used basically the entire time. Solo Verso, using mostly gun, autoattack, and End Bringer. In his honor I named the final version the fuck you Simon you don't get to have a turn build. It was a lie, of course: he got to have exactly one turn, where he killed Verso instantly and maxed out his own break bar. Seeram and End Bringer did the rest.
Sarge
hardcore retro gamin'
Noice. It's so wild how many broken builds there are in the game, and I love it. I appreciate that you're not locked into "git gud" with the right setups. (There's a part of my brain that really enjoyed the reactive aspect, though, except for that last fight. Probably my love of Punch-Out!!)
I thought my Maelle double-burn Stalum build was crazy but I see now it was Merely Acceptable (it never got truly broken, really). I think Maelle is also probably a little overtuned to crank out way more damage than others, from what I can tell. But a solo Verso build also sounds absolutely nuts to me. I love that this game allows for Sicko Mode; it almost makes me wish that I too was Sickos.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I'm back to playing this after only playing an hour or so before and enjoying it. I thought it was cute that everyone plays a different tune on the piano in the Manor.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Yeah that's about Blue Prince.
It's like I opened this thread expecting to find a stuffed to bursting attic and found a forlorn spare room.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Well I'm currently trying to win a poetry contest against a friendly gargoyle guy in a beret so having a good time.
I'm shocked at how high my success rate is for parries. I'm terrible at these sort of things but a lot of the tells in this game are really satisfying and visible. I really do love how you can fall back on dodging so easily too.
I'm shocked at how high my success rate is for parries. I'm terrible at these sort of things but a lot of the tells in this game are really satisfying and visible. I really do love how you can fall back on dodging so easily too.
I relied on dodging for most of the game, but realized late on that I should have been parrying for the extra AP, even if I couldn't count on getting consistent enough for counterattacks (and when I could hit those it would just be a little bonus). My timing on dodges was "perfect" more often than not, which is a sign that you could've parried instead. Although some of those late-game combos are brutal in their length and timing and even with dodges I would just get creamed...
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
I should note I'm playing on Story or whatever the easiest mode is. Dunno if that extends the windows.
Yeah, by a decent chunk.
Finished this last week, loved it to bits. Cried at the prologue, cried at the epilogue. Just beautiful!
I got a little lost with the motivations of the Dessendre family, at times. Especially Clea. She wants to get both Aline and Renoir out of the Canvas, but she also created the Nevrons, which mostly just murder Expeditioners who would otherwise have a chance to eject one or both of the parents from the painting..? And there was some comment from Verso that he'd bumped into her and at one point she opposed him but then later she helped him, something like that... did her motivations turn around halfway through, maybe?
I found only maybe half of the journals, and didn't go for any postgame superboss challenge things, though, so I'm probably missing a lot of lore drops from side content. I did all the relationship quests, and a couple of miscellaneous side dungeons I stumbled into while puzzling out where I needed to go for those, but that's about it.
I found only maybe half of the journals, and didn't go for any postgame superboss challenge things, though, so I'm probably missing a lot of lore drops from side content. I did all the relationship quests, and a couple of miscellaneous side dungeons I stumbled into while puzzling out where I needed to go for those, but that's about it.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Aaah, that'd do it. I also just had a hell of a time with the Mask Keeper because Grounded status is dumb and I hate it. But I'm really glad I get to play this game and applaud them accessibility-wise.
Its for sure the first RPG I would recommend to just about everyone because of that.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Finished. Beautiful stunning game. We're halfway through 2025 and I already have this and South of Midnight showing wonderful writing and worldbuilding.
Ending stuff:
I cried multiple times throughout this game. That's not unheard of but is rare for me. (major endgame spoilers seriously)Renoir's final monologue and the lyrics for the final battle track (link goes to a video with English translation) were absolutely fucking heartbreaking. I went with Verso's ending because he is so tired. He desperately wants this to be done. His child self wants to be done. He knows his family needs to move on. But Maelle's was tempting, because especially in late 1800s France the options were limited for disabled women. But there were options and I felt that building her escape by what was ultimately exploiting a child's soul was something I couldn't overlook. And Verso's line that she can paint what she wants made it clear she could paint a new place that didn't involve Verso and be safe and no longer in pain there instead.
It was still a hard choice to pick Verso's. But then I watched Maelle's ending and oh my fucking god what a horrifying twist. Holding your brother in your arms and hearing him beg not to have this life, then reviving him and all your friends to be your puppets while you slowly lose your mind. Holy shit. So well done and made me have no regrets about choosing Verso's damn.
Personal thoughts and experiences on the game, loss and grief which might be upsetting for some people to read: I beat the game on father's day, which was also just after what would have been my father's 80th birthday. He died suddenly when I was in high school. It broke my mother, she did not get out of bed for days and I had to organize much of the funeral myself. Her friends offered to give her sleeping pills "to join him" right in front of me. I have seen Aline's breakdown first hand. I understand it. I see the temptation in escaping to another place where he is alive. But I cannot join that.
My favourite character is Lune and over the course of the game I really started to identify more and more with her. I already loved how she'd retreat from conversation to think. I loved her mistrust of everyone until/unless she had a reason. I loved how delighted she was to discover some myths were real. But the moment where (end of Act 1 spoiler) Gustave dies and her response is to make a list... I teared up. It is the logical, harsh response and there is comfort in it and so many people don't understand. There were so many other points in the game where I felt her feelings and it meant so much, but I don't just want to write spoilers over and over again so take my word for it.
I also loved how mature the relationships are due to the older more experienced characters. I posted this somewhere else, but women are not magical creatures who need fancy gifts and skill thresholds, you can just ask someone out. Putting "talking to girls" on a pedestal perpetuates a lot of stereotypes and I loved how casual the "more than friends" options are. I also adored how Sciel straight up says she'd give Verso up in a moment if she could get her husband back. It was so damn refreshing.
The only somewhat annoying thing that I will note about this game is it's not easy to take a break from and come back to because battle requires memorizing so much. Remembering attack/parry sequences for all the enemies, remembering pictos/lumina/weapon builds, etc. I had to make an effort to focus on this game, every time I skipped a couple days between playing I would spend the first part of the session a bit confused and missing every single parry.
Ending stuff:
I cried multiple times throughout this game. That's not unheard of but is rare for me. (major endgame spoilers seriously)Renoir's final monologue and the lyrics for the final battle track (link goes to a video with English translation) were absolutely fucking heartbreaking. I went with Verso's ending because he is so tired. He desperately wants this to be done. His child self wants to be done. He knows his family needs to move on. But Maelle's was tempting, because especially in late 1800s France the options were limited for disabled women. But there were options and I felt that building her escape by what was ultimately exploiting a child's soul was something I couldn't overlook. And Verso's line that she can paint what she wants made it clear she could paint a new place that didn't involve Verso and be safe and no longer in pain there instead.
It was still a hard choice to pick Verso's. But then I watched Maelle's ending and oh my fucking god what a horrifying twist. Holding your brother in your arms and hearing him beg not to have this life, then reviving him and all your friends to be your puppets while you slowly lose your mind. Holy shit. So well done and made me have no regrets about choosing Verso's damn.
Personal thoughts and experiences on the game, loss and grief which might be upsetting for some people to read: I beat the game on father's day, which was also just after what would have been my father's 80th birthday. He died suddenly when I was in high school. It broke my mother, she did not get out of bed for days and I had to organize much of the funeral myself. Her friends offered to give her sleeping pills "to join him" right in front of me. I have seen Aline's breakdown first hand. I understand it. I see the temptation in escaping to another place where he is alive. But I cannot join that.
My favourite character is Lune and over the course of the game I really started to identify more and more with her. I already loved how she'd retreat from conversation to think. I loved her mistrust of everyone until/unless she had a reason. I loved how delighted she was to discover some myths were real. But the moment where (end of Act 1 spoiler) Gustave dies and her response is to make a list... I teared up. It is the logical, harsh response and there is comfort in it and so many people don't understand. There were so many other points in the game where I felt her feelings and it meant so much, but I don't just want to write spoilers over and over again so take my word for it.
I also loved how mature the relationships are due to the older more experienced characters. I posted this somewhere else, but women are not magical creatures who need fancy gifts and skill thresholds, you can just ask someone out. Putting "talking to girls" on a pedestal perpetuates a lot of stereotypes and I loved how casual the "more than friends" options are. I also adored how Sciel straight up says she'd give Verso up in a moment if she could get her husband back. It was so damn refreshing.
The only somewhat annoying thing that I will note about this game is it's not easy to take a break from and come back to because battle requires memorizing so much. Remembering attack/parry sequences for all the enemies, remembering pictos/lumina/weapon builds, etc. I had to make an effort to focus on this game, every time I skipped a couple days between playing I would spend the first part of the session a bit confused and missing every single parry.
I did something very different with similar results:
I stacked speed pictos on everyone, and then a combination of Lune applying Greater Slow and Sciel spamming Delaying Slash shoved him so far down the turn chart that I think he got 3 turns total, and on one of those he was stunned.