Topic: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Surprised there isn't a thread yet for a new GOTY contender. It's getting rave reviews all over the place so I can't wait to jump in tomorrow. Seems like it'll meet in the middle with regards to action oriented turn based combat. The story seems fire, the visuals are top notch, and the voice acting cast is stellar.

@NintendoByNature Thanks for taking the mantle! I just ordered my copy for PS5 which is odd given I'm jumping back into GP for a few months given the Oblivion drop and Doom coming up. Also haven't played South Of Midnight. Call me a collecting sucker.

I'm honestly astounded with how much GamePass is offering. Forget that it's a sub... just think generally about time and cost you can incur from playing a handful of amazing titles in a short period of time. At this time approaching mid 2025, it's honestly made me forget about the other two major platforms the last few days (and one of them is releasing a new console soon!). Beyond impressed with how GP has consistently yielded access to high demand titles, and is even going beyond with this overwhelming catalog of new games. Unless Microsoft screws up with a massive price hike, I'd say I'm happiest with them at this time.

Anyway, enough gushing. I'm excited to step into this game when it arrives, and will report back once I've had some time with the gameplay. I've intentionally avoided video reviews to go in fresh. For those of you playing tonight on GP, enjoy! See you on the other side, looking forward to this discussion.

@Enriesto absolutely my man. Agree 💯. I almost unsubscribed last year since I wasn't clicking with much. But in the last 5 months, I've played my favorite games of 2024/2025 on GP. Indiana jones, ninja gaiden II, south of midnight and I'm hoping this is up there with it.

Unfortunately didn't get a chance to fire it up last night. Well, I did, but was for 5 minutes. Hoping I have time tonight

Managed to get an good hour in tonight and took down the first major boss. Definitely tough but satisfying when I defeated it. Took me about 3 tries though since that parry is hard to master.

Stinks I'm the only one engaging 😆. However, I've clocked in at about 6hrs and I'm about to head to this persons nest to find a way to cross the sea. It's been such a great time thus far. Nothing better than Landing a parry and demolishing an opponent, especially a boss.

@NintendoByNature Ah yeah that's a fun section of the game. I agree about the parrying, I just try to parry everything. The reward is too great. Finished Act 1 there yesterday, I can't stop playing it really. It's even keeping me from playing South of Midnight this weekend.

I have not had time to jump into this game yet. I am currently attacking Oblivion and Towerborne. Maybe in a month I will start.

@xeofate I've gotten to that point myself. The windows is so similar for parrying and dodging that I'd rather risk it for the parry.

I absolutely loved south of midnight, but this blows SoM out of the water. As it stands, and only spending a very short time with it, I'll go out on a limb and claim it'll be my goty for 2025. Metroid may over take it though when that releases, we'll see.

@NintendoByNature Yes it's leading my nomination for GOTY so far. I reckon it'll be a fight for that award between Clair Obscur, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, maybe Ghost of Yotei and one of the Nintendo releases (Mario Kart World perhaps). It'll be interesting this year for sure.

@xeofate absolutely. I know I'll be loving every minute of mario kart, but it'll need to be extra special to be considered goty for me.

I started Act 2 last week, and currently is the best game I've played so far this year - and I dare say that it is one of the best new IP's I've played in years. The production values are insane and the gameplay is great. I'm such a sucker for the QTE-based combat!

I started Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 last night. It looks and plays incredibly well on Series X in performance mode. This is remarkable because it's a visually ambitious Unreal Engine 5 game. I didn't know that the makers are ex-Ubisoft employees until now. This explains the experience. I toggled the running button off so you can run with the stick, as it should be. I just started it, so maybe I change a few battle settings, but so far it looks like a Final Fantasy experience, in a good sense.

@Banjo- I was not aware there were ex-Ubisoft employees until I completed it! And you saying it is like a Final Fantasy experience is bang on the money. The main dev behind it was bored at Ubisoft and started to design a game based upon one of his favourite games... Final Fantasy lol

Enjoy your time with it and do not be afraid to respec any characters later on if you run into any trouble

@HarmanSmith That was one of the first things I thought, that it deserves to become an IP. Another excellent addition to Game Pass in one of the best years for Xbox that I can remember.

@ZeD The last sentence is mysterious, but I like mystery. 😉

@Banjo- I was being very stubborn with my character set ups until I sat down and looked at the skill trees. Realised I could have taken a different path to make life a little easier.

@ZeD That's not a story spoiler so what stats or path should one choose? I just started it, so it's the right time to know. 😊

@Banjo- I think it is all down to your own play style and making sure to read what the skills do. For example, Maelle has a skill that turns her stance into Virtuous (200% damage) if the enemy is burning. And I think it is Sciel who can do that. All about supporting each other.
I was not aware at the start but Maelle is definitely your main with other supporting. I ended up with a Maelle, Sciel and Luna build. I would also not be afraid to look up some of the enemies weaknesses. you will find that areas have enemies that are all weak to the same thing (or most of them).
Maelle has a few extreme damage void attacks which you need to aim for later in the game, especially when you combo it with Luna's skill that gives a character double damage on the next turn.

All about having fun and trying different things out. Only thing a respec costs is a certain resource (cannot remember what it is called) but they do drop fairly often. Oh, don't forget to upgrade your weapons... when you can.

@ZeD Great advice for me and everyone that reads this thread. Thank you.

@ZeD Maelle and Sciel are my most powerful party members so far.

I was trying to make my build around Lune's (I love that character!), giving her much of my EXP points to make her super powerful...but even then, Maelle and Sciel are more powerful from the get go.

And I wanted to ask everybody here...is it my imagination or Gustave and Verso are like super weak in comparison to Maelle, Lune and Sciel? Even when I bumped up their stats, they are usually the first ones to die whenever they are on the battle. Or is it just a case of me sucking big time using them, lol?

And on another topic, is there a New Game + or something like that?