Thoughts about Clair Obscur:Expedition 33?

[DanCalibur]

It was pirated on day one and is still selling well. See? If the game is good people will buy it anyway.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I'm wondering something, European devs are copying either American or Japanese ones but couldn't come with something entirely original.

I feel that when it comes to videogames in general Europe as a whole still holds the last place...

 

[CG4R12I4N]

Dude WHAT.
So many GOTY nominators came from European devs and even one literally swept dozens of awards two years ago (Baldur's Gate 3) and you still think it's the last place? What kind of cave did you live in, or are you just baiting?

If anything, it's American who are in the last place and even had to buy a lot of European studios just to get their creativity to make sales, because USA companies are mainly publishers, not developers. Even Oblivion Remastered is literally made by a FRENCH studio and not by Bethesda themselves. You can literally count real American-made games that are actually successful with your hands, compared to European games who are literally competing with Japanese since early millenium and still going strong till today even with janks here and there.

You want games with originality from Europe? How about Mirrors' Edge, Beyond Good and Evil, A Plague Tale, Brothers: Tale of Two Sons, Hellblade, Max Payne, Dishonored, Control, Alan Wake, Spec Ops: The Line, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Black & White, No Man's Sky, Fable, Rayman, Banjo-Kazooie and many others I can't list one by one because they'll be way too many?
It's not just a continent that produce Grand Theft Auto, The Witcher and Assassin's Creed alone smh.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

Lord, help me! I'm suffering from too much success!

“The Demand Has Been Higher Than Expected”: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Achieves A Feat That’s Uncommon In 2025

Another honor for Clair Obscur.

www.thegamer.com

 

[Yousef]

Note that this is not counting the Gamepass deal, so the total amount of users is even higher.

Can confirm! I bought it on release and enjoying it! It’s a very traditional JRPG which is surreal to say about a French studio haha.

Post automatically merged: Apr 27, 2025

My only thought about this is how poorly Yoshi P's statements about FFXVI aged. I've been generally critical of Square Enix's myopic view of modern Final Fantasy's design principles but the success of Clair Obscur solidifies my arguments against these type of thoughts.





Comments aging like milk, lmao.

Source: https://www.gameinformer.com/featur...ss-why-the-series-hasnt-been-turn-based-for-a

So out of touch.

 

[Yousef]

I don’t keep up with FF as extensively anymore but Yoshi-P from the outside always sounds like a crackhead. Then again I still firmly hold onto that Squaresoft died after FFX when they decided turn based should be abandoned.
99% of JRPGs I play these days are still turn based. Even a simplified turn based is better than an in-depth action game (hence why I still like persona). I try to branch out with things like Star Ocean, but it’s just easier for me to get into things like SMT due to prior genre familiarity. I can play a turn based game I know nothing about and still feel fine (it’s also why I’m rather lenient towards NES rpgs).

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

Yoshi P is Naoki Yoshida, the creator of FFXIV, the MMO that has basically saved Square Enix's business by giving them a license to print money. I personally swore off MMO's since I developed a WOW addiction back in the day, but from what I hear it is the most popular MMO out there. But now he's been anointed the savior of the company and he's turning Final Fantasy into something it hasn't been in its entire history. His latest effort was Final Fantasy XVI, which was basically a Devil May Cry style action game. His promotion for the game was all sorts of insulting towards the fanbase, trying to gaslight the fans, insisting the game was still an RPG, while at the same time trying to sell that young people didn't want to play turn based games.

The reality may be that young people don't want to play the turn based games that Square Enix makes anymore but when one made with passion and with clever innovative mechanics comes out (like BG3 and E33), they will show up and support it.

 

[bigstinkie]

I found a developer interview online. A lot of interesting tidbits.

Inspired by RPG Classics, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 May Become One Itself - Xbox Wire

news.xbox.com

“Since the day I started working on this project in Unreal engine, I wanted a world map,” he said. “I feel like it’s such a cool thing that has almost completely disappeared from the face of the gaming industry. Like, nobody does that anymore, and for me it was such a crucial and important part of what made the old-school JRPGs unique. It’s this sense of travelling and [indicating that] we are an expedition… and we wanted the player to feel like they’re going on a grand journey.”

They are speaking to my heart here.

i'm coming in flying like a fart in the wind knowing nothing about this game, but this seems like an odd comment at face value - which rpgs don't have world maps? the term navigable world map is used, but aren't all world maps technically navigable? or is what was rather meant something like freely explorable, something like the older dragon quest and final fantasy titles
i ask this because modern rpgs have pretty beautiful and detailed world maps, ffxvi had one i liked a lot, and i'm currently playing metaphor refassawassa and that game has a stunning world map

Then again I still firmly hold onto that Squaresoft died after FFX

off topic but i'm always a little surprised to hear this - ffix was the last of what i would consider the true squaresoft style final fantasy games as ffx heralded in the era of groundbreaking visuals over gameplay, to such an extreme that ffx neutered any real form of exploration at all and made the experience rather transparently on the rails (i am part of the extremist terrorist organization that thinks titles like ffix and ffx are overrated and titles like ffviii are strongly underrated)

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

off topic but i'm always a little surprised to hear this - ffix was the last of what i would consider the true squaresoft style final fantasy games as ffx heralded in the era of groundbreaking visuals over gameplay, to such an extreme that ffx neutered any real form of exploration at all and made the experience rather transparently on the rails (i am part of the extremist terrorist organization that thinks titles like ffix and ffx are overrated and titles like ffviii are strongly underrated)

To me the Square Enix merger is the clear indicator of the death of Squaresoft. Final Fantasy X was mostly developed during the Squaresoft days so I think it counts as a golden age game.

 

[bigstinkie]

i disagree
the company name means nothing the actual content of the games is all that matters when evaluating the shift in priorities that occurred at square

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

i disagree
the company name means nothing the actual content of the games is all that matters when evaluating the shift in priorities that occurred at square

Well, the shift in priorities started in FFVII's development as soon as they acquired the Silicon Graphics computers. That's when the push for FF to become an interactive movie started. FFX is just a continuation of that trend but with DVD data capacity.

 

[bigstinkie]

this is true, but as i wrote in one of my above posterinos, 'ffx heralded in the era of groundbreaking visuals over gameplay'
i do not believe ffvii was a project that was clearly visuals over gameplay, the materia system and world map was exceptionally swaggin in the eyes of mine
so it still feels like a proper old world era title................. to me

edit: i just realised this is a thread about a game i know nothing about and haven't even seen gameplay of so i will do the stopping of the off topic postings now (you can slide into my digital messages if you want to do the keeping of the talkzoring about square rpgs are my favourite genre so i wouldnt mind it winks)

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

this is true, but as i wrote in one of my above posterinos, 'ffx heralded in the era of groundbreaking visuals over gameplay'
i do not believe ffvii was a project that was clearly visuals over gameplay, the materia system and world map was exceptionally swaggin in the eyes of mine
so it still feels like a proper old world era title................. to me

edit: i just realised this is a thread about a game i know nothing about and haven't even seen gameplay of so i will do the stopping of the off topic postings now (you can slide into my digital messages if you want to do the keeping of the talkzoring about square rpgs are my favourite genre so i wouldnt mind it winks)

Same here, I could talk about Square Enix's golden era all day. As a matter of fact, I wrote a whole series about it. Lmao. Just post on my profile if you want to keep talking about it.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

The level of good press this game is getting is almost unprecedented, lol. Kind of like when the Polish ambassador was gifting copies of the Witcher to foreign dignitaries.

French President Macron Congratulates Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for Success

French President Emmanuel Macron publicly congratulates the team behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, recognizing the game’s strong debut.

gamerant.com

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

It's actually nice to finally see a non-Ubisoft french developed game for once.

Especially when it looks like a bigger budget than the usual 2D indie.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

It's actually nice to finally see a non-Ubisoft french developed game for once.

Especially when it looks like a bigger budget than the usual 2D indie.

I think the Clair Obscur team got a government grant to start their studio. I think there's a similar program in Canada to stimulate indie game development. I wish the American government wasn't so backwards and had initiatives like this.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I think the Clair Obscur team got a government grant to start their studio. I think there's a similar program in Canada to stimulate indie game development. I wish the American government wasn't so backwards and had initiatives like this.

Government funding kinda makes them no longer indie (to my opinion) and could be a double edged sword:

Dustborn has been funded by Norway as I recall and this felt like an asset flip with barely any actual gameplay.

Also gov funding implies that the members of said country already had some of their money spent in said game already so it means that if I buy the game I'm basically spending additional money on it.

 

[Antilocal123]

Don't know never heard of it.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

Don't know never heard of it.

Well, this post is so you can edumacate yourself about the wonders of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

 

[Antilocal123]

Well, this post is so you can edumacate yourself about the wonders of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Nah.

 

[snes9x]

This is phase 1 in Emmanuel Macron's 12-phase psyop to ensure total French cultural imperialism by 2030. Soon Gen Alpha will fetishize France in the same way millennials do Japan and zoomers do South Korea.

 

[bigstinkie]

12 phase lol thats a lot very meticulous planner this fellow

 

[snes9x]

He took a cue from Alcoholics Anonymous

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

Japanese people already fetishize France. They have their fake Eiffel Tower and their fake "The thinker" statue. That's why this game is taking off over there.

 

[snes9x]

Yeah, and France was one of the earliest countries to adopt anime from what I've heard.