Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has flashy, thrilling battles, however the very best factor about them is how one can twist the sport’s many programs to your benefit. The turn-based RPG fight would possibly really feel acquainted, however it presents lots of methods to customise your method to battles so that you could do completely devastating quantities of harm.
In Expedition 33, you play as a gaggle of Expeditioners who intention to destroy The Paintress, a mysterious being that erases everybody of a sure age yearly. In battles, you may have as much as three of your celebration collaborating in a combat, and may all of them die, you may name in your teammates who’re in reserve to try to end off the enemies.
To point out you the way deep the rabbit gap can go in customizing your staff, right here’s my method to constructing out only one character, the fencer Maelle. Each character can equip three “Pictos,” which supply passive buffs like supplying you with the defense-boosting Shell standing in the beginning of a combat. However after you win a couple of fights with a Pictos outfitted, different characters can additionally equip the Pictos as a “Lumina” through the use of “Lumina Factors,” which you accumulate via leveling up and through the use of a useful resource yow will discover within the recreation.
Picture: Kepler Interactive
Once you combine and match Pictos and Luminas to stack complimentary bonuses, issues actually get going. For my model of Maelle, I set a mix of Pictos and Luminas that would let her deal probably monumental quantities of harm, particularly if a fortunate essential hit and a coin-flip 200 p.c injury buff went via. However as a counterbalance to Maelle’s large energy, a few of the Pictos and Luminas additionally elevated the quantity of harm she obtained, so I added defensive ones that helped her higher stand up to hits.
In battle, every character additionally has a novel mechanic that, when used correctly, enables you to make their assaults simpler. Maelle, for instance, depends on completely different “stances” you could shift into: an offensive stance that will increase the injury you give but additionally the injury you obtain, a defensive stance that reduces the injury you’re taking, and a “virtuous” stance that does 200 p.c injury however might be more durable to arrange.
With Maelle, you may transfer into the completely different stances primarily based on which of your six completely different “expertise” you employ in battle — and like with Pictos and Luminas, these are additionally customizable and have their very own traits and potential synergies.
It may be loads to handle, and the sport usually helps in battles by including a bit sparkle to recommend a transfer to your present scenario. However even throughout the first few hours of the sport, I used to be in a position to grasp the potential of what was attainable with the battle system. And with Maelle, once I nailed the mix of organising the precise stance and a fortunate break from my Pictos and Luminas, I frequently might completely demolish my foes by dealing hundreds of factors of harm. (A late-game Pictos that allow me exceed 9,999 factors of harm in a single hit was significantly welcome.)
That’s simply my method with one character; every of the opposite celebration members has their very own playstyles to experiment with and potential expertise to make use of. Your outfitted weapons are a component to think about, too. The sport shines when everybody’s skills and expertise line up completely for a sequence of explosive hits, and it’s particularly satisfying when issues come collectively to soften down a tough boss’s well being bar.
I undoubtedly didn’t use Expedition 33’s battle system, which makes issues simple to experiment with, to its fullest. As soon as I discovered a mix of characters and expertise that I appreciated, I not often deviated from them. However I’ve a number of concepts on how one can attempt issues otherwise for a tough mode run — I’m positive there are much more methods to utterly break the sport.