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 may really feel acquainted, but it surely provides quite a lot of methods to customise your strategy to battles so that you could do completely devastating quantities of injury.
In Expedition 33, you play as a bunch of Expeditioners who goal to destroy The Paintress, a mysterious being that erases everybody of a sure age yearly. In battles, you possibly can have as much as three of your social gathering collaborating in a combat, and may all of them die, you possibly can name in your teammates who’re in reserve to attempt to end off the enemies.
To point out you ways deep the rabbit gap can go in customizing your staff, right here’s my strategy to constructing out only one character, the fencer Maelle. Each character can equip three “Pictos,” which provide passive buffs like supplying you with the defense-boosting Shell standing at first of a combat. However after you win just a few fights with a Pictos geared up, different characters may also equip the Pictos as a “Lumina” through the use of “Lumina Factors,” which you accumulate by way of leveling up and through the use of a useful resource you will discover within the recreation.
Picture: Kepler Interactive
If 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 might let her deal doubtlessly huge quantities of injury, particularly if a fortunate crucial hit and a coin-flip 200 % harm buff went by way of. However as a counterbalance to Maelle’s enormous energy, a number of the Pictos and Luminas additionally elevated the quantity of injury she acquired, 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, helps you to make their assaults simpler. Maelle, for instance, depends on totally different “stances” you could shift into: an offensive stance that will increase the harm you give but in addition the harm you obtain, a defensive stance that reduces the harm you’re taking, and a “virtuous” stance that does 200 % harm however might be more durable to arrange.
With Maelle, you possibly can transfer into the totally different stances based mostly on which of your six totally 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 quite a bit to handle, and the sport typically helps in battles by including slightly sparkle to recommend a transfer on 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, after I nailed the mixture of establishing the proper stance and a fortunate break from my Pictos and Luminas, I commonly might completely demolish my foes by dealing 1000’s of factors of injury. (A late-game Pictos that allow me exceed 9,999 factors of injury in a single hit was significantly welcome.)
That’s simply my strategy with one character; every of the opposite social gathering members has their very own playstyles to experiment with and potential expertise to make use of. Your geared up 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 difficult 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 the right way to strive issues in a different way for a tough mode run — I’m positive there are much more methods to completely break the sport.
