Amazing gameplay, cliche story, decent characters. Good enough vibes. The best 7/10 game I’ve ever played LOL. (Can’t really put it as such cus I can’t do 3.5/5 stars, but take it as that)

As the title says… honestly it’s kinda just there…. combat and characters are your highlights. Story is basic but ok, dungeons are repetitive, vibes are alright, and music is kinda forgettable by atlus standards tbh…

From the vibes, to the designs, to the characters, and the gameplay. All of it is stunning, especially when you think about how it was only made by a handful of people. Can’t wait for the sequel!

God this game is so fun…. but oh my god is it a nightmare to get every perfect link on everyone. Just please for the love of Arceus don’t do it to yourself LOL

In my “career” of gaming, many times I finish a game and feel successful and happy to have completed it to now move on to something else exciting. There have been few occasions that I was left staring at the screen after, wondering what I am even supposed to play next.

And with that comes Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. A game that I didn’t play on release, but instead waited, and was then frustrated hearing how hyped up it was that it wouldn’t quite meet my expectations. To be honest, it didn’t meet my expectations….it shattered them.

Set in a melancholic dream world (or nightmare, depending if my wife lets me use my nightlight or not), where you are quickly hit with the realization of the Paintress erasing people every year through the Gommage. Expedition 33 is the kind of story that you can tell just from the start will challenge you on humanity and meaning of life. The setting is gorgeous, the combat is honestly one of the best I have ever seen, and the emotional beats and pacing is done pretty phenomenally.

I have to be careful in this review with spoilers because I do feel like its truly makes the game something special, but more I played this game it made me want to hug my kids and tell them how much they mattered.

Art Style:

This world is stunning in that way where it feels like someone drew a portrait and then sneezed all over it….but only if it was the most magical sneeze you have ever seen. The game truly holds to its “Light and Shadow” theme and builds so well in each area on it.

Lumière from the start is something special, and once you hit the world map it reminds me of Fantasian’s diorama style but add another layer to it that felt alive.

One of the things I raved to my cousin (who was the one that finally got me to just stop waiting and dive in) about was the amazing character expressions in this game. Even on the steam deck which kept it from playing at its full capacity, the expressions on the characters let you feel their words so much more. Gustave’s panic was palpable, Maelle’s shock and anger was felt in her eyes, and Monoco….well you didn’t really need to see his face to feel his personality.

The world was so alive that I truly enjoyed investigating every little area, until I heard a screech or roar and knew an enemy is coming from some direction.

Cast of Characters:

Your party is pretty established early on, and to be frank, at first I wasn’t thrilled with it. I can’t truly say why, I just found myself thinking “this is it?”. But then the interactions started happening. You got to understand each character’s backstory and it did it in a way of not needing some sort of side plot that you weren’t really interested in to do it. It was through little conversations and the way some of the responses were. I’m going to keep this spoiler-light, but the emotional core works because the characters feel like people who are carrying something heavy and trying to pretend it isn’t crushing them inside. When you are first introduced to Verso, you can’t tell if he is friend or foe, and my goodness I have never had a character in a video game make it so clear they know more info than they are giving, yet have me so anxious about what he is holding back.

There are standout moments where the game lets characters be funny, tender, and raw without it turning into melodrama. Even the quieter interactions land because the writing understands something important and delivers it well, when facing an almost guaranteed death, you will either crumble or make light of it along the way.

I remember in high school having severe anxiety and not knowing how to handle it. There were times where I wanted to hide away completely inside of myself, and then there were other times where making fun of my fears and panics to others made me feel alive again.

Gameplay:

I’ve heard it all already. “This is just taking a mechanic from Paper Mario” (FYI it was Super Mario RPG before Paper Mario, respect correctly), or “This isn’t turned based, its just parry or dodge mechanic”. Everyone can have their own opinions, but this isn’t just a regurgitated “timed hits” mechanic. This is the perfection of mixing turn based combat with action rpg. The attacking combos along with the parry/dodge system is done perfectly, but it goes further than that. Your skill system which are called “pictos” are there to create and build bonuses off of parrying or dodging. So depending on what fits your style more, you can create a build off that. One thing for sure, you will need to do one or the other because enemies hit like trucks in this game.

Expedition 33’s combat feels like it took classic JRPG structure and injected it with adrenaline. The real magic is the timing: your attacks have interactive beats, and defense is where the game becomes either a ballet or a tragedy depending on your reflexes.

Dodging is meant to be easier to succeed, but parrying comes with more bonuses like the opportunity to counter. And when you succeed in parrying a combo and countering, then following up with a combo of your own, you ride that high for the rest of the battle.

There are several difficulty levels to help with those who may not be as skilled in games like these. This is where I will tell you I thought Expert wasn’t too bad and that I shrugged through it like nothing (kind of like those people who record themselves at Dave’s Hot Chicken and say the Reaper tender is less hot than the Extra Hot). This is a lie. Clearly my talent has fallen off a bit in my elder years, so I definitely was sitting at Expeditioner the whole time, and even at times was close to switching certain boss fights to “Story”. So do not feel ashamed!

What I did like about the way the game is set up is there is clearly a lot that you realize “Ah I will wait till New Game+ to touch that. Also the story very much encourages that in a way, but we will talk more about that in the story section.

Soundtrack:

I got myself a gym membership again this year. My workout music has yet to be changed from this soundtrack. I don’t really have words to explain the emotion this soundtrack gave me. I even was spoiled on the Renny fight at the end of Act 2, and even still the song gave me chills when I heard it again.

It’s the kind of music that makes you stop in the menu and stare at nothing because a vocal track kicks in and suddenly you’re thinking if this is really happening or not. How Sandfall just found Lorien Testard on soundcloud before anyone else is unbelievable. Alice Duport-Percier’s performance was something spectacular.

The score uses big emotional themes and recurring motifs in a way that makes the world feel stitched together by memory. There are vocal pieces that feel almost sacred like the game is singing to you from a place you can’t quite reach.

And yes, this is one of those games where the music doesn’t just “play during scenes.”

It guides scenes. It tells a story while also giving you this feeling in your core that something else is going on beyond just what your party is going through.

You know a soundtrack is amazing when my wife and kids never watched me play the game yet for a couple weeks I would catch them humming “Lumiere” to themselves.

Story:

The premise is already haunting: every year the number drops, and everyone knows it’s coming. That kind of setup forces the story to constantly ask: what do you do with the time you have left, especially when you are aware of your time limit?

But the best part is that the game doesn’t just wallow in sadness. It’s not misery tourism. The plot has already been set for a long time, so it’s not something new that people are working to get over. It’s about what we leave behind for the future, what we carry to move forward, how we forgive with a limited timeline, and whether fighting against fate is best, or possibly just continuing a cycle of sadness.

It builds toward a second-half momentum where revelations start stacking, and suddenly you’re not just playing a JRPG, you’re trying to hold onto people as the world keeps erasing them.

I may have learned more playing this game than I did in high school, yet left me with more emotional damage then all the girls I dated during that time (yes the number is more than 1…maybe).

Overall:

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of those rare modern JRPGs that feels like it has a soul. Beautiful art (like a painting perhaps), addictive combat (beyond just “timed hits”), and a story that dares to care (you loved that rhyme) about something bigger than “save the world.” It’s about time, memory, and the way we love people even when we know we can’t keep them.

It’s also one of those games that leaves a void when you finish but not because it’s perfect, because it mattered. This is a story that the moment I finished it, I wanted to replay it to see the foreshadowing and plot points I missed along the way. Sandfall has shown they have something special here, I sure hope they continue to build in this world.

And to those out there that didn’t enjoy this game, honestly that is totally fine. Yet I do challenge those who felt the need to dislike this game the more popular it became. We live in a world now where we enjoy seeing the success of something we like, but when it becomes so enjoyed by others for some reason it loses its specialness. We almost feel attacked or not unique, and so we then lose the love we once had for it. Don’t allow a feeling like that to ruin your joy as well as joy for others who believe they found something special. We are a gaming community that doesn’t need to agree, but more so be happy that a game may have been enjoyed by someone even if it didn’t hit all the buttons for ourselves.

And here ends my interview, hopefully it convinces you to give this game a try if the other millions of reviews didn’t already do that.

For those who come after….

https://backloggd.com/u/InVincible_Time/review/4128354/

Octopath Traveler 0 it’s the third entry of the series after Octopath 1 and 2 and while this one fortunately doesn’t spoiler 1 and 2 for you it’s actually interestingly different from the previous titles, first this game is kinda rerelease from the mobile game Octopath traveler COTC but it’s different in narrative structure OC0 is more story focused gives this immersive experience to dive deep in RPG.

GAMPLAY and how’s its different from Octopath 1 and 2

Octopath Traveler zero has new set of ideas when it comes to gameplay, first off you create your own protagonist and customize how they look like.

The game introduce the ability to control 8 characters in battle instead of 4 but by putting them in two rows, you’ll still control 4 but you can switch between the front and back row which gives flexibility and fun play style into building your team. The game has many characters that can be recruited to be party members and when I say many I mean over 30.

So now instead of chosing one of the eight characters that’s already existed in the first two titles and progress their story while review the other 7 stories, in Octopath 0 you’re basically witness the story of your protagonist and all those recruited party members stories revolving around your story like most RPG games, the game more polish and has better visuals than the first 2, now you can control the camera as you traveling by zooming in or out and you can view the mini-map when traveling towns are areas not just world map which only exists in octopath 1 and 2

It doesn’t have the night and day features that was in previous titles and it doesn’t have many path action so each NPC has fixed path action either to treat or purchase, and only the protagonist has access to multiple jobs, each party members comes with their own fixed jobs.

There’s also a town called Wishvale that you will have to build which is story related but the fun in building it, is what makes each player experiences different by how it looks like and how you’ll set the characters ,the houses or other facilities and how the theme of the town changes when you develop it further which gives you new items, abilities to fast travel anywhere and unblock certain treasure chests that scatter around the world that can’t be opened by any other means.

Battle system

Battle system is really fun, I never would have imagined 8 characters in two rows would be this fun, the game is big and it simply gives the player the ability to be creative and go crazy with possibilities, it has a lot of skills that you either going to learn them from party members or from the protagonist jobs or the coolest part is you’ll get them from bosses, kinda like final fantasy blue magic that you get skills from monsters except only powerful bosses gives you access to skills so basically your rewards for accomplishing side quest or defeating certain boss can be either a powerful weapon or skill or character, some characters that you can recruit later can be broken but of course required effort from you to defeat certain boss which makes the rewards really worth it , I enjoyed that aspect so much because reminded of FF when you earn summon for defeating a powerful bosses .and because of those options you can be creative and come up with your own sets of builds which makes every player experience is unique.

STORY And Characters

The story of Octopath 0 is really good and has a lot of twists that I wasn’t expecting,

While this one is different and focusing on one protagonist you still have the option to start with which part of the story first and each part has its own chapters until it untied in the end to one part with multiple chapters so the story is consistent, the characters are beautifully written especially those characters that are really has influence in story because a lot of those you recruit had very little backstory compared to the ones that the story revolves around them, they had unique personalities and funny lines and unexpected turn of events it’s really engaging and fun.

The antagonist is really well written and it’s safe to say it’s one of the best antagonist that I find in JRPG. Great personality, twisted plot and very incredible theme

Soundtracks

If someone asks me what’s RPG games with best soundtracks, octopath traveler series come to mind, the whole series has very good recognizable music and Octopath 0 is no less , they did it this time with beautiful new battle music and even though the world is similar to Octopath1 so most towns music are the same but Octopath 0 stands out with its new battle soundtrack and characters theme and don’t get me started on Wishvale beautiful theme , which makes you experience the hard work you put into building this town, it’s really worth it

The antagonist in this game has one of the most epic soundtrack in this game, same with final boss theme and how Yasunori Nishiki composed it beautifully by incorporating the main theme in the battle music , it’s thrilling experience

The Downside

I don’t want to call it a downside but I was really overwhelmed by that many characters and I don’t know which one I should add to my team but when I get the idea is not to overwhelm me is just give me the option to build my own team, then it wasn’t overwhelming anymore.

Because even though the characters has different tier in strength but this game give you the freedom to try anything. You can build your best team with lower Tier characters mixing it around, just to make each player experience different

The second thing that I didn’t like , is the way the side quests presented, you don’t need to look for them it’s just new side quest location will show up in your menu whenever there’s one available and as much this might be fun for players because they don’t need to look for them , I just didn’t like the game guide my hand , I want to travel and search for them, other than those I think this game is amazing and fun and really worth giving it as shot if you like Octopath series or JRPG in general.

It’s a interesting mix of a sports game and a strategy game. It feels incomplete. During play you have to look at the map to see where everyone is at. It’s a game with a base that needs a bit more.

This sci-fi RPG is extremely bland. At the start you can distribute stat points. From what I played the maps are extremely simple. Combat is aiming a crosshair at a small selection of enemies that have the same movement patterns and that’s just the loop.

Some games right from the start pull you in, like Xenoblade’s first Act or Expedition 33’s scene in Lumiere. Some start with mystery like Nier Replicant’s ambience or Radiant Historia’s time traveling plot. Tales of the Abyss starts with… Luke fon Fabre, a walking cautionary tale about why you never spoil your only child, seriously I have learned how not to raise my son from just watching him. I’m not joking either, within the first hour I was already googling “Is Luke like….” and before I could finish, it auto-populated “this the entire game?”. When I play a JRPG, I try to connect with the main character a lot. Finding something about their personality or actions to find similarities. I struck out with Luke….(I know this because my wife wouldn’t have married me if I was anything like him……she told me).

But here’s the thing, this game wants you to not connect with Luke. It wants you to roll your eyes and say “if this kid doesn’t shut up I swear I’ll leave him at camp”. Because later, it pulls one off one of the most impressive character development arcs I have seen in a JRPG. This is the type of JRPG where the emotional payoff sneaks up on you, taps your shoulder, and whispers, “Your tears belong to me now.”

Art Style:

You know exactly what era this game comes from the moment you see Baticul’s pre-rendered beauty or Luke’s… aggressively 2000s hair. The world of Abyss doesn’t feel static but truly lived in. Kaitzur’s snow made me want to throw on a hoodie and drink some hot chocolate, whereas St. Binah feels like the kind of town that would be relaxing if it wasn’t constantly in the midst of disaster. The graphics are not bad but definitely dated, though how long till we get a remaster?? Looking at you Namco. Abyss wasn’t the first 3D Tales from Namco, so it was able to build off of Symphonia’s system and actually improved it by adding the first full 3D movement system in battle.

The character expressions were done very well, with Luke’s bratty face not ever able to be wrong, and yet Jade showing he knows way more the he is willing to admit. I also have to say, Luke’s sword designs are so well done. Loved seeing what his next weapon would look like.

The anime visuals are fantastic and one of my favorites in the series. Heck the box art is so good it convinced my parents to buy two copies for Christmas…..this is not just for laughs….this in fact happened. Apparently they didn’t communicate and my dad lost track of presents and this got purchased twice, wrapped up, and my 17 year old self got to first hand be like Luke with some sort of snotty response that made my mom emotional and my Dad….ok ok I’ll stop here. Lets just say it was a growing experience for me as well and I was a changed young man for the rest of my life (thanks Dad for setting me straight).

Cast of Characters:

Luke is awful at the beginning. Let’s not sugarcoat it, let’s not butter the bread, the boy is a menace. A danger to society. A walking Yelp review with one star and all caps saying they were mistreated because a server told them it was cash only. But then the Akzeriuth Incident happens. You could feel it coming, you knew what was being walked into and couldn’t do a thing about it. That was when you start to see Luke for what he is, a 17 year old who realizes this is all his fault. As much as he tries at first to fight it, he cannot deny the guilt he feels as everyone abandons him. Then came the haircut scene. And before you scream spoiler, its not a spoiler if you see it in the anime opening! You know as soon as someone cuts their hair or changes their look in a JRPG that it’s about to get serious. But the best part about this character development is it doesn’t just all of a sudden change. You see the pain, and the realization in him of what he has been doing and treating others like. This is honestly Abyss’ biggest strength, to watch this happen and play out.

BUT enough about Luke. Let’s talk about the real star of the show here. Tear, honestly may be my favorite female lead in any Tales game. She is sarcastic and is excellent at instigating with Luke from the beginning. It starts as annoyance but truly becomes playful later on. This relationship is one of my favorites, especially in the Tales series. I go back and forth between Luke/Tear, and Alphen/Shionne, at this point I can’t decide.

Guy seems like a comic relief, but his back story is much deeper and shows he is a much deeper character. Even his comic relief of being nervous around women is something that is much darker than just an anime trope. Jade the cynical devil, hey I didn’t call him that, his own sister did! Natalia, poor girl, great character development as well during the journey as she learns she needs to stop relying on Luke and to find her own path. Anise as well had good character plot and loved her dual personalities along with how mature she was due to what she experienced.

And Asch? What can you say about Asch, definitely one of my favorites in this game.

The cast is fun, messy, emotionally complicated, and I appreciated that several times it didn’t feel like “we stick together because we are a family”. They had a purpose and even seen during the story, if someone was holding them back they would not be afraid to move on without them. This was seen during Luke’s reflection time.

Gameplay :

This is classic Tales combat, attack, special art, dodge, repeat. Yet Tales continues to succeed at making it very enjoyable and not get stale. Abyss’ addition of making it 3D movement during combat was a nice upgrade to a previous feel of a 2D fighter. Now it was still a hybrid project, and was not full 3D. You still moved in 2D but could hold the shoulder button to be able to move in 3D. This added to the ability to dodge attacks, and was the start to implementing full 3D (those Vesperia, the next release, kept this same 2D/3D style).

Some boss fights actually require strategy (that’s all you, Arietta). Some require patience (Asch, you take that one). Some require emotional therapy afterward (Yep that’s Van). Dungeons are vey similar to previous, with smaller puzzles that didn’t make me want to rip my hair out, quite honestly now that I think about it I am shocked at how little I was annoyed with dungeons in this game.

What I was annoyed with at times is it felt like exploration didn’t have much payoff. Abyss had a lot of detailed buildings and such in towns that really had nothing in them. Several hallways to run through to get to your destination. I feel like I am diving deep here to find an issue, because in reality I would much rather this be an issue then some of the infuriating dungeons I have experienced in Tales previously.

Soundtrack:

I’ll say it, Abyss may have my favorite music for a Tales game so far. “Meaning of Birth” and the beginning OST is just phenomenal. Motoi Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura truly did an incredible job with this. I definitely prefer the Japanese opening as I am a big Bump of Chicken fan. Do I feel it’s the greatest OST I have ever heard? No, but it doesn’t always need to be. With this you felt the emotion and the heaviness during each event. It ties into the story’s themes and especially with the game focusing on sounds it was very fitting. This is definitely a list I have saved on Spotify to go back to.

Story:

Abyss deals with some surprisingly heavy stuff like identity, free will, trauma and legacy.

The horrifying though of what if you are not as important as you think, or maybe you aren’t even the only you! The Luke/Asch storyline is incredible because it’s not clean, it’s not pretty, and it’s not solved by a friendship speech. It was real and human-like with anger, resent, sadness, and full of complicated grief. During this story you watch your trust get ruined, heart get broken, some heavy emotional weight, and as I talked about earlier, some incredible character growth. And then we get to the ending. STILL being debated to this day….trust me, I checked. I know what I hope it meant, but there are still threads out there discussing what certain parts could be hinting to on the ending. Its an ending where you want additional story, but also know that its current ending is exactly how it should be.

And as I talked about in previous reviews, it’s a story that makes you think inward. I’ve talked to many people about gaming, not everyone has the same opinion on it. Some believe its unhealthy for you, and with other things in too much dosage it is unhealthy. Yet I played Abyss and it made me truly question myself and who I wanted to be. Not how I was raised, or what was expected, but who I wanted to be and how I wanted to affect those around me. Abyss shows you that even without the social standing, spotlight, or the favor of others, you can keep pushing forward and make a difference. Sometimes admitting you were wrong is the best thing you can do, and it’s the first step to bettering yourself. This life is all about trying, and that means sometimes failing, and there we get to decide if we will let that failure define us, or own it and make a change.

So staring at a screen for hours may not be looked at as the best use of my time, but you tell me where else I would learn a lesson like that? A book? I don’t think so….(well actually that’s a bad example, books teach a lot…..ok so forget that last part).

Overall A Messy, Emotional, Beautiful JRPG Experience

Tales of the Abyss starts like a comedy, matures into a tragedy, and ends with a quiet hopefulness that sticks with you. Luke transforms from “please stop talking” to “I will protect this child at all costs.” The cast becomes family and the world becomes familiar as you travel around it. But the story becomes something you think about long after the credits. It isn’t perfect and it has its flaws and yes at times it can feel like it rambles a bit. But it’s also one of the most emotionally rewarding Tales games I have played so far. Most importantly to me, few games prove the power of character growth the way this one does.

If Symphonia is your comfort JRPG and Vesperia is your cool cousin, Abyss is the one that annoys you at first but becomes the sibling you’d take a bullet for….or at least push out of the way.

Does the bare minimum to be a RPG. each town has 1 shop or any key people and nothing else. turn based combat is basic. only real positive is the sprites during battle. I don’t have more to say because a flag just wouldn’t go off for progression. With how uninteresting the game is maybe it’s a blessing.