Today I googled the meaning of the song “Alicia” in Clair Obscur and it reminded me of my best friend who is no longer with me.
All the songs in the game have meanings. “Gustave” is another song that I lament about. It tells of how I feel about the important people in my life who are no longer with me.
This game has such intricate story. I know these characters are fictional. As the fox in Le Petite Prince says, “if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world… I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow.”
Remember everything you just said when you hit act 3.
I recently started it.
Gameplay-wise, I find it bland at best: A world traversed entirely on rails, and JRPG-style combat with timed dodge/parry moves. These mechanics don’t excite me, but I’m still playing anyway, because…
As a work of art, I find it gorgeous. The operatic soundtrack, despite being a genre outside my usual preferences, is captivating. The voice acting is nuanced and immersive like I don’t think I’ve heard in any other game (so much that I can mostly overlook the terrible lip sync problems in the animation). A few of the facial expressions are… disarming. The environments are so beautiful that I sometimes find myself just staring at them for a while instead of advancing the story.
It’s too early to be sure I’ll stick with it, but I suspect that I will, just as I would a film that indulges the senses.
At first I was frustrated by the dodge parry mechanics but they grew on me. I usually don’t have very good reflexes but I kept at it and actually got pretty skilled to the point where I beat the extra bosses. The music is brilliant and the world is so beautiful and the voice acting is perfect. Such a magnificent game.
I was so proud when I could finally parry and beat Simon. Then his second phase wiped me and I noped right out of there.
I was the same until I really paid attention to the story and the music. It is beautifully written. I got this on gamepass and I bought Oblivion at the same time. I haven’t touched Oblivion since.
Absolutely feel the same. The game systems, graphics, feel, etc are a bit dated. It feels like something from 10-15 years ago. It does inject some modern ideas, mostly in the combat, but it very much feels like an OG final fantasy game in all the wrong ways.
But also all the right ones. The story is super intriguing, and the music is absolutely phenomenal. I’m mostly interested in finding all the records for the player at camp and learning more about WTF is going on in the world than the gameplay.
My biggest issue with the game is that it eats inputs like popcorn. Which is not good when the main gimmick of combat is the dodging and parry QTE mechanics.
The game systems, graphics, feel, etc are a bit dated. It feels like something from 10-15 years ago.
Graphics??
You can dislike the gameplay and stuff, but the graphics? It’s peak UE5 and well optimized, 99% of the players I’ve seen were making “wow” sounds at the prologue visuals and details, the underwater level and many more.
I haven’t tried low settings tho, I’m playing 4K epic, but graphics are definitely 2025.
I used to like JRPG’s and then I got tired of them. They are so linear. Expedition 33 has such amazing story. I think the graphic is pretty good. Unreal Lumen really shines. The parrying can get very tiring quick and combats are a bit tedious.
I am playing for the story.
The music, story and art harmonizes in a way that caused me to sit and be sad for hours. The melancholy environment, the inevitability of death and the sorrow love eventually causes. It’s so fucking beautiful!
Just the start, losing Sophie to the gommage, the setting and music ties it all so damn well together. It’s beautiful and tremendously sad. The whole thing is such a masterpiece of what games can achieve. A game where the gameplay isn’t the best or groundbreaking, but combined with the art, music, tone and story, it flies up to one of the best games in recent years. If not more.
I play games to relax and have fun. If a games has people crying, then I don’t think I would find that fun.
Art can serve several purposes. Your tastes are valid as a preference, but fun and escapism are only a small part of what games as an art form can provide. Would you critique a piece of visual art (for example, Guernica) by saying “this isn’t very fun”?
True, but it is what I want from a game, as I said, so I don’t think I would enjoy this one.
