Clair Obscur’s three female characters make me never want to switch my party

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is perhaps probably the most enjoyable I’ve had taking part in a role-playing sport since 2023’s Baldur’s Gate 3. Its turn-based fight is extra participating than at first blush, and defeating highly effective enemies gives the identical elation that taking down a boss in a FromSoftware sport does. It additionally affords a few of the tougher gameplay I’ve encountered in a while, with dodge and parry timing that’ll depart even probably the most skilled soulsborne vets pulling their hair out.

Clair Obscur’s six playable heroes all have distinctive fight mechanics, so no two heroes play the identical. That is nice when you’ve mastered Gustave, Maelle, and the remainder, however mastering them takes loads of trial and error. You’re solely offered every character’s tutorial as soon as, so that you’ll must discover ways to use them on the fly in battles with Nevrons. How does Sciel enter Twilight once more? What precisely are Lune’s stains? How does Monoco’s Bestial Wheel transfer? There’s a studying curve to every character, however as soon as they click on for you — understanding the way to greatest leverage Maelle’s stance switching, shortly overcharge with Gustave — you’re off to the races.

Utilizing my A-team of Maelle, Lune, and Sciel makes the sport nearly too simple, and I barely felt in any hazard throughout Act 2’s late-game boss fights. They bounce off each other nicely, and at larger ranges, can simply knock off enemies earlier than your opponents have even had a flip. Sadly for Clair Obscur’s different characters, the strengths of Maelle, Lune, and Sciel put the remainder of the group on the sidelines.

Look, I like Verso — good man, nice hair, performs the piano, ageless surprise. However his expertise largely depend on not taking injury, which is troublesome when combating enemies for the primary time as you’ve but to study their assault patterns. Parrying is maybe the best problem in Clair Obscur’s fight, and attempting to parry as Verso simply opens the door to getting hit and subsequently reducing his Perfection Rank, his personal particular capacity. (Did I point out there’s quite a bit to study in Clair Obscur? As a result of there’s quite a bit to study.)

Monoco, too, finally ends up getting the brief finish of the stick in my social gathering. He arrives within the sport once I’ve already settled on a great rhythm with Clair Obscur’s three ladies main my social gathering, and timing his Bestial Wheel to take advantage of use out of it’s one thing I’m nonetheless combating going into Act 3. Alas, Monoco and Verso are warming the bench as my “B-team Boys,” itching for some taking part in time.

Verso and Monoco gave method to my A-team trio late in Act 2. Round once I needed to go struggle the Axons, I lastly began to get the dangle of utilizing Maelle, Lune, and Sciel as a crew, synergizing their talents in a approach that I may wipe the ground with enemies earlier than these enemies even bought a flip. As soon as I hit that stride, I by no means had any use for the opposite playable characters (Sorry, Monoco and Verso. See you at camp?).

Clair Obcur’s battles depend on leveraging your characters’ expertise and distinctive mechanics, like Maelle’s Stance switching or Sciel’s Foretell stacking, to pummel your foes to mud. Lune is perhaps the hardest hero to pin down as producing and utilizing her elemental stains at first is a complicated matter. When utilizing Lune’s expertise in battle, the aspect(s) between the ability title and the Motion Level (AP) price are what stains are generated. Every of her powers can eat these stains for added results, like enhancing injury or growing the length of an influence.

Once I totally understood the way to leverage Lune’s stains, the sport opened up for me. Lune can use Wildfire to burn all enemies, however I desire positioning Maelle first and utilizing her Rain of Hearth proper off the bat. Lune’s Thermal Switch can then generate AP for her when used towards the burning foe, that means, relying in your Pictos and Luminas setup — Clair Obscur’s system for stat bonuses and passive results — she may have the max of 9 AP by her subsequent flip.

With foes on hearth, Maelle can then use Swift Stride to place her in Virtuose Stance, and on her subsequent flip keep in Virtuose Stance with Fleuret Furyuse. Maelle’s Virtuose Stance sees her dealing 200% injury, and utilizing it along side her excessive damage-dealing expertise is your path towards hitting — or exceeding in Act 3 — the injury cap. Even post-nerf, she’s nonetheless a powerhouse.

With Lune’s Chapelim weapon, I fall right into a little bit of a rhythm for every bout. At stage 20, it generates an Earth Stain on every flip, and Thermal Switch consumes two Earth Stains to permit Lune to play once more and proceed to wreak havoc. If Lune and Maelle are low on AP, regardless of — Sciel’s Plentiful Harvest consumes all of an enemy’s Foretell and distributes AP among the many social gathering for every Foretell consumed. When in Twilight with 20 Foretell utilized to a foe, this ability can simply high off everybody’s AP, leaving you free to proceed your onslaught.

Venturing into Act 3, with much more “Hazard” areas and hard Chromatic foes forward, understanding the top is in sight, I’ll be sticking with Maelle, Lune, and Sciel for the battles to come back. They’ve gotten me this far.