Act 1 killed my enthusiasm (Spoilers)

[WokeGoblin]

I have to say i have lost all enthusiasm to carry on the game after act 1. Mainly and obviously because I liked Gustave as a character. But I also don't really care for any of the other characters,their development has been rather shallow and at this point(in my opinion) and im not really interested in carrying on the journey with them. I guess this was a little vent but also to see how other people felt.

I know some people may read this as hating on the game and that not my intention and im not against the killing of your protagonists. I was also loving the game up until that point and will probably keep playing and eventually like the other characters but i cant help but feel apathetic towards the rest of the game.

Maybe people will disagree (feel free to) but I wanted to see what people thoughts were and if any were in the same boat.

[Zeus]

Originally posted by toughnails:

Originally posted by Meeka Moon:

I stopped playing after act 1. It pissed me off.

It didn't work for the Last of us 2 and it didn't work here.

And I refuse to play male-Abbey who took part in Gustave's murder and is obviously there to kill or betray the rest of the party.

Lune would destroy this random guy on sight after what he did to her man and even admitting he's part of the paintress's death cult. She would not be letting him join the party.

Gustave and Lune were the main protagonists and romance. This was their story. Without them there is no story.

"If you do that, we both die."

I was expecting a hero's journey, a underdog story with a happy ending. Gustave and Lune are on ALL the promotionals.

Not weird Last of us 2 crap.

The end of act 1 killed it for me. They wanted emotional. I'm emotional.

The game was perfect and I couldn't stop talking about how amazing it is... Until the "plot twist" for no reason other than to be edgy and stunning and bold and "subvert expectations"... It's needless and bad enough the paintress is cruel and evil to the people of Limere. The game did not need to be cruel to the players, too.

We loved Gustave and Lune. None will come after.

There was pretty much no chemistry between Gustave and Lune, that's entirely your headcanon. Gustave just had his lover die in his arms, why the hell would he suddenly gun for Lune? It makes no sense.

Also, Verso took no part in Gustave's murder, rewatch the scene if you were too busy scrolling through Tik Tok on your phone lmao

No chemistry? Literally sophie says ''you two should be together.'' LMAO

[Zeus]

Originally posted by Vashe:

Just continue the game... His death is not meaningless

Don't care bro. All that character development and build up and potential romance with Lune for nothing.

[Xan84]

Originally posted by toughnails:

Originally posted by Meeka Moon:

I stopped playing after act 1. It pissed me off.

It didn't work for the Last of us 2 and it didn't work here.

And I refuse to play male-Abbey who took part in Gustave's murder and is obviously there to kill or betray the rest of the party.

Lune would destroy this random guy on sight after what he did to her man and even admitting he's part of the paintress's death cult. She would not be letting him join the party.

Gustave and Lune were the main protagonists and romance. This was their story. Without them there is no story.

"If you do that, we both die."

I was expecting a hero's journey, a underdog story with a happy ending. Gustave and Lune are on ALL the promotionals.

Not weird Last of us 2 crap.

The end of act 1 killed it for me. They wanted emotional. I'm emotional.

The game was perfect and I couldn't stop talking about how amazing it is... Until the "plot twist" for no reason other than to be edgy and stunning and bold and "subvert expectations"... It's needless and bad enough the paintress is cruel and evil to the people of Limere. The game did not need to be cruel to the players, too.

We loved Gustave and Lune. None will come after.

There was pretty much no chemistry between Gustave and Lune, that's entirely your headcanon. Gustave just had his lover die in his arms, why the hell would he suddenly gun for Lune? It makes no sense.

Also, Verso took no part in Gustave's murder, rewatch the scene if you were too busy scrolling through Tik Tok on your phone lmao

SPOILERS!!!! but... As you find out later HE DID. He was not the one that killed him but he allowed it to happen so the girl has less reasons to stay in this world. So yeah, 100% guilty as charged even if its just by allowing it willingly to happen to get what he wanted out of it.

[rodrigo.cezar]

I'm with OP, but my enthusiasm went off even earlier lol. Didn't even know Gustav was going to die. Man, the initial themes and tone set by the game were brutal, like having children in a doomed world, leaving your homeland behind to an almost certain death, saying goodbye to loved ones, etc.
And then, the absolute booldshed at the beach. When Gustav was alone ready to end his own life I was asking myself "Man... where will he summon strength to keep pushing foward?"

It was actually easy, because the knew continent is full of gooffy characters and funny interactions. Actually, there were some survivors full of curiosity and enthusiasm with this new world...

wtf

[toughnails]

Originally posted by Veny:

Very sad but at least unexpected. Kinda cool seeing unexpected twists in games nowadays.
Bad is, i invested tons of lumina into him and he carried my team :D

Verso inherits all of Gustave's lumina and weapons. And the weapons now have bonus effects like with the other party members.

[White Wolf]

It didn't kill my enthusiasm, I was intrigued to see why such a drastic changed happened, The story and reason's behind all the events led up to incredible ending, I was really caught off guard. I didn't have much thoughts about gustave at the end. Because the bigger picture/painting was so huge.

[Elsuya]

Originally posted by Mirror Force:

Come to think about it, there are actually a lot of signs in this game that kind of implied this outcome.

• His moves/attacks are generally weaker compared to his peers, plus his skill tree is mostly locked
  
• His ult move quote "for those who come after"
  
• He still loves his girlfriend, who is already gone. And all the other female characters couldn't possibly form a romantic relationship with him
  
• A lot of death flags he has made
  
• His whole theme song is kind of a mix of despair & hope, but its core is a sense of sadness (ok ignore this)
  
• ...

I don't like his death either. He is more like an ordinary person who has his strengths and weaknesses, making him closer to each one of us and we would like to see him go through all the trouble and grow. But tbh death is a much more likely outcome for someone like him in this cruel environment and it's probably the best for his (and his gf's) closure.

Also the fact that his weapons don't have any special skills, which you could argue that "his elemental coverage is his gimmick" up to that point but still.

[Palsen]

*spoiler*

Act 1 was amazing
Act 2 writers went on holiday cuse there are almost no story it was a really weak act (Also gustavs death was terrible, i really loved his character)

Act 3 OMFG the writers came back and chose violence, it was so GOOOOOOOOOD!!!

[Boom]

I get that Gustave's death hit hard — it definitely caught me off guard emotionally too — but honestly, I think that was kind of the point. The prologue pretty much sets the tone for how grim and uncertain life in the Expedition is. That line from Lune, "when one falls, not if", really drives it home. From the start, the story was warning us that death is routine in this world, not an exception.

Gustave’s death made the world feel grounded to me. A lot of games or stories build up this brutal, high-stakes setting in the lore, but then the actual plot shields the main characters like they're invincible. This one didn’t do that — it followed through. It made it clear that no one is safe just because the player gets attached, and that fits the tone they were going for. Honestly, what else could we have expected?

Even from a gameplay perspective, there were subtle clues. Gustave’s skill tree was noticeably limited compared to others — that was a red flag for me early on. It felt intentional, like the devs wanted us to sense that his role was temporary but impactful.

Yeah, it sucks to lose a character we connected with, but I think the way it was handled added weight to the world and raised the stakes. If the game’s about surviving in a world where expeditioners “fall like raindrops,” then someone like Gustave being lost early really sells that. It hurts, but it’s powerful storytelling.

[J4MESOX4D]

I was a bit taken aback when the main protagonist Gustave was killed at the end of act one. Thankfully Verso is a half decent replacement but it's just weird going from almost like-for-like. I did think the story in Act 2 was a bit hit and miss and we were palmed-off with two massive quests as the story took a bit of a backseat for long periods.

[Boom]

Originally posted by Palsen:

*spoiler*

Act 1 was amazing
Act 2 writers went on holiday cuse there are almost no story it was a really weak act (Also gustavs death was terrible, i really loved his character)

Act 3 OMFG the writers came back and chose violence, it was so GOOOOOOOOOD!!!

One thing that’s been frustrating for me with Clair Obscur is how the story, while genuinely interesting, is mostly delivered in big chunks at the end of each act. The buildup between those reveals feels stretched too thin.

It would’ve been a lot more engaging if there were smaller, well-paced info drops throughout the journey — whether through character dialogue, environmental clues, or subtle lore hints. Right now, the mystery feels like it's just being held back for dramatic effect rather than unfolding naturally. The big reveals land well, but the road getting there often feels a bit too empty.

I just finished act 2 and it was great but it was a bit hollow until the end as u said but still delivered

[Michiwa_70]

I think I spend too much time in game doing side stuff and just walking around in act 1, so the characters grew on me. I listened to all their dialogues, tried to read their emotions through the cut scenes, ran around the map with each of them. Maybe some of my attachment appeared not because of the good writing, but because of voice acting and how I interpreted the characters, but either way there are not many games that make me feel for the whole party.

By the time Gustave died, I not only mourned him (still mourning, I am actually surprised the game made me care about him till the very end of story), but I also felt the pressure of finishing the mission "for Gustave". I could understand Lune and Sciel better in act 2 during the conversations with Verso, and Verso also turned out to be quite an interesting character.
I actually didnt like Sciel at all, but I liked her more to the end of act 2 after learning more about her past.

[Genosse Kommissar]

Well, it is up to you to decide what you want and what not.
For me, I did come to the realization that a story can be told from the perspective of multiple characters a long time ago.

In fact, I think I prefer these kind of stories at this point, because having multiple fleshed out perspectives seems more interesting to me, than having only one and removing one of these established points of view in one way or another (death for example) can be very dramatic.
That is a personal thing though.

However I do unerstand that sometimes it is possible to like a specific character so much, that without him or her the story loses something vital and then you may lose interest in it.
As long as you dont try to shove down peoples throat that "this is supposedly bad" its fine.

You do you.

[Monsieur blap]

If you think about it the game constantly hints at his demise. But you will only realize that after he's gone. Personally the strongest hint is in his first encounter with Lune, where she reminds him of their ethos; "When one falls, we continue. WHEN, not IF".

And it's a story about loss and how you cope with it. It's an unconventional plot twist and a daring move but it fits the story perfectly. If anything it got me more invested in the story.

[SixStringGhost]

Originally posted by Slayer:

I was so broken that it made me want to carry on...for him.

for those who come after...