Good game, exceptional presentation, by no means GOTY (spoilers)

[gungadin22000]

Not really interested in clown farming, you can give those to other folks. I just wanted to vent a bit about this game.

Clair Obscur aspires to be a work of art. And it some ways it is - it is exceptionally good looking, the soundtrack is beautiful and the voice acting top-of-the-line for every character.

The storyline is also quite well done. I am nowhere near as ecstatic about it as some other players appear to be, considering that once the big plot twist at the end of act 2 revealed that the story is....basically The Matrix written as a family drama. It is well executed, particularly in the dialogues, which range from whimsical to wholesome to heart-rending. But I really think we've covered this ground before, although perhaps not in video game form. I do give the writers major props for having the balls to kill off the main character early in the game. I can't think of another game that did this or executed it so well.

I also highly applaud the ending. I went with the "exit the Matrix" ending and felt it was sombre, beautiful and exceptionally touching. I shed a manly tear at the gang waving goodbye at the end. Exceptional work.

So, presentation and atmosphere is stunning. I can see why some folks fall in love with this game.

For me, personally, the game began to outstay its welcome around the middle of act 3.

To start off with my strongest criticism: the game's very poorly balanced. I started it out on expert, being a soulslike veteran, but quickly found that the parry timings were, to me, just too janky to have to rely on hitting 100%. I then turned it down to explorer, after which the game became too easy. I consistently managed to break the game with my builds, and I wasn't even remotely trying to, making the actual game part of the game become formulaic around the middle of act 2.

Secondly, the parry gimmick. It's a good idea, no game's tried to make parrying the main mechanic of their JRPG, but I honestly felt that it was JUST a tiny bit off timing-wise, and late-game enemies having unbearably long combos made fighting them something of a chore. See, in the soulslikes I am used to, you can resort to other defensive or offensive measures when under heavy attack. Here, I had to stand around like a ♥♥♥♥ and press Q and E like I was playing DDR. Sure, landing counterhits was always satisfying, but the shine just wore off for me along the way. I was audibly sighing in the final battle as Renoir hit me with yet ANOTHER 500 hit combo, which only came at the end of an overly long cutscene where he flies off into the sky.

Thirdly, the third act was odd, in my book. Being able to explore all over the world was a nice touch, but nearly everything I could explore was too tough for me to beat, meaning I visited most locations, cleared the ones that did not contain 1-shotting bosses and then went on to finish the game. It may just be me not going the right route or not having grinded enough, but I didn't really enjoy the combat enough at this point to bother doing that.

All in all, I would rate Clair Obscur a solid 7 out of 10. As an experience, it is highly enjoyable and touching. As a game, it falls flat for me in a lot of areas. I don't see much reason to play any more of it at present and I doubt I will in the future. Still enjoyed my time with it and I wouldn't be unpleasantly surprised if it won GOTY.

[Some Rando]

I actually heavily agree with you so far, OP. I like the game, but I just don't think it's GOATed. Really good though? Sure.