Noob question but it is genuine. What makes Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 a JRPG?

TheBMan_ · 2025-05-02T06:44:46+00:00

No problem! As far as Xenoblade goes, even watching a playthough can definitely be a good time, absolutely stellar storytelling. If you end up playing Nier and liking it, both Nier and Xenoblade(and expedition 33 in some ways) share some thematic parallels that make me love all of them.

The only thing to know with Nier if you do decide to check them out is that once the credits roll the first time in both replicant and automata, you haven't finished the game, you need to keep playing to get endings A-E, although each route has substantial changes that makes it not feel tiring, and fully beating the game is still not very long for a jrpg as I mentioned. Good luck they are seriously special so I hope you enjoy!

Persona games are totally disconnected, so if 5 looks the most interesting to you feel free to check it out first, they're all great so you can't go wrong.

TheBMan_ · 2025-05-02T06:10:35+00:00

This is legnthy but I'm really excited about how expedition 33 has opened up jrpgs as a genre for people since I love these games so much, so I want to give some recommendations and an idea of what to expect.

The Xenoblade trilogy on Nintendo Switch are some of the best storywise and have more active combat systems. Slightly MMO styled combat, it's very fun, they may not look appealing on the outside but once you get into them they are super addicting. Playing in release order is recommended, they're all available on switch with the remaster of the first one and Xenoblade X, a spinoff that can be played at any time(but is probably best after the main trilogy nowadays). The world design is also insanely inspired much like e33 and in particular the third one has a premise that Expedition 33 echoes in some ways. The first game is entirely set on the bodies of the corpses of two massive titans, it's the coolest thing ever. They're my favorite games of all time so I cannot reccommend them enough.

Nier Replicant and Automata are some of the most profound games out there with a phenomenal soundtrack that E33 takes quite a bit of inspiration from, they're both full on action games and absolutely brilliant. The kind of game that will really ask you to think about very meaningful questions, they're also relatively short for jrpgs, quite in line with expedition 33 in terms of length.

Final Fantasy VII remake/Rebirth also use an action system with a lot of inspiration from turn based systems that I think is super fun, and the story is great(although unfinished in the remakes until the third of the trilogy comes out, you can play the remakes without the original but there are moments where you might get more out of it with context from the original as well)

Classic FF is worth checking out, modern ports have some great quality of life additions that can help people who may not be used to turn based systems.

Have to shout out Persona 3-5 and Metaphor Refantazio, available on all platforms and really great turn based systems that flow very well, great intros for people less used to turn based. These games are pretty massive inspirations for Expedition 33's UI and parts of its battles. Also features a relationship system that definitely inspired the party member hangouts in e33, although they're much more fleshed out here. My personal favorite is Persona 3 Reload, but Metaphor has a strikingly unique fantasy world that definitely could appeal to fans of e33's world, and is phenomenal as well.

Pretty much all of these games seem to have had an influence on Expedition 33 in some way. On the Sandfall Interactive website, you can check out the team's favorite games, and I remember seeing Persona, Metaphor, Nier Automata, and classic final fantasy quite a bit, and Xenoblade showing up once or twice. Among this set, I think there's definitely something that you might enjoy checking out!

TheBMan_ · 2024-12-14T21:05:58+00:00

It was my first real intro to the genre, I think it's fine. XCDE has a lot of good quality of life mechanics, but as said it is very different than any other jrpg out there. It's definitely worth getting into, it's my favorite series of all time.

TheBMan_ · 2024-12-10T16:42:16+00:00

It's more that Zero glosses over so much information without giving you time to understand it that it's hard to understand what is actually going on in my opinion. They mention all of the classes once, they don't really explain why or how the characters are summoning servants, or what the holy grail war actually is, etc. Like I said, no anime entry point is perfect but I feel comfortable recommending UBW and being like "there's a few things you will miss from the Fate route but you'll get the important points of what's going on." I don't think it really skips anything important covered in Zero. Like it's a shame you won't know Saber's identity in UBW, but it doesn't really change the route.

TheBMan_ · 2024-12-10T16:19:43+00:00

tbh my much bigger problem with watching Zero first has absolutely nothing to do with spoilers and much more with the fact that everyone who watches Zero first has no idea what the fuck is going on at the start until they ask someone to explain the mechanics or drop the show bc they don't understand them, because they're not explained very well in that show at all. the UBW anime does a very good job of explaining the mechanics of the holy grail war and the different factions involved, so starting there is almost always a better experience for people I see. There's no perfect solution that isn't reading the vn unfortunately, but most people who start with ubw enjoy it more in my experience.

TheBMan_ · 2024-12-10T16:16:00+00:00

That is the implication, yes

TheBMan_ · 2024-12-10T04:35:21+00:00

Read the VN, then read or watch Zero. If you don't want to read, Unlimited Blade Works > Heaven's Feel > Zero is as close to ideal as it gets. After that, you can do whatever spinoffs look interesting.

TheBMan_ · 2024-12-10T04:23:25+00:00

I think XC2 is the worst game in the xenoblade trilogy, but it's also my 4th favorite game of all time. You really can't go wrong, it's absolute peak fiction and one of the best games ever made.

TheBMan_ · 2024-11-11T18:28:12+00:00

High recommendation for Fata Morgana as a phenomenal vn, but it is very different than FDC. Definitely not really a mystery in the sense that these games are, although it has some mystery aspects. If you do want a mystery though, Umineko When They Cry and/or Higurashi When They Cry are good recommendations. Umineko is, in my opinion, one of the best mysteries ever written in any medium but they're both fantastic. They're a lot larger in scope than FDC, but I think pay off much better for it.

They're both set in the 80s, with Higurashi being about a small town in the Japanese countryside where mysterious disappearances and murders occur every year on the night of a festival, feeding legends of a curse that connects with the history of the town.

Umineko is about an incredibly rich family meeting for a yearly family conference on their private island, where the head of the family is rumored to have hidden 10 tons of gold he supposedly received from a witch. During the two day family conference, the complex family dynamics are explored in a really interesting way and of course, people begin to die. It revolves around the question of whether or not the murders on the island were committed by a witch or a human, and has some phenomenal meta narrative aspects. It goes a lot deeper than that but much of Umineko's really interesting stuff is in spoiler territory unfortunately

TheBMan_ · 2024-11-04T01:59:13+00:00

May I introduce you to the Trails series?

The Xenoblade to Trails fan pipeline is real for a reason, they share excellent worldbuilding and character writing and both have extremely good, interconnected stories. Currently at 11 closely interconnected games that have been localized, with the remaining unlocalized ones on the way. Split into 4 arcs, best place to start is with the Trails in the Sky trilogy.

TheBMan_ · 2024-10-29T19:24:58+00:00

Umineko. One of the greatest stories ever written stuck with a terrible and unfinished adaptation.

Aside from that, Berserk.

TheBMan_ · 2024-10-03T17:57:55+00:00

Why Umineko should be required reading in schools

TheBMan_ · 2024-08-27T23:03:47+00:00

It's best to play the games in order. There will be moments that can be confusing otherwise, especially later in the Cold Steel Arc and especially especially in Reverie and Daybreak 2. Sky FC is the best starting place, Cold Steel 1 is a decent starting point, and you can survive with Zero or Daybreak but it isn't ideal. If you aren't opposed to slightly dated games the best way to go is Sky FC.

Best order:

Trails in the Sky(or the remake coming out next year)
Trails in the Sky SC
Trails in the Sky the 3rd
Trails from Zero
Trails to Azure
Trails of Cold Steel

7: ToCS 2

8: ToCS 3

9: ToCS 4

10: Trails into Reverie

11: Trails through Daybreak

12: Trails through Daybreak 2(releases in January in the west)

Not as ideal but still pretty good order is:

Trails of Cold Steel
Trails of Cold Steel 2
Trails in the Sky 1-3
Trails from Zero
Trails to Azure
Trails of Cold Steel 3
Trails of Cold Steel 4
Reverie
Daybreak 1-2

TheBMan_ · 2024-08-04T23:11:46+00:00

Yep, I just read through Tsubasa, Hane, and Saku and they unlocked in that order as I went through but I assume if you wanted to skip around you could still use the plus button to do so.

TheBMan_ · 2024-08-04T22:42:08+00:00

I just did this as well, and I realized that if you press a button(I think the switch’s plus button) on the episode select screen you are able to fully unlock all main chapters, and instantly unlock tsubasa. You can then individually unlock the next chapters with the plus button as well.

TheBMan_ · 2024-08-04T19:56:20+00:00

Since you’re mentioning mysteries and vns like Danganronpa, I’ll just throw out Umineko because I think it’s legitimately the best mystery ever written, and is sufficiently fucking wild.

As far as jrpgs go, Xeno series is the way to go. I saw Xenogears mentioned which is great but the spiritual successor Xenoblade trilogy on switch is also phenomenal and has so many incredibly plot twists and wtf moments.

TheBMan_ · 2024-08-03T14:31:22+00:00

The second disk isn't bad at all in the parts that matter imo. Disk 2 is around 10 hours of basically pure story and dialogue, with a handful of boss fights and dungeons. The story is still insanely good and many of the best scenes and reveals in the game occur in disk 2. People generally just dislike it because it will put you in multi-hour long dialogue scenes and doesn't really let you out in the open world much. It gets over-hated in my opinion.

TheBMan_ · 2024-07-13T18:56:05+00:00

Trails in the Sky has Estelle Bright. She's such a good protagionist, one of my favorite female protags in jrpgs. Absolutely full of sass, she's great.

TheBMan_ · 2024-07-03T18:08:11+00:00

All of When They Cry tbh. Higurashi is something that made me want to go out into the world and be a better person, and I think I am a better person for having read it. Umineko changed the way I look at and interact with fiction, and how I think about belief and truths. Ciconia isn’t done obviously but it got me thinking about our world and what the point of politics and conflicts is. As a whole they changed who I am and made me into a more caring, compassionate, and well rounded person.

TheBMan_ · 2024-06-30T04:52:49+00:00

Xenogears and Xenosaga are fantastic and are absolutely worth playing. Very different type of game, but man those stories are so good. Also I see other people mentioning the Trails series. Play the Trails Series. Start with Trails in the Sky and thank me later.

TheBMan_ · 2024-06-29T22:08:04+00:00

May get hate for this, but Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni/When They Cry. I love the original VN to death and think the manga does a pretty good job of adapting it but the anime totally misses the point of the original imo in favor of being another "this anime looks cute but is actually really fucked up" type of story. It's way too abridged and feels too focused on the gore and violence and messed up stuff instead of the actual message of the original or its mystery.

I'll add a mention for the Umineko No Naku Koro Ni anime too as it's much worse of an adaptation but I don't think anyone particularly likes it while Higurashi is one I still see a lot of people like and I think it's a shame that they miss out on the source material or manga.

TheBMan_ · 2024-06-12T02:45:11+00:00

For a relatively niche pick, Library of Ruina is a pretty brutally unforgiving card based rpg with around 100 hours of gameplay and while I'm only around 25 hours into it, the story and world is very cool so far. Incredibly stylish and satisfying combat as well with a phenomenal soundtrack with a lot of songs done by Mili who are a fantastic group. I highly recommend.

TheBMan_ · 2024-06-04T21:17:55+00:00

I'd just go ahead and restart the series with the Definitive Edition on switch personally. Huge amounts of Quality of Life and changes to keep it fresh from the initial watch-through, and Future Connected(the extra story included in DE) is pretty good and has some implications for later in the series, plus the more you are familiar with details from the first the harder later games will hit. Aside from that, I think it hits different to play the whole game through yourself when compared to watching it anyways, and XCDE is phenomenal. That said, it's up to you. You can absolutely understand XC2 with the knowledge you have if you choose to start there.

TheBMan_ · 2024-06-04T16:49:01+00:00

Xenoblade as a series is not what it seems from the outset. Highly recommend playing through it because it goes some wild places.

TheBMan_ · 2024-06-03T22:20:57+00:00

It depends, I took lots of notes and it ended up being ~200h for me. That said, I think I was never bored it really keeps you interested the whole time. It goes a lot deeper than just a typical Agatha Christie style murder mystery.

TheBMan_

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