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A fun fact: The name “Obscur” in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 hints at the complex nature of the interface systems and mechanics.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has you leading a group of social media mages, fronted by the audacious British Daredevil, on a quest to reverse a global affliction that halts the natural aging process. It blends traditional RPG combat with action-game reflexes reminiscent of challenging titles, all presented with a unique visual style.

It has proven to be the biggest titles of the year, having garnered a huge player base and won Game of the Year accolades. The adventure can feel slightly intimidating at first, but after you grasp its systems, you’ll find a rich and fascinating experience that is quite unique from many others. Here are are ten crucial starting pointers for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Rotate Team Members Regularly

In Expedition 33, characters who are active during a encounter receive a significant 50% bonus to XP versus those not fighting. Furthermore, the narrative will sometimes mandate you to field certain characters. The simplest method to these challenges is to switch members often and aim to keep all characters at a roughly equal level.

The good news is that grinding is fairly fast. Fights provide a substantial amount of XP, frequently enough for a character progression after just several. You can respawn an local foes by taking a break at an checkpoint banner—these points are placed throughout each area. If you need to accumulate XP fast, simply fight enemies near a flag, refresh, and repeat.

Change Gear Often

The game features two main ways to provide passive perks to your characters: Picto accessories and Lumina skills.

• Pictos are items which provide attribute increases and also feature a constant effect. Each character can slot up to three Pictos. Once slotted, completing four encounters with a Picto unlocks its corresponding Lumina.
• Luminas function differently but essentially act as unlocked abilities. A party member has a number of skill points (which can be increased via items). Each Lumina has a required LP amount. As long as a character has sufficient LP, there is no limit can benefit from the same skill, allowing you to layer powerful passives across your full roster.

The optimal tactic is to always one of your characters is wearing any new accessory and wins the required fights to gain its Lumina. Doing this you’ll have it for later builds.

Should you not have new Pictos to level up, simply slot the Pictos with the best stats for your playstyle.

Parrying Isn't Your Sole Defense

Expedition 33’s key feature is its marriage of strategic battles with twitch-based defenses. That said, the opportunity to deflect is notoriously tight on any mode. Rather than frustrating yourself trying to hit perfect blocks, focus on evading.

Even though a perfect guard grants a resource and causes significant bonus damage, failing to parry yields no benefit. Luckily there are multiple accessories and abilities that restore Action Points on a well-timed evade. If you find parrying difficult, equip those evasion-based perks instead.

Break Is Your Greatest Advantage

Break is a battle-altering condition that can swing a fight. As you whittle down health, a gold meter fills up under their health bar. When full, you can stun the enemy, which slashes their defense by a significant amount and skips their turn for one full turn. It is the single most powerful condition in the game, but only particular abilities can cause it.

Level Up Deliberately

You have the option to reallocate attributes and skills using a rare item called a Recoat item. Given its scarcity, it's wise to think ahead before spending your stat investments. Try out a character's playstyle and chart a skill tree path beforehand.

Always Use the Checkpoint Flag

Using your tent at an checkpoint completely restores your entire party and restocks every consumables, including HP restoratives and phoenix down equivalents. Make it a habit to stop and heal up!

Checkpoints also function as the only means to navigation in the game. The game lacks a traditional map, compass, or objective markers. Instead, each flag has a designation. At a flag, you can access a log of your progress in that area under a navigation option. It's a basic yet helpful way to see how far you've come.

Paint Cages Are Consistently Worth the Effort

These special containers are effectively locked treasure chests that require you to discover and activate three hidden locks in the nearby environment before opening them. The contents is always valuable, such as rare resources or powerful weapons. The three locks aren't in plain sight, but they are usually within the same area. If you can't find one, try breaking objects or looking up.

Go Ahead and, Fight the Merchant

All vendors stocks a hidden special good that doesn't appear in their standard shop. To unlock it, you must choose one character and beat them in combat in a single combat. This proves to be worth doing, as these items are game-changing. The initial shopkeeper you meet, for instance, sells a Picto that applies the damage-increasing condition, which amplifies attacks against the foe by a significant margin.

Rely On the Automatic Saving

The game lacks {manual saving