Featured image from KeenGamer

Sometimes, it can be hard to find proper inspiration for a project. I have lots of tiny, disparate ideas here and there, but I can never quite create a vision in my head clear enough to act on. Recently though, I had the chance to play a new game, and a couple ideas finally clicked together for me enough to start a small experiment.

I frequent LinkedIn a lot these days, not because I necessarily want to be there, but it’s the one place I post updates on work to make sure I stay somewhat relevant to potential employers who might catch a glimpse and take a peek – I also have that weird social media style addiction of posting and obsessively checking for validation – It’s why I got rid of most other socials. While I still feel like I can stave off the tide of AI from convincing me to betray the craft of a good, honest, homemade spaghetti code… I still need to get SOME eyes on my work, and try and keep up a good network. Who you know is still half the battle!

Because of all this obsessive checking, I get an algorithm, which has been tailored specifically to make my cortisol spike with all the posts about how AI is great actually. There’s a certain righteous Ted-talkiness of every little post about business where “W is not just X. It’s not even Y. it’s actually Z, and that’s a game changer” that has started to really bolster my cynicism.

And in this milieu is where I first heard of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

I’ll admit, I was a no-good internet contrarian about the whole thing. I saw the manner in how it was talked up, I got this idea in my head it was another big AI or blockchain style grift for no good reason other than my own biases, and made sure I kept myself too-cool-for-school to learn more about it.

Of course word eventually gets around, I hear good things from friends, and my wife even gets it. I now know it’s the real deal, but I suppose my pride stops me further. Eventually though, I catch a glimpse of the combat. I see her do parries, dodges, and QTEs to boost attacks. The neurons are activated, this is my favorite kind of RPG mechanic. I love Paper Mario action commands and perfect dodges. the Wind Waker roll parry is super fun. I love Mother 3’s rhythm combo system. I love the quick thinking and precision of the bigger boss battles of Mischief Makers.

This is my game. It was made for ME.

I eventually get to play it, and I gotta say, I love it. It’s fun to figure out the timing of the parries; challenging but not unfair. It’s quick and snappy to get into battle, it’s quick and snappy to DO battle, the QTEs are easy to not miss but even more fun to master. The writing is fun, the balance of attack types in your party is fun, and I love the normal-sized-people-in-a-miniature-map hub world.

I had been kicking some “how could one actually do that?” questions about RPGs around in my head at the time, but I suddenly had even more inspiration to decide to actually figure it out, and learn some more about Unreal that I’m behind on as a bonus – so started my quest to make the “master study” this is all about!