5 Incredible JRPGs That Influenced Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Final Fantasy was already a well-established franchise by the time Final Fantasy IX dropped in 2000 for the PlayStation 1. It was a return to roots game that favoured the older Medieval-type settings over the high-tech romps of Final Fantasy VI, VII, and VIII. The game has the highest rating of the series on Metacritic, at 94/100 and it’s no wonder with it’s tight story-telling, compelling characters, nicely simple and yet enjoyable turn-based battle system and the ease with which you can acquire better weapons (yes, we’re all looking at you Final Fantasy VIII).

There are some nostalgic moments for the avid RPGers in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Some of the enemies look like they could have been pulled directly out of Final Fantasy IX, including a pod-type enemy that looks like Final Fantasy Ochu’s emotionally damaged big brother.

The world map traveling through airship acquisition, a staple of Final Fantasy but one that stood out in IX simply because of its complex lore and the diversity of the various areas, is also a recognizable influence in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The game, like Final Fantasy IX, encourages players to explore the world and find the extras by making fast travel an option that barely appears in the game. You have to really delve into Lumiere and feel the distance between the spaces to capture that more immersive experience.

#2: Blue Dragon

Sometimes, the talent goes sideways and that’s exactly what happened for Hironobu Sakaguchi when he found himself shifting away from Squaresoft (later Square Enix) and the Final Fantasy series to work on Blue Dragon with Mistwalker. Despite his side-step, it was obvious that the calibre of JRPG he had come from was in a league of its own and Blue Dragon ended up taking a lot of elements from the Final Fantasy series to implement into its own development. Is it any wonder that an ambitious project like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 would seek to do the same?

While elements of world building and the like can be seen to be influenced by Blue Dragon in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, it was really the character building systems and Field Skills idea that provided the fodder for what would become Clair Obscur’s QTE (Quick Time Event) system.

So far, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been praised heavily for the elegance of its turn based battles and the way that element of the game interacts and interlaces with the QTE. There is a cetain satisfaction to be had, after all, when learning the timings for an attack and then watching the character parry with that sweet dualshock vibration to let you know you’ve done it right.

#3: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was released in 2019 for Playstation 4, Windows and Xbox One and like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, this game is a joy to look at. It shares some of the oil painting rich style and has some gorgeous camera action so you won’t miss out on any of the breath-taking level designs. As with Final Fantasy, it’s wonderfully obvious that Clair Obscur has taken design inspiration from some of the random encounters you will find across Sekiro’s deadly paths though there is no Ochu to be found in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

But these components, worth noting, aren’t the biggest element that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has taken inspiration from. Sekiro took the bones of Dark Souls and Bloodborne, it’s predecessors, to perfect a unique battle system that included a timing method for parrying that is thrillingly replicated in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, with some important changes of course.

Sekiro put a lot of emphasis on it’s stealth elements and the reactions of its players to keep the game exciting and it pulled this off to a blinding degree. Clair Obscur does something similar, mixing the traditional turn based strategy with that much praised QTE system which means the player must always be on their toes in battle, just like the shinobis of old depicted in Sekiro’s captivating narrative.

#4: Lost Odyssey

A game about immortals is sure to have an impact on a pitch such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Lost Odyssey’s themes are steeped in the notions of life and death, what it means to grieve and the strain that can be experienced through living an immortal life. Its a solid parallel to Clair Obscur, particularly in the characters of Verso and Renoir.

Lost Odyssey is a more traditional JRPG and leans heavily into that though it does boast the noteworthy ring equipment system which allows the player to create multiple combinations of power boosts to supe up their party.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 relies on relics called ‘Pictos’ to provide those all important party steroids and like Lost Odyssey, it makes the player focus on efficient combinations to be made in relation to the enemy they’re fighting as well as the combined skills of the team. It’s an interesting spatial mechanic that adds to the flavour of the bonds the characters develop on their journey and that, too, follows Lost Odyssey as half the fun of that story lies in how the immortal characters interact with each other to form new bonds despite the tragedies of their long lives.

#5: Persona 5

You can’t talk about JRPG influences for any given game and not talk about at least one of the Persona series. For Persona 5 (2016), the story follows a young high school student who lives a typical life by day, then spends his evenings fighting within the minds of corrupt adults with the goal of, essentially, making them a better person. Not exactly your typical hang out with your friends playing video games or doing homework kind of pass time. The game has received consistently positive reviews since its release and then again with the immaculate re-release in the form of Persona 5 Royal in 2020.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s renaissance painting and distinct art nouveau aesthetic is remniscient of the care that went into the consistency of the style in the Persona series. Clair Obscur creates these beautiful brush stroke effects during combat that shift the pallete of the world around so that the player understands everything is a stylistic choice, much in the same way as Persona 5 with the utilisation of the combat animations to up that cartoon-like ridiculousness.

Persona 5 has a way of making the dungeons of the various adult minds the protagonist infiltrates seem particularly individualised and, similarly, the floating lanterns, the bitty landscape and the paint smudged Eiffel tower in Clair Obscur remind the player consistently that this world doesn’t exactly have to comply with physics.

An Astronomical Nod to the JRPG

As the first completed project for Sandfall and Kepler Interactive, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has absolutely knocked our socks off. The game promised visually stunning effects, smooth gameplay and a gripping narrative when the trailer released and it has not disappointed. With all of the above influences coming into play, it’s no wonder that this was set to be a breath of fresh air for those missing the more traditional elements of the JRPG while expecting some evolution to keep up with newer, more action oriented releases.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available on Playstation 5, Windows and X Box Series X/S now.