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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   2417 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for April 25, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Playing the new French turn based RPG Expedition 33 - 5 hours in and it is fantastic. A breath of fresh air while also melancholic from the JRPG perspective.

Last game I played like this was Yakuza (three games ago I believe - so 3-4 years since they cranked out a sequel and pirate sequel that I just don’t have time for) which I finished and feel fondly of.

I must be a sucker for turn based JRPGs.

I'm very concerned about the comments I saw that the dodge and parry QTEs are super punishing if you fail them, to the point that many enemies will one-shot characters in that case. When the developers said they wanted to have that timing element, I imagined something like Yakuza or the South Park games - if you hit the timing right you get a nice bonus, but it's not essential. But from what others have said it sounds far more critical than that.

I'm very concerned about the comments I saw that the dodge and parry QTEs are super punishing if you fail them, to the point that many enemies will one-shot characters in that case.

I read some reviews that gave me the same exact fear before trying the game out. "Oh no, it's like dark souls, except you get 1-shot if you miss a dodge"!

I'm playing on the hardest difficulty right now, about 40 hours in and there have been 2-3 fights where I felt the game really expected me to hit every single dodge. All of them optional and doable without dodging if you come back later or use specific skills. For example, I just finished off a relatively secret miniboss who is immune to fire (my entire party was specialized for fire/burn). He has a mechanic that heals him for a massive amount if he hits anyone and you're clearly supposed to dodge 100% of his moves. I missed half the dodges and still killed him on my second try, without overlevelling or cheesing him in any way. It was a challenging, exciting fight that never went into "frustrating" territory. Almost every encounter past the first few hours is like this.

Initially, the game is tough because you have very few tools. Afterwards, you get a ton of options, skills, heals and resurrects and difficulty drops off significantly. Increasing the health stat helps immensely as well (all heals are percentage based, so increasing health both buffs tankiness and healing efficiency).

Overall, I think it's a phenomenal game and would recommend it to everyone.

Thanks for your recommendation. I decided to give the game a go (since it is only $45 after all). Worst case scenario... I've spent worse money before. But hopefully I enjoy it.

Let me know what you think afterwards.

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