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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   3690 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 26, 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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Some extra Clair Obscur thoughts (I'm at the second Axon fight rn)

  • the party composition reminds me of adult-only VNs: there's a hard cap on one human male in the party to avoid accusations of NTR. Maybe this changes in Act 3 (I've seen cosmetics for party members I don't have yet), but don't spoil this for me
  • the Act 1/Act 2 changeover reminded me of D&D stories about players that only play one character build with different names. It's totally a different dude, he has a white forelock and a scar!
  • I feel like Sciel is missing her share of character development. She's just... there.
  • Gradient counters are my bane

I will need a different build soon, as the damage cap is spoiling my current approach:

  • Lune is there to put the initial burn on the enemy party, then heal when needed or use Mayhem (the one that burns all your taints)
  • Sciel exploits the burn with the skill that jumps to burning enemies and hits the remaining one next turn if necessary
  • Maelle doesn't use the skills or stances at all (other than the shield-busting one). I've put a bunch of Luminae on her basic attack (double strike, +50% attack, +50% attack on the first turn, +50% attack after a free shot, +Powerful on self, +Defenceless on the enemy etc) and gave her the rapier that applies burn, this allows her to deal 3-5k per hit and keep the enemy Defenceless and everyone else to deal 5k-9999 damage per skill hit, plus 9999 burn damage every turn.

The problem with this is that 9999 burn damage per turn used to be the reliable killer of everything, but the bosses are getting too tanky now. If Lune or Sciel run out of AP or are incapacitated, the damage output drops quickly. I could theoretically mod the game to have 99999 damage cap and keep burning, but I'd rather look for a new build that can reliably hit the damage cap on multi-hit skills.

As substantialfrivolity says, the damage cap can be removed later, but honestly I'm wondering why you're concerned. In Act 1 and 2, none of the enemies aren't really tough enough that you need to break the damage cap to win easily. If I had any criticisms of the combat in the game, it's that a lot of mechanics seemed to be balanced around post game and new game+, such that you never need to learn or use them in the course of beating the game's story.

I'm wondering because I've noticed a negative trend. I sometimes need more than two turns to plow through trash mobs.

UPD: After calming down I have rehashed my luminae and can now reliably eliminate trash mobs in one turn again:

  • Lune starts with 8AP and can either cast the highest level fire-all spell or shoot down fliers and shields and cast the regular fire-all spell
  • Maelle uses either her base attack if there's a tanky mob left or the skill that makes everyone Defenseless
  • Sciel uses either her multi-hit skill if there's a tanky mob left or the skill that propagates to burning enemies
  • anyone left standing dies to 9999 burn damage when they try to take their turn

The only potential annoyance is fire-absorbent mobs.

FYI, you get the ability to break the damage cap in act 3. So hang on to those big hit builds, they'll come back in usefulness.

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