At least post some screenshots anon. I thought this was some sort of dating simulator. It's some sort of western action JRPG by the looks of it. Is it fun?

>>1130 >At least post some screenshots anon. I thought this was some sort of dating simulator. I wanted to feature some of the nice fanart that's been made, but out of all the options, the only art that doesn't have some kind of spoiler are character focused pieces like the ones I included. I took a few screenshots of my own as I played, but those are pretty much all spoilers too. >It's some sort of western action JRPG by the looks of it Yes, it's pretty much a JRPG made by French devs who were inspired by games like Final Fantasy. Your team for battles consists of 3 characters, and as the story goes on and the team grows, you can choose which combination of characters you want to use in battle. Turn order is determined mainly by a Speed stat. There is an elements system that affects all characters, but each character has a unique weapon and a unique gimmick that affects how they attack. Here is an example of what I mean, spoilered just in case you want it to be a surprise when you play the game. Though it is about one of the characters you see in trailers, so you may have seen gameplay already: Maelle is built around the Stance system. She starts a battle Stanceless, which gives no bonuses and no drawbacks. When she uses a skill, depending on which one it is, she can go into a Defensive Stance (where she deals less damage but takes less damage from attacks), an Offensive Stance (where she deals and takes more damage), or Virtuoso Stance (where she does a ton more damage). Maelle can't stay in the same Stance for two turns in a row, she must go from one to the other or she just goes back to being Stanceless. For example, if you go into Offensive Stance, you want to try and use a skill that brings her into Defensive or Virtuoso. There are Skills that cost AP to use and skill trees where you purchase skills and choose which ones you have equipped at any time. And on top of all of that, there are items you can equip to each character that affect how they perform in battle. There are a lot of opportunities for customization. >Is it fun? Yes, it is. Gameplay is clearly optimized to be easy to use without being oversimplified. Battles are not based on random encounters, so you can sneak up behind enemies and start battles by attacking them, making things feel smoother and less irritating for many players. Since each character on your ream is unique, you have to think about how you approach enemies, but once you get familiar with everything, you can almost autopilot through the easier battles. The menuing is satisfying and easy to use. You don't scroll through a list of attacks and choose one, instead you just push one or two buttons on your keyboard/controller after moving the cursor onto the enemy you want to attack. The animations are detailed but not to the point of being distracting; characters grimace and stand differently when they are at low HP, for example. They also yell out to each other by name to warn about incoming attacks, which can be sort of helpful if the incoming attack is slow, but it mostly just provides atmosphere and makes the game feel more alive. You can run outside of battle as much as you want, as there is no stamina bar. They clearly made efforts to ensure playing the game wouldn't feel annoying or tedious.

>>1130 Excuse the doublepost, but I forgot to mention another fun aspect of the game: the dodge/parry system. Unlike other JRPGs, you dont have to take damage from attacks. If you dodge or parry the attacks, which requires the right timing, you can nullify incoming damage. Parry the attack perfectly and you can perform a counterattack. It's an engaging way to keep players focused on the battle at all times and add tension.

>>1130 >>1143 >Action JRPG >inspired by Final Fantasy This doesn't play like FFXV and NuFF7, does it?

>>1145 Nope, it doesn't. You move your character in a 3D environment and initiate battles by hitting enemies in that environment, but once the battle starts, everything is controlled by menu selections. The action part comes from the active role the player has to take with dodging and parrying, which requires correctly timing button presses. Also, firing off an attack requires the player to do a simple QTE, but its the same one every time, and you do damage even if you mess it up.

>>1147 Ah, so it's a timed hits/block/parry/dodge system like Paper Mario and Shadow Hearts. Sounds fun.

>>1152 Yeah, Paper Mario TTYD is actually a pretty good game to compare the combat to.

>Look up a torrent >40 fucking gigabytes I haven't played a single new long-length realistic 3D game made after 2010-2012 because of this. That hasn't changed even after I managed to scrounge up a half decent PC

>>1181 >I haven't played a single new long-length realistic 3D game made after 2010-2012 because of this. Should I mention that FF13 was 40 GB in 2009? Or does that end up proving the point because FF13 is a 60-70 hour game while E33 is a 30 hour game?

>>1182 >while E33 is a 30 hour game? My playthrough was 70 hours. I didn't spend time trying to 100% all the items or grind to max level or anything. All of this time was spent doing the main story and the optional content (that adds to the story and gives very useful items). So I wouldn't say 70 hours is inflated too far beyond the dev's expectations. I actually explored the map they put together, and there were even a couple things I didn't do. If someone just stuck to the main story, it's difficult to say, but it would likely be more than 30 hours.

>>1182 Well I think the last game I played was Portal 2. That was 5 gigabytes and released in 2011. It's been all indie games since then.

>>1184 I forget, why did people hate Portal 2? Was it just the humor or something? Hipsterism because normalnigs liked it and kept going "the cake is a lie"? Seemed fine to me, and co-op puzzles were fun.

Doesn't seem to have any DRM free options. Tried pirating it and running it in a bottle, but I get a fatal error crash on startup every time even after installing all dependencies. Doesn't look like I'm gonna play this one, which is a shame because I like timed hit systems. However, the game just appears average and is probably just hyped up because standards have fallen so much, so I'm probably not missing out on much.

>>1191 >Doesn't seem to have any DRM free options. Tried pirating it and running it in a bottle, but I get a fatal error crash on startup every time even after installing all dependencies. That's a shame, hopefully a solution is found someday. >the game just appears average There have been anons who have said the same, and I really think it depends on how far you get in the story/how far you watched someone else go in the story. Because before certain events happen and certain facts are revealed, the story can seem pretty average. Even taking that into consideration, the overall themes have certainly been done before: family, protecting your home city, securing the future, defeating a big bad enemy, a mission with a low survival rate, etc. But the fact that the writers don't try to reinvent the wheel while delivering their clear messages makes the story enjoyable. There are certainly instances of symbolism and foreshadowing, but the writers don't put the player on some metaphysical, psychedelic trip that requires a 30 minute lore explanation video to wrap your head around. >probably just hyped up because standards have fallen so much I'm not involved enough with social media to know exactly why the game has garnered a lot of hype in those places. But maybe people have been thirsty for a game without a lot of the typical propaganda that is in games nowadays, whether they realize it or not. So they found E33 to be pretty refreshing.

>>1191 >which is a shame because I like timed hit systems Have you tried Resonance Of Fate or Time And Eternity? >>1194 >But maybe people have been thirsty for a game without a lot of the typical propaganda that is in games nowadays, whether they realize it or not. So they found E33 to be pretty refreshing. That is pretty much the reason and the justification. It's even why Bear Sex 3 won GOTY despite being rather mid, even compared to the previous BG games.

>>1198 >Have you tried Resonance Of Fate or Time And Eternity? No. Though I do like timed hit systems they seem pretty rare. Most of my experience with them is from the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi series, and some other JRPGs that I had blind faith as a child that I would do a little extra damage if I hit the X button right as an attack connected. I tried playing Shadow Hearts via emulation once, but I got all the way to the top of the tower and then there was a consistent freeze when loading the next cutscene, and I haven't had the motivation to try again years later since my saves are long gone.

As many of you have probably heard by now, Expedition 33 has been nominated for several categories at The Game Awards 2025. These include: <Best Game Direction <Best Narrative <Best Art Direction <Best Score and Music <Best Audio Design <Best Performance (Benn Starr, Jennifer English, and Charlie Cox) <Best Independent Game <Best Debut Indie Game <Best RPG And of course Game of the Year , going against Death Stranding 2, Donkey Kong Bananza, Hades II, Silksong, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II None of this comes as a surprise, given how popular the game has been on social media and among the normalfag gaming crowd. It is pretty impressive that 3 out of the 6 voice actors for Best Performance are from E33, though. Which categories will the game win? Is it a strong contender for GOTY? Will you be voting for the game in any of these categories (even though audience choices only count for 10% of the final decision)? The game is also one of the options for GOTY for the Steam Awards. Do you think it could win there? Or in any of that competitions categories?