It's a feeling all too familiar to JRPG players. You were diligent, leaving the main road whenever possible and completing every side quest. However, upon returning to the main story, you'll find that everything is now comically easy. It's a common problem in games where enemies don't scale with the player, and there isn't really a solution other than having boss mechanics that aren't tied to numbers – something you're unlikely to find in the genre.
I definitely felt this phenomenon while playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, where the main story bosses felt noticeably easier than the side dungeon bosses. That's one of the gripes of lead game designer Michel Nohra, who revealed one of the game's few flaws in an interview with Edge Magazine (via GamesRadar+).
Underestimating players
“My only regret is that I didn't make it more clear that if you wanted the intended difficulty for the boss, you had to beat it now,” Nohra explained. “Often people don't want to finish the game, so they do all the side content before they finish, because once the story is over, you usually have less incentive to do the side content.”
It's an immutable fact of gaming – doing side content AFTER the climactic battle or resolution of a conflict in the game just isn't the same. You lose the feeling that you're preparing for the last moment, and the side content starts to feel less impressive as a result. Of course, this doesn't include post-game content, as that often builds narratively on the outcome of the main story.
“It's something I underestimated that made people want to feel a little let down after a tough boss fight. I don't regret doing it the way we did, but [we could have] had more explanation for your choice in [Act 3].”
There are two final boss fights in Expedition 33, but neither is particularly challenging for players who invest time in the side content.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Is The Next Baldur's Gate 3
Sandfall Interactive has created an RPG that will soon become a modern classic.
Lead programmer Tom Guillermin believes it was humility that led Sandfall to balance the main story in the way we see in the game.
“We weren't sure if our game was going to be that good,” Guillermin said. “And if not, maybe people just want to see the story and go straight to the end of the story. So that was a surprise for us [that] people did every single thing there is to do in the game before going to the final dungeon. We're glad for that, but we didn't see it coming.''
Still, the insurmountable final challenge doesn't undermine the beauty of the game as a whole. After all, I remember shooting Alduin once under the fizzing skies of Sovngarde, and I don't think it affected how much people loved Skyrim.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Released
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April 24, 2025
- ESRB
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Older 17+ / Blood and gore, violent language, obscene themes, violence
- Developers
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Sandfall Interactive
- Publishers
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Interactive Kepler
