Non-RPG player plays Expedition 33 for the first time: 2nd entry (Lampmaster is FAIR and BALANCED*)

Context: I'm playing E33 for the first time despite that I don't like RPGs. The first entry is right here. Like last time, I won't read any comments until I finish it.

So the last couple of days I've been playing E33. Last time I was in a water world that looks like the Coral Highlands from Monster Hunter World, so this week, after two gaming sessions, I went from there to the final boss from a very dark cavern.

Despite that I'm liking the story and the characters, I have mixed feelings with the game, particularly the gameplay, the level structure and why this is an RPG. But, if you want a TL;DR version, is this: E33 is neat, but it didn't make me click yet. Also, I got stuck to a stupid boss.

About the cutscenes, I'm liking them more and more. I think the cutscenes help the actors move and act like characters. I don't know who the cast director was responsible for this, but they did a good job with the actors in the sense of giving them the material to work with. It reminds me of how Gooseworx directs the voice acting of Amazing Digital Circus. Last time I said I had some issues with the aspect ratio of the cutscenes, but in the last gaming session I had zero issues. There's a transition from game to cutscene that makes it organic, kinda like the cutscenes from Red Dead Redemption II, which is cool. One detail I like is that there's a moment that the aspect ratio changes to 4:3, which was a standard in film for decades, and it uses some black and white technique to make it look like a german expresionist film, so kudos to style.

Speaking about it, it was inevitable to mention Maelle's nightmares. At the time of writing this, she got two nightmares. One when she looks at the old guy and the other one when she's sleeping. I usually don't like that much build-up to a character because it usually ends up in a conclusion that's either baffling, generic or left so much to be desired for so much anticipation. When I first saw that lady with a mask, my first thought was "No, Maelle, I am your mother!" and she would go "NOO!!!". After giving so much time and pacing and attention to these nightmares, especially the second one, you gotta have a GOOD reason for this build-up, or it's not gonna be worth it. Hopefully it surprises me in a good way, because the only time when I was surprised by a story in an RPG (not counting the Fromsoft games) was in Earthbound, Undertale, Deltarune and nothing else. The rest are just excuses for teens to go save the world and face the final boss in a galaxy because they can breathe outer space I guess.

While the cutscenes are wonderful, I'm not too engaged in the nightmares because I might be disappointed with the reveal. I can easily imagine this going "turns out I'm your parent!" or "turns out you're a 12.000 years old goddess in the body of a human". But again, hopefully it's a good reveal, and not something you came up in a Dragon Ball fanfic.

Oh! Characters! I got Sciel in the group. She seems nice. I like how she talks with Gustave and how she reveals there's a neat friendship story behind these two. I love the dialogue of these characters. There's no equivalent of "I like ya attitude" or "It's Reyn time" or "seems like he wanted something meatier" or "WOAH, it looks like a doodaa over right thereee!". They talk like the writer wanted actual believable people in a story, not walking anime tropes that people somehow respect and maintain this weird status-quo of defending cultural voids in the videogame industry.

As cool as it gets, I have some issues. For some strange reason, despite that I have 4 people in the game, I have to use only 3 max. Why? Why do I have to limit myself to just 3 characters in a 2025 videogame? If Persona 4 and 5 let me have 4 fighters, why can't this game do the same thing?

While I like most of the regions, the autumn world is my least favorite, not only because of the level design (I had the impression it was a bit too long), but the music didn't help. Despite that the music in E33 is pretty good, I don't like the music in that world. The battle theme sounds like it was from a cologne commercial made by people who use TikTok, and the boss theme (the one with a shield with cannons) sounded like a Splatoon level. The vibes don't corelate to the overall tone of the game. Fortunately, the tournament after only lasted 5 minutes. If it was a Monolith Soft game, the tournament would have lasted 10 hours and it would require a serious grinding to advance in the story.

At the moment of writing this, I'm in a rainy world that looks like Elder's Recess from Monster Hunter World, again. I went into a cavern, I avoided a secondary boss (in the hard wayI must add) and I've found the Lampmaster, a mix of hands and lamps. I got stuck there. While I managed the fights well in the previous fights (especially the Grim Reaper that kills herself and gets armor somehow), I have issues with the boss. Despite that dodging is crucial, the game wants me to dodge in the dark, and I can't see shit. If the enemies had some rim lighting to highlight the enemies from the background, it would be nice. But it's too dark and, again, I can't see anything.

When I finally beat it, guess what: Second phase, and instakill because I didn't prepare myself. And take a wild guess: You have to go back to the beginning of the first phase.

I'm kinda glad I didn't say earlier that I absolutely love E33 in the last post, because shit like this can kill the mood.

Naturally, I had to take a break. If possible, I'll check a boss walkthrough video to predict the movement of the boss and dodge easier. One thing I can do is to parry the lamps, but I have zero patience with parries, especially when you HAVE to use headphones to read the enemy movement. All I'm saying is that an always changing pacing animation and a sound that goes brrrr-BRRRRRR makes it very hard to dodge, especially in the darkness. You need headphones 100% of the time or you'll lose. Because of that, a video would help a lot in terms of predicting the boss.

While I'm enjoying the story, E33's gameplay is a very huge wall that I have to climb to enjoy the story that's in the other side of the wall. I could turn the game to easy difficulty, but I guarantee some players will mock anyone who wants to play in easy. The gameplay can either elevate the game or destroy it. While I said the combat system is very approachable, the final boss made it less and less approachable, to the point where where I just had to use the tactic of destroying lamps, dodging and praying I don't get hit.

Hopefully this is the only difficulty peak in the game. Hopefully after this boss, I find somthing that makes me click. For 37€, it can't be that bad, right? It could be worse. It could be beating a game 6 times to finally beat it once and for all.

Like last time, so far I don't have a favorite character. I have a hunch who my favorite would be, but instead of saying it, I have my shield up to avoid disappointment. But I can tell you my favorite music themes in the game. "Spring Meadows - Nightfall", "Firecamp - Sciel" and "Firecamp - Lune". I had to check the soundtrack names in YouTube.

My favorite scene is still the gun scene from the beginning.

Anyway, take care everyone!

*The title is a TF2 reference to the line "random crits are fair and balanced". The joke is that it isn't.

PD: One comment I got was "get off this place, you'll be spoiled", but so far I haven't got into any kind of spoilers. Despite that the reception of the game was wildly positive and extensive, nobody spoiled me anything. If anything, the only thing they did was saying "play the game", like a Marlboro commercial that says "smoke" instead of explaining why this is so good, something I had to ask here a couple of months ago, because nobody bothered to explain anything, even if these things were obvious and wonderfuls strengths of the game.