I certainly fell into the category of players who chose to grind, conquering numerous floors of the Endless Tower before stepping into the final act. Consequently, the ultimate showdown felt more like a victory lap than a challenge, though Broche maintains that Sandfall is generally satisfied with the outcome, stating it aligns with their broader goals.
The reasoning, he suggests, stems from honoring the genre’s roots. Expedition 33 is saturated with JRPG DNA, and Broche’s personal history with the genre—including a notoriously difficult experience with Final Fantasy 8—informed their decisions. For this specific balancing act, Final Fantasy 10 served as the blueprint: “If you look back at Final Fantasy 10,” Broche remarked, “if you put in the work to get overpowered, you can effectively one-shot the final boss.”
While I didn’t quite reach that level of absurdity, recent updates have seen the community push damage figures into the tens of billions. I may not unleash Maelle to that extreme, but it’s clear that this level of player agency is exactly what Broche and his team intended for their audience to discover.
Before its breakout success at recent industry events, Sandfall was modestly hoping Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 would secure a Metacritic score in the 80s.
Source: gamesradar.com
