Clair Obscur - Low Level No Attributes (Expert Mode) Part 2: The Curator
5Challenge playlist:
• Clair Obscur Expedition 33 - Low Level No ...
First mandatory battle with Maelle in the party.
You can say there are two types of JRPG, one where everyone shares hand in dishing out damage and staying alive and the rest, where you have a single overpowered unit, causing the remaining roster to patiently wait and observe until the work gets done by a more proficient character. Maelle certainly seems to be up there, so to speak, with most players finding ways to 'break' the game with her and acknowledging her prowess even though similar things damagewise can be accomplished with much of the cast at certain points of the game with certain setups.
The fight against the mysterious curator is semi-scripted, with Maelle's actions being pre-selected. By the time she is controllable, the fight may well be over already. Partially, it's a tutorial to assist us in learning the jump mechanic as well as Maelle's battle stances. She has three skills, which are related to all three of her stances - offensive, defensive and virtuose stance; however, virtuose stance cannot be accessed until you allocate some points in the skill menu. We'll definitely need Swift Stride for the following battle, but this boss doesn't last long enough to require us to go into virtuose stance.
This being the second fight where the party is equipped with Pictos, we're only 25% of the way into learning our first Luminas that anyone can then equip if they have the points. What would normally happen several times in between the two boss battles now takes four boss battles in different areas to happen at all. That's the peculiarities of playing a low level game for you.
This battle is when I noticed my characters did all gain some HP after levelling up in the previous fight. Stats do rise, though you have some level of control and customisation in assigning the attributes to the characters, but that's one thing we're unable to employ in our challenge, so our HP is always going to be underwhelming, with the damage being especially atrocious on the Expert Mode difficulty.
The boss is extremely straightforward in that he spams the same jumpable move over and over again, and the timing for avoiding damage is very easy to get down. We do need to get hit at least once to prevent the 20% bonus to experience from kicking in, so I intentionally get hit towards the end of the fight instead of going for the counter. I use Overcharge to beat the boss all over again, and indeed it's such a powerful move at this point of the game, and Gustave's overcharge meter isn't at all difficult to fill up.
Voila (I sometimes say this when not playing Clair Obscur, too, mind you), Gustave and Lune have caught up with Maelle in level - all three are level 5. I can now master a bunch of skills that will make my future strategies more exquisite!