Expedition 33 Is the Closest We'll Ever Get to Lost Odyssey 2
Inheriting a legacy.
There are a lot of games “inspired” by Final Fantasy — it’s one of the most prolific franchises in video game history, after all. But few games manage to take that inspiration further than aping mechanics or styles, but few games really understand the essence of what makes Final Fantasy so uniquely intriguing — its intoxicating mixture of character work, existential themes, and nitty gritty mechanics. In a way, even a lot of modern Final Fantasy games have lost that formula that made older games really shine. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the only RPGs in the last two decades to really tap into that well of classic Final Fantasy, and in particular, the strong design ethos established by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. It might even have more in common with Sakaguchi’s later works, like the cult classic Lost Odyssey.
What’s especially incredible about Expedition 33 is that it’s the very first game developed by Sandfall Interactive, a studio made up of largely former Ubisoft developers. After the game was announced, the team very publicly said they were inspired by the likes of NieR and Final Fantasy 8, but having played Expedition 33, it’s clearly more than inspiration — it’s an understanding of what makes those games tick.
There’s a real sense of mystery and intrigue to the world of Expedition 33, perfectly executed in the same way definitive games like Final Fantasy 7 did it.
At the core of every great Final Fantasy game is a central theme, a narrative centerpiece that everything else is built on. In Final Fantasy 9, this is existentialism and finding meaning in living. Final Fantasy 7 is ecology, the idea of taking from the land you live on without giving anything back. Final Fantasy Tactics is the idea of nobility, and how that’s tied more to spirit and morality than birth.
Final Fantasy games built their experiences around these themes, especially the games that Sakaguchi had a hand in (Final Fantasy I-X-2). While Final Fantasy narratives are mostly all heavily character-based, character plotlines are used to explore the central themes, and then compelling gameplay elements are woven in on top of that to make the minute-to-minute experience engaging and provide a buffer for players to have more time to absorb those larger themes.
Even after leaving Final Fantasy, Sakaguchi’s work still embodies this kind of formula, and Lost Odyssey still feels like perhaps the best realization of it. That’s exactly why Expedition 33 feels so remarkable — it's so in tune with the feeling and style of Lost Odyssey.
While it has a lot of whimsy, Lost Odyssey is a deeply tragic game about life’s nature of having to say goodbye to the people you love, while you live on.
The most important factor here is a little bit philosophical — a sense of melancholy. Both Lost Odyssey and Expedition 33 feature fantastic worlds filled with humor and wondrous sights, but the characters that inhabit those worlds grapple with a terrifying sense of grief and loss. In Lost Odyssey, you play as Kaim, an immortal man who’s lost countless loved ones over the centuries he’s lived — and small vignettes let you explore the sense of sadness and acceptance he’s found. In Expedition 33, that sense of loss is explored by The Paintress, who erases entire handfuls of people each time she paints on the Monolith.
But the idea of grief is so central to both of these games, in such integral ways, that it’s nearly impossible not to compare them. Both games explore that idea through both narrative and gameplay mechanics, permeating the entire experience with a sort of mournful tone. I’ve played hundreds of RPGs in my life, but Expedition 33 is the singular game that’s ever made me feel as deeply reflective and emotional as Lost Odyssey did — in a way that I almost can’t describe. There’s an intrinsic feeling that both these games share by weaving the fanatical with the realistic, masterfully executed by wonderfully written characters that go to some surprising places.
Of course, the comparison between the two can even go further than that, as Lost Odyssey seems to be where Expedition 33 took the most inspiration from in terms of gameplay. The obvious point is the combat system.
Lost Odyssey used the timing ring to add an element of interactivity to turn-based battles, letting you get damage boosts by timing it just right. This was extrapolated from the PS1’s Legend of Dragoon, which introduced a combo-like system known as Additions. Expedition 33 takes elements from both of those ideas to have its turn-based combat entirely revolve around active button prompts, Sekiro-like parries, and more. It’s those two games taken a step further.
Expedition 33’s combat directly builds on the legacy left by Legend of Dragoon and Lost Odyssey.
But even Expedition 33’s Lumina abilities system feels directly related to Lost Odyssey’s skill system. Across the game, you acquire items called Pictos, which teach characters skills after a certain number of battles. You can then unequip the Pictos and use Lumina Points to equip any number of skills you’ve learned. That’s remarkably similar to the way skills are imparted by accessories in Lost Odyssey.
On both a granular and bigger picture level, Expedition 33 feels undeniably reminiscent of classic RPGs, but finds remarkable ways to turn that feeling into something new and unique, forged by phenomenal performances and a relentlessly French aesthetic and style.
But more than anything else, that sense of melancholy is what sticks with me the most — the ways the game forced me to confront my own grief and the ways I deal with loss. Yes, it's all filtered through a fantastical lens, but there’s something deeply human about Expedition 33. After playing Lost Odyssey all the way back in 2007, I wasn’t sure another game would even make me feel the same way. I’m glad to be proven wrong.
