Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 creative director Guillaume Broche thinks that “games that try to be perfect” often end up “really boring” – and despite his RPG winning countless awards last year, he thinks it includes plenty of “imperfections” that add to its charm.
Speaking in a new episode of Konbini’s Video Game Club on YouTube (below), Broche talks about loads of his favorite games and influences, including the Devil May Cry series.
He thinks that the series’ first game is “a bit of a mess” when you look at Dante’s love interest, Trish (who looks like his own mother), and the “cheesy lines” the protagonist is always saying, but Broche reckons “these games are really endearing” because they’re not perfect.
“You see their flaws, and you think to yourself, ‘Yeah, it’s lame, but I don’t care,'” he says, adding: “Games that try to be perfect, that try to fix all their flaws – they’re usually just really boring. My theory is that it’s just like people. People who try to be perfect are boring because they have no personality. Whereas people who embrace their slightly weird side – in the end – are the interesting ones.”
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But what about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33? It might be a GOTY winner, but when asked about its quirks, Broche has plenty of examples, including its “unbearable” minigames, the fact that “you could get absurdly strong in Act 3,” and that some players could “breeze through the whole thing in one go and won’t see all the content.”
But to that, the devs simply thought: “‘Who cares? It’s just funny. That’s what we love about it.'” And, as Broche says, “the imperfections are part of the charm.”
I definitely think Broche has a point – I spent more time in the Only Up-esque Gestral Games climbing minigame than I’d like to admit, and it was agonizing, but looking back on my 70 hours in the RPG, making my way to the top of that ridiculous tower stands out as one of the highlights of the whole experience.
Personality is important, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has plenty of it.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead doesn’t “care” if his next game isn’t as popular as Sandfall’s GOTY RPG, because “we’re just going to do what we love again.”
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