In two of the most captivating turn-based RPGs to release within the past year,Metaphor: ReFantazioandClair Obscur: Expedition 33know what it means to make strategy count. Both have broadened the impact of how compelling turn-based combat can be, showing a level of care and nuance to their gameplay that makes battles consistently interesting. This could not have been achieved without thinking of how combat ties into their greater gameplay loops, and throughthe example set byMetaphorandClair Obscur, players can see just how much agency is put to the forefront. Character and team builds are a feat of creativity through their respective equipment approaches, demonstrating the merits of thinking tactically on and outside the battlefield.
Metaphor: ReFantaziobilled itself on the freedom of its Archetypes, and rightfully so. The game’s combat revolves around the versatility of its classes, the merits of which offer a breadth of strategy in how players coordinate their party. Characters are not bound by their starting class, and thus aren’t limited to one specialty, letting players experiment with character builds and team synergy, accentuated through synthesis skills that consider which Archetypes are on the field. This alone would prove a worthy spectacle of what turn-based can offer, butMetaphortakes things a step forward through its equipment, mirroringClair Obscur: Expedition 33’s approach to customization.
How Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Metaphor: ReFantazio’s Equipment Turn the Tides on Strategy
Strategy in Builds, Tactics Beyond the Battlefield
ThoughClair Obscurdoes not share inMetaphor’s malleable approach to character classes,it manages to evoke the same scale of customization by virtue of its weapons and Pictos.Metaphor’s weapons, armour, gear, and accessories operate on a similar wavelength toClair Obscur’s equipment through their emphasis on unique effects; both titles consider not just damage output or defensive capabilities, but how gear can change the course of battle itself. On surface level,Metaphor’s gear encourages covering elemental weaknesses or status ailments; past this, is the consideration of all types of strategic elements, from accessories that affect the press-turn system to weaponry that alters an attack’s affinity.
Unique Effects that Add Nuance to Combat
Metaphor’s equipment approach manages to be multi-faceted because it considers both unique abilities and the typical focus on defense, evasion, and offensive capabilities. Though its weapons are tied to theirrespective Archetypes, the malleability of accessories encourages strategy across the board; some require tradeoffs, while others allow the player to hone in on specific stats, going all in on agility and evasion-raising gear for a Thief Archetype, as an example.Clair Obscur’s Pictos and weapons consider the same nuances of its own gameplay, where weapons are tied to their respective users, but Pictos can be freely equipped, ensuring a level of agency that makes each player’s approach unique.
Approaching From a Different Perspective
The beauty ofClair Obscur’s weapons and Pictos, likeMetaphor, is in how they synergize with one another. Pictos can make builds centered on Base Attacks or even death viable; consider a weapon like Verso’s Dualiso, which allows him two turns if he uses a Base Attack. Pair that with the Free Aim system and Pictos that raise his Base Attack to two hits while applying Defenceless to the enemy and Powerful to himself, and the player can easily get his Perfection to almost S rank before the battle has really begun. Pictos like Auto Death are even viable when considering team synergy; having a Pictos that deals damage on death applied to two characters, and one character with several Pictos that buff on fighting solo, and there’s a strategy centered around wiping out most of the party on purpose.
The way thatClair Obscurconsiders status ailmentsnot just as a detriment, but a boon, is exceptional too. LikeMetaphor, some of its weapons and Pictos center on ailments, but not only through inflicting or setting resistances; a weapon like Maelle’s Stalum purposefully stacks Burn on her to increase the damage she deals, while a Pictos that applies Inverted can increase a character’s damage exponentially at the tradeoff of not being able to heal for the first three turns. Neither weapons nor Pictos are ungenerous in what they can offer, and the fact that they are so plentiful throughout the game is proof of the depth in strategy thatClair Obscuroffers. ThoughMetaphorandClair Obscurtake inspiration from the trailblazers of the RPG genre, they have already become inspirations of their own, setting the stage for even more nuance in what turn-based games can offer.
