In the realm of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, an ability known as Stendhal is set to receive its first nerf due to concerns over its overwhelming power, allowing players to deal around 4 billion damage, adequate to defeat the toughest in-game bosses multiple times over. The developers, Sandfall Interactive, initially did not plan for any balance adjustments so soon but acknowledged the need after witnessing the sheer effectiveness of this skill.

“We hadn’t planned to make any balance changes this early, just bug fixes, unless something clearly stood out. Well, Stendhal did.”
“No habíamos planeado hacer ningún cambio de equilibrio tan pronto, solo correcciones de errores, a menos que algo se destacara claramente. Bueno, Stendhal lo hizo.”

Players found a means to synergize Stendhal with various skills and equipment, achieving an unmanageable damage output. While it initially seemed underperforming during testing, a significant buff before the release inadvertently resulted in instabilities in the game’s balance.

“It was underwhelming for most of development, so in our final pre-release balance pass, we gave it a big damage boost—and clearly overdid it. It ended up overshadowing most other options.”
“Fue decepcionante durante la mayor parte del desarrollo, así que en nuestro último ajuste de equilibrio antes del lanzamiento, le dimos un gran aumento de daño—y claramente exageramos. Terminó opacando la mayoría de las otras opciones.”

Although players like the freedom to break the game with such powerful builds, Sandfall acknowledges that adjusting Stendhal is essential to maintaining gameplay integrity and excitement. Following the planned nerf, Stendhal will still be a strong skill but will better align with the game’s overall combat experience.