Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — Is It Worth Popping the Gestral’s Balloons?

Clair Obscur Expedition 33

Clair Obscur Expedition 33

During your time in Verso’s Drafts, one of the DLC’s most whimsical yet mechanically demanding side encounters revolves around Romanifo, a Half-Baked Gestral who proudly guards a cluster of floating balloons.

When you arrive, the game offers a low-key decision between walking away or meddling and dealing with the results.

While sparing Romanifo may feel like the gentler option, doing so locks you out of one of the strongest new Pictos introduced in the DLC.

What Happens If You Pop Romanifo’s Balloons?

Choosing to pop the balloons immediately escalates the interaction into an optional boss fight with a very specific ruleset.

Clair Obscur Expedition 33
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Credit: Sandfall Interactive

Romanifo is completely immune to all standard damage, including weapons, skills, and abilities.

Instead, the encounter is built around Free Aim shooting.

Destroying the initial balloon triggers a sequence where multiple balloons appear around Romanifo, and each one popped inflicts a massive chunk of damage directly to the Gestral.

However, the fight is unforgiving. If you fail to destroy all required balloons within a single turn, Romanifo will completely restore their health, forcing you to repeat the process from the beginning.

This mechanic has caused confusion among players, especially those encountering situations where balloon pops appear to deal no damage at all.

Community feedback suggests this may be tied to bugs, mods, or conflicting Lumina effects, and restarting the game or adjusting loadouts has helped resolve the issue for some.

When everything works as intended, the fight prioritizes preparation over brute force, favoring players who arrive with sufficient AP, Free Aim bonuses, and an understanding of the balloon spawn pattern.

What Do You Get for Beating Romanifo?

Defeating Romanifo grants the Trigger-Happy Picto, a standout reward that dramatically enhances Free Aim-focused builds.

Clair Obscur Expedition 33
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Credit: Sandfall Interactive

After landing ten shots in a single turn, Trigger-Happy grants additional AP and significantly boosts the damage of all remaining shots for that turn.

This makes it exceptionally powerful for rapid-fire or Machine Gun-style setups, especially when paired with other AP-generating effects.

Against the DLC’s tougher bosses, this Picto can turn sustained offense into a snowballing burst of damage.

The encounter doesn’t end quietly after the victory. Romanifo remains furious and, if you attempt to reconcile, retaliates by stealing 1,000 Chroma before leaving.

So far, it looks more like a narrative aside than the start of a full quest chain. The drawback is largely thematic, as the Picto’s long-term usefulness easily outweighs the short-term loss.

Ultimately, popping the Gestral’s balloons is absolutely worth it if you care about build depth, high-level combat efficiency, or experimenting with Free Aim strategies.

While the encounter can be punishing without proper setup (and occasionally frustrating due to technical issues), the reward more than justifies the effort.

Leaving the balloons untouched may preserve Romanifo’s feelings, but it also means missing out on one of the DLC’s most powerful and entertaining upgrades.

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