Astria Ascending: Video Game Overview

Astria Ascending – Japanese RPG created by a real dream team. Universe and plot invented Kadzusiyge Nodzima (Kazushige Nojima), Writer Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X. Character design is responsible Akihiko Yosida (Akihiko Yoshida) and Hydeo Minaba (Hideo Minaba) who worked on the heroes in the same series Final Fantasy, as well as in Nier: Automata and Nier Re [in] Carnation. Finally, the game sounds music Hitoshi Sakimoto (Hitoshi Sakimoto) Writing Soundtrack for Final Fantasy XII and Vagrant Story. Everything else did Artisan Studios, Previously created Super Neptunia Rpg. So what problems are concluded Astria Ascending – Games that seemed to be doomed to success?

Gorgeous eight doomed

At first Astria Ascending Makes an excellent impression. It looks exactly how the game of the bellows, drawing and wringing for the series Final Fantasy. Here, the juicy paints drawn by hand panoramas, a few hypertrophied, but stylish characters – felt author’s handwriting.

I want to admire the starting locations – so beautiful and finely drawn.

Astria Ascending Definitely one of the most beautiful JRPG for today. And the variety of locations, where autumn forests are replaced by red ruins, only emphasizes this impression.

Autumn here almost like in St. Petersburg.

The setting itself and the tie at first too please our non-standard approach. At first glance, it is just an ordinary. The world called Orcanon (Orcanon) threatens the danger, and the local superheroes must save it – a team of eight so-called demigods, each of which represents one of the races of this colorful universe. And races and characters come across interesting – there are, for example, sea dwarfs, dressed in the like diving helmets;huge and strong men resembling a mix of man and beast;sophisticated bird-birds;even reasonable … Ostrich.

Here they are, our demigods. And on the right – the enemy with another boss.

Happiness and harmony in this world are built on regular use by residents of magical fruits called Harmelon (Harmelon). The demigods are chosen from the strongest representatives of their race, are endowed with even more powerful abilities, almost invulnerability. And after three years they die (the body simply does not withstand the loads) and inferior to the next team. So each of them is called the doomed eight.

As you can see, beauty, happiness and harmony in Ocarkone there is a second side and everything is not easy here. Many children grow horrified by the awareness that they can become such a demigod, which every race actually brings to sacrifice. But they carry the service properly. True, with a permanent awareness of the flow of life – at the time of the start of the game, our eight remains exactly three months. This imposes a shade of sadness to what is happening – we show us how the characters left the native land, as they were killed and their favorite girls.

One of the Flashbanks. On the left – our winged transport.

In search of vulnerabilities

Naturally, sooner or later in such a situation, something had to go wrong. It went – Monsters attacks began, some began to refuse to eat Magic Fruits Harmelon. Even the statues of saints that can and should be praying, rebelled and turned into very complex bosses.

To understand with all this accounts for the 333th brigade of the demigods. Everything is traditionally – we take the main and side quests, we go on the world map or on topical express in the fields that are subject to stripping, we return to the capital to restore mana reserves (only health is regenerated in combat locations), buy new equipment and consumables.

Equipment can also be found in chests during the study of the world.

Studying combat expansion passes in a two-dimensional platformer mode, where to some chests and passes need to stop still. And the fights themselves are made in a JRPG step-by-step format. True, with the exception that at any time you can change each of the fourths of attackers on fighters from the reserve. And this is useful, because the enemies are strong, have a vulnerability or resistance to a certain type of natural damage, and also actively use skills and magic – so, can cancel our witchcraft, blind or force us to attack their own.

Some skills make it possible to turn enemies to the tokens for a mini-game that refers to the early Final Fantasy.

Therefore, it is necessary to change the fighters, focusing on the situation and on the peculiarities of our wards. Each of them is unique in its own way – refers to one of the classes, uses his skills and spells. And everyone is available to choose from four professions, which open access to new groups of abilities: Some improve the characteristics, others give active combat receptions, third – support skills, help, for example, find hidden chests. We pump them for glasses, obtained on new levels, as well as for special star cards.

Professions, like skills in them, open up gradually and actually work as prestige classes.

Many skills are focused on applying a spontaneous damage. Therefore, it is very important to determine the vulnerability of opponents. If we use the right attacks, then we accumulate focus points that allow you to raise damage. And if, on the contrary, the enemies are stable to them (and even instead of obtaining damage begin to be treated), then the focus is lost. It is not surprising that especially powerful actions like an appeal to our side of strong allies just require focus points. Then other special attacks and combo are opened, which are activated when filling in a special scale.

Designed creatures are able to solve the outcome of the fight al1.

Difficult, slowly happening

Picture and battles – the main arguments Astria Ascending. Fights here are complex and demand to use all the possibilities even at the normal level of complexity – you need to pump out on time and study the skills, choose the profession correctly, keep the party and so on. I started the game at a high level of difficulty, and eventually moved to “Normal”. Otherwise, it would have to make even more Grindom – the enemies are reborn after entering the card. In addition, difficulty can be flexible to configure, adjusting, for example, the volume of experience gained by the active composition and reserve.

And we, and opponents are able to impose a lot of positive and negative statuses.

The problem is that, despite all this, quickly becomes boring. Slow battles – to speed them up. The plot is also developing in a turtle rate, as well as the relationship between the demigods, which were clearly developed before us – because of this, we just don’t feel an emotional connection with them for a long time. Scene quests are usually straightforward – go there, check out what is the trouble again. Some characters are voiced weakly, as-scenes are often short and primitive, dialogues are the same.

Enemies are expressing extremely concise.

The most offensive, as in the plot, and in the relationships of the characters there are strong, emotional, adult moments, but they need to do. The authors seek us: “Here you love big JRPG, so play 50 hours, overcome and wait”.

And in principle, it would be possible to suffer. But the problem is not only in the story rhythm. The process of studying the world and stripping locations is also boring. It, as a rule, is numerous runs after one and a half – two approximately the same screen from one door to another. And there is no place of terrain – it is difficult to navigate.

All this is accompanied by primitive platform exercises, which were introduced as if for a tick in a press release.

Watching, we will not die and do not lose anything.

Yes, sometimes there is a kind of mysteries when you need to use artifacts to activate the runes or raise the water level with platforms and move on them to the other side. But the keyword here is “sometimes”. In some places, at first, do not get, but do not wait for special joys for the Metriculum connoisseurs: as a rule, we will simply say that it is not dangerous and so far there.

Even the decision of the puzzle resembles the work of art.

Astria Ascending is a very beautiful JRPG in a non-trivial setting and with an excellent combat system, but all its potential for me was destroyed by the sluggish development of the plot, as well as boring, not particularly comfortable process of studying the world. Although if you like trials, difficult fights and grind, then you can try. Just remember – on PC without gamepad play almost unreal.

Pros: Non-trivial world with colorful races;Interesting tie;deep enough role and combat systems;difficult battles;Gorgeous picture and stylish characters design.

Minuses: Outside the charming gameplay is boring;fights sometimes tightened;The plot develops slowly;For the characters for a long time you do not feel any feelings;There are no elementary amenities like a mini-card in dungeons and acceleration of battles.