Of course, enemies benefit from this, too, instilling strategy in how one approaches a fight. These grant the ability to bolster your next attack by a percentage. See, in a mechanic that’s lifted straight out of Octopath Traveler, by exploiting a creature’s shortcomings, you gain Focus Points. Since there’s a slew of monsters, combat gets tedious as hell if not done. Well, Astria Ascending is, without a shadow of a doubt, the very definition of that.īefore I delve into gameplay, I make sure to display weaknesses during battle. For years, people have said “so close, but so far away” to describe almost achieving a goal. The seeds have been planted, but there’s an innate refusal to water them so they can blossom. I’m the type that eats up cheesy nonsense, so long as the narrative is tangible. It lacks nuance, and despite villages being dense in population, there was no soul. That’s what I want, but when dialogue feels heavily robotic and unreal, it’s a fast track to ensure that the player doesn’t care. Artisan Studios put forth a sizable effort to assure that it, at the very least, came across as lived-in. Yet, for whatever reason, Astria Ascending chooses to soak in mediocrity.Īgain, it’s indisputable that a considerable amount of effort went towards world-building. While shallow, it’s evident that thought went into everything, from races to lore. I know I’m a sack of redundancy for always claiming a game has potential, but, goddammit, this had potential.
The saddest part is that even the introduced mystery did nothing for me there was no intrigue. It’s, much like myself, met with indifference. A key contributing factor is that not even the characters themselves react to what occurs. Furthermore, any emotional impact that tragic in-game events strove for was nonexistent. I do appreciate the tries at humour, but I never chuckled, feeling indifferent. There are tiny glimmers of it sprinkled throughout, but it’s minute in the grand scheme. The character development is another thorn to this title’s metaphorical side. It’s the awkwardness of, well, everything to do with the literary side that’s at the forefront of half the issues in this game. Astria Ascending fails to nail that by repeatedly denying me any ounce of escapism. It doesn’t need to be fantastic, but a little charm goes a long way. Look, each genre has certain aspects that I seek out when approaching it to review.Ī JRPG begs for decent enough writing to carry it to its conclusion. That’s an immersion killer, and it constantly reminded me that this is a video game. Conversations were oddly structured, and there’s, at times, even a slight delay between bubble transitions. The entire narrative is disjointed, with pacing that bounced around like a kid on sugar. There’s no other way to describe it other than being frank – it’s terrible. But never fear! With a little patience, you'll soon get your party into perfect fighting shape.You know, maybe being a mortal isn’t bad.Ī significant drawback in Astria Ascending is the writing. This offers you a dizzying array of options and combinations, so much so that you might feel a little overwhelmed, especially since you can't re-select Jobs after they're assigned, which raises the stakes but also raises the game's replay value. Though character Jobs have been part of RPGs since the original Final Fantasy, Astria Ascending deepens this common feature by giving each character a base Job at the start of the game, and then allowing you to choose a main Job to specialize in and a secondary Job to provide more active skills for each party member. One of these complexities is its take on the Job system.
It features some gorgeous hand-drawn graphics, an involving and grown-up story, and a battle system that comes with several twists and complexities that build something new on the familiar turn-based foundation. Like Octopath Traveler or Bravely Default before it, Astria Ascending is the latest in the wave of classicist turn-based JRPGs that are competing for your time.
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