For much of the game's first half, foes constantly slip through their fingers, even after hard-won boss fights.
Then again, having spent several hours in the company of these so-called heroes, I am beginning to understand why the local populus keep tutting and wagging their fingers at them. Heck, you're all called demi-gods, for crying out loud. It's a move they've pulled straight out of Super Neptunia RPG, but while Neptunia's youth and inexperience might have held the fantasy together back then, here you're a party of eight-strong legendary warriors, chosen heroes lauded for their prowess in battle and supernatural abilities. With Astria Ascending, the only thing standing in your way is a lone NPC telling you, "This area's too dangerous right now, I can't let you pass." You can spend turns 'focusing' to help increase your attack power, but a more fruitful method is to exploit enemy weaknesses. You know, a nice fallen tree or hot wall of fire. Most JRPGs have a bit of level-gating here and there, but usually have the decency to make it at a bit believable. What's more, on the off chance you do find an exit you're not meant to yet - you'll be revisiting these identikit locations multiple times, after all - the way Astria Ascending stops you progressing is so tonally dissonant that I was tempted to chew the thumbsticks off my controller in a white hot rage (I would have opted to smash my face into my keyboard, but mouse and keyboard support wasn't available in my review build). If you thought finding the right exit on terra firma was hard enough, wait until you encounter the large airborne kingdom of the Archipelago, where walls and partitions simply don't exist.
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It's just about manageable for the first half of the game, but when you're given free roam of the map later on, it becomes a real kick in the teeth.
The problem is that every panel is just as featureless as the last, and the marker indicating your current position always remains in the panel's centre, making it hard to tell where you are in relation to its maze-like warren of doors and treasure chests. Since the world is entirely 2D, each section of the map is laid out a bit like a layered diorama, with doorways in overlapping panels connected by blue dotted lines. Instead, the greater challenge comes from trying to decipher Astria's next to useless map. Later, you obtain a special ring that lets you plonk down rock statues of yourself to activate switches or reach even higher ledges, but that's about as challenging as it gets. There's also a mild platforming element to it as well, although beyond the odd crumbling wood panel you're mostly just jumping over simple gaps and up ledges. Like Neptunia, this is a 2D sidescrolling RPG where towns and dungeons are all navigated by running left and right. If you've played Artisan Studio's previous game, Hyperdimension Neptunia spin-off Super Neptunia RPG, Astria Ascending will no doubt feel eerily familiar. Between its bewildering, colour-swap dungeons, cringeworthy voice acting and uneven focus on its large cast, Astria Ascending stumbles before it ever has the chance to soar. Colombian RPG Cris Tales managed it, so why not Astria Ascending?įrench Canadian developers Artisan Studios have certainly tried hard to fulfill J part of this Japanese-inspired RPG, acquiring the talents of Final Fantasy XII composer Hitoshi Sakimoto and Final Fantasy X writer Kazushige Nojima to bolster their small team, but even these big name veterans can't salvage this game from the depths of its own tedium.
With its lush visuals, intriguing character designs and often engaging turn-based battle system, this handsome hand drawn adventure could have been a surprise dark horse to rival recent JRPG greats such as Tales Of Arise and Bravely Default II. On the face of it, Astria Ascending should be right up my street.
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