Astria Ascending : The Honest Review
and based on what i've played i believe that astrid ascending should be near the top of your jrpg to-do list for this year
in an unexpected but welcoming collaboration developer artisan studios has partnered with satoshi sakimoto composer
of final fantasy 12 and vagrant story as well as kazushige nojima who has written several notable jrpgs including final
fantasy 10 and final fantasy vii remake after playing the first four chapters astrid ascending offers a lot to look forward
to even if it doesn't do anything out of the ordinary in general the environments and animations are drop dead
gorgeous across the board despite some unnecessary detail but its turn-based combat is where it is at its best with
each slash and blast oozing with charm where astria ascending defines its unique battle mechanics is with its focused
system by hitting your enemy's weakness you will gain focus points a party member can also use their turn to focus
and gain temporary points to help deal massive damage but focus points don't always go in your favor as you can lose
several at once if you attack an enemy who can absorb resist or nullify the damage type whether it be abilities
or a melee attack you can use up to four focus points dealing up to 200 strength while there are eight party members
throughout your journey only four are usable in a battle genre veterans know that this is relatively common when you
have more party members than what is allowed in battle but in austria ascending you can swap out up to your entire
party if you want to in a single turn and for good reason battles are more often than not a challenge where depending
on your situation you can see yourself in deep water even before your first turn begins thus encouraging you to
experiment with different groups of members to see which best finds you success in specific encounters regardless of
who is in your party or who is on the sidelines everyone gains the same amount of experience as long as they live
through the fight so there's seemingly little to no need for grinding to keep everyone on the same level this is the first
of a few quality of life improvements that astrid ascending brings to the table as a fan of the genre it is easy to
forget sometimes that turn-based jrpgs are not for everyone and can take a lot of work to get into so astray ascending
has implemented accessibility features for those who may not be familiar with the genre to ease themselves in for
instance enemies responding in dungeons can be disabled difficulty can be changed on the fly and there's even
a weakness indicator that can be turned on so you don't have to use an ability or play the guessing game to figure out
a threat's vulnerabilities of course many players will want to experience everything organically but having the options
for those who are newer or more casual with the genre to enjoy their experience in their own way is a huge win despite
how much i enjoyed the combat one notable admission was the lack of a turn bar displaying the order in which the
field would operate it isn't particularly a necessity as it doesn't hurt the gameplay's quality but it has been such a
useful feature in many modern turn-based jrpgs of the century that it seems odd that it's absent astrid ascending looks
really promising with based on what i've played so far great combat fantastic visuals and an interesting world to
explore but the latter is where i have my hesitations with these heroes chosen as demigods they are guaranteed death
3 years later do any of them take issue with being
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