Astria Ascending is a classic JRPG developed by Artisan Studios and published by Dear Villagers. It's chock full of pedigree, boasting an amazing score by Hitoshi Sakimoto from FFXII, narrative from FFVII remake's Kazushige Nojima and simply stunning art from CyDesignation's Akihiko Yoshida and Hideo Minaba, who have previously worked on both FF and NieR. That's a powerhouse of talent!
As soon as you launch the game you can see and feel the painstaking care and attention to detail that's been poured into this title over the last three years. Gorgeous is a word I've no doubt every review will probably have in it's first paragraph, rightly so as the artwork is simply beautiful. Hand drawn and animated characters, stunning backdrops and incredible character design are at it's core and run through the entirety of the game.
In Astria Ascending you take control of 8 Demigods. The demigods are chosen from the races of Orcanon to protect the balance and harmony of the world that is constantly under threat from "the noise".
The demigods are in effect, a sort of cross between fantasy superheroes and the replicants from Blade Runner; when appointed a demigod, they also have their lifespan reduced to 3 years, after that they're gone.....lost in time, like tears in the rain....
We join the story during the party's final three months of their lifespan.
The noise? Far from being an 80's punk ensemble from Nottingham, are creatures who sole purpose is to disrupt the harmony between the races of Orcanon. This tenuous Harmony is held intact partly as the result of the magical effects of a fruit called Harmelon and policing by the demigods.
Each character has their own story, explored across five cities, twenty-five dungeons and around thirty hours of gameplay. Along with the main story quest, there are a range of side quests and mini-games.
The game is played out completely in 2D.... Did I mention it's gorgeous??
Exploration of the cities, dungeons and various location environments is done by your party leader avatar, they can interact, initiate conversation, jump, slash and execute a ranged attack. I found this vaguely reminiscent of Atlus' Odin Sphere both in it's execution and art style.
As is standard in JRPG's contact with a monster initiates combat. Rather than stumblingly into creatures, you could also choose to use your ranged attack to stun the creature and avoid it, or slash attack to initiate combat with advantage.
Once combat is initiated it is a very classic turn-based structure, with your party on one side of the screen and the enemy on the other. Only four of your party can actively engage in combat, but you can swap party members in and out, from your full compliment, as the fight progresses (at the cost of their action for that turn).
The in game menus are extensive and offer a wide variety of options and customization to make the game as challenging or accessible as you like.
This is also where you access your party management screens and individual character development. Skill and job trees are enormous offering tremendous scope of how you want to build each character's abilities, passives and class skills.
The audio for the game has also been masterfully created. The musical score is fantastic and compliments the different locations, perfectly while switching up the tempo for party combat.
The characters have all been fully voiced as well, so talking to NPCs, as well as listening to party interactions adds another level of polish and immersion to an already fantastic title.
You can choose between Japanese voice acting or English. The quality of the Japanese voice acting, in my opinion, is far better than the English so I kept it set to Japanese with English subtitles.
I played the game exclusively using a controller and found it easy to use with the interface, intuitive and comfortable for longer gaming sessions. The more casual pace of a jrpg, lends itself perfectly to reclining in a comfortable chair with a gamepad, as opposed to being hunched over a mouse and keyboard.
While I could see some people off put by the 2D approach and classic JRPG turn based combat; those people are quite simply buffoons, philistines and completely wrong.
Astria Ascending is exactly how a jrpg should be made, it's like a comfortable blanket that smells of home and a warm cup of tea. A game bursting full of fantastic narrative, stunning artwork, incredible music, character design, lore and a comfortable familiarity.
It's doesn't innovate or try anything new, it's just a fantastic example of a classic JRPG and an excellent adventure.
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