Our impressions on Astria Ascending, the 2D Western RPG that wants to play it in Japanese

First of all, know that the writer Kazushige Nojima (Final Fantasy VII and X, Kingdom Hearts) and the composer Hitoshi Sakimoto (Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy XII, Valkyria Chronicles) have among the big names attached to the project since the departure, just like Hideo Minaba (Final Fantasy VI and IX) and Akihiko Yoshida (Final Fantasy Tactics, Bravely Default) of the Cydesignation Studio for all that concerns the title visual paw. Far from being only of the Name Dropping, their collaboration on the title testifies to the commitment of developers, from the beginning of the project, to propose a title that sweats the JRPG by all its pores.

Harmonic Octave

And this is satisfied as soon as the introductory kinematics, rich in information and which poses the basics of the world of the game. We are presented to Harmonia, Cosmopolitan capital in which the countless races peopling the world of Orcoan. To protect this idyllic society from the dangers who ware them, eight individuals are called upon to become half-gods for three years , after which they pass the torch to a new generation of protectors before life leaves them prematurely. When the adventure begins, our eight semi-gods are already well known and have only three months to live under the blessing of the goddess Yuno, who guides them in their quest.

What strikes the first minutes of the game is the density of the universe that is proposed to us . The plot gravity around the notion of harmony, giving the name to the capital of the game, but whose safeguard constitutes the essential issue of the quest for heroes. The latter compose a team for the least heterogeneous , ranging from the old Arpajo brigand to the Naïve Eko of the Peyskas race, passing through the Colosse Dagmar of the race of the arktans or the header of the band Ulan. A DREAM Team of JRPG, in short.

Thus, The eight controllable characters are accessible to us from the beginning of the game and it is according to their interactions that one learns little by little to know them . Unfortunately, they lack natural, the fault at a time interval between two lengthy long replicas and dialogs that drag that only a few sentences are exchanged. It is necessary to add to that sound bugs at the launch of the replicas, which one hopes rectified at the launch of the game. English and Japanese are on the program for dubbing , while we can enjoy French subtitles. Nothing seriously, but I was able to note some quirks in the formatting of the text for tutorials.

Beautiful as a half-god

Very quickly, our half-god company is dispatched in town to get rid of interference, bellicose creatures that disrupt harmony. These first moments when we check the group allowed us immediately to admire the very beautiful 2D panoramas that the game offers us . Indeed, it is a side-scrolling RPG in which our characters evolve from one painting to another **, the latter being sublimated by the many elements that make it first and back -plan. Subsequently, in the following chapters, our heroes travel from other environments all as beautiful and consistent with each other, with variations in atmospheres and colors depending on the regions crossed.

Character models are not left and resume colorful pictorial style already adopted on _ Zodiac: Orcanon Odyssey _. Same thing for enemies in combat, the title enjoying a varied bestiary , at least on the first hours of adventure. The artistic ambition of astria ascending is therefore his main strength and his music is not left out . From the main menu, the player is caught by the first harp notes that resound as the promise of an enchanting world in which he is invited to dive. The soundtrack as a whole holds the road, even if no piece stays in mind sustainably, except the traditional combat music.

A word on the title interface, one of the weak points of the title of origin evoked by pen in its test. It is necessary to emphasize the work of recasting brought here since in addition to being of great clarity, the menu of the game amazes by the richness of its contents (inventory supplied, accurate bestiary, possibility to revise the cuts etc .) and its sober and elegant aesthetic. The little more that does its effect: each weapon, protection or accessory has its own artwork. Really class.

Interference

As I mentioned above, the first pitfalls are not slow to dawn a few minutes after the introduction. Creatures called interference disrupt the balance of the world and it is the responsibility of our craving team to exterminate them. When exploring, These creatures take the appearance of moving energy balls and it is in contact that the confrontation can begin . The combat interface then appears, our half-gods being positioned right while the enemies take place on the left half of the screen, for a rendering reminiscent of the JRPG of the golden age or those who Inspire today (octopath traveler for example).

_ Astria Ascending _ has a classic turn system each action is performed instantly after the choice of the player . Four characters can take part at the same time in combat , but as long as one of them is still standing, it is possible to exchange at leisure with those who are in reserve. Seven different actions are possible: the exchange therefore, the classical attack, the skills, the guard, the use of objects, the leak and the concentration. For the latter, it refers to one of the specificities of the title: the possibility of accumulating points of concentration (or PC), common to the entire team.

In concrete terms, they allow a character to increase the effectiveness of its attacks or skills up to 200% , if there is enough PC in reserve. These are obtained through concentration but especially by exploiting the weaknesses of enemies (some magical elements or conventional attacks). For example, using a magic of ice against a weak enemy sensitive to this element grants 2 pc to the team but a contrario, if the enemy is resistant or absorbs this magic, then the team loses PCs. Knowing that enemies also have a PC reserve and our characters their own resistances / weaknesses, This brings a little variety to the clashes that otherwise remain in the pretty classic vein of the JRPG .

SAD SCROLLING

Unfortunately, on these first hours of play, The difficulty of the game seemed very badly dosing , with common enemies that can decimate my team without being able to make any action while in the same Time A zone boss does not pose the slightest embarrassment. Let's bet that by the output of the title, the developers will have made some rebalances at this level. In the meantime, in the manner of a Bravely Default II, the player has the opportunity to set the difficulty of the game himself, on several levels : difficulty of the fighting, distribution of the gains of XP, deactivation of the Random fighting, resistance / weaknesses of apparent enemies etc.

MAPMONDE HEIN ...

In addition to the city of Harmonia and its different neighborhoods, our companions are led to exploring other Orsanon world environments, including traditional dungeons. The exploration of the latter is a little similar to that of a valkyry profile, except that for the moment, on the first four chapters, the Level Design leaves frankly to desire. Basically, We are content to cross the different branches of the dungeon until the final boss that ends the current chapter . Fortunately, A card is made available to the player, avoiding him to be prepared completely . Another card, that of the mapmonde, also makes it possible to instantly join one of the many checkpoints that will activate during our peregrinations. For if the characters quickly recover their PVs between two clashes, the PMs them (those who use the skills, including magic and invocations) regenerate only in cities. Unless you have a stock of Ether at its disposal, It will be necessary to count on some instant trips between the city and the dungeon to be able to progress .

The crossing of the first dungeons is therefore mainly to skip platform in a platform to join the exit of the table , while engaged in a few fights against interference. Which fights can easily be avoided thanks to the zodiac ring acquired at the beginning of the game, and whose radius freezes the enemy for a few seconds. Apart from this use, outstanding capabilities have only served basic contextual actions. Only an enigma is proposed on all the first four chapters, and it is not Folichonne

J-ster that it will be fine

In addition to the main missions, whose objectives can be displayed on the exploration screen, our half-gods are subject to other tests through secondary missions granted by the NPCs encountered or by that of hunting contracts obtained in the guilds . The latter consisting of (for the moment) to get rid of creatures much more powerful than our team, it will certainly be necessary to come back once it will be stronger.

And this is where the ascent tree intervenes, traditional representation of the evolution of the characters in an RPG. With the ps gleaned in combat, each character has its own tree , shown visually by a constellation on which we navigate to unlock stellar nodes, it * thus rewarding new skills active or support, or of Improvements of stats (the latter also requiring to use stats orbs). From a certain moment of adventure, the main jobs are unlocked for the characters (as well as secondary jobs and support, later). This gives access to a new ascent tree for each character but I did not felt that it fundamentally changed the clashes approach : The characters simply acquire new skills, specific to the unlocked jobs. We are far for the moment of the depth of a _bravely default _ . Knowing that there are three specific Jobs for each character (so 24 jobs in all), we can assume that all the subtlety of the gameplay will be revealed over the progress. In any case, The visual representation of the jobs on the characters remains magnificent **, especially as their appearance also changes in combat.

Finally, evoking the case of the J-ster, hobby to which one can indulge with most NPCs and which requires the use of five chips per game. On a grid of seven boxes, the player must turn those of the opponent with the values ​​of the token used but also taking into account vulnerabilities / resistors (it comes back) clean at each side of the token . The small subtlety being that, unlike the triple triad of _ Final Fantasy VIII _ , it is possible to rotate these sides. For the rest, the principle is really similar to the mini-game of the 1999 title, even with specific rules according to the faced NPCs.