September 30 this year on all current platforms and immediately in Xbox Game Pass a new one comes out JRPG entitled Astria Ascendingcreated by a team of gaming veterans. A well-known screenwriter is responsible for the universe and the plot in the project Kazushige Nojimawho gave us stories Final fantasy vii, Final fantasy x and Final fantasy vii remake… Music written Hitoshi Sakimotoknown for Final fantasy xii and Vagrant Story… Finally, the character design was entrusted to the group. CyDesignation in the face Akihiko Yoshida and Hideo minabawho created the characters Bravely default and NieR: Automata… In collaboration with the studio Artisan Studios this dream team has produced a promising turn-based role-playing game Astria Ascending… In the preview, only the first acts are available for the press and a number of animations are missing during the attacks of some bosses, but all the cutscenes, the plot and the heroes are in place.
Peace Astria Ascending looks unusual. Born out of chaos, a universe with bizarre races and magic was entrusted by the creators to the goddess of Harmony, who watches over peace and happiness with the help of demigods. These lucky ones are chosen from different races, and thanks to divine power, they become invulnerable knights for the next three years. As a result of this period, the body cannot withstand the stress and they die. Generations follow each other, and order reigns in a world where magic and technology coexist. But when the 333rd generation of demigods has to pass the baton to new heroes, a series of mysterious events occurs: monsters attack people, and ancient statues come to life and begin to sow destruction. In the role of Ulan and seven members of her squad, you have to go on a journey across the country of Orcanon and stop the ancient evil by defeating twelve legendary monsters.
The traditional plot, with powerful heroes challenging evil, is diluted with drops of drama and complex racial and political relations. Moreover, each of the characters has its own unique character and the reasons for which he fights for peace. All details are revealed in animations and lengthy conversations. Game mechanics involves both solving puzzles with platforming elements, and direct cleaning of dungeons. Moreover, the enemies are not restored until the return of your squad to the city, and if you wish, you can freeze them and avoid a battle.
In the city, all points of magic and health are restored automatically. You can also buy new weapons, armor and potions there. In the dungeons between battles, the lost health is refreshed, but the magic will have to be replenished with potions or wait for the level increase. Each of the characters, in addition to the traditional disguises and changing weapons, can be improved with a star card. Here, experience points unlock new abilities and can, at will, improve one of four options to choose from. So, you can enhance health or magic, which allows you to create characters that are most tailored to your tactics. For convenience, the game offers a quick save and move system, so if you really need it, you can always return to any settlement and buy the necessary bottles and equipment.
During turn-based battles, the player can use standard attacks or magic, and also change squad members. Moreover, they allow to replace up to three participants with reserve ones in one move. Opponents may have a weakness for a certain type of magic or physical attacks, so you have to adjust the squad to the current tasks. The battles themselves are not very difficult at first, but after the first act, the game makes a jump in complexity and you will have to pump up the levels of the characters, teleporting between the city and the nearest dungeon. And it gets tiresome. The conversations between the characters about nothing and the slightly prolonged plot at the beginning can also be attributed to the roughness of the game. At the same time, the battles themselves are interesting, and the design and graphics are worthy of the most enthusiastic praise. This is one of the nicest JRPGs I’ve seen in a while, and the native 4K models with detailed environments only add to the positive experience.
20 minutes of gameplay from GameInformer
We hope to get access to the full version of the game soon, but Astria Ascending is already one of the most anticipated JRPG games of this year.
Author: Alexander Loginov (XTR)
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