Beyond the cheap-looking graphics and the horrible pacing of the first few hours lies a solid 2D action RPG with an incredibly addicting combat, robust skill/magic system and well-designed dungeons, as well as a soundtrack that has no right going as hard as it does. I have mixed feelings for Astlibra's story, though, there is a lot of intrigue in its premise and the characters are likeable, I actually got attached to Karon, Gau, Kuro, Shiro and even Meloo, but at the same time, I feel the writing is not very consistent, sometimes it's clever and emotionally powerful, sometimes it feels like this was written by a terminally horny teenager, which often clashes with the serious tone of some moments in the story.

I do commend Astlibra for being a time travel story that doesn't devolve into a nonsensical trainwreck like so many do, not only that, but it's also really dark and unforgiving most of the time, it shows the negative consequences of using the scales to tamper with the past. Even if you might end up changing the timeline for the better by the time a story arc ends, it's always a bittersweet conclusion because something always gets lost in the process. That goes for the protagonist's personal story as well, initially the story surrounding his ordeal with Anulis follows the same idea and it brings up a very interesting dilemma of having to choose between the person you love the most and the others who are also important to you, it's great stuff.

Chapter 8 adds to that by having some really great plot twists, leading to yet another powerful bittersweet conclusion... Until the true final chapter kicks in and actually resolves this in the cheesiest shounen-esque way possible, with "power of friendship" and whatnot being what makes the protagonist able to defeat the fucking goddess of fate Astraea and create a new timeline where all the consequences of the previous story arcs are just erased and everything is happily ever after for everyone involved. I audibly groaned when I saw that this was the direction the final chapter was heading, it's the most disappointed I've been in a video game story in quite a while.

And yeah, I know there's more, there's a post-credits scene indicating a "true true end" of sorts, but honestly, I don't think I care enough to continue by now. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy Astlibra, aside from the game itself being very well-made and clearly having a lot of passion and effort put into it, the high points in the story are very high, but I really don't think my opinion will get significantly more positive. Aside from the story shitting the bed by the end, there's also the fact that gameplay-wise I was starting to get a little burned out too as enemies and bosses were getting tankier by the time chapter 8 started.