the 7.6/10 game of all time is calling..
astral chain’s story starts off incredibly basic and kind of annoying.. to the point where i thought i wouldn't enjoy it as much as i thought i would. to put my feelings on the characters as blunt as i possibly can: this game is like evangelion if the cast spoke like ragna the bloodedge 50% of the time. do NOT play this game in english for any reason unless you’re prepared to hear akira act like the worst isekai protagonist you’ve ever had the displeasure of listening to. the game toys with some pretty interesting ideas and concepts but the ‘chosen one’ and silent protagonist tropes end up preventing it from being something amazing. this is a game that really depends on your attachment to the familial bond of the two main characters to have an impact, and because the player’s character ends up being silent, some story beats fall entirely flat.
from what i’ve said so far, you’d probably think i didn’t really enjoy the story of this game, but i actually really did. there is a lot of lore here for players to sift through if they want and when the writers choose to actually write this game can be great. the last 45% of this game is really good, and i do think it’s worth sitting through the pretty OK first half to get to. there is a lot of symbolism here with birds which i think is pretty awesome when you link things together.
i'll keep things brief on the combat side of things, mostly out of credit to platinum for always making good action games. fighting in this game is so much fun just because of the amount of skills and playstyles you have at your disposal. in every single combat encounter with an enemy, you can link up attacks to make things feel at least somewhat engaging, which is all something like this needs to be fun. every legion (these are basically mini eva units with different playstyles that affect how you fight. beast is the best one btw.) i would have liked to have seen more types of weapons for the protagonist.. three is alright but i didn’t see myself using the pistol much unless there was something on the wall. speaking of.. this game sometimes decides that it wants to do air combat, and when it does it really just becomes an extremely shallow exchange between you and the enemy where you’re either sending the legion out to hit them in the air repeatedly, or shooting at them with the gun. definitely a weak point for the game, albeit not a large one. side note, platinum needs to stop trying to work with multiple playstyles and halfassing one. the bike portions are cool to look at but annoying to play.
SPOILERS FOR MAIN STORY EVENTS AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
let’s start with akira for character reviews as i think he’s the most fleshed out character here. um.. i kind of don’t like him but i also think he’s cool. it’s weird. every single time he starts to act somewhat human, they have to either punch down at him or throw him the most annoying and forced line of all time. when the writers decide they actually feel like writing him, however, he has some great character moments that build him up and are genuinely touching. his ending was amazing and one of my favorite moments in the entire story.
hal was probably my second favorite character in the game. i can’t exactly explain why, because he’s not even relatively significant in the grand scheme of things, but i just have a thing for boys that are nerds like he is. hal always comes across well and has a good heart that i really enjoyed. his role in the story never felt forced which is actually surprising, considering many other characters struggle to make as big of an impact as him while being present for longer.
jena anderson is awesome. to be honest, i think that this game would have benefitted from keeping her around for longer. i like yohan as this game’s antagonist, but jena is just so much more interesting as a character what with her dirty and careless look compared to the well kept, clean feel of the main cast. 10/10 character stuck in a 7.5/10 game. i hope she comes back if there’s a sequel.
astral chain’s story starts off incredibly basic and kind of annoying.. to the point where i thought i wouldn't enjoy it as much as i thought i would. to put my feelings on the characters as blunt as i possibly can: this game is like evangelion if the cast spoke like ragna the bloodedge 50% of the time. do NOT play this game in english for any reason unless you’re prepared to hear akira act like the worst isekai protagonist you’ve ever had the displeasure of listening to. the game toys with some pretty interesting ideas and concepts but the ‘chosen one’ and silent protagonist tropes end up preventing it from being something amazing. this is a game that really depends on your attachment to the familial bond of the two main characters to have an impact, and because the player’s character ends up being silent, some story beats fall entirely flat.
from what i’ve said so far, you’d probably think i didn’t really enjoy the story of this game, but i actually really did. there is a lot of lore here for players to sift through if they want and when the writers choose to actually write this game can be great. the last 45% of this game is really good, and i do think it’s worth sitting through the pretty OK first half to get to. there is a lot of symbolism here with birds which i think is pretty awesome when you link things together.
i'll keep things brief on the combat side of things, mostly out of credit to platinum for always making good action games. fighting in this game is so much fun just because of the amount of skills and playstyles you have at your disposal. in every single combat encounter with an enemy, you can link up attacks to make things feel at least somewhat engaging, which is all something like this needs to be fun. every legion (these are basically mini eva units with different playstyles that affect how you fight. beast is the best one btw.) i would have liked to have seen more types of weapons for the protagonist.. three is alright but i didn’t see myself using the pistol much unless there was something on the wall. speaking of.. this game sometimes decides that it wants to do air combat, and when it does it really just becomes an extremely shallow exchange between you and the enemy where you’re either sending the legion out to hit them in the air repeatedly, or shooting at them with the gun. definitely a weak point for the game, albeit not a large one. side note, platinum needs to stop trying to work with multiple playstyles and halfassing one. the bike portions are cool to look at but annoying to play.
SPOILERS FOR MAIN STORY EVENTS AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
let’s start with akira for character reviews as i think he’s the most fleshed out character here. um.. i kind of don’t like him but i also think he’s cool. it’s weird. every single time he starts to act somewhat human, they have to either punch down at him or throw him the most annoying and forced line of all time. when the writers decide they actually feel like writing him, however, he has some great character moments that build him up and are genuinely touching. his ending was amazing and one of my favorite moments in the entire story.
hal was probably my second favorite character in the game. i can’t exactly explain why, because he’s not even relatively significant in the grand scheme of things, but i just have a thing for boys that are nerds like he is. hal always comes across well and has a good heart that i really enjoyed. his role in the story never felt forced which is actually surprising, considering many other characters struggle to make as big of an impact as him while being present for longer.
jena anderson is awesome. to be honest, i think that this game would have benefitted from keeping her around for longer. i like yohan as this game’s antagonist, but jena is just so much more interesting as a character what with her dirty and careless look compared to the well kept, clean feel of the main cast. 10/10 character stuck in a 7.5/10 game. i hope she comes back if there’s a sequel.