JRPGs have always had a place on Nintendo’s systems, a tradition carried on even today. One game coming to the Switch isAstria Ascending, a newtitle developed by major game veterans.
Astria Ascendingis a traditional JRPG, with turn based battles and a grand story concerning the fate of the world. According to the game’s website, players take on the role of demigods cursed with a singular fate they must struggle against. Along the way they will gain incredible powers and save the world, if they don’t turn out to be the evil all along.
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The world ofAstria Ascending, called Orcanon, is not original to the game. It made its debut in a 2015 title calledZodiac: Orcanon Odyssey, but never really got off the ground. Now the same creators ofZodiacare usingAstria Ascendingto try and bring their vision to life once more. The art is a stylized mix of hand drawn and animation loops, with a distinct style seen in few other games. The world itself is unified, largely through a sacrifice the main characters, the demigods, must make: every three years, they die so that new demigods can ascend to the position. With a veteran JRPG composer, the music may well gothe way ofBravely Default 2’s soundtrackbefore long.
Speaking ofBravely Default,Astria Ascending’s battle system bears one striking resemblance to that series. InAstria Ascendingplayers can take an action called Focus, which stocks up a Focus point for the entire party. When using certain abilities, these Focus points can be spent to improve those abilities, amplifying damage and increasing the odds of inflicting status effects. It’s similar toBravely Default’s brave and default system, where Brave Points can be stored for later. It will likely lead tosome abilities always being takenover others, just because of how much they can be improved with focus.
The demigods themselves have a wide range of powers and party roles, as well as a wide range of species and ages. This could make for a very interesting cast, something that improves any JRPG significantly. That and a goodway to avoid backtrackingcould endear it to many players.
In the end,Astria Ascending’s success will depend mostly on its gameplay andside content. It’s almost a given that its story and score will be up to par, but as to whether the rest of the game will hold up, only time will tell.
Astria Ascendingreleases for PC, Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Xbox Game Pass on September 30.
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