A nice JRPG by Final Fantasy Devs

Astria Ascendant is a turn-based JRPG with gameplay that pays homage to A courageous omission and Octopath traveler. I enjoyed the combat in both of these titles, but the colorful art style of Astria Ascendant felt like an upgrade to the dark color scheme of these games. It also gives an interesting twist to the story line “brave adventurers-save the world”, although I’m not entirely convinced the execution lands.

Astria was made by French-Canadian developer Artisan Studios, but some of the developers behind the game are veterans of the Final fantasy series, NieR: Automata, and A courageous omission. The game also includes voiceovers in Japanese and English. So even though the game isn’t from Japan, it looks like a JRPG in terms of aesthetics. Astria promises a 50-hour campaign, eight sturdy characters, and a more mature narrative than other games in the genre.

The Final fantasy the influences reverberate through the fantasy art style. Astria has some of the most distinct and eye-catching character designs I’ve seen in a western role-playing game. All the backgrounds of her two-dimensional environments are lovingly hand painted. Sometimes I would go back to old places for sightseeing. And somehow every time I find a fascinating new detail in the background. If you asked me to describe Astriaart in a nutshell, I would tell you that the game is a “storybook.“

And maybe this aesthetic style is meant to soften the way its serious plot lands. The twist is revealed at the very start of the game: Astria‘s the heroes die. Literally. After gaining special powers as one of the continent’s “demigods”, the hero will die in three short years. At the start of the story, all of our heroes only have three months to live. And despite the jokes about their impending doom, not everyone takes it well.

Most JRPG heroes can have their disagreements, but ultimately they have to remain courteous to each other if they are to survive a perilous journey. This is not the case in Astria Ascendant. Party members are constantly at odds. Instead of camaraderie, the general mood of the party is filled with impatience, jealousy and prejudice. Every time I started a cutscene, I would prepare for the heroes to start verbally attacking each other. Does solidarity matter when their doomed fates are inevitable? From what I saw from the first half, the demigods don’t think so. I hope they will solve their problem in the second half, but the adventure is quite atrocious in the meantime.

In Astria, world peace was achieved because each nation sent one of its inhabitants to become a doomed demigod. They also use emotion-regulating fruits called harmelon, which are believed to maintain coexistence between races. The central plot also asks the player if the coexistence between different groups of people is worth it if it comes at a high personal cost. It’s an interesting philosophical question, but it didn’t stuck with me.

Concretely, the coexistence between different groups does not require sacrifices, but it is never a consideration of life and death. No one is forced to take medication to stop being prejudiced against people who are different from them. Stories are powerful when they rhyme with real life. Astria is so whimsical about the concept of coexistence that it loses me on the relevance of its themes.

More importantly, the constant sniping and fanciful racism were uncomfortable to experience in practice. Maybe the game has something poignant to say about second-half racism, but that doesn’t diminish how much I was dreading going to the next cutscene.

For the bitterness of the characters towards each other, the group fight feels very, very good. Astria Ascendant takes after JRPGs such as Octopath traveler and A courageous omission in that you can store spins to use later. Normally, in a JRPG, the player has to consider their team makeup very carefully, as elemental weaknesses play an important role in the outcome of the battle. Although these mechanisms exist in Astria, it’s less punitive when I involve the “bad” characters in a battle. The ability to store one character’s turns and pass them on to another alleviates some of the pressure associated with coordinating an optimal group for different fights.

However, the battles also seem chaotic as the game does not have a turn indicator. Even if Astria has a speed mechanic present in many JRPGs it was hard for me to engage when I can’t remember who needs this bump. The lack of transparency of the turns also makes it very difficult to plan and coordinate my attacks.

Despite effective quality of life features like the ability to teleport around the map, the signage in this game is quite atrocious. I spent a lot of time trying to find the next major quest location. Sometimes the game is nice enough to tell you where to go next, but not how to get there. I often replayed cutscenes to figure out how to advance the plot, and I wish I had had a detailed quest log instead. We almost have the impression Astria Ascendant intends to let you lose yourself in its inspiring landscapes. Which is good, but I want to have the choice of prioritizing the main campaign.

The game has its independent charm and sincerity. It is easy for me to forgive the narrative and mechanical errors of the game when Astria Ascendant goes so hard on artistic details and traditions. Even the character’s job classes are assigned to specific zodiac signs. While I don’t necessarily have As all of the characters as people, it’s an awesome feat that each of them feel so distinct. I am also much more tolerant of feeling lost in Astriacrowded when I feel compelled to admire the colorful brushstrokes along the way. Astria isn’t a perfect game, but I’m not even crazy about it.

If you liked Octopath traveler as much as i did, so Astria Ascendant is an obvious choice for your gaming backlog.