Astria Ascending - Review @ RPG Site

RPG Site has reviewed Astria Ascending - 5/10.

Not exactly the stairway to heaven.

2021 has been a very good year for JRPGs. In January, Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legendsand the Secret Fairy built upon the strong foundation of its predecessor and delivered something extraordinary. By the end of the following month, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox and Bravely Default II both delivered addictive gameplay and memorable tunes. From sterling revisits like SaGa Frontier Remastered and NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139 to an instant classic in a long-running franchise with Tales of Arise, we've all been spoiled by a veritable deluge of high-quality helpings.

On paper, Astria Ascending has all of the necessary ingredients to join this luscious list. Legendary Final Fantasy scribe Kazushige Nojima contributes his literary talents! Famously atmospheric composer Hitoshi Sakimoto is on board for the soundtrack! The 2D visuals are brimming with style! But ingredients alone cannot bake a cake. After spending over 50 hours with developer Artisan Studios' talent-packed title, I cannot say I'm satisfied.

[…]

Astria Ascending is not a great JRPG. I would hesitate to label it a good one. In a year of winners, it's not a complete outlier but it's no contemporary classic. Despite a few flirtations with intrigue, the story is generally vacant of anything compelling enough to stick around until the credits. Poor writing compounds the problem and unlikable characters can't overcome it. Gameplay ranges from strong to stale, with just enough gumption and innovation to keep things lively. Pound for pound and for all its pedigree, this is a disappointing experience I'm not inclined to recommend.

More information.

For what it's worth, quite divided reviews:


This review is not in that Metacritic list yet.

The jrpg's can be serious hits or disastrous misses, that's for sure. And another person's nirvana can be your mate's worst enemy. Thank goodness we've a place like here, to gather and share thoughts with others. If I hear from a friend on this one I'll make sure to share their thoughts.

This game is by the same team as Super Neptunia RPG. I got quite into that one (usually bounce of Neptunia) as it was fairly mechanically interesting/solid, but ultimately a bit grindy. The art was nice, and the 2D gameplay was actually suprisingly OK (I'm not a platform fan).

Neptunia RPG was more traditional in party/character acquisition, and it sounds like some of the choices in Astria are unnecessarily mould-breaking (not in a good way). Am a bit disappointed that the story isn't so strong, as the people involved should really have guarantee a win in that area.

Looking forward to trying it on Gamepass, anyway, but disappointed that it felt the need to do things so differently in less than successful manner.

There are SO MANY JRPGs in the market and I generally only play ones that are universally lauded because they're grindy, take a lot of time, and usually feature very youth-oriented storylines. (I think 99% of Japanese anime/JRPG/whatever has High School kids as the main protagonists…) - which I suppose was a plus when I was playing them twenty years or so ago and could relate more.

Generally prefer games with more mature themes now, but some JRPGs are just too good to pass up on for various reasons. I liked Divided Reigns, for example. That had a kind of cool evil empire/loyalty to the military or to humanity theme running through it as opposed to, "You're 16 year old heroes with fox-tails and magic called upon to save the world!"

Not that there's anything *wrong* with that…

I agree about the High School kids as the main protagonists trope in JRPG's but you have to remember it's that way because of the Japaneses culture. It wont change.

From what I remember hearing, in Japan, games are only assumed to be played by younger audiences because when you are older, you are expected to give it your all in work. You are expected to come to work early and leave late, usually after drinking with your colleagues. High school and college are usually the last time where you are considered "free" which is why you see a lot of characters being in their teens.

Also this.

For one, a common theme in JRPGs is adventure.

When a character is an adult, it is expected that they have a strong understanding of the world they live in. Kids aren't supposed to fully understand the world they live in so they're the perfect viewpoint to use when it comes to exploring a new world.

Another common theme in JRPGs is emotional maturation.

When a character is an adult, it is expected that they've already gone through quite a lot of emotional growth. They've experience death already most likely. Whether it's a house pet's death or maybe the death of a parent. They've experienced a relationship already most likely so most romances are kind of played straight where the characters aren't introspective about "why" they feel the way they do about their partner.

Obviously there are a lot of benefits to using adult characters as well. Adult characters can handle a much broader spectrum of themes on a deeper level, because they aren't bogged down by emotional immaturity. After a certain level of emotional maturity you can handle themes like pragmatism vs idealism(even though that's not an exclusive theme to adults.) Adults can handle themes of family much more because they'll be closer to a stage in their life where they're thinking of making one and all that.

At the end of the day, the reason JRPGs tend towards the younger side of characters imo is most likely due to the kind of topics the writers want to explore. JRPG writers in my experience want to explore themes of adventure. Exploring a living and breathing world and finding your place in it, is a very common theme in JRPGs. JRPG writers like exploring themes of humanity from a pure uncorrupted point of view.

Would a complete idealist who absolutely cannot stand violence resort to violence themself if someone they cared for would be hurt? This is only possible if your character's younger and hasn't yet developed an ideology of their own. Self-discovery and whatnot.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
I agree about the High School kids as the main protagonists trope in JRPG's but you have to remember it's that way because of the Japaneses culture. It wont change.
Also this.

Oh, I'm decently versed in Japanese culture - it's slowly changing, actually, a lot more from the "work is life" culture. I just have a friend who taught English in Japan for years return home with the wife he found there. We talk.

And I get it - games were historically for kids or teenagers, they like themes of innocence and purity and corruption etc etc. - and that was cool when I was a teenager.

*My* culture involves a lot of me doing what I want, though. And I'm a gamer with a lot more disposable income than the average Japanese teen, so when I see a JRPG made with DIFFERENT themes - or more mature themes - I tend to be more interested. That's really all. There's only so much teen angst and innocence I can stomach as an adult male. If I want that, I'll talk to a teenager about… anything.

Seems the solution is to not call the game a JRPG with older characters. Though yes in the last few years attitudes towards gaming has shifted but tradition is still strong.

I'm not sure what the solution exactly is, then. Have a game be a JRPG in every way except featuring older characters; but refuse to call it that? That's… fine, I suppose. "This is a JORPG, a new kind of game. A Japanese Oldfolks Roleplaying Game."

Well, the good news is you can play this on gamepass…so I will let you know what I think.

Excellent, rune_74, I look forward to reading your thoughts on it.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Excellent, rune_74, I look forward to reading your thoughts on it.

I will try and install it today…stuck on pathfinder right now….plus they just added a bunch of new games to gamepass….bah no time…

Oh on top of 3d printing minis and painting…

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Excellent, rune_74, I look forward to reading your thoughts on it.

Did get it installed.

Played a few minutes….liked the art, looks very retro but well drawn.

Also, combat is interesting as you have access to a lot of characters with different abilities and it is turnbased. You switch out characters as you need them to combat different enemies. Pretty basic so far…

I like the side scrolling idea, remains to be seen how well it works.

Everything that you've said sounds pretty great so far!