Astria Ascending Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

Astria Ascending Switch NSP Free Download On the face of it, Astria Ascending should be right up my street. With its lush visuals, intriguing character designs and often engaging turn-based battle system, this handsome hand drawn adventure could have been a surprise dark horse to rival recent JRPG greats such as Tales Of Arise and Bravely Default II. Colombian RPG Cris Tales managed it, so why not Astria Ascending?ROMSLAB.COM BEST SWITCH GAMES

Astria Ascending Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

French Canadian developers Artisan Studios have certainly tried hard to fulfill J part of this Japanese-inspired RPG, acquiring the talents of Final Fantasy XII composer Hitoshi Sakimoto and Final Fantasy X writer Kazushige Nojima to bolster their small team, but even these big name veterans can’t salvage this game from the depths of its own tedium. Between its bewildering, colour-swap dungeons, cringeworthy voice acting and uneven focus on its large cast, Astria Ascending stumbles before it ever has the chance to soar.

What is Going on in Orcanon?

Astria Ascending takes place in Orcanon, where a group of eight chosen individuals called Demi-Gods protect Harmony, which is some sort of peace agreement between the different races in the game. In order to keep the pact of peace, Orcanon’s races eat Harmelons, which suppress certain abilities. The Demi-Gods gain immense power and abilities to fight off antagonistic beings called the Noise, but in exchange are only given three more years to live before another group comes along and does the same thing. Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered Switch NSP

Astria Ascending Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

There are some interesting concepts and themes like rebellion and free will, but the story ends up being incredibly boring. The game throws so many proper nouns at players, like “Harmony” and “Chaos” and “Dissonance”; it’s all too much at once and implemented like they’re from some generic JRPG 101 textbook. Racism is also a big theme in the game, but it doesn’t handle it very well. One of the Demi-Gods, Eko, is a member of a race of fish-like people called Peyskas.

Taking a Page From the Classics

Astria Ascending draws a lot of inspiration from classic JRPGs, and that’s reflected most in its battle system. It’s a simple turn-based affair. The twist here is that if you hit an enemy’s elemental weakness, you can gain Focus Points, or FP. It works somewhat similarly to Bravely Default’s BP mechanic. Except in that game, BP is used to allow a unit to perform consecutive actions in a given turn.Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection Switch NSP

Astria Ascending Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

Here, spending FP allows you to power up a single move’s effectiveness, like increasing the damage of a spell. You can also skip a party member’s turn to add to the pool of FP available, but with the caveat that the one unit of FP will disappear when that member’s next turn comes around. It’s a nice feature that adds some nuance to the battle system, but it doesn’t necessarily make the fights flow all that much smoother as opposed to something like Persona’s One More mechanic.

Throughout the game,

you’ll come across different elemental rings that grant powers to solve dungeon puzzles. For example, the Fire Ring can burn obstacles and the Air Ring can push objects. The puzzles aren’t very difficult, but just challenging enough that you feel some satisfaction after solving them. It’s a bit refreshing to see puzzles in a JRPG after many bigger ones have essentially abandoned them in favor of corridors and large open spaces with endless battle encounters.Gibbous – A Cthulhu Adventure Switch NSP

Astria Ascending Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

One aspect that I did enjoy about Astria Ascending was its soundtrack, composed by Hitoshi Sakamoto, who has also worked on both Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy Tactics. The main hub, Harmonia Town, particularly has a very soothing angelic theme playing in the background. The battle theme also will have you pumped up to defeat the Noise too.

Add-ons (DLC): Astria Ascending Switch NSP