Astral Chain - PlatinumGames action title

[Tigranes]

OK, it's quite fun. It does a lot of the less visible things right like the pacing of action and 'exploration', the tempo of the little sidequests, and the textbook anime story usually doesn't drag out overlong either. It's not a thinking man's game by any stretch but it's a nice romp.

As I say I'm a casual for action games but as you level up you unlock a decent range of different moves to set up between yourself and the mech, abilities & level ups etc., and it's decent fun experimenting with them although you could obviously get pretty far with button mashing.

I believe user scores are being review bombed by dumbasses butthurt over the console wars, or something. Who knows.

 

[bertram_tung]

this game is fucking awesome. maybe the best exclusive on the switch, definitely the best looking

 

[Ivan]

Talk about the non-combat elements. Is there some Yakuza DNA in here? Minigames, interacting with NPCs? How do you see Nier Automata influencing the design (lead designer directed this)? How is the replay value? Any branches, or just new difficulty and unlocks?

 

[bertram_tung]

I am on file 6 of 11, and I have spent 18+ hours in the game. I am taking my time and trying to explore every nook and cranny. There's a meaty campaign (for Platinum standards) and a lot of good side content to engage with (varying and creative side quests, ~200 mini achievements, collectibles, photo information gathering, unlockable costumes/colors/hud options, etc. etc.) and the post-game is (apparently) decently lengthy too.

The game is oozing style and impresses in many ways. It is anime schlock cheese in a good way if you like that sort of thing. The music is awesome and compliments the neon cyberpunk noir setting very well. There is a lot of downtime, however. If you enjoy wandering, exploring, chatting up npcs and whatnot, you'll really enjoy it. I found it well paced.

The combat is superb, fast, fluid and visually striking all at the same time. The 30 fps is of course not ideal but I didn't find myself distracted with it or ever really thinking about it too much. As far as switch exclusives go, I put it up there near BOTW.

 

[Carls Barkley]

The combat is superb, fast, fluid and visually striking all at the same time.

Not when compared to any of these games

 

[PulsatingBrain]

Between this, Mario Maker and Breath of the wild I'm getting very close to buying my first console in at least a decade.

 

[bertram_tung]

User review score is at 6.1 (2042 reviews). The lowest rated Platinum game of all time other than TMNT.

everyone knows it was review bombed because it's a switch exclusive. there have been multiple articles about it. what is your agenda? i played revengeance and i thought it was boring

 

[bertram_tung]

False narrative conjured up by fanboys. Bayonetta 2 is a Nintendo exclusive and has an 8.9 on metacritic.

If you actually read the negative reviews, the vast majority are expressing discontent at the gameplay mechanics. On the contrary, it's the 10/10 reviews that are the most low effort.

low effort low iq troll, they arent even trying to hide it in their user reviews. tons and tons of 1 ratings before the game has even been out long enough to beat.

the game is very good and a cool brand new IP, who's alt are you anyway? joined a week ago

https://comicbook.com/gaming/2019/09/01/astral-chain-review-bombed-nintendo-switch-exclusive/
https://gamerant.com/astral-chain-review-bomb-metacritic/
https://www.nintendoenthusiast.com/...g-review-bombed-for-being-a-switch-exclusive/


edit- why are you deleting your posts now? your post is already quoted, sketchy guy

 

[bertram_tung]

For every negative troll review there are several 10/10 fanboy reviews to offset it. That's just how Metacritic works.

It doesn't explain how Bayonetta 2 has an 8.9 on metacritic despite going exclusive, when the backlash was far more justified.

it's been years since that came out. tell me the user review score for astral chain in a few years and that would be a valid comparison.

edit- why are you deleting your posts now?

 

[Carls Barkley]

The metacritic rating for Bayonetta 2 grew from 8.6 to 8.9.

Another miss from PlatinumGames. The combat is very shallow and involves just spamming the same move or simple combo over and over with little depth. However, while these games may be shallow, mindless fun, for this game they decided to bloat the game with a focus on narrative, characters, writing, and missions. Unfortunately, here's the kicker: the plot, characters, writing, and mission design are all horrible.. What this results in is a boring trudge, and you need to play for dozens of hours to even unlock basic abilities.

It’s a rare occasion that I have complete disdain for something while also heavy admiration for its creators. But here that only serves to heighten my dissatisfaction: astral chain is inadequate because, while not bad*, it has glaring, obvious faults:

Unintelligible combat - with the acception of some bosses every combat sequence is too busy with enemies acting independently contrasting each other in a cacophony(sic?) of overlapping overlysimple monotony. And the combat mechanics are completely interchangable removing the development or necessity of any skill.

Horrible dialogue/ voice acting - The characters have no personality or charisma. The lines are often highly illogical with the overal conclusion of each interaction conflicting characters haphazardly built up individualty betraying a sense of vacancy on the writers part. And the voice acting is equally robotic and contrived highlighted by being programmed disjointedly contributing to an overall sense of such flagrant carelessness it’s offensive.

Bad visuals - the game has an attractive art style, but the environments are extremely repetitive and bland. The only saving grace here is the boss design

Conclusion: the developers chose a cash grab at the expensive of the customers value. Why play astral chain? Because there’s nothing better to do. But there is

*(in my opinion for a game to be bad it needs to be nearly empty or extremely sensually abrasive)

Horrible combat with a lot of stopping, pausing, flashing and limitations, Summoning and fighting against an enemy has a lot of interruptions some are QTE-segments breaking the flow of combat the Legions are clunky to control, character moveset is poor compared to the like of bayonetta, MGRR etc. and the poor stealth mechanic that shouldn't be in game. The game runs 30fps with enemies having huge hitboxes, the story, quest, voice acting,cenimatics etc. the gameplay in general is not as good as most platinum games all in all not worth it!

I was very excited for this game however it is fairly disappointing.

Technically the game is a mess. It runs with 30FPS like many have said and that sucks, but the larger issue is that the FOV is tiny which is a huge problem fighting mobs as you are supposed to fling your legion at enemies, then jump to it at a precise moment... however the camera rarely actually points at where you are flinging him. this is why people say the bosses are most enjoyable because you can just target them and more or less the camera will stick to them but for 90% of fights you are fighting at least 3-4 enemies at a time and it is a mess... and you are doing it all in 30FPS. i guess what i am saying is that the fighting, which is by far the main attraction, ends up as a button masher.

The structure of the game doesn't fare much better although that is mostly a matter of taste, and my taste don't like it For a hack and slash action game there are long stretches without actual hacking and slashing.

During half of the game you end up solving mundane puzzles that are not very thematic. basically most of the puzzles in this game will be right at home in BOTW for instance. seriously, stepping on 2 panes to unlock the next section, have to hit 3 flying balls at the same time to open the next section. simple and uninspired.

puzzles in action games really break the flow too. for instance you go to training and you get tutorials for all those cool and useful fighting stuff, and next mission was to have to talk to every person in a city block. the mission didn't mark who i need to talk to (just who i have talked to) so I spend the next 45 minutes, ended up watching an youtube video) because there was this kid in a corner not marked in any way, that i had to press A next to.

Or a little later, I am fighting, its good, then I they tell me i have to hit 3 moving balls at the same time. That took a few tries and completely ruined the pacing of the whole level, which was already ruined because there is a dumb puzzle between every fight.

And a lot of bosses are puzzles in themselves, like a mario boss. you have to do specific things to be able to hurt the boss. there is no creativity, just use this skill in this exact way and then you can do dmg for a few seconds, rinse and repeat 20 to 30 times.

in a way the combat is not even that original as it is basically DMC5 crow character, the guy that doesn't fight directly you know but uses animals and stuff.

overall, i think the game is a technical failure and whatever good design may exist I for one could not get to it. i still have strong respect for platinum games and will pre-order their next game no questions asked. they are trying new things, it just doesn't always work out.

How is this review bombing?

 

[bertram_tung]

The metacritic rating for Bayonetta 2 grew from 8.6 to 8.9.

it wasn't review bombed within 24 hours after it came out. thanks for proving my point

you gonna delete this post now like you deleted the other ones?

 

[Tigranes]

I don't care what the 'review scores' are, and anybody relying on them to validate their own opinion is a fool. If you thought it was a good/bad game, then make your case and it let it stand on its own.

Again as an action game casual, I am enjoying it up to ~File 7 of 11. It's a nice bombastic romp with great style, and by mid-game you can string up some nice sequences of chaining people up, tossing them in the air, and so on. I wouldn't say anything compares to that third GIF from 'Carls', though I don't even know where that's from, but it's clearly got a similar DNA. It's not really about the imminent threat of death like my early hours in Dark Souls, it's about seeing what combination of flashy shit I can combine against hilariously massive bosses in particular. The 4 mechs you get to switch freely between for the majority of the game give you enough options to stay entertained - you can fire arrows with your bow mech, suit up in your heavy mech and smash things and throw billboards, then get on your dog mech and do some horse combat.

Funnily enough, despite being a textbook anime story from someone who's just read anime all their life, it doesn't really outstay its welcome - it refrains from going on and on or doing that Japanese "POWER OF FRIENDSHIP!!!!" super cringe moments. I use Japanese audio and I presume the English dubs are far more insufferable, as usual.

The gameplay loop is simple. A pretty typical file would go: start in your base, have some brief chats, couple of slice of life sidequests like feeding stray cats if you want. Deploy & 'investigate', i.e. talk to people in the area and pick up hints, basically Witcher-lite with occasional use of magic vision and such. Run around in a pretty nice looking, linear corridor always with a couple of side paths, killing everything you see. Go in an abyss gate, do some basic puzzle like obstacles. Fight boss.

Camera isn't great, sometimes spins around as you fight. Not a massive problem for me but it's there.

You can replay each File (mission) and there's very detailed markers on quests, items picked up, letter rank for every key fight, which I think is a good setup. I don't know if I will, but you can replay specific missions to try and get S+ rank.

 

[bertram_tung]

I don't care what the 'review scores' are, and anybody relying on them to validate their own opinion is a fool. If you thought it was a good/bad game, then make your case and it let it stand on its own.

Again as an action game casual, I am enjoying it up to ~File 7 of 11. It's a nice bombastic romp with great style, and by mid-game you can string up some nice sequences of chaining people up, tossing them in the air, and so on. I wouldn't say anything compares to that third GIF from 'Carls', though I don't even know where that's from, but it's clearly got a similar DNA. It's not really about the imminent threat of death like my early hours in Dark Souls, it's about seeing what combination of flashy shit I can combine against hilariously massive bosses in particular. The 4 mechs you get to switch freely between for the majority of the game give you enough options to stay entertained - you can fire arrows with your bow mech, suit up in your heavy mech and smash things and throw billboards, then get on your dog mech and do some horse combat.

Funnily enough, despite being a textbook anime story from someone who's just read anime all their life, it doesn't really outstay its welcome - it refrains from going on and on or doing that Japanese "POWER OF FRIENDSHIP!!!!" super cringe moments. I use Japanese audio and I presume the English dubs are far more insufferable, as usual.

The gameplay loop is simple. A pretty typical file would go: start in your base, have some brief chats, couple of slice of life sidequests like feeding stray cats if you want. Deploy & 'investigate', i.e. talk to people in the area and pick up hints, basically Witcher-lite with occasional use of magic vision and such. Run around in a pretty nice looking, linear corridor always with a couple of side paths, killing everything you see. Go in an abyss gate, do some basic puzzle like obstacles. Fight boss.

Camera isn't great, sometimes spins around as you fight. Not a massive problem for me but it's there.

You can replay each File (mission) and there's very detailed markers on quests, items picked up, letter rank for every key fight, which I think is a good setup. I don't know if I will, but you can replay specific missions to try and get S+ rank.

well said, good breakdown. on the subject of the dub: the english dub is actually pretty good, i was expecting a lot worse. the lip syncing is terrible, but it didn't bother me

 

[CyberModuled]

I use Japanese audio and I presume the English dubs are far more insufferable, as usual.

I haven't heard Chain's dub but I'd be surprised if it were bad. The guys Platinum usually get for localizations and English dubs are pretty solid (at least when it comes to making them entertainingly corny).

 

[Carls Barkley]

I wouldn't say anything compares to that third GIF from 'Carls', though I don't even know where that's from, but it's clearly got a similar DNA.

It's one of Platinums own games, which released in 2009. A decade ago.



After watching that, you can't tell me Astral Chain isn't major decline.

 

[Stokowski]

... At least GITS made the section chief a Yoda.

This gave me a sensible chuckle.
Then I thought about it.

And Aramaki would kick Yoda's ass all day long.

 

[Tigranes]

That Bayonetta video certainly seems more complicated & with far more options. Perhaps if I played a ton of these games, I would consider Astral Chain too casual. It also seems to me that AC was built as a more rounded experience, with faux RPG elements and 'investigation', and not always about setting the stage for the most epic combo fight. I mean, there aren't even any fighting-game combos in AC strictly speaking, and it looks like (just from the video) that Bayonetta's all about that (which I never enjoyed, personally).

I won't say what's better or worse etc, without even having played Bayonetta. It's for others to read my impressions and determine whether it's legit or it only applies to babies playing their first Platinum game.

 

[Damned Registrations]

The only two platinum games I've played are Nier Automata and MGS Revengeance, and while both of them allow for some crazy combo bullshit, in practice, you just end up spamming whatever move stunlocks shit most effectively while letting you dodge away because a decent combo will leave you wide open to everything else in the room fucking you over. Like there's very few situations where you can even try to do a combo because you need a solitary enemy tough enough to not die 3 hits into it that isn't also immune to any of the shit you need to do the combo, and you need to have unlocked all those moves. And assuming all that aligns and you pull it off, there's no reward anyways. It's a very weird sort of design.

 

[Tigranes]

Wouldn't a heavily combo based system have to recreate a beat them up game environment - i.e. a wide open space 1v1 against an enemy equally capable of complex moves?

Astral Chain obviously isn't so combo dependent, but I understood why virtually every boss fight took place in a kind of dragon ball style arena without a huge amount of environmental hazards or whatnot.

 

[Carls Barkley]

You just need to learn how to blade cancel and dodge offset



If anything, Platinum makes it too easy to spam advanced combos. DMC and Ninja Gaiden require greater technical skill.

 

[PulsatingBrain]

What the fuck is that thing above her tits?

 

[Carls Barkley]

 

[TheHeroOfTime]

What the fuck is that thing above her tits?

A medallion like. It's story related if I remember correctly.

----------------------------------------------

Comparing the gameplay of Bayonetta with games like Nier automata, MGS rising or Astral chain is kinda pointless. The Bayonettas are strictly Hack and slash, linear games where the combat is the main focus (With linear levels, basic platafforming and almost non existant exploration). While the others are J-rpgs and adventure games. So having a less "deep" combat system in these games is expected, since they prioritize other aspects beyond combat.

 

[Tigranes]

Finished. Seems like I can also faff around on File 12 (basically a few 'bonus fights'), redo parts of missions to get a better score, and/or play on unlocked Hard mode.

My earlier impressions hold. Quickly: story is dumb as shit 14 year old Evangelion fan fiction. Typical bad anime. Game is however fairly stylish and the music is fun, and the game is sensible about reducing loading screens, running around, dialogues, etc. so that you can always fast forward to the action as you like. Combat is fun enough to an action noob like me. The 'RPG' elements play like super-lite Witcher stuff tacked on linear action game levels, basically catch your breath and get some slice of life rather than meaty gameplay on its own.

I'd say it was a fun enough romp, no more or less.

 

[Carls Barkley]

Great now go play Devil May Cry 3 & 5 so you can understand what a real action game is supposed to be like