Current Events > Astral Chain is a weird game

(+) Yeah! (+)

Conceptually it's Pacific Rim meets Ghost in the Shell with a bit of pokemans in there as well, but you can fire emblem engage with your pokemon. Also a bit of detective game thrown into the mix. The controls are super weird, probably bordering on bad, which honestly I'm sort of okay with because it just adds to the essence of this being totally it's own thing. Generally I'm not sure if I like or if I'm just fascinated with whatever the fuck the game is.

One thing I'm not liking is how the ranking system works where giant chunks of gameplay have an overall ranking so you can't just do smaller missions, you have to "perfect" like 40 minutes of game to get a good rank. Also you are encouraged to replay these missions cause there's elements of them that can't be done until you get pokemon with the right HM moves.

Astral Chain is terribly boring. Couldn't finish it. Worst Platinum game I have ever played. Even Madworld and Anarchy Reigns / Max Anarchy are more fun and enjoyable despite not being as deep.

I mean, the ranking system is just a feature of Platinum games, and character-action games in general. They even save your best rank, so if youre trying to pure platinum a level, you dont have to do perfect on every fight in one go.

I really want to fuck my sister in that game. Why did they make her the hottest chick? >_>

NeonTentacles posted...

I really want to fuck my sister in that game. Why did they make her the hottest chick? >_>

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/2/8/AAearvAAEXG8.jpg

BurmesePenguin posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/2/8/AAearvAAEXG8.jpg

No

BurmesePenguin posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/2/8/AAearvAAEXG8.jpg

That's some weird custom version. I like her default look.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/3/9/AAfWomAAEXHH.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/1/7/AAfWomAAEMN5.jpg

NeonTentacles posted...

I really want to fuck my sister in that game. Why did they make her the hottest chick? >_>

Calm yourself, it's just a game.

It's got a lot of weird things, yeah. Like how consumable items don't detract from your score and are insanely busted, or how you can get absolutely mauled in combat but still get the max rank as long as you go down a checklist of "things to do each combat" which get pretty boring to repeat out of obligation every fight.

On the other hand, once you actually get through those skill trees and have stuff like the summon parry ability and two good skills on each legion, and you're used to the movesets, synch attacks, and controlling your legion in general, it can be a lot of fun.

Except you have to spend a lot of time not fighting during replays, and the environments kind of suck, and these other weird problems.

Bayonetta 3 took very heavy inspiration from the best parts of this game's combat with the Demon Slave mechanic, and it works very well there IMO, although that game has its own issues with absolutely trash enemy design from the beginning to the end.

IMO Viewtiful Joe and Wonderful 101 remain the only fun Platinum games to replay for rankings, even if they suffer from not having a proper way to quickly retry a section. "Don't get hit, unless you Ukemi it", "Kill fast", and "Get a good score" (which prevents stuff like pure Voomerang/gun stinger cheese) feel a lot more satisfying to accomplish than "Do the same things at least once every fight".

I liked it.

Enough to make a guide on it even.

And I've never made a guide on a Platinum game before.

I liked it. Then again, its the only platinum game Ive been interested in playing and I wasnt trying for max rank.

NeonTentacles posted...

I really want to fuck my sister in that game. Why did they make her the hottest chick? >_>

Dragon Age 2 all over again smh

I never finished it. I like it when I was playing it but then I just sort of fell off it.

Good music tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86wE0ly_h5U

I saw the game on sale at a local game shop and I was thinking of getting it, but I'm surprised by all the negativitiy in this topic. I enjoy Platinum games for their gameplay, but I will admit the stories associated with many of them tend to be garbage.

bro its just cops with stands from jojo

I thought it was fun. only beat it once and didn't replay any levels tho

Prestoff posted...

I saw the game on sale at a local game shop and I was thinking of getting it, but I'm surprised by all the negativitiy in this topic. I enjoy Platinum games for their gameplay, but I will admit the stories associated with many of them tend to be garbage.

It's not a bad game. It just has a lot of aspects to it other than action, some of which are not all that friendly on replays, and a lot of the game takes place in the Astral Plane, which could largely be described as "red and digital-looking" the whole way through. If you don't mind a bit of exploring and talking to people to play detective, or some minigames, you can still have fun with these parts.

The combat is also pretty experimental and unusual; your character is pretty weak and is more of a puppet master who dances to activate the real moves on your legions than an actual combatant, when you're not just directly controlling the legion itself. If you've played Bayonetta 3, it's like how Wink Slave and Demon Slave did most of your damage (as these moves are literally copied from Astral Chain in how they function), but you also have cooldown-based skills that you can activate to make your legions start attacking or assisting on their own, similar to the X button morphs in Wonderful 101. Dodging with the dodge button is also extremely weird and pretty terrible (you are not Bayonetta here); you really have to focus on controlling enemies with binds and skills or avoiding attacks entirely until you unlock the Perfect Call skill for your legions, which is a ridiculously strong and useful parry that only functions when you do not have your legion summoned.

I maintain that the ranking system is hot trash in this game, which really kills replay value a fair bit, but the game still maintained my interest to the end and was decently fun.

Poorly posted...

Calm yourself, it's just a game.

Just saiyan. My sister in the game is hot