Astral Chain (a different kind of Starlink)

Similar boat to Jas, I've got it but finished Control first and now I've got Blair Witch, Man of Medan & Catherine all as well.

Two of those are about 5hrs long each, that going to get done before starting this and giving it the time before Zelda.

Got stuck into this properly tonight & my word does the combat open up from file 03 onwards from stat and skill upgrades for your legion plus the same for your characters weapons that allows you to combo into those linked moves with the legion. There's just so much variety & depth to it you can play the way you like, the story is complete waffle but it makes up for this big time with great enemy design and the bosses have all been top notch so far.

Really enjoying it a lot now.

I've heard that the story gets better as you go on! Is it just the anime-ness that you don't like?

Nope, because I know there can actually be good anime (like studio ghibli for example) that actually have interesting stories to tell but this is just full of cliché after cliché that you can see coming a mile off.

Less story and more combat would be good. At least the investigative parts give the game some pacing - they make you quite excited for the next time to you fight. The story is makes you impatient for the next time you fight, that's the difference.

I'm getting more into it though. Echoing what Jaster says above, although it's depth is a lot more daunting for me (with my idiot taste in games) than it probably is for him (with his bollocks-hard, five-hundred-hour-long taste in games).

Good to hear you are getting into it more.

I doubt this has any unlocks after you finish it but it'd nice if this had some sort of separate horde/boss battle mode.

I've played a few hours of this so far - like others have said, there's a bit of a pacing issue in that each chapter is bloody long with some sizeable gaps between fighting. The investigation stuff is fine, but the meat of this game comes with its combat. It's very satisfying pulling off a big sync attack combo, wrapping an enemy in your chain and jumping in for another combo. I feel like I've only just gotten started with this - I've just unlocked the second Legion - but it's shaping up to be a pretty good time!

That's a common Platinum problem, isn't it? I remember TW101 having pacing issues to an absurd degree.

I've started this up, and after a rollicking intro chapter I got shoved into a room while Fake Gendo Ikari talks at you for roughly five hours about what would be really exciting to have as a cut-scene or to play through. I'm not overly keen on that, I have to say!

Also at the moment I'm kind of button-mashing through the combat. What difficulty are y'all playing on? I've upped it to Platinum from Casual, but I'm not sure if I might regret that down the line.

I wouldn’t say it’s a common platinum problem as much as a problem with AC & TW101.

I played on Platinum difficulty and found the combat to be a little simple & easy compared to what I’d expect from Platinum. It was a fun enough ride though. Not their best effort, but not their worst either.

Sent from Topic'it App

Balladeer wrote:

Also at the moment I'm kind of button-mashing through the combat.  What difficulty are y'all playing on?  I've upped it to Platinum from Casual, but I'm not sure if I might regret that down the line.

That button-mashing problem should go away as of File 3, I was in the same boat. I'm also playing on Platinum difficulty - the game's thrown enough healing items at me that I've not had any problems, even during the dicier battles.

Started finally yesterday, only did the first three files and got to say it just seems okay.

I was going to finish before Zelda, UGG, DQXI etc but I think I'll be putting this on the backlog and comeback to it at some point.

Whenever there's a dry spell, maybe December.

I'm thinking the same. Astral Chain has lots of positives going for it, but there's probably something better up ahead. For me, there's only one winner between Astral Chain and FIFA 20, or Astral Chain and Luigi's Mansion 2, or Astral Chain and Pokémon Sword and Shield, or...

It's fell by the wayside for me as well since Iceborne expansion came out for MH World.

The_Jaster wrote:

It's fell by the wayside for me as well since Iceborne expansion came out for MH World.

Copy/paste into all other game threads.

The_Jaster wrote:

It's fell by the wayside for me as well since Iceborne expansion came out for MH World.

Same!

I do mean to go back to it, but I'm not seeing myself tiring of Iceborne anytime soon...

I did play it a little bit the other day but man file 6 is quite long, also made it worse by doing side cases which only gave me info I had already collected.

I played a bit more too, reaching the end of Chapter 2. I'm generally okay with talky games but I really think they've got the balance a bit off a bit here. I don't actually mind the characters, apart from my whiny brat of a brother; but I want to be doing more hitting of things. Still, pretty scary boss!

Plot Speculation:

I finally got around to starting this.

Initially, I was blown away by the presentation. The slick colours and cook monster designs and fast motorcycle chases . . . Very much up my street. The story is cliche so far but I've been amused by a couple characters and I can already tell its gonna go on a really anarchic, existential tangent towards the end.

The gameplay took a while to really click for me. I'm playing on Platinum Standard, naturally, and the thing with P games is that they make you feel like the coolest motherfucker alive when you're doing well. . . And a total dweeb when you're not.

Early on, I wasn't remembering the buttons, I couldn't read the weird monster designs so I was missing all their cues, I either didn't have or didn't understand a lot of techniques, and that early mission where you fight all the legions is brutal!

Some time with the training and a couple more levels, though, and I'm really feeling it. This is gonna be right up there for me, and I'm already excited to do some old files again and line up those S ranks.

Investigating is fun. Giving the kids back their soccer ball was great.

Drunkalilly wrote:

Investigating is fun. Giving the kids back their soccer ball was great.

Did you try to score a goal after you gave them their ball back? I noticed there was a little stat for tracking your longest distance goal, which was a neat wee touch.

Can't believe you globalist soyboy liberals are sleeping on this great game. Get it played!

The_Jaster wrote:

this is just full of cliché after cliché that you can see coming a mile off.

While I enjoyed the ride the story took me on, I did see literally everything coming from Chapter One.

Balladeer wrote:

I've started this up, and after a rollicking intro chapter I got shoved into a room while Fake Gendo Ikari talks at you for roughly five hours about what would be really exciting to have as a cut-scene or to play through.  I'm not overly keen on that, I have to say!

Maybe it's because I came off the back of Fire Emblem or maybe it's because of your weird Catholic habits for never playing a videogame for more than 22 minutes, but I never noticed this at all.

Balladeer wrote:

That's a common Platinum problem, isn't it?  I remember TW101 having pacing issues to an absurd degree.

Crumpy Andy wrote:

I wouldn’t say it’s a common platinum problem as much as a problem with AC & TW101.

Yeah, listen to Andy.

Wonderful 101 had some long slogs through its levels. Bayonetta 2 had pacing issues in that it tried to be relentless with bosses and spectacle to the point that none of them had enough kick. On the other hand, Bayonetta and Vanquish are as close to perfect games as have been programmed by human hands.

Balladeer wrote:

Also at the moment I'm kind of button-mashing through the combat.  What difficulty are y'all playing on?  I've upped it to Platinum from Casual, but I'm not sure if I might regret that down the line.

Crumpy Andy wrote:

I played on Platinum difficulty and found the combat to be a little simple & easy compared to what I’d expect from Platinum. It was a fun enough ride though. Not their best effort, but not their worst either.

JayMoyles wrote:

I'm also playing on Platinum difficulty - the game's thrown enough healing items at me that I've not had any problems, even during the dicier battles.

Huh. This is a weird thing.
You guys are right - its not hard. After the weird difficulty spike at the start, I don't think I saw another game over screen.
However, because of the way my brain works, every fight felt tense and difficult because I was desperate to get the highest possible rank in every encounter. Taking damage? Needing to be revived? Fuck off. Weak. Cuck stuff. Give me S+++ or give me death.

JayMoyles wrote:

Did you try to score a goal after you gave them their ball back? I noticed there was a little stat for tracking your longest distance goal, which was a neat wee touch.

No goals for me. I saw the challenge, but I couldn't see the goalpost, then I got distracted and then I forgot.

Drunka's Platinum Rankings

1. Bayonetta
   
2. Vanquish
   
3. Bayonetta 2
   
4. Astral Chain
   
5. Wonderful 101
   
6. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
   
7. Transformers Devestation
   
8. Madworld

I haven't played Nier Automata yet. I also haven't played Avatar, Infinite Space or Anarchy Reigns, but I don't think I'm missing much. Is that the lot?

Ninja Turtles, mate

Drunkalilly wrote:

Huh. This is a weird thing.
You guys are right - its not hard. After the weird difficulty spike at the start, I don't think I saw another game over screen.
However, because of the way my brain works, every fight felt tense and difficult because I was desperate to get the highest possible rank in every encounter. Taking damage? Needing to be revived? Fuck off. Weak. Cuck stuff. Give me S+++ or give me death.

I think that's a key difference with myself in that I'm never really fussed about achieving a perfect rank in these character action games. Something like Bayonetta or Devil May Cry is a perfect compromise in my book as there's still that incentive to achieve those high ranks but the difficulty in surviving the battles is still there for a first playthrough.

I've had this for a while but kept on not starting it, because I had a notion that I should get some other games in my backlog first. I finally admitted to myself that if I stuck to that I'd never get started. I've just played the first two files and am really loving it! Not too bothered by the pacing just now - I was actually sort of pleasantly surprised by the amount of chat and wandering around as I had in my head that it would be nothing but action. (Not that the latter would be bad!)

I have been playing on Casual though, as I am not an MLG gamer (slash don't have the patience to keep trying to beat something when I could be doing something else that isn't frustrating me). I might up it to the next level though as the above posts suggest it's not too painfully unforgiving!

I think it was File 3 that felt too long for its own good, if I recall correctly - reckon the pacing issues people have mentioned stem from there.