KEMCO has returned with a brand new journey for retro JRPG followers: Astral Takers. This launch was developed by VANGUARD, the corporate who earlier this 12 months gave us Dragon Takers. We weren’t keen on that one, however are completely satisfied to say Astral Takers fares higher.
This time round, we comply with Revyse, a younger chap who meets Aurora whereas on a coaching mission. Aurora has misplaced her recollections; all we actually find out about her is that she’s wished by the empire Revyse serves. He rapidly develops an attachment to her, and—with the help of his good friend, Fio—helps her escape so she will be able to regain her recollections and discover out why she’s a wished girl.
It’s a fantastic setup, albeit considerably predictable. You’ll meet loads of allies and enemies alongside the way in which, and it’s by no means actually troublesome to find out the place everybody matches in. The story gives few surprises.
You could, nevertheless, be stunned by the sport’s visuals in each good and unhealthy methods. On the great aspect we’ve the character paintings, which is properly detailed and animated. When the primary characters are talking, they’ve a swaying movement to them that provides life to the considerably stilted dialogue. The one disadvantage to that is that if a personality is speaking to an unimportant NPC, the NPC isn’t depicted in any respect; the primary character darkens and fades again a bit, however nobody is depicted on the opposite aspect of the display. I don’t suppose I’ve ever seen that earlier than.
Additionally good is the way in which the turn-based battles are depicted. Relatively than the aspect view typical of the style, we see the enemies by way of a first-person perspective. It’s a singular strategy enhanced by cool results that helps the sport stand out from its friends.
Alternatively, the graphics on show when visiting cities and exploring dungeons are extra rudimentary than I’m used to seeing in retro JRPGs, even these from KEMCO. They’re concurrently barren and repetitive. Additionally they don’t have a lot to supply almost about hidden gadgets or compelling sidequests. Astral Takers will not be a really thrilling sport to discover.
After all, what actually issues right here is the fight. Gamers can take 4 characters into fight, together with beings you’re capable of summon at sure factors within the sport. Summoning is a pleasant hook, because it lets you swap round combatants with particular talents, and so they routinely hop in for any downed teammates. It’s enjoyable to experiment with a brand new summon, and also you’ll doubtless settle in your favorites fairly rapidly.
Additionally distinctive is the way in which that enemy strikes are outlined, supplying you with the chance to arrange accordingly with the everyday bodily assaults, talent assaults or buffs/defuffs, merchandise use, or defensive stances. Alternatively, your assaults are oddly imprecise. You possibly can select which enemy to assault, but when there’s multiple of that sort, you possibly can’t decide which one you’ll assault. Or, should you can, I couldn’t determine how.
That downside carries over to the UI on the whole, which is kind of cumbersome. Shopping for and equipping armor is a careless course of that requires accessing extra screens than needs to be wanted. Even figuring out which button you’ve got chosen will be onerous to determine, because the spotlight is oddly troublesome to see.
These points damage the general expertise, however they don’t kill it. Retro JRPG followers will benefit from the distinctive fight presentation and the get together selection that the summons function gives. And people on the lookout for a lightweight, breezy journey will discover it right here. The sport will not be troublesome in any respect, as evidenced by the truth that KEMCO doesn’t provide the expertise/weapon increase DLC typical of their releases. Astral Takers will not be probably the most satisfying sport you’ll play this 12 months, but it surely’s distinctive sufficient to function time-filler.
