ASTRAL CHAIN™ |OT| PoPo's Bizarre Adventure

[tohlew]

Also, I probably need to grab Bayonetta. This is my first Platinum game.

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Based on the fact that you enjoy the combat of Astral Chain so much, yes, absolutely play Bayonetta ASAP. Especially seeing as how you're focusing on the critical path in AC, as the Bayonetta games really don't offer much in the way of side missions (and when they do they're just wild combat arenas with special conditions).

 

[kirbyfan407]

I just beat File 11 earlier today.

Does anyone else love the cast in this game? In particular, I really liked Hal and Brenda, and Olive grew on me as well. Jena was actually great, too! I thought the female representation was quite strong, though Marie's sexualization was a little frustrating (mostly because of her breast physics). The cast overall was really filled with characters I enjoyed.

I chose the male twin as my playable character, and based on how the plot developed, I actually liked this choice. (spoilers below)

Spoiler: File 11 Spoilers

When it's revealed that Akira was cloned against her will and then that they were being mass produced, Akira begins to talk about how Yoseph violated her by doing all of this without her own permission. She also begins to question her own worth and who she is. I liked this because with Akira being female, I saw some thematic real-world parallels to women having agency over their own bodies. Obviously, this is a fanciful sci-fi world, but I still made those connections in my head. Also, as a result of my (male) character being silent, it left the game's endgame leads being essentially Hal, Olive, Akira, and Brenda, so it was kind of cool to see such a strong female presence. I just thought it was nice to see this, especially as I originally thought Olive wouldn't be handled well, but she really develops into someone I respected. And then she ends up essentially becoming the new commander!

I'm not sure what the spoiler policy in this thread is, so please let me know if I need to change anything.

 

[stan_marsh]

I just beat File 11 earlier today.

Does anyone else love the cast in this game?

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Hell yea,I loved reading all their little stories on the PC.

 

[Twig]

Well, after reaching some of the frustratingly unfair fights in File 12, I think I'm done with the game. Was a nice ride. Got my fill. Maybe one day I'll go back and try Pt Ultimate, but chasing the highest difficulty isn't really my jam anymore. Was gonna go hunt down the cats and toilets after I finished File 12, but alas. No big.

Great game!

 

[kirbyfan407]

Hell yea,I loved reading all their little stories on the PC.

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I was sort of surprised how many details were hidden in there. There were some story elements that I thought were pretty enlightening that only showed up there. There was one that I remember reading and thinking, "Wait, did I miss that?? Is that how I was supposed to learn that??" I forget which story detail that was now.

 

[Rainy]

After I got a bit down on the game during the middle of it (mostly File 8) File 9 and 10 have been pretty great, and I've enjoyed them both a lot. The end of File 10 and the boss fight to end it were awesome. The stealth sections do suck in this game though.

Gonna do File 11 tomorrow, would have been tonight if I didn't have to sleep for work :(

Also if I ever playthrough the game again, definitely won't play on Casual again. The bosses are pretty damn easy.

 

[nemorrhoids]

In the middle of file 05, and the camera is reaaallly hindering my enjoyment of the combat. I try to go in with my Legion but end up getting stunlocked by every enemy that I either can't see because the camera is too close or in a horrible angle, or that there's so much happening on the screen that I can't parse when to get away. I'm still enjoying it, but it's these little things that are making the game fail to shine. I hope it clicks further.

 

[Uzumaki Goku]

I just need two more cats. I just something came over me. I had to rescue the little guys.

 

[Cloud-Hidden]

File 3: combat clicked beautifully for me.

File 4: WTF, stop throwing so much shit at me so I can actually enjoy this.

I swapped to standard for file 4 and I don't know if that's what did me in or what, but I struggled HARD for the first time since starting the game, and I feel like it was the camera and enemy / environment design working against the established flow of the game.

Trying to take down two flying fuckers, each with their own little immunity chain chimera behind them that you have to take out before you can fight them, was not fun. I hate, hate, HATE that mechanic. Tearing your focus away from an intense fight to hit L and try to line up a damn cut so you can sever the immunity feels terrible and clunky and distracting.

It's especially annoying with two powerful, aggressive enemies bearing down on you, and even worse when you get cornered and the camera has nowhere to go and you can't see anything.

File 4 also introduced boss and enemy encounters with large, random areas of ground that render you slow and useless. There's nothing I hate more in a fast-paced action game than this "the floor is lava" bullshit. Just let me play.

I hope they ease up on that going forward. If not, I'm going to burn out on this game way faster than I want. I was having a brilliant time until that chapter.

 

[stan_marsh]

Cloud-Hidden slow down time by clicking right stick in, makes it too easy

 

[Cloud-Hidden]

Cloud-Hidden slow down time by clicking right stick in, makes it too easy

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I honestly was trying, but in that particular fight (with the flying enemies) I was still getting hit too fast to even set up and trigger the focus.

 

[Deleted member 42484]

File 3: combat clicked beautifully for me.

File 4: WTF, stop throwing so much shit at me so I can actually enjoy this.

I swapped to standard for file 4 and I don't know if that's what did me in or what, but I struggled HARD for the first time since starting the game, and I feel like it was the camera and enemy / environment design working against the established flow of the game.

Trying to take down two flying fuckers, each with their own little immunity chain chimera behind them that you have to take out before you can fight them, was not fun. I hate, hate, HATE that mechanic. Tearing your focus away from an intense fight to hit L and try to line up a damn cut so you can sever the immunity feels terrible and clunky and distracting.

It's especially annoying with two powerful, aggressive enemies bearing down on you, and even worse when you get cornered and the camera has nowhere to go and you can't see anything.

File 4 also introduced boss and enemy encounters with large, random areas of ground that render you slow and useless. There's nothing I hate more in a fast-paced action game than this "the floor is lava" bullshit. Just let me play.

I hope they ease up on that going forward. If not, I'm going to burn out on this game way faster than I want. I was having a brilliant time until that chapter.

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I'm a few chapters further and I agree that part on ch.4 was a bit much, but luckily I haven't encountered anything like that again.

 

[HockeyBird]

"If you want, you should help out your fellow officers"
"Sure! Will do!"
"By playing some shitty minigames"
"Yeah, fuck that"

 

[sleepnaught]

Havent had much time to play lately, just now got around to beating File 03 and what a blast that was. I'm finally getting the combat down, even though half of my ranks are D lol. I still feel like I'm making a lot of progress on that front, though.

Minor complaints:

I agree with the camera issue, feels like I'm having to stop attacks just to readjust my camera far too often

Also agree with missing blue cases and other things because of stumbling upon a cutscene and it locking you out.

Using my legion to jump platforms in the Astral plane can really be glitchy. I'll position my legion perfectly on where I want to launch to and all the sudden, it starts to spaz out uncontrollably and throws me over the ledge. Really annoying.

 

[banshee150]

"If you want, you should help out your fellow officers"
"Sure! Will do!"
"By playing some shitty minigames"
"Yeah, fuck that"

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This

 

[Arklite]

Started yesterday.
Game is stylish as hell
Intro was weirdly heavy handed for a Platinum game
Switch controller is fucking terrible
Control type C is much better than default
Hitboxes are a bit weird on the big enemy type
THE MUSIC, MAN

The legion system is cool though it's missing a some finesse on the control side, but then again this controller isn't helping.

 

[kirbyfan407]

When revisiting old chapters, it warns you that progress in the current chapter will be reset. I'm in File 12. Does that mean the Cases I've completed will show as incomplete once I go back? Or is File 12 an exception?

 

[CloseTalker]

I'm currently on File 5, and while I'm enjoying it, this is one of the most poorly paced games I've played in years. This is how the pacing feels in this game:

There's just no flow to it, you're either in painfully slow story/investigation segments, or in combat scenarios that can drag on to the point of feeling repetitive. It's not that the investigation/story segments are bad, but they're just poorly paced imo, and drag the game to a halt. I feel like if they just took all this same content but recut it so it ebbs and flows a bit better, the game would go down a bit easier.

 

[Gles]

I just finished File 1, this game is so cool.
Can´t wait to play more of this after beating Fire Emblem.

 

[Xlad]

When revisiting old chapters, it warns you that progress in the current chapter will be reset. I'm in File 12. Does that mean the Cases I've completed will show as incomplete once I go back? Or is File 12 an exception?

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File 12 is an exception

 

[kirbyfan407]

File 12 is an exception

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Phew. I was thinking that there was no good reason that it couldn't retain my individual case scores, so I'm glad it's an exception. Thanks!

I have perhaps what is another silly question. In the main game, before you left for a location, the characters would occasionally make comments like: "It'll probably be a while before we can head back to base. Are you sure you're ready?" However, they didn't do this double-check on every File. Does that mean it was actually possible to return to the base after departing in some of the Files? I never really saw a way to do that, and I kind of figured the structure for each File was Base => Mission.

 

[Deleted member 9135]

I really hate that I missed that casual wasn't rank. Now here I am slowly redoing the entire game section by section, chasing those S pluses

 

[Regiruler]

"If you want, you should help out your fellow officers"
"Sure! Will do!"
"By playing some shitty minigames"
"Yeah, fuck that"

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Car moving is a good puzzle though. It shouldn't really be graded for anything but efficiency though.

 

[Pat_DC]

When I started I found control type C was better for dodge and fighting but once you start using the legions and their skills more I went back to type A.
Felt a bit easier for more full on legion use. Anyone else find that or did you stick with C until the end?

 

[Watershed]

I've been playing a little bit at a time and am in the middle of File 3 now. I am loving this game. It might be my favorite game of the year so far. I love the style, the combat, the aesthetic, and the overall 90s anime vibe.

 

[Mediking]

I can finally start playing again! The presentation and high production values!!!

 

[THANKS]

Im as far as you are as well.

In a strange but not way, it these anime moments remind me of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. An equally impressive and polarising game at the same time!

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That's a good omen because that's my favourite Switch game.

 

[Nephilim]

I've been playing a little bit at a time and am in the middle of File 3 now. I am loving this game. It might be my favorite game of the year so far. I love the style, the combat, the aesthetic, and the overall 90s anime vibe.

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Yes, it is really that good. I'm in the beginning of file 3 and i'm impressed with everything so far.
Messed around an hour in trainingmode just because i had fun with the mechanics and overall flow of the combat.
This game oozes style and quality.

 

[NotLiquid]

Both this game and Nier Automata have me feeling nostalgic for that certain type of game you used to see a lot of in the PS2 days which are more rare these days; a whole bunch of unique fluff added to the games that may come at the expense of some pacing but was still added because they just believed in the strength of having varying degrees of content. It may not particularly congeal much, but despite that - I appreciate the commitment to just having all of that extra stuff if only to strengthen its overall presentation, rather than shaving everything down to a checklist level of perfection. It's rough around the edges in a few ways for sure, but I think that just kinda helps it stick out and adds personality to the overall package.

 

[Deleted member 37928]

I'm currently on File 5, and while I'm enjoying it, this is one of the most poorly paced games I've played in years. This is how the pacing feels in this game:

There's just no flow to it, you're either in painfully slow story/investigation segments, or in combat scenarios that can drag on to the point of feeling repetitive. It's not that the investigation/story segments are bad, but they're just poorly paced imo, and drag the game to a halt. I feel like if they just took all this same content but recut it so it ebbs and flows a bit better, the game would go down a bit easier.

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Yeah it's kind of a strange mix. During investigations I'm lying down on the cough, almost falling asleep, and during battles I'm almost sitting right in front of the TV trying to keep track of everything.

I'm not really sure why the game has to be so explosive and speedy. It's like they have to make that kind of gameplay because it has become their signature design. But I honestly would've more prefered this if it was turn based or something with a slower pace and less real time input. The chained Legion is a great concept but most of the time I don't want to control it because of the excessive amounts of inputs involved and the high number of enemies going batshit crazy on screen. It's just too damn much.

 

[jdstorm]

Finished up with the main story today. Will do a longer write up at some point. Overall there was a lot I liked, as well as a few things I didn't like.
.......................:


Now let's talk about abilities the modification element in Astral Chain. What's everyone using? I'm finding that Auto Sync attack seems to be the most "game breaking" but there is a lot of good stuff.

I'm also keeping around the ability share mod since hypothetically that should allow you to cover a lot of stun and elemental damage

 

[Deleted member 2791]

File 08 was oddly much weaker than the other parts of the game. It felt like filler 3/4 of the time and even if some sidequests were fun, a lot of them were just timer-limited bullshit. I also missed a ton of stuff in the first half since I had no idea how you get to the upper level of the field without taking the elevator.

Anyway, is file 09 the last of the story?

 

[evilalien]

Now let's talk about abilities the modification element in Astral Chain. What's everyone using? I'm finding that Auto Sync attack seems to be the most "game breaking" but there is a lot of good stuff.

I'm also keeping around the ability share mod since hypothetically that should allow you to cover a lot of stun and elemental damage

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Are you talking about effect spread when you say ability share? That just keeps the abilities active when your legion isn't out, basically a permanent sync keep.

File 08 was oddly much weaker than the other parts of the game. It felt like filler 3/4 of the time and even if some sidequests were fun, a lot of them were just timer-limited bullshit. I also missed a ton of stuff in the first half since I had no idea how you get to the upper level of the field without taking the elevator.

Anyway, is file 09 the last of the story?

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No, 2 more files to go.

 

[Cerulean_skylark]

File 08 was oddly much weaker than the other parts of the game. It felt like filler 3/4 of the time and even if some sidequests were fun, a lot of them were just timer-limited bullshit. I also missed a ton of stuff in the first half since I had no idea how you get to the upper level of the field without taking the elevator.

Anyway, is file 09 the last of the story?

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File 10 and 11 are a massive roller coaster. Chapter 8 was totally necessary to calm the tone down right before the plunge. In that sense, i thought it was perfect.

 

[Deleted member 2791]

Are you talking about effect spread when you say ability share? That just keeps the abilities active when your legion isn't out, basically a permanent sync keep.




No, 2 more files to go.

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File 10 and 11 are a massive roller coaster. Chapter 8 was totally necessary to calm the tone down right before the plunge. In that sense, i thought it was perfect.

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Okay, this makes much more sense. I thought the game would end after file 09 which is why the file 08 being what it is weirded me out.

EDIT: can you replay some part of a previous file?

 

[evilalien]

Okay, this makes much more sense. I thought the game would end after file 09 which is why the file 08 being what it is weirded me out.

EDIT: can you replay some part of a previous file?

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Yes, from the PC in your base, but wait until you are in file 12 so you don't lose current file progress.

 

[Deleted member 2791]

Yes, from the PC in your base, but wait until you are in file 12 so you don't lose current file progress.

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I've barely started file 09. Can I go back and replay file 08 to get what I missed? I only intend to do the few sidequests I missed then clear it.

 

[evilalien]

I've barely started file 09. Can I go back and replay file 08 to get what I missed? I only intend to do the few sidequests I missed then clear it.

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If you just started file 09 then go ahead, it will put you back at the beginning of file 09 when you are done revisiting file 08 (don't forget you can bail on a file revisit from the menu at any time and it will save all collectibles and new mission ranks so you don't have to do the entire file again).

 

[Deleted member 2791]

If you just started file 09 then go ahead, it will put you back at the beginning of file 09 when you are done revisiting file 08 (don't forget you can bail on a file revisit from the menu at any time and it will save all collectibles and new mission ranks).

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That's what I wanted to know, it's really well made then. Thank you!

 

[Xlad]

I've barely started file 09. Can I go back and replay file 08 to get what I missed? I only intend to do the few sidequests I missed then clear it.

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Yeah if you want to

 

[NotLiquid]

File 07 was a great chapter. Lots of constant action, surprised more people aren't citing this one as a highlight.

 

[The_Strokes]

Ah, for some reason I couldn't find the OT with the search bar!

Anyways, finally starting after doing two FE routes and I'm enjoying my time with the game, currently on File 3 and the variety of stuff you can pull off in combat seems rather interesting, button layout is still a little clunky and I don't get why the target selection and camera rotation both use the right stick, I should probably see if you can change the layout.

Other than that, I like how stupidly anime this is, it almost feels like a parody of one, maybe that's the intention.

 

[NotLiquid]

Goddamn.

Cracking the Heavy Traffic 3 sidequest felt satisfying as hell.

 

[AndrewGPK]

File 4 also introduced boss and enemy encounters with large, random areas of ground that render you slow and useless. There's nothing I hate more in a fast-paced action game than this "the floor is lava" bullshit. Just let me play.

I hope they ease up on that going forward. If not, I'm going to burn out on this game way faster than I want. I was having a brilliant time until that chapter.

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In fairness, I think that was to introduce you to and make you appreciate the floating mechanic of a new Legion, and create scenarios to show you how that is useful. The Legion is meant to help you overcome that.

 

[stan_marsh]

In fairness, I think that was to introduce you to and make you appreciate the floating mechanic of a new Legion, and create scenarios to show you how that is useful. The Legion is meant to help you overcome that.

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Yea you can even punch while the Arm Legion holds you so it's not holding you back really.

 

[Xlad]

(Don't be afraid) Never turning back
(To believe) Never giving up
Everything we've sacrificed
Watching from up in the sky

 

[Vampirolol]

So I'm in postgame and I think that my ranking is:

- The Wonderful 101
- Bayonetta
- Astral Chain
- Mad World
- Bayonetta 2

(I count Nier as another genre and I still have to finish it due to some incredible incidents with my PS4)

I love the combat and the world in this. The story was serviceable even though I still have to understand most of the motivations behind it. Level design is spot on, platforming and mini-games not so much. File 06 best file.

 

[Sagitario]

If I replay a chapter within a file... do I have to finish the whole file in order to continue to my latest played file/point in the game?
Does it affect progress, upgrades, ranks, rewards?

Also, any tips for camera configuration? I'm having trouble with the camera during battles.

 

[Ometeotl]

I fell out of the world when it didn't load properly. I don't want to advertise my own twitter feed too much but there's a bunch of other tweets there showing off the weird proclivities of this (like, for example, riding/wearing the two Legions you can allows you protection from the void boundary and that leads to some weird shit)

 

[Stat]

I'm having fun with it but man oh man, does it do some things I really really hate.

Like the clean up. It feels so unnecessary and so unfun. I wish we could unlock way more cosmetics quickly (Im on File 04) and have only unlocked like a hat and glasses and like 3 colour schemes for myself.