It kinda got me thinking in recent days but I didn't keep as good of a memory of this game than I expected (played it at release). I had high hopes for this game but I wasn't crazy about it so I didn't have the highest expectations, but while some stuff were obviously great, I came out of the experience a bit disappointed at how it all came up together.
+ The gameplay was great, honestly I enjoyed it a lot and I felt I could get good at it fast, the lenient scoring system meant I could achieve good results without being too frustrated about it. I was already seeing myself getting 100% in this game.
+ The music is also very nice, some tracks were standouts.
+ It had a great atmosphere too. Really enjoyed the sound design of this game.
+ The parts where you went to the city roaming around were also very good.
+ Also the customization was so good! I made a great character that I was proud of.
But it somehow didn't come up as a whole in a way that was satisfying, you know?
- The over-reliance on the astral plane was too much. I love fighting, but I like fighting in a backdrop that I care about. The majority of the gameplay being spent in the astral plane made me sour on the whole game. I at least expected more variation inside the plane itself but no dice. I liked the puzzles, I liked thinking up of new ways of traversal but it was most of the time linear. At the end of the day it felt like too much platforming but the platforming was too gamey instead of feeling organic.
- The story was really disappointing. I didn't expect Automata levels because it's another team entirely except for Taura leading the development but this whole story felt like some Psycho-Pass knockoff, and I already think that anime wasn't really good...I wasn't expecting Evangelion or Ghost in the Shell or anything but just something that kept my interest going. But it was so cookie-cutter and bland that I just kept going like a drone hoping for something to wow me, and it didn't.
- The characters were all ok? Nothing that made me want to see more of. The twin is cool, but other characters are either corny or too stereotypical. Ironically enough I liked Marie the most with her accent and her gimmicks. I don't think Astral Chain even has one character I would consider great or impactful.
- The sidequests were egregious the more you play, I reached a point where I felt I was playing a lesser version of Professor Layton. Align cars so you can free the way.
- And there was just too much stuff on the ground, the reliance on red matter being everywhere tired me down when I was close to the finish line. I spent at least a quarter of my time hunting for red matter despite being on the path. When it wasn't Layton it was fetch quests where you had to go from one end of the map to another.
- A lot boils down to repetition, the amount of stuff they created wasn't enough for the length of the game they made so I spent most of the time in non-descript locations or we revisit actual locations several times where we end up doing mostly the same thing. It felt too limiting, which is sad to see in a cyberpunk game.
I was really into it in the first half but my excitement just waned. I finished the game, closed it and never had it in me to replay it to get everything despite being so certain i would do this. There's just something missing about it, and I never felt this way about any Platinum Games, despite this one having a lot of qualities. The whole just comes out lesser than the sum of its parts. Metal Gear Rising looks like a flavorless game compared to Astral Chain's style and yet I'd still play that one five times before feeling like I want to play Astral Chain, if you see what I mean.
Anyone feeling like me? Also I totally expected the legions to have a personality and to talk with you before the game came out and they are just drones most of the game and that really makes me sad
+ The gameplay was great, honestly I enjoyed it a lot and I felt I could get good at it fast, the lenient scoring system meant I could achieve good results without being too frustrated about it. I was already seeing myself getting 100% in this game.
+ The music is also very nice, some tracks were standouts.
+ It had a great atmosphere too. Really enjoyed the sound design of this game.
+ The parts where you went to the city roaming around were also very good.
+ Also the customization was so good! I made a great character that I was proud of.
But it somehow didn't come up as a whole in a way that was satisfying, you know?
- The over-reliance on the astral plane was too much. I love fighting, but I like fighting in a backdrop that I care about. The majority of the gameplay being spent in the astral plane made me sour on the whole game. I at least expected more variation inside the plane itself but no dice. I liked the puzzles, I liked thinking up of new ways of traversal but it was most of the time linear. At the end of the day it felt like too much platforming but the platforming was too gamey instead of feeling organic.
- The story was really disappointing. I didn't expect Automata levels because it's another team entirely except for Taura leading the development but this whole story felt like some Psycho-Pass knockoff, and I already think that anime wasn't really good...I wasn't expecting Evangelion or Ghost in the Shell or anything but just something that kept my interest going. But it was so cookie-cutter and bland that I just kept going like a drone hoping for something to wow me, and it didn't.
- The characters were all ok? Nothing that made me want to see more of. The twin is cool, but other characters are either corny or too stereotypical. Ironically enough I liked Marie the most with her accent and her gimmicks. I don't think Astral Chain even has one character I would consider great or impactful.
- The sidequests were egregious the more you play, I reached a point where I felt I was playing a lesser version of Professor Layton. Align cars so you can free the way.
- And there was just too much stuff on the ground, the reliance on red matter being everywhere tired me down when I was close to the finish line. I spent at least a quarter of my time hunting for red matter despite being on the path. When it wasn't Layton it was fetch quests where you had to go from one end of the map to another.
- A lot boils down to repetition, the amount of stuff they created wasn't enough for the length of the game they made so I spent most of the time in non-descript locations or we revisit actual locations several times where we end up doing mostly the same thing. It felt too limiting, which is sad to see in a cyberpunk game.
I was really into it in the first half but my excitement just waned. I finished the game, closed it and never had it in me to replay it to get everything despite being so certain i would do this. There's just something missing about it, and I never felt this way about any Platinum Games, despite this one having a lot of qualities. The whole just comes out lesser than the sum of its parts. Metal Gear Rising looks like a flavorless game compared to Astral Chain's style and yet I'd still play that one five times before feeling like I want to play Astral Chain, if you see what I mean.
Anyone feeling like me? Also I totally expected the legions to have a personality and to talk with you before the game came out and they are just drones most of the game and that really makes me sad
