Combat is awesome but the controls are complex and I fumble because of this. Why have attacks on triggers when face buttons would have been better? Some of the button placements are questionable. Why does left dpad bring up that useless case log. Pressed it by accident so many times while trying to change the baton...
Then, they have all these ‘best of Platinum’ abilities but they are rarely used and hardly work as intended. I hate how the Beast legion controls when you ride it for example. Axe legion is useless. Also hate the sword legion MGR cutting implementation.
Game isn’t really suited for this runtime which is obvioulsy bloated. Should have been way shorter and less formulaic: briefing, investigation, small combat encounter, astral plane, repeat. It becomes predictable and in turn not fun.
Also, the game world has this low budget drab feel to it same as Nier A, maybe it’s a feature of their world building but there is something off about it. They could and should have done more with this setting. Maybe next time.
I myself also struggle on the controls at first, then it gets good, and I don't find using face buttons would've been better when you need both the trigger and shoulder buttons to execute combos parry etc. It's faster than using face buttons. Also, I don't have any problems with the Dpad controls.
I'm afraid I have to disagree that the abilities won't work as intended. I mean, have you seen how the pros work the cases on their speedruns? Controlling the beast only gets hard at first until you familiarize yourself with it. The axe is super OP on breaking up bosses' shield lol, and you have no idea how OP it would be after some tweaking. That's why it's the final legion unlocked. Sword legion cutting is weird I agree, but I move on and becomes good with the execution fast.
I think you're more referring to tackling the missions for the first time. I mean, you're supposed to stumble and, at times doing bloated things the game throws at you first. After that, you will be busy redoing the missions, figuring out how to cut short the time spent, just like a normal action game with their time attack feature to get the missions on rank S. Most of the missions speedruns will end within 15 mins so it's not taking up too much time either.
Of course, if you're just in for the story then you're not gonna enjoy it much. It's like dealing with Monster Hunter loop game and mechanism in some cases, if you can't figure out the controls and being familiar with it, then the game will be basically useless.
As for the budget comments, the game is supposed to work on low budgets because any kind of action game didn't sell like 10m++. Last time I heard the big-budget DMC V only sold around 3m, good milestone for an action game, but that number is pretty niche compared to big titles for other genres. Even Persona 5 sold 5m at least.
Astral Chain, in my view, absolutely delivered on its pledge of producing a top-tier action game that can compete with the likes of DMC/Bayo. It has sold over 1 million copies, suggesting that a sequel to the speculated trilogy is definitely in the works.
Astral Dog
lol, just noticed Doom is also 50% off. Jeez, great. That really makes it an easy choice/s
