Astral Frontier English Version Released(Android)

[Travelman31]

By the way, I enjoyed how trippy this game was!Attachments:Screenshot_2016-11-11-17-00-49.pngScreenshot_2016-11-11-17-01-11.png

[Rpgfanjames]

I'm interested about the difficulty mode if this game has one. Are there Easy, Normal, Hard and Chaotic modes like from Legends of Ixtona? I sure hope this comes out on iOS this month! :cheer:

[Travelman31]

Yah, your standard ones: easy, normal and hard. I always play on normal, including in this one. Though I tried the last boss (the real last one, 16th on the list) on hard and had no issue. he seemed to have just 20,000 extra hp but nothing else and took just one extra round (8 rounds to take down in normal, 9 rounds to take down on hard). Perhaps stat growth is a little slower in hard, which would require more grinding but the last boss did not seem to have any extra defense or attack power really.

[MSG Commander]

[quote="Travelman31" post=6256]Yah, your standard ones: easy, normal and hard. I always play on normal, including in this one. Though I tried the last boss (the real last one, 16th on the list) on hard and had no issue. he seemed to have just 20,000 extra hp but nothing else and took just one extra round (8 rounds to take down in normal, 9 rounds to take down on hard). Perhaps stat growth is a little slower in hard, which would require more grinding but the last boss did not seem to have any extra defense or attack power really.[/quote]

Speaking of stat growth -- I'm still near the beginning but it's important to note that your characters DO NOT LEVEL UP! Instead, they use a similar method as was used in Destiny Fantasia. Every now and then your stats just increase.

I haven't really paid attention, so I don't know if the increase is random or if it determined by whether you attack or use skills (for example if you always attack does strength always increase, or if you use more skills does magic attack increase?) If anyone knows that would be good information to have.

[Searinox119]

It doesn't seem to be determined by that. I frequently got 0 STR increases while only using the regular "attack" command in battle.


Anyway, this game is pretty different from what Exe-Create makes. Unfortunately, I'd still prefer another Asdivine or something over this one.

Sure, Exe-Create makes rather similar games. But thing is, they tend to be good. Not much changes, but that's because it usually already works and doesn't really need to change. And with most of recent Kemco games being Exe-Create's, it kind of sets a certain bar of quality.

And Astral Frontier is noticeably worse than those games. The game tends to lag. Control pad is much smaller than in other Kemco games, and making it bigger is not an option. The game straight-up refuses to continue playing if your Internet connection is disabled. Even menu navigating has its flaws, such as having to select an item multiple times if you want to use several of them.

Gameplay-wise, it's not fantastic. Dungeon gimmicks are all annoying (in order: use an item every 200 steps; don't step on certain tiles or you'll be teleported back to start; tiles that reverse your movement when you're on them, but only during certain periods; vertically looping dungeon with no warning or clear indication). Dungeon design is good as far as main game goes, but optional maps are all ridiculous huge mazes with no means to navigate them but stumble around and hope you happen upon the exit.

Battling? Not incredible, either. There are pretty much only 3 types of attacks for the enemies: hit one, hit everyone, inflict a status effect. (And same game also provides pretty easy immunity to (only three, by the way) status effects, because why not?) Not a huge variety. But that's fine, because the game gives you some spells such as "instantly kill any non-boss enemy 100% of the time" and "instantly disable all non-boss enemies 100% of the time". So, all in all, it doesn't matter whom you're fighting, they'll go down all the same. But surely those spells are very costly? Well, they aren't that cheap, but our main hero has a 0 SP move that restores all HP and SP to him, and SP restore items are pretty cheap anyway, so it's not much of a problem. Yes, there are bosses, but they aren't a big challenge and are usually all of the 'one party member spams heals, all others bash' variety.

Story? Not much to it. "A higher being decides humans are not worthy to exist, good guys try to convince it otherwise" sums it up pretty well. Characters are of the cardboard variety, to the point where our hero has narration as his dialogue. I don't think the game even once bothered with any scenes devoted to character development... or even character establishment, while we're at that.

Basically, I don't think this game managed to be more than decent in pretty much anything. I guess the premise was interesting, but with such execution, does that really matter?

[kamentierr]

I agree with you Searinox. The difference in quality is pretty big. I guess this disparity might be the main reason why we are getting more Exe-Create games than the other devs, especially after Asdivine series has set a pretty high standard.

And also if we look back for the last couple of years E-C's games has been evolving quite significantly, much more so i feel than other devs games. I mean look at Ancient Phantasma, it looks like a carbon copy of Chrome Wolf. And Astral Frontier looks and feels outdated.

Though its not necessarily bad, some people (like me) simply found much more enjoyment from playing retro styled games. The more outdated/clunky/tedious the more fun it is :silly:

[Rpgfanjames]

From reading what Searinox just said, I'm not gonna like this game when it gets an iPad/iPhone release. So this game requires constant internet connection? Even if the wifi at home is absolutely crap and loading times take well over 10 minutes when moving from dungeon to dungeon? And the fact this game is nothing grindy wise like Disgaea where you can maximise all stats up to 9999999 including HP and SP, though they cap at 9999(HP) and 999(SP including base stats) but still I'm gonna purchase the game on iOS if Kemco actually does this because I've only got an Android phone and rarely play games on it and mainly use my iPad for playing Kemco RPGs! And I agree that most games by Worldwide Software aren't that good in gameplay and mechanics as Exe Create are doing really well with their recent releases and upgrading game mechanic systems featured such as weapon upgrades and customisable characters to increase stat growth or learn monster attacks (From AntiquiaLost and Asdivine Cross for example).

(Should've made a paragraph before sorry)
If I'm being honest with you, I wanted Kemco developer Worldwide Software to keep making more games and improving/evolving their game features, graphics, music and mechanics as we keep seeing the same things over and over again it gets annoying!!!

[MSG Commander]

I have to chime in. I like several of the older Worldwide Software games - as well as several Hit Point and Magitec games.

Among my all time favorites are the Symphony games, Eve of the Genesis, Machine Knight and Justice Chronicles, Chrome Wolf and Crystareino.

However, if I'm completely honest, these 3 devs have *also* put out some of my least favorite games, and some that are just... meh. Bad games in my opinion include Soul of Deva, Valkyria Soul, Blood of Calamity, and yes, Grace of Letoile and Dead Dragons. (Apologies to all who like those games.)

I like variety - but sometimes, variety fails. :unsure:

If I'm equally honest, there are few Exe Create games that I consider to be "bad." In fact off the top of my head I can't think of a single one. (Okay I take that back; I could not get into the Alphadia Genesis games. Still they're not bad per se, just not as exciting to me as Asdivine or Dragon Sinker or the Revenant games.)

I still stand by my initial statement: I want more Kemco games from other devs. But, if I look at the big picture, I have to say Exe Create games are consistently better quality, more engaging, more rewarding, etc. (Even though they do start to feel quite similar when you play 4 or 5 of them back to back.)

If Hit Point and Worldwide would take the extra step to polish their games and evolve like Exe Create has, I would be in mobile RPG heaven.

But quite a few of their games seem more like the "first draft" (like Alphadia was) than a finished product.

[a]

What I wonder is why Astral Frontier is such a step backward from Eclipse of Illusion, Worldwide's best game by far. Even Tears Revolude is better than AF. I don't like AF's skill system, and the potential bit effects are boring.