How One Man Made the JRPG Masterpiece of His Dreams (Astlibra Revision)
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- Опубліковано 27 жов 2023
- Astlibra Revision is dropping on Switch next month and you don’t want to sleep on one of the best JRPGs I’ve played in years. While it’s definitely not going to be for everyone, I’d argue there is absolutely something here for a lot of gamers. While the core mechanics can be found in a ton of other action games, it’s hard to think of another that uses so many systems so cohesively.
It’s a JRPG that doesn’t waste your time with a lot of fluff, choosing to focus on momentum instead. It’s a game all about maintaining a constant pace of unlocking new ways to do more damage to even deadlier enemies with very little downtime. As a huge fan of games like Valdis Story and Ys, I poke around for anything similar every now and again and this has been maybe the first game to really deliver for me in awhile. If I were to really give this game the proper amount of time it would take to discuss everything it gets so right this video would easily be 5x as long. Maybe at some point in the future.
My biggest issue is the story and certain aspects of the presentation. I like the story well enough, don’t get me wrong it’s fine, but even as I say that I know that’s in part due to me making excuses for some of the more off-beat comedy and rather extreme fan service (that chapter 5 boss was really a lot lmao) because it’s a one man show. The story definitely has a lot of potential but how much of that it actually lives up to is going to be up to you to judge.
Outside of that the boss fights are consistently the weakest part of any given level. They take too long, the movesets are pretty basic, and they’re much too reliant on one hit kills or stunlocking you when it comes to difficulty.
The game overall is truly incredible though. It’s been a fantastic couple of years for the best JRPGs and Astlibra Revision is comfortably sitting among the greats that feel destined to become modern classics.
Music:
Temporal Tower Orchestral Orchestral Remaster - Anoyth
( / temporal-tower-orchest... )
Skyedge Voyage - Honkai Star Rail OST
Into the Desolate Infinite Shadow - Honkai Star Rail OST
Waterfall - Ultimate Chicken Horse OST
River King Casino Stage (Arranged) - @CeeeX
• Skullgirls - River Kin...
Tekken 4 beach theme abstract flip - @acetheabstract
( • Tekken 4 beach theme r... )
Dialga's Fight to the Finish - Orchestrated - Anoyth
( / dialgas-fight-to-the-f... ) - Ігри
![ОРБАН приехал к ПУТИНУ и "отчитался" о поездке в Киев 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_0ukDovOWq8/mqdefault.jpg)
It an amazing game which I think flew under the radar for most jrpg fans in the west. Someone recommended this game in a discord channel and I was surprised by the number of postive reviews it had on steam despite never hearing of it.
It's definitely one of those rare games where most people haven't heard about it but if you happen to find someone who played it odds are they love it haha
when you sat down and feeling empty void and sad after the credit rolls, you know you just had a blast playing the entire game. thats how i felt when spending 80+ hours in this game. truly a manifestation of passion from the developer. hopefully more people will play it
good video btw man
That's true, it takes a really special game to evoke that kind of feeling. I'm glad you liked the video!
The finale just ground me into the dirt emotionally in the best way possible. The game does such a good job of hooking you in and just making you part of the journey and allowing you to feel all the victories and defeats so profoundly.
Astlibra is so damn good, im kinda sad there isnt more games like this
Right? I really wish this style of action rpg was more popular.
Vanillaware games like Dragons Crown 👑
Muramase Rebirth etc
Hey, don't worry, this game will prolly inspire devs in the future!
This game makes you realize how 3D action games are overrated. You don't need crazy graphics and mechanics to make an addictive game. So glad my colleague recommended me this because I definitely would have never bought it in my own.
I'd argue that the graphics actually are crazy, they're just not modern 3D rendered models. Sprite art on that level, with that many weapons and armor is a genuinely insane level of effort on display and I love it.
RAIN 🌧️
🎹 🎶
Very well-thought out and put together video, was shocked to see it was coming from a smaller UA-camr, you definitely have the knack for it, keep it up bro!
Thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Great energy on your vids. Subbed under the og 1000s.
Ayy thank you!
Awesome video! I've been wanting something like this for awhile and hope it lives up to the hype, bought it and so excited to play it.
Thanks! I hope you love it as much as I did
This game is like the an MMORPG without the MMO. Rpg levels and stats. Multiple currencies. Map to map story progression. Map tied crafting materials. Map specific rare drops. Magic levels, weapon levels, equipment levels, stat levels, all the levels to keep you busy getting stronger.
If you're starved for that feeling of progression in a MMORPG but don't want the bs of MMORPG like microtransactions, time gating, etc. definitely give this game a try.
You can even play around with different builds until you can find one that can just cheese the game on the harder difficulties. But you ain't gonna complain about it being unbalanced because it's not multiplayer.
That's a really excellent way to look at it. Astlibra's flow reminds me of a few older mmos in that sense.
Easily one of the best games I've ever played, a true gem masterpiece
gigantic missed opportunity not scoring this video with Astlibras amazing (and mostly royalty free) OST, imo.
Did initially try to use the OST but at the time I was super new to the editing software (just switched to Davinci after years with Adobe) and couldn't mix the OST with my vocals well enough.
I love the OST but it's a little busy for what I was going for lol
Great video! Thanks Im going to try this game!
Let's go! I hope you love it as much as I did!
finally a quality video on my goty of 2022
2:45 im very pleased that some other developer thought of this system and expanded and refined it
Valdis story has a similar way of using its magic though it uses a more traditional magic bar
Im quite pleased that this game expanded on one of my favourite implementations of magic in action RPGs
I just started this game and DAMN It's amazing.
The graphics were my one issue from the start (not even the start, from trailers and stuff), but eventually I realized that the graphics are going less for a JRPG aesthetic, and more of a Castlevania: Symphony of the Night one, and it's absolutely perfect for the kind of combat it's going for.
Really enjoyed your video, thanks for giving this amazing game some exposure. I clocked 185 hours in it, played it twice to completion. I'll probably have fond memories of it for years to come.
I found out about Astlibra by talking with fans of my personal GOTY 2023 and a JRPG even more obscure than Astlibra : Demons Roots. Way more niche (yup, it's possible) since it's an eroge but I recommend reading some of the Steam reviews.
Cool vid, I definitely would’ve mentioned the absolutely banging soundtrack though. Also the random FFXVI shade throwing makes me sad, I really liked that game, too.
Excellent video! I'll check this game out for sure.
Also, I 100% agree with your mini-essay. FF16 was a game I could not have been more excited for, nor more convinced that it was guaranteed to be an amazing game. But over the course of my 90 hour playthrough (I have no idea how it was that much time, because everyone else I talked to that did every quest only put in like 35 hours), I grew extremely sour on the game. When I completed it, I just sat in silence, and not in the "Man, what an experience that was" way, but in the "...did I hate that? I felt -nothing- for that ending" way. And the more distance I put between me and that playthrough, the more negative my opinion becomes. I'm frankly shocked at how vapid the game (and Clive) ultimately were, especially with the caliber of writer that was boasting about how special the story was and how Clive was the greatest achievement of their writing career.
Anyway, it's a game I could talk about for hours, with nearly every minute describing things I dislike/hate about it.
It saddens me.
Ayyy I love to hear it! I hope you like Astlibra as much as I did!
You really hit the nail on the head too. That apathy that set in after the ending is something I don’t think I’ve felt for any Final Fantasy game in my life. And the confidence in every aspect of this game from Square is definitely what worries me. I don’t expect them to come out and say “eh it wasn’t ideal we can do better” but you’re right, the interviews about the writing, the performance, and gameplay were just way too boastful for what it wound up being. I just really hope they don’t double down on this direction for future FF games.
This game is so beautiful! It looks like a Vanillaware game. Such a gem!
Not a raven, he's a crow... er wait...
his names karon!
I remember buying this after trying the demo randomly recommended to me on Steam and falling in love with immediately.
Spent 150 hours on it and still return just to engage in combat again, easily my favorite video game of all time, and at such a good price too!
It's kinda insane how clean Astlibra's combat is. You can really feel how much love Keizo put into it
Yeah this game is worth every penny.
10:12 I didn't mind them not explaining and handholding throughout the puzzles except in Elysium where you had to jump down on an invisible ledge to find the final stone 😅
😂😂😂 I remember this!
Love the video! I will for sure be checking this game out, thank you for the recommendation! If i might add some constructive criticism: Sometimes there are way too many sounds at once for my ADHD brain to process. Like the background music, game audio, and your voice over all ran together in my head a couple times, and i had to rewind and watch it again.
that might just be a me issue though, hard to say
Ayyy I'm really glad to hear you'll be giving Astlibra a shot! Let me know how you like it! And I'm always 100% open to any feedback. I definitely agree in terms of the audio mixing. I love rich soundscapes so I'm trying to steadily work towards a balance of game audio, music, and vo. Thanks for letting me know it's not quite landing yet, I'm definitely going to keep making improvements!
hands down a classsic, one of my favourite in my life!! OST, story, gameplay etc. it is SO FUCKING AMAZING. 10/10 would love to see asmongold play this, putting about 80 hours in and 100% it. The OST is GOATED
100% agree it's incredible. Only reason I haven't 100% it is cuz I don't have time rip. Although it's definitely worth that
Proof that you don't need to be a triple a studio to give people a lot of fun.
This game makes up for the lack of polish with a lot of passion.
Sleeper hit of 2022, imo😊
Just bought this game it’s interesting on its own but even more interesting to know one guy made it in his free time over 15 years lol
Right? It's such an incredible story haha. It gives me hope I'll eventually finish mine one day
One of the best game i've ever played.
Game is easily one of the best in it's genre
you just sold me a game, cheers!
Really nice game 9/10. Chapter 4 was my favorite
I can't play final fantasy 16 until they release it for pc :(. I'm playing Astlibra right now!
Game looks great just sold my cago inventory and hame a bunch of money in steam burning a hole in my pocket but i can never find anything worth playing on steam even for free so this looks greatt
Glad I found this channel. U know ur shit.
Ps. Read ur final message, u truly truly know ur shit.
The most frustrating game i have ever played. Still brilliant but its proper “outsider art”.
wtf is outsider art
Tevi just dropped and is very good. Deep combat metroidvania.
Funny enough I just saw a trailer for this. It definitely looks pretty interesting and I love deep combat systems so I'll probably check it out at some point
Asking female NPCs about their panties. Wtf.
Yeaaaah admittedly as much as I love this game it's got moments where it's kinda just a lot lol. You have no idea how taken aback I was by the ch 5 hidden boss
Except for the fact that it's not a JRPG at all... it's an Action RPG.
🤷 video game genres are kinda nonsense across the board lol but in this case I'm using the term "jrpg" because from a stylistic & mechanical perspective it helps convey at least part of what Astlibra is at a glance much more effectively than "action rpg" could
@@whyitsfun Not really. It's closer to games like Muramasa and the like which have been referred to as ARPG's for the longest time. JRPG and WRPG were terms that came to be because console and PC's had 2 distinct styles of RPG's for most part, but then at some point a lot of PC style RPG's started coming to consoles... since both were called RPG's, they came up with WRPG and JRPG to separate the 2 distinct styles.
Games like this and other ARPG's never really needed a different term to recognize what type of gameplay experience it offers. Saying it's a 2D Action RPG already says it all.
I feel like these days people call almost everything a JRPG the moment a game has any sort of RPG mechanics. Oh well, just a matter of time before Super Mario Bros will be considered the greatest JRPG ever made. It has a level up system after all.
@@thenonexistinghero I'm pretty familiar with the origins of the term (including the wildly problematic way it caught traction in the west) but the unfortunate reality is though "Action RPG" conveys infinitely less in a vacuum than JRPG does. An "Action RPG" could be easily be God of War or Yakuza but you're absolutely right it could also be something like Muramasa. It could also be Diablo though and often when people mention action rpgs in that context they're referring to something very specific that games like Muramasa and Astlibra absolutely aren't.
Gaming genres are nonsense because they kinda intrinsically lack the nuance the medium needs to describe the majority of games and from an audience perspective most people aren't super interested in engaging with that nuance in the first place lol. I certainly don't pretend to speak for everyone but at least in my content whenever I refer to a game as a "jrpg" or something similar I'm doing so because I know that speaks to certain expectations of tone, pacing, mechanics, etc for a certain portion of the audience in a way that other words or phrases wouldn't.
Lol kid, Jrpg only means that the rpg was developed in Japan or by a Japanese company. The term, "Action Rpg" is only the genre under the rpg umbrella.
@@kurisu3000Lately alot of western devs have started calling their games "Jrpgs". But it's easy to tell they were made by western devs 99% of the time. I wonder why 🤔
Thats one dark japanese man