Why was Astral Chain such a failure? Why did Nintendo even make this game?
>one million sold>failurekys tranny
combat sucked, ranking system sucked, bloated subsystems, tons of dumb padding, incoherent story which would be ok on its own except so much time is spent on it
>>746504230Astral Chain was likely funded because Taura was the lead designer for Nier Automata and that game did really well despite being incredibly midUnfortunately a bunch of problems came together all at once on Astral Chain. The original idea of a twin-stick brawler just never panned out because people can't really track two characters at once under pressure so they had to rebuild the combat with a bunch of previous platinum gimmicks and OP auto skills, the Switch couldn't really handle the graphics so it was sub 30fps, the writer couldn't decide if he wanted a comfy police drama or an Eva rip off and fucked up both, it's a pile-up.Also personally I think the color use is fucking eye-searing. Everything is bright neon blue or bright neon red. It gives me a headache.
>>746504230>>746504536Nice schizoid, game's great and will get a sequel soon. It came out ages ago though, so why aren't you seething at Duskbloods that's coming out soon instead to get more traction
>>746505039Will it though? Sure they own it now but that doesn’t mean much. It’s no big franchise and not like they got the devs to spare
>>746505039Unfortunately, I think the reason it's been seemingly dead in the water has a lot to do with Platinum having issues as a company after it came out. Would love a sequel though, great game that wasn't anywhere near done with its world.
>>746504230Very forgettable artstyle
>>746505039It's not getting a sequel
>>746504230I never finished it. The combat and level design just didn't grab me.
>>746505917And yet Nintendo bought the IP after it sold 1 mil
>>746505378>great game that wasn't anywhere near done with its world.This makes me think the people that like this game weren't paying attention to it at all, they were just entranced by the 30fps neonThey literally published a full timeline of the world including an end to the whole thing.
>>746505301>>746505378>>746505917Nintendo and Platinum still have great relationship, the games aren't cheap but they aren't AAA level expensive, and I'm not sure they want to expand on Bayonetta at the moment, so I'd be surprised if they actually don't try Astral Chain 2 since they own the IP. Seems more reasonable than a complete new IP. They can still change a lot of the combat if they want, as long as they keep the setting
>>746506318The whole game takes place in the city, there was a criminally small amount of Kyle, and there's the whole uninhabitable world still getting fucked up by shit. Even if they have a timeline of things overall, I recall it being vague enough to be able to add a lot of major events, and the city itself still has a lot more they could explore.
>>746506746Oh.Oh you meant physically, not in terms of anything that might be interesting character or story wise.Of course you did.
>>746505039Im more surprised we hadn't seen a sequel. It was one of Platinums better performing games. Hope one does happen eventually>>746506263In fairness, they traded Wonderful 101 for it, which was the dumbest thing Platinum did. Kamiya doesn't get enough shit for ruining Platinum.
>>746504230Great game, best Taura game. /v/ is somehow too casual for it.
>>746504230>unprompted Astral Chain seethe>>746504536>Desperate liesHmGonna say-75million karma to ziony1+mil units sold and Nintendo fully owns the IP. Looks like a sequel is soon.>>746505301Look into Eel Games StudioPlus it only being a mega huge IP is irrelevant, Nintendo knows there is value in a diverse line up of games. Plus Nintendo and Plat wanted it as a triology from the onset
>>746507109that webm is hideous
>>746504230I got it for christmas of that year, got around half of it, I got stuck trying to save an NPC, dropped it and then took it back only to realize I forgot about half the shit the game was about. There are some great ideas with the whole legion thing, but it also feels the game ask you to consider too many elements and get lost between the useless crap.
>>746506798Why are you such a dense nigger?There's plenty to explore with Kyle and the Hermits.They still need to unfuck Earth from Red Shifting completely.The Not-STELE shadow leaders could have other secret inhumane projects going on.etcPlenty left to explore in the world and with characters.
>>746507189stay mad li'l snoygger.
>>746506798Are you retarded?
>>746507109The clothesline is such a simple and goofy mechanic, but it ends up being surprisingly great when you do work it in well.
>>746504306I could release a jpeg of my asshole for Switch and it would sell one million >>746504230I guess it has too much fast paced gameplay for weebs, but it's too much of a weeb game for platinum fans. It doesn't look remotely as special to me as Nier, Bayonetta and W101. And didn't DMC 5 release in the same year? >Why did Nintendo even make this game?They wanted to release a few of these "gamer games" for gamer goodwill. Too bad they didn't have any taste or insight. Duskbloods has a similar idea behind it but that one actually looks appealing.
>>746506369Anon, P* suffered a Gainax, every single good dev quit it, including the Astral Chain 's director.
>>746504230I keep meaning to play this since I got a Switch 2 and can imagine it runs way better on that thing. From what I saw, it looked pretty poor on the Switch.I am interested in a puppet fighter action game, that seems like an appealing niche within niche.
>>746510834It runs basically the exact same, it always locked to 30 pretty well, and it's never mattered because of the generous hitstop. Game could use a patch.Art's still beautiful though.
>>746510596>too much of a weeb game for platinum fans
>>746510706>>746510596I really wish people would stop putting Automata on the level of Bayonetta or MGR or W101Automata was the final nail in the coffin for the studio
>>746511551>30 fpsOh yeah, I almost forgot. That didn't help the sales either, on top of a bunch of things already mentioned.
>>746511567There are different flavors of weebThe kind of weeb that loves Bayonetta and DMC for their combat is not the same kind of weeb that loves Automata and Astral Chain for panty shots and easy automatic.
>>746511573What has Automata to do with Platinum Games suffering a Gainax? I never even mentioned automata in my post.
>>746511567There's a lot of crossover but there are also a lot of platinum fans who don't dig the generic anime look>>746511573To be honest I haven't even played it, but it looks cool. Astral Chain never looked cool to me. Nier might have been a nail in the coffin when it comes to game design, but it's the first time they achieved any kind of mainstream popularity, and I don't understand how they fucked it up after that.
>>746511895>panty shots and easy automaticLots of ass, but not a lot of skirts in the game. I don't understand the easy automatic thing though, as most (if not all?) of the Platinum games have a handholding mode. That said, the post above also mentioned TW101, and if you're a big fan of sentai, you're already weeb enough to put up with fanservice you're not interested in.
>>746504230No idea, it was a good game.
I was baffled that your twin is fully voiced but your character isn't.
Astral Chain FeMC has probably the best walk/run cycle in the biz
>>746512317It really is fantasstic.It also just feels really good to move around in this game.>>746512283Was a weird decision. Your character gets like one speaking moment at the very end and that's it.
>>746512283>>746512317>>746513087Play female MC for 2 reasons.1. That ass with that walk cycle.2. The brother actually has a pretty good VA and absolutely loses his shit when things start going down in the finale.
Astral Chain was peak when you were beat cop on the streets. The cubey other world was drab and dull. Ultimately its achilles heel was the terrible performance, though that might not be an issue on the Switch 2. If they ever release an AC2 I'll buy the Switch 2 for sure. Probably the only game I'd get the console for.
My massive excitement upon purchasing the game was dashed by the terrible performance and input delay and clunky melee/dodge system and things only got worse as each new stand and mechanic was introduced. I nearly stopped playing entirely when I realized the ranking system scored you on how many different moves you used in the fight and nothing else. Combat became going down a shopping list.At a certain point the game quite literally gives up on the idea of visual clarity and timed dodges and just hands you auto dodge and auto block and mass stun skills.
>>746504230Fun game, I enjoyed it a lot. The combat is cool and it has that late 80s early 90s anime vibe. The sequel would be the only reason for me to buy Switch 2
>>746512131And yet there are better action games that sold worse.
>>746510706Nintendo can ask their new studios or whatever to make Astral Chain 2 then. I'd still be down to see what nu-Platinum can pull off
>>746513256The vocalist they also got for the male protag's side of the songs couldn't hit high notes as well so his version of Dark Hero is really noticeably autotuned.
>>746511694the game couldn't even maintain 30fps. I remember one mission where it was closer to 20 fps if you swayed the camera towards the sun,
>>746513912Oh fuck I completely forgot about this. Yeah, the female vocals for Dark Hero are 1000x better too. Another reason to play femc
It's my second favorite Platinum game after W101. I love when they just commit to a core gimmick.
>>746513968And people wonder why the Switch 2 sells so many units
Why does Nintendo keep making anime games like this when they know full well that normal people who enjoy Nintendo games hate anime?
>>746513804Action games tend to sell on the popularity of the prior entry and their marketing rather than their own merits. Nobody but inertia spergs would say DMC4 is a better game than DMC3, but DMC4 on 360/PS3 sold 3 times as many copies as DMC3 on PS2.Nier Automata was an insanely popular game, especially by Platinum's standards, and Astral Chain was billed as the new game from the designer of Automata.>>746513998>I love when they just commit to a core gimmick.but...they didn't? The core gimmick was abandoned mid-development and they brought in Kamiya to help Taura salvage the game and release something. Instead of direct control over two full characters you get auto attacks and auto skills and ported mechanics from other games.
>>746504230Good game raped to death by tedious minigames. Fuck you kamiya.
>>746514338Xeno and FE sell like hot cakes
>>746514425In what world is 1 to 2 million considered good or decent sales?
>>746514357>Nier Automata was an insanely popular gameAnd the first Nier game wasn't popular at all.
>>746514559in a world that's not only AAA games that need to sell 10m copies?
>>746514338They seem to have mostly snapped out of it, or I don't watch nintendo directs as often as I used to. The only switch 2 anime game I know of is fire emblem.
>>746514576...The first Nier game was in no way a combat action title. It was basically a bullet hell.
>>746504230This game outsold Metroid Prime 4
>>746504230I want to try it out but I sold my S1 last year before getting the S2, and apparently it runs like shit on it or something
>>746514706That just supports my point. Nier Automata sold on its own merits and not on things people liked before it.
>>746514816Anon your reading comprehension is fucking terrible.
>>746514803>this game outsold a major flop in an already niche franchiseI mean I guess it's still impressive but still, I think MP4 will outsell it in the long run.
>>746514357It commits to the gimmick it actually has instead of the much worse gimmick they may or may have not initially drawn up.Astral Chain turned out way better than Bayonetta Origins.
>>746514982>It commits to the gimmick it actually hasI genuinely do not know what you mean because to me the combat feels like a grab-bag of previously used mechanics and overpowered auto skills.
>>746514890>Action games tend to sell on the popularity of the prior entry and their marketing rather than their own merits.What's so ambiguous about this statement that I don't get?
>>746514803did it? MP4 has confirmed 1m sales, Astral Chain too or did it ever hit 2m?
>>746515034Everything is about the 5 legions. Whatever gimmicks it had before in concept like Pokemon style enemy capturing were distilled into 5 legions that all did unique things that you had to pull out for different reasons, for combat and exploration and everything else. And they're all fully fleshed out which is why it includes details like being able to use sword mode to cut every attack, not just attacks that are designated to be cut.
>>746505301>It’s no big franchise and not like they got the devs to spareThey do though. Nintendo has been building a new building this entire decade to double their development workforce. My headcanon is they're starting a character action team to have their own platinum in house that is properly tard wrangled. They'll probably poach plenty of platinum people and make Astral Chain 2 and then they'll alternate between AC and Falcon Hand
>>746515038There's nothing ambiguous about it, which is why you not getting it is baffling.Nier didn't make an impression on a wider audience and wasn't a character action game. It didn't factor into the equation at all. It is not part of the pattern being described.The closest thing to a "prior entry" for Automata in the public's mind was Bayonetta 2, the last big independent action game Platinum had put out before the licensed game era. It sold on tits and ass and the remaining reputation of Platinum.Astral Chain sold on Automata.It then completely disappeared from the public consciousness because it was a mid game that ran like shit and Platinum crashed into a cliff and exploded immediately after.
>>746515158>pokemon style enemy capturingNo, it was literally going to be a twin-stick brawler where you control two characters fighting at once. That was the singular central gimmick that was replaced with the hundred different functions tacked onto each legion.What you're describing is not going all in on one gimmick, it's throwing spaghetti at the wall.
>>746515294And? Nier Automata selling so well contradicts your statement. Or was it all marketing?
>>746504475Banger OST though
>>746515090Astral Chain had investor report confirmed 1 million plus near it's launch. Prime 4 is still a soft "over 1 million combined" but it's never been officially confirmed in an investor report with a number
>>746513256I also think it makes the story better. It makes more sense for the brother to be envious and feeling emasculated. And the RAVEN twist is less obvious when it's not a bunch of sexy girls in hotpants.Plus bandaged FeMC is super hot.
This game and Bayo 3 were both awful Platinum is long dead
>>746513256counter argument: infinite sister clones
>>746504230I don't think it was a failure because P* traded IP rights over it for IP rights over W101, so now Nintendo owns Astral Chain. It is weird that they did absolutely nothing with it since then, though.Anyway, fun game, nice spiritual successor to Chaos Legion. Obviously nowhere near perfect.>gameplay features slowly unlock one by one and you finally unlock your full potential only 2-3 chapters before game ends (usually it's a norm for games like DMC and Bayo, but in AC it felt like your variety of combat abilities was really limited during the first half of the game>Ark locations were nice, Astral Plane - not so much>it was nice of P* to encourage item usage this time, but I think the Legion balance was flawed in post-game content (Sword and Arrow became buff bots, Fist was only used for CC, Wolf was OP for i-frame galore and stun roar and Axe was spin2win spammer)>story went bananas fast - I'm okay with it going anime galore, but the entire Hermit arc was a filler, Yoseph was teased as obvious villain the moment the cutscene with three anonymous dudes on monitors was shown (and it's like the start of Chapter FOUR when the game had like 12) and their entire conflict with Jena existed off-screen>I enjoyed detective quests but I can understand why some people didn't>OST was okayStill 100%'d the game and would buy the sequel, especially if more cute girls are added.
>>746516685the detective parts in between were great. Much better than the post story hard missions that just threw a boss and subboss at you that both could one tap you if you didnt beast ride
>>746516685>I don't think it was a failure because P* traded IP rights over it for IP rights over W101Based. To bad Platinum sucks now. Maybe they can trade it again with Clover Studios.
Excellent game, strange that people with shit taste would still care to talk negatively about it
>>746517021the story missions are good but postgame not so much especially once you notice how shallow the combat is. Enemy targeting controls kinda sucked too.
>>746517327Of all of the action games that are broken by spamming OP moves over and over, this is by far my favorite and the best.That is a fuckton of action games by the way.
>>746517618I found myself eventually always doing the same. dog riding, arrow rain, fist black hole, dog howl and then beating the crap out everything with axe. one or two more unique skills would have been cool for each legion
>>746517327In what way was the combat shallow? Been a while, so I dont remember the specifics, but it seemed like every legion had use, it encouraged switching, and there was a great balance of reactivity and set up. Controls could be a little cumbersome, but that’s to facilitate its unique mechanics, which I’ll always forgive. Post game was far too repetitive and dragged out though. I wanted to see the super boss, but got tired of it before reaching it
>>746517871I mean that is basically optimal. Hard CC in a game with no real combo system is just the obvious move. I do think that if this game had proper hitstun and juggling, it'd be like the greatest combat system ever.But Aether is still hard if you're doing that rotation.
>>746517935I cant remember it for blade but the other Legions all had their BiS skill you really wanted to use and everything else like free roam or buffs were the same for all of them. You'd just rotate through your Legions use their skill and maybe some buff or free roam on arrow while dog riding for the auto dodge and whenever you have an opening clopper them down with axe.>>746518035I remember a video where Aether was just CC locked with axe but I never tried to replicate it. Aether the regular way was waiting out the same attack chains till you could howl stun it for a small opening. I really liked the story but the postgame ruined the game for me a bit
>>746513979Honestly, the female version of Dark Hero is just annoying to listen to on its own. The singer tries to embellish it with too much of her own nonsense. I think they autotuned the guy's version to try and match it more with hers, which is unfortunate because I'd probably overwhelmingly prefer it otherwise.
>>746504230>OP spreading faggotry againEasily the 3rd best Switch (1) game of all time and that isn't just because it had peak 11/10 butts and butt cloth physics. When it gets a remaster for Switch 2 I will buy it at full price again.
>>746516820They had potential but wound up being idiotic fill in the blanks"The murder weapon was a ______" (knife/pizza/rubber ball/toy hammer)
>>746518479Ah, right, thinking back, I do agree they needed better balance between the legions. Dog auto-dodge was too much, and some abilities and damage for legions didn’t scale well. Still felt it was a really satisfying combat system with a good amount of tools to use, even when you’ve optimized a good bit away
>everyone that praises this game is a coomerI'm noticing
>>746519170Go on and point out everyone praising the game then, anon.
How the fuck this game doesn't have a Switch 2 upgrade is beyond me. I hate consoles so much. Not only do I have to wait and probably even pay, I may not even get it at all because the dev is too fucking greedy to have one guy change a config file.
>>746518928What the fuck is taking so long on the switch 2 patch anyway
>>746521048Like someone else pointed out, Platinum is probably in shambles, and I'd expect them to be the ones handling it.
>>746504230>Instead of Astral Chain 2, we got the garbage that is Bayonetta 3, and even got baited in the reveal trailer.If nothing else, I at least still listen to the Astral Chain OST every now and then.
