Astlibra Revision Review - The game that doesn't know when to end

[@ChaosEater39]

I will maybe or maybe not find you. no comment this game definitely has a cult following and I am the biggest fan of this game so you have just activated my trap card or maybe not. no comment

[@TheKHC]

Am I having a stroke?

[@ChaosEater39]

@@TheKHC yes, its the poison

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

@3:30 mining??! That smells like Monster Hunter element.

[@Arthur-jq4cy]

its actually a pretty massive cult classic bro run while you can

[@TheKHC]

On a scale from rare to well done, how cooked am I?

[@VenezianSailor]

@@TheKHCCharred

[@TheKHC]

It's so over. I better pack it up and retreat to sega saturn gaming only

[@TheAmazingCornman]

I enjoyed this review although I'm probably in the camp you mentioned at the end, the kind the game would resonate with. I have to wonder how difficulty selection factors into this, since I played on hard and apparently difficulty affects xp and force gain. Maybe there's a sweet spot somewhere in the higher difficultues since I felt all the problems with damage and enemy tankiness seemingly less strongly. If this game was dedicatedly balanced more towards the higher end of difficulty I wouldn't be surprised lol. I do agree that this game could be refined much more though. After playing through the dlc I can imagine there will be a sequel so maybe by then.

[@TheKHC]

I really do hope that Keizo gets a team together and makes something more out of it cause he definitely has a lot of potential

[@chapstixxx]

he said he wants to step away from astlibra and work on other projects

[@yannickluecker3983]

Uhm... With the "Love", you need 11 and you can get them all by grinding your relationships with the partner characters + one guaranteed the first time you beat a layer boss. Still grinding, but much less so.

[@TheKHC]

That can't possibly be right. Like I said in the video, I ended up using exactly 14. I actually still have the notes on how I got them all. However, I've also seen people say that you need 15, others 13 and some 12. It's very inconsistent. Is it possible that the value is randomized or something?

[@yannickluecker3983]

@@TheKHC Considering it is tied to story cutscenes every time you give them to [Redacted], probably not. I did notice though that you can use them for something else, which would then of course crank up the amount you need. That being said, you actually only need 10 if you want the True Ending. The last is for the Glow Stick that [Redacted] tries to convince you is a light saber.

[@TheKHC]

I checked something and apparently some later patches changed some stuff regarding the drop rates and amount or something? I can't find confirmation of any of this, mind you, but maybe my version of the game is just outdated or something.

[@yannickluecker3983]

@@TheKHC IDK beat it like 2 weeks ago and I only needed the ones from grinding the companions plus the guaranteed drops from the layer bosses. Edit: Nevermind, my math just sucks - with two from every companion (including the one that only goes on "walks" with you) plus the four guaranteed drops... lol that's 14. But still designed in a way where there are very specific guaranteed drops. Which unfortunately are communicated... well, not at all if you don't pay attention to the pattern.

[@TheKHC]

I can tell you with 100% certainty, and I asked several people who watched me stream this to confirm, that I did not get a single drop from any of the bosses. There was absolutely nothing guaranteed whatsoever

[@paulman34340]

You know calling him "that guy" makes no sense if this doesn't have Voice Acting! With Voice Acting in a game where you get to name your MC they have to have ways to avoid the actors having to say the MC name! So they do give them a nickname or codeword! Hell SMT4A had the main character called Nanashi even if you give him a different name and it's suppose to be something he was called for a good long time for his childhood friend Asahi and her father who is his guardian to call him! It's Japanese for No Name (cute) but at least it's a FUCKING LEGIT NAME! "That Guy" feels pretty fucking This issue reminds me of my GRIPE with the name thing in Fire Emblem Engage where there was NO REASON to not give the main character Alear their default name! Leave all that name making shit for File and Profiling and no longer "naming" a character! People are going to call the character from that point onward by the name you the makers give them, so what's the point of naming them AFTER THE FACT! Best part is as you say "The Boy" in this game has their own character! That's the same with ALEAR, which just shows the whole "player Avatar" thing isn't working out anymore when script writing and it's likely best to let it disappear into the Ether! People want their character to feel APART of the world! Look at Dead Space Remake! For all it's issues! Letting Isaac interact with the world and NOT BE SILENT was the best thing they could do! Especially taking into mind they changed their minds about him being silent come Dead Space 2, meaning the Isaac for DSR had to NOT be how he is in DS2, basically the NATRUAL progression INTO that character by DS2! Sort of like how idiots who see Aliens first before Alien wonder why Ripley isn't Gung-Ho and such while forgetting this is a "Space Trucker/Engineer" who's at the end of a LONG day job and just wants to get home to her daughter and enjoy the huge PAY DAY waiting. Her character in Aliens is a PROGRESSION of her experiences in Alien! Sorry for the Rant, but when you brought it up, I was resonating with you that I really can't get into SILENT protagonists anymore! Dragon's Dogma makes it worse when they force ROMANCE when your character is "a plank of FUCKING WOOD" so romance makes no sense that it might as well not be in it (And they did it AGAIN in Dragon's Dogma 2! Seriously STOP IT if your not going to give my character FUCKING CHARACTER! Moments like the relationship with the Dragon and such I can get behind because you don't need to show too much, but then again I should be able to TALK and interact so the issue is still there! But the age of the Silent Protagonist is over! They work for games with a LOW cast where you're DARK SOUL-ing this shit! But even then SOME interactions would be a good idea

[@vinnul3327]

Wild that your biggest criticism of this game is actually what made me love it so much, getting baited that the game was over the 80 times it does it just kept me stuck to it. Could just be a case of stockholm syndrome though lol.

[@vinnul3327]

Also wanted some clarity, when you say Act 2 (the part you said was a giga grind fest) which chapters specifically are you mentioning, tried to piece it together with how you broke down the chapters and acts but I still cant figure out which chapters you disliked the most. I actually disliked chapter 2 I think (lava mountain area) as that area was a hellhole without all the movement abilities you get later on in the game.

[@TheKHC]

I'd love to tell you but I genuinely don't remember

[@vinnul3327]

@@TheKHC Lmao no worries, currently replaying it and experiencing the slog you're talking about just wanted to know which parts you found the most infuriating. I think Chapter 2 and Chapter 5 (snow area specifically) are my most disliked.

[@TheKHC]

I distinctly remember some seaside town, some snow mountains and the future area reaaaaaally angering me

[@vinnul3327]

@@TheKHC The seaside town iirc has you go back and forth a ton of times. The snow mountains has you backtrack to lower your weight, I never minded the future area because by the time I got there I had grinded my fucking brains out and was overpowered. The issue of enemy damage scaling you raise is HUGE in the snow area, you go from clearing the game pretty easily to just getting fucked in a bullet hell. While having to backtrack a bunch of times.

[@ChaosEater39]

ok wait you dont like the gameplay??? that might be a skill issue tbh. I get not enjoying the plot or characters but the gameplay is the best gameplay out of any game ever. no question

[@TheKHC]

That's hyperbole, right?

[@ChaosEater39]

@@TheKHC not really

[@TheKHC]

Okay then in that case I'd love to understand why you didnt pay attention to what I said. I never stated to dislike the gameplay. I said I had a lot of issues with it. Very big difference between the two

[@ChaosEater39]

@@TheKHC I didnt watch the full video but I would guess you had issues with the hitboxes, grinding, backtracking and difficulty. for hitboxes, it is an issue for me but I dont really think about it. for grinding, the grinding is really low if you are not trying to 100% the game and are playing on a lower difficulty than hard. you can always go back and grind way quicker if you can beat enemies anyways so thats not really an issue if you are not trying to play on hard without grinding. for backtracking, I somewhat agree that on a first playthrough the backtracking is annoying. I personally have not had issues with it but again, I love this game and its a perfect game for me so I am not one to talk. for difficulty there are like 7 difficulties so idk.

[@TheKHC]

1. awesome. thanks for just making assumptions instead of actually thinking abut what I said. That definitely isnt an extremely silly thing to do, so thanks for just assuming I complained about some things when I actively didnt and judging me accordingly. Very cool. 2.I never mentioned the hitboxes nor any backtracking, afaik the game doesn't even have backtracking. 3. I complained about the difficulty curve not just the difficulty in general 4. None of what you said properly applies to my complaints related to grinding I wholly understand wanting to defend your favorite game and whatnot, but with all due respect, making comments like this without having even seen the full video and just scimming through segments halfheartedly is extremely lame, but maybe thats just me

[@ChaosEater39]

I think your comment on not recommending this game to ANYONE is quite bad. you don't like this game personally. you can make a video, you can say what you don't like, whatever. but this video WILL influence people's opinions and when you say things like that people that would enjoy the game otherwise will be hesitant to play the game.

[@TheKHC]

thanks for ignoring what i said immediately after

[@ChaosEater39]

@@TheKHC no problem 👍

[@ChaosEater39]

@@TheKHC I dont care that you did not like the game. I dont mind it. it does not affect me. you are thinking from the position of me being an angry fan. I'm not. I just don't like when people say things like that. even if you do think that this game is really bad for you, saying something like that is way too dramatic/harsh because that's what people think and remember about what you said. I would not say things like that about games I dont like either

[@TheKHC]

I'm not thinking of you in any way, I dont even know you. I would just appreciate it if you actually listened to what I had to say instead of just complaining about something I actively adressed

[@ChaosEater39]

@@TheKHC it is a fact that you do know me from the comments I have commented. your comments on not recommending the game to anyone psychologically will make them not want to try the game out. what you mean does not matter, its what you say. you are wrong about both of your points. you are "fighting" to make me understand that you dont purely hate the game, I am "fighting" for you to not be so harsh on a game and give objective (edit: not objective but rather subjective) facts as a reviewer without such massive bias.

[@PäiviYevheniy]

In any RPG game, when someone says the solution is "grinding" then you know they just never bothered to think of any other solution besides grinding. There are people out there who has beaten this game wearing the no level up accessory or using any stat ups. RPGs has always been that way, whether it's dark souls or this little janky indie game, grind as an easy way out or get gud. But this game has that notorious love grind, so I'll give it a pass, lol.

[@TheKHC]

I was gonna complain about that first part but you saved it with the second part lol. But even then I'd still argue that getting the materials to craft new gear + the money for it is absolutely a form of grinding. Just because you dont get any levels doesnt mean you cant grind. The force skill tree is there for a reason

[@PäiviYevheniy]

@@TheKHC When I said stat ups, I meant the force thing. The only "grind" on the low level run is getting the sword that unlocks berserk and you stick with it for the entire game as everything else is too heavy for your -maiden- stat-less character.

[@nesoukkefka1741]

​​​@@PäiviYevheniyActually wrong in a LV5 No Grow, you get enough Agility with your base 25 points, weight reduction on the Libra and through accessories to use up to Chapter 7's weapons in the Main Script without to much issue, in postscript you can just ehance your agility infinitly through ehancing and board, but even without ehancing or boards the new accessorry plus the 2 additionnal trinket slot allows to use Chapter 8 weapons and even some of the optionnal bosses weapon. Ehancement and Board aside wielding heavy stuff is actually not as bad as people may think, you gotta avoid using normal attacks and focus on using special moves like Armor Slash, Jump Slash, Sky Sword and Air Blade which are less penalize by weight than normal attack, Tornado Slash is also incredibly usefull cause that move totally ignore weight so you can use it with any weapons and give a ton of i-frames, it sadly glitch at the moment in latest patches tough and you have to desactivate Aegis and Auto Rapid Fire to use it as it's intended to. As for dealing damage you rely on Berserk, but also rely on exploiting elemental weaknesses, with the corresponding elemental skills and Maxwell it triple your damage when you exploit the ennemy elemental weakness, in postscript you can also add more damage with the Badges type of accessory.

[@100Servings]

Sometimes I wonder why you play games you dislike this much. Your criticism is excellent and you justify every subjective point with objective facts, but I still have to wonder why you stuck with it. I guess we get to benefit from your pain. Also, I would say that Shadow of Memories does time travel right, mostly because it has branching paths and unhappy endings. Most time travel stories are garbage, one of the worst being the Star Trek: The Next Generation finale, "All Good Things...". I wish Hollywood would just let it go.

[@TheKHC]

I stuck with it cause I repeatedly thought it would end soon lol

[@100Servings]

@@TheKHC That describes every relationship I've ever been in.

[@TheKHC]

Should you really be saying that as a married man with children?

[@100Servings]

@@TheKHC Marriage is a Sword of Damocles if there ever was one. How many times have you seen a story where the wife just says, "I'm not in love with you anymore," or some other nonsense and then they just leave? It doesn't matter what you give or do. That sword could drop at any moment and leave you wondering what you did wrong or what you could have done better for the rest of your life. I hate to say it, but the simple answer is that people are unpredictable, especially in the long term. We've been married over 21 years, but that doesn't mean she couldn't leave tomorrow. My brother and I got married the same year and his second marriage is falling apart. Hope that gives you something to look forward to.

[@InkSams9386]

"Peak gameplay" Every boss would be better with 50% of the hp they have

[@TheKHC]

No. Every enemy. Period

[@InkSams9386]

@@TheKHC That too,in general having everyone being a damage sponge that 2-shots you at the slightiest mistake is wild.Also this game has a lot of stretched out segments filled to the brim with enemies.The chapter where you go into the dungeon of the Serpent God following someone who is letting you notes gets infuriating because how chopped the pacing is by having 3 rooms full of enemies before every small portion of the story there. Also you did not mentioned the puzzles here,that was for me the most unreasonable part of the whole game,no way someone tought that the puzzles of Elysium were a good idea

[@TheKHC]

I'm gonna be honest I didn't mention the puzzles cause i really didn't mind them. They were pretty simple if you ask me, but also I'm really into puzzles so I'm not a good judge here

[@TheKHC]

These videos are purely my opinion and mine alone. I've stated in this very video that I went in knowing absolutely nothing sbout the game and that I played it only after being recommended it randomly on steam. I appreciate proper criticism so if you have any I'd love to hear it, but just hurling insults at me and claiming I am biased and contrarian (over a game I went in with no expectations whatsoever) isn't going to help me make future videos better. If you didn't watch the video (I'm really sorry if this seems like an assumption, but I've genuinely had people who didnt watch the video just insult me and tell me I suck because I personally didn't much like the game) then I'd urge you to please do so and actually give me criticism. As for the action rpg stuff, that's simply not true. Some of my favourite series and games are Action RPGs of varying difficulties (Tales of, Star Ocean, .hack//, Kingdom Hearts 2 very specifically, Phantasy Star Online and the older Ys games, particularly Oath in Felghena) to name a few. I always try to go in with an open mind and mention everything I like and dislike out of any game I review. I never ever try to make videos on games I have an inherent bias towards because that just wouldn't be fair to the viewer. If you felt that in any point I was being unfair towards the game then please let me know which areas and I'll gladly clarify if I didn't already in the video.

[@InkSams9386]

@SyrekRayn Nah,they aren't threathening,they are boringly unfair.The bosses usually have 3 pretty easy attacks that you have learned to dodge 2 minutes into the fight,and it's just a stretch of 25 minutes of them using these attacks over and over,and if you do a mistake 12 minutes in the punishment is usually the boss comboing and killing you in 2 hits.Especially the Fire God that you can't even touch most of the time and it's just waiting until an opening after it does its incredible unthreatheing attacks for the 50th time.These bosses don't have the moveset variety to sustain the enjoyment of a fight for it's extremely long duration.

[@kakizakichannel]

This game looks kinda ugly

[@chapstixxx]

another latinx disturbing the peace GTAB

[@100Servings]

...says the man playing the original Armored Core yesterday. It could at least have been my favorite, Master of Arena.

[@kakizakichannel]

@@100Servings AC1 is better than Master of Arena and I will die on this hill!

[@100Servings]

@@kakizakichannel Well, if there's one thing SMT has taught me, it's that small philosophical differences, even between lifelong friends, is reason enough to fight to the death.