Poll of the Day > go play astlibra

(+) Yeah! (+)

incredibly good side scrolling RPG with a bunch of avenues to make your character stronger

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1718570/ASTLIBRA_Revision/

its got a demo that explains nothing but hey, demo. game gradually falls into place and becomes real fuckin good a couple hours in as more systems get introduced

feels extra Lok

Looks rad. I'd play it if it was on Switch or PS4

it's coming to switch sometime this year, apparently

Saw it before when looking for Metroidvanias. It looked too expensive for what it appears to be at first glance.

I'm an adjective

Nichtcrawler-X posted...

Saw it before when looking for Metroidvanias. It looked too expensive for what it appears to be at first glance.

it's not actually a metroidvania despite seeming like one, but it is sorta adjacent. I usually dislike metroidvanias but the slick combat controls are just so much fun as you keep mastering new skills (learning skills is like tales of vesperia where you have to gain exp with a weapon to unlock its latent skill, and there are at least a hundred in the game)

and yeah, the game looks like absolute ass at first glance, like the entire game was the same art style as the flowey sections from undertale. never would have even tried the demo if a friend who zealously simps the game hadn't gifted it to me

Define adjacent? I know people have many different ideas about Metroidvania.

Does it have item based progression in an ever-increasing semi-openworld?
Does it have an equipment systen?
Does it have a leveling and stats system?

agesboy posted...

it's coming to switch sometime this year, apparently

Hell yeah thanks astlibruh

Nichtcrawler-X posted...

Does it have item based progression in an ever-increasing semi-openworld?

Items usually do not hard-lock you out of progression, but you can go back and use your new tools to get treasures you couldn't get before- one interesting thing I've seen this game do is that it hides a bow very early on, lets you earn a crossbow a few hours later, and then finally hands you a boomerang for a main story objective, whilst the game has also been presenting you with bullseye targets you can occasionally hit to trigger fixed treasure spawns. The first two are semi-hidden (and bow has drawbacks due to curve), but the boomerang will let you hit- as far as I've seen- every target that has been inaccessible if you've missed the previous two. It takes some skillshots sometimes (the boomerang goes a fixed distance and then curves up back towards you, roughly) but god damn it was satisfying to hit it.

The game's structured into different acts with their own mini-overworld. Nowhere near as expansive or contiguous as a real metroidvania, but between chapters you can freely explore old ones. So it's basically like a metroidvania centered around a hub where exploring a new area temporarily blocks you off from old ones until you clear it. I got beef with this design but I've just paced myself to play around it.

Nichtcrawler-X posted...

Does it have an equipment systen?

Weapon, shield (optional), armor, and 2 trinkets to begin with (I'm up to 4 in chapter 5). Weapons are graded from 1 to 3 on reach and speed, and they have slightly different combos (rapiers move you forward etc).

More important is the KARON system that gives you an ever-increasing number of skill points and skills to slot in. This is where you pick a lot of your utility like double jump, reflecting projectiles, seeing hidden mining spots, 3x damage but die to one hit, place mines when you do shield things, etc. You learn these skills and get more skill points from mastering equipment.

Nichtcrawler-X posted...

Does it have a leveling and stats system?

Good lord it does. You can farm permanent stat boosters, respec your allocated skill points somewhat freely, explore a huge tree like FFX's for permanent incremental stats, swap around armor and weapons to spec into different playstyles, and lastly theres this one mechanic called Libra where you throw items onto a scale and if it's balanced enough (each item has different karma aka weight on the scale) you get the items' innate characteristics. The most trivial fodder items and the most important quest items are all available for this (like, the tutorial journal has a pretty big weight and can give experience and gold boosts).

This is mine right now (which I haven't updated since I got one new left scale because I am a slob): https://i.gyazo.com/295d0a151899326767db5ecf7dc80502.jpg

This game definitely has its own jank btw (like boss fight -> save point -> boss fight design, or retrying a boss fight doesn't replenish consumables unless you revert saves), I'm not gonna say this is goty or something. But god damn does it surpass expectations and its hitting some real high notes. Also the music is crazy: https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm37260841

son of a bitch i type too much when i drink

So it is a Metroidvania that is lighter than average on the Metroid/Exploration side, but very heavy into the Vania/RPG-Elements?

i honestly do not have enough experience in the metroidvania genre to really judge. unless you count metroid prime or hunters, the newest metroid i've played is gameboy return of samus. never touched a castlevania. apparently people compare it favorably to aria/dawn of sorrow tho

the rpg elements are definitely bigger than the average metroidvania's though, afaik

Lokarin posted...

I'm an adjective

i would have tagged you but apparently your settings don't allow tagging

i could tag lokchan tho

i considered it

i only check lokchan when i'm out on my mobile

not sure why I'm not taggable

it's an option in the settings somewhere, you can make yourself untaggable

agesboy posted...

it's an option in the settings somewhere, you can make yourself untaggable

wierd, i don't see anything like that in the settings... I do have all my privacy stuff set to 'anyone'

Looks alright. Kinda like Dragon's Crown, but the gameplay didn't look as good.
Maybe when it's on sale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLCJ0JtiKT0

every single track goes unnecessarily hard and i love it

later game generic boss track: https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm37260841

https://i.gyazo.com/a9b2f3ba6be9d590a577cc796311e95b.png

good game