Astonishia Story

The Sony PSP is home to many a game genre that is fit to appease the most hardcore of sports gamers, the legions of action fans and the scores of puzzle fans and platformer aficionados. Still, fans of role-playing games like myself have been feeling left out. Sure there are a few RPGs already available but neither one stands as a true portable classic. So I get giddy whenever a new RPG for the PSP is released and that’s why I welcome Astonishia Story. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t have Instant Classic written all over it but it’s still better than nothing, right RPG fans?

Astonishia Story tells the tale of the young and honorable knight, Lloyd von Roiental, who is proud to have been chosen to help escort the sacred Staff of Cainan to its new destination as it has always been done for years. Along with the grizzled commander, Lance, the caravan sets off as the town showers the knights with flower peddles and fireworks. Yet in the wilderness the caravan is attacked and Commander Lance is killed during an ambush. Lloyd fights alongside his remaining knights only to lose a duel with the leader of the band of enemies that goes by the name of Francis de la Cross. Suddenly, Lloyd wakes and finds that he is the only survivor of the attack. He vows to regain his honor by tracking down this mysterious Francis, retrieve the Staff, and bring it back home.

So the story might not be any different from other classic role-playing games and while the events that unfold don’t ultimately build up to a battle of epic proportions, the quest isn’t a boring one either. The world of Sylvenia is an interesting one filled with enough towns, dungeons and monsters to keep you busy. Unfortunately, the characters are thinly drawn and the lack enough personality to make you care about them or their reasons for joining Lloyd on his quest. Then again, they have a few redeemable qualities that do manage to shine through at various moments throughout the quest.

Mainly, Astonishia Story plays like an old-school RPG in that you will be following the game’s main objective while taking on side missions that are merely fetch quests. Many of the fetch quests are actually easy to complete. For example, in one town a wandering band of thugs steals a sacred jewel and you are tasked by getting the jewel back. Walking into town you’ll find the local bar and lo and behold, the thug and his friends is drinking ale and pushing townsfolk around. Other quests have you going out of town and locating a dungeon or area within the map to retrieve an item or kidnapped person. Here’s the most unfortunate aspect of these side missions, you can’t chose to ignore them. Rather, the game forces you to complete them if you want the main story to continue.

Fortunately, you will gain enough money from completing the side quests and money will allow you to buy more useful items like a variety of different weapons as well as armor and magical items. While Lloyd is a knight skilled in armed combat, he also knows his way around magical spells and they come in good use during battles. The best part is that the companions that join him also possess a number of useful traits. Yleene, the apprentice wizard, for example, has a number of great spells while Jenas, the archer, is proficient in shooting arrows at a great distance.

Control-wise, Astonishia Story is easy to pick up and just start playing. It’s an old-school RPG that is basic and lacking the complex scheme of recent role-playing games on the big consoles. This isn’t a bad thing, by any means, but because it’s so basic things like combat require very little skill or thought. Sure you can manage your team and by deciding what spells work best against certain monsters or enemies but the turn-based battles aren’t incredibly difficult to begin with in the first place. There are a number of random battles and because you can see the enemy moving around on the map you can also avoid confrontations while exploring the map. Still, thanks to the easily accessible menu screen and battle options, even a novice RPG gamer can survive a major battle.

The world you’ll explore is also pretty basic, with nothing really that stands out or offers anything diverse like, say, the amusement park in Final Fantasy VII. The game does strive to add its own unique touch to the game and there are some inside jokes that - strangely enough - all seem to be centered on video game piracy. For example, you’ll meet a busy-haired fellow in the forest early in the game who suddenly demands that you break out the instruction manual to prove that you’re playing the game and not a pirated copy. Lloyd immediately denies this request so you won’t have to look through the manual but this is the type of inside humor you can come to expect.

Visually, Astonishia Story is not a bad-looking game despite its old-school visual charm. Really, the visuals will take you back to the early PSOne RPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics. The environments are nicely detailed despite this fact and there are some neat little animations for each character during dialogue. There are even some decent visual effects when spells are cast. As for the game’s sound, the soundtrack is repetitive but never annoying and the few sound effects works well during battle as well as during conversations.

In the end, Astonishia Story for the PSP is a likeable role-playing that doesn’t rise above its been-there-done-that design nor will it find a place among other classic RPGs. Part of the problem is the simplicity of the gameplay and the fact that the story isn’t moving and the characters won’t be close to your heart; yet, if you’re looking for a good portable distraction or an RPG you can take with you then you might just want to consider playing this game.

Gameplay: 6.5
The simplistic pick-up-and-play controls are perfect for those new to the role-playing game genre and even better for those looking for a portable RPG that isn’t as complex as many of the console games. Unfortunately, there is nothing innovative here and the story just doesn’t seem as epic. Add generic characters to the mix and uninspiring combat and you get an idea of what this game is like.

Graphics: 6.5
The graphics are as dated as the gameplay and that isn’t bad considering the fact that the environments and characters are well detailed and colorful. There are some funny animations and decent visual effects but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before in classic RPGs.

Sound: 6.0
The soundtrack that plays throughout the game doesn’t get old at all despite the fact that you’ll often hear the same tune each time you enter a town or dungeon. There’s no voice acting but there’s some sound effects that work well enough.

Difficulty: Medium
Thanks to the pick-up-and-play controls, combat is just as easy to manage so you won’t have much of a problem fighting off the wave of enemies. Like most RPGs, you’ll encounter difficult monsters and foes that put up quite a fight. Some enemies certainly know how to use their magic so expect some lengthy fights along with some short ones.

Concept: 6.0
While the game’s story is mediocre at best and the characters are somewhat interesting, it’s the game’s world that will win you over. However, even though there is a lot to see and do in the game there is no real reason gamers will want to play it again after they’re finished.

Overall: 6.0
If you’re looking for a generic role-playing game that isn’t half-bad despite its dated gameplay then Astonishia Story might just be the PSP game you’ll want to buy. Its story might not be very original and the characters can sometimes have the personality of cardboard cut-outs but it does a few things right enough to be that much-needed RPG fix for when you’re on the go.