“Must not let the blue ogre spot me” was the only thing in my mind while trying out the Astonishia Story 2 demo just uploaded by Sony Computer Entertainment Korea. (Note: PSP Fanboy has better instructions on how to install the demo so I’m linking to them!) All of the monsters in the sample labyrinth are visible and they casually patrol an area until they spot you. When an exclamation bubble pops above one of the monster’s heads it sprints towards you in anger. And these monsters don’t kid around, they run fast. If one of them happens to tackle you from the back, you’re pretty much dead. An entire party of monsters easily does 400+ HP worth of damage. The busty pink elf has 481 HP. Proper armor might have kept her alive, but alas the only thing she believes a bra and cloak is good enough.
Most surprise attacks kill the mage too, who is the most important character in the demo. His fire and ice spells mow through skeletons knights who barely take a scratch from sword strikes.
The most important thing I’ve learned so far is you need to get the jump on the monsters. If you can creep up behind them your entire party dishes out around 700 HP worth of damage, which cleaves most monsters’ hit points in half at the beginning of the fight.
Could Astonishia Story 2 be a magical espionage RPG where you creep behind monsters?
Once you’re in combat Astonishia Story 2 is similar to other turn based systems. The turn order is in the upper right hand corner of the screen and you rotate through commands with the D-pad. The menu has some English, but all of the special attacks plus explanations are in Hangul. By the pictures you can probably figure out what the spells and attacks are so the demo isn’t unplayable by far. However, the story sequence where the four heroes meet a bearded skeleton at an altar is something I can’t decipher other than it leads to a boss fight.
Published: Mar 20, 2008 04:39 am