Transcript

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hello and welcome back to the Gaming Backlog Book Club. We are here to chat about the early moments and the first three files of Astral Chain.

Reminder, we do go into spoilers here and there, so if you want to avoid that, start at our expectations episode, play along and come back to this episode once you’re caught up.

So let’s just jump right into. Into the astral plane. Did you choose the male or female twin?

[00:00:26] Speaker B: I chose the female this time. Usually I choose the male, but this time I decided to just switch it up and go with and do a female.

[00:00:37] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess for me, in games that allow you to choose and or customize your character, if there is no romance involved, I tend to choose female characters because there are so many games where you play as men that is just fun to switch it up. And I, in the design, I made mine lean very much into the anime aesthetics that we’re already living in. With teal hair and purple eyes.

[00:01:00] Speaker B: Okay. I had blue. I had like a royal blue hair.

[00:01:04] Speaker A: So yeah, yeah. Going all in on the cyberpunk colorful hair idea. I also switched my menu to be this kind of cyan color that matches the hair that I was using. The teal hair I was using. Good fun. Indeed.

[00:01:16] Speaker B: You could. Did not know you could do switch the menu.

[00:01:19] Speaker A: You sure can. It’s somewhere in the settings. I don’t know. I was just clicking around everything and found it there.

[00:01:25] Speaker B: What did you. What did you name your character?

[00:01:28] Speaker A: Oh, I named my character Risa, which is someone, I guess someone that I knew a long time ago in school was named that and it seemed appropriate. And also now that I speak a lot more Spanish, Risa means laughter, which has no relevance to this whatsoever, but it’s kind of funny, so I just went with that. Get it? Just had a nice ring to it. I did also briefly consider naming her Mikasa, which is one of the coolest characters in the Attack on Titan anime, but ended up not doing that because then I was going to have to have black hair to make it match and I just wanted the blue hair.

[00:02:08] Speaker B: Okay.

[00:02:10] Speaker A: What about you?

[00:02:11] Speaker B: I ended up so that I was looking at the random names and one of the random names that came up was a name recently that was a prominent character in a book I just read.

So I called her Misaki. And for anybody out there that’s listening who has read the book the Sword of Kaigen, you know who Misaki is? Misaki. She is a badass character. Such a good book. Such a good book. I listened to it as an audiobook it’s so good. But yeah, Misaki. When I saw that name and I was like, oh, I’m calling her Misaki instantly.

[00:02:44] Speaker A: Good recommendation. That actually might be the first book recommendation we’ve had on the book club. The gaming book club highly recommend it.

[00:02:52] Speaker B: It’s like it’s a fantasy book set but in like wartime with a giant war that happens with a class of people who can make ice blades and spears with water and the particles in the air. It’s awesome. Theonites, it’s so good.

[00:03:11] Speaker A: Sounds fun.

[00:03:12] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Great book.

[00:03:14] Speaker A: And I think, I think, yeah, there were only like three randomized options, so they just threw three in there. I don’t know if we had the same. That sounds familiar actually, that name. So yeah, I think I had the options. For those of you on our Discord, we’re curious to see all of your custom characters as well. So share a screenshot if you want.

[00:03:30] Speaker B: Oh yeah, definitely.

[00:03:32] Speaker A: Alex, what did you think of the character creator? Overall?

[00:03:37] Speaker B: I liked it. I mean it was.

[00:03:38] Speaker A: You could go pretty simple and straightforward. Like it didn’t halt the getting into the action part of playing a game, which I think sometimes people get into a character creator and they’re there for like four hours before they decide.

So like I think there’s good and bad to that. Obviously you can get really minute details out of those other ones. But as far as character creators go, this one’s pretty bare bones. You know, there’s one body type per gender, limited preset options of skin tones, eyes, hair, makeup, and that’s about it. No sliders or anything of that sort. And again, this is not a massive immersive rpg so it makes sense.

[00:04:14] Speaker B: No, yeah, I was just gonna say I know later on once you’re in the game, you can unlock items to wear and change outfits and that’s about it.

[00:04:21] Speaker A: So they have a. Definitely have a lot of customization of outfits that you can unlock and color options for your legion, which I actually wasn’t expecting at all. I made my sword legion some basically something that kind of matched my hair. Hair color.

So did I, just for fun. So I figured the, you know, when I started this, I figured the blue and silver color combo was for the police.

Branding was the only option here. So it’s cool that there’s more.

[00:04:46] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it is, yeah.

[00:04:48] Speaker A: Of course I also immediately switched to the Japanese voiceover the first chance I got. As I tend to do with any Japanese made games, especially anime art style games. It does require obviously the reading of subtitles, which can Get a little tricky and I might be missing some things, especially in the middle of the action. But I just prefer the way it sounds a lot more.

[00:05:09] Speaker B: Yeah, that’s something I totally forgot to do. I do. I usually do that as well. Oh, I have been recently doing that. Yeah, I forgot to do that on this. I might actually. Yeah, I’ll have to switch over. Thank you for the reminder.

[00:05:21] Speaker A: It was a little bit harder to find that part because I looked in the audio section at first and didn’t see it. Then I. When I played the second time, my second kind of session, I found it somewhere. I want to say it’s easier to find from the main menu rather than from the in game menu.

[00:05:35] Speaker B: From the in game menu. Okay, I’ll look for that.

I want to swap. Yeah, I’ll swap that.

[00:05:42] Speaker A: Well, this story sure kicked off with a bang after you get control of your character, huh?

[00:05:47] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, definitely.

[00:05:49] Speaker A: There’s just something about cyberpunk settings and motorcycles.

There’s even a pretty prominent character named Akira here. Did you. I’m assuming your twin is also named Akira.

[00:06:03] Speaker B: Yes, well, they say. Well, okay, so I don’t know how they say. But in the English one they say Akira, which I always thought it was Akira.

[00:06:12] Speaker A: Okay. No, that sounds right.

[00:06:15] Speaker B: They say Akira, so I don’t know.

[00:06:17] Speaker A: That sounds right. Where the emphasis is usually earlier in the word. So thanks for the correction.

[00:06:22] Speaker B: But no, but whenever I kept seeing that, though, it just reminded me of the movie.

[00:06:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, yeah, totally. I mean, and I was just like.

[00:06:29] Speaker B: I was just like Canada.

And that’s all I could think in my head.

[00:06:34] Speaker A: Just the intro of the first time you get control of your character. You’re on a motorcycle, you’re going through a tunnel, you’re shooting stuff down and going over jumps. And then I know that Cyberpunk 2077 also has a motorcycle. It’s just a built in requirement for cyberpunk settings, I guess.

But hey, all the better for it. Motorcycles are sweet.

[00:06:56] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, definitely.

[00:06:58] Speaker A: It is also funny how we have a silent protagonist here, but then the other twin is voiced. So they clearly have a voice actor character and a voice already set up for both twins. Because if you choose the male version, then you’re gonna get the female one speaking.

They just didn’t feel like writing lines for what your character would say. I just find that. So I don’t know what. I find it.

[00:07:23] Speaker B: I don’t know.

[00:07:24] Speaker A: It’s an odd choice. Like, I can’t.

[00:07:26] Speaker B: Yeah, Odd. Unique. It’s. Yeah.

[00:07:29] Speaker A: I mean, they clearly. They had they hired someone, they could have had voices for your own character. Otherwise you just kind of stand there and stare, which is really unusual. And there’s not even like an amnesia kind of trope or this person is mute trope. It’s just like you just got to assume what you’re saying or that you just listen and that’s it.

[00:07:48] Speaker B: Yep. I think my character has made like a couple tiny noises and that’s about it.

[00:07:54] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.

[00:07:55] Speaker B: But not a. Not a spoken word.

[00:07:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I don’t think it’s going to be changing anytime soon.

[00:08:01] Speaker B: No, I don’t think so either.

[00:08:04] Speaker A: And then as you reach Akira and you get through like some of this quick tutorial fights, and then the rest of your crew, Neuron crew shows up to the rescue, they give you a bit of a briefing on the legions. I gotta say, I liked being a lion tamer, as they put it.

The fact that the.

At least everyone else on the team before you unlock your unleash your power is really just kind of holding the leash is, you know, an interesting bit of lore building here. And I think using the legions, the fact that they have an overheating element to them because if you. I guess it makes sense because if you use it too much, then you’re kind of op against a lot of the enemies.

[00:08:50] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.

[00:08:52] Speaker A: But then, yeah, later you do find out that you’re more gifted and you can actually truly control them, so you’re even more badass than everyone else.

It is also funny to me that there was an opening theme song and the intro credits.

[00:09:09] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah, that was cool.

It caught me off guard, but I was like, this is like a sweet anime opening for show.

[00:09:17] Speaker A: That’s exactly the best way to put it. It’s like all in bombastic anime opening.

And I gotta say, you know, on top of that, right off the bat here, it’s like a pretty banging soundtrack. I. Oh, yeah, I didn’t, you know, the intro theme was all right and definitely fit. But I think the background music, especially at the police HQ and when you’re using your PC in the. In the command room, just has me bouncing my head or tapping my foot as I play and I’m scrolling through menus. It’s just hilarious. I like, I catch myself that that

[00:09:51] Speaker B: music in the background there for like, it just reminds me of club music. And I just, every time, like just there, I feel like someone’s gonna come over to the loudspeaker and I would say, like, welcome to Club Neuron.

[00:10:05] Speaker A: Tonight is Happy hour.

[00:10:07] Speaker B: From 5 to 7. Like, it’s just like. It’s that type of music.

[00:10:12] Speaker A: It so is. I mean, it’s just like it, but it’s not.

The fact that it’s on a constant loop, though, too, makes it even funnier. You know, you get to just sit there and on repeat, just listen to that nonstop. I don’t think I’m going to get sick of it, though. Like, they did something right there.

[00:10:30] Speaker B: Yeah, they did.

[00:10:35] Speaker A: And then you get sort of more of a briefing from everyone else that’s around you in this Neuron team and the Commander and the entire world being pulled into. Into the Chimera dimension. Doesn’t sound very good at all, does it?

[00:10:49] Speaker B: No, it does not. It’s not something we want to have happen.

[00:10:52] Speaker A: And I know we, at least before, in our Expectations episode, we’re talking about, like, yeah, these legions that we get control of kind of just look like the chimeras in another suit of paint. And they, of course, confirm that, yes, they are captured and tamed chimeras.

So I suppose we. Yeah, that wasn’t too much of a stretch to come to by looking at the box art, even. But it’s.

[00:11:16] Speaker B: No, they’re binded to you, basically. You bind them. Yeah.

[00:11:21] Speaker A: Did you also, in the police station, go talk to the Quick Fix Vendor 3 Vendoring Machine in the lounge?

[00:11:29] Speaker B: Quick fix? I. Probably just.

[00:11:31] Speaker A: The vending machine. Yeah, I think so.

[00:11:33] Speaker B: Yeah. I’ve spoken to. Yeah, I’ve literally, I think when I first got in there, I just was anything.

[00:11:38] Speaker A: I was just talking. Same here. I love how the vending machines have personalities.

[00:11:43] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. They kind of like talk back to me. It’s like I decided not to buy anything. It’s like, oh, cool. It’s like a waste of my time. Yeah.

[00:11:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Especially the ones in file three. In that neighborhood, there were, like, very standoffish, like, oh, I don’t care if you buy anything, and then you don’t buy anything. And, oh, you just waste my time then.

Just so.

So passive aggressive. The ones in the pool. The one in the police station, though, is super friendly.

[00:12:09] Speaker B: Yes.

[00:12:14] Speaker A: I’m curious what your first take on it was, but when I first saw, you know, the twins dad, Ax.

[00:12:24] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:12:25] Speaker A: He looks like. He looks to me like a combination of guile from Street Fighter.

[00:12:30] Speaker B: Okay. Yep.

[00:12:31] Speaker A: And Jake Busey’s character in Starship Troopers.

And it’s hilarious to me to imagine that character, Jake Busey, being the captain of anything. Jake Busey in general, I guess. Not just from Starship Troopers.

[00:12:46] Speaker B: Yeah, I could see that. Yeah.

I Definitely see the guile, I think.

[00:12:52] Speaker A: I think I’ve had that idea almost. Flat top haircut, the kind of big old sideburns.

I mean, I might be too on the nose, but it’s just.

That’s our dad.

[00:13:06] Speaker B: I know. I love to. Yeah, that was an interesting bit of the story where they’re like, dad. It’s like, okay.

[00:13:12] Speaker A: I mean, it’s funny because the like, obviously, yes, the dad doesn’t want his kids to be in a line of fire and danger and all that stuff and then. But that’s at the same. So it’s like. It’s not like he was pulling ranked or pulling authority to get them into the squad. It just kind of happened to happen. But then, you know, you’ve got these kids that just want to, you know, advance through their careers. So there’s. There’s got to be some more story behind that coming up.

[00:13:37] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.

[00:13:40] Speaker A: Then you get your training. So I would say the. The virtual training modules were actually quite helpful, honestly.

[00:13:49] Speaker B: Yeah, they were.

They definitely were.

[00:13:52] Speaker A: In so many games, combat tutorials are just use the left stick to move.

And to be fair, that was also here too. But this had legit moves to teach how to manually control your legion, how to use them to tether an enemy, along with sort of the tips that they can tie down a squirmy witness who’s running away when you’re doing the investigation type work. And also the kind of really sweet tightrope slingshot move that you have with your Legion buddy.

I use that whenever I can. It’s great.

[00:14:26] Speaker B: What do you mean? Like, need to jump from platform to platform?

[00:14:28] Speaker A: Oh, no, I mean, that one’s awesome, too. I mean the one where you see like a red line kind of in your general direction, and then you use your legion’s chain to, like, catch them as they dash towards you and then launch them backwards. So, yeah, it seems like such a.

What’s the word? Like Saturday morning type. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, that’s like a wrestling move. That’s a good way to put it.

[00:14:51] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:14:54] Speaker A: And then the detective investigation leg of the game using the iris scan feature is kind of a fun change of pace. Like, the feature itself is nothing new. Like, a million games have a click this button to scan or to hear around corners to see where your enemies are. Like, all that stuff has been done and rinse and repeat a million times. But it’s nice to have kind of that breakup or that change of pace by having the investigation part of it.

[00:15:23] Speaker B: Yeah, it does. Yeah. The iris, the Iris technique or the iris vision that you get is nice. And I will say I find myself kind of running around mainly in the iris vision.

[00:15:35] Speaker A: Just having it on.

[00:15:36] Speaker B: Yeah. Which I try to catch myself and like not have that all the time, but it does.

[00:15:43] Speaker A: I mean it’s there for reason.

[00:15:44] Speaker B: A few things. Yeah.

[00:15:46] Speaker A: Yeah. It’s just like so often these especially these character action games are just like. These high intensity action games like this are just so full octane high intensity all the time and that’s it. And so usually those only give you a break for cutscenes and then using like a ship if there is one. So I like how they made this entertaining in its own. Right. This whole detective feature, as well as adding obviously a lot of the depth of the story.

[00:16:11] Speaker B: Yes. Oh yeah.

[00:16:15] Speaker A: And moving on through the story. Right. So the giant hand we were tracking down decided to specifically target us and drag us into the astral plane. Straight into a solo boss fight.

[00:16:30] Speaker B: Yes. Yep, it did.

[00:16:33] Speaker A: Which I. It was very entertaining. I had my first death here with. Have you died yet in this?

[00:16:41] Speaker B: No. I came very close, but no.

[00:16:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I. I died. Actually. I don’t think I would have, but I died to one specific move from this boss where there’s like this red ring of death thing and you had to send your legion out to turn off the switch on the outside of the ring or whatever and it’s. Didn’t realize it was there. You know what I’m talking about?

[00:17:02] Speaker B: Yeah, I know what you’re talking about. Yeah. You think you can run through. Yeah, yeah.

[00:17:06] Speaker A: You can’t go through it, but the legion can. So I didn’t get out fast enough and the red ring closed in and it insta killed me because I. And it actually only happened because I had my legion out. And this is so early in the game. I forgot to withdraw my legion before its battery ran out. So it disappeared and it was recharging the option. So that was. Since that was the only way to get out of this red ring of death, I didn’t have any option. So.

[00:17:30] Speaker B: Okay, died.

[00:17:32] Speaker A: But the battery in your suit defibrillates you, which comes in handy. And even though you beat the boss, right after you beat the boss, it has a second win and launches a giant laser at your face.

[00:17:44] Speaker B: Yes.

[00:17:45] Speaker A: But surprise.

Your whole crew followed you into the riftgate and saves your ass.

[00:17:52] Speaker B: Yeah, that was nice of them.

Yeah, I appreciate that.

[00:17:57] Speaker A: But then once the crew. Yeah. You know, you’ve got your handful of. I’m surprised it didn’t have more.

Actually. A lot of the people that are in the police station that aren’t in your main Neuron crew kind of have a lot of those, you know, gang of misfits type tropes to them. Like there’s the brooding one and the goofy one and all that. But like the, the Neuron team itself, with the exception of your twin, is very kind of normal, which is cool too because that rarely happens.

And once you reestablish comms with Olive the pink haired radio lady back at hq, yeah, we start to feel some of that corruption that has been talked about. So it’s time to save some people and then get the hell out.

Once we do that though, the corruption hits the peak and the whole team’s legions break free and were the only one cool enough to actually take control again.

How did you. I mean, I guess they kind of came in one at one, one on one for quite a while. But I really enjoyed this badass fight against the four other legions all at once.

[00:19:05] Speaker B: Yeah, I loved that.

[00:19:07] Speaker A: It was. It’s always fun in these games to have like a swarm of things attacking you. Not just one, one on one. Especially because you’re technically two when you got your legion out.

And I guess while I was still fresh enough to the combat at this point that I was doing what I would call educated button mashing.

Because I knew what button combinations do certain things more or less.

Even though I knew that everything moved so fast, I still kind of semi frantically push buttons with an intention of what I wanted to do and hoping that it actually happened.

[00:19:43] Speaker B: Hoping it would actually happen.

[00:19:44] Speaker A: Would you say you approach combat this way too?

[00:19:47] Speaker B: I did. But I will say like notice for me for I think is it just games I’ve been playing recently. Other things I was dodging a lot in this in for the combat wise like especially during the time like if you time the dodge right towards the end where you can get it to slow down so you can slow it and then get some hits in.

So I was doing that. I’d also throw my legion out. I’m really good. I really like the attack of like I’ll throw my legion out and then wrap it around the enemy so then it’s bind it up and I can attack it for a little bit.

[00:20:21] Speaker A: Yeah, always useful.

[00:20:22] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:20:22] Speaker A: That’s like the first thing I do to like get some hits in and then move on.

[00:20:26] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:20:29] Speaker A: And in this, this boss fight right against the four legions, I, I, I found out later what it was but I accidentally did this, this move a bunch of times that I hadn’t learned about from the training and I hadn’t seen before. So I was thinking I was just either imagining that this was what was happening, or it was because I randomly button mashed a specific combo. But then right after it’s over and there’s that platforming escape sequence. I learned what it was. So the move being where you have your legion out, like he’s far out in the distance, and then you kind of zip to the Legion. Kind of like Spider man, like the thing you move to to. Yeah, to basically platform like Spider man or Zagreus in Hades using the Achilles aspect on his spear.

Yeah, it’s that platform without jumping. Anyway, I realized right after the fight that it’s a specific move you can use and it’s needed in platforming. But it’s so awesome to use it in the middle of a fight too, because you’ll kind of fly at the enemy and kick him in the face.

[00:21:25] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:21:29] Speaker A: And so you knock all the legions back. Everyone escapes. And then your dad has to go and be the sacrifice to let you escape now.

[00:21:37] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:21:38] Speaker A: And you sent me the Luke Skywalker gif saying no. And here. Right. This is a. We’ve talked about how they’ve kind of subverted a lot of tropes in many ways here already in just the first couple hours. But this is a trope.

[00:21:53] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.

[00:21:54] Speaker A: And it’s very effective, which is why it exists.

But they could have left someone else behind.

[00:22:01] Speaker B: I know.

[00:22:02] Speaker A: We just were getting to know the guy.

I guess he can’t have a trauma that drives the whole story, otherwise.

[00:22:08] Speaker B: No, I guess not.

I’m curious. I don’t know though. Maybe he is still alive.

See, later on. But I doubt it.

[00:22:17] Speaker A: But I guess. Oh, that’s a good question. We didn’t see him die, so by just the laws of nature, he must be still alive in there.

He might come out like, you know, aged up 50 years.

Some kind of weird time distortion thing, but Maybe.

[00:22:33] Speaker B: But unfortunately, I think he had his Bruce Willis and Armageddon moment.

[00:22:37] Speaker A: Yeah, that could be the truth too.

So, spoiler alert.

[00:22:43] Speaker B: Yes.

[00:22:44] Speaker A: If you haven’t seen Armageddon by Now,

[00:22:45] Speaker B: really almost 30 years on from when it came out. I think it came out.

[00:22:49] Speaker A: Hey, you know, I protect spoilers of all ages.

Yeah, you never know. And then, okay, we get to file three, and we’re told that just like that, with the other four neuron legions gone, we are the sole person responsible for saving humanity. How do you like them apples?

[00:23:05] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Lots of fun.

[00:23:07] Speaker A: And. And then it kind of Takes a turn from like that really, I don’t know, almost dark kind of information. Drop into the goofy side of things, and you get to the basement to do your new training and. And then here’s another trope, right? The anime klutz of the game, Marie, the office manager, shows up in a giant police dog mascot suit, chasing the head, rolling down the hall, no less.

[00:23:34] Speaker B: Yeah. And then when she sees you, she says hi. And then she’s like, oh, wait, no, you’re not basically, like, not supposed to see me like this.

I’m. Yeah, I’m lappy.

[00:23:43] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, okay, I guess silver lining here, Lappy the dog does give you access to police station fast travel, so that’s pretty nifty and deserves some pets.

[00:23:53] Speaker B: Yeah, that is nifty. Well, that is definitely handy.

[00:24:00] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, something about going up over to the elevator and clicking the button was just. It’s weird though, that they put in fast travel so quickly afterwards. Like, why have the elevator to begin with?

[00:24:08] Speaker B: Exactly. Yeah. They give it to you really quick.

[00:24:11] Speaker A: Not a particularly important. Or game. Well, game changing. Yes, but it wasn’t game breaking to have the elevators. It’s just weird that they. They coded both systems in there. Like, could have saved themselves from time and. Damn. The training program gives you a whole lot more abilities. There’s that chain jump attack, and then there’s the pillar jump thing where you wrap your legion around a pillar and then fly around it to attack or get farther. And then there’s the sync attacks, which are awesome and give you so much more control of your moveset.

[00:24:45] Speaker B: Yeah.

Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah. When they were like, fighting and then like the quickest comes up and if you hit the button.

[00:24:52] Speaker A: That’s the one. Yeah.

Every time I think about it, I forget what the word for the actual kind of device on your wrist is. I think it’s called a Legionnis or.

Yeah, beats me.

I will mistake that every single time until we finish the game and then never remember it again. Just like this, where three or like two and a half half files into the game and there’s just lots of pieces, lots of the combat system here to manage and master. So we’ll see how much we end up using the full moveset.

[00:25:29] Speaker B: Mm.

[00:25:33] Speaker A: And at this point, your super angsty twin shows up at the training room whining about the Commander and saying how much better they are, since if they were in your position, they would already be out looking for dad.

Okay, bruh, take it down a notch.

[00:25:50] Speaker B: Yeah. She’s. Yeah.

[00:25:54] Speaker A: Which makes me curious. Too. If we had chosen the male twin, the other twin done the same. I mean, I’m assuming it’s all the same dialogue, just in a different voice, just opposite.

[00:26:05] Speaker B: Yeah, I would assume so too. It’s just funny because it’s like what happens to the dad? You lose the dad basically. But like the reaction because ours character doesn’t speak. Like there’s like no reaction of like, oh man, my dad’s like gone now. But then your brother, since obviously we’re playing the sister, it’s all like, he’s all bummed and like he yells out and he’s like no. And tries to get him back while we’re just standing there like, ah, we

[00:26:28] Speaker A: can just let him.

But not even like a facial expression. Our only reaction. There’s no facial blinking. It’s just blinking, blink, blink.

Yeah, it’s a curious choice that I think I’m going to be questioning until the end.

[00:26:43] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:26:43] Speaker A: Not that we can do anything about it, but maybe I guess I gotta start filling in with the blanks of my own dialogue and. Yeah, you know, obviously we’ll get to that more. But more importantly, we just found out that each legion has its own skill tree and special abilities and leveling built in.

[00:27:04] Speaker B: Yeah, that was. Yeah, that’s a whole nother.

[00:27:07] Speaker A: Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it to get that deep.

[00:27:10] Speaker B: I didn’t. I wasn’t either.

[00:27:12] Speaker A: I thought the legions were like. And I kind of had an idea that already that there were a number of different types of legion. And you know, you have the sword and we end up getting in this episode as well the, the archer, the bow.

Like I knew that they were kind of like the tools. I figured they were kind of like the tools in the original God of War. Like the Greek set God of War games where you pick up sort of like items or skills that do a handful of things. Like. Right. We have a handful of skills with the legion for movement and attacks and all that. I didn’t think they would have their own deep semi long skill trees, which is great.

[00:27:52] Speaker B: No, it is. Yeah. I really didn’t think it was going to go into that much depth and

[00:27:57] Speaker A: fortunately by this time already had a bunch of I guess whatever currency was required.

[00:28:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Whatever the credit is that’s required. Yeah.

[00:28:04] Speaker A: To unlock a bunch of skill. Well, a bunch of like nodes in the skill tree.

[00:28:09] Speaker B: Mm.

[00:28:11] Speaker A: Yeah, I unlocked. I don’t know what you ended up going with. Like, I think I basically did the thing to have more slots and something about more attack percent and all that. But then the skill itself I got was one that spins a bunch of swords around the legion. It’s like just a vortex of blades that rips through enemies.

[00:28:27] Speaker B: Yeah, it’s the same one I got.

[00:28:29] Speaker A: It lasts a surprising amount of time.

[00:28:31] Speaker B: Yeah, it does.

Yeah. I think that, to me, that was, like, the best one.

[00:28:35] Speaker A: For the longest time, though, I forgot that I actually had unlocked it, so I ended up just not using it. And then a randomly hit X that I assigned it to and was like, yes, I have this. I should do this all the time.

[00:28:47] Speaker B: Mm.

[00:28:49] Speaker A: Especially because you can control it with zl. You can just put a giant spinning sword out there and then just like, go wiggle, wiggle.

Like you guys over there. Go die.

And then, you know. Okay, so you. You do this training. Once you start exploring the police station as part of the Lapy Tour quest, Lappy inexplicably starts jump scaring you every time you fast travel between

[00:29:17] Speaker B: which for some reason, for me, I know.

I don’t know why, but Lappy, to me, like, just seems like how it looks like. It seems like. Like one of the. Like, not a character, but, you know, like a funny costume or character from Resident Evil. Like, it would fit in the Resident Evil series.

[00:29:37] Speaker A: And then, you know what? Just do the scare jumps.

That’s not a bad point. There are.

Is there a mascot in one of those earlier Resident Evils? I think there’s a raccoon mascot somewhere, if I’m not mistaken.

[00:29:50] Speaker B: Okay, I do know, actually. Silent Hill has the dog. Silent Hill.

[00:29:55] Speaker A: Oh, you’re right.

[00:29:57] Speaker B: Does have a dog. Silent Hill 2 did, I think.

But it just. It just reminded me, like, him doing the jump scares. It just reminded me of maybe it’s also. I’ve seen it, like, people like, modding Resident evil for, like, Mr. X or somebody, like, just in a river place suit. Yeah.

[00:30:14] Speaker A: They replace it with Thomas the Tank Engine.

[00:30:17] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:30:17] Speaker A: The ultimate mod of all. Thomas the Tank Engine has been modded into so many games at this point. I.

[00:30:24] Speaker B: Yeah, it has.

[00:30:25] Speaker A: They could get a killing on the royalties if they were just considered going after them.

But don’t take away our fun. But yeah, you know, you’re exploring wappy just jump scares you around every corner.

Just so goofy and, you know. So is the extended side quest of fetching different types of square wiping material to use as toilet paper for the toilet fairy.

Like, did you come across that?

[00:30:52] Speaker B: Yes, I did.

[00:30:53] Speaker A: Like, right at the.

[00:30:54] Speaker B: Right at the beginning, because it was like one of the first things I went into was the bathroom just running around.

[00:30:59] Speaker A: What yeah. Who came up with that idea?

I am still delivering them. When I find them though, I found a tarp and I think a dried leaf.

[00:31:08] Speaker B: Oh, I did find a dried leaf in.

Yeah, in file three.

I didn’t find a tarp.

[00:31:13] Speaker A: I didn’t. I haven’t turned it in yet. But I’m expecting a big payout from this because it’s gonna be a. I think it’s gonna be a quest where every level we go through has some toilet paper.

So if I unlock all this toilet paper, I better get something good.

[00:31:27] Speaker B: Yeah. Speaking of boards, that’s also in the menu.

If you look in. I forgot on one of the main menu parts, there’s a. There’s a tab for like going through like each file you get a reward or for doing certain things or leveling up to a certain level, you get rewards like medicines or whatever. And I went through and collected them all. It’s in the menu. There’s another thing I didn’t.

[00:31:55] Speaker A: Oh, you’re right. I’ve seen that too. I’ve seen that. I didn’t do it after the most recent one because I just quit right after.

[00:32:00] Speaker B: No, I didn’t. No, I haven’t for the most recent either.

[00:32:02] Speaker A: But okay, that’s not a bad point. I’m. I’m. I expect a big payout from this toilet paper side quest, but I also half expect that it’s going to give you something really even goofier. Kind of like, I don’t know, a mummy costume for your character.

[00:32:17] Speaker B: Either Mummy crossing or like, maybe it’s

[00:32:19] Speaker A: like a 90s that goes over your head.

Oh, okay. That’s not a bad choice either. That. That sounds more fitting for a modern dark souls, but yeah, yeah, it’s almost like the chasing down Koroks in Breath of the Wild and you just get a deterred as your reward. Glad I did not do that. The Investigation in File 3 reveals that the people of the neighborhood are being haunted by what they call a red ghost. Which, yeah, we got to remember that we see what we see as chimeras thanks to our legion. And equipment is just an invisible entity with some weird color popping here and there to the naked eye. The fact that it sniped that police drone had me immediately expect it was the Archer Legion that we could unlock next, most likely. And yep, it sure was.

[00:33:05] Speaker B: Yes.

[00:33:08] Speaker A: Did you. Did you do the soccer ball side quest?

[00:33:15] Speaker B: No, I think I heard about that. Like some little girl said, I lost my soccer ball and I had seen a soccer ball around, but I didn’t do. I didn’t, like, go back and run kick it over to her. I don’t know.

[00:33:26] Speaker A: Yeah, so, yeah, because it’s basically, you find it for the first time in a completely different section when the area that the.

The person that needs it is walled off still. I just. Basically, I didn’t put two and two together. I thought they just kind of randomly coded a soccer ball. So I had some fun kicking the ball around the alleys in the first area and was surprised by how much control I seemed to have of a ball in a game that’s not FIFA. And so when I later came upon that group of kids running around a little field and someone mentions that they lost their ball, I knew what I had to do, so.

But it was interesting too, because the quest itself wasn’t on the map like most of those other red.

Red cases are.

So it was like a kind of semi hidden side quest. But so I literally just ran behind, kicked the ball through the room, and then over to the kit. And you get some reward for it.

[00:34:20] Speaker B: Very nice.

[00:34:21] Speaker A: Okay, so keep your eye out for, like, really weird randomly placed objects that actually move in the future.

[00:34:27] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:34:28] Speaker A: Maybe there’s more of those.

[00:34:30] Speaker B: Okay. Oh, I didn’t. Also, I did not know, because you just mentioned it, that the red side quests show up on the map. I’m not gonna lie. It’s. I do not see myself looking at the map that often. It’s also kind of confusing. The little map up top. I’m still getting used to it.

[00:34:45] Speaker A: It doesn’t very clearly indicate where certain sections are walled off.

[00:34:51] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:34:52] Speaker A: So I’ve gone looking for something that I see on the map. Is there? And then there’s no way to get to it, or not until later.

[00:35:00] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:35:02] Speaker A: But anyway. And then you. Okay, you run into this silly drone in the astral plane section here, and you find. Find its missing pieces, and then it follows you around. And then there’s that Cerberus boss.

[00:35:15] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, that was cool.

[00:35:18] Speaker A: And it was, I think, one of my favorites so far. Cerberus here sure is not nice and cute and cuddly like Cerberus is in a lot of Cerberus Hades season. Hades. Yeah.

No, not cute at all. But it was definitely a lot of fun to fight, you know, because he kept calling in more and more smaller and smaller Cerberus spawns.

[00:35:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I did.

It was a fun fight.

[00:35:41] Speaker A: But you can like. I like how you can just like, tie many enemies at once and get them all into a group and just wail on them. But I. I really enjoyed that Cerberus fight.

[00:35:51] Speaker B: Yeah, so did I. I also, like, I. I didn’t actually see that until these fights in this file, that if you hit something enough times, all of a sudden a will pop up and it’ll say, finish off.

[00:36:02] Speaker A: Yes, that started to happen randomly. It seems like it unlocked without telling you about it.

[00:36:06] Speaker B: Mm.

And so then you do the finish off move, which is a really cool move, and, like, goes a little cinematic. And then it also gives you health. So if you’ve lost some health, it brings some of your health back.

[00:36:20] Speaker A: I did not realize it gives you health.

[00:36:23] Speaker B: Yeah, it does.

So if you’re, like, getting any lower,

[00:36:27] Speaker A: even more reason to do it sometimes. I was skipping it because I was like, I’ve seen that now. A little cutscene. Like, camera cuts.

All right, well, I’ll keep that in mind. I don’t really look at my health bar all that often either, though. There’s too much going on.

And then right after servo, I only

[00:36:47] Speaker B: notice it, like, if it goes down enough, like, quickly.

[00:36:51] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It usually takes off big chunks, and I start to see it. Or when I fall off the edge.

[00:36:58] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Yes, that one. I do.

[00:37:00] Speaker A: That happens pretty frequently, actually, to be honest. It’s good. You got, you know, the Lapitu Legion there to drag you up like Mario Kart.

So, okay, so after the Cerberus fight, you get over to Akira, and he’s all melodramatic when you help him out. Hey, hey, I’m still Dad’s kid. He doesn’t need your help fighting Chimeras. But also says, if I can’t have my own Chimera, what’s the point of even living? And then his legion shows up and starts to choke him out and then drags him into the Astral Gate while just blankly staring you in the eyes.

[00:37:36] Speaker B: Mm.

[00:37:39] Speaker A: So, I guess, yeah, time to save the twin again. Sling tells me this is going to be just a constant save, a constantly repeated occurrence.

[00:37:52] Speaker B: I. Yes, I have a feeling you’re right. I think we’re going to be having to save our twins quite a lot.

[00:37:58] Speaker A: Hopefully he has a moment of redemption towards the end where he can control his own thing.

Get a legion back or something. I don’t know. I was surprised Akira didn’t hate us for stealing his legion. Because you pick up his Archer Legion and then. And then he shows off his cat sanctuary.

[00:38:14] Speaker B: Yeah, that was funny.

[00:38:16] Speaker A: Did your cats happen to be nearby when you were playing this moment?

[00:38:20] Speaker B: No. No, they might have been, but they were all fast asleep. And nobody noticed about cats on screen.

[00:38:27] Speaker A: Always got to wonder. Kind of like when we played stray

[00:38:30] Speaker B: that they knew of because they could just do the crime.

[00:38:32] Speaker A: You had a meow.

[00:38:34] Speaker B: Yeah, we had a meow.

[00:38:34] Speaker A: You had a meow button. A dedicated meow button.

[00:38:36] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:38:39] Speaker A: So I guess at this point, you know, the question that comes to mind. What do you think is going on here as far as the story itself? I have a couple thoughts, I guess.

[00:38:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I guess the same. So I guess, I don’t know, it’s a little hard story wise. I. I mean there’s a part of me that would just assume now after doing what we just didn’t got.

[00:39:01] Speaker A: The Arrow.

[00:39:02] Speaker B: The Arrow, Legion back is we have to go and get all the other ones. The other.

[00:39:07] Speaker A: Right, right. Four. Right.

[00:39:09] Speaker B: Three.

[00:39:09] Speaker A: Four. It would be three more at this point I want to say.

[00:39:12] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:39:13] Speaker A: Because there was a team of. Yeah. It’s as the guy names Jyn. Jin is like the dad’s right hand and there’s Alicia.

Alicia and. And the dad. Yeah. So I think it’s five total.

[00:39:28] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:39:28] Speaker A: But yeah, like I guess while they haven’t given off any hints or anything, I do have to wonder if everyone in this Ark City, like surviving remnant of humanity, if somehow we’re all maybe just androids carrying on humanity.

The first time I became curious about this is when I died that one time in that boss fight. Because when you die, it shows your battery charges.

And sure, in a high tech future society like this, I’m sure the police special forces team could have equipment that houses an onboard defibrillator system, but it could also be the batteries in your Android body.

[00:40:11] Speaker B: Okay, I could see that.

[00:40:12] Speaker A: Yeah.

Then if you think about it, there’s also the fact that there’s data flying all over the place when you hit enemies, for example.

And we’re using computer data as a base for so many things. And supposedly the astral chain, like all the structures you’re running around on and breaking and all that stuff is data.

So how does that all add up? Food for thought.

[00:40:34] Speaker B: Yeah, no, definitely.

[00:40:37] Speaker A: Overall, after three files and a lot of techniques taught in training, how are you getting on with the whole controlling two characters aspect of the game?

[00:40:47] Speaker B: I’m getting better at it. It’s still a little weird. I will say I’m on the Switch 2 Pro controller which having the back buttons as the ZL. So like to bring him out and to move him around and then the ZR for just me attacking works well, it makes it easier with those triggers on the back. But I still find myself like sometimes I try and walk like I’ll have him out walking in front of me and like moving him while I’m walking and I’m getting pretty good at it but there’s still times where I’ll like swing the camera the wrong way.

[00:41:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh yeah. Or for sure. I think especially with you’ll keep walking and.

[00:41:25] Speaker B: Or I’ll just keep walking and walk off an edge and lose. Not realize what I’m doing.

[00:41:29] Speaker A: I think also the wrap up move I still haven’t mastered. Like I’m getting better at it but me running in one direction and then the Legion going in the opposite direction and then. But also circling around throws my brain for a loop here and there.

[00:41:43] Speaker B: Oh I don’t even do that. I just take the legion and I

[00:41:46] Speaker A: just stand still and do a circle.

[00:41:47] Speaker B: I just grabbed.

[00:41:48] Speaker A: Probably just go the simple way.

[00:41:50] Speaker B: I just wrap the legion round and

[00:41:52] Speaker A: then I run up to a really quick way.

Yeah. Take the easy way out. I guess I should do that.

Yeah. I guess I’ll say.

I play these first three files on casual both since I’m getting used to the combat still and it’s the standard that even the game recommends for your first playthrough and also because I’ve been away from home for a few months and don’t have my satisfye switch grip with me which helps make playing high intensity action games like this much more comfortable and easier and handheld for someone with big hands like me. But I’ll be back home for the next batch of files so I’ll be able to dock and play on my TV with my pro controller as well and yeah probably it looks nice Doc. Bit to the platinum standard difficulty mode and kind of looking forward to the challenge. I mean I. Yeah I think we talked about the health. Right. And I don’t really pay that much attention to my health unless a huge chunk gets knocked off because I don’t really see much damage coming in. So I’m. I’m curious if the platinum standard difficulty mode will help make it a little more engaging. I guess.

[00:42:56] Speaker B: Mm.

What are your overall increase the damage?

[00:43:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean it definitely gotta take. It’s probably enemies do more damage, you take less take more damage or less defense or whatever they want to call it. What would you say are your overall first impressions here being one of the. This is one of the first character action games you’ve really put time into, right?

Yeah.

[00:43:18] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:43:18] Speaker A: Probably at least recently has been.

[00:43:20] Speaker B: Yeah at least recently. No I’m enjoying it. It’s Been fun. Yeah, just a little. Still, we’ll see where the full story goes. Just a little confused on where the story’s going, but we’ll get there.

[00:43:31] Speaker A: Yeah, we’ll be there soon.

[00:43:33] Speaker B: And then. Yeah, just still getting used to moving around with both. But now I’ll like. I think it’ll be more fun now, especially since now we have two different types of legions.

We can switch between them, so that’ll be fun to do.

It’ll definitely make it more interesting.

[00:43:52] Speaker A: Yeah. I think with. With every unlocking of every new Legion, I think it’s just gonna add even more depth and then every single one is gonna have its own skill tree. I think there’s gonna be a lot here. It makes a lot of sense to me now, even just looking at this one character action game in a bubble.

Why people that love this genre, you know, you play it through once for the story, but then you go back again and again because of how much depth there is to combat and how much variety you can get out of it.

And then also, like, once you get past, I think it’s casual mode, you end up getting the tier ratings or scores after each level. And that’s pretty standard for CAGs. And so that’s always really entertaining to see, sort of how you end up ranking amongst your own clears.

[00:44:37] Speaker B: Mm.

Yeah, that’ll be interesting. Yeah, that’ll be interesting to.

[00:44:43] Speaker A: Did you complete any of those blue or red cases while playing these first three files?

[00:44:48] Speaker B: I did, but as. Like. I did complete them, but the blue ones I figured were sort of side quests. I thought the red files were sort of parts of the main quest, like, required. Yeah, I didn’t get all of them. Like, in file three, I think I got. I think there was like 14. I got like nine out of 14. Yeah. But now knowing that they’re, I guess they’re all like types of side quests, I was like, oh, okay. No, I don’t feel like.

[00:45:13] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess that that’s kind of the thing that threw me off after getting started is when I read about them, the red and blue files, during that, you know, kind of quick research I did for our Expectations episode, I thought that they would be side quests that you do outside of the files or that one of the colors was the main story quest and the other color was a side quest. And I thought that you would do them outside of the files. Right. So you. Which some of them you do in the police station, I suppose, but they’re actually just little side quests that you do while you’re moving through the main story quest files themselves. So that’s like a different kind of mindset to get into. And it’s really like, okay, do you want to take a step aside from powering through and I mean, yeah, like they add a bit of depth to the story. They add a little bit of depth to the lore and the world and I think it’s definitely kind of useful to get the little boost and rewards out of them obviously. But if you’re just trying to blitz through and make it through the story, then all good to skip those too.

[00:46:06] Speaker B: Yeah, but is it like for me I didn’t even know I was sort of doing some of these side quests. I was just like going through as if it was the main story and then. But I’m also running around like in the astral plane and looking at everything and seeing that and so I’m just going for it, not knowing.

[00:46:20] Speaker A: I’m also always trying to do the red matter clearing too.

[00:46:24] Speaker B: Yeah, same like.

[00:46:25] Speaker A: But I have not hit. I mean we’ve only done a couple files so far. Far. But have not gotten to 100% yet.

[00:46:30] Speaker B: Oh no.

[00:46:30] Speaker A: I’m just like where is this stuff? Because I’m pretty thorough I guess. You know, I.

Between the red and blue files and the, and the red matter and the different items and like I get to the end of the file like the file clearance screen and see like a percent that’s way below 100 and I see I’ve got like four, four cases that I haven’t done and I just think where is this stuff? Because I mean I typically do a bunch of these types of things when I come across them and they’re pretty short and I kind of just as a natural extension and part of my nooks and crannies approach to linear games especially when they have hidden quarters that have items and the like. Definitely do that in like semi open world action games or like something like Bioshock. You know, the giant arrow would point you in a direction. I’d go to the opposite direction and find every last thing you possibly could. So like I’m pretty thorough especially in these linear games because you know you’re not going to be wasting tons and tons of time. But then I still miss like half of them and I’ve never seen them.

[00:47:32] Speaker B: I’ve never seen. Yeah, same here.

[00:47:33] Speaker A: You know, maybe some of these things unlock as you get more legions because you know the Sword Legion has the, you know, the focused chop thing so like that you can unlock areas maybe that’s it. Maybe you have to revisit files to get everything.

[00:47:46] Speaker B: Maybe. I wouldn’t be shocked by that.

[00:47:48] Speaker A: I think I did see in one of the earlier, like file one or two, there was a couple areas. One required the Axe Legion and something required the Arm Legion to break open.

So I’m assuming that must be part of what’s missing.

[00:48:03] Speaker B: Then I saw something with a dumpster that required some other legion that needed it.

[00:48:07] Speaker A: Oh, there was a cat hidden in the dumpster.

I saw a cat hidden in a dumpster with the iris view that I wanted to open but couldn’t. So you are correct.

Also, a little tip that I can’t call a pro tip because it’s pretty obvious, but so I guess it’s just a tip if you’re like me and aren’t super paying attention to all the items you’re picking up amidst all the action.

There are a lot of junk items you end up with in your inventory that are really just for selling.

[00:48:39] Speaker B: Okay.

[00:48:40] Speaker A: That is do this, do it. Okay, Go to the vending machine and go to the sell option and like scroll up because obviously the stuff at the top of your list is like the medicine and the different status effect items. Just go up and look at all the junk and you can make tons of money through it. And you don’t really find. Surprisingly, you don’t find all that much money on its own just kind of lying around. So I guess selling items is important because we need to upgrade our weapons and whatnot.

So yes, go sell.

[00:49:11] Speaker B: Okay, that is what I will do before in the next playthrough.

I’m sure I have a lot of junk,

[00:49:19] Speaker A: but yes, good time so far. Definitely curious to see where the story goes. Definitely. You know, looking forward to getting myself past the button mash extravaganza and into the semi skilled camp. So that should be good.

[00:49:35] Speaker B: Yeah, same here.

[00:49:39] Speaker A: So for next time, our goal is to play files four and five.

So once you finish those and as many blue and red cases as you’re in the mood for along the way, save and quit and hang on for next time. Just don’t start up file six yet.

[00:49:55] Speaker B: Great.

Well, thank you everybody for listening and hope you’re enjoying Astral Chain so far and looking forward to continuing playing with us. So thank you and have a good one.

If you want to follow along and discuss our playthrough of native games on the Gaming Backlog Book Club podcast, please give us a follow on your podcast platform of choice. Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Amazon Music or Pocketcasts, as well as our Discord and Instagram account under the same name. Thanks.