Takahisa Taura has worked on plenty of amazing video games, including Madworld, The Wonderful 101 and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, but Astral Chain was his first time working as a director – and he's been speaking to Famitsu about the experience (thanks, Nintendo Everything).
It's natural to have nerves on your first big project, but Taura points out that Hideki Kamiya was on hand to offer advise and steady the ship when development waters got a little choppy (Yoko Taro from Square Enix, who worked with Taura on NieR: Automata, was also part of the interview):
Did you have any fear or worry that you wouldn’t get another chance on something if [Astral Chain] didn’t sell well?
Taura: Yes, a little. For example, during development when something didn’t turn out to my absolute liking, I really started to panic. Kamiya really gave me his shoulder to lean on when that happened, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt a sense of distress like that before.
Taro: When was that?
Taura: That was when we were trying to nail down the action mechanics. Kamiya gathered all the things we had tried and tossed out or forgot about, and piece by piece it turned into something really great.
[source nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 32
Reeeaaally hoping for a sequel
Just drop the silent protagonist bit and it's golden.
I bought it and I think unfortunately it's an unfinished game. Not bad, but far from the best...
Bought it sold it same day! Just not my type of game!
Amazing action game, despite the anxiety it turned out great
I own this but still haven’t given it a go despite loving games like Bayo, Metal Gear Rising, Nier Automata and Devil May Cry. Hopefully it lives up to the long legacy of great titles Platinum have worked on.
I bought this game on day one, played for a little while and put it away for no apparent reason. It's not that I dislike it or see any essential flaws. Actually, I enjoyed the graphics and the world concept. I think the Legion mechanics did not appeal to me that much.
After playing FE three houses i will play astral chain again! such a great game
I thought it was a brilliant game until I reached the end. I enjoyed it immensely, but actually never finished it because of the difficulty of the final boss battle. Everything else that came before I managed fairly well, but I never made it past that very last fight.
loved this game and hope for a sequel
I loved it, excellent game, beat it, and eventually wouldn't mind a sequel, perhaps on updated new hardware
Brought this game on launch day! And completed it in less than 2wks. From start to finish is worth the price... Will buy a sequel in heartbeat.
Excellent game with satisfying combat and amazing music and artstyle, the only critique I have is that the “we are good cops buddies” setting does not resonate with me at all. (Not to the point of stop playing it, like in sony spiderman, that was cringe worthy) Hoping for a sequel.
just replace the main character for captain falcon and add some open world cyberpunk + races and boom
Still need to finish it.
@wishmylove I was thinking of getting it, why do you think it's unfinished?
The only thing that bothers me is the setting, “future policemen with flashy chained monsters” didn’t work at all. Why not simply make a military setting? That said, the gameplay is fantastic.
@Tulio517 It is finished. It's a technical marvel and the story finds a satisfying conclusion. There is also a lot of post game content. I don't know why someone would think it's unfinished.
Game is amazing and couldn't put it down when I got it. I'll admit learning the legion mechanics can be a real chore and understand how it may turn some away. But if you stick with it the combat is some of the best I've ever experienced. I absolutely fell in love with my legions! Nothing is more satisfying in the heat of combat swapping between legions using legion rush, various abilities and ganging up on bad guys 3 on 1. Its cool
wanted to love this game as much as I love Bayonetta, but for some reason, I have to force myself to keep playing and get it over with ever time I turn on my Switch, so I can move to the next game on my backlog.
Fun setting, engaging story, but there is a pacing problem and it eventually gets very repetitive.
Also the combat is fun, but unless you play all the stages a hundred times you won't get a perfect score. Bayonetta feels fair in a sense this game doesn't.
I loved this game. The story was cool and the end almost made me cry
Wish I had the game digital, sometimes I just want to boot the game up and play it. (my physical copy is in the storage)
Like others have mentioned, the final boss did feel like a huge difficulty spike. In the end I just set the game to the lowest difficulty to get it finished. I really enjoyed my time with the game, but as with all other Platinum titles, I'd had my fill by that point.
Absolutely my favorite 2019 Switch title, and I feel the best exclusive since 2017's big hitters (BotW, Odyssey, & XC2).
Great setting (one of the few heavily sci-fi themed exclusives on the system to boot), with a slick presentation, satisfying combat, and a decent amount of variety (between the combat, investigations, platforming, and the occasional stealth segment, bike section, or puzzle).
For negatives, I think the platforming sections in the Astral Plain could be a bit wonky, and I agree the final boss was a huge difficulty spike (though I managed to push through it on the difficulty above the easiest), but overall it was a fantastic experience.
I like the game and bought it at launch but some of the game play mechanics killed my enthusiasm. On top of that I had too may new games to check out so I will likely return to it soon.
Great game! To me this felt like some kinda follow up to Metal Gear Rising sorta, like how the combat and music felt.
@nessisonett You won't be disappointed
Fantastic game and will play through it again I’m sure
Loved every single second of this game, hoping for a sequel ♥
Favorite game of 2019. Would love a sequel.
Ive been meaning to replay this. I liked it a lot. Just having gotten around to it.
@BoostPower
No! Don't say that, because now I really want a game like that!
@AlienigenX Cringe. Cops are great.
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