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A remake of an almost unheard of Korean DOS game from 1994, Astonishia Story is what one would call an “oldschool” console RPG; a throwback to RPG classics from the SNES era. Nothing it does is new or revolutionary in any way but what it does do it does correctly to a certain degree that will bring a dozen hours of enjoyment to older gamers but will probably pass over the heads of newer RPG runners.
Arguably the height of any RPG, Astonishia Story greatly lacks a moving plot. This would probably kill the game right here for most but realize this; what it lacks in actual substance and variety it makes up for in classic “corn.”

You play as Lloyd, a royal knight tasked with guarding a mystical artifact of great power. Like most mystical artifacts of great power, it ends up being taken by the antagonist and, just like every royal knight main character, he finds it his ultimate duty to get it back no matter the personal cost. Thus begins your quest through a generic fantasy world filled with half-naked elves, cave dwelling dwarves, and spell slinging wizards.

So why is all of this great you ask? Execution. Watching the game’s cinemas unfold is like watching a highschool play; it’s melodramatic, campy, and incredibly played out. There are grammar and “engrish” errors littered about, inconsistencies in the plot such as purposely walking into a trap to admittedly advance the story, and numerous breakings of the fourth wall involving the main character to monologue to you, the player, as well as an obscure encounter with one of the game’s afro sporting staff members who demands a password from the manual due to PIRACY PROTECTION (a homage to old NES games like StarTropics as well as an in-joke due to the piracy in Korea). The translation itself is average but the non-sequitters and odd items (like the HELLA GHETTO AXE) brings out a deep chuckle.

Combine this together with a sarcastic atmosphere and mood and you get an incredibly tongue-in-cheek game that does little to take itself or it’s content seriously. You won’t care for the personal quest of the main character or the supporting characters but the sheer fact that you’ll never know what’ll happen next keeps you drawn in the game.

Your standard RPG fair; enter a town, buy new items, talk to the NPCs to find the next dungeon, enter the dungeon, battle monsters for gold, enter a town, repeat. Monsters appear on the field so you can avoid them but the game is rather difficult so not leveling early will leave you staring at the gameover screen quite a bit.

The battle system is rather interesting as it combines a watered down grid-based system typical to Tactics Ogre or Final Fantasy Tactics. While it lacks the depth of the previous games in terms of terrain factors, it still allows you to employ some tactics such as putting your back to a wall to limit how many monsters attack you. It’s nothing major, but it makes fighting more interesting than the standard “mash attack, use cure when needed.” The game’s difficulty is a welcome addition as most RPG’s find themselves holding you by the hand.

This game will only appeal to a certain crowd of folks; if you can download it for free, I suggest you do otherwise you might be throwing your $40 down the drain. Personally, I find this game worth every penny

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