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Latest Update: Episode 29 - Phoenix Down (09/03)  Ashen is the debut entry into the world of video games by developer A44, published by Annapurna Interactive (you know them as the publisher of Journey!). It's a third person combat RPG that goes real light on the RPG side, being much more friendly and welcoming to newcomers to the genre than its contemporaries. Easy to get a hang of and with a focus on platforming and exploration, Ashen introduces itself with the warmth of a new and burgeoning age of light, a sense of camaraderie, a focus on working together to fight off the last remnants of the darkness. That's the elevator pitch, but in practice, what I love about Ashen is that it's just a beautiful game all around. The graphics utilize a gorgeous minimalism as does the music, the mechanics are simple enough to pick up on with enough depth that there are a bunch of different ways to play, and it really does instill a sense of wanderlust and warmth that I haven't felt from a video game in a long time.  This is yet another entry in the slowly growing series of "CJacobs Let's Plays Games That He Thinks Are Unfairly Overlooked". A number of factors cost Ashen a lot of the coverage and popularity I think it deserved upon release a few months ago, and I don't see many people talking about it these days. Well, I want to talk about it! Ashen is a fantastic little game that proves A44 knows what they are doing and really feels like a journey from start to finish. I have a lot of compliments to give this game and I hope that by the end you too are giving it the love it and A44 deserve.  I don't do blind let's plays very often, because I find it hard to be concise in my wording when I don't have the luxury of knowing exactly how much time I have to speak. My only blind (and live) let's play is Resident Evil 4, and I very much enjoyed it because sharing my reactions to seeing and learning for the first time made for a fun interaction with the audience. But RE4 is a game everyone and their grandma has played; I was the only one who didn't know anything about it. Here, you are likely going into this just as blind as I was, and I think that'll connect us all with the world of Ashen and the adventure we're embarking on very nicely. We're in this together.  As usual for games of this nature, the story is doled out to you in small chunks over the course of your adventure. You meet new people who tell you new things, read the descriptions of new items to gain new insight and so on. It's an integral part of experiencing a game like this, so don't spoil anything whatsoever for your peers OR me.  Ashen can be purchased on Xbox One or on the Epic Games Store on PC, which may be the reason you haven't heard of it. Unfortunately the Epic Games Store doesn't have the visibility of ubiquitous libraries like Steam right now, and hopefully that will soon change, but this is the only place you can get it. However, if you like what you see, I really encourage you to try it because Epic's store gives the developers a much more generous cut than Valve's, and A44 deserves your money for making such a wonderful title.                              
CJacobs fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Sep 3, 2019 |
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Feb 18, 2019 20:00
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reserved
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Feb 18, 2019 20:00
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 Welcome to the world of tomorrow! Make sure you packed some sun tan lotion and a visor.
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Feb 18, 2019 20:01
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Ashen looks pretty great so far. I dig the art style, the Norse styling, and the (as you said) snappiness of combat. I want to see more of the town-building mechanic, honestly, because the majority of games I've seen in the S-like genre, if not all, are about a lone character charging forth into damnation, with no attempts to establish a firm basis for their campaign. So far, Ashen feels like a reclamation of a nearly damned world, and that's pretty cool. This is, so far, the fight to avert the death of the world, whereas normally it's the fight to salvage what's left in a world which has already ended. Also, I totally expect our giant smith friend to be a villain, what with the option to give him back his hammer.
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Feb 19, 2019 23:46
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Blade_of_tyshalle posted:I want to see more of the town-building mechanic, honestly, because the majority of games I've seen in the S-like genre, if not all, are about a lone character charging forth into damnation, with no attempts to establish a firm basis for their campaign. So far, Ashen feels like a reclamation of a nearly damned world, and that's pretty cool. This is, so far, the fight to avert the death of the world, whereas normally it's the fight to salvage what's left in a world which has already ended. This is one of the things I like about Dark Souls 2. While some characters are losing sight of who they are, like that one merchant if you buy too many things, to a certain extent you are finding people and bringing them together, which is nice.
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Feb 20, 2019 00:28
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This game has a huge emphasis on all kinds of people working together toward a common purpose, our little town will be full of friends before the sun rises over the world of Ashen. Also we didn't really have the option to not give him the hammer, they do that with all quest items, it's just an "are you ready to continue the quest" button.
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Feb 20, 2019 00:48
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I almost bought this game halfway through your video, but then found out there's no PS4 version, and none planned. I am now sad.
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Feb 20, 2019 01:25
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Yeah it's a shame, I think this game would be a huge hit on PS4 but apparently they don't plan to port it any time soon. No idea why, might be an exclusivity deal or something.
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Feb 20, 2019 01:48
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CJacobs posted:Yeah it's a shame, I think this game would be a huge hit on PS4 but apparently they don't plan to port it any time soon. No idea why, might be an exclusivity deal or something. Pretty sure there's a one-year exclusivity deal, yeah.
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Feb 20, 2019 04:19
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I'm somewhat interested in this game, but the co op seems... Inconvenient if I want to play through with a friend. Losing them every time you enter town and having to reconnect when you leave is just enough hassle to dissuade me.
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Feb 20, 2019 06:20
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It's not really a hassle. You hit up on the d-pad to call out for a co-op partner, and if you're standing in the same area (and you're using the same friend code) they'll just... show up. It's only one button.
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Feb 20, 2019 08:12
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 Local Yokel Jokell Seeking M Or W for Haughty Adventure. Serious offers only!
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Feb 22, 2019 12:21
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Hey CJacobs the next time you walk by the bonfire analogue, notice your charachter flashes red. It's a really cool mechanic happening. I have another thing to say, but I want you to discover it.
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Feb 23, 2019 22:33
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Do you mean the flash when the game refills my gourd for me so I don't have to sit down? Or is it something else?
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Feb 24, 2019 08:55
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CJacobs posted:Do you mean the flash when the game refills my gourd for me so I don't have to sit down? Or is it something else? No that's what I meant. It's one of my favorite "oh neat" moments so far, for some reason
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Feb 24, 2019 09:26
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I mentioned it at the very end of the episode, but yeah, it's a really cool convenience! One thing I like about the game that we'll see going forward is that it does a lot of streamlining of the typical souls game formula. Makes it a much smoother experience in general.
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Feb 24, 2019 09:32
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I was pretty interested in this game but the pricetag of 40 euro made it go into the "wait for a sale" pile for me. I might reevaluate it the further C.Jacobs go, the same way he did with Immortal: Unchained for me.
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Feb 24, 2019 11:31
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That first club you started with does 38 damage, more than the others you picked up. Sorry to nitpick, but you kept missing it and it's driving me bananas.
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Feb 25, 2019 15:43
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Sylphosaurus posted:I was pretty interested in this game but the pricetag of 40 euro made it go into the "wait for a sale" pile for me. I might reevaluate it the further C.Jacobs go, the same way he did with Immortal: Unchained for me. Yeah, 40 bucks is pretty steep. After having played a bit further into it I can say that I think it's worth that much, but I wouldn't blame anyone who wants to wait for it to go lower. thekeeshman posted:That first club you started with does 38 damage, more than the others you picked up. Sorry to nitpick, but you kept missing it and it's driving me bananas. The weapons in this game work on a rock paper scissors sort of system. All of them are high in one stat, middling in another, and low in the last one. The starting weapon was high damage/middling stun/no crits, whereas the two weapons I've been using so far are middling damage/low stun/high crits. But at this point enemies don't have much health so a difference of 5 damage per swing isn't much, whereas a crit does almost two swings' worth of damage. That was my thought process. edited for better explanation CJacobs fucked around with this message at 16:01 on Feb 25, 2019 |
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Feb 25, 2019 15:55
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There doesn't seem to be a thread for the game, so I'll just ask here: How well does the game work as a full co-op game? If I only play with the same guy, can I just jump into his game and whatever progression he makes I make? Do we have to do the bosses or exploration twice?
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Feb 25, 2019 21:01
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Yup, it works just fine in full co-op. Game progression is shared between players (both main and sidequests), and you can co-op with anyone at any time as long as you have defeated the same number of bosses. If you make progress in the main story, that progress is also made for the person you're playing with. You don't have to do the Dark Souls thing where you finish an area in your world and then go to theirs to do it all again so they're caught up. edit: I think I will make a thread in Games for Ashen just like I did for The Surge. Hopefully it'll convince people to buy it because it's really worth your time! CJacobs fucked around with this message at 00:45 on Feb 26, 2019 |
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Feb 26, 2019 00:33
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That sounds great! I might have to give this a try soon.
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Feb 26, 2019 01:28
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warning: if you haven't looked up what "Children of Sissna" is online, you get a very minor spoiler.
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Feb 26, 2019 04:20
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Looking at those giant white "stones" all over the place, with the way they're covered in cracks, I think those might be giant bones. Possibly the ancient remains of the giant (bigger then I thought) Ashen bird, and if that's true, then with the new Ashen being born from those bones, it's possible that the Ashen could be some form of Phoenix. Neat!
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Feb 26, 2019 08:46
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 A quiet cave on a quiet mountain on quiet Earth. Does this game take place on Earth? Painterly Earth?
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Mar 1, 2019 17:47
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Aww man, I was so disappointed when you stopped on the edge of the cliff/bridge I'm really glad it ended up working out (for the viewer)
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Mar 1, 2019 18:00
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The whole reason those spiders look kind of funny is cause of the yellow balls around their head, and it stops being funny when you realize that those are big swollen acid sacs, and that it's trying to spray you as a way to start the digestion process. While you're still standing!!
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Mar 1, 2019 18:40
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I think I'm more okay with these spiders than say, Bloodborne's. Weird spider-like things feel like they can have ~lore reasons~ for being there, but Bloodborne's just feel like someone said "We're a horror game, and we need another enemy. Steve, you still got that spider model? Can we make it dump-truck size for a boss? Yeah, ship it."
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Mar 1, 2019 23:31
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 CJacobsSA And Their Refinement of the Decline.
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Mar 8, 2019 20:12
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platforming in this game genuinely feels good. which is such a weird thing to say about a souls-like also somehow I completely missed the ability to equip relics. finally note that the name of the rune equip cost is "Load-Out" you're not paying to unlock the rune, you're paying to add them to your character. (They can be removed at any time, don't worry) Jonny Nox fucked around with this message at 08:36 on Mar 9, 2019 |
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Mar 9, 2019 08:33
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Count me in as loving Ashen's levelling system; honestly, that should be the way it always goes in RPGs.
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Mar 9, 2019 11:53
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Sekiro is going to use something similar, so at least it's being tried.
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Mar 14, 2019 00:27
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 We've got our quest to find and repair the heart, lest the world be bathed in dark once more, and we're geared up and ready to head out into this strange new world. Let's go exploring!
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Mar 18, 2019 22:02
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First off the following isn't the most stunning observation about a game all about THE LIGHT, I know. Anyways I look at the beginning cutscene of the ashen being reborn and all I can think is "That's 'supposed' to be the end of a game, not the beginning." Most of the obvious equivalents to this game take place during the end of the world and you are either trying to improve things just a little bit for just a little while or maybe even outright restore what came before the end. What the player seems to be doing is protecting something capital-n New. The player doesn't know what this New is, the New itself probably doesn't even know what it is, but it deserves its chance just the same as what came before it. It doesn't yet seem correct to suggest that the previous "ages" destroyed themselves and don't deserve to come back but it does seem like the Old is fighting against being replaced, even it couldn't even survive if it won.
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Mar 19, 2019 19:47
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Kibayasu posted:What the player seems to be doing is protecting something capital-n New. The player doesn't know what this New is, the New itself probably doesn't even know what it is, but it deserves its chance just the same as what came before it. That is definitely the vibe that I'm getting too, and I hope Ashen keeps up the tone. Too many Soulslikes think the grimdark's part of the genre, as if the difficulty is supposed to be reflected in the story. Never mind that one of the Souls' series most defining traits is how it teaches you to beat it, and that mastery vastly simplifies the game, oh no- gotta have everything GRIMDARK™ so people know what and who we're ripping off! Oh, and to CJacobs? You look more like a bunny and less like Bubsy than I expected. I FEEL CHEATED.
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Mar 19, 2019 20:13
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It's the buck teeth that do most of the work I think.
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Mar 19, 2019 20:22
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CommissarMega posted:That is definitely the vibe that I'm getting too, and I hope Ashen keeps up the tone. Too many Soulslikes think the grimdark's part of the genre, as if the difficulty is supposed to be reflected in the story. Never mind that one of the Souls' series most defining traits is how it teaches you to beat it, and that mastery vastly simplifies the game, oh no- gotta have everything GRIMDARK™ so people know what and who we're ripping off! Even comparing directly to the SoulsBornes there are some things to be said but it’s a bit early to start down that road without knowing more.
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Mar 20, 2019 00:48
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 I don't think that's what the name 'windfish' is supposed to refer to.
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Mar 26, 2019 02:15
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 I hope you get your buddy back. Or is this a case of your allies cycling as they fall down and recuperate?
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Mar 26, 2019 06:53
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berryjon posted:
It's what mission you have selected. It only changes when you use a ritual stone though. (I haven't watched the video yet so I may be answering the wrong question)
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Mar 26, 2019 07:04
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