Asdivine Cross (Nintendo Switch) Review

Asdivine Cross has, at its core, a compelling story. The concept of the world being reliant on the two deities having balanced power is what drives Harvey, Princess Amelia, and their two other companions whose identities would be a spoiler. From the start, the initial antagonists are not the biggest threat the party will face; only later in the story does the group realise what is the true danger to the world, putting the usual and welcome KEMCO high stakes elements firmly in the game. Harvey's sense of duty to the Watchers expands to keeping his companions safe, although they are all capable of taking care of themselves to varying degrees. Princess Amelia has a tendency to be too truthful, leading to occasions where someone will make her be quiet so secrets are not revealed to enemies. The compassion in her heart lights her soul and is freely given to her friends. The third party member, Lucile, is certainly one of a kind. She has a weird obsession with getting injured, a personality trait that on occasion felt a bit too adult themed for her age of fifteen. The friendly dynamic between Lucile and Amelia helped ease the serious moments in the game, as did the final party member Olivia, whose cool demeanour both exasperated and delighted Lucile. It may take a while for the party to form within the story, and they are not always together, but the bonds forged cannot be broken and one sees them through their tough journey.

Returning players from other Asdivines or KEMCO RPGs will feel at home in this installment of Asdivine universe, with familiar game mechanics that even newcomers can grasp quickly with the thorough explanations easily accessible from the menu. There is the user-friendly weapon upgrade system where weapons (sadly not armour) can be merged together resulting in powerful creations. When the upgrade system is first used, it is best to continually use it for the rest of the game in preference to equipping weapons acquired on the field or at a shop because the benefit of the increased stats outweighs the stats that are subsequently decreased. It is possible to transfer weapon abilities too. Almost every new town heralds new equipment that should be a priority purchase, with money easily acquired from both battles and selling unwanted items. Fulfilling side quests as usual also gives monetary and item rewards, although there didn't seem to be as many side quests as there usually are in an KEMCO game. Post-game content includes more areas to explore and tougher monsters to defeat for those that can't get enough of Asdivine Cross.

Roaming around the map was best on foot and by sea, for monster encounters never happened in the airship. Frequent saving is recommended because it is possible to wander into a territory with enemies at a significantly higher level than the party's. There are the standard different regions of the world including forest and desert, the former being the most dominant type of land. More snowy regions would be welcome to balance out the environments, although perhaps this Asdivine world simply does not have arctic areas. There is some non-essential paid downloadable content including a full heal after every battle, but so long as lots of battles are fought, there is plenty of money to buy single healing items from the shop. Oddly, party restoration items were limited to the in-game shop that requires ACP points, which are gained through battle instead of gold, and used to buy stat upgrades and other useful rare items. Compared to gold, ACP is harder to obtain, in turn making procurement of party focused items harder. This is at odds with many previous KEMCO RPGs, including other Asdivine games, that had such items in the regular shop, albeit expensive compared to single ally oriented healing medicine.

Changing the party leader is a common occurrence in an Asdivine game, and Asdivine Cross allows this, so favourite characters can be the character travelling on the world map. However, the other party members do not follow the team leader either in dungeons or on the world map, as they do in other Asdivine games, which is a shame as seeing all members traverse the screen provides a more immersive experience. Additionally, in this title, whoever is the leader gives the party specific stat boost. For example, if Amelia is leader, there is a ten per cent decrease in magic damage received, while putting Lucile in charge directs more attacks to her. This suits her unique ability to learn absolutely any and every skill that monsters use on her, which she can unleash as an attack in battle, but this may not suit everyone's play style. Battle tactics for both the party and individual allies can be set, and is only required if auto-battle is switched on.

Special attacks can have their moves programmed, subject to having enough combo points called BG (the term Beat Combo does not explain where the G comes from). Combos must have at least two moves and a maximum of five is allowed, dependent on not exceeding the BG of each character. This number increases at a slow rate throughout the game. In the thirty hours of playing the game on the lowest level of difficulty, no character reached double digits for BG. It is not really needed for the easy rating, but will become an essential feature for normal, hard, and expert settings. Playing on easy does not mean every monster is simple to defeat; there are still special colour variations for enemies which dictates their strength, and some are allocated higher stats in certain areas. For those who love a challenge, there is the infamous guild arena with great rewards for winning each fight in a course and being the overall winner, plus a battle tower.