Asdivine Hearts Review

Asdivine Hearts

Release: April 12, 2016
Publisher: Kemco
Developer: Kemco
Genre: Adventure, Role-playing
PEGI: T
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There are not very many turn-based rpgs on the Wii U. Though, it seems like we will continue to get more thanks to Indie developers. The newest turn-based rpg, Asdivine Hearts, came to the system recently. I got a review copy of the game and have been playing it a lot. Is Asdivine Hearts a good game? Here’s my review.

Asdivine Hearts has a story that may seem familiar to rpg fans, but its charming characters keep it from being bland. Each of the characters, especially the cat and the three girls, have quite the personality! I also liked most of the dialogue in the game, though there was the occasional strange/weird bits of dialogue and scenes. There’s a lot of mystery in the game too and if you like this kind of rpg at all, you’ll want to find out what happens next. Thankfully, the core rpg gameplay in Asdvine Hearts is pretty solid.

Asdvine Hearts doesn’t try to reinvent the rpg wheel. The gameplay in this game will be familiar to anyone that’s played a turn-based rpg. However, Asdvine Hearts is a rock solid rpg and well worth your time if you’re an rpg fan. The game has a huge amount of quests, side quests, and things to find in each dungeon and town. The game’s dungeons and towns can seem a little formulaic at times, but you’ll find many chests in the dungeons and interesting plot points in each town. One of the things that I really loved at the dungeons is that some of them have secret places that lead you to hidden chests and some of them have traps too! My main complaint about the dungeons is that they are pretty maze-like and you can get lost in them easily. I wish there had been a map to help you find your way through them. I’m glad that the large over world has a map though.

The over world in Asdvine Hearts is a huge one like the classic rpgs from the NES and SNES. And there’s a surprise plot twist that’ll give you even more places to explore. I won’t spoil it, but its definitely a cool twist. That said, Asdvine does have a lot of random battles as you travel along the map. You can’t even escape the battles once you get an airship! It’s a good thing that this game has an excellent battle system.

There is a lot of strategy to Asdivine Hearts battles. A turn order is shown at the top of the screen and that gives you a clue as to who will go next. This allows you to plan out your next move. Another great bit of strategy has to do with the squares that appear under and around the enemy. You can sometimes target a blank square and get multiple enemies with a magic spell! The battles are always interesting in Asdivine. And you’ll need to fight as many random battles as you can because the boss fights in this game are pretty tough. Building up your Trust Meter in battles will really give you a boost and help a lot with the bosses. Its also very important to make sure your magic rubix, where you keep all your magic in the menu, is stacked with the right type of magic for the battles. I’m very impressed with the amount of strategy in Asdivine Hearts. The game’s battle system controls really well too; I wish the same could be said for just walking around.

While the battle system and the game’s menus are easy to navigate, walking around in Asdivine Hearts can be too stiff/jerky in dungeons. Sometimes the dungeons are just too small and hard to navigate with the d-pad and/or the analog stick. When you’re running around in open spaces, though, the walking feels too floaty. Neither of these issues hurt the game too much. Asdivine Hearts is still very playable and fun. The game looks great on off-tv play too. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t take advantage of the rest of the Wii U’s features. I especially thought there would be touch screen support for the menus (which look big enough for it), but there wasn’t. Its too bad, but its not a major blow. The game’s graphics definitely fair a bit better than its controls.

Asdivine Heart’s graphics are similar to what you’d fine in a Super Nintendo rpg, though with some neat details thrown in that you wouldn’t have found on the SNES. My favorite is the cloud cover that passes over the world map. I thought that the character portraits in this game were pretty good and liked how they reacted and changed depending on what the characters were saying. The best part of the game, visually, is during the battles though. While there are lot of repeats or recolors enemy wise, all of the enemies look really good and so do your main characters in battle. I’d say that the graphics in battle are a little bit better then what we would’ve seen on the SNES. Its very well done. Not everything about the game is perfect visually, certainly there could have been more variety in the visual look of towns, but overall, I like Asdivine Heart’s graphics a lot.

As for its soundtrack, I thought that the game had really good music. There seemed to be a good variety of music and it changed when needed and helped keep various scenes interesting. The sound effects in the game are ok, but nothing too interesting. Asdivine Hearts, as a whole, is very good game!

Asdivine Hearts might not be the most original turn-based rpg ever, but its interesting story, fun battle system, good graphics, and nice amount of quests make it a better game than you’d expect it to be. I think the amount of strategy that goes into each battle, especially boss battles, is pretty impressive. I also really like how the magic system is handled! I do wish the game’s controls were better and the game used more of the Wii U’s features, like touch controls. Still, I think the game is a lot of fun overall. If you love turn-based rpgs, then you should definitely check out Asdivine Hearts!

Thanks to Kemco for providing a review copy of Asdivine Hearts. The game is available on the Wii U eshop right now!

Positives

• Interesting Story
• Excellent battle system
• Lots of Quests
• Good graphics
• Off-TV play

Negatives

• So-so walking controls
• No touch screens support
• sound effects could be better

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