Games worth discovering

Squad Based Spectacle Fighter - Aether Gazer Quick Review

2K View2023-09-07

IS AETHER GAZER WORTH A LOOK?

Hey there, I'm once again diving headlong into Gacha Gaming - with the current title I'm tackling being Yostar's Spectacle Fighter, Aether Gazer. Admittedly, I'd never heard of the game until recently (I live under a rock) - but I'll admit that I was curious, given I've always had a fondness for quick-paced action combat, especially when it starts to veer into Spectacle Fighter Territory. Admittedly, I was sort of bracing for the worst, given my less-than-stellar experience with DanMachi Battle Chronicle - but, I walked out of this feeling pleasantly surprised. To the degree that I am currently waiting on a bit more energy, so I can get back to fiddling around with its myriad systems, given that I went from account level 1, all the way to 33, In one sleepless sitting.

Now, I should mention something here- while the narrative beats present aren't that bad, nor was the voice acting. . . I was a bit too busy carving my way through battle stage after battle stage to listen to them as attentively as I should have. But then, I had so much to play with. Each of the characters have their own distinct offensive kits, and while some are relatively simple others have some fairly unique quirks- such as my boy Ryugiri, whose kit revolves around weaving his basic attack between his special attacks while trying to exploit his powered-up burning state for as long as possible. While you -can- get away with simply rotating through his abilities, properly applying each one as they pop off cooldown winds up feeling incredibly satisfying, given you can just -clear- out enemies.

Even when I was unlocking more common characters, I still found myself feeling rewarded, because of how interesting it felt to learn and master their respective mechanics.

And even beyond that, there's a decent array of game modes to try out, whether it's the bite-sized battles intrinsic to the story, the boss battles (like the one that kicks off this review), or even the dungeon-crawler segment you get to fiddle around with.

TIME PLAYED

All in all, I put in a solid 12 hours. Something I only became aware of -after- the fact, when I glanced outside and noticed it was dark outside. In that time, I made a decent amount of progress through the game's primary story battles, engaged with a bunch of the farming missions to get more resources, fiddled around with the current event, and still had time on the side to try out a handful of the side missions that are available. And I was only scratching the surface, since I wasn't strong enough to venture into some of the deeper dives, and I hadn't even tried my hand at the hard mode variants.

THE GOOD BITS OF AETHER GAZER

*Combat. Having come into this game on the heels of Donmachi, all I can say is the combat is -excellent-. Movement and dodging feel great, so when you get tagged by an attack, you know it's your fault. Likewise, your special attacks are in demand beyond relatively short cooldowns, so you have constant access to what makes your character tick- allowing you to weave combos together fairly freely.

*The characters. I think it says something when I found myself thoroughly enjoying, and able to progress forward with the starting character a Gacha Game throws at me. I was hard-pressed to think of any character that didn't feel distinct, and more importantly, useful. What's more, even if I didn't want to actively use a given character (I am a terrible healer), they could still find active use as a squadmate, and even provide some interesting boosts by potentially synergizing with another character for a passive bonus or even a variant to their ultimate attack.

*Customisation. There are a lot of ways you can flesh out the various characters beyond simple statistical bonuses- since they have skill trees you can fiddle around with, as well as interesting passives that can change up how their kits work.

*The visuals. Whether it was the enemy design, the varied areas, and (especially) both the boss design and character aesthetic- there was a lot to appreciate on this front. I'll also admit that as busy as the screen can get as your squad flings out attacks, the overall telegraphing is solid. Provided I wasn't sitting there mashing attack mindlessly, I'd generally be able to weave out of the way of an attack.

*The music and voice acting. On the whole, it's decent, which makes me feel a little bit bad that I was throwing myself headlong into fights, but- I really wanted to get back to more

*Boss Battles. These really were a highlight for me, because while I -was- seeing a lot of the same basic enemies over and over again, there is a decent array of bosses to encounter, and they have some solid attacks in store for you.

*Replayability. This is important since the game actually has some achievements (and rewards), for doing things like clearing a boss perfectly, tackling a stage in a certain amount of time, or without dying. (Which is especially notable, since it allowed me to replay stages for free).

*Accessible pulls. While the cost of playing Gacha Games is generally steep- being able to get an S rank after 70 pulls isn't terrible- and the fact that you can accumulate character fragments in order to forcibly acquire one is also nice. Factor in that you can get an absolute -heap- of Gacha currency from just playing the story, getting achievements, and doing dailies. You'll be able to build a half-decent roster.

*Character Tutorials. Not only are these Optional, but they provide resources for doing them - and do a very solid job of teaching you how to play whatever character you just pulled.

*Accessible Advancement. A major thing that influences whether or not I really will wind up enjoying a Gacha Game, is how much of the content or advancement options are locked behind a paywall. While I already noted that you have plenty of opportunities to gather free currency from just advancing or doing dailies- this also extends to things like the spirits you equip to power up and modify characters, or even character fragments to unlock them through brute force. There are, in fact, countless options to bypass luck, if you're willing to put in the time, for most systems- and those that don't provide you a means of engaging with those systems for free.

THE BAD BITS OF AETHER GAZER

*The basic enemies. While I generally find them decent enough- by the time I hit chapter 5, I would have liked to see more distinct types. As it stands, they started to blur together for me over time- with the really noteworthy encounters being those aforementioned boss fights.

So, on the whole? I can say I'm quite fond of the game. I think it does a great job of bringing action combat to a mobile setting- and provides a legitimately high-quality experience to tinker around with. It also did me a solid and eschewed a lot of the busy work some games like to tack on- instead allowing me to focus on all of the gameplay that's just - there. Admittedly, it's a bit overwhelming to adjust to while blind. But, on the whole? I want to delve a bit deeper and try out some more characters.

And that's all I gotta say for now. I'm gonna dive a little bit deeper, but if you agree, disagree, or just have something to say (or recommend), leave a comment.

And as ever, if you're curious about the occasional review videos I make: Click Here!