The PSP hasn't seen many RPGs in its life so far, but Ubisoft is giving the PSP a new RPG title for PSP owners with Astonishia Story.

The game behind Astonishia Story centers around the main character Lloyd, a knight tasked with protecting a sacred treasure known as the Staff of Cainan. At the start of the game Lloyd loses the item during transport between towns as his entire squad is destroyed by a group of violent bandits led by a mysterious and dark knight known as Francis. This is where the game starts with Lloyd promising the recovery of the staff with his new group of warriors.

With that nice introduction the game starts you on your journey for the missing staff. Sadly, that is about the entire story you'll get in the game. After the initial introduction to the game you'll no longer have any strong aspects of story throughout the entire game.

Gameplay
The game plays like out like a typical RPG. For those of you who have never played an RPG, here's what to expect. You'll start off with a quest, journey to many different towns, fight loads of different enemies, complete quests, and eventually get to the final boss. Astonishia Story plays out much like a typical RPG with the exclusion of its unique battle system which I will get into more detail later on.

Like typical RPGs, the story is what drives you to find out where you need to go to complete certain aspects of the game. However, you will never feel that in Astonishia Story. Even without paying attention to the game's story you will always know where to go in the game. Even if you get lost in a certain event, you can simply figure it out by walking to the only other town close by and you will find what you are looking for. This does take away from the overall epic feeling of a RPG but the developers may have included this because it is much more handheld friendly as opposed to having to journey for hours like on a console RPG. This allows the game to move constantly and the player always on top of the events needed to get done. Some players may like this in a RPG title and some may not like the simplicity of it.


Fire Magic.

The battle system in Astonishia Story is very unique. The battle system ties in random encounters with turn-based combat. When you exit a town you'll be in the overworld and be able to walk around in order to progress to other towns. As you progress you'll see creatures walking around on the field. If you make contact you'll be drawn into a fight with three to six enemies. The fights take place on a large battlefield that is divided into squares. Each character will take their turns on the battlefield by moving over a certain number of squares before performing an action. These actions include using items, magic, skills, or running away from battle. There's no advantage for surrounding a target or attacking from the sides or rear. This leaves out any strategy of easily crushing an enemy with an over abundance of force.