Magical Starsign (DS RPG)

[frogbeastegg]

Having ended up bed bound thanks to an infected insect bite on my foot I've sunk quite a few hours into this today, after draining my GBA micro's battery on FFVI and reading my way through a pair of books. I'm hooked; it's far better than I expected it to be.

It's been tailor made for the DS, and this is its main advantage. It is entirely stylus driven if you want it to be (there are button controls too) and this works very well. Tapping menu options and leading your character about is so much better than having to navigate through menus the traditional way; it's very close to having a mouse. Tap your character at the right moment before they are attacked and you'll reduce damage. Doing the same before they attack boosts your damage. The game uses both screens and to good effect. Quite often it will use both screens together to display one giant image. At other times it will show a map, your characters' details, the position of the planets, and more. There are no loading times, unlike a few DS games I've played. There is FMV, which surprised me. I was aware the DS can do it, but the only game I had heard of using the ability was FFIII.

If I had to describe the game itself in a single word I think I'd go for 'fun'. I knew the plot was clichéd nonsense about a bunch of students setting out to rescue their teacher; I didn't expect the game to pull a Dragon Quest VIII and continuously make fun of this fact. I'd say that so far it takes the joke further than DQVIII did. Another similarity to DQVIII is the silliness of the enemies: cute, funny names, amusing attacks. I encountered a group of frozen coral creatures which attacked by sneezing at me! Fun describes the gameplay aptly, too. Battles have pace and are lively, and wandering around the world is enjoyable. It's easy to restore your health, and you can save anywhere and at any time. The difficulty is quite forgiving, but I have noticed a step up in battle difficulty now I've left the second proper world.

Magic deserves a paragraph or two of its own. Uncommonly for a JRPG you'll be spending a lot of time using magic. Your magic points regenerate each time your character's turn begins, and it doesn't take long before you are regenerating enough to use your basic magic effectively for free. Magic does far more damage than physical attacks. Sounds too good, right? Better spells cost a lot more to use. Some spells use a percentage of your total magic gauge instead of a fixed cost. Then there's the starsign system, and this is where things get lively.

Each character and enemy has a starsign. Each starsign represents an element: fire, water, earth, wind, light, dark. In best pokemon style each element is strong against one type and weak to another. Light and dark sit outside the circle; they are strong and weak against each other and behave normally against the other 4 signs. I mentioned a planetary position tracking display earlier; this is an important element of the game. As the planets orbit the sun they enter and leave zones of space which give them boosts, and this passes on to all spells of that type. Meaning that at any one time at least one type of magic is boosted above its normal strength. Dark and light are effected by the day/night cycle, with (shockingly!) light being boosted during the day and dark during the night. Time is always passing, so conditions can change during a battle. The difference made by having a magic type boosted is very noticeable.; if you plot things well you can do obscene amounts of damage. I did a light based attack against a dark based enemy and got a bonus for attacking it with something it was weak against, for it being daytime, and for tapping my character at the right moment. I did 1104 points of damage, where normally I'd do around 400 - 450. Enemies can do this to you too, though so far it’s always been to a lesser extent to prevent your party being wiped out in a single round.

Another neat magic related feature is the way ranks and group targeting work. Characters in the front rank will only ever target one enemy; they take and do more damage. Characters in the back rank cannot use physical attacks, and will always target groups. When a spell is aimed at a single enemy it does all its damage to that one enemy; when it is aimed at a group the effect is spread out. For example a spell which does 500 points will do 500 to one enemy or 100 to 5 enemies. Even if there is only one enemy spells fired from the back rank will not do as much damage. The effect applies to healing spells too. This adds quite a bit of extra thought fodder to battles.

The game is highly unusual in that it has a mix of overall battle styles. Some areas have random encounters, with the rate set low enough that you can wander several screen lengths before having to fight. Other areas have visible enemies which you can avoid or battle as you like. Quite a few areas have no battles at all.

I'm not sure I approve of the common health restoring item. They might be described as gummy sweets, but how could I approve of eating frogs!? Gah! The latest item of armour I've found for sale is a frog t-shirt, bearing the description "What could be more fun than a shirt with a froggy design?". I shall take this as an effort at appeasement, and refrain from sending some knights around to have a chat with the developers.

My biggest, and thus far only, real complaint is the character design for the party and other important characters. It's awful. Awful. The main character is simply embarrassing, and the rabbit/girl mutant thing is so bad I can’t stand the sight of her.

It has the best line of RPG dialogue ever.

Hey - that's my friend's head! He needs it to live! Give it back!

It’s got pirate beavers too.


:sigh: Well, that's my sitting up break. Back to lying down with my foot propped up, before the infection starts spreading again.

[Xiahou]

I had been following this game before it was released way back when. It looked interesting enough, but I decided to pass because it sounded pretty immature. From you description though, it sounds "immature" in a very fun sort of way.

Ah well, the last thing I need is another DS game sucking up my time. Like I've said, there really are just too many good DS games out there- a good problem to have, I guess.

Good luck with the bug bite. Maybe I need one, so I can get caught up on my gaming.

[frogbeastegg]

The difficulty has definitely increased. I've been wiped out twice, and come close to it several more times. That's notable - I barely ever die in JRPGs, something like 1 death per 4/5 titles. This is a good thing; the challenge is done in quite a good way.

Status effects are Bad Things(TM) to have, and not the meaningless and easy to cure effects present in most other games. Winning the battle will heal all status effects including unconcious. That's it for good news. They don't automatically go away after a few turns, and so far I haven't found a magic to heal them, meaning I must use items. Some of those items are very pricy, and it's not unknown for multiple characters to be afflicted with status effects. You need to prioritise. Who to heal, what order to heal, or whether to do nothing and let the end of the battle restore them to normal status.

Having one of your characters die is also a Bad Thing(TM). Although they will be revived once the battle ends the only way I've found so far to bring them back during a battle is to use a 1350 bira (the currency) item. That's expensive. You do get a handful of them for free; I've been eeking out that stash and wondering if perhaps I should sink some bira into buying more. My stinginess with wakeytails is responsible for one of those deaths; I was too reluctant to use them and kept on thinking that I'd beat the boss on the next round because the game had been so easy until then.

Bosses are playing a smarter game now too. They shift the planets about to power their magic type up, then attack the character who is most vulnerable. Often they manage to kill that character in one hit. They inflict status effects, use very damaging attacks, and have quite a lot of health.


Hehe, this game has frog beasts! Some of the wild gummy frogs explode if you try to catch them - that makes them frog beasts by a different name. Woohoo! The legacy of Thief: The Dark Project lives on. Sort of. In an entirely unconnected way. I found an enemy which throws said exploding frogs like hand grenades. Poor things. The Theif connection grows stronger.

From you description though, it sounds "immature" in a very fun sort of way.

Yes, definitely. My opinion may be suspect as I didn't like the widely loved Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time, a game which fits into the same gaming vein as Magical Starsign and is held to be far superior.

That game was one which by theory I should love, but in practice did not. The control system ruined it for me; overly and needlessly complicated, placing far too much stress on twitch button hammering and onrepeating the same command several times to acheive the same result as pressing it once in any other game.

"Ah ha! You are like puppets on strings in the hands of a puppetmaster as part of a puppet show INSIDE a puppet show!" Kale, mad villain and lieutenant to the main villain, on how my party has been led by the nose. It was better when he said it.

Yes, Kale, like the cabbage. Many of the characters are named after food. The uber villain is Chard. Someone in the translation department really doesn't like cabbage. I met a mystic old due called Rogan Josh; he studies the ancient art of yogart. :groans:

[frogbeastegg]

Finished it. Nearly 23 hours, very respectable for a portable game. It remained admirably silly right up to the end.

[Xiahou]

That really sounds like a game I'd get a kick out of. Too bad I have such a backlog of games to play already.... I keep telling myself I need to complete some of the ones I own before I buy more.

Did you ever look into Contact for the DS? That definitely springs to mind when I think of quirky games with an offbeat sense of humor.

[frogbeastegg]

That really sounds like a game I'd get a kick out of. Too bad I have such a backlog of games to play already.... I keep telling myself I need to complete some of the ones I own before I buy more.

Similar situation to myself, then. This year I've been focusing my play a lot more. I don't dabble with new purchases; I keep on working at the handful I have on the go. I don't have more than 3 games on the go at once. Once one game is completed then another can be started, but not until then. If I dislike a game or find it loses my interest and can't recover it in a reasonable amount of time then it gets shelved permanently. It's been bringing results; my completion rating has increased massively.

Did you ever look into Contact for the DS? That definitely springs to mind when I think of quirky games with an offbeat sense of humor.

I looked at discussion of it, and was disappointed. It sounded wonderful in practice but tedious to play. Something about the way the plentiful battle played. I can’t recall what now.

One title my attention does keep returning to is the one you said you were playing: Luna Knights. It’s one of those games where a lot is said about it while nothing much is said. Plenty of recommendations, barely a whisper about how it actually plays.

[Xiahou]

I looked at discussion of it, and was disappointed. It sounded wonderful in practice but tedious to play. Something about the way the plentiful battle played. I can’t recall what now.

Combat definitely is a weak spot in Contact- I dont think I'd say it's unbearable though. Basically, you just change Terry to his combat stance and he'll automatically start hacking away at whatever enemy you have targeted.... that's pretty much the size of it. You can do some special attacks and you get to buy or find different weapons, but there just isn't very much to the combat. On the bright side, there's cooking, and you Terry can change into different costumes (after you earn them) to grant himself different abilities.

Contact is another game that I have shamefully left unfinished. Perhaps I need to try the frog method.

One title my attention does keep returning to is the one you said you were playing: Luna Knights. It’s one of those games where a lot is said about it while nothing much is said. Plenty of recommendations, barely a whisper about how it actually plays.

I'm definitely loving that game right now. I've defeated my 3rd boss and sealed him in a casket- but those spaceship sequences are starting to get hard. I got killed trying to drag the jerk into orbit 3x last night before finally calling it a night.

The basic gameplay is fairly straightforward, but it probably won't sound like it when I try to explain it.
It's your typical isometric overhead view. Lucian, the vampire hunter is your melee specialist and performs his attacks with a sword. Aaron the, guild gunslinger, is your ranged specialist and uses solar guns. Lucian's energy is based on darkness, and he can only recharge it in moonlight. Aaron, being the opposite needs sunlight to recharge his energy. (Both can also use food/potions that you find). This gets interesting because based on the time of day and weather (which you get to influence later), the type of energy you want won't always be available. Also, you're fighting inside more often than not, so you need to find a skylight (which are pretty seldom) to let the sunlight/moonlight in for you to recharge. On the bright side, if you're outside under a clear sky you have a limitless supply of moonlight/sunlight, depending on the time of day.

You use energy when you equip a terrenial, aka elemental/nature spirit, to your weapon. Each start out with a dark(Nero) and light(Toasty) terrenial respectively. Lucian can't equip Toasty and visa versa. The other terrenials are enslaved by the various vampire lords and become accessible once you drag defeat and drag the lord into orbit.

Lucian can perform basic sword attacks with no terrenial at all equipped, but doing so adds the respective elemental power to his attacks at the cost of using energy. Aaron, otoh, requires a terrenial to be equipped (thus using energy) for him to fire. Many reviewers say that, because of this, you'll use Lucian almost exclusively. Personally, I haven't found that to be the case yet. Aaron already has 3 types of guns available to him, whereas Lucian still just has his sword- so I find myself using Aaron quite a bit, as I enjoy blasting enemies from a safe distance.

That shed some light on how it's played?
One thing most reviewers complain about- and they have a point- is running. To run, you doubletap the D-pad... but since it's an isometric perspective, you end up trying to press diagonally alot- this means you will end up running alot when you dont mean to. Running also uses up a small amount of your energy, so it does get irritating, but it hasn't ruined the game for me.

[frogbeastegg]

Combat definitely is a weak spot in Contact- I dont think I'd say it's unbearable though. Basically, you just change Terry to his combat stance and he'll automatically start hacking away at whatever enemy you have targeted.... that's pretty much the size of it. You can do some special attacks and you get to buy or find different weapons, but there just isn't very much to the combat. On the bright side, there's cooking, and you Terry can change into different costumes (after you earn them) to grant himself different abilities.

Yes, IIRC that was what put me off. People said there were a lot of battles. If there's nothing for the player to do during them then they will be very dull. Unless Terry's AI is very good I also expect battles to be frustrating. "No! Don't use that attack! Heal! Oh, come on! No, that was so dumb! Heal, you're nearly dead, heal! Oh, now you’ve gone and died you idiot! Argh!"

Sounds very much like a love it or hate it game.

Perhaps I need to try the frog method.

I confess that, with the exception of whatever epic I have on the boil, I'm also picking short games as much as possible. 25 to complete 2 games seems better than 20 hours to complete 1.

That shed some light on how it's played?

Yes, thanks. If I can find it for £18 I think I'll give it a go.

[Xiahou]

Yes, IIRC that was what put me off. People said there were a lot of battles. If there's nothing for the player to do during them then they will be very dull. Unless Terry's AI is very good I also expect battles to be frustrating. "No! Don't use that attack! Heal! Oh, come on! No, that was so dumb! Heal, you're nearly dead, heal! Oh, now you’ve gone and died you idiot! Argh!"

Well, it's not as bad as all of that. He just does basic attacks at a set rate- it's up to you to activate any special moves or eat food and drink potions to heal. You always maintain control over his movement on screen and what items he uses, ect. Basically, when you put him in attack mode, his movement speed is decreased, and he attacks any target you have selected that is in range.