Reviewed by AnnSlado
As I saw the first screens from Stella Deus I immediately thought of Final Fantasy Tactics. I am not really a tactical sort of gamer but I enjoyed FFT. And now here was Stella Deus. The similarities made me rejoice, and I could not wait to get my hands on it.
As you start the game, make sure you go through the tutorial first. Even though you may have played lots of tactical RPGs, I personally think this is a good way to go since not all games are the same, though they may be similar.
What I did not learn through the games tutorial though (or maybe I just happened to miss it) was how to change the camera angle. I fought through quite a few battles without being able to see the whole battle field – then I thought “a 3D tactical game that cannot switch camera angles – what is this?” I opened the manual and there it was – with a quick turn of the right analog stick, you change the camera view. Phew!
The game play is very similar to FFT with the main difference being – there are no jobs that your characters can switch between. Each person has his/her own special skills, some of which they all may have in common and something that FFT did not have is something called Team Attack. It allows your characters (those with the required skill equipped and those that are in close enough range to the enemy) to do a more powerful combo attack.
The battle grounds are in 3D and I do like these sceneries better than those in FFT. The characters are represented in 2D sprites, but they are very well made with plenty of expressions and details. The battles contain voices, like most of the game, but even though I have changed the settings in the options menu, the battle voices are still hard to hear. It’s a shame, since the voices in the game are pretty good.
Stella Deus does have a lot in common with FFT, but there is no shame in that. There is a guild where you can take on certain special missions – some require you to fight, some require you to bring certain items to certain places etc. You can spend a lot of time on these “side quests” if you like, they do not take much time and it is a lot of fun. The major difference between FFT and Stella Deus is leveling up. In FFT there would be random fights whenever you would walk on the predestined roads. In Stella Deus there is none of that. When you have cleared an obstacle it is cleared forever and nothing will ever happen on that spot again, unless you are on a quest or the storyline happens to evolve on that certain spot.
Instead there are dungeons (catacombs) with many levels, where each level is a bit harder than the previous. This is the only way you can level up and I soon discovered that it is not an option to go through these, it is a must. If you try to beat the game without using the catacombs, you will fail. If you only take on the battles that occur as the story progresses, you won’t be strong enough to defeat the enemies or bosses that lie ahead. The catacombs are fun though; I have spent at least 15 hours of my 55-hour total leveling up in them.
Stella Deus does have a good score, but there are not enough songs to go around. The same battle theme is used over and over again except for boss fights. FFT did this better, where the battles had lots of different themes that came along in a mixed order. But even though the variety could have been improved, Stella Deus still delivers a good soundtrack that fits the game perfectly.
Now, what about the story? As we know, tactical RPGs are not really about story, the fights are in the limelight. There is some story of course, but I can hardly remember what that was in FFT, so it is a pleasant surprise to find that Stella Deus has a good solid plot.
I do think the characters are well made (some better than others though), but the main character, Spero, did annoy me in the beginning of the game. First off his appearance reminded me of the young Luke Skywalker in Episode 4 and his voice actor sounds a bit lame sometimes.
All in all, I am really happy that my hopes of Stella Deus being a great game were met. I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I still have a few things I want to complete before beating the game, but one thing is for sure, you definitely get your money’s worth if you purchase it.