Stella Glow

I thought it'd be worth making a thread for this, given how it's a game which has been overshadowed by a wealth of other games (Nintendo UK didn't even include it in their Ten 3DS Adventure Games post!).

It's Imageepoch's last game, basically, even though it was originally made to celebrate their 10th anniversay. Fittingly, it's also a strategy RPG, similar to their first ever game, Luminous Arc. Plays a bit like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, and while the main cast is a bit harem-y, they are a likeable bunch, and the story and dialogue go to places far deeper than the cliche I thought it was all going to devolve into. Alto is also a great lead - he's a lot more emotionally mature compared with similar heroes.

So it turns out that not having a publisher to keep things in check made them go overboard, which is reflected by the high production values - it looks beautiful, the animated cutscenes are superb, there's plenty of voice acting. Probably makes Fire Emblem Fates look cheap by comparison.

But yeah, I heartily recommend it. To me it feels like the DKC: Tropical Freeze of SRPGs: Lovingly made, thoughtfully designed (though a couple of maps feel a bit lazy), while also not reinventing the wheel. Classic design never grows old, and Stella Glow is made in such a way that you can't help but like it. Almost a pity that the developers aren't around any more, I feel like this is a top-tier third party 3DS game.

Given my obvious absence from the forum (sorry...) I'm going to have to ask: Has anyone else played this?

I... started it.

I'd just finished Bravely Second: End Layer. If you want to fin out my views on that, Fronk, click the last link in my signature. I love it, and one of the things I love that's not in that link is the pacing. One of the things that is is the voice acting.

Picking up SG after playing BSEL was like finishing off a massive Easter egg, taking a break, wanting more - and then finding out that the shops are out of chocolate apart from a broken original Kit-Kat. With the price marked up to reflect chocolate shortages.

I reached the first save point, and it was like wading through treacle. Squeaky-voiced, dull treacle. I know that JRPGs often start slowly, but I'd been spoiled. BSEL has opened my eyes to what traditional JRPGs could be like, but aren't. For me, that's the DKCTF of JRPGs (although without the mind-blowing sound-track).

I'll probably give it another go soon, but that first scene and tutorial battle put me off something rotten, and the Luminous Arc games didn't exactly light up my... er, arc.

Ugh, yeah, the prologue (and chapter 1) of Stella Glow are really by-the-numbers. Get past that and it picks up and the characters become something better.

I'll be interested in reading what you think about Bravely Second - I passed on it just because I didn't want to spend another 80 hours in a game world I felt I exhausted already.

I'm back on this (after DQVII sorely failed to keep my interest, even after monsters had shown up).  (By the way, Fronk, if you're still reading, I hope you did pick up BSEL.  Grand stuff.)

I ploughed through the tutorial, and to be fair, proceedings do get interesting pretty soon after that - well, JRPG levels of interesting.  The strategy's fun stuff, strategy-light, recommended for those who find Fire Emblem overly complex.  The plot's fine, the characters are fine.  Thus far everything is as fine as Apollo Justice at his shoutiest.  

Speaking of which...  'mopium'? That's the sort of drug which the Ace Attorney series would come up with.  

(Also: major soft spot for anything with anime-style opening music.)


I give all the wrong answers to the witches when I'm trying to free them. Is... is this game giving me dating advice?

Woo, glad you picked this one back up, Balla!

Yeah, everything being "fine" is how I'd describe it too. It's a good game, that it has its heart in the right place and a seemingly rather high budget (enough to bankrupt the company, mind!) turns it into a charming game. It's just hard not to like it and its roster of characters.

As for Bravely Second, that's one for the backlog. I've been so fatigued on RPGs right now, probably because it's the dominant genre on 3DS/Vita this year and last. Doesn't help that I've been playing a few on PSP this year as well, like the (excellent) Tactics Ogre remake and (rubbish) Star Ocean 1.

...unfortunately my opinion on it took a sharp turn south shortly after writing that post. I'd always been a little irked by the fanserviceness of the "tuning" stuff, although par for the course given the games this is a spiritual successor to... and then Nonoka showed up and enough was enough. Don't think I didn't see the "knocker" pun they slipped in there (erm), either.

It's a shame, because everything else continued being... fine. The rest of the characters weren't at all bad. And I now know what the game's big twist was: it was a good one. But Nonoka just gets on my tits, pun intended.

Also: no playable manatee in this game.

(BSEL is still probably my GotY.)