And how complicated is it? I know some games like this can range from 'hit enemy til dead' to 'calculate the algorithms for the damage of your collective team multi attack'. FFT had close to the right balance of complexity, I think. Could have been more complicated in some parts maybe but I might just be thinking that because of how many times I played it.
So basically, how is the playstyle? The bells and whistles? The story and characters? Difficult and learning curve?
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Vallo was listening to Cher while typing:
I decided to elaborate on this, since that was a horrible sorta explanation.It's a strategy RPG set in the middle of a war with some allusions to religion. It is, in my opinion, second in the genre only to FFT - the original, the the GBA crap.
If I was going to make an analogy with Stella Deus' graphic it would be: Stella Deus' graphic to SRPG genre is to Half-Life 2 graphic in the First Person Shooter genre. For an SRPG, Stella Deus' graphic is gorgeous, and the cell-shaded graphic combined with the animation makes Stella Deus like a modern anime. If you are an anime fan, and like SRPG, the character design and graphics will hit the sweet spot. That brings up the character design. The character design in Stella Deus can't be described as "sensational," or "revolutionary," but the it is definitely unique. From top to bottom, the clothing in Stella Deus is unique, but exhibits some of the style from the Digital Devil Saga series (also from Atlus). The meat of the graphics lie in the battle animations. The battle animations really separates Stella Deus from the crowd (NIS games, FFT, etc.) The attacks are fluid, and the characters are no longer tiny 2D "cute" sprites, but more mature 2D handsome sprites with cell-shading.
Stella Deus' voice acting is not so great, especially Spero, the hero. The music isn't anything spectacular either; I felt that it wasn't grand enough to support the theme in the game.
The System used in Stella Deus grant the player a greater freedom than previous SRPG's. The AP system allows user to make different choices: whether to attack several times, to walk farther, etc. It also affects when the character's turn comes up again. The enemy AI in this game is above average, but it still exhibits the "wussy" AI that hindered some of the other ones...when the NPC's are too far away, they will not do anything at all. They just stand there, much like the AI in Disgaea and Pucelle. The player has to approach a certain radius for the enemy to move; this system can easily be exploited and makes the game much easier. The level up system is pretty generic, think FFT minus the job system.
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When the babel fish was in place, it was apparent Freedan said:
[QB][/QB]
Ah very nice. Thank you.
I guess that depends on your playstyle and such, though.
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How.... Densetsu.... uughhhhhh:
Hey Vallo, since you said this was made by Atlus, does it suffer from the same problems other Atlus SRPGs suffer from? For instance, one of the worst parts about Disgaea was that the only way to get XP for a character is to land the killing strike on an enemy. This made classes like healers much more difficult to level up, and meant spending many an hour just letting your character with the weaker offenses level up slower than those with better offenses.
Um...my healer in Disgaea was 126 when everyone else was around 90.
But no, XP is action-based kinda like FFT except you get like...1-4 xp for an action. The best way is still to get the kill xp, but it's not the only way.
On a side note...DAMN that game takes forever to level.
I shall post more on it when my PC is working again.
It's not something people hear about.
First off, Stella Deus is the most beautiful RPG I've ever played. I don't say that lightly; everything from the opening cutscenes to the sprite based combat is just incredly pleasant to look at. It all has a genuine hand-drawn feel to it, unlike other sprite based games that just look fake. You should just hand in your gamer card now if you don't find this game visually impressive, both for a PS2 title and an RPG. The only bad thing I can bring myself to say about them is some of the art direction; Some cutscenes are simple dialogue overlaying a full-screen reactionary drawing of a character, like straight out of a click adventure hentai game, and some are the familiar in-game action.
For all the raving I can do about the graphics, I can't bring myself to score the audio on the same level. It just lacks something; probably variety, but I can't quite put my finger on it. The music is rather forgettable, and not near as charming as that from past RPG titles. The voice acting is also pretty miserable, but that's par for the course of RPGs that don't float down the mainstream. And even most that do.
Where it shines far above even the graphics is gameplay. As close to perfect as I've ever seen. It's faster than the hardboiled strategic combat of previous Tactical titles, but still complex enough to keep even the most diehard of fan crunching numbers and measuring grids until their hearts weep with joy.
Difficulty.. Oh lordy. Sweet baby jesus is this game unforgiving. Stella Deus is a cruel dominatrix in every sense of the metaphor; she'll whip and beat you to your limits, but still keep it so enjoyable you can't help but play with your pants around your ankles.
In short.. This is a game that most definitely earns 'Rock Out with your Cock Out' status, like our recent friend God of War. 
It's not something people hear about.
It's not something people hear about.
As for the lack of a job system, it works pretty well. Every character has a base class - Swordsman, Axeman, Archer, Lancer, etc - and gains multiple ranks within that class as you level up. You learn skills through SP, the equivalent of FFT's JP, and can even spend excess skill points on pumping up a character's stats.
It's not something people hear about.
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Sean attempted to be funny by writing:
Difficulty.. Oh lordy. Sweet baby jesus is this game unforgiving. Stella Deus is a cruel dominatrix in every sense of the metaphor; she'll whip and beat you to your limits, but still keep it so enjoyable you can't help but play with your pants around your ankles.
I've heard it was made by the same crew that made Hoshigami, one of the hardest console strategy games ever. That would explain why its so unforgiving. Actually, its a ton easier than Hoshigami too I think. Characters don't die permanently, you don't need to calculate stats in your head, and its not necessary to attack from the back. Correct me if I'm wrong here.
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Yes, Talonus deserved to die, and I hope they burn in hell!
Characters don't die permanently, you don't need to calculate stats in your head, and its not necessary to attack from the back. Correct me if I'm wrong here.
Characters don't die permanently, but there is no unconscious period before they're gone from the battle like FFT. So keeping the mission-centric character alive can be a real pain in the ass.
As for attacking from behind; No, not yet. All characters and enemies auto-turn to face eachother when attacked, but there is an item that supposedly lets the attacker hit from the side or behind. I've yet to acquire it because I'm spending hours upon hours in the item creation function, 
Edit: Forgot AP. AP is where you have to do a shitload of calculation in your head, or spend a lot of time going, "Can I move here and still attack? No.. Here? No, here? Yes!", which is just tedious. Characters have Movement and Weight stats, which affect how much AP it takes to move a grid square. Attacking has a flat rate based on the character's equipped weapon. Sean fucked around with this message on 06-05-2005 at 10:41 AM.
It's not something people hear about.
On one stage you start off on opposite ends of terrain with a bottleneck between you. They get their archers surrounding the bottleneck but out of range from ANY ATTACK YOU COULD POSSIBLY USE (This is possible because bows gain/lose damage and range based on elevation and they're four or five spaces above you) so as you go through the tiny little space, archers pound away at your ass harder than federal prison all before you even get near anyone.
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Talonus painfully thought these words up:
I've heard it was made by the same crew that made Hoshigami, one of the hardest console strategy games ever.
I took forever to accomplish anything in that game. All of the enemies you faught on the battlefield were as strong as your main character. So if you had a level 22 main character and 17-20 with everyone else you were fighting 22-24 level guys. That game took me weeks to get through even the first part of the game 
