Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity

"Cool at first, then worst game ever in the end."

First off I think this game should of came out for PS1, because the graphics could have been done the same way and looked no different. Some say that graphics don't make the game, the story does. I agree, to an extent. If the story sucks, then it should make it up with better graphics, and vice versa. Stella Deus has a really bad story and really bad graphics, and I like 2D games.

STORY (2/10): You are Spero, typical main character (Wants to save the world, yeah we've seen it a million times) who is in a world doomed for destruction by the deadly Miasma. You work for Viser, Spero's mentor, and he wants you to kill spirit monsters to get their energy. Then you meet Linea, who convinces Spero to search for the Gate of Eternity which will cleanse the land. That's the whole story and this game stretches it for about 30-40 hours.

GAMEPLAY (1/10): The battles are like typical Tactics games, except you can alter the turn order depending on how much AP you use in a turn. I thought that added strategy element to it. What sucks about this game is how you level up. The game would be quite a challenge if you never visited the Catacombs of Trial. I can't really explain what the Catacombs are, but I'll try. You are able to warp to them from any location on the world map. It is 50 floors, about 40 of them look exactly the same. It is the same music on every floor. Same enemies every floor, actually, same enemies through-out the entire game, which is really lame. You can also access the shop and guild from anywhere on the map. Even places like the Swamp of Loss, you can just warp to the same old shop/guild, same old shop keeper/guild master, same old etc, etc... This game has no variety, did I mention you encounter the same exact enemies the whole game? Atleast give them a palette swap, but no, same enemies. And get this, besides the plot characters that join you, all the other characters are those same old enemies, except blue. LAME. There are also secret characters in the game but they are way too hard to get. This game sucks hardcore.

SOUND (5/10): Good Music, has Voice acting which is dull, but its there atleast.

GRAPHICS (0/10): Final Fantasy Tactics for PS1 had better graphics, and different enemies. Plot scenes are the worst. You see pictures of the character behind a set backdrop, with the text at the bottom. They were too lazy to animate the sprites so they just drew pictures and called it good. When you beat a level, the text 'MISSION COMPLETE' appears on the screen, and it looks HELLA choppy. HELLA choppy.

CONCLUSION: This is worst game I myself have played in a while. It's a little better then Jim Power the lost dimension in 3-D for SNES. I gave this game a shot, and it was just a waste of my life. I recommend staying away from this game.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 06/19/05