Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity

"I'll keep my FFT thank you very much...."

I've played alot of SRPG's in my time and I have to say is that this game.....

Is among one of the worst strategy RPG games I've ever played....

Yugioh The False Bound Kingdom is worse but this game isn't much better.

As far as the summary goes, the world of Solum is dying. Literally being eaten away by Miasma thanks to a great war. The only way to save the remnants of a dying world is to harness the power of alchemy and prevent the Miasma from spreading further. Ahh the catch! In order to maintain Alchemy, spirit energy is required and in order to get spirit energy, you have to kill spirits which is the life force of this world.

It grows slightly more complicated then that but not much. Now throw in a naive hero trying to follow in the footsteps of his father and a tree hugger or in this case spirit hugger and you have a game.

I debated weather the main character Spero would either be introduced by waking up in a bed recovering from bad injuries and with a serious case of amnesia or training. Sure enough the cliche'd world of RPG's didn't let me down when Spero was making mince meat of a training pole.

Now that that is taken care of, let me fill you in on other game features.

The music and sound are simply there. It's neither good or bad and doesn't stand out in the midst of RPG mediocrity. If you end up humming any of these toons then do yourself a favor and get a new CD of whatever is your favorite musician for your music deprived mind. FAST.

The graphics are barely passable for a PSOne. This is a PS2 game. There's no excuse for something this bland and shoddy. I actually liked the camera though.

The controls are basic. Can't complain here.

The voice overs are TERRIBLE! Who are these guys!? The main character sounds like a robot with a third grade reading level.

So is there any humor in this game? There is but it's a one liner from a quickly killed off enemy. The game is simply too dry for it's own good.

Now playability. Battle mechanics are actually half way decent. Not the best I've seen but they are acceptable. Players can fuse items to get completely new ones.... except that by the end of the game, most fused items tend to get outdated. The catacombs of trial are tediously boring but if you have any determination to beat this game and get a crappy ending then you have to endure it.

Did I say the ending was crappy? Well it is. I can't spoil it for you so I'll just give you the heads up.

In the end, rent or buy?

The answer is neither. Buy Final fantasy Tactics and get four times the experience this game could ever hope to give you.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 07/01/05