Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity

"Not for everybody but a treat none the less"

Stella Deus definitely emphasizes certain elements, such as character development/plot and battle field strategy, over others, like customization (especially in terms of your army's units). How much these things matter to you will be the deciding factor in enjoying the game. This isn't as much a flaw on the game's part but a conscious choice on the developers' part. It's a question of what to focus on. Whether or not you will like Stella Deus is largely contingent on what it is about SRPGs you enjoy.

Gameplay: This is what we really came to SRPGs for in the first place, right? Well, Stella's got it, but it won't please everybody. Stella Dues takes a specific approach and doesn't try to be all things to all people.
First of all, those who relish customization above all else will be very disappointed. The flexibility of skill and class that made FFT so engaging (for me it sure wasn't the story) is nowhere to be found. Classes are fixed and upgrades must remain within that class. The main character becomes a better swordsman but never anything else. You won't be turning everyone in your party into wizards or anything thing else.

Nor will you have bunches of characters to choose from. You will get one of every significant class in the main characters of the story and they have generic counterparts that can be recruited but that's as flexible as it gets. It's not that Stella Deus doesn't have a good class system, it just doesn't really have any. The skills your characters can get are interesting and add to the strategy but they are preset for the most part. As far as items go, there's not a wealth of them to buy or finds. There are many rare items but most have to be earned through battle or created through the games "fusion" process, a simple "combine any two things for one better thing." This system is pretty much trial and error and unfortunately the only way to get many of the more interesting items.

Where Stella Deus shines is in the battle field department. The introduction of an AP (ability points) meter and the ability to break up how it's spent adds much needed complexity and thought to the battle process. Every action (a step, an attack, a spell, etc.) spends points and this can be done in any order. The days of "walk up to the enemy”...”attack the enemy”... are over. Well, they're at least a little more interesting. Spending all your points attacking without moving away from the enemy will leave you open for the opponent to do the same. Additionally your weight directly affects how many points you spend to move so the items and equipment you carry are important factors. On top of all that, skills which affect different areas around a character (yours and the enemies) and the ability to make team attacks when multiple characters are in range (once again yourself or the enemy) make positioning even more crucial.

I also want to point out another of my favorite features: no random battles and no level grinding required. In games where even relatively simple battles can take large amounts of time (half an hour, an hour, more...) the lack of random encounters is a godsend. Given this fact, it makes sense that you don't have to level up extensively to succeed. The game does provide a stiff challenge at points and asks you to use strategy to win the battles but then, isn't that the point. For those who like to be obscenely overpowered, the game provides the catacombs of trials a dungeon of multiple floors (100) of progressively tougher foes. This is accessible from any location and is a great place to practice early on and well as earn rare items later. The only drawback in my opinion is that the catacombs must be traversed in order beginning with floor one before later floors can be accessed. This is annoying later in the game if you have ignored the catacombs up until then as you must trudge through waves of weak enemies before getting to one that actually award worthwhile experience. Due to the games harsh experience curve enemies only a few levels weaker will give next to no experience. For the most part though this experience curve is great for keeping you on par with the enemies (strong foes give large experience totals, equal foes moderate amounts) and not allowing the challenge to fly out the window late in the game by becoming inadvertently overleveled (a pet peeve of mine).
Hidden characters give gamers with too much free time a reason to replay, but honestly you will see most everything your first time through. 7/10

Story: Convoluted political yarns are pretty standard in the SRPG genre. So is the "our little band must save this ill fated world" approach. Stella Deus doesn't try to reinvent the wheel, just produce a very polished, and interestingly nuanced wheel. Convoluted and contrived do not equal complex, or even good. Stella Deus stays focused but interesting by painting a very morally ambiguous world. Several characters approach things in black or white terms and this serves to emphasize the shades of grey; themes such as apathy and "God's will” are engaging without being so overwrought.

On the downside, the story is pretty streamlined. Sidequests are present but not very involved. They all happen through "quests" at the guild. Taking on these quests can bring various rewards but will often only involve a few screens of dialogue with success or failure determined by a characters stats. Town interaction, as with many SRPGs (esp. FFT) is limited to a menu based interface that is identical at every location. Don't expect exploration to be a part of the experience. Another letdown is a how the plot stalls a little over halfway in by killing time with some “4 great spirits” business. This portion feels like padding for the story and isn't nearly as engaging as the rest. 7/10

Graphics: This is never a crucial factor for SRPGs but still deserves mention. The look is generally very old school. Hand drawn sprites fill the battle field. The characters and the battle fields are nicely detailed. Some have mentioned that the colors appear faded; this seems to be a stylistic choice and I personally find the color palette to be very appealing.

The cut scenes between the battles unfold in several ways. Occasionally there are animated anime-style FMVs, these are very few but are nicely done and have a very stylish "rough sketch" appearance to them. Most of the time the story is told with either in game animatics that unfold right before or after the battle or with cut scenes composed of still pictures of the characters behind the game text. These portraits are the same type of hand drawn art that adorns the box cover and is very well done; however, it will certainly disappoint some who are accustomed to more visual cut scenes. Some people will appreciate the old school flavor. Regardless, it does seem odd that some scenes are animated with in-game graphics and others use still portraits with no clear reason as to which comes when. In all honesty it seems like the designers decided not to waste too much time on making the visuals flashy. Mission accomplished, for better or for worse.

One thing else that deserves mention is the character design. This is one area where Stella Deus really stands out. Visually the character design is striking and imaginative. It will strike some as bizarre but others will find it refreshing to see some effort put into forging a distinct visual style. Aren't we all a little tired of the cookie cutter units that appear game after game: a knight is a knight, a spearman is a spearman...ack. On the downside there aren't nearly enough enemy units. The ones you see are nice but you will encounter the same ones throughout the entire game. Disappointing too is that the enemies don't animate more on the battle field. Your main characters animate better than many of the enemies but the average number of frames of animation is not that high, and it shows. This just seems like laziness. It is a downright shame because the character designs are so appealing.
6/10.

Sound: The music is average. Nice and sufficient. Nothing too memorable but nothing too annoying. The nicest part (and some disagree) is the voice-overs. Almost all the dialogue is voice and voiced adequately. All the actors fit their character and the usual flubs (overemotional, unemotive monotone) are really not too distracting. 7/10

Given that almost everyone who has reviewed Stella Deus has compared it to Final Fantasy Tactics (FFT), it just makes sense to say something about that most sacred of cows. For anyone who's played FFT, Stella Deus will definitely bring it to mind. Certain elements (like the world map and town navigation for instance) are almost identical. But it would be a mistake to view this game as a poor man's FFT. The Final Fantasy Tactics review by Kariana (on gamefaqs) beautifully nails everything that is wrong with FFT (and blissfully ignored 99% of the time). On top of that it was a clear rip off of a SNES game that never made it stateside: Tactics Ogre. So for everyone who fell in love with SRPGs with FFT, it will forever be the standard by which all are judged. But keep a handle on the nostalgia factor. FFT is important and wonderful for what it was, but let's move on.
Ultimately, some SRPGers will love it and others will hate it. It depends on what you want from your SRPG. But what Stella Dues does (intertwining character and plot, presenting a good system of battle field tactics) it does well.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/15/05