For example, Lisette the water witch will fully heal every character at the end of each turn while Popo the wind witch will lock enemies in place for a turn and grant every ally huge bonuses to speed and movement range. When enough energy is available, you can move Alto near a witch to “conduct” her this will immobilize the witch for several turns as she sings a song that grants massive bonuses to all allies and/or sever penalties to all the enemies. Using these songs consumes a bar that builds up as your characters wage battle against your foes, but those who wait for the bar to fill up near max will get access to the game’s most powerful moves. In addition to the usual sets of spells and skills, each witch will learn songs that either result in potent area-of-effect attacks, give powerful buffs to surrounding allies, or cripple nearby foes with status ailments. The most unique mechanic in the game’s battles revolves around the witches and Alto, the main character. Terrain type plays a major role in many battles, so having characters with perks to ignore certain movement penalties or large enough ranges not to be as severely affected will likely end up with a lot more play time than the slower characters. If there is one minor complaint I might have in this area it would be that the game is balanced in such a way that characters with high mobility stats ultimately prove the most useful. Many of the characters do fit into fairly well-defined archetypes, such as healers, tanks, and ranged fighters, but there are some interesting twists within the group and each character feels unique and useful in particular circumstances. Rather than building an army of generic characters who can be one of any number of classes, you must choose among the game’s core cast of characters, each with well defined strengths, weaknesses, and tactical opportunities. One aspect of Stella Glow‘s core gameplay that I found surprisingly effective is the fact that your part is limited by a relatively small selection of central characters. Yes, this feels almost directly ripped from Atlus’ own Persona series, but it does add an extra layer of strategy as your free time is limited. Your relationship with each character can be leveled up to unlock new skills as well as passive bonuses that can prove incredibly useful. The social elements of the game take place between battles when the story allows free time that you can spend with the members of your party. The battle system felt quite reminiscent of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, with the direction a character is facing at the end of their turn being especially important as attacking from the side grants bonus accuracy and attacks to the rear are guaranteed to land and deal bonus damage. In case that wasn’t enough of a clue, Stella Glow combines a fairly typical fantasy-inspired strategy RPG with social/dating sim elements to create a game that is somewhat unique, albeit made up of many ideas clearly inspired by other games. Naturally, these other witches happen to be single and depending on your actions, might be willing to date our hero. Alongside a group of Regnant’s bravest knights, Alto has to track down the world’s other witches and use his powers to unlock their full potential and stop the Witch of Destruction. The key to stopping her is Alto, a teenage amnesiac who appears to possess the same powers as the legendary Elcrest. A powerful witch is roaming the land, turning towns and their populations into crystal with the power of her magic-infused song. One thousand years have passed since then and now the world is once again being threatened. Your adventure takes place in the land of Regnant, a prosperous kingdom built on the legend of Elcrest, a hero with a magical connection with the world’s witches who managed to broker peace with an angry god that had unleashed an army of angels to obliterate mankind. All things considered, Stella Glow fits in quite well with both companies’ track record. To fans of distinctly Japanese games, these names mean quite a bit, with the former having established itself within the genre with the Luminous Arc series, and the latter being one of the most respected names in localizing some of Japan’s smaller, and oftentimes more niche offerings. Stella Glow is the latest anime-flavored JRPG strategy game developed by Imageepoch and published by Atlus USA. That being said, I’m glad I was reviewing the title, because past that a much better game was waiting to be played. What started as a decent enough turn-based strategy JRPG turned into an incredibly frustrating slog through annoying characters, insipid storytelling, and highly awkward thematic elements. Were I not reviewing Stella Glow I doubt I would have played more than a few hours of it.
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