Stella Deus is pretty damn good

[neojedi]

It's a new tactics RPG ported over by Atlus, but didn't get much noise at all when it was released a few days ago. I put the game in the station for 1 min to check it out, and played for 10 hours. The thing is I'm not sure why it's so addictive... the gameplay system isn't (so far) as deep as some trpgs, and the story is very good but not yet incredible. I think it may just be a case like some of the older Final Fantasies where a good story, good gameplay, good graphics, and good music come together and make something more than the sum of its parts. The use of cell-shading is done as good as I've ever seen it.

My only gripe is that the English VAs aren't quite up to the level of the production, and Atlus as usual has axed the language option. Even though Webster states that "mI 'az m&" is an acceptable pronounciation for miasma, anything other than "mE 'az m&" doesn't sound right to me, not from someone with an American accent. "mI 'az m&" is how someone describes their own breathing problem.

 

[kafuin_gaira]

i've never heard anyone pronounce it me 'az m&, though it's not a word you tend to throw around in everyday conversation.

other than that, yet another atlus game i'll need to check out, huh?

 

[Neo Rasa]

I agree with neojedi, I never heard it pronounced like this until I played Stella Deus, which is freaking awesome.

The music is done by the same two composers who did the music for Final Fantasy Tactics, the developers are the people who made Hoshigami, one of the most unbalanced turn based strategy games of all time (which this shares some similarities to).

Great game overall if you ask me, I'd get it now since Atlus published it and you'll probably never see it again in five months.

The relative seriousness of the plot and dialogue is also a nice change of pace from the purely level grind, whimsical nature of the Nippon Ichi strategy RPGs that have been coming out here lately.

Doesn't exactly hold a candle to the best Ogre games gameplay-wise but the pacing of the gameplay is very nice once you get the hang of it, and I think it's probably the nicest looking game of this kind I've ever seen on a console.

Also, Nippon Ichi is going to publish (they didn't develop it) Aterlier Iris: Eternal Manna here. It's got a few games in Japan but this is the first to come here. I reserved mine since its the kind of game that disappears after a while and it seems the pre-order bonus is the official soundtrack cd. It seems like more of a Shining Force game where it's more of a traditional console RPG with a heavy emphasis on the battles, rather than being a SRPG first and foremost.

 

[Seijuro Hiko]

I just got, and I love it.
I have this on japanese too, but I didn't have the time to play it through.

 

[jro]

Gotta agree with the crowd on this one. The game is quite fun, deeper than it first appears, but good God are the english voiceovers terrible. I don't have a problem with how they pronounce miasma, but the voice acting in general is as bad as I've heard in a while. After getting used to the voive acting in KOTOR II and Digital Devil Saga, the voices in SD just seem laughably bad. Spero sounds like a total wimp (though maybe that's intentional), Grey sounds bored out of his mind, and that fruitcake badguy (not Dignus) is so bad it hurt to listen to him.

Really, Dignus was the only voice actor in the first hour that didn't make me want to stick a screwdriver in my ears, so I turned the voices off.

Still a good game, though. And it will almost certainly increase in value, too, as per the usual Atlus trend.

 

[LoneSage]

Bump for motherfucking truth.

I'm having more fun with Stella Deus than I did La Pucelle; quite an amazing game.

Can't wait to get my hands on Atelier Iris.

 

[neojedi]

Revision of the opinion above... the game is incredible, and the VAs are abominable. Those of you who turned off the voices, turn them back on when you reach Ventas: Spirit of the Wind. The voice was so bad that I was rolling on the floor laughing. Holy shit that was funny! And tragic! It's tragic that it was so funny!

I mean, alright, I can live with any pronounciation of miasma, but some of these people they had to have hired off the street. This is almost criminal... the game could have contended with a mainstream Final Fantasy release if not for some of the voices.

Maybe it's just that voice acting in America is screwed up. The perception is, unless you pay $1 million plus and make an animated blockbuster, you get someone who can't act their way out of a paper bag. It's difficult to be good, but not that difficult. And even with games like Dynasty Warriors, you have your good VAs on the main actors, and the second string stinks because there are no semi-good VAs in the US. It's a small handful of people who take the job seriously, and nothing to back them up with.

Sigh, rant over. God, Ventas is funny though.

 

[Eric]

Also, Nippon Ichi is going to publish (they didn't develop it) Aterlier Iris: Eternal Manna here. It's got a few games in Japan but this is the first to come here. I reserved mine since its the kind of game that disappears after a while and it seems the pre-order bonus is the official soundtrack cd. It seems like more of a Shining Force game where it's more of a traditional console RPG with a heavy emphasis on the battles, rather than being a SRPG first and foremost.

Do you have a date on that release? I've been waiting for that title for a quite a while, now.

 

[Neo Rasa]

Eric it comes out May 24th. I can't wait.

After playing some more, the real shame with the voice acting is that some of it is quite good, but the bad ones are SO bad it kills the entire experience.

I think half the cast thinks they're voicing Disgaea while the other cast actually gave a damn about the kind of game they were working on.

 

[neojedi]

The same guy that did Ventas the Air Spirit does Humus the Earth Spirit!!! Good lord, he's back!!! My ears! The earplugs, they do nothing!!!!