The GHZ Forum

I'm considering getting Magical Starsign for the DS. The art style is very appealing to me and reminds me of the Secret of Mana franchise, and the setting and battle system sound pretty intriguing - fights are based on astrology, which affects your character's and the enemy's performance in battle. It's also the sequel to Magical Vacation, which I wanted but never got a chance to play.

And of course, Rogue Galaxy is on the way - which sounds pretty awesome. It sounds like FFXII with a genuinely well-thought out battle system with a plot loosely based on a mix of Star Wars and Skies of Arcadia. It's also being done by the people who did DQ8 - they did wonders with the rather bland Dragon Quest universe (I've become convinced that the Japanese DQ phenomenon is reverse otakuism - the Japanese only like it because it's so western and "exotic") such that it managed to hold my interest for 75% of the game.

Really I've just wanted to play through a good scifi/fantasy epic after hearing how much Star Ocean sucked.

How far into DQ8 did you get? I actually finished it, a bit to my own surprise (and relief). I even got the slime controller and actually played with it for the first sitting and a half.

Rogue Galaxy looks badass. I will play the hell out of that with one hand while masturbating with the other. Joan of Arc also looks awesome. Level 5 have a peculiar knack for making very calculated cookie cutter games that turn out utterly delightful. They seem to be aware of it, too.

How far into DQ8 did you get? I actually finished it, a bit to my own surprise (and relief). I even got the slime controller and actually played with it for the first sitting and a half.

I killed the goddamn clown. After that, my interest began to wane, because killing him and his stupid laugh and outfit was my chief motivation for continuing to play.

Yeah Rogue Galaxy - one of your party members is an android named "Steve", how awesome is that?

That's nowhere near 75% of the game. As I recall, that's about halfway-ish, maybe not quite that depending on how much of the extra stuff you mess with.

You did figure out the big Trode gag, right?

Big Trode gag?

He still looks like that even when the curse is lifted.

It's obvious, but I was happy anyway.

Oh yeah, I found that pretty amusing too, it must have slipped my mind. Club Puff Puff (or whatever it's called) was also a hoot.

I enjoyed DQ8 quite a bit, but you'd think that they'd be able to come up with a slightly more entertaining battle system.

You'd think your mom would be able to come up with a slightly more entertaining battle system.

Popcorn's probably could.

Real-time, 12 characters per party, combo chains, limit breaks and an FFX-2-esque class change system? Yeah, she's really got her combat down pat.

Green Gibbon! wrote:You'd think your mom would be able to come up with a slightly more entertaining battle system.

You certainly would seeing how mind-numbingly boring it is but alas.

smiths32 wrote:<img src="http://www.akrondesign.com/foundation/i ... giedoo.jpg">

It's all good and well until she whips out stiff roadkill armadillos which you're supposed to use to navel-fuck her which makes lint fly into the air to form ethereal HP damage counts which she licks up to "heal" herself while you just stand there thrusting an armadillo at bubbling oceans of greasy fat. Your mom's totally selfish, dude, it's all about her pleasure all the time. You need to talk to her about that because we're paying her too much.

So, is Smith's mom replacing Popcorn's?

Also, White Knight Story>Joan of Arc.

Anyways, I got Magical Starsign and I'm pleased, but not thrilled. The graphics are absolutely gorgeous, the best 2-D I've seen on a handheld ever. They get blurry during zoom-in attacks, but those are brief.

The gameplay is very old-school and focused entirely on magic. Physical attacks are only really included as an after-thought for certain sitations in which you run out of MP or run into some thing that's magical-resistant - which is very rarely. The huge party makes gameplay a little more strategic - you use six characters at once. Oddly enough, I found the position system much more innovative than the system that powers you up at certain astrological line-ups - there are two rows. People in back are protected, but can't use physical attacks, and their magic hits all enemies but weakly. People in front can use physical attacks, have one-hit but more powerful magic, and are usually the first to get hit. You can switch rows freely throughout the battle, moving weakened characters to the back row and characters running low on MP to the front. You can get more party members by raising monsters, but that is (frustratingly) only available if you connect to other people with the game which is really fucked up.

The story is cliched, but the different worlds are all really interesting and different in terms of art-style. The dialogue, setting, and events are all set up to be a parody of most RPGs. For instance, there's a village of rabbit-girls called "Honey Mint Flake Chocolate Flake Parafait Sugar Sprinkles" or something. And the sarcastic robot party member ads a lot to the funny dialogue, even taking time out to point out crappy cutscenes and criticize the logic behind the game. The profiles for the enemies notes that they've gone on a rampage, giving wedgies and such. Basically imagine a parody of Harry Potter, traditional JRPGs, and Star Wars all mixed up in one. Somewhat reminicent of the humor from the Mario & Luigi games.

Overall, I'd give it a solid "B". It's not fantastic, but it's the best RPG out for the DS till we see what FFIIIDS has to offer, I think. I bought it for the art alone really, and I'm satisfied. They could've done a lot more, though, making battles a little more interesting by making physical attacks more of an option and giving you a selection, as well as making the worlds a bit larger and allowing you to raise monsters without another player.

Zeta wrote:I'm considering getting Magical Starsign for the DS. The art style is very appealing to me and reminds me of the Secret of Mana franchise, and the setting and battle system sound pretty intriguing - fights are based on astrology, which affects your character's and the enemy's performance in battle. It's also the sequel to Magical Vacation, which I wanted but never got a chance to play.

And of course, Rogue Galaxy is on the way - which sounds pretty awesome. It sounds like FFXII with a genuinely well-thought out battle system with a plot loosely based on a mix of Star Wars and Skies of Arcadia. It's also being done by the people who did DQ8 - they did wonders with the rather bland Dragon Quest universe (I've become convinced that the Japanese DQ phenomenon is reverse otakuism - the Japanese only like it because it's so western and "exotic") such that it managed to hold my interest for 75% of the game.

Really I've just wanted to play through a good scifi/fantasy epic after hearing how much Star Ocean sucked.

Lalalala Secret of mana, lalalala, why Im the only who thinks legend of mana (Playstacion) is the best of the series?. I’m sure that if Legend of Mana had a unlockable Flammie, it would be a fan favorite.!

Legend of Mana was my favorite, too, actually. The non-linear system made it feel like there was a a lot more to do than in a regular SD game, and I think there was. The only thing I didn't like about the game was the instrumental magic system, which was really cheap and silly, I thought. It was like 20 of the regular games rolled into one.

Yeah, they should've made a baby Flammie one of the egg monsters.

But that would have beat the point of Flammies being almost extinct, like Archie and their army of 156768 Echidnas destrtoyed the fact that Knuckles was one of the few Echidna left…

I dont know about the new games, but one of the do and dont was not having a Flammie in every game...

But there has been a Flammie in every new game, EXCEPT Legend of Mana.

Zeta wrote:But there has been a Flammie in every new game, EXCEPT Legend of Mana.

Even in the Japanese only ones?

Even in the Japanese only ones?

There was only one Japanese-only one (SD3), and there was a Flammie in there, too.

The only other game she's missing from is Final Fantasy Adventure/Sword of Mana, but that game was prior to their creation, and at that point the series was still a minor spinoff of Final Fantasy.

Well, is just one character, I think taking Legend of mana out of the continuity was overeating.