An older gem of a game, Magical Starsign does its utmost to achieve style on the DS. It’s beautiful to look at most of the time and at least amusing when it isn’t, and it uses the dual screens to display the environment at times in such a way that I have a hard time imagining it remade for a single-screen (or at least horizontal) device. It took me about 25 hours to complete this time, so it’s on the shorter end of turn-based RPGs.
It’s a spacefaring fantasy, and heavy on the fantasy aspect — the planet designs and general “science” make for some bizarre sci-fi. It’s a lot of fun if you can get past that and just enjoy how much the world commits to weaving together its world under its own cute, clever, and sometimes frightening logic. It’s cohesive, as long as you don’t try to force it to make sense under real-world logic.
(It is absolutely wild how much each planet's dwellers let the main kids get away with just to "rescue their teacher", though.)
In general the battles (mostly random encounters) aren’t that difficult, and I didn’t need to spend much time grinding. You can generally just move from one place to the next, taking down bosses with a little thought put into your strategy. The final boss is a little over the top in difficulty though, considering how long the unskippable cutscene is beforehand. As a warning: do not let the final boss line up the planets. The game does not give you this warning, and finding out what happens if you do allow it is a slow trudge back through that cutscene again. If that sounds fine to you, then hey, go for it.
I’d recommend this game to anyone in the market for a pretty pixel RPG that has a substantial story, but doesn’t take a substantial amount of your time. It’s quirky and a little heartbreaking, and looks excellent on the original DS hardware.
It’s a spacefaring fantasy, and heavy on the fantasy aspect — the planet designs and general “science” make for some bizarre sci-fi. It’s a lot of fun if you can get past that and just enjoy how much the world commits to weaving together its world under its own cute, clever, and sometimes frightening logic. It’s cohesive, as long as you don’t try to force it to make sense under real-world logic.
(It is absolutely wild how much each planet's dwellers let the main kids get away with just to "rescue their teacher", though.)
In general the battles (mostly random encounters) aren’t that difficult, and I didn’t need to spend much time grinding. You can generally just move from one place to the next, taking down bosses with a little thought put into your strategy. The final boss is a little over the top in difficulty though, considering how long the unskippable cutscene is beforehand. As a warning: do not let the final boss line up the planets. The game does not give you this warning, and finding out what happens if you do allow it is a slow trudge back through that cutscene again. If that sounds fine to you, then hey, go for it.
I’d recommend this game to anyone in the market for a pretty pixel RPG that has a substantial story, but doesn’t take a substantial amount of your time. It’s quirky and a little heartbreaking, and looks excellent on the original DS hardware.
Marking my most recent playthrough here.
Magical Starsign is an absolute hidden gem on the DS and I wish it was talked about more. It's not a perfect RPG - the gameplay flow has aged, and the ending is a little abrupt - but the journey is worth everything. The cast of characters is weird, lovable, and colorful. The environments are incredibly unique, and the artwork is absolutely gorgeous. Even the soundtrack is an absolute banger!
I recommend this if you're a fan of Chrono Trigger, Mother, or Golden Sun. In a way it's all of those games melded together, and if you like Mother 3, you'll see traces of that writing style here since they were being worked on by the same team.
Magical Starsign is an absolute hidden gem on the DS and I wish it was talked about more. It's not a perfect RPG - the gameplay flow has aged, and the ending is a little abrupt - but the journey is worth everything. The cast of characters is weird, lovable, and colorful. The environments are incredibly unique, and the artwork is absolutely gorgeous. Even the soundtrack is an absolute banger!
I recommend this if you're a fan of Chrono Trigger, Mother, or Golden Sun. In a way it's all of those games melded together, and if you like Mother 3, you'll see traces of that writing style here since they were being worked on by the same team.