Stella Glow

Stella Glow for the 3DS is probably some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time with a strategy RPG. It’s colorful, has a nice soundtrack, a solid cast of characters, and fun gameplay that feels just right in length and difficulty for a portable RPG. Oddly enough, there’s not much inspired here. Imageepoch, the company behind Stella Glow, also made the Luminous Arc series of games on the 3DS, and Stella Glow pulls a lot of gameplay and story themes from these games. It’s polished though, like everything the company had learned from the DS trilogy of Arc games was brought forward into a proper spiritual successor.

Within the kingdom of Regnant there exist witches, girls with incredible power over the elements of water, fire, wind, earth, and time. Over the course of several years the legends behind the various witches changed and evolved with some people seeing them as saviors and others as a nuisance. One witch in particular, titled “The Witch of Destruction,” has been roaming around Regnant and freezing various villages and their people in crystal. Alto’s hometown of Mithra is one of these villages. Journeying with his friend, Lisette, and the other members of the Regnant Knights, he is tasked with gathering the four other witches needed to undo the crystallization spell that plagues his village among many others.

You could probably play a drinking game with all the tropes and overused character types, but at the same time all characters (or at least the members of the knights) are written in such a way that most of them are explored and fleshed out past their initial characterization. The story is kind of the same way too, there’s a lot of plot points and twists that you’ll see from a mile away if you’ve ever played a JRPG before, but Stella Glow still turns these points into something interesting and fun when combined with its gameplay.

Stella Glow is divided in chapters, and each chapter is then further divided between “mission time” and “free time.” Mission time advances the main story by taking you to an over world map that looks and feels like Super Mario Bros. 3, where Alto walks to the next designated story mission with the option to also take on other free missions to grind experience, gold, or items. I never found myself grinding much. Unless you’re 10 or so levels behind on a character there’s not much reason to worry, damage differences do not seem that big when you’re only a couple of levels behind what the recommended is, and if you have people behind on EXP then you probably also have a few that are over-leveled. Money rarely became an issue. It’s not like you have a surplus, but you almost certainly will always have enough for the items and equipment you need.

Combat while on a mission is fairly standard for a strategy game. Characters move based on a speed stat, and can attack other units from various positions (in front, behind, the side) to inflict different levels of damage. The game put a lot of work into its aesthetics though, and gave each character a unique animations for their various skills and attacks which makes them satisfying to unlock and use. Some of the more flashy moves can get a little long with their animations though, but you’re given the option to toggle them off and on at each encounter by simply tapping the “x” button. Missions last anywhere from ten to thirty minutes, some being broken into multiple parts, but the game always gives you the option to save when that happens. This system brings everything into nice playable chunks that you can either binge play through or just go bit by bit.

Free time is down time. In between missions Alto and the rest of the knights get time to rest before they move out again. During this break period Alto can take on part-time work helping other shop keepers, go exploring around the city to find various items, or spend time with his teammates, the latter option being the obvious best. Spending time with your teammates unlocks unique skills for them, and in the case of the witches, is the only way to unlock their highest level spell. You also get to learn a lot about your ragtag crew, this is where the fleshing out of their archetypes comes from that I spoke about earlier. Maxing out your time and affection with a character is also how you unlock various special endings, the downside is you are only allowed one each playthrough, and Godspeed if you plan to view them all in a game that lasts about 30 to 40 hours. Your free time is limited though, and with +20 teammates you’re not going to be able to max them all out, at least not until new game plus, where you’re given almost triple the amount of free time.

Music plays a very large part in Stella Glow’s narrative, and as such the soundtrack is rather catchy and enjoyable. The game’s mood ranges from happy and upbeat, sad and somber, and aggression quite a lot and the music goes well with it. In particular, I really enjoyed the music that plays for boss battles later in the game.

Oddly enough, the music is also one of the few areas that sometimes hinders the experience. Song plays a vital part in the magic the witches use, and in Japan their voice actors also sang for their respective witch. The music is pretty nice, even if it’s all variations of J-pop (which is weird for a game taking place in something reminiscent of ye olde Eurasia). The English translation did not re-dub the music though, and it’s odd to have some of the girls voices completely change because of this. It’s really not much of a big deal. The English dub of the game is very well done, but it’s just weird to hear character’s voices completely change and to suddenly be singing in Japanese.

As I said before, Stella Glow was really enjoyable. It’s kind of a shame that it came out around the same time as the new Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, which would be the more popular of the two titles. This was Imageepoch’s last game before they went under earlier this year, and you can tell a lot of work and love went into Stella Glow to let the company go out with a bang. If you’re a fan of tactic games or JRPGs, there’s absolutely no reason to not pick this one up. It’s definitely going to become a hidden gem on the 3DS.