[Containing SPOILERS; You have been warned]
The first time I heard about Stella Glow is when I finished playing Fire Emblem Awakening. However, at the same time, I also got struck on Ar Nosurge fighting the 8th Dimension. The short story1 is that I need a tactic RPG to hold me over till the release of Fire Emblem Fates, ideally with good music but not too much grinding. Since I was also a big Touhou doujin fan in the past, ideolo's distinct use of bold black lines guaranteed that the 2D sprites are beautiful to look at (and possibly to fantasize as well, because I doubt Atlus will spend that much on animating the sprites). Wal-lah, Stella Glow seems to be the perfect fit (recommended by Amazon Prime by the way)--a game that is supposedly a Fire Emblem with Song Magic with deliberately composed character designs.
Sounds good to me, and here is my money, Atlus.
I mean is it even a surprise that #FE is combining Fire Emblem and Persona?...and here is my money again, Atlus.
So I went with the launch edition, coming in a nice card box that said "English audio blends with songs from Japan's top voice talents." Should have done my research that the game is almost ENTIRELY in English audio, with exception of songs in Japanese.
Zetsuboushita! (The Lack of Nihongo Audio) Zetsuboushita!
No, not quite. To be honest, the English voice acting was quite alright. A lot of the characters turned out well (like sluggishness in Mordimort and quirkiness of Veronica, Ph. D.?). The part that really bothers me every single time is the difference between a mature speaking voice and a fairly pubescent singing voice of Hilda. Maybe I should not be. For a thousand-year queen witch nabe shogun, there are a lot of inconsistency to state in the character setting. Of course, the crystal garden fabric poster is a dead give-away for Hilda to become one of the main heroines. In addition, I thought Sakuya's singing voice is a bit too deeper for the snappy teenager edition. However, the English tsundere rendition has its own merits...?
What merits? Real life tsunderes are rare--if people snap at you, they probably are not likely to hold affections for you, even secretly. Game world is game world indeed, so idol dating is completely alright for my version of Alto. Yes, no head shaving for idols in games, although I was surprised that all the fans were instantly converted without any mishaps.
Alto...where did I hear that before...right...surprisingly the name of main character in Ar Tonelico 3.
On the other hand, your conveniently-plot-deviced-water-witch-childhood friend is probably going to get shafted. It is almost a trope now. Too bad the official-website did not have a character popularity poll, but the first- and second-place finishers on Gamefaqs end up with Hilda and Sakuya, as expected for strong female characters. In terms of supporting characters, Anastasia was interesting and also endearing, but unfortunately her screen time was fairly limited. Elmar was actually not as annoying as I would initially expect, especially when he actually demonstrated leadership during the time of crises. Klaus/Xeno was also interesting as an ally, especially his dessert loving alter ego. But man, he is such a boring and shallow villain. It would be much more interesting if Xeno was convinced rather than simply brainwashed.
Although Marie and Eve are supposedly people I should be caring about, the emotional attachment was relatively minor. It was even a bit disturbing that I preferred the normal ending than the true ending.2
Even Ar Tonelico let you really save the world if you try hard enough.
By the way, Hilda best girl (What do you mean I can't get Anastasia? Oh, right..."Stab")
In the end, the voice acting is passable. Music scores, which carried hopes of a strong point with the abundant voice talents, ended up passable as well. In other words, they made fairly limited impact on me as a gamer, unlike the Ar Tonelico series, where some of the stage themes were absolutely superb. I heard this is supposedly a spiritual successor from Luminous Arc, but I never played it so I cannot tell if those two are comparable.
Game mechanics are simple, but bosses at the end of the game are fairly challenging. It is fairly easy to abuse move disabling songs with Alto equipped with song orbs to gain gauges, a tactic I did not find necessary throughout. There are a few subtle touches on terrain effects and character movement affinities, but it was not a quintessential part of the game. Unlike Fire Emblem, where your characters are decidedly fragile and exit permanently upon death, Stella Glow allows some breathing rooms where resetting was not a part of the daily routine. For that, I give them a plus--Sunday gamers like me are not slaves to random number generators.
However, the game mechanics have some simple imbalances, which can be easily discerned within the first few chapters. High speed and high movement characters, with area damaging skills and counter abilities, have an absolute edge over anything else.
Simply put, Rusty is OP.
And team formation, which was essential in Fire Emblem to protect the glass canons, became more or less obsolete in Stella Glow. Sure that character boosts are nice; sure back attack does more damage and provokes no counter attacks--yet the actual effects on combat gameplay are rather underwhelming. Similarly, unlocked new skills do make battle flow differently. Although the small details make the combat system refreshing, it seemed each character is locked into a particular role in the party with few options, once their abilities and skills are determined. Sakuya and Hilda, traditionally the support bombard squad, are perfectly capable on the front line. That said, I do find the orbs to be an essential part of the battle system throughout the game. Pairing the right characters with the right weapon effects was rather enjoyable. The limitation on inventory, where characters can only use equipped items, also made decision making in battles a bit more challenging.
However, these game play gimmicks in the end do not hide the shallow characterization and even shallower ideology and the good-versus-evil plot line. The top voice talents for each character, probably the biggest selling point besides the gorgeous 2D sprites, are nowhere close being preserved through the localization. A saving grace (?) is that the innuendoes are preserved without distortion, just like pickled vegetables...if you are into that kind of things.
In the end, with uncertainty on Gust's next move on the Surge Concerto and the official American release of Fire Emblem Fates, Stellar Glow will fade into obscurity among other JRPG that made to the West but did make quite enough impact to be remembered. I personally did not find replayability to be a significant decision or quality of a video game, aside from online multiplayers. Of course, you can replay the entire game to max out relationship gauges, but I have a fairly narrow taste on characters, and there is this thing called Youtube.
In the end, Stellar Glow is an entry-level strategy RPG that brings straightforward characters, simple gameplay, and an unfulfilled promise of top Japanese voice talent. Although not a master piece, it certainly gave me the entertainment for a transition downtime.
[1The long story is that I don't mind grinding at all. Heck, my Morgan's mother is a Rally-based Bride Emmeryn that passed down Lancefaire. For Ar Nosurge, I eventually grind through 8th Dimension, albeit after a few tries. Considering how much I ground for Kanoyeel's CG, I guess I only need to believe that the boss is a bishoujo in disguise and will purge like Soma in AT3.]
[2YOU CALL THAT THE TRUE ENDING? A LONELY GIRL SINGING FOR THE ETERNITY TO KEEP HUMANITY SAFE? HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING FROM AR TONELICO? That's why Phase 3 exists.]
