Tecmo Secret of the Stars
Poster child for too-frequent random battlesGenre: rpg - japanese
Publisher: Tecmo
Year: 1995
System: SNES
Gameplay Score: 2
Gameplay Notes:
No options to speed up the text. Uggh. Oh wait I found it, but it's only accessible during a battle. Uh, ok Only save at specific spots. I wish saving anywhere, like on the overworld, was the norm in RPGs. These save spots are exceedingly rare. Auto fighting is a very welcome addition that makes grinding so much better. The AI is pretty dumb though. For example, it will have make party members attack different enemies rather than ganging up on one at a time. Easy to cheese the game because you can run away 100% of the time. The early dungeons give you a bed to sleep in right next to the dungeon boss so you can just skip all battles until the boss, then grind away before fighting the boss. Not sure if this is true in all dungeons. Battles also don't remember your last selection which was a nice feature in FFVI a year before. Magic is basically useless since there's no way to restore your MP. Even sleeping doesn't restore it. So once it's gone it's gone. First area is insanely easy, as it should be. No ATB so enemies patiently wait for you. Maddeningly frequently random battles. I frequently entered a battle after one step. It's truly annoying.
Level Design Score: 3
Level Design Notes:
Extremely linear story progression. No opportunity to deviate from the next objective. This isn't a deal killer but everything here feels formulaic. Boring.
Theme Score: 1
Theme Notes:
Easily the most lazy, unmemorable JRPG game I've ever played. Standard swords and sorcery setting with your storyline of a kid needing to save the world. The author must've loved Earthbound cuz this game feels like a clone. You're a kid with an absent father who needs to find four other kids to join his party and save the world. Strange enemies like bugs, wolves, zombies, and sword-wielding 1920's mafia members make for a weird theme. I don't know who did this translation, but it's awful. Weird names make it hard to track in my head what is happening. Homncruse is the big boss. Aqutallion is analogous to "knight". Kustera is a race of warriors. Pennon is a rank that you achieve. Locations include Jeep Volcano, BeeGees Town, and Wind Town. A few NPCs names include BadBad, Uncle Save, "That Edgy Architect", and Tina. It's so weird. Eclectic.
Art Style Score: 2
Art Style Notes:
Looks ok for an early SNES game. *looks it up* WHAT?! This game came out in 1995? Ok this looks horrible given when it came out. In truth the battle screen is ok, with some ok sprites and good backgrounds, but there's no animation to speak of and the overworld looks positively amateurish. Poor visual language, especially on the overworld where it's not obvious what's scenery and what is a dungeon that can be entered.
Audio Score: 2
Audio Notes:
Lots of ok music tracks. Nothing you'll be humming afterward. Most tracks loop after a few seconds so they get old quickly while grinding. And you'll be grinding a lot, so you'll probably mute the game after too long.
Overall Score: 44
Review ID: 612
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