What is it: Stella glow is an SRPG from developer Imageepoch and published by Atlus. It was released in the US and Japan last year and recently made it to Australian shores.
What do I need to know: The premise of the game is that an evil witch is attempting to crystallize the world using a cursed song. The only way to stop it is to find and unite four 'good' witches, to counter the evil witches song. The game takes place in areans reminiscent of Final Fantasy tactics.
The gameplay is centred around battles in these arenas and interspersed with plentiful story sequences and character development. On the battlefield you need to coordinate the various strengths and weaknesses of your squad to succeed. You'll have characters that can move and strike quickly, ranged characters, witches who can use powerful spells, but are vulnerable to enemy attacks. Other characters can serve as protectors for the group, through the guardian ability which stops enemies from passing through adjacent spaces. These characters typically have plenty of hitpoints and are good in close quarters.
Being able to flank the enemy and get in behind is important, but you must also be careful to not leave your own fighters too exposed.
What do I think: The game has a pretty typical JRPG setup - kid with amnesia etc... But its setting and the background of the world is actually interesting. The game has a great art style, which is complemented by an excellent soundtrack and voice acting.
There's plenty of dialogue between characters and the the overall tone of the story is quite reminiscent of a Saturday morning cartoon (in a good way).
The battle system is easy to pick up, but has enough strategy to be enjoyable. Between battles you'll spend your time at the capital where you split your time between support conversations with your squad, doing jobs for money or exploring for items.
After 10 hours I'm really enjoying the game and can recommend it to SRPG fans.
