RF Generation Message Board

Welcome to the April Modern Community Playthrough.

This month we're going to make our first foray into handheld gaming by checking out a totally hidden gem on the Nintendo DS called Magical Starsign.

[img width=389 height=358]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/Magical_Starsign.jpg[/img]

Magical Starsign was developed by Brownie Brown for Nintendo and is the sequel to the Japan-only Game Boy Advance game Magical Vacation. Players take the role of the main character, which can be male or female, in a quest to find his or her missing teacher with the help of a group of classmates from Will-O-Wisp academy. It doesn't take long for the player to start hopping through the game's six planets via rocket travel searching for their missing instructor.

Magical Starsign features a unique blend of gameplay elements which many people in the community playthrough crowd will appreciate. The turn-based battle system has timing elements like Super Mario RPG. The characters, story and overall aesthetic are very similar to Chrono Trigger, and there is an elemental/astrological system that the player can use to exploit enemy weaknesses like in the Persona series.

The colorful and lighthearted world of Magical Starsign should come as nice contrast to the post-apocalyptic wastelands of The Last of Us. More importantly, Magical Starsign is a very good game. It is not very common to find it physically but it is very inexpensive online through various retailers. Don't let the pastels and cutesey characters turn you off. This is a quality old-school RPG experience with some new twists that could only be brought to you by the Nintendo DS hardware. As I mentioned above, fans of Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG should sign up for this one.

[img width=300 height=450]http://arpegi.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/magical_starsign_1.jpg[/img]

Checkpoints:
Week One: Complete the Dragon God Cave on Cassia, then return to the spaceship, save and stop.
Week Two: Get all six party members. This checkpoint courtesy of Singlebanana because I haven't gotten that far yet.
Week Three: Defeat Muzzleflash and obtain the Earth Millennium Gummy.
Week Four & beyond: Finish the game.  :banana:

Participants:
grayghost81
singlebanana
fleach
disposed hero
douglie007

Sign me up!

I just checked, and it turns out I already own this game.  I'll play along.

Looking forward to this game. I'd never heard of it until now but after a quick search on YouTube I liked what I saw.

Original post has been updated.

Singlebanana, Fleach and I have all started the game and we love it. We knew we were going out on a limb with this one but trust me, it's good. Please join us!

I second this motion. Though many of you may not have ever heard of this game, from what I have played so far, it is really good. Plus, it can be bought easily for under $10.

Yeah, it's surprisingly great! Don't be turned off by the cute, bright colours and cartoony art style, this is a classic formula RPG. The battle system offers streamlined interfaces and options so that makes combat more user friendly. It's game you won't want to miss.

It's a good thing I signed up then!  Chrono Trigger is my all-time favorite game, and Super Mario RPG is way up there as well.  Magical Starsign should be right up my alley :)

A little music to get the ole epic RPG blood pumpin':

http://youtu.be/Ez9I03-TpSE

I think a lot of people are going to be surprised about how good this game is. Truly a hidden gem.

I need added to the list for this one, just got the game and ready to go. If some one needs the game its $3 at game stop.

You're in. Thank you for joining us!

Week One checkpoint is up. In the past, games with branching paths have been hard to checkpoint because we don't want to restrict anyone from blazing their own trails and enjoying the game their own way. Starting next week however, I would advise you to do the planets in the order in which I post them. This will serve to have the conversation here be more focused and since we have a very small group this month, we wouldn't just want to all branch off and have nothing to talk about together.

Of course, having said that, it's a free country. With that in mind, if you don't do the planets in the same order I do, please be mindful of the "official" progression and be careful with spoilers.

Enjoy the game gentlemen!

I really didn't use my head start productively, I'm only two hours into the game.

What genders and names are everyone choosing for their main characters? I wanted to pick the girl because she looks a lot cooler than the male character, but couldn't think of a good name. So I went with the dude and named him after myself.

As I do with every game in which I have the option, I chose the female character and named her after my wife.

Aww... that's sweet.

I also went with the girl and named her after my daughter.....who I share a pink DS with (courtesy of GrayGhost). Anyone go dark magic? I went with light and curious to see what the difference is.

I went with light magic. That way I can heal party members. I think dark magic lets you steal HP.

Yeah, that is my understanding as well. Just curious if anyone is going that route. I'd like to hear about that experience.

Is everyone ready for the week two checkpoint? I'll be posting it at some point tomorrow.

I think after playing over ten hours into this game I have to bring up two major gripes I have with that game that are preventing me from having that "can't put it down" feeling.

1. The music sucks. Ok sucks is a little harsh, but the music is mediocre at best and not suitable for headphone listening for extended periods of time. I've been playing it either silently or listening to music (Daft Punk's album "Discovery" is recommended, both as appropriate BGM for this game and pretty much every other moment of your life). If the music was better I could zone out and play this game for hours on end. Playing without sound makes the timing in the battle system a little more difficult too as a lot of the timing is aided by the sound effects.

2. The boss battles are sooooooooooooooooo unbalanced. So there you are, driving along, driving along, then all of a sudden the kids are yelling from the back seat "I gotta go to the bathroom, daddy." "Not now damnit!" TRUCK TIRE. "I CAN'T STOP!!!" I would say the game is pretty easy to moderate in general. Then you get to a boss battle and get your ass handed to you again, and again, and again. "Help! There's a cliff!" and your family's screaming "Oh my god we're burning alive! Oh I can't feel my legs" It has nothing to do with your level or strategy. In comes the meat wagon. And the medic gets out and he's like "Oh. My. God." New guy's in the corner puking his guts out. When you start a battle and two of your party members get insta-killed on the first turn, something is out of whack, or out of balance if you will. All because you wanted to save a couple of extra pennies.

This game is great but I for these two reasons I'm not just plowing through it like Banana Man.

Is anyone else playing yet?

I'm at the check point :) not to bad, I need to find 5 more rainbow shells

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Yeah, I'm at checkpoint 1 already. I've put it down for a few days just to take care of some "life stuff, " but I am enjoying it quite a bit and eager to get back to it.

1. As for the music, I don't think it's too bad and from what I have played, I can say that it gets a little better as you move through the game. Let me say this, since I don't play a considerable amount of modern titles, I really don't have anything to compare this game to in terms of sound/music quality. This is the first RPG I have played on the DS, I'm sure you have a lot more knowledge in this area Ghost.

2. I don't think the boss battles are unbalanced, but they sure as hell can be tough. Ghost, you and I talked and in our discussion, and noted that we went to planets in a different order (something you can talk about if you want). As a result, you had one less party member for at least one of the boss battles and mentioned that you had to grind a good bit to win that fight. I'm just curious as to whether or not this got easier after picking up you next toon? I remember being led to the planets in a specific order based on info I got from NPCs, but in order to not run into this problem, perhaps the game should do a better job of only allowing you to select a certain planet to go to next.

Also, I find that switching up the placement of my characters (the rows) for individual planets and boss battles is very beneficial in terms of inflicting damage and in mitigating it. I also buy the latest and greatest armor in every town I walk into. Not sure why, but I've never had a moment where any of my party was insta-killed by a boss. Regardless, one thing I like about the game is that boss battles are easy to see coming and you have the opportunity to save immediately before them. I've really only had trouble with one boss battle in the game so far, but ended up winning on around the 4th try once I learned the fight and made some adjustments to my party. I actually enjoy the challenge of these battles and feel they are more balanced because they aren't easy and require a bit of a learning curve.

I haven't figured out the timed attacks yet, but I haven't noticed any difference when I was trying and when I wasn't.

At this point in the game I've restored power to the base/ship thing with the robots inside but haven't explored it. Will play some more later today.

I don't have an opinion on the music because it's not great enough to stand out. After a few minutes of playing I don't even realize the soundtrack.

My big complaint is: Why is this on DS and not a smart device? This would have been an awesome tablet/phone RPG.

I got a late start on this one.  I'm still only about 15-20 minutes in (I've only done the little tutorial battle so far), but I plan to start devoting some time to this one.  I went with dark magic since it seemed everybody else went with light.  According to what I've read, I think going dark is supposed to be more difficult, but I'm alright with that.

@Fleach - If you want a hint in terms of the timed attack, I can give you a hint on how to get the most out of your magic.

Spoiler (hover to show)

Tap the character who is casting with the stylus right when the circle of symbols spinning around them is about to stop spinning and go into them. If  the timed attack is activated, your character will glow the color of their symbol/element and cast a more powerful attack.

@Disposed Hero - I'm really glad that you are going with the dark magic. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on playing that way. I also wonder if it changes the ending.

Week two is up. I haven't had too much time to play the game lately so Singlebanana helped me with this checkpoint. Hope everyone is enjoying the game.

Got all 6 and saved, so far I like it, very fun.

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Nice! Yeah, it's a quality game. Kind of cutesy at times, but not overbearing and a lot of fun.

Last night I completed the Dragon God Cave. I thought I was starting to see a formula to this game, but a quick check on a walkthrough (I didn't read anything other than the table of contents) proved that things will be shaken up a bit soon.

How long is the second check point? I'll probably have to blast through it in one sitting on Sunday.

It should be about the same in length as the first one. You may go through it a little quicker since you have a better handle on the game though.

I just passed the Week 1 checkpoint.  Which planet did you guys go to after Cassia?  I went with Puffoon.  I think singlebanana mentioned in an earlier post that going a certain route was easier?

I'm liking the game a lot so far.  When I first started playing it, I was a little put off by the game's cutesy presentation, but it quickly grew on me and now I would say that it gives the game a unique charm. 

Puffoon first is indeed the easier route. I actually did Gren first and it was a pain in the ass.

I completely agree. I thought that the cutesy stuff was a little overbearing at first, but as you move through the game, it kind of wears down and becomes more about the action/story. I now find myself chuckling at all the clever names of the NPCs and towns.

I just made it to Honey Mint and found with Chai, but his captor gave me a whooping so I'm going to have grind a bit and try again.

Be sure to arrange you line up before the boss battle. Depending on the bosses magic type, I put the characters that do the most damage on the front row and healers on the back.

That's what I've been doing. But I didn't expect to be going into a boss fight so I was unprepared. I survived until the boss started doing that Sonic spin dash type move.

Week three checkpoint is up (thank you again Singlebanana) my apologies for the delay.

picked up a copy of this today, if i have enough free time this month i'll try starting it at least!

I'm 12 hours in and going for the water stone, is earth after that or is earth stone the last one?

I'm about 11-12 hours in, and I haven't even hit the Week 2 checkpoint yet (I'm gonna assume that I'm close).  Some people were curious if choosing Dark magic changed the game much, and as far as I can tell, not really.  So far the whole light/dark magic choice seems pretty superficial.  It may make the game a bit more challenging since more of the bosses were dark aligned instead of light, but overall I've found the game to be very easy.

That being said, I'm still enjoying it.  I'm pretty anxious to get the sixth party member.  I've always liked it when RPGs give you more party members to work with.  Never really liked the 3-party member convention that's become popular ever since FF 7.

I've put 8 hours into the game and I've just added Chai to the party. Now I'm off to Gren. I feel like I still have a long way to go.

I finished the game the other day, but of course I have been playing ahead to help out with checkpoints. Just so you are aware of the length of this game, I put in almost 30 hours. Good luck to all. I had a great time playing this one.

i popped this one in just to test out my copy today and it worked but i'm not sure i'll join in on this. i know everyone said to look past the style and go for the gameplay, but i'm having a hard time ignoring it, and it's exactly the style that i can't stand. maybe someday, but not right now when i have other things more pressing to play ;)

That's a shame. Like I think I mentioned before, the "heaviness" of the style wears off after the first hour or so of the game and it becomes a more serious RPG. Sure, there are some funny and "cutesy" references throughout, but they are not force fed to you like they are in the beginning and come off more entertaining and comical than annoying. Hate you're not playing, but it would be a game I'd pick up and play down the road if I were you.

The beginning/tutorial sequence was pretty bad. Cutesy overdose. But the game picks up and improves after the first planet.

I'm on Gren and have just met with Pico. There's a forest maze I keep getting lost in so I'm just using that as excuse to grind. I'll probably resort to a walkthrough once I'm too powerful for the area.

Stones? Do you mean gummies? If so, I went after the wood gummy after the water gummy.

Seems to be some questions as to what the best order is as to hopping from planet to planet. Not saying my way is the best, but I went by how I felt that the game and NPCs directed me and didn't really have any difficulty. I have a chart below that you can scroll over below if you are interested in my route. Seems that the game is divided into kind of 3 parts and one sort of sub-part*, which I also list below. Hope this helps.

Spoiler (hover to show)

Objective 1 (collect party members): Erd --> Cassia --> Puffoon --> Gren --> Razen
Objective 2* (dwarf back-and-forth): Cassia <--> Razen
Objective 3 (obtain gummies): Razen (fire gummy) --> Cassia (water gummy) --> Gren (wood gummy) --> Erd (earth gummy) --> Puffoon (wind gummy)
Objective 4 (end game): Razen --> Nova --> Shadra

I don't think I need to post the last checkpoint, but yeah, finish the game! :)

I just hit the 15 hour mark, so I guess I'm about half way through.  Still going after the Water gummy.  I probably won't finish this one before the end of the month, but I'm still enjoying it, so I'll definitely finish it even if my play time has to spill over into May.

I'm going to have to carry this one over into May as well. I figure if I put in a couple hours each day I should finish in about two weeks.

We've heard from a few people and I hope people are enjoying this game. Anyone else planning to finish it this month? I'd like to hear some feedback on this game. :)

I'm just getting to the earth gummy now so I'm still behind

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I'm about 20 hours in and I almost have the Wind gummy.  I'm not sure how much I have left to go on this game, but I'm gonna make a big push to finish it this weekend so I can get started on the May playthroughs.

I put in about 30 hours to complete this game if that helps.

I think I'm getting pretty close to the end of the game.  I'm currently on Nova and just about to head to Shadra.

Has anybody done (or plan to do) the optional dungeon at the end of the game?  I was looking into it since I usually do side content like that, but it looks like it requires a lot of grinding in order to be powerful enough to make it through, so I'll probably just skip it.

I might do it later but right now I'm going to just finish

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Alright, a little late, but I finally finished Magical Starsign last night.

I liked it.  I would say it's a good game, but not great.  It was a refreshing change of pace for me personally since I was halfway through Bravely Default when I started this one.  An RPG like Bravely Default has so many side quests, customization options, and a harder difficulty level, all of which I enjoy, but it was nice to play something more straightforward and less challenging for a little while.

That being said, I felt like the game was a little longer than it needed to be.  While not too terribly long by RPG standards (I clocked in at around 25-27 hours), I feel like 15-20 hours would have been a more appropriate length for this game.  The mechanics of the game are pretty simple and can start to wear a bit thin after 15 hours or so.  The game started to walk a fine line where it didn't quite feel like a chore to play it, but I was more or less ready for it to end.

I wouldn't recommend Magical Starsign to anybody who is looking for a deep RPG experience, but for anyone looking for a more lighthearted and straightforward game, it's definitely worth checking out.  This game was sitting on my shelf for months with me pretty much unaware of its existence, so this is yet another worthwhile game I probably would have missed out on if not for these playthroughs. :)

Nice work Disposed! I think your thoughts on the game are extremely valid and I know we will discuss several of these points on the upcoming podcast. Thanks for playing and I'm glad you enjoyed the game. :)

Better late then never, finished tonight :) it was fun.  Not quite as deep as chrono trigger but still fun

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Nice douglie! Glad you finished. Yeah, nowhere as deep as CT, but you'll definitely find some allusions to CT in MSS. We talk about this briefly in Episode 2 of the Playthrough Wrap-Up.