April Modern Community Playthrough - Magical Starsign

[GrayGhost81]

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. 

Participants:
grayghost81
singlebanana
fleach
disposed hero
douglie007

[singlebanana]

Sign me up!

[Disposed Hero]

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

[Fleach]

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.

[GrayGhost81]

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!

[singlebanana]

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.

[Fleach]

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.

[Disposed Hero]

fans of Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG should sign up for this one.

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

[singlebanana]

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

http://youtu.be/Ez9I03-TpSE

[singlebanana]

fans of Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG should sign up for this one.

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

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

[douglie007]

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.

[GrayGhost81]

You're in. Thank you for joining us!

[GrayGhost81]

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!

[Fleach]

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.

[GrayGhost81]

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