Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity is the first strategy RPG released by Altus since the surprise hit Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, and although it lacks all Disgaea’s charm, innovation, and depth, it is… available. If you’re a fan of the genre, but can’t get your hands on one of Nippon Ichi’s masterpieces, I’m sure this will satisfy you… for a while.

Stella Deus is a wholly unremarkable entrance into the world of turn-based strategy RPGs. Visually, it’s practically indistinguishable from its kin. Admittedly, the hand-drawn backgrounds are beautiful (think of what a high-quality SaGa Frontier II would look like), but the 2D character models only hold up at a distance – as soon as the camera zooms in, during a Team Attack sequence for example, they pixilate like a PSone game. It’s not very attractive, not when they could have Guilty Gear X2-level visuals. Also, objects in the environment, trees, cliffs, buildings, have an annoying habit of blocking the camera. Typically, obstructions go transparent, but these don’t, so you’ll have to constantly shift the camera to get a good viewing angle.

Sound effects also seem lifted from the 32-bit generation. This could be charming, but they are low-quality enough to just seem cheap. It’s not like the game is bursting at the seams with production value – a little more effort wouldn’t have killed them. Luckily, the soundtrack is impressive – a beautiful orchestral score akin to the Final Fantasy Tactics soundtrack only presented in Dolby Pro Logic II format. I’d buy the OST if I saw it for sale. The voice-acting, on the other hand, is merely passable, fitting with the equally mediocre story and character archetypes. It is Japanese, though, so it’s probably the best they could hope for.

Gameplay and controls are as standard as you’d expect. There are some minor advances to the traditional formula – you can initiate multi-member Team Attacks, you can make as many actions per turn as you have AP points, and you can affect character order in battle by spending spare AP, but that’s about it. There’s a good 50 hours of gameplay here, particularly if you take time to linger over the side-quests and item fusing options, but frankly, if you are a fan of the genre, you’ve already played this game two-dozen times. If you aren’t a fan of the genre, Stella Deus won’t leave any lasting impressions, so why bother? If Disgaea couldn’t sway you, Stella Deus sure as heck won’t.

If you are an RPG collector, what are you even reading this for? You know you’re just going to get everything Atlus releases regardless. If you’re one of those people, you’re going to enjoy Stella Deus. It won’t rock your world, but it’ll keep you happy for a few long nights. The “old-school” presentation won’t bother you, as I’m sure you’re numb to it by now, and the gameplay will feel comforting and familiar. If you’ve moved beyond the simple pleasures of your text-book console strategy RPG, this game will only keep you satisfied if it’s the only thing in the house.

HIGHS:

LOWS:

• Pixilated character models show off the weaknesses of 32-bit style visuals.
• “Vintage” sound effects are disappointing.
• Adds nothing to the genre.

While Stella Deus simply goes through the motions of what people expect from strategy RPGs, it’s not a bad game by any means.  It’s just not all that interesting either.