Stella Glow (Nintendo 3DS) Review

Stella Glow has some things in common with a lot of other 3DS JRPGs. Chibi-styled character models with anime-like portrait drawings to represent them in dialogue, turn-based strategy gameplay, voiced protagonists; it's the unique blend of these aspects that sets it apart from similar titles.

In missions, the direction a character is facing is an important factor to consider when placing characters, and not just their actual spot on the map. Also important to consider is height; maps aren't flat and feature various levels, like hills, and certain characters can use this to their advantage (or their foes' disadvantage).

Outside of battle, the central hub town is essentially a large picture with a list to choose from, but players must manage their time; these heroes are on a quest, after all, and don't have time to lollygag around various shops forever. Characters can spend time with each other to increase their affinity and unlock special skills, and in battle, meeting certain hidden requirements will unlock special rewards.

The game is set to a pleasurable story—magic exists in the form of song, and only Witches can sing. One particular Witch seeks to destroy the world with her song, but Stella Glow's heroes hope to find the rest of the Witches and put a stop to her and her evil Harbingers. While it relies on some tropes and clichés, there's a lot of heart and originality to it, which is a good thing, as there's a lot of story here.

Some fans of more action-oriented RPGs will likely be put off by the mountains of text and dialogue to scroll through, and it's perhaps simpler to describe Stella Glow as a visual novel with tactical RPG elements—even the game's in-story UI is identical to that of most VNs, with character portraits above a text box, complete with options like "auto" and "skip" and the ability to hide the text box to better view the character portraits (which, incidentally, are well-crafted and high quality designs).