I'm really on the fence about 3 Stars of Destiny. For all the interesting gameplay mechanics it has and the general enjoyment of other games from RPG developer Aldorlea Games, there are enough problems to warrant a skip for anyone looking to try out yet another fantasy-based RPG.

We all know the problems with RPGMaker. That software has allowed anyone with a will and a few hours to spare the ability to pop out a carbon-copy clone and put it on Steam, to the detriment of the genre as a whole. While I generally enjoy (and even love) Aldorlea's output, 3 Stars definitely ranks as one of the lowest in terms of enjoyment-to-grinding and the storyline.

It's not actually mentioned anywhere on the store page, but the game is a prequel to the Laxius Power/Laxius Force series, which were the first games released by Aldorlea back in the early 2000s. Those games had the same three characters, but were generally a lot more mature in their storytelling (for instance, characters swear, have sex, get married and lose their loved ones), even if they're incredibly dated because of the early RPGMaker graphics/blocky character models.

3 Stars takes place years before the series, and has a god named Ozur kill a witch so he can find 3 prophecized leaders because of "reasons". At the same time, protagonist Random Pendragon sets out from his home on an adventure and meets Sarah (an elf) and Luciana (a enchantress), who learn about Ozur's plot and work to stop him before he can do any more damage to the world.

Those relationships and camaraderie found in the Laxius games doesn't translate to this prequel. Random and Sarah spend the majority of the game pointlessly bickering and sniping at each other, while Luciana just sticks around seemingly to keep things from escalating further. There isn't a whole lot of variety to the characters you meet, and the plot itself feels less like a coherent story and more a series of random setpieces on the way to the final showdown.

The biggest problem I faced is twofold. For one thing, Aldorlea's RPGs have a lot of items and useful gear that are easily missed due to being hidden in secret rooms (see the Millennium series for a greater example of this), and if you don't have the requisite guide, you're pretty much out of luck. Secondly, there is no in-game map to track where you are or where you're going, and considering there are points where you have to backtrack long distances to complete a quest (and the level design is linear), it can become extremely frustrating to figure out where you're supposed to go. That latter point nearly put me off the game for good.

However, I never actually finished the game. I got to a point just before the final battle where I was stuck in an area with few to no supplies, facing enemies who had a major difficulty spike and were wrecking my party easily. Faced with this problem, I quit the game and never went back.

That's not to say it's all bad, though. The battles are generally engaging and varied (despite an overreliance on enemies dropping status conditions on the party), there are a lot of interesting gameplay mechanics like the bond with your other party members strengthening depending on how long they stay in the active group, and there are some amusing setpieces during the late game.

In retrospect, however, I don't see a lot of people really getting invested in this one as much as some of Aldorlea's other games (and this is coming from someone who put 27 hours into this game).

3 Stars of Destiny exists more as unrealized potential than an enjoyable prequel. You'd be better off trying the Millennium series for this kind of RPG action.

I loved playing this game it has a active story feeling to it as well it can be funny and challenging. The color scheme feels stable. The action is fun and satisfying. I also love finding the secrets. It really gives off thaat good old adventure feeling when playing.

Another RPG maker brand of game. Very similar to the likes of Aveyond which I finished a couple of months ago in that it is a party based RPG. There was nothing really special about this game. All very samey throughout.

I did find myself getting bored towards the middle of the game. You obviously need to spend a lot of time grinding levels in order to equip certain items you find in the game in order to progress past a certain boss, and it became quite tedious to grind on random spawn monsters when they rarely occur. This is a setting you select at the start of the game. If you want my advice, choose the option which will get you the most monster encounters, because you will need them

The text based dialog is also quite bad. All of the sentences seem so awkward to read out, and the games tries too hard to be funny when it quite clearly isn't.

You aren't missing out on much if you skip over this game. I will give it credit, it is a good length, a full playthrough took me 10 hours, but I would not recommend it at full price.

I have played through the game and beaten it twice and enjoyed every moment of it. I'd definitely recommend to anyone looking for something fun and simple to play, while still having enough of a challenge to be interesting. I found the characters charming and the interactions to be amusing and while the story wasn't amazing, it wasn't boring either.

Pros:
+Nice selection of party members with different skillsets to appeal to any sort of playstyle.
+Really lovely artwork in the battles
+Character interactions are amusing and charming and you definitely can see some growth in the main characters as the quest progresses
+Multiple difficulty modes with choices on encounter rates to please everyone. Also the Rush selection can be great to quickly get through easier battles. Enough challenge to make battles fun but not so much that one feels a need to grind.
+Lots of optional sidequests and hidden things to find.
+Love the friendship dynamic and how having certain people together in a party for a length of time can grant bonuses in battles and give you preemptive attacks.

Cons:
-A bit on the short side, story is about 20 hours of play
-A couple of broken achievements (though dev has been responsive via email about it) Edit: As of 4/24/2015 the game no longer has broken achievements.
-Some of the side characters feel tacked on and get little part in the overall story.

Overall, I'd recommend this game to anyone who loves old school styled RPGs and enjoys the RPG Maker style of graphics. Personally, I adore the style of RPG Maker's graphics and do not consider that a fault. The game tells a nice simple story of some fun characters and I had a blast playing it and look forward to playing some more of the dev's other games.

Do you remember the olden days of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and what not ? This game looks like it would be the same, but do not be deceived, it is not. I tried to give it a chance, but the dreadful characters, the nonsensical way of doing things, the constant "poisoned/tired" cycle, the fact that you do not heal up when levelling up (wasn't that a thing once ?) and the way your characters express emotions in conversations (*chuckles* ? Could you not just have drawn a different portrait to show the emotional state of the one talking ? And while I am mentioning portraits..why do they look so weird ?) are quite off-putting.

I've spent 3 hours in the game and this is what I experienced story-wise in wall of text form :

Intro : Some God gets summoned to the home of a witch. She tells him that there are 3 stars and he should suck out their bodily powers. The God is not convinced, but the witch throws out some valid arguments and he realizes, that sucking their bodily powers out is probably a good thing to do. He then kills the witch, but *chuckles* had forgotten to ask the witch who the stars were. That's why he's gonna create some sort of trap to catch them. End of Intro.

You are a guy with a serious attitude problem and have to bring some stuff to your parents. You meet an elven girl in front of your parents house, which leads to a conversation in which you express your dislike for her for no particular reason.
She then vanishes, you deliver the goods and decide to go look for her. You find her in a bathing suit and argue with her some more. You get attacked by the pond spirit. The elven girl helps you defeat the evil pond queen, which apparently was mad, because you saw the elven girl in her bathing suit. The elven girl vanishes again. You are going home.
Your chameleon pet is missing and you're off to find it. You do find it and fight elves,who were apparently also mad that you saw the elven girl in her bathing suit. The elven girl helps you out and vanishes after some more arguing, but she is telling you to meet her in some cave.
You now know that she is your neighbour or something and you ask people where that cave is. You go to that cave. You meet her in the cave in a bathing suit, you argue with her. You fight a dragon with her. She vanishes again after more arguing.
You learn about some sort of trial to get enrolled in some sort of magical school for which you need a partner. You are called to visit your parents, who make you team up with the elven girl for that said trial. You both argue.
You are off to the trial, flipping lots of switches and meeting a living flame, which constantly says PEEKABOO. You kill a ghost. You let the girl touch the crystal, because your guy does not like pink. You finish the trial.
You have to duel 2 other guys to win the trial for good. You are the winner.
You are supposed to be taken on some sort of convoy to the school town, but your hero decides that he'd rather walk there on foot all by himself for no particular reason. You and the elf argue.
You are off to walk to the town, being pursued by the guards who were gonna escort you to the town, which you then proceed to kill. You narrowly escape, despite having killed them (at least I did, since they kept bumping into me over and over in an endless cycle of combat until they were gone for good) and the girl breaks her leg. You argue.
You break into a witch hut and acquire something to help the girl's leg. You are being surprised by the witch, who is understandibly unhappy that someone broke into her hut. You kill the witch with no remorse. You help the girl out and there's more stupid banter.
I quit the game.

Now if any of that tickled your fancy, then go ahead, you will probably have fun in a grindy, weird way just like I put up with it for a while. But eventually you will realize, that matters do not seem to improve at all and you begin to question, why you're not playing one of your other 100 games instead. Or even one of the old SNES rpgs. So many choices, why would you go for this ? WHY ?

3 Stars of Destiny is an action adventure / RPG, which was developed by Aldorlea Games.


The evil orc Ozur has discovered some powerful energy that will make him completely and totally unstoppable! It’s up to you to prevent Ozur from gathering this energy as you quest to the 3 Stars of Destiny! Customize your character’s abilities and skills in this exciting role-playing game. Explore mysterious lands as you travel far away from your home and finally confront Ozur.


+ Game world where every stone is worth turning over
+ exciting story
+ Customizable characters
+ Immersive atmosphere
+ coherent soundtrack and graphics
+ tons of jobs to do
+ many weapons and magic are available
+ Achievements and Trading Cards


- Key assignment not always well chosen


3 Stars of Destiny is an entertaining role playing game. If you like final fantasy type games, you will enjoy this game too.

I wanted to like this game. I REALLY did. but 20 minutes in and I was completely disappointed not just with the experience the game was trying to provide, but with EVERYTHING. Starting off with one of the minor characters saying "(dies)", moving on to the main character being named "Random" (Seriously? "Random"? Naming your dog "Fluffy" is more creative) to even the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ with the inns. The items are expensive enough already, but then to have the inns charge half of your current amount just makes the problem so much worse.

The story was bull, Random's motivation for looking for the elf chick right at the start comes off as stupid at best and xenophobic ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥-ry at worst. Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but that's how it came off to me, personally. Add in a VERY generic and boring story, a just as weak battle-system exacerbated by very VERY low money drops, and I quit 20 minutes in.

The absolute worst thing you can do in a game is make somebody so bored that they not only ask "When does this get fun?" but bore them into quitting and swearing never to play the game again. I'm not kidding when I say that I don't even want to get the cards for this game, because it would mean having to keep it going for over two hours. And really, that's two hours I could spend playing just about any other game I own and having a better time. Approach with high caution if you wish, but prepare yourself for a lot of disappointment. I came into this game with low expectations, and this game failed to meet even THAT high.

Overall I liked 3 Stars of Destiny. It is an oldschool style rpg with a mix of interesting characters and some humor. The combat system is solid, it has good level design, lots of secrets, challenges, and achievements. With that being said, if you do not like snes style rpgs, there's probably not much I can do to convince you to like it. You either like this style of game, or you hate it. Nothing I'm typing here will change your mind if you hate RPG maker games. Please do note that unlike most reviews, I have actually completed the game. I would say it takes a good 25-30 hours on regular difficulty. On to the details...

The characters are unique without spoiling anything. There are some interesting ones and later in the game you get to split up the party into 3 groups so choices do matter. There's often funny banter between characters. Gameplay is pretty standard for an RPG. You will need to grind a bit to get some levels, but combat is pretty fun. Money will be in short supply until late in the game, so grinding isn't too bad or painful. There are also achievements and optional fights that are quite challenging. The dungeons, both indoor and outdoor are pretty massive. There are TONS of secrets and a lot of achievements and the game has replayability if you're inclined. You can try a speedrun, beat it on hard mode, find all hidden areas, etc. Also, if you do decide to get the game, without being a spoiler, be sure to check out the swamp area fully. There is a missable character and dungeon if just blast through it hastily!

The one negative point I would mention about 3 stars is the plot. I will admit the plot is weak and somewhat illogical at times. I would say that the later levels feel almost surrealist in nature as far as the theme of different level areas. If Salvador Dali created an RPG maker game, this might come close to it! Due to this, I would say that I really prefer Aldorlea's other massive RPG, the Book of Legends, over 3 stars. TBoL has a more cohesive plot and a ton of characters so I would recommend you try that one first.

So what makes 3 stars worth it if the plot isn't that spectacular? The gameplay and characters are both good and it's a very solid game overall. Interaction between the characters is pretty funny at times and that keeps things interesting. Great dungeons, fun combat, some tough optional bosses give it the core of a good RPG. Add in lots of replayability and steam achievements and trading cards and it's a good buy. If you like Aldorlea RPGs, it's solid and a lot of fun. If you're on the fence about this one, I'd say try The Book of Legends first for a more cohesive plot. You can also download a playable demo of both games from Aldorlea's site that will let you play the full game for an hour, just to get an idea of the characters and style. Hope this helps!

Problem with most RPGMaker games is that when you played couple of them you have seen most they have to offer and with every new one will be more and more similar to another. There are only couple that stand out from the crowd and this one unfortunately isn't one of them. And this RPGMaker clunkiness almost everywhere, you can create games easier but it have price which is quality and lack on unique look and feel. So if you game don't have great story, levels or something that make it better that countless other similar games then you will have mediocre game at best :/

Follow my Curator page, Fruit N Doggie Reviews, so you can be updated whenever I post a new review.

Having recently gone so far back in my gaming history as to review Millennium – A New Hope (NH), I also decided to review another game I own from Aldorlea Games, 3 Stars of Destiny (3S). It was released only a month prior to the other title, which doesn't seem like the best way of handling the game development process.

Making the game itself is a time commitment, and to release another RPG Maker game so soon provides no space for feedback. Where there are no differences between how the two games function, neither will there be a difference in what I wrote about the other game. I figure fair's fair. So if I didn't care for the following release, will I find the unrelated predecessor any better?


I don't suppose it will shock anyone that with 3S being another RPG Maker game released at nearly the same time as NH that the two are similar to each other. However, a different version of that tool seems to have been used, as the design and style doesn't seem to be the same. In some ways they made it nearly identical, such as when you complete a quest, they announce it boldly. On the other hand, there seems to be a slightly stronger emphasis for finding items in the open, such as the plentiful amount of apples, acorns, and eggs in the fields.

Additionally, though you can choose your difficulty, there wasn't an option for guiding arrows to navigate you around. At its core though, it's a mediocre RPG Maker game, with all the standard fare. Turn-based combat, random encounters, branching pathways, hidden items, and NPCs that don't have much to offer. The level and quest design really seems to rely on looping around in circles though.


This is one area that is a mixed bag, as in some respects I'm fine with how the mouse controls work: Navigating menus, fighting enemies, and all other gameplay functions are mapped to the mouse efficiently and logically. However, the downside to using the mouse is navigating the environment, because the pathway tracking could be better. If you click on an open space you can go, but there's an obstacle in the way, your character might walk right into it and get stuck, instead of going around it.

I found it worked better here than compared to NH, but I think that might be because of how the environments were designed. They're not so cluttered or have as many twists and turns. So they literally took two steps backwards when releasing their next game.


3S makes a really bad first impression because the main character is a colossal jerk. Oddly enough his name is Random, which comes across a bit like they gave up or something, especially since an elf companion has the basic name Sarah by contrast. An unlikable character can work, but typically they either need some justification for why they're behaving that way, it's a tough facade hiding a softer side, or they eat humble pie when someone else smacks some common sense and manners into them. In theory, at some point that happens, but the further I went into the game, he just seemed to keep doubling down on having no redeemable qualities.

“You invited me here because you thought I might appreciate seeing a pretty young elf in a bikini? As if. You've wasted my time, when all I want to do is go back to my hut and brood with my talking chameleon. He's all the friend I need.” He's the kind of person that would turn winning the lottery into a negative somehow. “Now everyone is going to ask me for some of my money. The greedy jerks. Why can't they just leave me alone?”


The stock images used for the enemies in 3S seems to have a different style compared to NH, but it's certainly not any better. In fact, with one of the early bosses being a dragon represented by just its head and some of its neck, it might be even worse this time. Additionally, I found the character portraits to be particularly ugly, when you should at least make your main characters look good. You'll fight a few more enemy types in the early areas, such as the living undead, but they couldn't miss an opportunity to include giant insects too.


Although the game does have music for enemy encounters, I was rather surprised when I realized that much of the background music while exploring is merely ambient noise. For instance, the fields surrounding the village merely play the sort of noise you'd expect from a relaxing nature CD. It sort of works I suppose, but it isn't really what I expect out of an RPG. Not without a much stronger emphasis in the story about nature to complete the theme and tie it together. Even then, pairing it with gentle music would be more interesting to listen to. It could certainly be worse, but the better RPGs tend to have quality music to go along with it.


🌟 There were still some annoying status effects, but the wasp enemy kept dropping cures to deal with the poison status it could cause. To me that's a reasonable way to balance the matter and not make it so annoying. Also, it's true that the blob that made my party tired wasn't dropping a cure for it, but the nearby elf shop sold them for a very low cost. So be sure to support your local businesses and stock up.
🌟 Your party members get useful spells early on, such as healing. That helps quite a lot.


❌ Zig zagging to and fro in the starting areas got kind of old. “Off to the village. Back to the hut. Let's check out that field. My parents need me so back to the village. I should check on my pet back in the hut. Oh no, he's not here. Maybe he's in that field again.” Change the location for crying out loud!
❌ With a life changing test coming up, you'd think Random's parents would prepare him for it better. Especially since he'll have to leave for two years. What more could they ask for?!
❌ You can only save at save points. How often they're placed in the area depends on the game difficulty you select, which could be really annoying for hard mode.


🔍 Purchase a good amount of healing items so you can recover from attacks and status effects without having to pay the save rabbits an exhaustive amount for a full heal. It's a rip off.
🔍 If you're looking for all the hidden rooms, it lets you know which number you just found. This would be somewhat of a hint as to where you may have missed others.
🔍 Save whenever you can at the save points. It beats wasting time from lost progress.


The lack of engaging fights or visuals reinforces the idea that this is another lackluster RPG Maker game produced by Aldorlea Games. However, what stood out as the worst offender to me this time was the writing in the story. Random is such an unlikable prick. He lives by himself in the dangerous, monster-infested forest instead of with his parents in the village because he knows better than they do about staying safe. For such a weakling he's rather cocky about his strength, dismisses the helpful elf who tries being nice to him, and takes on a my way or the highway attitude as if there's any reason why he should be in charge.

When Sarah gets hurt and is in pain, he still treats her like dirt, and that was where my tolerance ended. With his lousy attitude, I just want him kicked out of the party and replaced with someone far more deserving. Since that didn't happen though, I dropped the game he was starring in so I didn't have to deal with his nonsense anymore.