Name: Square of the Moon! (60.00% in 18 votes) Type: RPG Platform: WINDOWS Company: Alicesoft Release date: 2001 Reviewed by: Gastalt
This is a new Role playing/Simulation release from AliceSoft...It's ambiance seems to be like that of Pastel Chime.
Story/Game play/System:
The story starts off with another moon appearing in the sky, people begin to call
it the new moon.
When Ryo Hamura(it's possible to change his name) is coming home from school late one night, he runs into a girl with red eyes.
She tells him that she'd like him to fight along with her...
The Game play of consists of 3 types of game genre; Training Sim, RPG, and Adventure.
Monday-Friday you will be able to build up Ryo's stats by doing several combat exercises.
Saturday you will be able to do your training with one of the characters, male or female.
This will help you to build a relationship with that character.
On Sunday the door of the other dimension(called the Interval) is opened, and can only stay open for a limited amount of time(you will see a timer going as you move). It's wise to build up you and you partners' experience levels before moving up to other floors, as the enemies get tougher as you progress upward. You will only be allowed to take two people along with you(going by yourself is also an option). You will be able to pick partners, buy items and combine magic stones you've found in the interval, in the club room. Saving is possible when you are about to leave to the other dimension.
There's also the option to go back to the club house or to battle.
Inside the "Interval" there are lots of traps(your partners will warn you of most hazards before hand)and enemies can surprise attack you.
The fight system is pretty simple,(many of the monsters are present by a small sprite on the map and you can choose to fight by running to the enemy)kind of like Pastel Chime's battle system. You can also obtain a fragment of moon rock if you explore the dungeons enough.
When HP is low, there is an option to rest which will refresh the party's HP, but it will take some of your time(using heals and
poison cures will not). The adventure part is the least difficult part of the game. Most of the talking goes on during the day
when you are in class and at major events. I was impressed by the part of this game system that let you "roam" around the Interval instead of kinda standing in one little block waiting your turn to move.
Art:
The CG work is very cute!! I think this is some of their best work!
One major change is that you won't see any cute female "baddies" to attack and see "H" stuff with in this game,the monsters are really "monsters" this time(lol). Even without cute bad guys to attack, you will get your fill of cute girls anyway, because all of the club member's are soooo cute...Even the guys! I was also impressed by the anime movie opening as well!
Music/Sound/Voice Acting:
I notice that all of Alice Soft's game musics' are wonderful! I liked all of the themes in this game!
Musical Scores blend in with the characters individual personalities and the games occult like
ambiance. They even made a vocal opening theme this time around(called A Night comes!) There is some minor voice acting in the game, when you go into battles and while you are in the interval.
Overall/Recommendations:
This game is well worth your time if you love RPGs and lots of beautifully done CG, and Music.
Any Die-Hard Alice Soft game fan will love this!
