Customer Reviews

Lost Magic

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

About Lost Magic for the DS...
This was one of those games that you either love or hate, and has been getting a lot of mixed reviews. I decided to rent it from GameFly, and liked it so much I bought it outright. I will say this about it, it's slow to get into for about the first hour or so, but if you stick with it, it gets better, and you can even go back and repeat maps for extra experience. If you liked Pokemon, Dragon Warrior Monsters and games of their ilk, I think you should give this one a shot.

Note:
The Bad:
You will be re-playing certain maps over and over usually due to the strict time limit or your monster's lack-of-pathfinding skills. And if you can't sketch the runes (or, like my hubby, can't draw anything at all) this game will be an exercise in frusteration.

But, if you are willing to overlook these small issues, you'll find a creative rts/rpg hybrid that really does use the touch screen of the ds to great effect without being gimmicky.

Folks, THIS is the sort of thing that simply CAN'T be done on any other system. Pehaps, if they deign to make a sequel they could get rid of the stupid time limit, work on the AI intellegence, and fix the rollercoaster difficulty. Yes, it's hard, but fun, and I find I keep picking it up to play again-and-again when I swore I wouldn't play it anymore..

The Good:
LostMagic is kind of an action RPG, but it's sort of an RTS, with a few puzzle and strategy RPG elements (as well as monster-catching) thrown in the mix. It broke down such genre barriers with the power of the stylus. That's why it's such a great title.

You are primarily in control of Isaac, and you also direct a host of monsters that you capture and then add to your ranks based on a "unit points" system. Both you and the monsters will gain experience points for defeating enemies. How you defeat them is up to you.

Depending on whether you're left or right handed, you will use either the L or R button to call up the rune screen to enter a rune to cast magic. There a total of 18 runes (3 levels of runes for 6 elements) that you learn throughout the game. Mid-way through the game you'll be able to combine any two runes for a unique spell using the Duo Rune feature. And, if you take the "good ending" path, you will even be able to execute a limited number of Trio Runes. Yeah, the magic system is hot.

During battles, the top screen shows all information along with a zoomed out map. The bottom screen is the field where the action takes place. Using the stylus, you can cast magic, move you and your monsters around, and check the stats of enemy units.

Battles may have one of any number of objectives, including the standard "kill your enemies" or "kill the big boss." There are also "escape from the battle" and "purify the crystals" (sort of a "king of the hill" objective). Every single battle (even random encounters) comes with a time limit (usually five minutes, sometimes three or ten minutes). Even if you're an expert at all the genres of gameplay represented, I promise you this game will be a challenge. Plan on losing more often than winning.

The reason for the number of exceedingly high losses (besides the tight time limits) is that you really need to learn and master spells, as well as plan a decent strategy, before taking on any serious battle. I found that area-based explosions were very helpful most of the time, but they alone cannot do the trick when it comes to taking down rival magicians. You'll also need to discover for yourself the various forms of healing magic, enhancing magic, and enfeebling magic. There is no in-game guide; you learn the spells by experimenting and then reading the description for the attempted spell.

HP and MP are also a significant factor in gameplay. MP regenerates when you stand around not casting magic. MP will regenerate faster if you purify crystals and stand near said crystals. This definitely adds to the strategy factor.

Throw in a decent competitive multiplayer option for kicks, and LostMagic is a clear victor for DS RPGs. I had so much fun with this title, and it challenged me in so many ways, I simply have to recommend it for its gameplay if for nothing else.

I liked the idea of drawing spells to cast them, and it really is pretty neat, but it takes so much time to cast spells that I sometimes have trouble keeping up with the action happening around me. The AI in this game is pretty non-existant. If you tell your units to run around a corner they just get stuck on the corner and don't move anymore. So I guess almost no pathing or AI.

There is like 300 spells i think in the game. Which sounds cool, but most are just variations of each other, and half of them are pointless. Like cure poisen, i can't really tell when a friendly unit is poisned much less draw 2 runes back to back just to cure it, especially when the poisen barely hurts the unit and goes away fairly fast.

Most of that sounds bad, but for some reason i keep playing the game! haha. I guess I like the rpg part, where you and your captured creatures grow in level. I usually still beat games that i don't love just so i can get my moneys worth. ;)

Oh ya, and another thing... When you spend all this time to train your units to become strong, you might not realize you can go back to the place where you got the units and capture them again and they are almost or just as high level as the ones you have been leveling.. *sigh*

Sorry this was sort of a negitave post. Like i said, i'm still playing it and i do enjoy it. Just wish it was better.

Why will it frustrate the living crap out of you?

1. Spells, either you'll mix them up or sometimes, even though you draw the symbols correctly, the game won't recognize it.

2. Your main character keeps rushing to the front and gets himself killed...I even try moving him to the back but sometimes I gotta move them all and he eventually goes to the front. Very frustrating...

3. If you die, you start back in the map and when you go back to the quest, you go through all the talking or whatever all over again...I wish I can just restart the level and get it over with or at least give me the option to do so...

4. Monsters get blocked by walls or objects. Like they dont have enough brains to maneuveur themselves around stuff. They get stuck and you gotta go and move them around the object, imagine doing this when ur busy fighting something or racing against the clock.

5. I sort of hate the clock thing, you always gotta rush. There's more but that's my main complaint.

So seriously, if you have high blood pressure, avoid. It has its cool addictive side, but its really old school. Try it out, but if it pisses you off, you have been warned. This game might lower the life of your DS, if you know what I mean.

This game is mostly drawing spells. Which can be fun at some times. Graphics basic 2d bout not the really bad 2d. You may think "Wow over 350 spells" well it is true but some are just upgrades rather then completly now ones. The Wifi is the best part. (screen name cheesepuff) You also get some cool monsters but half are just different element of the same monster or a repaint of it. But its cool. Its challeng and fun. A nice rpg that brings out the ds's main feature the touch screen. Also you can send a demo to another person. Id suggest renting or getting a demo first because this game gets mixed reviews. Overall is preety good. (wonder if theres going to be a lost magic 2)

I was very excited about this game when i rented it a few weeks ago, and boy was I not dissappointed! Awesome gameplay, mixing both RTS and RPG elements into a near flawless blend of w00tness.

That being said, there are SOME flaws to this great game. The monsters you use lack any sort of AI what-so-ever, which means guiding them through maze like levels and trying not to get them caught on walls. The time limit makes it interesting, but it feels like the developers didn't go through the game and test to see if the times were actually do-able, (ie, they're very difficult missions in some places).

Though all in all, the spells make up for it. you draw out the spells on the touch screen, the more acurataly you draw them, the more powerful they are. With over 390 spell combos, its very worthwhile to test all of them out!

Overall, I give this game a four star rating!

I got this game expecting it to be interesting, the description sounded interesting enough. But playing it... ugh. It's got to be one of the worst games ever made. The process of writing the runes takes so long and all the while whatever you fighting is still moving. The character moves very slowly so even in the part where they told you to outrun the enemy, it's not possible. So you stand and fight except then you run out of magic. So you have to sit and wait for it to charge all the while waiting being smacked down by the bad guys and then when your finally charged, you have to go back to writing more runes, again while the bad guys are smacking you around. Needless to say, your not going to survive for long.

This game is horrible. It's so horrible I actually offered to give it to two separate friends after lending it to them and they both said 'No way in he**'. I strongly recommend avoiding.

I got this game, and It's a lot of fun!!! You get to be Isaac, a young boy who was seperated from his parents, and now has to save the world from evil forces. Their were only a few problems I saw with it.

1 This game is very repetative. You do the same spells over, and over, and over again. Eventually you won't even have to look at the touch screen to dnow what spell to cast.

2. Sometimes the game thinks that I lift the stilus off the touch screen when I don't and that usually gets me killed.

3. In this game their are time limits for as to how long you have to complete the mission. THEY"RE REDICULOUSE!!! They expect you to beat an extremely hard boss, who heals himself everytime you think you've killed him, and they expect you to do that in under 10 minutes. It just doesn't work.

So if your in to games that are EXTREMELY repetative, a little bit of a challenge, and really fast pace, this game is for you!!!

bought this for my nephew and all i got to say is it shiped fast and a great game for little ones

Got the game for less then ten dollars. Its pretty good the gameplay is where its at but the story is boring and predictable. Casting spells with the stylus is neat and the combat is all real time so you awlays have to stay attentive as you die pretty quick. Its an rpg and action adventure and a little bit of rts blended into one. It has three endings, and wi-fi battles but haven't found a single person playing. Good game, worth it for the cheap prices you can find now.

A very fun game where you draw with your stylus to perform various spells. The game is very fun but has a few annoying glitches where your summoned creatures will not move as you expect them to or will get stuck and not keep together.

It's easy to overlook it as this game came out on the original DS and still remains untouched as there are very few games like it. The different combinations of spells you could create was tons of fun and for a person who does not like RTS games, I thoroughly enjoyed this one.