While it's inevitable to make comparisons with Final Fantasy Tactics, I assure you that I am judging this game purely on it's own merits and am only using FFT as a base that most people interested would relate to. That statement makes it easier to describe things like the graphics. Hoshigami is a spitting image of FFT. There, that was easy. Everything from the character sprites to the square, multi tiered environments will be immediately recognizable. Personally, I'm a fan of this style, and the game does look very good. The character portraits are nice, and the spell effects are colorful and well animated.

The sound, or more to the point music, fairs equally as well. There is no voice acting, and the sound effects are fitting but not outstanding. The music on the other hand is actually quite incredible. It takes a stand out soundtrack for me to even make mention in a review. It has a symphonic sound with rock undertones, and is filled with energy. You definitely won't need to turn the sound down or off while you play, as you'll enjoy listening to the battle, story and menu themes.

Now that we've scratched past the surface features of the game we can get down to what really makes Hoshigami tick. Therein lies a large amount of potential and some serious pitfalls. Let's start with a short recap. SRPGs are likened to a chess match where strategic turn-based moves comprise the bulk of the gameplay. You control a set of characters on a grid (like a chess board) facing off against enemies, except that there are hills and structures on the landscape. Generally one is given the ability to move and perform an action during their turn, but this is the first place where Hoshigami tries something different. They've implemented a "Ready for Action Point" (RAP) system that lets you do as much as you can in a given turn, as long you don't run out of points. This means that you could potentially attack, use magic, and heal all in one turn. Outside of the strategy, the rest is standard RPG fare where you get snippets of the story and have a chance to visit a store and organize your party.

There's so much to this game that it's difficult to pick a place to start. The beginning of the game is a little overwhelming, and with that comes a very steep learning curve. You're greeted with a tutorial in the options menu to try and explain some of the details, but it's all text based and hard to follow. I found that once I got in the game and experimented a little I still didn't see the results I expected. Each character in the game has an alignment to a certain elemental force. Each force supposedly has an affinity to a certain weapon and takes a penalty with another. It sounds like a good idea, and it would constrain your characters to a more class based system. The problem is, I still can't see any affect, either good or bad, from equipping different weapons. A character that has a devotion to the Fire element is supposed to get a bonus from using a sword and a demerit for using a spear, but that character doesn't get any more of a stat boost from a sword than say a wind follower would.

Since we're on the topic of elements, it seems like a good place to talk about their role in the game (a role I feel is too big). Each of the characters in your party starts with a devotion to a certain element. The elements are all linked to each other in a circle. It's your run of the mill fire beats water beats wind type of circle, only in Hoshigami it's taken very, very seriously. First of all, you have a devotion to your element that grows like experience points, and when it reaches a new level, you've earned a new skill. At any time on the world map, you can visit a Temple to change your devotion to another element. There are restrictions such as only changing to an element that is of lower devotion and on the opposing side of the circle. Obviously by changing your devotion you can learn a different set of skills. To be blunt, the skills are lame and give you no reason to want to excel in your devotion or to switch to another. Some examples of skills you earn would be Hit +10%, Devotion pts +10%, Evade +20%, or raised stats close to death. Not exactly a celebratory affair.

Out on the battlefield, the game is obnoxiously difficult, and one of the leading reasons is, once again, the elements. I understand wanting to make some characters stronger against certain enemies and not others, but Hoshigami blows it way out of proportion. Hit percentages and damage done are all influenced by which elements are engaged in battle. It the beginning, it gets so bad that a regular spear carrying mercenary from your party could move 4 spaces to come face to face with an enemy just to find a 23% hit percentage and 13 points of damage staring them in the face. The low percentages and low damage are the norm too and not the exception. It makes fighting a frustrating experience because even though you can attack three times in a round, you may miss every single time. You're only really okay if you always attack a weaker element from the rear, but that can't always be done and leaves you quite vulnerable to counterattack. Some may argue that they're forcing more strategic battles, but I argue that they are just sucking the fun out of the game.

The next piece of the gameplay puzzle is the magic system because, well, you can't have an RPG without magic. The magic in Hoshigami is stored in coins. The confeigm system, as it is called, consists of engraving seals onto the coins to alter their stats and then equipping them on a character. Anyone can equip and cast any spell, but characters of certain elements are more inclined to confeigm use. The seals that you buy or earn can be engraved alone or in pairs to alter things like casting cost (from your RAP gauge) and area of effect. Once again, there is potential in the engraving, but it's a bunch of trial and error to figure out what each seal will do for each type of coin. Not to mention that my preference certainly does not lie with simply giving characters magic as opposed to earning it.

The final chapter in the book that is Hoshigami gameplay is the session system. Sessioning is difficult to pull off, but it could reap sweet rewards for your party. Sessioning is simply attacking your opponent with combo hits, but how you accomplish it is not so simple. It would take too long to explain all the details, but in short, you must end your turn by choosing "session" instead of "defend". This places the character in a ready state for the combo. If you shoot, or push, an enemy into a sessioning ally then they will shoot them as well. This can go on throughout your whole party if each one of them is ready for it and in the right position. You can imagine that this is only feasible once you've stricken down the bulk of the enemy force, but for killing a foe with a session attack you will net yourself a weapon or skill or other accessories.

So you've got overly emphasized elements, a hit or miss magic creation system, and some pretty addicting session attacks. How does it all play out in actual gameplay? Kind of blasé and very frustrating to tell you the truth. Right from the start they throw you into some difficult uphill battles. No, literally, the beginning battles have the enemy (lots of them) on top of a hill raining arrows and magic down on your head. With the right combination, you could lose a character in two hits from the bad guys. And when I say lose a character, I mean lose them for good. There is no reviving during or after a battle. If you want a replacement you have to buy one from town. This is so weak. I say the battles are difficult, which is cool as we all like a challenge, but it's asking too much to try to win without suffering any casualties. Losing a character stinks too because you invested time and money leveling them up so they'll be useful in a fight. So then you have to repeat the process all over again with your new mercenary. This is again a frustrating affair because the battles are hellishly long, like easily over an hour apiece. Imagine playing through the majority of that hour only to lose one of your favored characters. There is no in-fight save, so what do you do? Reset and try again without losing anyone, or go on and accept the fact that you will have to raise another warrior?

I know there are a lot of FFT fans out there that are lined up to pick up Hoshigami, and you could have counted me in with them. I was overwhelmed at first, but I had high hopes for these new systems to pan out. Instead, as the game progressed, I just got more and more frustrated. Hoshigami isn't a broken game, and I believe there will be people who can accept the terms to enjoy it and sing its praises. All I ask before you rush out and buy the game is that you read about what you're getting into, take my comments into consideration, and keep your expectations in check.