Let's play Secret of the Stars

I blame peer pressure and my own poor judgement for this. Let's get started.

Secret of the Stars is a very generic SNES-era RPG, published by Tecmo; it's not very good and mostly stands out for the utterly ridiculous translation. The graphics are pretty goofy, too.

Let's kick things off with the introduction.

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I'm sure you're all immediately struck by the high-quality graphics in this game.





So what's going on here is, we're barging into an old man's house so he can tell us a story. That's how all RPGs start, right?



Of course, he makes us go all the way over to find the book ourselves.





I have the strangest feeling that this is going to be a story about an adventure. I don't know where I got that idea.



I don't entirely understand this intro, really. Mostly because both characters in here are in the actual game, as the hero and save point respectively. If this is supposed to be a framing device where the old man is telling the kid a story about his adventures, well, it gets kind of confusing seeing the same kid as the player's character. Also, I don't think the phrase "Stars of hope" is used in the actual game, but I could be misremembering that.

Anyhow, after that exciting and totally relevant and clarifying introduction, we get a little light show before the title screen.






Really exciting, I know. Anyways, apparently the point of all that was to summon the logo.



And now we have our full title screen, featuring a plane that gets used maybe twice in the entire game.



I'm sure you can't wait for me to get started on uncovering the secret. I'll get to that once I'm up for providing actual decent commentary. Or in the morning, whichever comes first.

Don't be silly, it's not a framing device. The kid's just a time-travelling bibliothurge.

the old man used to look like the child
it's the circle of life
it's the neverending story

Medieval RPG with biplane?

Medieval RPG with biplane

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So now that I've taken three days, let's get this moving. The existing file is at endgame; I haven't beaten it yet, though. For those wondering, RAY is our hero's default name.



Anyhow, let's start up a new file. We've got six letters to make a name with and...



Wait, what? What?



You can use lowercase letters in your name? I honestly didn't realize that before. Let's see how this looks.



...Yeah, that's not out of place at all.



It's even worse in battle. Okay, let's try this again with ALL CAPS, the way God intended.



Much better. Now let's get going.



As soon as the game starts, we can move our BRAT around freely, and that means there's only one thing to do...



Loot the place for items! Which apparently we need to be told we both found and got. With double exclamation marks, too! Now that's some attention to detail.

Okay, we have our valuable loot. Let's ignore everything else here and head outside.



Wait, we can't leave. Perhaps this woman can explain the mysterious force holding us inside the house.


IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S GOING TO BE A NICE DAY TODAY.
ARE YOU STILL SEARCHING FOR THE CREST OF STARS?
THAT CREST WAS YOUR FATHER'S. IT IS VERY PRECIOUS TO YOU.
I HOPE YOU FIND IT.

Yes, this crest is so precious that you have to keep reminding us how precious it is. Although upcoming events suggest that apparently we haven't been looking that hard for it. We'll get to that in a bit.

BE VERY CAREFUL! WE HAVE HAD MANY EARTHQUAKES LATELY ON THE ISLAND.
THE EARTHQUAKES HAVE CAUSED MANY WILD ANIMALS TO INHABIT THIS ISLAND.

I'm sure this chain of logic makes sense to someone, but it isn't me.

Anyways, that didn't explain why we're stuck in this house at all, but now that we've talked to her, we can actually go outside. Before that, though, there's more looting to be done!



Here's a PLUM-PLUM, our creatively named basic healing item.



And here's 50 Gold in a pot, but apparently we got it without ever finding it. I mean, that's what the message suggests, right?



Well, now that we've looted the place, it's time to go outside.



Where we apparently have a bunch of squatters. They sometimes wander behind the trees and become nearly invisible, maybe this is why our mother figure hasn't chased them off.


Oh, hey, our mother figure has a name!

...WHAT? SHE DIDN'T SLEEP WELL?
NO WONDER SHE'S CRANKY. I HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS.

Or maybe she's cranky because you keep wandering around outside her house and won't go away. Sheesh, did you ever think of that?



THERE IS A JOURNEYMAN THERE WHO MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP YOU.

Yes, some guy passing through is sure to know where my dad's crest thingy is. I mean, I assume that's what you're talking about, that's the only thing anyone's suggested I need help with.




If you say Yes, he shoves a PLUM-PLUM into your inventory and says:

TRY EATING THEM WHEN YOU FEEL WEAK. THEY WILL GIVE YOU STRENGTH.

If you say No, he doesn't respond. You don't get a free PLUM-PLUM either.

Note that you can get more than one PLUM-PLUM by talking to this guy again. I don't think there's a limit other than your inventory size.



Anyhow, with our interrogations done, it's time to head it into the great big wide world!



Or not so big. Note that our house is just barely offscreen. Let's go into town, like one of our squatters suggested.



A text box informs us that yep, this is Likado. There isn't one back at home, in case anyone's wondering.



Wow, you sure do have useful things to say that we weren't told immediately upon entering town!



That is one weird sign. Do they sell old men in here?



Wait, this place looks kind of familiar.



REALLY familiar. Right down to the old man! Maybe he'll tell us a story.



Yes. His name is UNCLE SAVE.



And as you might guess, he'll let us save our game.



Well, let's get that done.



If we agree to keep going, he says:



And if we tell him we've had enough, we get this:



Then the screen fades out, leaving only UNCLE SAVE'S message, and we have to reset or shut the game off manually. Just like all the classics that use this kind of save process.

Well, now that we have a saved game, this seems like a decent time to take a break. We'll see more of the town next time.

Geez Fogel, it's pretty simple!

As earthquake frequency increases, human property value drops!
Human property value is inversely proportional to monster property value!

This island is basically Kensington to monsters is what I'm saying.

I want a PLUM-PLUM now. Fogel can you please get the maximum amount of PLUM-PLUMs

Are there advanced healing items in this game such as PEAR-PEARs and perhaps even MELON-MELON?

beetbeet

beetbeet

The most violent fruit of them all because it gives you hypertension and destroys all your blood vessels.

But wait, what about those rare and powerful RADISHRADISH? I've even heard they can even be used as weapons.

Let's not forget the CUCUMBER-CUCUMBER, which is only found in the most deep and depraved dungeons.

And then this thread was nothing but repeated fruits and vegetables for all eternity.