LostMagic

Infobox VG| title = LostMagic


developer = Taito / Garakuta Studio
publisher = Taito (Japan)
Ubisoft (North America)
designer = Yoshiharu Sato
engine =
released = vgrelease|Japan|JPN|January 19, 2006
vgrelease|United States of America|USA|April 25, 2006
vgrelease|Europe|EUR|April 27, 2006
vgrelease|Australia|AUS|April 28, 2006
genre = RTS, RPG
modes = Story Mode, Local Multiplayer, Wi-Fi Multiplayer
ratings = ESRB: Everyone
OFLC: PG
platforms = Nintendo DS
media =
requirements =
input = Touch Screen

nihongo|"LostMagic"|ロストマジック|Rosuto Majikku|often spelled as "Lost Magic" is a real-time strategy game for the Nintendo DS system, although it was advertised as a combination of role-playing game and real-time strategy ["One part RPG, one part RTS. Ubisoft's Wi-Fi ready game's coming next month." IGN. [http://ds.ign.com/articles/697/697105p1.html] . March 20, 2006] . It is developed by Taito Corporation and supports the Nintendo WiFi Connection.

Plot

The storyline of the game centers on a young mage named Isaac whose father Russell, has left Isaac in the possession of the Wand of Light, one of seven powerful wands which allows him to cast damaging, healing, and other spells, and also capture and control opposing monsters. Isaac got separated from his parents when he was little, and was raised by a forest witch in the arts of magic. Things start to change when Isaac meets a mysterious girl... who is she, and why are so many monsters popping up?

Gameplay

There are two primary elements to this real-time strategy game: the magic system, and the use of captured monsters as soldiers.

Magic

Since mages, such as the one the player controls, cannot physically attack, the player must rely on magic. The player can launch a wide variety of magical spells by drawing runes on the DS's touch screen. Runes drawn more accurately result in more powerful spells. However, some runes are easier to draw than others, and drawing runes slowly may leave the player open to attacks. There are 18 different runes. The elements of magic that the player can use in LostMagic are: fire, water, earth, light, dark, and wind.

Magic combination

Not too far into the game the player will be able to fuse runes, one example being fusing Fire 2 (explosion) and water 1 (ice shot) to make an explosion of ice. However, the combination of Ice 1 followed by Fire 2 is a completely different spell. Around the end of the game the player can fuse 3 runes together, creating 6498 new combination possibilities; however, some of these fail to work. In all there are 396 different spells. When used in combination, typically the first rune determines the effect of the spell, and the other(s) determine its elemental type. For example, any Duo Rune (a Combo of two runes) starting with Fire 2 will be an explosion of some type. The variety of spells in LostMagic leads to a greater depth of gameplay.

Monsters

Most enemies can be captured with certain spells, and then brought out to fight for the player in later battles. There are a total of 62 monsters the player can collect. Player-controlled monsters fight with the same artificial intelligence as computer-controlled enemies. The player can give movement commands by selecting one or a group of monsters with the stylus, but more specific controls are not possible. Ultimately, the monsters control themselves, since if they get too close to a monster they will automatically run towards it and attack. The monsters can be leveled up to a maximum of level 50. Their stats slowly increase as they level up. In addition, their stats can be further boosted by "buff-up" spells, as well as items.

Items

In addition to the stat boosting spells, there are a set of items the player can equip them with. The items work by boosting a stat by a percentage, rather than a fixed value. The player can also collect higher level versions of the items he already has. Lower level items tend to be found at the beginning of the game while higher level items tend to be found near the end of the game and are rarer than other items.

Characters

Isaac Lightbrad

The main protagonist and the character the player plays as. In the good path, he gets a new wand and becomes the Sage of Hope, while in the evil path, he hunts down the other Sages and eventually gets killed by the Diva of the Twilight.

Trista Windell (Wind Caller Priestess)

The Sage of Wind, she is the sister of the Diva of the Twilight and her former master was The Master of the Curtain Mist. She first meets Isaac by literally falling out of the sky and onto him.

She later reveals to him that she is the Sage of Wind magic and gives him the second level wind rune. On the good path, Isaac later fights her for the Lost Magic of Wind and when she loses, gives him the Lost Magic of Wind, while at the same time, being sad that she wasn't strong enough to defeat him. At the end, she will save the Diva of the Twilight if the player picks the right choices while talking to her. In the evil path, she plays an important role in the Isaac finds out that the Diva of the Twilight didn't kill her and is given the option to finish her off, or fight the Diva of the Twilight. Note the if the Wind Sage dies by your hand, the Lost rune of Wind will not be given.

Leonard Davia (Jester of the Prime Moon)

He appears to Isaac early in the game, as a friend and fellow Magician-in-training. He also teaches Isaac how to capture monsters.

Leonard is the sage of darkness. Later in the game, he is under the control of the Diva of the Twilight's magic and Isaac must fight him. Upon defeating him, the player is bestowed the Lost Magic of Darkness and Leonard then explains the Lost Magics. Also, on the good path, Leonard will take you to meet his mother, who is in fact an Elder Dragon, and she will teach Isaac an ancient technique called the "trio rune," which, unlike the duo rune, will only let you make certain combinations instead of letting you make too many combinations. In the ending of the good path, he disappears, along with the other monsters. In the evil path, however, Isaac hunts him down and ultimately kills him.

Russell Lightbrad (Bishop of the White Night)

Isaac's father and the Sage of Light. He confronts the Diva of the Twilight in the beginning of the game and is soon presumed dead.

Later, it is revealed to Isaac the his father is alive and he soon ventures off to Runedolf, only to find that his father is under the control of the Diva of the Twilight's magic. Leonard then reveals to Isaac that Russel isn't actually under the Diva's control, and Isaac later fights him for the Lost Magic of Light. In the ending to the good path, Russel returns home to his family, wounded. In the evil path, he rematches Isaac and is soon killed.

Popokura (Master of the Curtain Mist)

The Sage of Water and Trista's former master. He confronts Isaac at the beginning of the game while under the Diva's control and awards Isaac the second level Water rune, and the power to combine other runes and forge "Duo Runes," after getting defeated by him.

In the good path, he rematches Isaac for the Lost Magic of Water and soon awards Isaac the Lost Magic for defeating him again.

In the evil path, Isaac kills him and he soon finds the rune for the Lost Magic of Water.

Christiva (Lord of the Summer Haze)

The Sage of Fire. She kidnaps Trista while Isaac is fighting an evil mage. Isaac later rescues Trista from her grasp and defeats her. Christiva then bestows him the second level fire Rune.

In the good path, she rematches Isaac for the Lost Magic of Fire and soon awards Isaac the Lost Magic for defeating her again. In the evil path, Isaac kills her and he soon finds the rune for the Lost Magic of Fire.

Geh Olg (General of the Gravel Stone)

The Sage of Earth. His student is a powerful seer who lives in a tower in the desert. He is confronted by the Diva and loses the match and his wand. The Diva of the Twilight then controls him with her magic but he seals himself inside a powerful sandstorm to protect others. His student then takes it upon herself to guard the sandstorm and not let anyone else in. Isaac later ventures to the Goldsand Dunes and confronts his student. After a bit of persuasion, she lets Isaac in and he ventures off to find the General of the Gravel Stone. Upon finding and defeating him, he is awarded the second level earth rune.

In the good path, Isaac confronts him again, this time for the Lost Magic of Earth. In the evil path, Isaac kills his student and then proceeds to fight and ultimately kill Geh Olg.

eneka Windell (Diva of the Twilight)

The Sage of Balance and the main antagonist. She is commonly revered as the most beautiful Sage of the seven. At some point in the game, she goes on a rampage for more power, stealing the wands from the other Sages and putting them under her Magic. At the beginning of the game, she is confronted by the Bishop of the White Night and soon knocks him out and puts him under her magic. The power of the wand of balance gives the wielder the power to quell other elements.She later goes into the Wet-Wood Forest and kills Hanna Arlent. Later in the game, she reveals to Trista that she can see what Trista sees. She confronts Isaac with the choice of either giving up his wand or keeping his wand and joining her. If he chooses to give up his wand, she uses it to build a Twisted Wand Tower. If he chooses to keep it, he becomes controlled by her magic and goes to kill the other sages. In the good path after defeating her, Trista might save her if the player tells her the right things. In the evil path after defeating Trista, the player is given the choice to either kill her or go and fight the Diva of the Twilight. If he chooses to kill her, the Diva and Isaac confront in the Twisted Wand Tower and the Diva kills him.

Hanna Arlent

Isaac's former master. She finds him while he is lost in the Wet-Wood Forest and takes him in and trains him like a grandma.Unfortunately, she sacrifices herself soon after Isaac meets Trista so that they could escape from the Diva's attack.

Parakeru

Isaac's pet and companion.

Multiplayer

Using multiplayer, players can fight against a friend or foe a short distance away. The battle options include "Free Duel" using preset character settings, and "Duel" using the saved character data. Actual duels will be saved, and are a fun way for players to gain experience points while learning of new spells from others.

Wi-Fi

In Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, the player has the opportunity to fight using a preset character of Lvl 40, or their character and monsters from the Story Mode. Using the Story Mode, the character yields experience to level up your party for in Story Mode. Many reviews complain of lag in the online modes.

The WiFi battles consist of epic duels between two mages and each of the monsters that are selected before the match begins.

Online gaming groups, sometimes known as clans, were popular in the Wi-Fi mode of LostMagic during its early months. Most gamers belonging in a clan could be recognized by an underscore and the initials of a clan after their name. However, because of a droop in LostMagic's popularity, most clans for the game died off and are no longer existent.

More recently, a surviving LostMagic clan called "Rogue Mages Clan" has gone public and released several instructional and game play videos about the game via YouTube. [ [http://www.freewebs.com/roguemagesclan/ Rogue Mages Homepage ] ]

Local multiplayer

With single-card play, in which case only 1 person needs to own the game, the second player can only download a demo of the game. With multi-card Play, players take their Story Mode teams and fight each other for experience to level up. People fought in local multi-card play are automatically added to each other's Wi-Fi Friend lists.

Critical response

The Japanese gaming magazine "Famitsu" gave "LostMagic" an overall score of 30/40 (individual reviews: 9/7/8/6). [ [http://www.dsrevolution.com/print.php?type=n&id=865 Famitsu #893 Review Scores - DSRevolution ] ]

Wii incarnation

During its fall 2008 media briefing in Japan, Nintendo showed a video reel [http://wii.ign.com/dor/articles/915518/nintendos-2009-sizzle-reels/videos/nintendowii_sizzle_100208.html] which at one point features a game that highly resembles LostMagic; many of the runes being drawn are exactly the same. [http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa90/jediknight114/lm2.jpg] No other information about the game is known. Many critical reviews of the DS game had stated the rune drawing element may have worked better as a Wii game.

References

External links

* [http://www.lostmagic.net/ Official Site] (Japanese)
* [http://lostmagic.us.ubi.com/ American Release Official Site]
* [http://www.gamespot.com/ds/action/lostmagic/index.html GameSpot Game Page]
* [http://ds.ign.com/objects/770/770337.html IGN Game Page]
*moby game|id=/nintendo-ds/lostmagic|name="LostMagic"
* [http://nintendowifi.com Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Homepage]