Good day!
Today it's time to play and experience a classic game, one who even gave a name to one of the Misaos awards, Star Stealing Prince,released in early 2012 by Ronove (that more recently released another good but shorter game for the IGMC 2022 contest, Life Eternal, reviewed HERE).
I admit I did not play this game in the past because it was a RPGMaker VX adventure, and I always prioritized the good old Rm2k and Rm2k3 games, anyway in this case I should have done an exception, since in 2013 it won eight Misaos, including the Game of the Year award.


This game includes not just exploration and combat, but puzzles too!

But before handing out a rating let's start from the plot:
Snowe is the Prince of the title, and he rules the snowy kingdom of Sabine after the deaths of his parents, King Edgar and Queen Lina. One nuight our hero has a dream in which a dark figure claims to murder a girl, Astra, so Prince Snowe decides to save the young woman, setting in motion a series of events that will reveal the truth about the powerful magic that sustains his kingdom.
This is just the beginning of an epic quest, and like in many other cases this means that our Prince Snowe will undertake a dangerous quest with the help of some friends: Astra, her loyal demon Erio, the skeletal guardian Hiante and the bitter but good-natured sentry Relenia. During the story our party will face many different bad guys, including the mysterious dark figure of Snowe's dream, that will be hopefully defeated (there is more than one ending, another parallel with Life Eternal).

The game can be considered as a classic party based jrpg: we've dungeons with final bosses (that are considerably more challenging than the roaming monsters), party members with different elemental skills (Snowe, despite the name, masters the element of Fire, Relenia uses Water/Ice, Astra has Lightning, and so on) that of course affect in different manners different opponents (the classic "elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors" where a good idea is to exploit the enemy's weakness), a good number of equippable gear (Hiante can also use two weapons), exploration rewarded by finding extra items if the player checks every place, a stealth section, and puzzles too, involving the classic levers, buttons and items that have to be pushed/pulled around.


There are different opponents that will be encountered, from some hideous and terrifying creatures to others that look less threatening but should not be underestimated!

I do not wanna talk about the story since it's so beautiful: like another old classic I played and reviewed recently, Dhux's Scar, also Star STealing Prince has really well designed characters and a very intriguing story that has to be discovered. There are many twists and turns, unexpected events that will turn the protagonist Snowe from a young idealist to a wise prince. A last minute choice will also determine if you wil lget the good or bad ending, so it's not bad, since you do not need to replay all the game.

Visually this game is gorgeous: assets are both custom made, edits, and classic Rpgmaker VX tilesets (again, exactly like in Life Eternal, who shares a very similar graphic style and setting), but the most impressive detail are the many various facesets that aren't limited just to the playable cast and includes lots of different expressions and variations for every meaningful moment. Mapping includes different environments and is also extremely good, the use of colors, weather and light effects is excellent and also the music... there is a particular map in which the music suddenly stop, giving an eerie feeling of uneasiness. Amazing. The music selection is also very good, I liked a lot even the main menu theme, the very first music you will listen to.

Uhm if I have to criticize something is probably combat: enemies start pretty weak (and that's good, since the real tank does not join the team until the defeat of the second boss), but suddenly they will become really challenging (also enemies in dungeons are extremely easy to defeat compared to the bosses, except in the Western Tower where every battle is tough!) and in some cases capable of freezing/paralyzing your party members (I hated that!), on the other hand the statuses are the key to win most battles (buffing party members and debuffing enemies is needed to survive boss encounters), since neither the final opponent of the game possess immunity.


Look at my ship, my ship is amazing! Let's sail and go to read the...

Final Verdict
Star Stealing Prince is a classic for a reason: the custom graphics and especially the great story (that also leaves some space for a sequel, released as a web novel called Ephemeral Prince, but check that ONLY after beating the game, of course!). After playing it I can confirm that despite some minor aspects I did not liked a lot (combat for example, but that's me) I think that the Star Stealing Prince is a high quality game such as Dhux SCar or the Way series, as it shows the dedication and passion of the author in creating a wonderful original fairy tale that captivates the attention of the player, surprising with twists and unexpected events, that still are sometimes predicted by some other events, items or messages found before they happen. Great storytelling in my opinion, anyway I'd suggest to try it by yourself.
Definitely a very polished and great classic Rpgmaker adventure.