LostMagic Hands-On

Currently scheduled for release next month, LostMagic is a Taito-developed role-playing game in which you'll assume the role of a young mage named Isaac tasked with saving the world from the evil Diva of Twilight. We recently received a work-in-progress version of LostMagic, and having spent a few hours playing through the early stages of the single-player adventure, we're pleased to report that the game looks very promising.

One of LostMagic's most intriguing features is undoubtedly that it lets you cast spells by using your Nintendo DS stylus as a wand--a mechanic that you'll be introduced to almost immediately once your adventure gets under way. There are six schools of magic in the game, including fire, water, wind, earth, light, and dark, and your proficiency in each will improve as you progress through the game according to which spells you use the most. Most of the real-time battles that we've fought against monsters thus far have afforded us the freedom to experiment with all six schools of magic, though we've inevitably fallen into the perhaps dangerous trap of using our two favorite spells almost exclusively, which could potentially make some of the later levels more difficult than they need to be. Specifically, we've been throwing a whole lot of fireballs at enemies and using a light spell to heal any damage that we sustain. Other spells that we're currently able to cast by drawing simple shapes on the touch screen (the accuracy of your drawing determines the power of the spell) include a water spell that freezes enemies temporarily, a wind spell that pushes enemies away from us, an earth spell that summons defensive walls of rock from the ground, and a dark spell that can be used to capture monsters that have already been weakened in combat. We've also just learned the art of combining two spell shapes to cast more powerful spells, but haven't yet had an opportunity to experiment with it.

Capturing monsters in the middle of a fight can be tricky, because the timing of the aforementioned dark spell is crucial. It's well worth the effort, though, because any monsters that you capture successfully can be made to fight alongside you in subsequent battles. Each type of monster in the game has its own health, movement, attack, defense, magic attack, and magic defense attributes, and when you use them they'll earn experience points in the same way as Isaac at the end of every battle. Some of the monsters in LostMagic are also highly resistant to certain schools of magic, which makes them invaluable for missions in which you're pitted against other mages, for example. Each monster or group of monsters costs a number of "unit points" to take into battle, and the number of unit points at Isaac's disposal will increase as you progress through the game and gain experience points. So, in addition to choosing units with the right attributes for a certain level, you'll often be forced to choose between taking a small number of powerful units or a larger number of weak units. Ultimately, you'll want to make sure that you take the time to level up a good variety of monsters, particularly given that some of the initially weaker monsters have the potential to become some of your most powerful allies.

All of the missions that we've completed during our time with LostMagic thus far have been played against a time limit, which was often one of the most challenging things about them. Many of the missions required us to do little more than defeat every monster on the map, but other objectives have included locating and purifying mana crystals (beacons with the power to restore health and mana when friendly units are close by), and battling with boss characters. In addition, there were treasure chests containing buff items to be found on many of the maps. Bracelets that bestow the wearer with extra health and boots for extra speed look to be among the most common items at this point, but we're told that there are a number of rare items to find as you progress through the game. Those rare items, which are sure to be significantly more powerful than anything we've found thus far, are likely to be well guarded by enemies who, like many of those we've encountered already, will open the treasure chests themselves when they see you approaching rather than allow the contents to fall into your hands.

That level of intelligence isn't typical of the enemies that you'll face in LostMagic; most of them simply follow tightly scripted patrol routes until you or one of your group strays into their agro radius. The same is true for Isaac and the monsters under his command, which are controlled using the stylus in much the same way that you would play a real-time strategy game on a PC using a mouse. Attempt to send your group to the other side of a map without micromanaging their movements, and they'll often end up getting stuck behind trees and such--they clearly lack the pathfinding skills to find a way around. Given the way that most battles play out, this really isn't any cause for concern, but when moving long distances across maps you'll want to make sure that all of your allies are present and correct before jumping into your next fight.

In addition to the single-player adventure, which we're very much looking forward to playing through in the coming weeks, the finished version of LostMagic will boast competitive multiplayer support, both online and using the DS handheld's wireless system-link capabilities. Multiplayer battles will require both players to own a copy of the game, although you will have the option to share a single-player demo of the game with any friends who have yet to invest in a copy. We'll bring you more information on LostMagic as soon as it becomes available.