Let´s start with some critics. Blame on Sega that they decided not to release the game ´The Royal Stone´ in an English translated version.

Again, a real good RPG had no change to hit the market worldwide. Okay, it was published in 1995 and the time of the Game Gear was nearly over in USA and Europe, but the golden rule says: Software sells Hardware. And The Royal Stone is, in my opinion, a very good program worth to take a closer look. By the way, I never thought of such a huge project for ´The Royal Stone´, but when you surf this site you will realize that the program has deserved it.

I stumbled over it when surfing the Internet searching for other Game Gear games like the two Shining Force scenarios and the two Phantasy Star episodes. Only to make my studies of the Japanese language a bit more interesting for me I decided to test the game and I was very, very surprised. The graphics are detailed and the challenge offered by the game is good, too.

You can compare it with the Shining Force series but in many details its harder than SF. For example, if your main character is beaten, its GAME OVER! All characters who die during a battle can´t be revived in a church or at a headquarter. So you must be very careful. Your characters gain experience points only when they defeat an enemy and each battle can be fought only once. So you cannot retreat and start all over to level up all your companions as you might be used to in the Shining Force games. Even a promotion is not as easy as in Shining Force I, but more like SF II. You have to find and donate special books to your mages and healers for a promotion (Bishop, Wizard, Summoner).

Before the fight starts you cannot gain any information about the enemy, you have to use a special magic (Scan) or you have to wait until an enemy attacks, which reveals the enemies abilities automatically.

No attacks from the distance are possible except magic attacks. So weaker characters cannot hide behind the stronger ones and attack like the well known archers in the Shining Force series.

On the other hand there are some features which make it a bit easier. Magic abilities, for example, can be bought in special shops. So a Magician or Healer can cast spells independent from his/her level after he/she payed for the spell. MP never run low, so you can use your magic as often as it is needed.

A very nice feature is that you can tame different monsters (Eva has to make the final blow!) and let them fight for you in the next round. If one of your mages is promoted to a Summoner, he/she can summon all monsters you assigned to the mage.

There is another game with the same features which was released in USA and Europe, too. It´s called Crystal Warrior and has it´s own homepage within this site. The graphics are a bit more like the well known Japanese Anime style and the countryside or towns are not as detailed as in The Royal Stone.

The Story

Enough, let´s come to the story of The Royal Stone. Again, I have to disappoint you a bit due to my lack of experience of the Japanese language. I managed to translate nearly all menus (look for them in the Tips section) and items but the story remains a secret to me.

All I know is that the main character of the game is Eva, a girl, who will be thrown down the walls of a castle at the start of the quest. Some memories of Eva bring a bit more confusion because all former friends she had are now on the side of the enemy. Leo, her former teacher and Lumine, a friend since childhood are among them.

Nonetheless, I will try to reveal a bit more than this information during the next weeks, but it will take some time.