Magical diary, developed and published by Hanako Games in May 2012 is an adventure RPG. Creating your own character who then attends a school of magic (Iris Academy), you are to attend classes, learn spells and complete the year. How the school year pans out depends upon the decisions made by you. Will it be making friends, finding that romance, or studying hard? That’s for you to decide.
Upon arrival you are placed into a hall where you will meet your fellow roommates, halls are split into different groups. For girls there is Horse hall, Butterfly hall and Snake hall. For
the boys there is Toad hall, Falcon hall and Wolf hall. Throughout the story you will meet people from each of the different groups.
When school officially starts you get to decide what you do throughout the week. You could attend magic lessons, study, sleep and even go to the gym. Every week is down to you to decide what you want to do, but be careful not to slack off too much there are tests throughout.
The main area to this game is to make your own decisions. Throughout the story you will be given options within conversations, depending on what your choices are will decide the next step to your story line. This makes for a good re-playable game, as long as you make sure to choose differently.
Throughout the game there are over 70 spells for you to learn which fall under five colours which are as follows;
1. Red
- This gives the power to control every, such as summoning a breeze, calling a distant object or even crushing an object.
2. Green
- This is the magic of life (creatures and plants), so you could track the scent of a living thing and even heal yourself and others.
3. Blue
- This allows you to change what is already there, for example you could teleport yourself or someone else.
4. White
- Here allows a connection between your character and the spirits (ghosts). Some spells include; empathy, find a spirit and communicate.
5. Black
- Although most commonly thought of as an evil set of spells, in this game they are looked upon as the colour of weight and solidarity. For example; detecting an object, seal an object shut and opening an object.
As mentioned above there are tests throughout the story, which in the game are called dungeons. Upon arrival you are sent into a room where you are to overcome the obstacles in which you face using the spells you have learnt throughout the previous weeks. Some require you to think a bit more than others but each will have a range of options for you to choose from. If you are unable to complete the dungeon you have the option to give up, this will result in a small penalty. Completing the dungeon could however lead to the same outcome depending on your plan of action or a reward so choose carefully.
As well as learning spells there are other things for you to try to improve on throughout your story, such as;
Stress levels
- These are most commonly gained from attending lessons and studying, to reduce the amount of stress you have you can sleep or go to the mall.
Weird points
- When talking to other people and you act weird is when these points will increase.
Cute points
- Being cute throughout a conversation will increase your cuteness.
Smartness
- This is improved by using your time to study, be it at the weekend or during the week.
Strength
- Using the gym will increase this meter, but not always.
Merits and Demerits
- These can be gained at any part throughout your story, be it from your exams, making a bad decision or even by accident, you will not always know when they will be given. Just watch out not to obtain too many demerits or your year at Iris Academy could be over early.
Gameplay
With the option to play again and play a different story line to test out different options, I thought the game itself was good. Although it was not what I thought it was going to be like, I thought there was going to be a lot more interaction with the characters and the usability of spells. I felt the game was over quite quickly once I had started playing but maybe that was time passing by quickly.
Graphics
The graphics were very anime inspired and were quite pretty to say the least, but could have been improved with a small amount of effort. I was however very impressed with what I was looking at throughout my play time.
Music
I didn’t really find the music very appealing, although it fit the parts of the story well it was very limited and could have been done so much better than it was.
Closing comments
I did quite enjoy the game although I don’t think that I would be able to replay it for a while as the story starts off the same. I do look forward to maybe gaining some of the achievements at a later date though. I do feel this is a well thought out game and could be taken so much further if another was produced.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
