Power is a feeble thing. It’s something people chase at all times, and it’s something people never have enough of. But even supreme power can backfire. If it’s thrust upon you or you have reached the top of the hierarchy, it can be incredibly isolating. This correlation between power and loneliness is the core theme of this Kemco JRPG, called Fortuna Magus.
Amane used to live a happy life with his father Kalius and adopted sisters Tia and Lill, until one day their father vanished into the night, with Lill eventually leaving too to look for him, leaving Amane and Tia behind. One day, the two are saved from bandits by a mysterious stranger called Rett, and they let him stay the night as thanks. However, Rett is a Magus, someone with magical abilities. Newly awakened Magi often lose control over their powers, and even stable Magi pose a threat, so the king of Luxia ordered all of them to be executed. With Amane and Tia being found guilty of protecting a Magus, they go into hiding with Rett, hoping to find a trace of Kalius and Lill along the way.
For the most part, Fortuna Magus tells an average fantasy story with a couple of good ideas, like how the Magi are used. Additionally, I found the antagonist to be pretty entertaining. The main characters, on the other hand, were pretty lacking. In particular, Amane and Tia felt like budget versions of Estelle and Joshua from Trails in the Sky, without the dynamic that made them so great. Another similarity is that Tia has a crush on Amane, and if you’d rather not see these siblings get into a relationship, rest assured, because this plotline doesn’t really go anywhere.
The main story is also very short, as it only took me about 5-6 hours to get the true ending. As this implies, the game moves at a lightning pace, with only a couple of calmer moments in the story. Circling back, yes there are multiple endings, but after you get the normal ending and reload your save, the game does spell out what you need to do differently to get the true ending.
Being originally released on mobile devices, Fortuna Magus is a modern game in the style of some of the classic NES/SNES-style JRPGs. One advantage of being on modern consoles is the load times, which are lightning quick in this game.
Throughout your journey, you’ll visit a variety of towns, routes, and biomes. All of your exploration is tied together through the world map, easily accessed by leaving an area. As you explore these regions, you can find chests with extra loot and get into random encounters. There are also a couple of dungeons, but they’re mostly mazes that last 3 screens or so with barely any gimmicks to make them stand out.
Battles in Fortuna Magus take place in a grind, with both sides having a front and back line. The turn order is dictated by each character’s speed, and when they can act, they can use a normal attack, skills, items, guard, or even swap the front- and backline. Unlike games like Final Fantasy IX, though, you cannot change the positionings of individual members, though: you cannot make it so Amane and Tia are in the same column, for instance. Switching between them only serves when your formation is disrupted, and your frontliners need to take a break.
Skills have a variety of effects: ranged attacks can easily hit the back row, some attacks hit an entire column, and others penetrate, meaning they hit an enemy in the front and also the one behind the target. Enemies can also be weak to one of the four elements (earth, air, water, and fire), which can be easily exploited by Magi like Rett, who can also learn more specialist spells that can steal, scan, buff, or debuff. You also generate TP in battle, and when maxed, it allows your characters to unleash Special attacks. You can also activate anyone’s Special during any ally’s turn, so for example, use Rett’s that erects a protective barrier, while it’s actually Amane’s turn. Some Specials are also Tandem attacks, consuming the TP of two characters, who then strike in unison for an even stronger effect. There is also an option for autobattles, with a couple of ways to customize the AI.
Overall, Fortuna Magus’ combat system is simple but solid enough. There’s a good amount of variety in tactics, and on Normal difficulty, it kept me on my toes. However, in classical RPG fashion, status effects don’t seem to work on any important enemies, meaning that any skills that inflict them are pretty much useless. I also had an issue where I tried to use an item that revives everyone in my party, but it only affected my living party members, so it didn’t actually do anything.
The cast of Fortuna Magus has a unique way of learning skills. Instead of normal level thresholds, when using a skill, there’s a chance to learn a new one, as long as you meet certain requirements. Level is one of them, but so are elemental values. By using magestones, you can increase the elemental proficiency of a character in one specific element, and by having a set amount, new skills can become available.
When the level and elemental proficiencies for a character are met, there’s a chance to proc a Revelation for that skill when using another. The best part of this is that, when a Revelation is activated, not only do you instantly get access to that skill, but it also automatically triggers without consuming any resources. This makes learning skills instantly satisfying, especially if you learn a Special, Tandem, or even multiple skills at once. It’s not at all reliable, as Revelations are still luck-based, so this system doesn’t provide any strategic value. But that only makes it even more satisfying when a Revelation does trigger.
When taking a break from the main story, there are some people you can still help out. These quests are pretty simple and don’t offer much substance: like delivering a message, killing some monsters, etc. One unique reward you can get from these quests is aliases, a special type of equipment that gives your characters a special title, though in combat, they give stat boosts. While the story is pretty short, there are still things to do in the post-game, like new quests, as well as an Arena mode, letting you push your characters to their limits.
Apart from aliases, you also have your standard RPG gearing options: weapons, armor, and accessories. For the weapons, there is also a difference between 1-handed weapons and 2-handed weapons. Most characters can only equip one of these types, but characters who use 1-handed weapons can also equip a shield. Unique to Amane is that he can forego a shield to equip a second sword, giving his normal attack an extra hit, and letting you increase his offensive stats even further, at the cost of his defence, which I found to be a genuinely unique way to customize your playstyle.
Fortuna Magus strikes a solid balance between classic JRPG aesthetics and modern games, using pixel art for the overworld and detailed character sprites during dialogue. While the human pixel sprites during combat are pretty expressive, the monsters, unfortunately, don’t have any animation, just moving their sprites a tad when attacking. While the story doesn’t have any voice acting, the main cast does have voice lines in combat. I found the soundtrack to be quite catchy too, especially in combat, though in the story, there are scenes where there’s no sound whatsoever, which was quite jarring.
Something also worth noting is that this game has DLC… but also not really. The three DLC packs that are available just give you the option to activate 3x EXP, double damage, or turn off random encounters. I played this game on normal, and at no point did I feel like I had to grind. While this may be different on Hard or in the post-game, and some bosses felt like bullet sponges, I don’t think these packs are worth it at all. This game is not pay-to-win, so these DLC options seem more like bait than anything.
Sometimes, you want to hit that JRPG craving, without having to fire up an epic AA or AAA adventure that lasts you dozens of hours of playtime. In that regard, Fortuna Magus will do a solid job! The characters, while not that interesting for the most part, are entertaining enough. The combat was also fun for the most part, with the Revelation system being the highlight. And if you want, there is still a good amount of content off the beaten path. But if you want to play a truly great RPG that’ll last you weeks of playtime, you’ll want to look elsewhere.
Fortuna Magus gets a 6/10.
