Steal Princess

not a perfect game, but if you like 2d gaming ,an awesome puzzle game and very underrated

Steal Princess is a game where you take control of Anise, a master thief. You've been tasked, against your will mind you, to become the hero of the land and save the Prince, who has been captured by demons.

The levels are a mix of puzzles and platforming for the most part. Sometimes you need to kill all the enemies before advancing, sometimes you have to use them to get ahead, and you really have to think on some levels on how to get to the next one. This as a concept is very interesting, but sadly, what took all the enjoyment out of it for me is the fact that the controls are terrible.

Anise moves and handles very poorly, and for a supposed master thief, she can barely jump, especially when it comes to jumping distance. On occasions you must, MUST use your stylus to make Anise use her whip to fling from place to place, but even then the game seems to be terribly picky about how much it'll listen to you. Anise seems to take her sweet time answering any commands you issue, which is frustrating if you're used to more immediate reactions. On the upside, falling from great heights doesn't seem to kill you, or even dock your health, which is one of the things you will be thankful for. Because you will miss and you will fall. A lot.

You can pick up new weapons, some of which are colour-coded to match the enemy you must destroy with it: the coloured weapons only work on similarly-coloured enemies as well. However, the button for picking up things and putting them down is the exact same one, so it's incredibly frustrating to be in a tight spot trying to pick up a gem, and suddenly Anise tosses her sword down because you just weren't close enough to the gem.

I've cleared the first "dungeon" at the time of writing this review, and if there's a button to make Anise run I've yet to find it. You also can't customise Anise or her weapons, all you can do with the gems is pay back her debt or buy map pieces. You can't buy weapons, armour, abilities, at least not at the very start. Like I said, I'm still fairly early on in the game.

The levels are rendered in 3D, which is nice to see, and as per the Atlus standard, the 2D art and character portraits are beautiful to look at as well. It's also somewhat hilarious to realize that the money-hungry, selfish thief Anise is pretty much the only sane man among the characters. Still, this is clearly not the game for me, and I do hold respect for those who have been able to finish the game. It's not one of Atlus' best, especially regarding the controls, but they remain as creative as ever with the premise and the artwork.

If you're looking for a game you play to kill time, this is a good option. But if you're looking for a gaming experience, I'm not terribly keen on recommending it. It's not a BAD game, just a bit of a disappointment for me personally.

Didn't come with the poster I heard this game includes. :C Oh well, Steal Princess is still an underrated puzzle slash RPG gem which is suited probably to the more patient gamer. The art is great, though for some reason a character on the front of the box is censored...

A great mixture between RPG/Puzzle... buy it!!!

You play as Anise, a notorious young thief, who finds herself way in over her head during her last quest for wealth. She finds herself in the custody of the King and to regain her freedom she reluctantly agrees to resque the King's son, Prince Oliver who is being held captive by the Demons.
In order to rescue the Prince, you have to go through stages set out in a 3D world all the while avoiding traps, fighting enemies and using items. On each stage there is a key you must acquire in order to open the gate to the next stage. Certain conditions must be met in order for the key to appear and those conditions may range from killing all of the enemies, to jumping from platform to platform in precisely timed leaps in order to reach the key. Anise's main weapon is a whip, which she uses to cross gaps between platforms and knock enemies off balance, but there are various other weapons like swords, bombs etc.
Every fraction of a second counts in this game, as each time you complete a stage you are given either a gold, a silver or a bronze medal, based on how long it took you to complete it. You may often find yourself losing a gold medal to just 1 second, but the good thing is you can repeat the stage as many times as you like.
Anise's quest is two-fold: apart from the rescuing the Prince part, she has a debt to repay in order to atone for her... shadowy past and reimburse all her previous noble victims who were graciously... "relieved" of their belongings.
And this is where Gems come into play. On each stage there is a set number of Gems to collect, some are hidden, others are dropped by enemies, etc. There are various kinds of Gems and each has its own value. Anise can use them to repay her debt, or to purchase Map Parts that you can use in creating your own stages.
Collecting all of the gems on a certain stage, as well as completing it quickly enough to gain a gold medal can be hard. Planning your moves is essential if you're after a perfect score, since in most stages there can be no room for mistakes! The controls are o.k. and there are various different control modes although Anise can be somewhat cumbersome at times.
The game features several different worlds and there are Boss battles every few stages. Studying their movement patterns and their immunities/weaknesses is essential in order to win the battle.
The graphics are quite good, a mix of 3D environments and 2D enemies in-game and detailed character portraits during cut scenes. Sound effects and BGM are excellent and especially the music, having a serious tone to it that kind of contradicts the humorous nature of the game makes you want to win, in a funny way.
This game is fun and also original in that, it's a mixture of puzzle/action/platformer/story driven rpg! One would not expect this sort of combination to work well, but Atlus has got it right and it does!