whether the swords in the world were made using casting or forging, which would affect their design and other aesthetic elements. While creating the atmosphere, the developers tried to stay away from standard fantasy tropes. The artwork for the game was produced by artist group Kusanagi, who had also worked on Xenogears and Final Fantasy IX. For its release in North America, Atlus' USA branch took up localization and publishing duties. As part of its release, it was re-dubbed Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity, and featured full English voice acting for its cast. The story's heavy religious themes raised concerns that it would be censored for the west, but Atlus stated that it would keep the game intact, as they "[sought] to give gamers the same experience that Japanese gamers would have". Its North American release was announced in December 2004. The English voice recording was done by Elastic Media Corporation. For its release in Europe, the game was published by 505 Games. After release, two mobile titles based on the game were published in Japan by Atlus and mobile company Bbmf in September 2006 and January 2007 respectively: Stella Deus: Raven Spirits, a mobile version of Stella Deus featuring a separate story, and Stella Deus: Time of Alchemy, a sequel to both Stella Deus and Raven Spirits. Audio The sound design was one of the areas where Yamamoto was initially unsatisfied, making multiple changes with his staff during the development run-up to the game's Beta version. The soundtrack was composed and arranged by Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata. It was the first time the two had worked together since their work on Final Fantasy Tactics: Sakimoto tried his hand at more serious dramatic music, while Iwata used more symphonic material than in previous works. The game's vocals and its ending theme "Holy Spirit" were performed by Reiko Ariga, credited under her stage name "Arigarei". The lyrics were written by Yukiko Mitsui. "Holy Spirit" was the first in-game vocal theme Sakimoto has written. Reception Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity received mostly positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, the game received an average score of 75, based on 31 reviews. References External links 2004 video games 505 Games games Atlus games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation Network games Tactical role-playing video games Video games scored by Hitoshi Sakimoto Video games scored by Masaharu Iwata Video games developed in Japan Single-player