Sea of Stars has sick character and enemy designs, a good setup for the plot, a battle system that initially shows a lot of potential, intricate dungeons encompassing plenty of puzzle mechanics... and then fails to progress in any of these aspects. The character writing is horrendously stale, with the deutoragonists Valere and Zale being almost NPC-like with how every sentence they speak is related to either their duty as protectors of the world, or their love for their best friend. You learn nothing about their interests, goals, fears, doubts, or insecurities beyond that. The remaining cast has slightly more personality to them, but even by the end of the game, if you asked me to describe each cast member with only 3 words, I would only be able to do this with 1 member of the playable roster. Every conversation felt as if it was just there to move the plot forward, with the characters themselves not growing as people at all... mostly.
The battle system has good ideas behind it, but is far too limiting in practice as each character only gets three skills: an attack that deals damage, another attack that also deals damage but with AOE, and a third healing/utility skill. There's a system to interrupt the enemy's spellcasts by hitting them with specific elements that show up next to them, but in the end it just limits your options further by forcing you to use Damage Skill B as opposed to Damage Skill A or Utility Skill C. There are no player-inflicted buffs, status effects, or anything of the sort to manage, so pretty much every battle encounter plays out with the same flow and strategy.
The dungeons in this game are gorgeous and have lots of variety in aesthetic and general design. Looking at them was a treat, and I wish I could say the same for the myriad of puzzles within them. There are a good number of puzzles in each dungeon, but they almost feel like more of a chore than an experience due to how easy they are. Just one quick glance at the screen and 90% of puzzles in the game solve themselves, which is a shame as there are so many different mechanics brought up that could've made for a fun brain-scratching time in the same lieu as Golden Sun's dungeons.
I won't say much about the plot, but nothing shocked or excited me because the game went waaaaay too hard on foreshadowing events, with it being harder to care much about what was happening while I held no love for the characters. There are some cool lore bits and short stories to aid in the worldbuilding, which I felt was a cool part of the game. The world itself is interesting, backed by the sick character designs and beautiful spritework as mentioned before, so while I won't remember the plot or characters a year down the line, I will occasionally think back and say, "Damn, Sea of Stars was a pretty game."
The battle system has good ideas behind it, but is far too limiting in practice as each character only gets three skills: an attack that deals damage, another attack that also deals damage but with AOE, and a third healing/utility skill. There's a system to interrupt the enemy's spellcasts by hitting them with specific elements that show up next to them, but in the end it just limits your options further by forcing you to use Damage Skill B as opposed to Damage Skill A or Utility Skill C. There are no player-inflicted buffs, status effects, or anything of the sort to manage, so pretty much every battle encounter plays out with the same flow and strategy.
The dungeons in this game are gorgeous and have lots of variety in aesthetic and general design. Looking at them was a treat, and I wish I could say the same for the myriad of puzzles within them. There are a good number of puzzles in each dungeon, but they almost feel like more of a chore than an experience due to how easy they are. Just one quick glance at the screen and 90% of puzzles in the game solve themselves, which is a shame as there are so many different mechanics brought up that could've made for a fun brain-scratching time in the same lieu as Golden Sun's dungeons.
I won't say much about the plot, but nothing shocked or excited me because the game went waaaaay too hard on foreshadowing events, with it being harder to care much about what was happening while I held no love for the characters. There are some cool lore bits and short stories to aid in the worldbuilding, which I felt was a cool part of the game. The world itself is interesting, backed by the sick character designs and beautiful spritework as mentioned before, so while I won't remember the plot or characters a year down the line, I will occasionally think back and say, "Damn, Sea of Stars was a pretty game."