A couple of days removed from finishing this game I thought to myself about what made me love it so much but why I didn’t see it as perfect, this game made me not only reflect on my time with it but the entire JRPG genre.
Before I continue I realise by definition the J in JRPG is used incorrectly here, Sabotage are Canadian as far as I am aware, but either side of the argument on whether JRPG is a reductive term that you sit on you know what I am referring to. This title is a giant love letter and homage to the SNES classics that really put that style of game on the map and to save name dropping a dozen different games JRPG will be a term that is used throughout.

A somewhat obvious statement to make is that there are factors of this game that I like a lot that some people experiencing it will find either no fault in at all or believe they are large issues.
As I spent time thinking about these factors, the things that commonly may annoy folk and the JRPG genre itself, the main word that came to my mind was ‘Pacing’.

First of all I will state that Sea of Stars never outstayed its welcome and these days having any sort of RPG be completed (not rushed) within 30+ hours is a welcome surprise.
The start of Sea of Stars with its throws you in and then suddenly stop you to explain origins set up may feel violent in how fast it tugs you back but I felt the game using the classic of mechanic introductions via training stories worked well here as it does a good job of building the characters, their world and their purpose even if a lot of it is somewhat cliché. It does drop teases towards the future of the plot and whilst I would say most twists were either too obvious or telegraphed when you’re making homages to so many classics it’s hard to not make some of that slightly predictable.

Good pacing doesn’t mean fast but does mean that the audience or player in this case is excited about the moment and looking forward to the next, and hopefully not begging for it to come out of boredom.
Games can do this by introducing new mechanics, JRPGs can suffer as due to their average length they may not be able to introduce as many “per minute” as other titles because simply that could become too overwhelming and really there are only so many ideas that can work well together within one game.
The other issue is that mechanical pacing isn’t the only thing that needs to be good to keep a player engaged in a larger RPG tale but also the story itself.
I could probably write a completely separate piece about that, but much like a film and exactly as with mechanics the audience needs to be kept engaged and in games this can be down to how often big story beats take center-stage, how long they keep you out of playing etc.

To put it simply, developing games is hard and I would say getting the balance of pacing right in any JRPG is actually somewhat of a miracle.

The point I’m trying to land on with this far too wide and deep rabbit hole is, I believe Sea of Stars gets it so very close to perfect but my close is not the same as yours or everyone else’s and I think it matters a lot.

Mechanics wise the game is arguably quite front loaded, Valere and Zale the dual protagonists of this story learn combat and their main slew of skills at the very start.
Once they learn to “use magic without using magic” the future abilities they gain for the turn-based combat is down to the companions they meet along the way and what ‘Combo’ abilities they can use with them.
Now there are plenty of different combinations of line-up you can make during the game and the enemies are quite varied meaning the combat does evolve and change as you learn against them.
One of Sea of Stars main positives is that it makes turn-based combat as engaging as it can, with techniques seen in other titles timed button presses on attacks and blocks can help as well as abilities and combos sometimes implementing things like rallies or controlling directions of an attack.
The other mechanic is what the game calls “locks”. Each enemy always has a countdown timer before they make their attack but sometimes next to this clock will appear a set of panels with symbols denoting slash or blunt attacks and the game’s mix of elements.
Your aim is to use those types of attack the enemy’s lock is showing and break it so they do not get to do whatever special ability they had planned, even if you don’t manage to break the lock completely in time if it was building to a big attack and you got for example four out of five broken the attack will deal your team less damage than if you didn’t bother.
The lock system is great because it causes tension, it makes you wonder “can I get that done in time?” you have to stop and plan your moves, sometimes you know you can’t so how are you going to prepare to take this potential big hit? It makes combat not just tactical but almost a puzzle and because it’s always in your interest to solve these it makes you engage with all of the different attacks and abilities you have at your disposal rather than just rely on clicking the same thing in every fight.
Now this system is why I think the game front loads mechanics because you wouldn’t want Zale and Valere with twenty different abilities each by the end, that would either be confusing or make any lock combination irrelevant.
It also means that depth can be added as characters join, new elements are discovered and enemies potentially become tougher.
You’ll start by thinking a lock with four panels is tough and be facing bosses with ten, the ‘Combo’ abilities you learn which are co-op attacks gained from building a gauge will make these possible but again you will need to plan and learn.

Overall I love Sea of Star’s combat. I think it’s one of the better turn-based combat systems I have played and the only issue I ever really found was it did mean fighting jobbers in earlier areas took a little longer than you’d like even though they were no real threat.

Sea of Stars isn’t just turn-based combat however, outside of towns where typically plot progresses and items are bought and sold, the areas where the battles take place are not just corridors. Areas ranging from dungeons, to forests, to mountain climbs all involve traversal that can find you solving (fairly simple) puzzles, using equipment you gain and much more like a good Zelda dungeon might.
Outside of all these areas is also a beautiful map that isn’t as vast as you may expect but traveling that will be a similar experience to many past JRPGs that use a world map - if with a few unique twists on the way.


If I were to argue the combat may have been front loaded I would say that the story was the opposite.
Now thankfully I do not mean to imply that in the last part of the game you get huge lore dumps but the plot doesn’t get truly exciting until what for me felt like the final third.
I will not go into specifics because I am not here to spoil the game but the start of the game feels extremely trite and a lot of the adventures you go throughout the game are based on a MacGuffin that will be at the end of the next dungeon you’re entering.
It does keep everyone of these a different length but whilst I may never have felt bored due to this design choice I didn’t find myself as excited as I would do towards the end.

One of the issues I have is one that really does involve taste and it’s the writing.
Overall it feels modern, snappy, and never long-winded. However in the same breath it also aims to be funny and for me I found a lot would land and then become annoying.
A podcast I listen to described some characters as “speaking just a minute too long” and this is a perfect description especially of a group of pirates you meet early in your journey - one of which is attempting to be meta and that can quickly become grating.
As an aside (what are my reviews if not a series of tangents?) I am currently playing Sabotage’s previous game “The Messenger” because I enjoyed this so much and the comedy is very much the same there so if you’ve already played that game you know what to expect.
In the end I would say the plot was good, just not great and one that bar a couple of twists I will probably forget down the line.

This review has fallen into the 90’s magazine classic of breaking down and scoring each element of the game. I would love to say this was on purpose, I’m trying to be nostalgic, this is an homage but that would be a lie. However if we’ve done Gameplay and Story let’s finish with Graphics and Sound.

Sea of Stars is a beautiful looking game, not really 16 bit but gives those feels with its incredible pixel art. Like many great remakes do, it looks how you remember games looked.
A lot of what works for it are things such as modern lighting, these can bring things to life in ways they may not have on the SNES and also add a simple layer of magic to the more exciting attacks.
The music has some great highs thanks to getting the legendary Yasunori Mitsuda on for a few tracks.
Sadly for me personally the music never fails to be good but I rarely found it great. Many tracks did grow on me over time and I suspect out of all the things I went in with too high an expectation of was the OST because for me some of the strongest pieces of music ever come from JRPGs and not just the older ones.

Sea of Stars is very good and just occasionally touches greatness with the tips of its fingers.
It is easily one of the best modern homages to the 16-bit era JRPG and it manages to be retro while also still feeling modern. Its story and mechanics are not the deepest you will encounter but this for me is easily as much of a strength as it can be a weakness.
I never once felt lost in the twisting plot points or jargon but immersed enough that twists could surprise. The game never felt too hard that I felt a need to grind but there were boss battles that kept me engaged more than many others of the past have.

In the end it could be argued that Sea of Stars, even with all its nostalgia, isn't made for people who played what it is riffing off but actually for a new audience that never got to experience those games and deserve a taste, and I think that if that was the mission it delivers on it in spades.