From the same studio that made The Messenger, Sea of Stars was one of my most anticipated games of the year, and while there is a lot to like, I think it ended up being a bit of a disappointment. Beginning with the positives, the game is absolutely gorgeous. This game might have the best pixel art I have ever seen. The environments are lush and vibrant, the animations are fluid and detailed, and it is by far the game's strongest area. The soundtrack quality matches its visuals, even featuring the composer from Chrono Trigger as a guest. The game takes inspiration from Chrono Trigger in other ways too -- such as the combat -- which despite my complaints later, I think is pretty well designed. It's a bit of a mix between Paper Mario and the Chrono games, with three party members, dual techs, and extra damage on timed moves. It's a solid system, and for the first few hours I was thoroughly enjoying myself. This brings me to my issues with the game, namely that it plateaus very early. With the exception of the prologue (where they give you backstory for an hour before letting you actually play the game), the game is well paced at the start, giving you new abilities and mechanics and giving the plot a strong sense of direction. After a while though, things begin to drag. Each character only has three special moves total, and once you learn those early on, the combat never evolves. Every battle ends up being very monotonous. Some of the more powerful techniques -- such as ultimate moves or dual techs -- take too long to charge up to be used in anything other than boss fights. Many of the moves are also tedious to use, such as the lunar boomerang move. It's a cool move, but takes concentration and a bit of time to use without a clear advantage. My biggest issue however has to be the plot. From moment to moment it's fine, but I never felt super engaged with the events, and often felt a bit aimless. For many plot-heavy games, I often stop and ask "Why are the characters here?". In some games (such as Chrono Trigger) the events that lead the heroes to each point are easy to follow and track, and the plot logically follows along. This game... not so much. It starts out well, but by the midpoint begins follow its own logic without many stakes. This culminates in what I must vaguely describe as a very lackluster ending. It's clear they really want me to go and work towards a better "true ending", but frankly I don't feel the engagement enough to continue. It's a shame, this game has a lot going for it. If you had asked me after 5 hours or so my feelings, I would've said it was a solid 4.5/5 game. I was waiting for a "wow" moment to really push it to the next level, but that moment never came. Instead, the game coasts along a bit, and while I do think it's one of the better indie RPGs in recent years, I find myself a bit let down.