At the very heart of Sea of Stars lies a pretty competent indie rpg. Evoking back to 90s era jrpgs, SoS is a 25-30 hour sprawling journey with two chosen orphans as the main protagonists, with a selection to choose between the two that doesn’t really amount to much difference in how the game goes. It follows the same formula of several classics of the genre and the game won’t make you forget how much it really tries to be them, despite missing the mark. That said, there’s still a couple things the game does pretty well.
My strongest praise has to go to the incredible animation work and presentation that makes the environments feel so lively. Unfortunately, arguments still continue to be made that ‘pixel art’ as a central design and aesthetic for video games, particularly AAA games, is outdated and wouldn’t be marketable without a fully realistic 3D fidelity style that dominants most major releases. With this line of thinking, We’d miss opportunities for games like Sea of Stars to exist in addition to these games showcasing the styles this medium can still stylishly pull off if it wasn’t constantly constrained by toxic market interests and corporate grifters who care more about their yachts. Sea of Stars has better presentation than most games that are released today for twice its cost.
On top of that, the music in Sea of Stars is consistently good and has decent variety between the islands and worlds. The Mooncradle theme is an obvious favorite outside of a handful of others, though most of it didn’t really light my ears on fire or had me in anticipation for getting back to the regions or battling. The combat operates similarly to early Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and Mario RPG, and incorporates an interesting ‘lock’ system that adds more strategy to the combat, but I generally feel more negative about the battling and encounters overall.
I honestly believe Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi games (rip) are the only ones to get hit timing right for me, and Sea of Stars isn’t much of an exception from how off it feels in most others in its field. Zale and Valere’s attacks are pretty easy to read and I get consistently, but then you have Serai and Resh’an, the latter who’s attack timing sometimes works and sometimes it doesn’t. The enemy timing is fine until the later half of the game where I just gave up trying to get the timings right, which isn’t a huge loss considering how forgiving this game is for most of its runtime.
Destroying locks does make the encounters slightly more intriguing but it doesn’t save them from becoming repetitive. There’s no option to run from battle for some reason. The available special moves and combos for each character feel limited and are passed out horrendously overtime with the first third of the game telling you to just take strong special moves to the face without much to counter them. While combat does open up later on with the addition of several party members and other elements, it’s bizarre how little there is in Sea of Stars considering it is a love letter to Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger, which have beefier depth and utility to boast in their combat department.
I never really connected with the main plot and characters in my 30 hour journey. Zale and Valere are painfully generic leads, and the rest don’t amount to much outside of maybe Garl but being “fun” is still a bit shallow since there isn’t more to him besides that. It would’ve been better if he was the main character even if it would’ve felt like a rip on CT with the main protagonist who sacrifices himself, only to find that you can revive them, Sea of Stars having this in a true ending route. The regular ending blows and I just watched the true one, and I struggle to see why this couldn’t have just been the regular one other than adding more replayability, but like I don’t feel like completing everything for this game and backtracking is awful for how accessible Sea of Stars is in some respects.
The discourse around this game is more interesting than the game itself, even if the discussions aren't really new but are just as tiring. The aforementioned 2D sprite style vs 3D style debate, not to mention the turn-based vs real time action discourse that I’ve noticed some people throwing up with this game and Final Fantasy XVI for example, a kernel of this discussion feverishly focused on veteran franchises like FF allegedly disrespecting their 'turn-based' legacy and long-standing fanbase. I personally like the series in either format from the classic ATB ones to the more action-y entries, and the blending being done in the ongoing VII remakes. If Sea of Stars and its huge success does inspire some stylistic sea change in a few of the big dogs, I’d say it’s a good thing, especially if it leads to better rpgs with more to them than Sea of Stars. The game here to me is just alright.
My strongest praise has to go to the incredible animation work and presentation that makes the environments feel so lively. Unfortunately, arguments still continue to be made that ‘pixel art’ as a central design and aesthetic for video games, particularly AAA games, is outdated and wouldn’t be marketable without a fully realistic 3D fidelity style that dominants most major releases. With this line of thinking, We’d miss opportunities for games like Sea of Stars to exist in addition to these games showcasing the styles this medium can still stylishly pull off if it wasn’t constantly constrained by toxic market interests and corporate grifters who care more about their yachts. Sea of Stars has better presentation than most games that are released today for twice its cost.
On top of that, the music in Sea of Stars is consistently good and has decent variety between the islands and worlds. The Mooncradle theme is an obvious favorite outside of a handful of others, though most of it didn’t really light my ears on fire or had me in anticipation for getting back to the regions or battling. The combat operates similarly to early Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and Mario RPG, and incorporates an interesting ‘lock’ system that adds more strategy to the combat, but I generally feel more negative about the battling and encounters overall.
I honestly believe Paper Mario and the Mario & Luigi games (rip) are the only ones to get hit timing right for me, and Sea of Stars isn’t much of an exception from how off it feels in most others in its field. Zale and Valere’s attacks are pretty easy to read and I get consistently, but then you have Serai and Resh’an, the latter who’s attack timing sometimes works and sometimes it doesn’t. The enemy timing is fine until the later half of the game where I just gave up trying to get the timings right, which isn’t a huge loss considering how forgiving this game is for most of its runtime.
Destroying locks does make the encounters slightly more intriguing but it doesn’t save them from becoming repetitive. There’s no option to run from battle for some reason. The available special moves and combos for each character feel limited and are passed out horrendously overtime with the first third of the game telling you to just take strong special moves to the face without much to counter them. While combat does open up later on with the addition of several party members and other elements, it’s bizarre how little there is in Sea of Stars considering it is a love letter to Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger, which have beefier depth and utility to boast in their combat department.
I never really connected with the main plot and characters in my 30 hour journey. Zale and Valere are painfully generic leads, and the rest don’t amount to much outside of maybe Garl but being “fun” is still a bit shallow since there isn’t more to him besides that. It would’ve been better if he was the main character even if it would’ve felt like a rip on CT with the main protagonist who sacrifices himself, only to find that you can revive them, Sea of Stars having this in a true ending route. The regular ending blows and I just watched the true one, and I struggle to see why this couldn’t have just been the regular one other than adding more replayability, but like I don’t feel like completing everything for this game and backtracking is awful for how accessible Sea of Stars is in some respects.
The discourse around this game is more interesting than the game itself, even if the discussions aren't really new but are just as tiring. The aforementioned 2D sprite style vs 3D style debate, not to mention the turn-based vs real time action discourse that I’ve noticed some people throwing up with this game and Final Fantasy XVI for example, a kernel of this discussion feverishly focused on veteran franchises like FF allegedly disrespecting their 'turn-based' legacy and long-standing fanbase. I personally like the series in either format from the classic ATB ones to the more action-y entries, and the blending being done in the ongoing VII remakes. If Sea of Stars and its huge success does inspire some stylistic sea change in a few of the big dogs, I’d say it’s a good thing, especially if it leads to better rpgs with more to them than Sea of Stars. The game here to me is just alright.