Played stoned, got lost in the incredible music only 17 minutes in. 5/5

It starts of slow and then I got addicted to it, best RPG I ever played by a long shot, so let's get into a review, yippers!

NOTE - I'll keep spoilers very minor and will only hint at events/features in this game, please read this if you need some convincing to buy it and haven't played it yet!


GAMEPLAY - A+

It wouldn't be a long stretch to say there is a lot to this game, of course it starts off a little slow due to the way the tutorial is structured, but once it kicks off it will be a blast. Sea of stars features a ton of exploration, side content and some post game content to dive into and even has its own chess type of game. Primarily you'll look for treasure, solve puzzles, partake in quizes, fish a lot of uh... fish and of course fight enemies.

The combat system is complex, but very healthily built up throughout the game. You start of with regular attacks (that restore mana) and skills that cost mana, with a bonus on ALL timed blocks/attacks you perform. As you progress you'll get access to a lot of combat mechanics such as empowering, combos, ultimates, swapping and items. An important combat mechnic is attack timers, vulnerabilities and combat locks which allow you to outsmart the enemy by reducing the power of an upcoming attack or even stop it entirely.

The only downside is the amount of walking/parkour at times and the fact you can't exit a stage you've already "cleared" by will, even after unlocking the final method of transport.

STORY - S

You might think its a story of fate and childhood friendship, but don't be fooled by all that (although the game tries a bit to push the latter, but i'll go on a tangent about that in the characters section). Sea of stars is a tale of the friendship between the archivist and his associate who parted ways, now the former telling one of his hundreds of stories. What is the value of the fate of one story if you have so many, and if you put your pen down into one, then why not for every else?

While you do witness this adventure from Valere and Zale, the world nicely opens up as you progress and hear stories that build the world from Teaks (accompanied by a nice atmosphere of music). One island too small? have an ocean! Ocean too big? Then lets make the distance feel smaller. Defeated your first dweller? Then lets get you some more! Does even fate fail you by saying you'll never succeed? Then one simple knock shall be like music to your ears. Do you want to know why this game is called Sea of Stars? Then how about you treat yourself to a spectacle.

MUSIC - S+

They literally acknowledged how good their music is by having a pirate band play it for you in a bar. Travelling music makes you want to travel forever, leveling up feels like a real party and the atmosphere induced by the music itself will make you nostalgic while and after playing.

VISUALS - S+

This game is gorgeous, take screenshots, breathe in the atmosphere and appreciate the amount of effort the developers put into this, the animations are absolutely fantastic as well to go with it.

CHARACTERS - C+

My only big issue with the game are the characters, our main characters feel like planks of wood without personality, to contrast Garl has an attempt at a personality because "he is the one who will talk immediately", but it feels very overdone in an attempt to get you to care about him, while in the end I didn't care much for him since I immediately ditched him for Seraï whenever I could (Who is a teleporting, poison knife wielding bad-ass might I add). B'st has amazing character animations and that's it for him

Recurring characters do have a good bit more personality and add their nice charm to the game, but nothing to get too invested into. The ability to display personality has been done quite well generally with how text hums and the way of writing is performed (Elder mist and Teaks are good examples of well done characters).

I initially went for just a C, but I added a + for the fact Resh'an and Aephorul exist, their characters in general add a lot to the story and especially Resh'an is a delight to see in action and has to be one of the few I was genuinly invested in for his morals. These two characters are written in such a way that they enhance the game and its story as a whole, adding depth to a story that initially seems rather simple and two dimensional.

POLISH - S

I haven't encountered any bugs myself and I can see the developers have been very committed to giving us a bug free experience. There's a good bit of shortcuts/quality of life to make things easier on you, the menus are very easy to understand as well, aside from the items/equip hiccup not being clear immediately

IS IT WORTH THE BUCK?

Yes, it is, absolutely. While perfection doesn't exist, there is still so much joy to get from this masterpiece of a game.

I shouldn't have waited for it to be on sale.

If you loved Chrono Trigger, you will more than likely love this.