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Sea of Stars Review

Sabotage Studio ambitiously pumped out a 90s-style RPG as a follow-up to their well-received title The Messenger.

I had not heard about this game until my father informed me that he majorly helped fun its Kickstarter . . . and then I became further intrigued after learning that Rainbowdragoneyes was one of the main soundtrack composers. It also turns out that Sea of Stars is inspired by some of my other favorite games, like Super Mario RPG and Chrono Trigger.

Knowing this information, how could I not give Sea of Stars a try?

[MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING]

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10

In all honesty, I adore this game. It has just the right sprinkle of 16-bit nostalgia paired with gorgeous level design, an epic soundtrack, and a silly and fun cast of characters. The game itself is fairly easy and Sea of Stars is devoid of platitudinous high-fantasy elements, which may be alluring to game players that do not often like/are not used to hardcore RPGs.

As much as I love this game, it is indeed flawed in several ways. But overall, Sea of Stars is a fun romp and an interesting prequel to The Messenger, in which the latter is a 2D platformer more akin to Castlevania or Metroid. One could tell that Sea of Stars was definitely more of a passion project.

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GAMEPLAY: 8/10

Unlike The Messenger, Sea of Stars is a turn-based RPG similar to other 90s titles like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, and Dragon Quest . . . but it also has the simplicity and playfulness that a game like Super Mario RPG provides. The creative director Thierry Boulanger himself stated that Sea of Stars was mainly inspired by some of the games listed above.

Sabotage Studio eloquently implements 16-bit graphics that appeal to nostalgic, old-school players yet are simultaneously pretty enough to grab the attention of anyone. There are a lot of neat mechanics to the game, ranging from cooking to puzzle-solving to combat to minigames, like Wheels.

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Like many RPGs, players have the ability to cook when camping beside campfires! I enjoyed this mechanic because the cooking itself was brisk, but it had cute graphics to showcase the process of making a dish, like cutting vegetables and stirring the pot.

Cooking is introduced once the Warrior Cook Garl joins the party. The process is very straightforward and one can find ingredients pretty much anywhere: if you see something sparkling on the landscape, pick it up and use it for a recipe! Dishes can aid players in various ways, such as the peach strudel (requiring peaches, diary, wheat, and eggs) which refreshes 12 MP in combat, and Papillote (requiring onions and potatoes) which revives party members from a K.O. state and restores 50% of their health.

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Sea of Stars also has some puzzles scattered throughout, albeit most are optional/extras rather than being a part of the main game. There are several little puzzles to solve in order to access certain treasure chests, and there are also bigger puzzles found in Solstice Shrines and Sunken Ruins. Some of these puzzles are surprisingly challenging, so they are certainly fun for audiences up to the test. In order to achieve the "True Ending" of the game, most of these side puzzles must be completed.

I appreciate the way Sabotage Studio implemented these puzzle-solving quests! They are optional, but challenging and fun for puzzle enjoyers or those willing to work for a better ending. Players have to use the minstrel bracelet and/or the manual ability to shift around the night to day cycle in order to solve these riddles for the most part . . . and a good sum of them cannot be solved until you progress through a fair amount of the game. I initially became worried that I could not solve the puzzles in the Moorlands when I first arrived there, only to find out I needed to be further in the game and I could easily backtrack there later.

So, do not fret - you can always return back to areas and solve the riddles there at any point!

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Another highly enjoyable game mechanic is the ability to set sail. Early on in the game, after exploring the port town named Brisk for the first time, players meet a charming pirate crew consisting of Yolande, Keenathan, Valtraid, and Captain Klee'shaë (the alter ego of eventual party member Seraï). You will go on a quests with them to obtain a famous ghost ship called The Vespertine, which can then be used to travel the seas to reach all of the game's destinations.

This ship is primarily used to travel to each location in the game and will also take you across the Sea of Stars itself! The sailing mechanic is not only useful, but easy and fun to navigate. With the Salient Sails relic equipped, you can move around even faster.

Players can also enter the ship and walk around the deck and cabin. Oboard, players can talk to characters, save their game, cook recipes, play Wheels, access their game statistics, and listen to the pirate crew's band (which acts as the game's soundtrack library).

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When it comes to difficulty, players can acquire various relics that adjust how challenging the gameplay is. There is no actual difficulty setting.

For example, the Guardian Aura relic reduces all incoming damage by 30%. The Tomb of Knowledge relic increases XP by 20%. The Amulet of Storytelling fully heals every part member after each battle. There are others, but all of these relics make the game easier (which is good for speedrunning or if you want to simply enjoy the story of the game).

Then there are relics such as Dubious Dare, which increases enemy attack damage by 40%, and Artful Gambit, which reduces the party's HP by 95%, but successfully timed hits deal double bonus damage, and successfully timed blocks reduce damage to 1. These relics make the gameplay significantly harder.

On default settings, Sea of Stars is not difficult at all. Although, I am embarrassed to say that I died exactly 13 times!

The relics I had equipped did not affect the difficulty of my game too much, only equipping them for mechanical purposes. The Salient Sails relic increased my sailing speed by 20% and the Sequent Flare gave me a visual cue that I successfully timed my blocks and attacks.

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My biggest criticism is that I wish the boss fights were more challenging. I found the bosses to be significantly easier than fights against multiple tougher enemies . . .

The bosses had loads of HP, so it may have taken a while to defeat them, but I rarely experienced any K.O.s and total deaths during these fights. I view this as a negative thing because I adore challenges and want to feel intimidated and frustrated by big bosses. I think that Elysan'Darëlle (whom you fight in the normal ending) was the biggest disappointment, in that I defeated her in measly minutes without issue. I was around level 21 when beating the game.

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Despite the lack of challenge, the aesthetics and combat moves the bosses of Sea of Stars provide are absolutely stunning.

The setup, the atmosphere, the anticipation, the twitching, the shapeshifting, the magic . . . all of the elements in every boss fight were unique, fun, and alluring. I personally enjoyed fighting the Dwellers (even though the plotline forces you to lose to the Dweller of Strife), and several of the endgame bosses the most (such as the Gun Goddess who resisted most magic-based attacks and shot the ever-loving hell out of my party).

The enemies became increasingly more difficult as you progress through the game. Surviving a group of three or more tough monsters can be quite the challenge. I suffered some of the greatest struggles in Brisk's battle coliseum, dying four to five times against the "Basic Basement Batch."

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The BEST fight in the entire game was against the final boss of the True Ending: Aephorul.

I find it rather unfortunate that players do not get to fight this coward at all during the normal playthrough of the game. Of course, Aephorul (A.K.A. The Fleshmancer) is essentially a God, and it is near impossible for even Solstice Warriors to actual kill someone of this caliber. Even in the fight in the True Ending, you do not actually kill him, but rather put him in his place . . . taking The Fleshmancer down a few pegs, destroying his ego and understanding of the nature of reality.

This was a long, gruesome boss fight. Aephorul has a lot of HP, and I was locked in battle for at least an hour. He has several stages to his boss battle, and at some point the fight transcends into a retro-style arcade game (like Galactica) where you fly into the air and shoot frantically.

I was not as big of a fan of this shift in gameplay. This happens in the Aephorul fight as well as the final takedown against the World Eater. Sure, it does spice things up and prevent the turn-based RPG style from getting dull, but it was not really my cup of tea.

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MUSIC: 10/10

Absolute kudos to Eric Brown, A.K.A Rainbowdragoneyes, as well as Yasunori Mitsuda, famous composer for Chrono Trigger.

The soundtrack is perfect, complimenting every character and setting quite well. To me, while sometimes the music becomes repetitive, it is never annoyingly so. Sea of Stars makes sure to avoid too much repetition by adding reprises to earlier beats, such as changing the main Battle On! track upon entering different areas (or by not even activating that battle music at all sometimes).

Of course, many tracks are reminiscent of classic Chrono Trigger music, and one may also recognize some callbacks/motifs to The Messenger. These callbacks can be noticed in certain area themes like Glacial Peak.

The music just feels motivating, encouraging players to continue trekking and fight on!

As Sabotage’s approach to game design is modernizing retro aesthetics while keeping what matters from the bygone era, the same idea is being

I am always a fan of battle music. Some of my favorite tracks include:

The Storm Calls for You!

Songshroom's Wonders

Doccari Village

Battle On (Day)!

Encounter Elite! (this song always gave me the chills)

The Frozen Peak (Night)

Garl's Theme--Dance of 1,000 Suns

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STORY 6.5/10

I have seen others say this before: the story just keeps going, and going, and going . . .

Overall, Sea of Stars harbors a classic tale of good triumphing over evil. The two player protagonists, Valere and Zale, are special heroes called Solstice Warriors whose objective is to wipe out Dwellers and protect the world from further harm. The warriors ultimately must save their world, traverse the Sea of Stars and save Seraï's planet, and then take down The Fleshmancer. Valere and Zale travel around with fun, quirky side characters.

The story appears to be straightforward, but it is rather . . . all over the place. Every time you think you are near the end of the game, think again! Sea of Stars features several in-game climaxes, which is kind of nice because I did not want it to end in some degree, but also kind of confusing.

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This is the best summation of the plot I can provide:

Every once in a while, children may be born on either the winter or summer solstice. These children are called "Solstice Warriors" as they harbor a special kind of powerful magic, intended on being used to protect the world from evil. Solstice Warrior babies are dropped off to a village called Mooncradle, where they are raised and trained at Zenith Academy.

The story follows Zale and Valere, a summer and winter solstice child respectively, who train at Zenith Academy for years before heading out into the world. Zale harnesses sun-based abilities and Valere harnesses moon-based powers, and they learn how to utilize their powerful magic from other Solstice Warriors named Headmaster Moraine, Erlina, and Brugraves.

A great, ancient evil known as The Fleshmancer has created Dwellers of Woe and Strife across worlds and timelines, who harbor insane amounts of power that can only be squandered by solstice magic during solar and lunar eclipses. Solstice Warriors are trained to fight these beings during eclipse events.

Valere and Zale travel with their childhood best friend, the warrior cook Garl, in order to defeat the remaining Dwellers before they can transform into the even more powerful World Eaters in due time. Along the way, the heroes encounter a surplus of unique characters such as Teaks, who is a historian that informs players on lore, the pirate crew of Brisk, and Seraï, a mysterious fighter who eventually joins your party.

However, as Valere and Zale are heroically questing, the lives of solstice warriors Erlina and Brugraves take a turn for the worse. During the fight against the Dweller of Woe, Erlina and Brugraves betray their friends and their duties and reveal themselves to be worshippers of The Fleshmancer. They join the other Fleshmancer acolytes and halt the progress of the heroes from defeating the Dweller. This causes absolute chaos and the destruction of Brisk, preventing the Dweller of Woe from extinction and reviving the formerly defeated Dweller of Strife.

Eventually, the party discovers The Archivist hiding himself within the Archives . . . who turns out to be Resh'an, The Fleshmancer's former friend/co-alchemist. Resh'an agrees to fight alongside the heroes, but he strictly states that he cannot engage in battle with Dwellers.

When the party engages with the Dweller of Strife, it appears that they are horribly losing. In a desperate attempt, Seraï takes one of Resh'an's flasks and throws it at the Dweller, breaking the agreement between Resh'an and The Fleshmancer, and summoning the latter. The Fleshmancer, named Aephorul, then recruits Erlina as his lieutenant and sends Brugraves away, proceeding to mortally wound Garl. Resh'an uses his abilities to temporarily extend Garl's lifespan on "borrowed time" so that the warrior cook can finish helping Valere and Zale follow through with Garl's mission given to him by the Elder Mist.

After Garl dies, the party is permitted by the sky giants to cross between worlds over the Sea of Stars in order to reach the Fleshmancer's lair. The crew travels to another planet that is technologically advanced, and Seraï reveals herself to be a cyborg from this planet. She was on a mission to find solstice warriors to help free her people from the chokehold The Fleshmancer has upon them. Seraï's world is deprived from light and the moon has been sunken into the bottom of the ocean.

On this quest to save Seraï's planet and stop Aephorul once and for all, the party encounters some lost, trapped souls, including B'st, whom Resh'an makes a glass body for so that they can fight alongside your party. Valere, Zale, and crew eventually reach The Fleshmancer's lair after gaining the ability to fly and then have to fight Elysan'Darëlle, formerly known as Erlina.

Once defeating her, Resh'an convinces Aephorul to accept defeat and understand that his twisted life approach is inferior. Both alchemists then depart, and Zale and Valere begin to sense that a World Eater is forming. The two heroes give their heartfelt goodbyes to their friends, ascend to the status of Guardian Gods, and defeat the World Eater. Valere and Zale now permanently circle the universe as Gods to protect the world from further developments of Dwellers.

If players complete all the necessary side quests required for the True Ending, before beating the game, the party finds a device in the Moorlands that Resh'an built called the Chronophage. This can be used to travel back in time and prevent Garl's death. B'st takes Garl's place and takes the fatal hit from The Fleshmancer, but his glass body (and will to live) prevents him from the same fate of death. This replacement prevents a time paradox, allowing all party members to live.

In the True Ending, players fight Aephorul himself as the final boss after Garl provokes him. Elysan'Darëlle appears in this other world alongside a transformed Brugraves, and it is ambiguous of their fate. Zale and Valere still transcend into Guardian Gods and only come back down once a year on Garl's birthday.

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Hopefully, that summary made any sense. The plot is simple at its core, but events just keep happening and "twists" are thrown around, so it is really hard to verbalize a gist.

Some story elements are left ambiguous, however. The relationship between Resh'an and Aephorul s never fully explained. Players get to see brief flashbacks of the two alchemists before they became immortals, which leads to a potential understanding that they were certainly more than just "business partners." It is also not fully known where the two run off to after the final fight, and when it cuts to the corrupted Erlina and Brugraves, they are roaming an unknown place/planet. I am also not exactly certain how Seraï traversed the Sea of Stars originally and became part of a pirate crew. Nonetheless, the ambiguity is kind of fun and up to interpretation, perhaps leading into The Messenger.

Even though the plot length was overly long, I cannot complain too much. I really did not want the game to end!

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Though to be frank, completing Sea of Stars with the normal ending is kind of a disappointment.

The Elysan'Darëlle boss fight was a bit too easy, and her attack patterns were rather predictable and boring. When I defeated her, I thought, that's it? It then became a shame that Valere and Zale would not engage with Aephorul at all - of course, the game recognizes that it would be weird if mortals could kill a God so easily (which occurs in other video games), but defeating his Lieutenant did not seem like it would destroy the entire mindset that The Fleshmancer had been harboring for centuries. Was that all he had? Of course, we do not know of the dialogue that Resh'an had with him following the brawl.

After the boss fight . . . that is it. I felt a bit conflicted about this. This was the only time where I was perplexed that there was no more story elaboration following afterward. The game essentially ends. Valere and Zale sense a World Eater, and you must fight it (but this battle is simple and quick). Then, the end.

Zale and Valere revolve around the world as Guardian Gods; they left their friends and ended the conflict with Aephorul so abruptly. "Abrupt" is the best term for the normal ending. It was not bad in any sense, as it is a simple good versus evil story in the end, but something felt missing.

The true ending is definitely worth anyone's time. It does not make the end of the story magnificent or anything, but it feels better. I believe Garl was a missing key element in the normal ending and his presence makes dialogues, battles, and story elements more fruitful. His persistence triggers an actual fight with Aephorul, who is much more difficult and interesting to battle.

The Chronophage may be a cheap trick, an overdone time-traveling cliche, but it was overtly an homage to Chrono Trigger and it brought the best character in the game back to life! With Garl's resurrection, you also unlock a quest to retrieve an invitation to dine at the Golden Pelican. Having this moment at the dinner, in which all of Zale and Valere's friends and traveling buddies are invited, makes players feel more connected with these characters and more saddened at the prospect of having to near-permanently leave them endgame.

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The characters in Sea of Stars are mostly enjoyable, equipped with their own nuances and humorous dialogue.

Zale and Valere are the player characters, and you can choose to have either one of them as the lead of your party. Overall, the two are not much different from each other, and out of any characters in the game, lack the most distinguishable personality. It is kind of strange that they do have a considerable amount of dialogue, but they are lacking in individuation. They are supposed to be the embodiments of the Gods Luana and Solen but these particular namesakes/ideas are not fully fleshed out.

Zale is sweet, friendly, and easily humored. He seems to use laughter to cope with all sorts of emotions, laughing when he feels grief and sadness as well. He was foretold by the Elder Mist to "stare at the night inside of him," meaning to come to terms with his more negative, pessimistic emotions. When Garl died, he became overwhelmed with grief and unlocked the ability to fly in a passionate emotional outburst. He continued to struggle with this grief by not being able to get Garl out of his head, but Zale is overall a fairly headstrong person.

Valere is also helpful and friendly, but a bit more emotionally cool. After Garl's death, she begins to meditate a lot, which is also what she does to conduct her ultimate attack. Valere is headstrong like Zale but also seems to be more inclined to leadership, being the more effective communicator.

I have to say though, I highly appreciate the way Sea of Stars portrays Valere and Zale's grief. They process these emotions differently, and it takes time, and never quite goes away.

Then we have Seraï, who is interesting. She is kind of the cliche mysterious character with a double identity, but it is played straight by having her alias as Captain Klee'shaë . . . and the fact that Garl, Zale, and Valere knew she was leading two lives near the very beginning. Seraï is kind, a bit quiet, but also hot-headed. She warms up to the main cast eventually but always harbors suspicion and impatience with Resh'an. During the fight against the Dweller of Strife, she gets very fed up with Resh'an's limitations and steals one of his bottles to throw at the Dweller. Overall, Seraï means well and her goal is to save her home planet from the utter doom and misery it is facing. Later, there was the big reveal that she is a CYBORG! I kind of saw it coming based on her combat abilities, but still. This created quite a weird shift from fantasy to sci-fi. Most of Seraï's backstory occurs in the the final third of the game, which helps to keep the story interesting.

B'st, who you acquire later in the game kind of as Garl's replacement, is an absolute cutey. He's an unexpected alley and quite the tank. He is optimistic, strong-willed, childlike, and intelligent. He is a soul who was ripped away from his mortal body, left roaming the world alongside other lost souls, but after the initial encounter with him, Resh'an developed B'st a glass body. The body functions as long as B'st maintains a purpose and will to live. I think that he is a fine character . . . he is no Garl, but still cute. I also enjoy B'st's relationship with the little pet crab the party acquires after finishing the coliseum.

Now Garl . . . if anything, Garl is the main character. He gets shit done.

Garl is kind-hearted, funny, and brimming with optimism. While Zale and Valere lack strong personalities, Garl, their collective best friend, acts perfectly as the character with a voice, and conduit for players to actually experience the world-building. He is well-liked by nearly all of the cast, being fully allowed by Moraine and the Elder Mist to accompany the solstice warriors despite him being a magic-less mortal. Garl deems himself a "warrior cook" and cooks dishes for the party, as well as bakes a giant bread to awaken The Sleeper which was the task that then granted the main party permission by the Sky Giants to traverse the Sea of Stars. Garl was liked so much that after Brisk was destroyed by the acolytes, and some of the peoples had to be migrated to a new island, the migrants asked Garl himself to christen their village. He named it "Mirth."

When Garl was killed, it was almost as if the entire game was deprived. This character really brought some substance and relatability to the playthrough. After he was offed, I felt as if the story began billowing too quickly and all the characters felt more disconnected from each other. As stated, Garl was the ultimate conduit bringing everyone together, so rather than "friends" the cast was just simply a battling party.

B'st was an okay replacement, but then it got really weird and jumbled when Resh'an abruptly exited the party. If you choose to complete the True Ending, Garl's resurrection really feels like luster was reinstalled into the game and I started to care again. His presence utterly changed the endgame for the better and it made Valere and Zale's ascension to Guardian Gods more bittersweet.

Now Resh'an . . . oh man. I am unsure if I like Resh'an or not!

He is an alchemist, and former partner of Aephorul; an old, decrepit body that had sought to create the Elixir of Life millennia ago. This attempt was successful, and both he and Aephoral were granted godlike immortality at the price of their living flesh. Resh'an is reserved and respectful, but also arrogant and a bit of a stickler. He has come to terms with his immortality and chooses to respect all existing life, as opposed to Aephorul, who grew bitter of his fate and envious of living things.

Resh'an is also known as the Great Eagle, as he flies around in his eagle form to watch the world and drop off baby solstice warriors to Mooncradle. He is also referred to as The Archivist, because he spent centuries isolated in The Archives, creating, watching, and cataloging multiple timelines/parallel universes to see when, if, and how The Fleshmancer could be stopped.

Overall, this character seems mysterious and cool, and I enjoy using him in combat with his double-hit offensive moves and petrichor healing. Although, you cannot use him against Dwellers, according to his own rules. Resh'an's backstory is definitely the most allusive . . . but players do get to witness a flashback and a bit of an explanation of the Tale of Two Alchemists from the historian Teaks.

You would always wonder why in the ever loving hell Resh'an kept letting Aephorul slide: this man conjured millions of realities and just kind of waited around . . . even though Resh'an has the full power to end Aephorul's life, which no one else does. Instead, Resh'an chooses to rely on solstice warriors. You get the inkling that the two alchemists were more than just coworkers or friends. Because sure, two completely platonic dudes want to achieve immortality together. Also, Resh'an is kind of a clueless bitch and has this weird mental "uh-oh" moment towards the end of the game, and just leaves your party.

Aephorul himself, in the same light, is quite mysterious but also charming. Yet, he is also a clueless bitch and seems to be passively manipulated rather easily (such as by Caël and the other clockwork kids). He steps down from interfering in Zale and Valere's timeline in the end of the game because his poor little ego was brutally wounded.

Aephorul regrets the achievement of immortality, so he disparages all of life and seeks flesh (flesh-mancing, developing flesh castles and all), which is likely to fill this emptiness he harbors. You wonder if he had always been more on the evil side even before developing the elixr of life, as he gifts Resh'an his eagle form via dubious means.

There are a plethora of other characters, such as Teaks, Caël, Yolande, Malkomud, and Moraine, but discussing them would take quite a while. In all, the cast is diverse, silly, and enjoyable to interact with, but most characters only have surface-level personalities.

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SETTING: 10/10

Sea of Star's 16-bit graphics are visually stunning and pleasingly colorful, the settings in particular. I enjoyed traveling anywhere and everywhere: the jolliness of Brisk, the purple grasses of Mooncradle and its gorgeous Celestial tree, the quaint snowiness of Mirth, the variety of Mesa Island, the whimsy of Songshroom, the eeriness of Wraith Island, and so much more.

There are so many added visual details, including things that lurk under the sea, which players can witness as they sail around. There is a refreshing sense of freedom that you can return to any location at anytime, which is made even easier at the very end of the game after unlocking the flying ability.

I did not think that the locations in Seraï's world were as visually strong, but it had this relevant downtrodden aura and steampunk look. Players can feel the melancholy and isolation roaming through these techy, junkyard-looking levels.

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The most impressive, shocking visuals came from literally sailing across planets, through the Sea of Stars itself. Holy cow. The twinkling of the seas, the galactic skies, and the ominous wormhole(?) encroaching. . . players are in for quite the creative surprise. As you approach Seraï's planet, there is a sudden shift from 2D to 3D at it works so well. The moment felt magical and spectacular and easily earned the title of the most beautiful backdrop of the game.

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COMBAT: 7/10

The combat operates like any turn-based RPG with a level-up system, but with its own quirks. Players have an HP bar and an MP bar for magic-based attacks. There is also a combo gage that fills as enemies and players land attacks. And, there is an ultimate attack gage that fills as players use combos and complete magic-based attacks.

"Turns" in the game are per individual character, not by party and enemy groups. After Valere herself (for example) attacks, one turn has been passed. Enemies will have a little countdown above them signaling how many turns it will take for them to begin attacking. This usually ranges between 1-4 turns.

When a character's HP falls to 0, they do not "die." Instead, they get knocked out and will be able to get back up after a certain amount of turns. These little K.O. stars revolve around the fallen member's head, and depending upon how many stars there are, it equals how many turns it will take for a party member to get back up. They can be revived sooner with certain recipes, B'st's warble ability, or Resh'an's ultimate attack. For the most part, players are revived with 50% HP.

Having members being able to revive themselves after a certain amount of turns may make the game easier at times, but it is kind of a cool mechanic. It does not really make the gameplay much easier when versing a multitude of enemies at one time. Players can also equip relics to make the game more difficult anyways.

In combat, there are timed blocks and attacks. You press a button in order to perfectly block an enemy's attack and to deal more damage/strike more than once. Doing these timed attacks released mana, which can then be harnessed by characters so that when you select a basic physical attack, it also includes magic damage as well.

I am personally a big fan of RPGs that have timed hits. It makes me feel more involved, and more like I am actually playing a game, rather than just watching characters fight.

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You can use two or three party members in combat, out of the six you eventually gather. I never really favored any particular character, but perhaps most often my party included Valere, Zale, and Resh'an.

Garl is good for healing and has good physical defense, Resh'an was able to execute both arcane and poison damage (as well as group heal), Seraï has stealthy attacks, B'st is a tank and can revive party members, Zale deals solar and blunt damage, and Valere is a strong magic user that can deal lunar damage.

Although, objectively, Resh'an is the most powerful party member by far, even when he leaves you only the puppet version of himself. His ultimate ability alone heals and revives all party members, as well as deals a significant amount of arcane damage.

Valere and Zale have to be used against Dwellers, as no other party member hardly does any damage against them. Resh'an cannot be used against a Dweller at all.

There are certain instances where a specific character is useful, and players are able to swap around party members in the midst of battle (unless they are K.O.d). Enemies may have these "locks" building up to a powerful attack. Players can break these locks with certain kinds of abilities, which will vanquish that enemy's next attack. For example, an enemy may have 1 lunar magic lock and two sword damage locks. To break them, use Valere's moonerang or crescent arc attack (lunar), and use Seraï's or Zale's physical attacks (sword).

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I enjoyed the combo and the ultimate attack mechanic. To unlock these moves, players must find scrolls hidden in treasure chests all over the map. Utilizing these moves really spices the gameplay up and creates all sorts of combinations.

The combo moves require two or three party members. The first one you get is called "solstice strike," involving Valere and Zale, which is basically just a physical attack but both members strike at the same time.

My favorites include soonrang, which is a buffed-up version of Valere's moonerang but includes Zale as well. This attack strikes all enemies indefinitely until you miss timing the hit, and deals both solar and lunar damage. I also enjoyed Seraï and Zale's "X-strike," which attacked all enemies with sword and solar damage, as well as Valere and Resh'an's "arcane moons" which is available at a low cp cost and hurts all enemies with arcane and lunar magic.

Every individual character has their ultimate attack, which would trigger a brief cutscene and unleash hefty, all-encompassing damage. They are fun to witness and rewarding to use once the gage is filled (although unfortunately it hardly helped at all during the battle against The Fleshmancer). Resh'an's ultimate, in which he ascends to the skies as the great eagle, is frankly kind of broken, because not only does it deal significant damage, but it also heals and revives the entire party!

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ENJOYMENT: 9/10

Though I have mixed feelings about the abruptness and ambiguity of the ending, I overall thoroughly enjoyed playing Sea of Stars.

The game offered even more content than seemed promised, and you can tell the amount of passion and love the game developers put into this title. It is certainly a leg up from the also well-received game, The Messenger.

The best parts about Sea of Stars are definitely its graphics and aesthetics, the soundtrack, and the variety of game mechanics. Although the combat kind of gets repetitive after a while and the story is all over the place, it was still a fun adventure nonetheless.

As a side note, there is a minigame within Sea of Stars called "Wheels," which is like a strategy slots game. It was invented by The Watchmaker and there are several champions throughout the game that you can challenge, and when you win, you collect more figurines/classes to play as and go from copper all the way to the platinum wheels level. I have to say . . . it may look complicated, but Wheels is highly addictive.

TOTAL TIME SPENT: 50 hours

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10

PLATFORM USED: Nintendo Switch

DATE OF COMPLETION: March 2024

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