I'll lead off with this: I truly did enjoy Sea of Stars. Sabotage Studios put together a competent, downright gorgeous RPG on a dime, an incredible feat in itself for a studio whose prior project was very much detached from the genre.
In some ways, their history is pretty clear -- SoS doesn't do a ton of innovating in its 25-ish hour runtime -- but it still shows a pretty solid understanding of the building blocks of the classical console RPG in its execution. Combat is crispy and encounters run pretty quick (despite the lack of a 'flee' option), exploration is an easy highlight punctuated by how free-flowing traversal is, and its soundtrack has some great earworms and guest tracks from industry legend Yasunori Mitsuda to boot. For the most part, the gameplay loop is also paced pretty well -- dungeons and zones never really run on for too long and there's a solid mix of puzzles and fights to keep players engaged. Some fights even feel like puzzles, thanks to the "locks" system (players can interrupt the occasional enemy action by breaking a series of locks a la Octopath Traveler), combo attacks, and turn delays.
Sea undeniably feels pretty good to play from moment to moment, but the general long haul vibe of an RPG sometimes works to its detriment. There is very little out-of-battle character building to focus on, minimal customization (toggleable relics and some accessories slightly modify how the game is played), and the full party's individual skills cap out at a paltry 4 each, including an ultimate ability that very rarely gets used outside of boss fights. These particular points might leave more seasoned RPG enjoyers left wanting, and at times I did feel like the cycle of [collect new stat stick -> level up a couple times -> use the same moves to clear trash mobs] wore on me, but I can definitely see it all working well as a surface-level examination of the genre.
That said, surface-level is a pretty common feeling throughout; Sabotage's latest ticks a bunch of the boxes that I think made some of those classic adventures charming, but with a bit less gameplay grit and an English script that could've used another editing pass and some grammatical polish. There are still surprises sprinkled across Zale and Valere's journey to become guardians of their world, and I did find some moments genuinely affecting, but too often does Sea fumble about trying to get its cast moving along to the next major story beat. For better or worse, though, most of this happens in the early hours -- once the 4th party member joins, a couple new layers of intrigue get added to the plot and some of the less enjoyable main-side-quest aspects start washing away. A sequence around the midpoint of the game in particular was pretty spectacular.
Ultimately, I think Sea of Stars is quite memorable, for both its triumphs and its shortfalls -- as a highly successful kickstarter project it already had some big shoes to fill -- but I could definitely see myself recommending it to folks who are looking for something with a few modern touches that isn't overly complex. There's a demo available that I think does a pretty good job of showing off the overall vibe, so give it a look if you're interested.
In some ways, their history is pretty clear -- SoS doesn't do a ton of innovating in its 25-ish hour runtime -- but it still shows a pretty solid understanding of the building blocks of the classical console RPG in its execution. Combat is crispy and encounters run pretty quick (despite the lack of a 'flee' option), exploration is an easy highlight punctuated by how free-flowing traversal is, and its soundtrack has some great earworms and guest tracks from industry legend Yasunori Mitsuda to boot. For the most part, the gameplay loop is also paced pretty well -- dungeons and zones never really run on for too long and there's a solid mix of puzzles and fights to keep players engaged. Some fights even feel like puzzles, thanks to the "locks" system (players can interrupt the occasional enemy action by breaking a series of locks a la Octopath Traveler), combo attacks, and turn delays.
Sea undeniably feels pretty good to play from moment to moment, but the general long haul vibe of an RPG sometimes works to its detriment. There is very little out-of-battle character building to focus on, minimal customization (toggleable relics and some accessories slightly modify how the game is played), and the full party's individual skills cap out at a paltry 4 each, including an ultimate ability that very rarely gets used outside of boss fights. These particular points might leave more seasoned RPG enjoyers left wanting, and at times I did feel like the cycle of [collect new stat stick -> level up a couple times -> use the same moves to clear trash mobs] wore on me, but I can definitely see it all working well as a surface-level examination of the genre.
That said, surface-level is a pretty common feeling throughout; Sabotage's latest ticks a bunch of the boxes that I think made some of those classic adventures charming, but with a bit less gameplay grit and an English script that could've used another editing pass and some grammatical polish. There are still surprises sprinkled across Zale and Valere's journey to become guardians of their world, and I did find some moments genuinely affecting, but too often does Sea fumble about trying to get its cast moving along to the next major story beat. For better or worse, though, most of this happens in the early hours -- once the 4th party member joins, a couple new layers of intrigue get added to the plot and some of the less enjoyable main-side-quest aspects start washing away. A sequence around the midpoint of the game in particular was pretty spectacular.
Ultimately, I think Sea of Stars is quite memorable, for both its triumphs and its shortfalls -- as a highly successful kickstarter project it already had some big shoes to fill -- but I could definitely see myself recommending it to folks who are looking for something with a few modern touches that isn't overly complex. There's a demo available that I think does a pretty good job of showing off the overall vibe, so give it a look if you're interested.