A sea of good and pretty ideas, but it lacks the substance to surpass even the most generic JRPG out there.
The game is undeniably visually stunning. I'm not a fan of the character portraits, but there are so many other issues to dislike that I simply overlooked them. The entire map, both in dungeons and the open world, is breathtaking. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to the open-world experience it attempts to portray; it's much more linear than you might expect. The story is overly linear, with minimal side content.
The story is disappointing. It doesn't start off well, and you may hope it improves as the game progresses, but it doesn't. The protagonists lack charisma, the rest of the party is uninteresting, and the pacing is terrible. You'll spend nearly 10 hours with only three party members, and about two hours to finishing the game you add another one? What the hell?
Another aspect I strongly dislike is the need to include cameos from The Messenger. A significant part of this game revolves around references, playing songs, and "epic moments" that you won't understand if you haven't played their previous game. Sea of Stars isn't supposed to be The Messenger 2 (or in this case, 0), but it still deviates from the main story to make references...
The combat system starts off interesting, but after just five battles, it becomes repetitive and, above all, boring. Many bosses and regular enemies are damage sponges, and nothing is genuinely challenging. You'll find yourself using the same two skills and basic attacks for an extended period until you finally unlock more than 1 ultimate attack in the very end of the game. The combos are most useless because every normal enemy will die before you even get 1 of it.
In reality, there isn't much to discuss about Sea of Stars. I haven't played Chrono Trigger yet, but you can't create a game purely for nostalgia. If that's what you're after, you should consider playing Chained Echoes instead, which appears to be far superior to this game in what it attempts, and fails to achieve.
The game is undeniably visually stunning. I'm not a fan of the character portraits, but there are so many other issues to dislike that I simply overlooked them. The entire map, both in dungeons and the open world, is breathtaking. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to the open-world experience it attempts to portray; it's much more linear than you might expect. The story is overly linear, with minimal side content.
The story is disappointing. It doesn't start off well, and you may hope it improves as the game progresses, but it doesn't. The protagonists lack charisma, the rest of the party is uninteresting, and the pacing is terrible. You'll spend nearly 10 hours with only three party members, and about two hours to finishing the game you add another one? What the hell?
Another aspect I strongly dislike is the need to include cameos from The Messenger. A significant part of this game revolves around references, playing songs, and "epic moments" that you won't understand if you haven't played their previous game. Sea of Stars isn't supposed to be The Messenger 2 (or in this case, 0), but it still deviates from the main story to make references...
The combat system starts off interesting, but after just five battles, it becomes repetitive and, above all, boring. Many bosses and regular enemies are damage sponges, and nothing is genuinely challenging. You'll find yourself using the same two skills and basic attacks for an extended period until you finally unlock more than 1 ultimate attack in the very end of the game. The combos are most useless because every normal enemy will die before you even get 1 of it.
In reality, there isn't much to discuss about Sea of Stars. I haven't played Chrono Trigger yet, but you can't create a game purely for nostalgia. If that's what you're after, you should consider playing Chained Echoes instead, which appears to be far superior to this game in what it attempts, and fails to achieve.