A mark of success for games like this that are calling back to an older era of games are when they can take a person who has no nostalgia for that time and makes them a fan. The person in question being me. My first console was a PS1 and I have not subsequently played any of those SNES RPGs. Now I feel like I've been missing out because I really enjoyed this game. Without even having the necessary points of reference, I can tell how much of a love letter to Sea of Stars is to the SNES classics and can feel the developer passion in every pixel.
I think the combat is great. It's not overly complex since every character only has a handful of abilites to choose from but there are a number of mechanics that keep you engaged. There's this lock system where an enemy will prepare an attack and the game will give you a set of damage types you need to hit the enemy with in a number of turns to prevent the attack. It makes you very aware of the different attack types that each of the party members have and you have to figure if you can make it in the number of turns the game gives you. Each pair of party members have unique combos so it's a good way to get a bunch of damge types in one turn. You recharge your mana for magic attacks by using melee attacks. Melee attacks also release orbs that allow you to apply magic damage to your weapon damage so you can perform magic attacks without costing mana. Although it is turn based, there are active button presses while the characters perform moves. Pressing the action button at the right time can make your attacks stronger. This also works for defending against enemy attacks. It's very satisfying to perform although I wish there was some sort of training mode to test out the timing as some abilities didn't have obvious indicators. There's a number of systems that individually are not that complex but added together makes for a very fun experience.
I really love how the levels are designed. The traversal and puzzle solving, although not challenging, provide enough substance that makes working through dungeons satisfying with lots of secrets of the hidden path. Although the stats part of the game isn't that deep, it's always nice to find a better weapon or new combos. It's certainly not a Metroidvania but you do get new items and abilites that allow you to access new areas as well as a late game ability that changes how you move around the game world. There's quite a lot of dungeons in the game and they all have a decent visual variety. The game looks fantastic and before this, I had never been the biggest fan of pixel art. I should probably rethink that position. The game also sounds great with plenty of themes worming their way into my brain.
The main weak link is probably the writing. It's not awful but it's a little uninteresting. The two main characters are pretty dull whose personalities may as well be the exact same. Garl is great though. Don't say anything bad about Garl. I found most of the other characters pretty forgettable. The story does go a few places I wasn't expecting so it's not like I was completely bored with it the whole way though. The ending isn't particularly satisfying whether it's the normal or true ending. The appeal of Garl does go a long way though.
This game was a really nice surprise for me. I wasn't anticipating it at all and only played it because it was on PS+ Extra. I really have to go back and play its inspirations like Chrono Trigger or Super Mario RPG (which is getting a remake soon) or some of the older Final Fantasy games. It really opened my eyes to a type of game I had been ignoring up to this point.
I think the combat is great. It's not overly complex since every character only has a handful of abilites to choose from but there are a number of mechanics that keep you engaged. There's this lock system where an enemy will prepare an attack and the game will give you a set of damage types you need to hit the enemy with in a number of turns to prevent the attack. It makes you very aware of the different attack types that each of the party members have and you have to figure if you can make it in the number of turns the game gives you. Each pair of party members have unique combos so it's a good way to get a bunch of damge types in one turn. You recharge your mana for magic attacks by using melee attacks. Melee attacks also release orbs that allow you to apply magic damage to your weapon damage so you can perform magic attacks without costing mana. Although it is turn based, there are active button presses while the characters perform moves. Pressing the action button at the right time can make your attacks stronger. This also works for defending against enemy attacks. It's very satisfying to perform although I wish there was some sort of training mode to test out the timing as some abilities didn't have obvious indicators. There's a number of systems that individually are not that complex but added together makes for a very fun experience.
I really love how the levels are designed. The traversal and puzzle solving, although not challenging, provide enough substance that makes working through dungeons satisfying with lots of secrets of the hidden path. Although the stats part of the game isn't that deep, it's always nice to find a better weapon or new combos. It's certainly not a Metroidvania but you do get new items and abilites that allow you to access new areas as well as a late game ability that changes how you move around the game world. There's quite a lot of dungeons in the game and they all have a decent visual variety. The game looks fantastic and before this, I had never been the biggest fan of pixel art. I should probably rethink that position. The game also sounds great with plenty of themes worming their way into my brain.
The main weak link is probably the writing. It's not awful but it's a little uninteresting. The two main characters are pretty dull whose personalities may as well be the exact same. Garl is great though. Don't say anything bad about Garl. I found most of the other characters pretty forgettable. The story does go a few places I wasn't expecting so it's not like I was completely bored with it the whole way though. The ending isn't particularly satisfying whether it's the normal or true ending. The appeal of Garl does go a long way though.
This game was a really nice surprise for me. I wasn't anticipating it at all and only played it because it was on PS+ Extra. I really have to go back and play its inspirations like Chrono Trigger or Super Mario RPG (which is getting a remake soon) or some of the older Final Fantasy games. It really opened my eyes to a type of game I had been ignoring up to this point.