Sea of Stars: Sunset Edition

I can't. I tried. You can't have an RPG with such appalling writing. It really sucks because you can see that a lot of work was put in other areas of this game. The pixel work is phenomenal, probably one of the best I've seen. The music is fantastic, too. Did you know that they got Yasunori Mitsuda of Chrono Trigger fame to compose some ditties for this game? Wow! You know who else they should've hired? A semi-decent writer. Not even necessarily one with a resume like Yasunori's, no. Just someone who understands dialogue and is fluent enough in English. That would really tie the whole package together. As it stands, this game is like a brick wall where they used peanut butter instead of mortar.

★★½☆☆ I don't regret playing this game but i wouldn't recommend other people to play this game, it's competently made but narratively bland, character bland, soundtrack bland (with only four main highlights to the soundtrack for me). The first 7 hours of this game is incredibly uninteresting and it feels like the last act of the game is stalling for itself, constant setbacks and constant out of nowhere "We need to do this in order to do this". The main chunk of the game i enjoyed was the middle. Across the board character designs, level designs, pixel art, the combat system, boss fights, animations, are all fantastic. There's real competence to this game clearly made by competent people but its lacking some sort of uniqueness, something memorable. I would actually play a Sea Of Stars 2 to see if the team behind this has improved and found a style.

Usually I don’t really write reviews, but this game is special. As a full time working dad my time is very limited. However, this game reignited the love that I felt for games in a period where time was available in abundance, and your time was respected by developers. Furthermore, it reminds me of a time where the world seemed more simple, and devs still cared about their art before shareholders and marketeers dictated the course of development of a game. The game embraces old school jrpg vibes whilst it does not take itself too seriously. The characters are light hearted but serious when required during certain phases of story telling. I find them engaging and above all courageous. The overall story is quite simple but that is certainly not a bad thing, it’s well put together. The combat system is simple but in depth enough to keep me hooked. The lock system is a clever way to ensure each class has its role to play and the combo system is great too. Therefore, each class does feel impactful in its own way. The game is not difficult but it allows you to adjust the difficulty by enabling certain items with can enable or disable specific effects. Graphically the game is charming and playful. The world is wonderfully put together. Each zone is different with its own vibe. Especially the effects on certain spells or attacks during combat can look quite impressive. I did not finish the game yet but I can tell the devs put a lot of love and effort into this game. Especially the free DLC tells you that they care about their art and audience. If you have time in abundance, or like me where time suddenly becomes more valuable than gold, this game is certainly worth a try. Especially when Sea of Stars is on sale and these type of games are your cup of tea, don’t think twice and support these great devs and get ready to be sucked into some old school gaming vibes

Okay, "Yes I recommend," IF you love Chrono Trigger, because that's what this is all about. If you aren't looking for a "love letter to CT and other early Squaresoft," you may find this a little saccharine. I played CT about 80 billion times when I was a kid and so this is absolutely working on the part of me that will always love and adore that game. But I'm hearing people's complaints about Garl and...yea, I see it. We'll see how it goes along, I haven't finished it yet. But it looks/sounds absolutely lovely and the character sprites are very expressive and fun. Having a great time with it.

I wanted to like this game but the characters, story, combat and just general pacing all felt entirely too tedious. I started to dread picking it back up more and more until I just stopped.

My experience with Sea of Stars was... weird. First off, the game is gorgeous, it is bar none one of the most visually interesting games I’ve played. Everything else is a different story. The battle system, while unique, is a bit simple for my tastes, and I was sick to death of it by the time I got to the true ending. Though with a bit of expansion on the base concept, I think it stay engaging for longer. The story is very predictable if you are familiar with JRPGs, but that is not a crime. I did fully finish the game and got the true ending because despite its flaws, Sea of Stars is undeniably a passion project. You can almost feel how much love was put into this game. This is best demonstrated in the Watchmaker DLC, which is disappointingly short, but otherwise solves almost every other issue with the game. It provides a new set of combat mechanics to work with, some really interesting puzzles, and the story provides insight into the previously kind of bland main duo. All in all, If you think Sea of Stars looks even a little interesting, I’d recommend it. While I did not love every part of this game, it is an undeniably beautiful experience, and it was well worth the price.

因为差评一片，我是做好了心理准备才开始玩的，没料想才序章就已经昏昏欲睡。但当我坚持到离开第一个地图时，顿时豁然开朗。 之后我就像着了魔一样四处探图（打轮盘冠军赛），一路走到了真结局。 玩到中途，我发现Steam上的差评大多说得没错：剧情烂，人物塑造呆板，等于没有的角色养成，毫无深度的QTE战斗，路遇野怪不能逃跑。 于是我开始思考，这个游戏到底什么地方吸引了我？ 我想首先是轮盘游戏这个小游戏。 在连续输了三次、终于弄懂机制并取得胜利后，我开始有了“我要踏遍地图，打败所有轮盘游戏冠军”的驱动力。 而有了继续游玩的驱动力以后，我很快又发现了《星之海》的新乐趣：探图 游戏加入了轻量的解谜要素，使得精美的美术成为了可互动的要素之一，而不是单纯的背景板。我向来偏爱各类美丽或充满个性的二维美术，于是在精美的像素绘图里四处穿梭，也成了享受这部游戏的乐趣。 而且这个游戏的美术真的很漂亮，还有大量的2D手绘过场动画，堪称是量大管饱。 换言之，我玩入迷了。 于是我很快意识到，制作组或许正是为了突出探索地图的乐趣，才把堪称JRPG祖宗之法的回合制战斗、角色成长和练级系统大幅削减与改造的。 在游戏里，除了可选难度和内置作弊器之外，你还会发现：等级是全队友共享的，并且与剧情进展平行。不需要额外练级，只要打过当前地图中的拦路野怪，自然就具备了打败该地图BOSS的实力。于是，在不执着于收集物的情况下，游戏过程就是从一张地图非常丝滑地过渡到下一张地图，一直维持着新鲜感。 ————不过另一方面，游戏有许多的收集要素，而随着收集，又有新的解谜关卡和隐藏BOSS。 而这些收集内容又都与真结局挂钩，不收集完就不给进真结局。 如果不看攻略，还是挺折磨人的。 说到这里，感谢做地图收集攻略的大佬，让我基本第一趟就舔图干净了） 不过我和差评观点最一致的，还是剧情和角色塑造上。 平心而论，剧情其实不算差，甚至可以说整个剧本框架都是蛮不错的，问题主要出在文案笔力不够。我看剧情时感觉，这位编剧一不会煽情，二不会写剧情高潮，唯独对世界观设定特别投入。 每收集一个故事，都是一次设定的糊脸，但坦白说，我最后也只get到俩gay子打情骂俏，毁灭世界这样子。 不过要论写得最差的还是角色塑造。 游戏前中期完全就是“战斗厨师加尔和他那堆不善言辞的跟班打手们”。 这并非加尔的人物塑造有多出彩，而是其余角色刻画过于扁平单薄，且文案明显偏心，把太多剧情高光堆到这个角色上。 说真的，那堆追捧加尔的剧情，真的有点像冷门角色推发力，要在自己的游戏中为自己的心肝夺回属于他的一切。 更让人费解的是，作为游戏看板的男女主，主线人设单薄、毫无魅力，全程沦为加尔的陪衬，完整的人物弧光和人设铺垫，全部被挪到了DLC当中。 好在这些短板并未太过影响整体游玩体验，只是难免让人惋惜，觉得文案挺对不起美术视觉团队的努力的。 絮絮叨叨一堆，总结一下，就是我觉得《星之海》是一款优缺点都极其鲜明的作品。 很适合不喜欢练级，但又想玩JRPG，同时对美术要求很高的玩家。 而且还有个质量很高的免费DLC，我觉得还是值得大家试试看，玩一玩的。

This game is like Chrono Trigger was combined with the Mario & Luigi games. For most of the time playing I felt rather conflicted as I enjoyed the visuals and the world that was built up around it. But the parts that I disliked grew more prominent with each passing hour. - One of the worst stories I have seen in a game, bad enough to make me angry with how the ending was handled. - Plot twists occur with zero foreshadowing only to then immediately move on - Subpar characters that try to seem deeper than they actually are. - There is a certain character the game glazes and treats like a saint, they are never in the wrong and everything goes right for them. The biggest contrivences in the plot are because of them. - Almost zero variety in the combat system as every character only gets 3 skills, you will be using skills most since they don't take an eternity to charge. - Ok at best music - You move like a snail on the overworld - There is no way to escape battles - The wheels minigame is entirely RNG, sometimes you will instantly lose because the game says so. There are also 10 of them, get used to losing for no reason. By halfway I was mixed on the game, by the end I was angry. Avoid the headaches and do not get this, no pretty graphics make up for the downsides.

The characters speak as if they're starring in a disney channel show. Art is nice though