Sea of Stars: Sunset Edition

This game is as shallow and lacking in characterization as it is beautiful. Like a siren calling to you from a rock in the sea it promises to give you the same depth in gameplay as Golden Sun and same quality of story as Chrono Tigger of old. When you take a closer look you instead find an incredibly mediocre and cookie-cutter story with flat characters that could only hold up in a tv show for children aged 4-6 and gameplay that will make you bored enough to tear your hair out. I really wish it was different because the visuals are stunning, but looks are not everything...

Fantastic visuals and sounds. Combat stars out alright but gets monotonous after a while. There was actually a lot I liked about this game, and would recommend it if not for the writing. It is rare for me to play a game with characters that I really dislike. Usually if I think the writing is this bad, I just uninstall right away. However, the other parts of the game was clearly made with such love that I harboured a hope that I just needed to get to the next plot beat, and it would finally be good. Just move a little further, and the writers will lock in, give us some good scenes that actually makes me care even the slightest about these people, and then keep on trodding along at a mediocre pace, carried by all the other aspects of the game. And for all I know, that might still happened. Maybe 10 hours is the magic number, or 20. But I put 6 hours of my life into this game, and the characters were somehow getting even worse. I'm out.

All in all this game was a disappointment. First lets start with the good things. [list] [*]The fighting mechanics, the combos and such are really fun and deserve lots of praise. [*]Graphic/World design is, even though 2.5D games are getting somewhat boring, very nice and pretty. [*]Sound design and music are also top tier [*]The bonus missions or storys for the playable characters were short and fun. [/list] However the bad aspects of this game... [list] [*]The story might be one of the worst I have ever seen in a serious JRPG. It wasn't just one thing but a combination of the further points that made it boring, cringe and often just plain up bad. [*]I really disliked the characters, both the main protagonists as well as the NPCs [list] [*]Valere and Zale are boring 2 dimensional characters whos personality doesn't matter and could easily be replaced [*]Garl was nothing but annoying and the biggest downside of the game. Without him I maybe could have lived with the bad conversations and storytelling but with him it downgraded everything. [spoiler] The time during which he died was honestly the best in the game as he didn't annoy you while playing [/spoiler] [*] [spoiler] Serai was a decent character but nothing special. The hidden identity thing with her as a pirate would have been cool if it wasn't made so cringe the entire game with permanent walking off screen and switching, as well as the moment when it was revealed and they made made it anti climactic with a "hehe yeah we kinda knew all along lol". Also her background story would have been actually cool if it didn't feel so much like a Chrono Trigger ripoff [/spoiler] [*] [spoiler] Resh'an would have been an insanely cool character if the game actualy did something with him. Mysterious librarian from an ancient time with an arch enemy? Cool! Let's just condense the backstory to a boring cutscene and make him act like an above smart person most of the game that randomly leaves. [/spoiler] [*] [spoiler] I honestly almost forgot B'st existed. He is the most unnecessary character in the game. Comes super late, his backstory was kinda cool but short, basically no impact and like Serai, too much Chrono Trigger ripoff [/spoiler] [/list] The issues continue with the NPCs, who are just not that interesting. [list] [*]The pirate crew was boring and unfunny [*]The antagonists were lack luster. Just underlings you had to fight without much story and they messed up not adding a good story to their leader. Still, he might be one of the best written characters in the game, but still lack luster. [*][spoiler] The other Solstice warriors were also replaceable. Headmaster got betrayed and now works as your mayor. The guy betrays you and then just vanishes (good story telling). Maybe they will do smth with him in a dlc? Erlina was decent but still, pre evil she was uninteresting and even after the game did nothing but add her for "shock value" that your guardian became corrupted, evil and now wants to end you [/spoiler] [*]All other NPCs are again just not memorable. They have their small moments but all in all if you replaced them with something different the game would loose nothing. I like Teaks tho. Even tho shes kinda useless and only there as a story teller, shes cute and nice. [/list] [*]Characters permanently unnecessarily break the 4th wall to a level that ruins the immersion. [*]The humor felt very off and safe, or in other words boring and annoying. Like they were trying really hard to be funny but also to not offend anyone. Think millennial white Office/HR lady humor. [*]Most of the time I felt like I was comparing the game to other JRPGs, which is natural. However, this game copied so many things from other games that it became annoying. Especially Chrono Trigger, I felt like I was playing a worse fan version of the game. There are many other "references" to other games too though. [*]The backtracking to collect all the chests and sea shells for the "True ending" was just a annoying hassle and almost made me not do it. [*]One of the most annoying things was at the end though. The Dragon and bread. Whoever thought of this idea should have been fired and I'm not exaggerating. I have never seen something so bad or unnecessary in a game. Sure it's the "Look everyone is getting together and helping each other how cute" part at the end of a game but there were so many other options that would have been better... [/list] There are more smaller things that bothered me but all in all, I cannot recommend the game for anyone who wants well written characters and a fun, engaging and entertaining story. Which is sad since performance and gameplay wise, the game is genuinely great and fun. If it weren't for that, I would have quit the game early around the spooky island arc. TLDR: Gameplay, mechanics and design are great. Everything related to story and characters, which is more important in a JRPG-like game, is bad. I wouldn't buy it again

I like this game but Garl is really pissing me off. He leaves no room for character development due to him constantly interfering in conversations. Otherwise, this game has a pretty artstyle and really good music. Combat gets a bit stale sometimes. Luckily new side characters bring new skills, damage types and combos to the table.

How does a game nail the visuals but completely miss on the combat and story? It's a 40 hour game with literally the same combat from the tutorial until the end. Also whoever wrote Garl as a character should never work as a writer again.

I absolutely loved Sea of Stars. It's such a love letter to classic pixel adventures while maintaining its own identity. The combat is really fun and the story keeps you hooked and adventuring. The team spent extra time adding more to the story and now we have the Sunset Edition. Finally complete. It's a little bittersweet. Either way, I HIGHLY recommend this game if you're looking for good story, fun combat, and some good ole pixel based nostalgia. They really nailed it.

Pros: Phenomenal art and music and fantastic battle gameplay (minus the ants that summon more ants, which summon more ants... that's wildly bad design, especially in early game). If this game were just an endless dungeon crawler/rogue-like focused entirely on the combat mechanics, or even if it were mostly that with other gameplay, I would easily sink 100+ hours into it. Issues: The main protagonists have the combined charisma of a wet paper towel. Moving around to different areas on the map feels slow and pointless. The devs, for whatever reason, made Garl take over as the unplayable main character early in the game. He should have been a dog, honestly. It feels like if you and one other person work really hard on a group project and the third guy signs his name at the bottom, sneezes in your face, blesses himself, and then the teacher gives him extra credit for creativity. The the platforming isn't platforming... it's all just "press A," that's it. There are no items needed, no balancing, no stamina management, no problem solving or abstract thought... it's all literally just "press A." What's the point in that? There are falling rocks while rock climbing, but it's just animation. The encounters aren't random. If you go where enemies are, you will fight them and only them. The only redeeming aspect of this is that the battles happen in the actual area... there's no transition into a battle scene or anything like that. And unless you level up or fail, you continue running around in the environment, which is super cool. tldr; combat, music, and art are all awesome. characters are annoying, story is typical, and all other gameplay outside of combat is super boring/lazy. play this if you have a high tolerance for corny, over the top "we can do anything as friends" vibes.

ドット絵のクオリティがすごい、クロノトリガーその他往年のJRPGリスペクトのJRPG 単なる懐古にとどまらず、戦闘システムやダンジョンギミック等当時のゲームよりしっかり手を入れて作られており、現代のプレイヤーが遊んでも遜色無く楽しめる内容となっている。 各属性の攻撃を当てることで、敵の技を妨害出来るシステムが特に好きだった。 妨害しきれないことの方が多いのだが、喰らっても致命的なものはほとんどないのでバランスとしては丁度良かったかなと。 ターン消費無しで控えと入れ替えられるのも、このシステムとの相性が良かったと思う。 シナリオ面についてだが、メインビジュアルの二人よりも、その幼馴染のガールという隻眼デブが実質主人公になってしまっている。 重要なイベントでそれはもう仕切る仕切る。 主人公ズは普通に喋るのに無口主人公並に無個性で、「使命頑張らなきゃ」「ガールすげぇ」「ガール大好き」以外は他のキャラでも言えるような、流れに沿った当たり障りのない台詞しか言わない。 W主人公の醍醐味である、バディの絆や深い因縁といったものも全く描かれない。 「太陽と月の戦士」という設定がやりたくて二人にしたんだと思われるが、太陽にも月にも二人であることにも特に必然性は感じられないシナリオだったので、これなら一人に絞ってタイトル通り星の戦士にでもした方が良かったのではないかと思ってしまった。 個人的には不満ってほどでもなかったが、「これで良かったの？」とは思ってしまった。 これはまずいとスタッフも思ったのか、DLCでようやく二人の人間性が描かれたけど。 本編ラストでいきなり[spoiler]シューティング[/spoiler]になったのは笑ってしまったが、DLCラストでいきなり[spoiler]幻想水滸伝の一騎討ち[/spoiler]になってさらに笑った。 後者は特に好きなので、いい意味でね。