An impressive work of (traditional) art
When this game was announced, it sounded like my dream game instantly. So I joined the developers' Discord. I was the very first to post the question of questions in their FAQ section: Will it be on GOG? I got the dreaded answer: "Not on launch. We'll see. Maybe later." When the discussion got a little heated and the developers increasingly annoyed, I quit the Discord channel. Over time, and reading the reviews on release, I declared these grapes too sour anyway. When it landed on GOG three years late, I hesitated – as one does if a game has a 25% launch discount on GOG while it's 50% off on Steam. But I eventually did buy it. A decision I did not regret.
Sea of Stars' perks become apparent immediately. The animated cut-scenes are of a surprising quality. The pixel art truly deserves to be called "art". The iconic characters are lovingly designed, and what's even more important to me – artist Bryce Kho works traditionally for his concept art, ink on paper. The character I thought I'd dislike quickly became my favorite of the bunch; and I just love the pirate crew. Every new environment has completely new enemy types. You know the JRPGs in which you fight the same enemies from start to end, they just slap new colors on them? This is not one of those games.
... I just had to get the art book. At almost double the price of the game.
At one point, a pirate band performs. You can choose between several different tunes. When one instrument doesn't play in the tune, the respective character rests. When the band gets a new member, you will hear the new instrument. What an attention to detail. I'm truly impressed.
The story remains fairly basic – another nod to this game's great inspiration, Chrono Trigger. I don't remember playing JRPGs with a truly "great story" during the past 35 years. The games that I loved excelled in character design. And this game does as well. If you actually do fall in love with the characters however, there might be tear jerkers down the line.
Sea of Stars enters an overcrowded JRPG market with some new and exciting ideas, but it also shines when you look at what the studio dispensed with. Enemies will not immobilize you, poison you or set you on fire. You have one "team level" instead of one individual level per character. The game doesn't devolve into a collect-a-thon. Everything stacks to 999 off the bat, which is great for items but not so great for currency. Monsters don't drop money, so that's a resource that you'll actually have to manage for a change. Accessibility options are actually collectible items in this game. It also has the first fishing minigame in any JRPG that I did not consider absolutely unbearable.
Exploration is nicely tactile. Your group of three will climb, wade through shallow water, swim, press into narrow ledges, keep their balance on ropes. Later on, there's a grappling hook and assorted other ways to manipulate the surprisingly vertical environments. And of course, you will control the time of day.
Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of the progression and battle system at all. They're letting you sidestep some of the timed button presses if you wish, and you'll get by in easy mode in any case, but you're still getting frustrated, mashing space until the keyboard breaks. Level ups feel almost scripted and they're employing absolutely every dirty trick in the book to keep you from leveling up even a single level above the one the developers set for any given area. The level ups don't really do much either. You'll start out at level 1 between 20 and 50 damage and you'll max out at level 22 between 50 and 100 damage. They could have left experience points out altogether and the game would feel exactly the same. On the other hand, the way that mana points recuperate and standard attacks are strengthened by harvesting light orbs from the battlefield, those are some deeply satisfying JRPG mechanics to me.
Sea of Stars remains a singular work of art and truly deserves the five stars, but for a studio that gets practically everything else right, botching level ups and battle mechanics is outright absurd.
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