-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Okay so I am about to buy Sea of Stars
- Thread starter SantaC
- Start date
Hellmaker
Member
I just started playing it, maybe for an hour or two, can't say anything special about it just yet. Maybe the pretty graphics, and in combat you can press a button when your weapon connects, for a bit of extra damage, or vice versa when getting hit for extra defense. That's the gist of it for now.
The start of the game is slow.
Chukhopops
Member
Personal opinion: it’s really well made and it’s the best attempt at replicating the 16-bit art style.
But it’s somewhat bland and grindy and I don’t think it was worth all that praise. In fact I found The Messenger (their previous game) way more interesting.
But it’s somewhat bland and grindy and I don’t think it was worth all that praise. In fact I found The Messenger (their previous game) way more interesting.
SantaC
Member
Maybe just better to wait for Star Ocean then.
NeoIkaruGAF
Gold Member
Yes, I would.
Fart Knight
Al Pachinko, Konami President
Buy Game Pass
Bernardougf
Gold Member
Really enjoyed... great game for rpg turn based lovers.. the story though specially near the end and the end itself SUCKS ASS .. one of the worst let downs endings I can think of... and the "true ending" is even worse
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
There was a post over at r/JRPG trying to damage control this game, saying people are being too hard on it because it’s “a game for kids” and comparing the story/characters/writing to Golden Sun and Pokemon.
That’s when I went from “maybe I’ll try it on Gamepass” to “hard pass”
That’s when I went from “maybe I’ll try it on Gamepass” to “hard pass”
Miyazaki’s Slave
Gold Member
It’s on PlayStation Plus and Gamepass. If you have those give it a try.
IMO if you are not a deep fan of turn based rpgs and, especially those presented in a retro art style, you may find yourself bouncing off quickly.
IMO if you are not a deep fan of turn based rpgs and, especially those presented in a retro art style, you may find yourself bouncing off quickly.
SantaC
Member
It is weird because it scored better than most jrpgs these days
ByWatterson
Member
It's a perfect, beautiful game.
Duchess
Member
It will be available as a physical release in 2024, for those who prefer that.
www.gematsu.com
Sea of Stars physical edition launches in early 2024
iam8bit will release a physical edition of Sabotage Studio-developed turn-based RPG Sea of Stars in early 2024, the companies announced.
www.gematsu.com
Chukhopops
Member
You mean the Star Ocean 2 remake that’s already out? It’s absolutely leagues better in every aspect despite being a facelift of a PS1 game.
Also if you look at recent indie JRPG style games I think I preferred Chained Echoes to Sea of Stars.
UltimaKilo
Gold Member
Yes, it’s a good game! Get it on GamePass.
SantaC
Member
November 2nd
Northeastmonk
Gold Member
I bought it a while back, but I have yet to start it. I read good things about it. If it sucks you can just play Chrono Trigger.
Aenima
Member
Most overrated game of the year.
Amazing artstyle and good level design, but forgetable characters, forgetable story, repetitive combat with some skills taking way too much time to finish casting just do do a little damage, making each encounter a huge boring slog. Turning on some of the cheats, like auto heal after each battle, makes the combat less painfull.
Amazing artstyle and good level design, but forgetable characters, forgetable story, repetitive combat with some skills taking way too much time to finish casting just do do a little damage, making each encounter a huge boring slog. Turning on some of the cheats, like auto heal after each battle, makes the combat less painfull.
Last edited:
Fbh
Member
It's a fun 7/10 game with beautiful visuals, fun dungeons and nice music.
But the story is lacking, the combat starts to get repetitive around the mid point from a lack of new skills and mechanics, and locking the true ending behind finding 60 collectibles is shit
Personally I thought chained echoes was better in almost every way (except maybe visuals/music)
It's probably my favourite JRPG since Chrono Trigger.
But the story is lacking, the combat starts to get repetitive around the mid point from a lack of new skills and mechanics, and locking the true ending behind finding 60 collectibles is shit
Personally I thought chained echoes was better in almost every way (except maybe visuals/music)
It's probably my favourite JRPG since Chrono Trigger.
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
Some people got their physical copies already, but official date is November 2
delirium trigger
Member
Get the one dollar trial or a month of game pass. Cocoon is on there also and it's amazing. I think Chained Echoes as well.
SlimeGooGoo
Party Gooper
Shake Your Rump
Member
This is pretty accurate.
The music and graphics are really well made. The gameplay is as the developers describe: a mix of Chrono Trigger and Mario RPG. My only beef with the game is that it feels the same at hour 10 as it did at hour 2.
I did get the Messenger bundled with it, and that game is stunning. Super fun.
KungFucius
King Snowflake
If it helps they lock the true ending behind a collectathon that will require you to rewalk most of the map if you miss one of the 60 rainbow conches. I mean sure you can watch it on youtube but this is not the type of game design we should be rewarding in 2023.
The Cockatrice
Member
Northeastmonk
Gold Member
So if you enjoyed Lunar 1 & 2, Suikoden II, Golden Sun, and Chrono Trigger (like myself) then Chained Echoes is good?
I hope I get an answer. I’m selling some of my Steam cards for some spare change.
I hope I get an answer. I’m selling some of my Steam cards for some spare change.
Last edited:
LavitzSlambert
Member
It's excellent - Chrono Trigger meets Golden Sun, with a dash of SMRPG. Most of the criticism I've seen centers around the main characters who are basically a proxy for the player. They don't have much personality. The other criticism is the true ending. If you liked The Messenger and are interested in the universe Sabotage has built, you'll love the game. But as long as you enjoy this style of RPG, I think you'll like it.
Rockondevil
Member
I didn't finish it but what I did play I thought was enjoyable. Though the combat is quite slow I found as some of the attacks take some unnecessary time to do for little payoff.
killatopak
Gold Member
I quite liked it. The story was alright. Great music though. Honestly very impressed with the amount it has and the quality. I liked the gameplay as well but thought the variety was a bit lacking. The game isn't necessarily grindy but getting money was. Art looks great to me.
It's a fun 20-30 hour romp.
It's a fun 20-30 hour romp.
taizuke
Member
What does it excel in?
The characters, the visuals, and the exploration. The story is a lot of fun just not great which was fine by me. The combat never truly changes that much but still fun as well. The game is basically a love letter to 16-bit RPGs like Chrono Trigger and others but CT is the one i think it borrows most from.
It's completely worth it in my opinion, especially if you love the 16-bit era RPGs and doing all the side quests.
The characters, the visuals, and the exploration. The story is a lot of fun just not great which was fine by me. The combat never truly changes that much but still fun as well. The game is basically a love letter to 16-bit RPGs like Chrono Trigger and others but CT is the one i think it borrows most from.
It's completely worth it in my opinion, especially if you love the 16-bit era RPGs and doing all the side quests.
Darkmakaimura
Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
It looks great but I hate the whole game-within-a-game fourth wall kind of stuff.
Last edited:
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
Sounds like kind of a weird complaint IMO. People complain about lack of exploring in games, right? Or games being too linear? I don't get what's fundamentally so different to exploring for hidden items in a JRPG to get a true ending vs. every area in a Mario game to get 120 Stars.
But I haven't played this game yet, so are you all saying this in relation to dungeon design impeding fun exploration? I was going to consider picking this up but I'm also in no rush, so many JRPGs I already have to catch up on (nearing the end of Lunar 2 right now).
ShadyAcshuns
Member
When I sampled it on GP, the one thing I didn't like about it was when you move from room to room, the enemies always come right back even if you just cleared them. I got tired of seeing multiple paths, taking one to follow it to the end, come back and have those slow fights all over again.
JohnnyPhats
Member
That’s a deal killer for me.
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
Oh, that sounds pretty bad in terms of a mechanic. I can immediately see how that makes exploration a slog, especially if your chances of escaping after entering battle are low.
Like, again, I'm playing Lunar 2 RN and you've got the visible enemies like in Chrono Trigger and all that. You can try avoiding them with sprinting, so on and so forth. However after you beat them, that particular encounter is permanently gone unless you exit the dungeon and come back; only then do they all respawn, and that makes sense.
Although later on, you can have some bad luck and run into another encounter right after escaping or beating one (and at least for me, fleeing isn't really my style because the penalty for a failed flee can be pretty strict in the damage you take before getting another chance to flee...which can also fail).
But overall I like the way L2: Eternal Blue (PS1 ver.; Sega CD one had traditional random encounters) does it in terms of on-screen enemies, ability to avoid them, leaving them gone after defeat unless you exit the dungeon (or Game Over). Having the enemies (actually, enemy groups represented by individual on-screen instances) respawn immediately after beating them just for going into another room in the same dungeon sounds a bit excessive.
That said, maybe in context of Sea of Star's other systems, it works balance-wise. Dunno, I haven't played the game yet.
ShadyAcshuns
Member
There were also things I liked with my brief encounter with SoS: the visuals were fantastic, and what little of the story I saw, I liked. There's a period where you're training in a high island den up in the clouds, and you can see down below and it captures that old, 16 bit awesomeness of the old days.
I just think you have to have a lot of patience with games like this, and it seems the devs were also trying to capture the old-school lack-of-qol features present in jrpgs of today. I believe a physical copy is coming, so I'll likely grab that if it ever happens.
NeoIkaruGAF
Gold Member
There is no escape option in SoS. You enter battle, you're in to the bitter end.
SantaC
Member
UPDATE:
I played it and beat it and was very disappointed. I know it is a throwback to the old days, but it has no real skill system and only 3 abilities per character. The problem with the game is that the battle system is the most barebones i played in a jrpg. Final Fantasy 1 on NES has more options.
wasnt worth 35 euro for sure.
I played it and beat it and was very disappointed. I know it is a throwback to the old days, but it has no real skill system and only 3 abilities per character. The problem with the game is that the battle system is the most barebones i played in a jrpg. Final Fantasy 1 on NES has more options.
wasnt worth 35 euro for sure.
Last edited:
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
Ouch :/. I don't understand that as a design choice, then. Maybe to prevent the player from ending up under-leveled before reaching a boss? But then you would think, bosses could have ways of being beaten with a variety of strategies.
Or, if the player needs to grind a bit, it wouldn't be too hard for them to realize that and they wouldn't have to go far to do so.