Sea of Stars
A beautiful homage to the JRPG genre that still manages to stand on its own, while taking care to let go of all the annoying gimmicks that plagued JRPGs in the past. Played on PS5.
Sea of Starsis pretty much what everyone wants it to be, and more. Now that I’ve clocked more than 40 hours into the finished product, I no longer see it only as asentimental throwback project, but rather as whatChrono Triggerwould have been if it had gotten itself a proper sequel that stuck to the original Active Time Battle blueprint and those quaint pixel art vibes. Sea of Stars tosses aside all those pesky annoyances that usually hitch a ride with old-school JRPGs, while not forgetting to add a unique dash of Metroidvanian flavor that never overstays its welcome. The result? Well, it’s pretty darn close to perfection.
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I’ll go easy on narrative spoilers since the folks at Sabotage Studios have politely asked me not to blow the lid on like 70% of the story’s juicy bits. The gist, as we know from the previous demos, is that the game throws a couple of youngsters—Zale and Valera—into the shoes of Solstice Warriors. This means they can channel the power of the sun and moon, conjuring them at will, and apparently that’s the recipe for taking down the wicked Fleshmancer alchemist and his freaky creations that are turning the world into their deranged playground.
In practice, though, Zale and Valera’s journey will basically have you relive every great moment the JRPG genre has ever conceived. Whether it’s the mind-bending twists of the Xeno series, the breadth ofChrono Cross' overworld map, or those puzzle-packed corridors and temples which were once a staple of JRPGs likeWild Armsand Lufia 2, the scale and element of surprise are incredible.
Puzzles and brain teasers are a core foundation of Sea of Stars' trip, so much so that I can’t help but dub it the ultimate fusion of the Metroidvania and JRPG genres (and as far as I know, it’s a pioneer in this realm). Just don’t expect a buffet of flashy superpowers here - just a modest selection like pushing blocks, flinging grapple hooks, and wielding hammers like a boss. But the potential that lies within these tools is staggering and wonderfully varied depending on the location.
In one area, commanding the sun to focus its rays might simply unlock a new path or ladder; in another, the same sunbeam might cause flowers to bloom or ice to thaw. Same goes for the grapple hook, which is not just for pulling yourself up; it’s the key to uncovering secret platforms, timed gadgets, and other gimmicks that require quick wits and nimble fingers with your controller (which is rare in a JRPG).
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Some puzzles are more like unique memory tests and riddles than typical platforming hurdles, such as figuring out the right order to cook a meal, the arrangement of tiles on the ground, or the prophecy associated with your birthrole. Others may not seem like real challenges at first, just someone asking you to hand over a certain “light” meal for a prize, but it’s still something that requires a certain amount of brain work, rather than the usual ‘go fetchexactly that’ quests.
But my personal favorite remains coming upon a locked door or seeing an inaccessible location on the world map—like the sleeping dragon that envelops an entire island—and feeling overwhelmed by an indescribable sense of curiosity just like the olden times. Sea of Stars has an abundance of such elements throughout its world, and many locations are set up in such a way that you’ll want to go back and discover new hidden nooks and treasure troves if you have the right platforming tools to navigate them (and yes, you do get a ship and some sort of airship to navigate all of this, a feature that came as a relief as I was almost convinced we’d never see the likes ofFinal Fantasy 7’s iconic Highwind again).
Between the haunted houses with hidden passageways, the underwater cities with serious sewage problems, the sky islands with giant tribes, and the winding maze that’s a blatant nod to Zelda’s Lost Woods, I loved those “Eureka!” moments when the pieces suddenly snap together in my mind. It made me think that more JRPG locations should embrace this interactive approach instead of throwing me into the same endless stream of random encounters and grinding.
Sea of Stars is one of the greatest labors of love i’ve witnesssed this year.
Sea of Stars' turn-based battles involve three of your party members out in the field at once and don’t require any grinding, but the accessibility of these battles didn’t really click with me until I got my fourth party member. Up to that point, I was nursing a suspicion that I’d have to toss away a turn just to swap a character in and out of a fight, only to find out that wasn’t the case at all. When a team member left the party temporarily, I was convinced they’d getzilchin terms of experience points, but I was wrong on that front too.
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Tackling battles in this game is as smooth as butter, and everyone gets the right amount of XP at the right time. All you gotta do is follow the rhythm of those attacks that demand you hit a button at the right split-second, exploit the weakness floating over enemy heads, and snag Trigger-esque combo moves from the puzzle shrines scattered all over the map to gain the upper hand in battle.
The fights are still tough, but it’s a difficulty that can be overcome by your wits alone, free from level restrictions or mandatory items that waste time and hinder progress. That said, I still felt that choosing MP points from the level-up stat upgrades was almost mandatory because of how limited (and important) your MP pool is.
MP and attack interruptions are my main gripes in combat. There’s almost never enough MP or time to interrupt or ‘defuse’ incoming attacks by checking off the lengthy ‘Weakness’ boxesabove enemy heads. There’s just a lot of them, and more often than not, I found myself choosing to absorb the attacks and overlooking the interrupt sequences rather than tackling them head-on. The game didn’t really punish me for that or make the interrupt sequences more compelling to interact with at any point–they just got longer and more daunting over time–so I never really found it in me to care.
MP issues aside, I was pleased to find that most of the essentials I needed for my journey (even rare armor and equipment) were cleverly tucked away behind platforming hurdles. There are a few odds and ends tied to side-activities, mini-games and shops, but those are mostly extra goodies that either give you a slight edge or add some twists to the trip (auto-blocking, trade HP for damage, discounted shop deals etc.). In my experience, there hasn’t been a single moment where I’ve been forced to backtrack just to grab something. The crew has enough healing tricks and techniques to come out on top in any showdown, and even when you’re stuck, the incredible music by Eric W. Brown and Yasunori Mitsuda manages to infuse every step with a ton of emotion and sentiment no matter how lost and annoyed you might feel.
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There’s also a solid serving of post-game content and some real brain-busting puzzles for those hungry for more mental gymnastics—which this game is an absolute ace at dishing out—and with what appears to be room for an alternate ending. Sea Of Stars preserves every intricate detail that made the past beautiful,weaving in fourth-wall-breaking humor that was such a standout in the studio’s earlier title, The Messenger. I almost fell off my chair laughing when a character reveals they chugged down 26 elixirs to beat some good-looking feathered monster guy. I guess the team has thought that a Sephiroth reference is a must for creating that complete JRPG homage.
So yeah, Sea of Stars is one of the greatest labors of love i’ve witnessed this year, and it makes me feel validated for all the time I’ve spent with this genre. I simply can’t find any fault with it. Maybe there should have been a little more meaning in choosing your playable character at the beginning, but I didn’t obsess over it much since JRPGs never really gave you that much choice anyways. If anyone wants to dive into the genre, especially the classics that defined it, Sea of Stars will always be my first recommendation.
