The thing is, I had a great time with pixel-style, traditional JRPGs. The limitation of technology could only chain their presentation, not our imagination. That’s their magic. That is not to say I have never fantasized of liberating the presentations from their chains. I have dreamt of a good retro JRPG with a modern presentation for quite a while now. (Not something like FFVII Remake, don’t hate I love that game too)
Sea of Stars is a game like that. Set in a far-away world that has suffered the monstrosity committed by an evil-being generations ago yet to cleanse its haunting residuals, SoS appears to be a great attempt at presenting the classic JRPGs, while true to its form, with modern technology. Sit tight and get ready for an adventure alongside our protagonists Zale and Valere where you would find both ups and downs about this game. Most importantly, soon you will realize SoS is far more different to a classic JRPG than you might think.
How does it feel to dance Without Shackles?
The art of SoS is engrossing. That is to say even within all those other retro JRPGs like octopath travelers who have had a reputation for painting a breath-taking scenic world, SoS remain peerless. That’s the first difference you’ll notice: there is no JRPG that has been so virtually beautiful.
From giant waterfalls with colorful corals to an abandoned and haunted mansion, from the peak of a snow-covered mountain to a necromancer’s cave crawling with disgusting flesh-made necrocrafts, the basic for any fantasy game is how big the developer is really dare to dream, which is precisely what sets SoS’s aesthetics apart. There are so many iconic fantasies that you can find in SoS. Like the infamous ghost ship or a dragon palace twenty thousand leagues under the sea. There will always be something that you are not expecting.
Not only ambitious, SoS is beautifully refined and vivid. Without the limitation in technology, frankly, losing oneself in a game has never been so easy. That is, you really don’t need any dialogue or fights to start imersing yourself in another world when you see things like a giant dragon encircling a mountain, sleeping or a vortex formed out of nowhere sucking you right into the world beneath the ocean that belongs to the dead. It is not hyperbolic to claim that almost every frame in the world of SoS is wallpaper-worthy.
Just a little bit more Action
Turn-base fights are difficult to design. It is boring if it is too simple. But then it takes too long to become enjoyable if it is too hard. Or it could soon become repetitive seeing your character do the same move no matter what spell you choose. Perhaps the gamer just likes feeling a little more involved.
SoS found their own way through those concerns. The first big highlights of its battle system is the distinctive animation of every move for every character. Take Zale, one of his signature spell Sunball is a move that begins with him summoning a scorching fireball in the palm of his hand, growing it bigger and bigger before releasing the dynamite-like explosion onto his opponent, whereas sol-strike is performed with him dashing through all his enemies like The Flash before flexing his blade at the end and conjure the solar magic to deal damage to those enemies marked by him. Those animations are not only beautiful but also carry this hereditary creativity of the game developers. In short, they are cool as hell.
Secondly, Sabotage Studio has also added an interesting feature of precision in the game. Are you the type of gamer that can not enjoy the fight without some skin in the game? You got it. In SoS, every action you take, whether it is defending against an enemy attack or performing one, there is a precise time to press the attack button. Only upon doing so you will respectively reduce damage intake or increase damage dealt. It doesn’t sound like much, some may even question the necessity of it. But trust me, this feature soon becomes very addictive and makes the fights almost instantly immersive.
Treat me like a kid, but DON’T
I want fantasy games to be free, wild, unreasonable sometimes even. If I want something mundane and painfully logical I would just close the laptop and return to my daily life. But that doesn’t mean all you have to do is tell me a fairytale and I will convince myself. SoS certainly starts somewhere fantasy-like enough: a tormented world seeing its long awaited ray of hope.
The problem is, the story doesn’t get more interesting from there. Why? Firstly, the plot is way too crude. There is only a single narrative thread and with almost no twists or additional elements. Crude doesn’t always mean bad, but a monomyth requires a very strong story itself. SoS, unfortunately, just doesn’t have that story. For example, there is no story explaining why the Fleshmancer wants what they want, or why the two kids set on a journey to save the world other than being told so. Without any profound understanding or resonance with any character, why should we care?
What’s more, the battle of SoS lacks depth. This has actually been heralded very early on in the game when I realized that there are no buffing or debuffing spells. The essence of a turn-based battle is still the strategic interchange you have against your enemies no matter how well animated. In SoS, you are not required to remember weaknesses of your enemies, when to debuff or paralyze them so you could deal damage safely or when to focus on chipping away your enemies’s HP using poison while keeping your own team’s HP healthy to prevent a sudden death. The only thing you are required of is to use the right spell to interrupt your opponent’s spell when the indicator of what elements your enemy is weak towards pops up on your screen. This makes the battle of SoS feels like a combination of a rhythm game and Tetris.
Conclusion
Despite all its let-downs, SoS is still a very beautiful and enjoyable game, far from being bad. There are minor things both good and bad I have omitted for the sake of simplicity like how innovative the enemy design is or how the puzzles set are way too simple so most of the adventure part of the adventure feels like child-play, which I will leave for you to find out yourself. The only thing I will say here as a conclusion is that SoS is not a modern-remake of a classic JRPG. For the good parts, it is stunningly beautiful and way more easier to immerse in; for the bad part, it didn’t really have the true essence that makes a fantasy JRPG amazing: a deep, complicated battle system and touching, personal story. It might be retro, but different enough; it might be new, but resembles plenty.
Then again maybe no game will ever be similar to that game I had enjoyed in a distant summer. Perhaps SoS failed because it was only wearing the skin of a classic JRPG while being something else, or maybe it’s because I have grown up.
