10-11-2023, 03:53 PM
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#125
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All Star
OVR: 5
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Morgantown, WV
Posts: 11,561
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Re: 2023 game plans
Finished Sea of Stars last night and I figured I'd give my own little review of it here (spoiler-free) as I don't think a separate thread is needed. Sea of Stars is an indy crowd-funded game in the vein of a retro-stylized Final Fantasy-esque game (turn-based).
Graphics
Beautfully rendered graphics and artwork. Very strong stylistic choices that aid in capturing a wide variety of different vistas. Not quite on the visual level of an Octopath Traveler 2 in terms of lighting and so on, but quite well-done.
Grade: 9/10
Music
First thing out of the way, I am a sucker for orchestral music (even for games like this). The music in this game is more akin to the PS1 era as a stylistic choice. The music is catchy (some tunes are still going through my head as I write this). Excellent compositions for this game that capture the essence of different areas (and even vary the battle music). Really solid job here by that team even though I personally prefer full orchestral style.
Grade: 8/10 (10/10 if you love the "midi-style" music)
Gameplay - Exploration
Most games of this style have you moving your little sprites around the screen as they walk around the map. Not Sea of Stars. Areas are three dimensional and have you using different mechanics throughout the game to traverse areas. The game also features "puzzles" that you have to solve in order to either progress in some maps (or to gain access to loot). They were very well-designed and none of them fell into the trap of being so obtuse that you had to spam everything under the sun to try and figure it out. I'll be honest, in the early parts of the game, I stayed engaged because of this.
Grade: 10/10
Gameplay - Combat
The combat is actually fun. In addition to standard fare turn-based mechanics (including a mechanic that requires you to break an enemy's "concentration" before his turn arrives and he uses a special skill - which makes you also think tactically), there are timing mechanics for boosting damage/blocking, plus some skills (a couple are utterly addictive - when you unlock "moonerang", you will understand). I personally found the combat to again tread the line between too easy and too obtuse (and there are certain aids you can unlock/buy to make certain combat elements a bit easier - a welcome addition, but you can enable/disable at will). I definitely lost battles at times but also never felt the need to "grind" areas to level-up.
Grade: 9/10
Gameplay - Pacing
An underrated aspect of games IMO. Some games throw too much at you at once followed by major "lulls". Sea of Stars introduces new mechanics and characters throughout the narrative while giving you a chance to "enjoy" them before they throw-out another. The pacing here is exceptionally well-done. Just when you think you've hit a "lull", they throw out something new. Also, as mentioned above, "grinds" of prior areas to level-up were not really necessary in my playthrough.
Grade: 10/10
RPG-elements
As mentioned, this is a Final Fantasy-style game, as such, this is not really an RPG. You do not make dialogue decisions that impact the story or characters - thus, no real role-playing. Now, if you are one of those people that thinks FF games are RPGs, then yes, it is in that sense. I tend to view these types of games as adventure games (reserving the "RPG" moniker for games like Skyrim, Mass Effect, etc.)
For other elements like leveling, equipment customization, etc., the options here are very light. Side quests are limited (thankfully IMO) but there are some optional areas that can give you some nice equip upgrades late-game.
Grade: not grading here, because it's truly a matter of whether or not you like this approach.
Story
The story was enough to make me curious as to what might happen next but it was a fairly standard good vs evil storyline. BUT...there were a couple of twists and turns along the way and the team did add some backstory to certain aspects which offered a nice context.
Grade: 7/10
Characters/Character Development
The two main protagonists (Zale and Valere) you can begin the game with are pretty bland "we are the heroes of this story" cut-out characters with very limited back stories and no real essence of ambiguity...they're like playing as Commander Shepard while making ALL paragon choices (if that makes sense). Other party members are a fair bit more interesting. There IS one party character (aside from the main two) who I did genuinely love...pretty sure most folks will feel that way too. Some NPCs (even foes) have some fleshed-out stories, some of which are interesting. But I'll be honest, I never really felt "attached" to anyone in the story...unlike Octopath Traveler 2 where I literally teared-up at times. As someone that values strong connections to my characters more than anything in a game, this really hurt the game a bit for me.
Grade: 6/10
Replayability
Just a quick note as I am someone that plays a game for the story then moves on. But, beating the game unlocks some new content (do not know what that entails) and a New Game+ mode. From what I've heard, this game does have good replayability...if that matters to you, you could enjoy this aspect.
Overall
The gameplay really carried the game for me; it was fun and engaging throughout (and it changes-up the turn-based "RPG" genre enough to make it fresh as well). The story and characters held things together well enough, but did not particularly stand-out. I will say that I did not face any bugs or issues during my playthrough - so a well-polished experience. The overall quality of this game truly belies the fact it is an indy game, very impressive.
Overall Grade: 8 of 10
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Play the games you love, not the games you want to love.
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