Sea of Stars is a Masterpiece

Sea of Stars is a Masterpiece - REVIEW

Рет қаралды 33,495

Күн бұрын

Sea of Stars is a visually stunning and immersive RPG that takes players on an epic journey through a magical world filled with danger and wonder. With its beautiful graphics, engaging storyline, and challenging gameplay, Sea of Stars is a must-play for fans of the genre. In this review, we'll dive deep into the game's mechanics, characters, and world-building to give you a comprehensive look at what makes Sea of Stars such a standout title. Whether you're a seasoned RPG player or new to the genre, this review will help you decide if Sea of Stars is the right game for you.
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Video by: Adam Conner - / adziyt
Thumbnail by: Tom - / ragintombo
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0:00 Into & What Makes Sea of Stars Special?
1:51 The Combat System
4:36 Exploration (Traversal & Puzzles)
5:36 Sea of Stars has AMAZING Pacing
5:57 The Side Content
07:01 Final Thoughts & Verdict

Пікірлер: 142

@Adoseofgary 10 ай бұрын

These guys developed The Messenger, and that is one of my all time fave indies. Of course Sea of Stars is on my list!

@musicmex 10 ай бұрын

I heard it’s a prequel to The Messenger.

@shlokwaghela9560 10 ай бұрын

@@musicmex It's a prequel

@sunnycideup4725 6 ай бұрын

im conflicted :( can you explain to me why you really liked the messenger? Im honestly just curious!! i bought the game and i remeber actually being really sad because i didnt like it even one bit, id love to hear from the other side

@Adoseofgary 6 ай бұрын

@@sunnycideup4725 I felt The Messenger had really tight controls for a platformer, a fair challenge, amazing music, and the game had a gameplay twist in the 2nd half of the game that really impressed me.

@Shifty1897 10 ай бұрын

Holy crap, I didn't even know the review scale at Gamexplain had a mind blown rating.

@RedheadButNotReally 10 ай бұрын

A _very_ rare occurrence, only saved for games that are truly among the best of the best. I think the last Mind-Blown rating I saw on this channel was when Derrick reviewed Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

@ViewtifulVash 10 ай бұрын

The worst one in the series lol

@RedheadButNotReally 10 ай бұрын

@@ViewtifulVash Yeah...yeah. 😅 But I wouldn't say that means it's _bad._

@JohnnySoCal 10 ай бұрын

This game is a love letter to JRPG fans!!! We should support developers that completly understand what makes a game FUN and entertaining.

@linusnyman429 10 ай бұрын

The only game I ever supported on kickstarter. I've been anticipating this release for YEARS.

@mrrehino 10 ай бұрын

ill support it next year when its on sale

@lightning13clair29 10 ай бұрын

@@mrrehinoto bad cause it's actually dropping tonight for PlayStation plus essential subscribers and Xbox game pass despite that it releases on August 29th alot of people will get to play it tonight early

@ryugo7713 10 ай бұрын

@@mrrehinoit’s so worth the release price though. And I’m betting you won’t hold off until it’s on sale. You may even own and are playing it now.

@mrrehino 10 ай бұрын

@@ryugo7713 nope i dont have it. i also have a giant backlog of games thats why i will be waiting for a sale.

@Leo-pd4fc 10 ай бұрын

I love how Sea of Stars is old classic pixel art style rpg game, it looks beautiful. 🌠🌊

@gazaalley3862 10 ай бұрын

Man it definitely kana big selling point for me something about 2 D sprites

@Enzevil 10 ай бұрын

Very good review without spoilers, thanks! Can’t wait to play it!

@Revz8bit 10 ай бұрын

2:51 I absolutely loved that the first boss was basically a homage to Lavos

@lightning13clair29 10 ай бұрын

Im actually picking up sea of stars it looks absolutely stunning and im glad that the enemies are on the field to initiate combat by running into them instead of random encounters it will make exploring areas and dungeons much easier instead of taking 2 to 3 steps and end up in battle i have nonthing against random encounter rpg games as i do play final fantasy games but it can be annoying some times when exploring areas due to random encounters good thing about final fantasy 10 you can put a stop to it by customizeing a weapon with no encounters ability😊

@halfaloafajudo9194 10 ай бұрын

I started playing it yesterday after I got home from work and even felt the need to write my first xbox store review on it because its that good. Its just gorgeous in every way and so engaging and delightful to play! I love the graphics and the music is perfect. A masterpiece 100% and probably going to steal me away from Starfield intermittently.

@johanblomquist8705 10 ай бұрын

You can change the time of day ”and the difference is night and day”…

@AlexCFaulkner 10 ай бұрын

Was looking for this exact comment haha

@friedpinnapple 10 ай бұрын

Mind blowing!?! Isn’t this only the second time a game reached that level?

@GameXplain 10 ай бұрын

3ed or 4th I think. But it indeed is very rare!

@maynardburger 10 ай бұрын

Hot damn, I was excited for this after backing it years ago, and it's fantastic to see it review so well.

@_b_a_g_u_e_t_t_e_3191 10 ай бұрын

Its a game inspired by chrono trigger, of course its a masterpiece. I'm yet to see a chrono trigger "clone" that isn't good. My favourite so far is chained echoes

@Tom-101 10 ай бұрын

I've been wanting to try Chrono for a long time, would it be better to start with a more modern clone or play the OG before a clone?

@_b_a_g_u_e_t_t_e_3191 10 ай бұрын

@@Tom-101 it doesn't really matter tbh, they're all different games at the end of the day. Chrono trigger is a classic masterpiece though so if you haven't already played it, go for it. I've never finished it though and I personally prefer chrono cross due to the beautiful artwork and bright colours. Sea of stars is looking like a mix between the two games, chrono triggers gameplay and cross's artstyle

@Mianroca 10 ай бұрын

@@Tom-101 same situation here, but I'd rather play the game that started it all first. Then I move on to more modern games so I can see how the genre progresses/evolves.

@Tom-101 10 ай бұрын

@@Mianroca yeah that's usually what I like to do, I like playing things in chronological order.

@Galaxy-ds4lw 10 ай бұрын

@@Tom-101I would always start with the older games first since you won’t have to wrestle with modern conveniences that won’t exist in a retro title. That said, Chrono requires no grinding and is frankly, in my opinion, simply perfection.

@calvinmatthews1527 10 ай бұрын

Very impressive. Alright, now that I've seen this, I'm sure this game is going on my favorite indie RPGs list. And that list is getting big with Chained Echoes, Rise of The Third Power, & CrossCode.

@mikeg5039 10 ай бұрын

I still gotta beat chained echoes and with this and mario rpg im swamped

@Enigmalake 10 ай бұрын

3 games and your swamped? I have over a dozen to finish 😆

@samueljudie1370 10 ай бұрын

@@Enigmalake A mere dozen??? Come back to me once you lose count of your backlog

@jaydeebow6431 10 ай бұрын

This game is for us older turn-based fan's from the 90's and early 2000's and for me was my Golden Age of jrpg's i know everyone's may differ, but being alive back then and enjoying all the great games from that period will never happen again in my lifetime,so i guess this game being made by a small indie company i urge everyone to pick this one up and support these developers that know what we want as fan's.

@maynardburger 10 ай бұрын

We might be the target audience, but there's no reason for younger folks not to try it out. It's not just nostalgia bait or anything.

@BigKlingy 10 ай бұрын

I missed the era of sprite JRPGs (didn't help that 90% of them weren't released in Australia) so PS2 and DS RPGs were more my jam. I wonder when we'll get nostalgic throwbacks to those?

@D3sdinova 10 ай бұрын

@@BigKlingy same for europe, you had zelda, pokemon, phantasy star, and FF7 was the first one here.

@D3sdinova 10 ай бұрын

Chrono trigger released in 2009 or something in europe. And is a DS exclusive.

@BigKlingy 10 ай бұрын

@@D3sdinova Yeah, Australia followed Europe's releases.

@starpetalarts6668 10 ай бұрын

My monument is in the game. I placed the Samurai Velociraptor into it.

@popeyes17 10 ай бұрын

Great review, I'm playing the game and to me it's a combination of Mario and the 7 stars, Chono Triggers, Breath of fire 3 and golden sun.

@zachgoodrich6100 10 ай бұрын

Having enjoyed the 2023 Summer Steam Next Fest Demo of Sea of Stars I was appreciative when I noticed that it's on Game Pass so I preinstalled it there and look forward to playing sometime!

@NintendoCapriSun 10 ай бұрын

Looking forward to it!

@sxdbxys 10 ай бұрын

sounds like the three year wait was worth it!

@Shidyk 10 ай бұрын

Tried the demo and I have to admit that I found it very fun. Definitely picking it up and enjoying this gem of a game.

@rafaelc.c. 10 ай бұрын

Me too. I thought the demo was too repetitive and the dialogue poor, but I thought the developers really had something there, and the reviews seems to show that. I'll give it a chance.

@StarSpacewolf 10 ай бұрын

I already played the demo on both Switch and Steam months ago. I can't wait for the release.

@lightning13clair29 10 ай бұрын

A demo ain't shit you only played what they allowed you to play it ain't the full experience I wait till the games out so I experience the whole game fuck a demo 😂

@D3sdinova 10 ай бұрын

Thats today!

@StarSpacewolf 10 ай бұрын

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA@@D3sdinova

@Otis151 10 ай бұрын

Sounds great! Thanks for letting us kno!

@ArchAngel_M81 10 ай бұрын

I’m definitely going to be playing this tomorrow on GamePass.

@SpiderPopo2001 10 ай бұрын

As Chrono Trigger, Chained Echoes and Sea of Stars are masterpiece replications with different stories and environment. Definitely, im gonna get Sea Of Stars today.

@SolidusSnapes 9 ай бұрын

chained echoes look like crap. it's not stellar at any level.

@mechamahou8467 6 ай бұрын

@@SolidusSnapes agreed. I played 75% of Chained Echoes and just stopped because I was so utterly sick of the tacked on, poorly implemented, actively harmful to the player and their tactical decision-making Overdrive meter. Final straw for me was the garbage and pretentious fanbase who utterly refused to engage with any critique of the game in good faith whatsoever. They literally, unironically, think it is better than chronotrigger, and refer to that game with indignation and contempt. I'm so glad sea of stars exists to turn my attention to now. Chained Echoes players probably think it sucks because "mUh UnIquE meChaNiK"

@JJsiN84 7 ай бұрын

I’m nearing the end of my first Playthrough without spoiling anything. I have about 48 hours in. Yeah, this game has been amazing so far I’m really enjoying it.

@soyborne.bornmadeandundone1342 5 ай бұрын

The two mains are sorta blank slates for you to imprint yourself on. Devs even admit this. It's on purpose to make you feel like you're them losing your best friend Garl. Makes the emotion stronger lol. That's you losing your friend. So it's not really a negative when you look at it like that : )

@lewisbaldwin9683 10 ай бұрын

I wasn’t a fan of the demo but I’m glad people are enjoying/going to be enjoying it

@BigKlingy 10 ай бұрын

That's me too. I played the demo and wasn't impressed with the battle system, despite great puzzles and a good artstyle. Oftentimes enemies would require elemental combinations to break their attack that you had no access to at that point in a turn, forcing you to take it. For it to get such glowing reviews, they must've improved it a lot.

@rafaelc.c. 10 ай бұрын

I agree. The puzzles, the zones and even the combat were too repetitive. And the dialogue was very weak, but I think it might end up being a very good game outside the demo.

@stryfetc1471 10 ай бұрын

I wonder is that 30 hour playthrough, him going straight through to the finish or are they're extras that can extend the life if to try to do everything?

@ProfessorJayGaming 10 ай бұрын

Oh man, I forgot this was coming! It looks amazing!

@noviy_polsovatel 10 ай бұрын

As I understood, there wouldn't be any emotional animation of characters as in Chrono trigger or Final Fantasy. Emotions are shown through character images in dialog boxes, while figures are static...

@KlonoaFan64 10 ай бұрын

Heh, glad I decided to back this project on Kickstarter years ago. 😎

@whatis_goingon 10 ай бұрын

I ended up getting this game because of this video. Haven't played much of it yet, but it's looking like the praise is deserved

@veekanine 10 ай бұрын

Really considering getting this game as it looks amazing and has been on my radar. I'm not too experienced with JRPGs so this could be a fun game to get into. Is Sea of Stars a sequel? Do I need any background context from a previous game?

@blastedmcgraw152 10 ай бұрын

Not at all. It takes place in the same world as The Messenger, but playing that game is not essential to understanding this one at all.

@heyoyo10gaming4 10 ай бұрын

@@blastedmcgraw152 That said, there is an area in The Messenger that seems to be deeply connected to this game

@veekanine 10 ай бұрын

@@blastedmcgraw152 Awesome thanks! I’ll probably wait a bit and get the physical version when it comes out

@marcusclark1339 10 ай бұрын

remember grind isn't bad, all in how its used what i get here is he wanted a dumbed down design this is a game that really doesn't want u to "auto pilot" while playing, you do get punished for it far more

@emmanuelkey5208 10 ай бұрын

This is free on my Xbox but seems perfect to play on switch. Also get to support the company and buy it so why not

@JerBuster77 10 ай бұрын

Game will be available on the PS Plus game catalog day one!

@JUSTANOTHERNINTENDOFAN 10 ай бұрын

I love the messenger so I knew it would be great but wow I'm not gonna play it cuz I don't like RPGs but I hope the people that play it like it

@punkydudester3 10 ай бұрын

Yes I will pick it up and waiting for the physical for my switch

@turner_classic 10 ай бұрын

Absolutely pumped for this one!

@joesnider880 9 ай бұрын

i just bought it for switch and i am really excited to play it. Hoping it's as good as Chained Echoes

@soraxis9285 10 ай бұрын

I just finished the game..... woooow Best game i ever played ngl. 1000/10 masterpiece 😭💖

@johanblomquist8705 10 ай бұрын

I want it NOW!

@matthewlasalvia7026 10 ай бұрын

This is game of the year material right here!

@timothygallivan3650 10 ай бұрын

I love when the guy from Bioshock reads us reviews. 🎉

@felixwalne3494 10 ай бұрын

Can you grind levels to make bosses easier?

@ouremail3137 10 ай бұрын

Hype i cant wait for midnight.

@mattjones1207 10 ай бұрын

100% a switch purchase this. What the OLED screen was released for! 😬👍🏻

@Cynim 10 ай бұрын

It's Chrono Trigger and Golden Sun on steroids!

@CalebByRamen 10 ай бұрын

so excited for this. buying multiple copies.

@SinnohBro 10 ай бұрын

Great Review

@mcorleonep 10 ай бұрын

Damn! Bad timing for release when Starfield is right around the corner...

@thefirstofthelastones8952 10 ай бұрын

If this doesn't get nominated (and maybe win) Best Indie Game of the Year...

@hamzabey5743 10 ай бұрын

How long is the campaign?

@tbnwontpop8857 10 ай бұрын

It's hard to answer without giving spoilers, but I will say it will range between 30-40 hours depending on what all you do.

@TaliesinMyrddin 10 ай бұрын

Is there dual-world time travel?

@jameslawrenson1208 10 ай бұрын

One I've finished this game, I can go on to play the Messenger.

@jantzenjones9 10 ай бұрын

I’m playing it on Game Pass as soon as I get home from work.

@rinas6550 9 ай бұрын

I’m playing this game and I just got to the actual sea of stars and… wow! I thought the game was over lol

@JustinWalker951 10 ай бұрын

7:32 thumbs down for that joke lol

@roseforyoubabe 10 ай бұрын

it is not even close to chrono trigger greatness..

@R8DYSETGO 10 ай бұрын

I kinds felt like the game was holding my hand and guiding me the whole way through. It's just a little too linear for me. I had to stop when I got to the (Spoiler alert) Necromancer's island

@russianFB7442 10 ай бұрын

I have chained echoes on my backlog now this and I have no time lmao I'm doomed

@jdrobin1 10 ай бұрын

Playing it on gamepass❤

@GamerFunOriginallyAarush 10 ай бұрын

Whoa!

@tbnwontpop8857 10 ай бұрын

My three gripes with this game (they are minor, the game is fantastic otherwise): 1. Zale and Valere are cardboard 2. No option to flee combat 3. No spell or ability which lets you quickly exit areas or dungeons. This is baffling because it was commonplace in the era that this game takes inspiration from, so the backtracking can get very obnoxious.

@cc-vd3oq 10 ай бұрын

No. It's not how we felt playing chrono trigger. Anime was exploding in the US during the 90s and so were JRPGs. Every day it seemed like some new innovation was being announced or some new amazing looking animation from this country called Japan that felt so foreign and distant. Then, in the middle of this explosion, 2 of the leading creative forces responsible in both fields announced a new title. Akira Toriyama of dragonball Z and Square of Final Fantasy. Trigger ended up surpassing our ludicrous expectations and pushed the entire industry forward, setting new standards for story telling, world building,and game design in ALL games. This is a good game, but I dont see it having the same impact on gamers and the industry. It's like comparing Bloodstained to SOTN. Bloodstained is good, but it didn't shift industry trends and set a new standard for an entire genre.

@BigKlingy 10 ай бұрын

And us Australians missed out on that because big game companies thought JRPGs wouldn't sell here. (We got no Chrono Trigger, no Earthbound, no Final Fantasy 6, no Super Mario RPG...) At least Chrono Trigger was just as much of a masterpiece when I first played it on DS.

@faidou9954 6 ай бұрын

As good as this game probably is, I can't help but compare this game to Chrono Trigger and think, "Something is missing that keeps this game from being as good/better than Chrono Trigger."

@mikhailsharon4331 10 ай бұрын

Wow!

@muhamed23458 10 ай бұрын

Fantastic Game ❤

@kayef5724 10 ай бұрын

W RPG

@Simon-yg9np 10 ай бұрын

Biggest flaw is the combat system with only a few moves (even 10 hours in and i only use 2 moves which are good) and the difficulty. It gets extremely boring to fight

@thelimz1588 10 ай бұрын

nowadays we need indie devs to make better games than AAA devs

@skyscavenger7732 10 ай бұрын

Being fair though, it's not that AAA devs don't make good games...just that they seem to be stuck doing the same kinda games (cinematic 1st/3rd person action-adventure), none of them seem to really experiment anymore. Sure you get a break from the norm every once in a while (It Takes Two, Stray, Hi-Fi Rush) but those are more the exception. Actually, I think Nintendo (and Sega to an extent) might be the only AAA developer nowadays who actually has a more diverse catalogue.

@Alex-ii2zt 10 ай бұрын

That's not the ase here tho - game is nothing but a generic JRPG

@phil2024x 10 ай бұрын

Chrono Trigger is far better just because each character has a lot of skills and can make different combos with each other. On Sea of Stars we have basically different combos but the characters have 3 skills only which is boring using them over and over.

@tbnwontpop8857 10 ай бұрын

It's counterbalanced by the game's other mechanic, lock breaking. You aren't supposed to just spam those 3 skills over and over (and you can't because you have a very limited MP pool), you're supposed to balance between using them for burst or using them to stop a spell from casting. It's a lot more complex than it initially seems. CT may have more abilities, but you more or less just spam the strongest stuff you got in that game, and you won't ever run out of ethers because they are dirt cheap in that game. I didn't die in my playthrough of Sea of Stars, but I came very close a few times. In CT, the risk of death was non-existent, so I do think Sea of Stars has better combat overall.

@TheSushiandme 10 ай бұрын

It's better than Baldurs gate 3.

@Alex-ii2zt 10 ай бұрын

Astarion's left buttcheek alone is better than this whole mediocre game LMAO Cope harder

@tbnwontpop8857 10 ай бұрын

I agree, I didn't really enjoy BG3. It's got too much required reading attached to it if you never played DnD. That and having the ability to save scum defeats the whole purpose of having dice in a game, lmao.

@tatenaibenbusi 10 ай бұрын

Sea of Stairs

@ram5683 10 ай бұрын

Just a beautiful game. Very weak dialogues and plot (so far 5 hours in the game).

@roseforyoubabe 10 ай бұрын

sure it is as great as totk or baldur gate 3 lol..

@SaltyToad00 10 ай бұрын

Both of those games are amazing, so I don't see the problem.

@roseforyoubabe 10 ай бұрын

many of these reviewers have a lot of retro style rpg games so they are looking through rose colored glasses..

@BigKlingy 10 ай бұрын

I feel alone in that I've never liked HD2D as an artstyle. It's probably because most 16-bit JRPGs never released in Australia, so it's trying to scratch a nostalgia itch I was never able to have. But still, this game looks pretty good.

@zerox6901 10 ай бұрын

Lol, no. It is not.

@CasepbX 10 ай бұрын

It looks alright, I will never play it.

@maynardburger 10 ай бұрын

Man, do you go around on every KZfaq video to make this comment on things you're not interested in? Maybe checking out reviews for frying pans you have no plans on buying and telling everybody you dont plan on buying them?

@Alex-ii2zt 10 ай бұрын

Just another generic JRPG with nothing but pretty artstyle Game is already dead on Steam LMAO. JRPG fangirls gonna cope tho

@Oren0614 10 ай бұрын

doesnt look jrpg. it looks more like american made lol

@SaltyToad00 10 ай бұрын

What are you talking about? This looks exactly like a JRPG.

@vivid8979 10 ай бұрын

Mr. Dunning striked again...

@maynardburger 10 ай бұрын

It looks very much like a JRPG to me. :/ That's kind of one of the main appeals.

@cc-vd3oq 10 ай бұрын

@Oren0614 Yea. Its basically that same generic indie style that's a weird blend of anime and western animation. Basically, like the art director was raised on late 90s anime and cartoon network shows.