Sea of Stars, Mare Stellarum

So a friend on Mastodon was posting here and there about a game called Sea of Stars, and of course I was immediately hooked by the title alone. What a lovely image! Sounds like something pulled right out of classical antiquity (hence mare stellarum, Latin for “sea of stars”). I eventually looked it up and found that it’s an RPG available on Steam, and, without knowing much about it at all, I bought it and fired it up. Supports gamepads (check!), supposedly supports vibration (but I haven’t gotten it to work), very cool. I’m in. Just so y’all know, I’d like to keep this a mostly spoiler-free post, so I’m doing my best on that and just giving mostly basic info about the game.

Here I am, 25 hours of gameplay time later, and I felt that I needed to get my thoughts about the game down. Because there are many thoughts percolating indeed, and I wanted to share them with y’all. Sea of Stars has a mixed fantasy/steampunk setting (though the steampunk doesn’t become prevalent until later). The creators themselves stated their biggest inspiration is the venerable classic Chrono Trigger, and it shows. The creators aren’t simply mimicking Chrono Trigger, but they’ve captured the vibe very well indeed, and it makes the game world feel familiar. Like most RPGs, it starts in a small town with a couple of characters, and the world grows bigger and more complicated as time goes on. You have access to the world map from fairly early on, and it’s kinda fun to explore and see the map fill in previously-unknown places with at least a name, which is intriguing in itself. As with many RPGs, it becomes quickly apparent that the stakes are catastrophically high, but it never feels unearned, if that makes sense.

Chrono Trigger is clearly the biggest influence, but in the game I also see shades of Secret of Mana, various Final Fantasy games (FFV perhaps, or FFIV; long shot, maybe FFIX?), Rudra no Hihou (Treasure of the Rudras), Super Mario RPG, and perhaps even Lufia 2 (mostly due to the puzzles within). The puzzles can be complicated, but they’re definitely not Alundra-level complicated, thankfully (I really, really disliked the puzzles in that game!). I’d be interested to see if y’all detect any other influences, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind for me. I hadn’t thought of FFIV and FFV until just now, but they seem apt comparisons, in some ways.

Let’s talk about gameplay for a sec. As people familiar with Final Fantasy games or Chrono Trigger will know, there’s the world map/field, battle mode, and towns/dungeons. No enemies are on the world map, just like Chrono Trigger; the world map is simply for navigating from point to point (named on the map, either with a name, if you’ve visited and explored, or “???”), so no random encounters. Towns are, for the most part, safe havens (not like Avdol in Rudra no Hihou, an unsafe town, or perhaps Zozo in FFVI). In dungeons, 90% of the time you’ll see enemies and can sometimes avoid them, but there are definitely some random encounters still. This is similar to Chrono Trigger, and even Chrono Cross, but here’s a fun wrinkle: you can either slash at the enemy with your weapon before they have a chance to act, shaving off some HP and giving you an advantage (think “preemptive strike”), or use a hookshot-like item called the Graplou to attack them for the same effect. I try to do that every time, as it’s worthwhile. In battle, too, if you hit the attack button right as the attack connects, it may deliver an extra hit (think FFVIII’s Gunblade extra damage; my sister compared it to Super Mario RPG or even Paper Mario). Same for when an enemy attacks you; if you hit the button as their attack hits you, it may blunt the force of the attack and save you some HP. So the timing part is kinda cool.

Although the game feels like a beautifully, lovingly rendered SNES or PSX RPG, There are also quite a few modernizations that result in quality-of-life improvements that are extremely welcome. I find it very quaint and lovely that save points in the game are usually associated with campfires; your party pitches camp and gathers around a campfire to rest and heal up. The save point itself is a magical book that records your journey so far, but the campfire has a double function: not only can you heal up (“Rest”), but you can also “Cook.” Yes, you do find items throughout the dungeons &c. (honestly, mostly weapons/armor), but healing items generally need to be purchased (rare) or fashioned from scratch by “cooking.” All these items are associated with food, and some affect only one party member, and others the whole party (my favorite). You can even cook items that will have a full-life effect (resurrect and 100% HP!) later on. You’re also limited to 10 items at a time, which initially was annoying, but the item management isn’t all that bad, honestly, and encourages you to get creative with fashioning items between save points.

Save points are generally at the beginning of a dungeon (so you can save as you enter), or right before a big boss. Some may say this makes the game too easy, and prefer the real retro RPGs where save points are few and far between. But I honestly disagree with that. Save points are plentiful and so are the campfires, but I don’t find that they detract from the difficulty of the game. I’ve had to fight plenty of bosses 2 or 3 times before beating them successfully, so the difficulty is not light. I liken the distribution of save/heal points to Rudra no Hihou or G.O.D. (both late-stage SNES RPGs), which also had plentiful save/heal points, but the former was hard as nails, and so could the latter be. But at the same time, I find the game wonderfully balanced. What I mean by this is that each dungeon is stocked with enemies – yes, plenty of them, but IMHO just enough to let your characters build up experience, perhaps level up, and get to and beat the boss, if you play your cards right. I swear I read somewhere that the game discourages grinding, and honestly, grinding isn’t necessary for the game. The enemies found help progress your characters enough to keep advancing naturally without having to backtrack and walk around fighting more enemies to level up. And that is extremely refreshing. It really is a no-nonsense game in that regard, and I really appreciate it.

Speaking of levels, the game also fixes one thing that I really dislike about older RPGs. Remember when you’re playing FFVI, FFVII (or pretty much any FF game), Chrono Trigger, or others, with a bunch of characters, and you’ve gotta rotate them in and out to make sure they level evenly? That is entirely unnecessary in this game. I’m not sure how they track it, but your entire party, even characters not in your 3-character party, receives XP from battles. That means your whole party levels up at once. And when you level up, you get to pick a stat to receive a bonus boost; the stats are usually from a random pool of 4. Trust me, if you can choose MP, choose an MP boost; other stats will grow naturally, and MP will too, but not quite as often, and you’ll need lots of MP for skills. I would guess that the in-game explanation for everyone levelling at once is that while the active party members are fighting, the others are off training somewhere; when camping and resting, you’ll see some of the characters doing push-ups or exercises, so that would make sense. I just find it really wonderful that you don’t need to worry about making sure to use every character to keep them levelled, so they’re not level 10 while everyone else is level 50. I found that was a major issue in FFIX most recently, where I didn’t really like Amarant and never wanted to use him, but had to as he was required for some battles.

Let’s also talk about travel. There are some limited fast-travel methods available (literally flying in a ball is one), but nothing like you’re used to in modern, or even older games. I haven’t come across an airship yet, but I am holding out hope. Most of the time you’ll spend walking from place to place, which can involve some backtracking; it’s occasionally frustrating but not a big deal. You’re not spending a ton of time going to tons of disparate places, as you’ll usually stick around in an area for awhile, so this makes sense. And really, walking is sufficient for most things, so that’s OK.

I read some reviews complaining about the writing in the game being bad. I honestly don’t know where they’re getting that. The writing is very well-done, the characters are believable and interesting, and there are even some very dark places the story goes to, and some very earned moments of melancholy. Sure, elements of the story are your standard “save the world” RPG fare, but it’s very well-done and I am happy with it. I guess to each their own, but I’ve been enthralled by the game thus far and don’t see that stopping. You get to know the characters, there is actually a lot of humor in the story, and it’s really just very pleasant in general, and even the darkness is done well and not melodramatic or over the top.

The graphics are very much SNES/PSX-era for the most part, with pretty, pixelated sprites, but at the same time, the backgrounds are very dynamic and vibrant. Dungeons are multi-level, with puzzles, as mentioned before, and you can interact with the environment in multiple ways with tools &c. Lots of secrets and treasures to find, and you’re encouraged to look everywhere. Often if you pass by a path that seems right, you’ll find something even more interesting. There are even small animated sequences (“ultimate” combos, for example), such as cutscenes, and they are very well-done. The Sun and Moon are very prominent parts of the game, and you’ll see sun/moon imagery everywhere, which is fun to look for.

The music is also incredible. The great Yasunori Mitsuda, famous for Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, and the first Xenosaga game, collaborated with the composer on 10 tracks for the game, which is mindblowingly cool! I am definitely buying the soundtrack, but even the description says to avoid looking at track titles to avoid spoilers, so I’m going to wait until I’ve finished the game. It definitely feels like an old-school RPG soundtrack, and all the music perfectly fits the contexts in which it is used. I love how motifs are reused and reconfigured as well, and even the battle theme subtly changes depending on area, and even for day/night. There is a day/night system, btw… and so I hear, there are even different day/night themes on the soundtrack. Haven’t checked it out but I am very excited to listen to it eventually! I’m especially excited about the music. I’ve been collecting game soundtracks since high school (my first one was the FFVII soundtrack), so game soundtracks are near and dear to me. The last one I absolutely loved was Hollow Knight, and also Celeste, for example.

I don’t have a ton more to say than all this. I’m just really happy about the game and immensely enjoying it, and I think y’all should play it if you like RPGs, especially oldschool RPGs. This will remind you why you loved the SNES, and maybe invite you to revisit those older games, either as an old friend, or perhaps for the first time (what a treat, if so!). Just wonderful stuff. Thank you for reading!!