Sea of Stars

[Dalisclock]

So I think I'm close to the end. I've reached the point I can go to the last dungeon(I presume considering the Save file says THE FATED HOUR) and I've been cleaning up side quests for the last few hours. And it's generally fine. There's a battle arena, there's some light puzzles to open undersea puzzle rooms, there's more puzzle rooms at the solstice shrines, etc. Also apparently there's a bunch of couch shells I still have to find.

Though honstly it's a little less fun now then when I was barreling through the plot to the next twist as I'd been doing for like 10 hours before that. I have been enjoying the plot, especially the whole bit when find out what the Sea of Stars is and what's on the other side. And boy that's depressing. Poor Ninja girl

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

So I think I'm close to the end. I've reached the point I can go to the last dungeon(I presume considering the Save file says THE FATED HOUR) and I've been cleaning up side quests for the last few hours. And it's generally fine. There's a battle arena, there's some light puzzles to open undersea puzzle rooms, there's more puzzle rooms at the solstice shrines, etc. Also apparently there's a bunch of couch shells I still have to find.

Though honstly it's a little less fun now then when I was barreling through the plot to the next twist as I'd been doing for like 10 hours before that. I have been enjoying the plot, especially the whole bit when find out what the Sea of Stars is and what's on the other side. And boy that's depressing. Poor Ninja girl

I'm about 30 hours in and just made it back from Sky Base with the AI core. The game definitely has a flair for producing a seemingly endless stream of second act plot twists, any one of which could've easily led to the third act. Feels like there might as well be another 10 hours to go at this point. I'm still waiting to unlock the ability to fly (not a spoiler, I'm just assuming you can eventually fly around the map like absolutely every other JRPG ever) and for Brisk to finish rebuilding.

Characters:
It sucks for Serai but at least there's more to the character than being cool (cyborg pirate ninja, gimme a break). Still think Zale and Valere are interchangeably bland. B'st is quickly climbing up in likeability next to Garl. Re'shan is probably my least favorite between his Dr. Manhattan shtick and then just up and abandoning my boys like it's nothing. And to think I wasted 250g on a spa day he didn't even use.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Well that's it for Sea of Stars. Great game with one of those All About the Journey endings. I liked the music, the graphics, the moment to moment combat, the puzzles, the boss fights (which with the lock system kinda become puzzles too) and Wheels. And it's not that I don't like the ending per se, but it's a little too abrupt to pay off 40 hours of emotional investment, and Zale and Valere are too devoid of character to sell it, and there are too many things that felt unresolved or unaddressed or pointless in hindsight. Okami has basically the same ending and that's a game that manages to pull everything in a flawless 10.

 

[Chimpzy]

 

[Dalisclock]

Almost done. I've gotten almost all the endgame content finished after getting the first ending. And while the end game content is generally good, the Couch shell collecting is just tedious and I wish there was a way to bypass at least part of it by having some of the shells available for sale or something.

The first ending is generally good though and I'm curious to see how the 2nd ending is different.

 

[Chimpzy]

 

[Silvanus]

Huh, I totally overlooked this thread the first time somehow. Even though I played this around that time.

It's a brilliant game. Just the right amount of depth and customisation; good characterisation, animation, music, atmosphere. A somewhat standard JRPG plot, but with a few twists and turns. And a good amount of optional endgame challenging stuff. Strong recommend for anyone who enjoyed stuff like FF 4-6 or Octopath Traveler.

Minor criticism is that the 'town-building' element for Mirth is underdeveloped and feels tacked on. They could've made that a lot more satisfying.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Huh, I totally overlooked this thread the first time somehow. Even though I played this around that time.

It's a brilliant game. Just the right amount of depth and customisation; good characterisation, animation, music, atmosphere. A somewhat standard JRPG plot, but with a few twists and turns. And a good amount of optional endgame challenging stuff. Strong recommend for anyone who enjoyed stuff like FF 4-6 or Octopath Traveler.

Minor criticism is that the 'town-building' element for Mirth is underdeveloped and feels tacked on. They could've made that a lot more satisfying.

Not only was it underdeveloped, it essentially existed as a tribute to 'The Completionist', who was one of this game's chief promoters. But you know how that played out. It's even more pointless now.

 

[Silvanus]

Not only was it underdeveloped, it essentially existed as a tribute to 'The Completionist', who was one of this game's chief promoters. But you know how that played out. It's even more pointless now.

Well, one character in the town was a tribute, that's all-- and he was renamed when all the stuff came out about The Completionist.