INTMD — The Most Chrono Trigger Game Since Chrono Trigger

Sea of Stars — A Review Session

I dunno what they’re talking about, that sea clearly is only reflecting stars.

After beating the wonderful Hi-Fi Rush, I was ready to take on something a little bit longer. A little bit more RPG-ish. Following a recommendation from Henry, I picked up Sea of Stars, which is available on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox Platforms. It’s even available on PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass.

For those of you who’re worried about spoilers — don’t worry. None are shared here.

Sea of Stars is a turn-based RPG released by Sabotage Studio, makers of “The Messenger” (a love-letter-esque game to Ninja Gaiden). While the devs and just about every reviewer out there will tell you how the game is inspired by 1995's Chrono Trigger, I’ll go a step farther and say that not only is it a love letter, it stands on its own as a game worth your time even if you’ve never played Chrono Trigger. This is easily one of the best games released in 2023, and possibly one of the best RPG experiences ever made.

Garl is quite possibly the best boy of any RPG of all time.

The visuals borrow largely from the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis era of video games while making use of today’s hardware. While the Super Nintendo was capable of a color palette of 32,768 different colors, Sea of Stars utilizes modern hardware sensibilities, allowing for richer hues as well as color gradients. Looking at the screenshot above, you can see that the developers also made use of shadows, and light sources from fire as well as the moon. These effects enhance the existing art but look right at home, as opposed to more “tilt-shift diorama” style pixelated games like Octopath Traveler.

Octopath is delightful in its own way.

The composer of Sea of Stars, Eric Brown, set out to do two things right for making the music for this game:

1. Compose songs that aren’t annoying to hear on loop, as is normal to expect in these games.
2. Make that music memorable enough that you become nostalgic for it on future listening.

Eric knocked it out of the park. Take a listen to “Encounter,” the boss fight music for Sea of Stars. The blend of percussion, bass, guitar, strings, and perhaps most importantly, the xylophone which serves as the primary instrument in a lot of the tracks of the game.

[embed]Every time I hear this track I want to take on a boss. Or maybe just go for a run. Or the gym. Something.

Composer Yasunori Mitsuda, who was behind the soundtrack for Chrono Trigger, was a featured composer on ten tracks for the game, including this remix for later boss battles in the game:

[embed]Alright, when I hear this track I’m ready to take on a God. Or maybe go lift weights. Something.

But let’s be honest — when you have Mitsuda on deck, you do more than just build on what’s already there, you ask him to compose some original tracks. One such track, “Serenade of Respite,” is absolutely reminiscent of Chrono Trigger, even using the same instruments he used in that game’s score:

[embed]Okay now Square Enix, give me a Chrono Trigger remake that looks like Sea of Stars. That’s all I want now.

The gameplay is simple outside of combat. There’s a world map where you move a little slowly between areas (directly borrowing from early Final Fantasy games). In the actual areas you can walk or run, as well as perform platforming skills like jumping and climbing, and activating switches. You can also affect the time of day by controlling the position of the sun and the moon.

As you progress through the game, you also gain access to a couple of items that enhance your ability to explore areas, as well as revisit previous locations. This technically makes Sea of Stars a MetroidVania game as well. Technically.

Battles give Experience Points, Experience Points give Levels, Levels give Stat Boosts. Turn the page, wash your hands.

The battles are where I think the game shines the most. The turn-based combat features regular attacks that are reminiscent of Super Mario RPG — hits and blocks are timed to cause extra damage given or minimize damage taken. There are also magic attacks that deplete a reservoir of Magic Points (which can then be restored via regular attacks or via items) that fill up a progress meter to execute an Ultimate attack for a character. And finally, there are also Combos, which are filled via a progress meter based on your timed hits and timed blocks, and feature two characters of your party.

As the game progresses, eventually you will have a total of six party members. But unlike previous RPG limits of “three characters per battle only,” you can swap out characters on every turn, making all six characters available to you. This comes in as a great strength for folks seeking different attack styles, or managing hit points as characters take damage.

She … she’s not wrong.

The enemies themselves feature a “Lock” system when casting spells that’s reminiscent of combat in Octopath Traveler — if you can attack an enemy with the right kind of attacks (be it melee, sword, fire, lunar, poison, etc.) you can prevent that enemy from casting spells that deal significant damage (or if you can’t prevent it entirely, you can diminish the effectiveness of the attack). It makes for great strategy when you’re trying to navigate some of the tougher battles.

The game also features a great deal of accessibility options through the use of “Relics”. From shop discounts to “extremely hard mode,” you can fine-tune the game to your play style.

Do I want to level up faster? Absolutely.

The story itself is marvelous and will make you go on a feel trip. In a land where the people celebrate the Solar and Lunar Solstices, once in a great while a bird will arrive and deliver a child on that Solstice. That specific child will grow up and learn under the tutelage of an academy for “Solstice Warriors,” who go on to cleanse the world of dark creatures set loose by the Fleshmancer, an ancient evil being.

Zale and Valere, both born on consecutive Solar and Lunar Solstices, serve as our main characters, along with their best friend and very normal non-magical human, Garl. Having been friends since they were kids, they set out together as adults to take on the world. Eventually they meet an assassin named Serai, who has access to portals that allow her to teleport between spaces. They’ll also meet two more characters that join the party as well.

Valere: “I think I’m ready too. Let’s quit Twitter and start posting on BlueSky.”

While I can’t talk about the other characters stories without dropping some huge spoilers, I can say that Zale, Valere, and Garl’s story is about rising above your station.

Zale and Valere train hard and, while they’re compassionate about the people they care about and the world they live in, they’re are always determined to keep up the good fight, even in the face of the darkest possible tragedies. But they’re also allowed to cry, show emotions, and have a bit of depth to them beyond their hardened, battle-trained exteriors.

Garl is reminded at nearly every turn that he’s out of his league and shouldn’t be helping his magical friends. But the guy put all of his stats into Charisma when he spawned. Throughout the game, Garl is a lovable force that inspires folks to rally around him. He’s shown to be deeply caring, determined, and compassionate, but never develops an ego. He sees people as they are, whether they’re truly good or truly evil, and is unafraid to call things as he sees them. You’re gonna love this guy.

Sea of Stars is clearly influenced by the games the developers loved playing as kids, but not once does it ever pander for a cheap nostalgia fix. Not once does it rest on the laurels of the games that came before it. If you’ve never played a 16-bit RPG before, you can enjoy this game. If you’ve played the likes of Super Mario RPG, Golden Sun, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 1–6, everything will feel familiar but also new in its own right.

Except this is very, very new, and absolutely weird trip that I will not elaborate on.

Everything about Sea of Stars was crafted with care and it shows in every second you play the game. It took me about 30 hours to beat the game and honestly, I’m considering having another go at it. It’s just that good.