Sea of Stars is impressive, but not quite a masterpiece (Full SPOILER Review)

Sea of Stars is a good game, but Sabotage Studios still has a lot to learn when it comes to dialogue, character development, and how to structure an epic tale. And even though the game was meant to be a spiritual successor to Chrono Trigger, Sea of Stars fails to heed some of the most important lessons from its famous predecessor.
This is my FULL SPOILER review of Sea of Stars.
#seaofstars #JRPG #videogamereview
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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:41 A work of art
05:52 A living diorama
10:43 Failure to innovate
14:41 A great combat system
19:24 Wasted potential
23:48 A story that stumbles
28:49 A shaky foundation
33:01 Anonymous heroes
37:39 The prequel problem
41:22 Conclusion

[@AltercateTV]

I hope this review doesn't come off as too negative. I still think this is a great game, and it's an incredibly impressive feat for a small studio.
I know I'm super slow in putting out content, and some of you may be wondering what's going on with this channel. My day job is very mentally demanding these days, and I put a LOT of effort into my videos, especially when it comes to writing the script, so they're not exactly easy to make. To be honest, I've been kind of struggling with it over the last year or so, and motivation has been hard to come by. But I haven't given up on this channel... yet. :)
Thanks for watching, and thanks for supporting me! 😍

[@Adamatronamus]

Reviews should highlight the positives and room for improvement. And you have this game a lot of praise.
And don't worry able your output of content. Everything you produce is amazing, so keep it up as long as you are having fun!

[@AltercateTV]

@@AdamatronamusThank you, that's very kind of you! :)

[@chadwickjdillon]

I am just constantly blown away by you.
Your quality of work is fantastic, and your insight is a great shortcut to the actual values of the games you cover.
Everyone is kinda saying this about this game... great looking, and a dope throwback, but not quite the real deal.
You make it look enticing, but im not sure im sold.
Great work either way.

[@AltercateTV]

Wow, thank you so much! It really means a lot to me to hear that. :)

[@marscpg7325]

I can’t help but feel like the blandness of Zale and Valere is deliberate. They are the solstice warriors, and are referred to as such by everyone. They are little more than what their creed is and basically they are helping the world around them. What I mean is, that Garl, Serai, Reshan and B’st are the actual main characters, and we go through their stories from the perspective of our protagonists. Their personalities don’t matter, we are experiencing the world as observers through them.
Not sure if that’s what Sabotage were going for, but it’s my head canon either way haha.
Great video! I agree with most points, I would defend the messenger connections, as it feels like they are putting together an entire universe and that’s not the last that we’re seeing of the seemingly wasted characters and storylines.

[@AltercateTV]

I like your head canon lol. If it wasn't for that scene in Lucent where Zale and Valere talk about how different their personalities are, I probably wouldn't have thought much of it.
Regarding the Messenger connections, I do agree they're cool, I just wish they had found better ways to integrate them in the core story. :)
Thanks for the kind words and for sharing your thoughts!

[@jeffkiska]

This was 100% my take on the intentions behind character development as well. Crono was a silent protagonist whose entire character basically boiled down to "hero," and it was the other party member that we really got to know throughout Chrono Trigger. In Sea of Stars, Zale and Valere might be a bit more talkative, but I feel like they're basically filling the same role.

[@sephiro444]

Great analysis. You clearly experienced Sea of Stars deeply and present a thorough, nuanced critique that I almost entirely agree with. You’re effusively praiseworthy in areas the game deserves the highest props and comparisons to its legendary inspirations, but also rightly pound them for the overly wordy yet paradoxically shallow characters, Valere and Zale in particular. I just finished powering from start to true ending in just under a week and had a blast, but I regret not feeling any strong connection to most of its characters apart from Garl and Serai.

[@AltercateTV]

Late reply, but thanks for sharing your experience with the game! Yep, overall this was a great experience but it could have been so much more.

[@StarsAndSticks]

Hey thanks for making this man. You put a lot of love into it, I can tell, and it deserves more attention than what it's getting. I just started making videos myself and I find it frustrating when that happens.

[@AltercateTV]

Thanks for the kind words! :)

[@Adamatronamus]

Excellent review. Thank you for talking about this game. I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since playing it.
I found it to have very good pacing. You are never doing one thing too long and move onto the next interesting thing. I gave the story a pass because it added to the pacing, as you were never in dialogue too long. I also love the subtle connections to the Messenger. Another excellent game that makes the world seem larger than most RPGs. It's not a perfect game, that the impact it had on me has lasted finishing every party of it.

[@AltercateTV]

Thanks for sharing your perspective. I'm always interested to hear what other people think, as so much of what makes up a gaming experience comes down to personal preference. I'm happy to hear that the game had such an impact on you!

[@calicow]

I still haven't finished the game despite being hooked on it for a decent chunk of time. Once the combat lost its sense of tension, half of the draw evaporated for me. It was really that and the exploration that made me stick around through the subpar story and characters.
I like some aspects of the game world and its story, but it would have been 1000x better had the team hired a professional writer or, at the very least, an editor. Preferably one very familiar with developmental editing who was shown the story early in pre-production. The decision to not have these for an RPG is a little baffling.

[@AltercateTV]

Yeah, I can agree with that. I understand there's an element of pride in wanting to write your own story, but the gaming industry as a whole seems to have this strong aversion to hiring professional writers, often to the detriment of the games.

[@OnyxSkiesXIX]

I was really enjoying the game for a while, but the story is bland, the characters are ultra bland, and while the combat is engaging, the normal battles drag so badly that the pace suffers greatly. I really wanted to love it but I dropped it about 15 hours in and I kind of doubt I’ll ever really go back to it.

[@AltercateTV]

I can definitely understand that. There were two stretches of my playthrough where I almost lost the will to keep playing. The exploration gameplay is really what kept me engaged throughout the experience.

[@jonatanxzavier1445]

P R O M O S M

[@UZPvNUCaaQdF]

too long, man. I can't watch an analysis video for longer than 20 minutes. Also, general audience (including 30-somethings with experience with SoS's inspirations) think SoS did much more right than it does wrong. Click-bait or not, the game doesn't "fail to innovate". I was more surprised that you spent so much time on the slow opening of the story (valid) and banal central characters (which most Square games also have, including the Chrono games) but didn't spend any time bashing the lack of character development.

[@AltercateTV]

Sorry to hear you didn't like the video. I did talk about the lack of character development towards the end, but since you mentioned the video was too long for you, I guess you might have quit before that point. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your perspective!