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Sea of Stars Review (Indepth Spoilers at end)
a year ago
Black and white and morally grey all over.
hi folks!
Well I just finished Sea of Stars. If you're not aware it's a JRPG that was made via kickstarter campaign a while back and made by the folks that did The Messenger (the ninja gaiden style game that was very well received). It was wildly successful and it's apparently getting some DLC too.
So, what'd I think? I really enjoyed it. I am glad I backed it on kickstarter and I'm happy with the results and glad to have my name in the credits. If the studio wants to do more I'd happily toss money at them.
Overall rating... probably an A- or B+? It's good but not perfect and trips in some areas.
The music and art design are top notch S+. All the characters, the enemies, every location, the -bosses- all look fantastic. The bosses especially have some awesome monstrous designs.
Combat is very similar to Chrono Trigger. You have 3 party members on the field (though like FFX, you can swap to your alternate members on the fly, so while you only 'use' 3 at a time, you really have access to your entire cast at any given time, depending on who is with you). Enemies are positioned against you and positioning matters when it comes to certain AoE effects and unlike Chrono Trigger you get some abilities to help you manipulate positioning (which was VERY welcome, even if it didn't matter -too- much).
Full disclosure on the difficulty. The game gives you 'relics' that you can turn on or off, they're really mostly difficulty sliders to make things a little easier for you and I did use some. Chiefly the Bonus XP, the 30% damage reduction, and the one that auto times about 1/3 of your defending hits. The game has a timing system akin to Super Mario RPG where you get bonus damage for timing attacks/abilities and reduced damage from enemy attacks if you successfully time a block. While the game makes a point to emphasize that you don't need to be a master at this and it's merely a nice bonus, I'd kind of argue that if they meant that they could've toned the bonuses down a bit more and evened things out, particularly taking damage. There are some boss fights even with the 30% reduced damage I found myself sucking wind occasionally and if I wasn't timing hits I'd be near dead (which tells me with the slider off, I -would- be dead). There is a relic that auto times all attacks but reduces the bonus. I didn't use it but it's an option. Overall with my settings I felt I had a 'just right' kind of balance. Maybe a bit easy in spots in the game but I never struggled too bad but also didn't feel like I was just blowing things away. With the increased XP leveling felt very smooth and I never ever had to grind at all for levels.
I did have to grind a little for money. Combat gives you very little in the way of gold so a lot of the ways you make it are selling drops (lot of enemies drop food stuffs and the occasional 'this is only used to be sold for money' items, though they're rare and don't sell for much). You tend to 'make' money by replacing equipment finding it in the wild and selling the old stuff or foraging (respawning) food ingredients. I apparently missed a relic that gives a shop discount but it's only about 10% so I still would've needed to hunt for money occasionally, would've liked to see either enemies drop more money or the 'sell for money' drops to be more valuable. I always felt like I was mostly broke and carrying -just- enough to update most/all my equipment and snag one or two odd items like relics or recipes.
This is simplified a bit as there aren't that many types of items in the game. Equipment is your standard weapon and armor stat sticks, every character has 2 slots for basic accessories that mostly bump stats (there are a few unique ones, some character specific that alter abilities, I wish there had been more of these) and then a special accessory that has some global effect like bumping party health or getting to see enemy health/weaknesses (also wish there had been more of these so I had to choose) The only consumables you deal with are food, and you cook that yourself with ingredients you find/buy. There's no status ailments in the game except getting KO'ed, so the only healing items are health, MP, and revives (and mixes thereof). You do only get to carry 10 food items at a time, which felt limiting and made me ration them more than I probably should have (also you really only want to carry a max of 9 with you, as you find the occasional food in a chest in the wild).
Combat abilities generally feel good, especially once you get enough MP to use them regularly (You'll start out sucking wind. Thankfully you can restore 3 MP (4 with an accessory) with a basic attack, which gives combat a decent flow. Using abilities/attacks also builds combo points, which let you execute abilities like the duel techs in Chrono Trigger, so less on demand but they're usually impactful and worthwhile. And then you'll also build an 'ultimate' meter. Every character has an Ult, though with no status effects or even buffs/debuffs, ultimates boil down to 'multiple hits of a damage element' (with one exception, Re'shan's ult will heal your party as well, which is very nice). They're very flashy attacks akin to Summon spells in a Final Fantasy game, but more style than substance (they do come in handy though for the lock system). Characters are limited to 3 abilities and most unlock fairly early on. Not a bad thing, there's some okay variety but I think I'd have liked to see maybe a 4th ability per character. Or some unique abilities like a charm or steal or the like. Also the game could be a little clearer on when abilities need to be timed for the bonus (if they can at all) there are some abilities I just never learned their timing. Most are fairly obvious though.
The element system is very decent as is the associated lock system. Every attack or ability has 1-2 elements associated with it and every character specializes in 1-2 different types, like Valere does a lot of blunt damage and is the only Moon element character. Occasionally enemies will wind up a big ability and present multiple element types as a 'lock', if you can hit the enemy with all the element types (So like, 2 blunt and 1 moon, or 2 cuts and 2 arcane) you'll stop them from casting the spell altogether and waste their turn and even if you can't match all the elements before the spell goes off, the closer you get to breaking the lock the less effective the attack will be when it goes off. And every character can 'boost' their basic attacks with their home element. It's overall simple and effective and can be challenging (bosses for instance will lower the time on their locks the closer they get to being beaten). There is 1 ability that you can use to delay an enemy's turn and it is so stupid valuable I wish one more character could do it in some similar way.
The overworld map is nice and again Chrono Trigger style with little chibi versions of the party running around. Everything is small islands though so the world feels pretty small. There's a twist later on that adds to it but even then it still feels small. I would've liked to see like maybe 1-2 extra areas added just for some fluff? The game has no padding where I think a little might've helped. Travel is fairly standard RPG fare, you get a few quick travel options (that're actually fairly funny) and a ship to get around and eventually you can fly (I won't spoil how, it was a nice surprise though). Dungeon design probably could have been a little better. Every dungeon -looks- amazing, but once you've explored it and completed the puzzles they're shorter and simpler than you'd expect, most time in dungeons is really spent figuring out the puzzles. They're serviceable though. I think I would've liked to see the final dungeon be bigger/more challenging.
The setting is really cool, there's a lot of lore and they give you an NPC follower that is there just for lore dumps in a fairly setting appropriate way. They do have a bad habit of suddenly tossing out names of people and locations -before- this NPC can tell you about it, so that can be -slightly- disorienting. But overall the game does a pretty good job of explaining and introducing things and it feels cohesive.
The plot is overall serviceable. If you're unaware, a -lot- of this story is tied to the messenger and is about setting -that- game up in certain ways, so if you're a big Messenger lore fan this game is meant to fill in a lot of details. You don't need to play the Messenger to understand anything in this (I didn't) everything is explained fairly well enough in game you can miss it, but knowing the Messenger probably makes things click slightly more and feels richer when you recognize the links. There are a couple points where knowledge of the Messenger is needed somewhat to make sense of where some plot threads tie off.
It has a few twists in it I liked quite a bit and didn't see coming. I always enjoy when a story can surprise me. It does wear it's love of chrono trigger on it's sleeve though in both good/bad ways. I will say there's some shades of Phantasy Star too which really surprised me (in a very good way). The team that made this game loved RPGs and it shows highly.
Is the plot good though? Mmm, unfortunately I'd say it's kind of middling. It's not -bad-, but there's a number of elements that needed to be handled -better-. It's very serviceable, there's a good journey here and again some twists I think are a lot of fun and surprised me. Unfortunately I can't discuss my problems with the plot without going into spoilers. Sorta. One issue with the plot is simply that the supposed main protagonists, Valere and Zale, are... just dull as cardboard. I think if they could have gotten away with it they would have used the silent protagonist bit like with Crono which -might- have worked better, -except- there's 2 of them so you can't have -2- mutes responding 'in your head' like Crono does. Honestly the characters are the weakest part of the plot. Again they're not -bad- exactly, but there was more they could have done. Both are 'chosen ones', dedicated to being the chosen ones, and they really like their friend Garl. That's about the extent of characterization.
I guess I should just talk about the cast.
Of the two, I liked Valere better. Her personality, what there is of one, shines through and she tries to stay positive. Or rather I guess she's more stubborn? I picked her as my main, though the choice of who to 'play as' is just cosmetic as both characters never leave you so it's just whoever you feel like putting in the lead when you run around. As I said above, there's not a lot to her character. She's dedicated to being a solstice warrior and being your average do gooder. Her ability kit is nice and varied, she gets a simple AOE, a multi-target attack you can time to rack up hits, and a basic group heal/shield spell I really got use out of. Her ult looks cool.
Zale is a mirror to Valere personality wise. He gets a little more doubt, but not much. He gets the cheapest single target heal, a splash damage AOE, and one of the few multiarget spells that hits all enemies. He'll serve as your main healer and he's fine at it. There's not a ton to say about Zale, he's a bit boring. His ult looks cool too.
Then there's Garl. I have a lot to say about Garl and a good chunk of it I'm keeping to spoilers. Garl is specifically non-magical and non-destined and he's extremely nice and everybody likes him. He's like Steven Universe except he uses more violence and he's more focused on cooking. He's okay in combat, he gets an expensive single target heal, a single target damage that moves enemies (useful), and a non-elemental AOE attack. His ult is the best in the game but it's gated in a way I won't spoil. Ult aside, his kit is only okay and I replaced him pretty much at the first opportunity except for quick tag ins for like, a heal. I'll talk about Garl more later. I don't dislike Garl, but I dislike how much the game loves Garl.
Seraii is my favorite character. She's a cool ninja, her story is honestly pretty surprising and awesome. Her combat kit is good, a very useful multitarget that's just a poison copy of Valere's (but that's fine, and it -looks- cool) a high damage single target spell, and then the single most useful ability you will use every boss battle and probably most general battles, disorient, that delays an enemy's turn. It's so useful I wish another character had something similar, like an AOE version that just delayed every enemy 1 turn or something. Disorient is powerful enough that it feels like a number of boss battles were balanced around you using it frequently. Which isn't inherently bad, but it makes her feel like a -must use-. Given you can swap characters freely so it's not a big deal, but I just kept her in my main party pretty much constantly. Her ult is cool, plot driven, and the only multitarget/multihit attack that combines slash and blunt damage so it's useful (and I think it's the first ult you get?) I would say my only complaint is that I would have liked more of Seraii's story as there's some gaps that.. annoy me a little. But she is otherwise an all around solid damage character and one of the highlights of the story.
Re'shan I can't talk about -too- much without going into spoilers. I will just stick to his name though. His kit is fine, though I rarely used it? He's the first character you get that can use arcane and he's the only multi-element character (his basic attack is Poison damage by default, he can boost with arcane) He has an arcane AOE that clusters the enemies together (not bad but late enough in the game it's not super important) a skill that just breaks up to 2 lock types on default (this is handy, but by the time you get him you mostly have a handle on being able to supply the right elements anyway) and then an AOE heal that's okay? Kinda pricy, I didn't use it all that much, especially for it's cost/healing output. If it were like 3-4 manage cheaper and healed 10-20 percent more I'd have used it, though I also never timed it right (I'm not even sure if it can be timed). As a character I -really- like him, he has probably the most depth out of any character and is extremely lore important. There is a big problem that limits him as a character but that's spoiler territory. Overall I liked him, he's probably my favorite behind Seraii. His ult is the only one in the game that has a function besides damage, it also heals the party which is very useful.
Lastly there's B'st. B'st joins very late in the game and his kit is very basic. He has a single target that can be timed multiple times (I didn't know this until late, it didn't matter much), an arcane spell that if timed becomes multitarget (useful) and then the only character to get a revive (which I never used because late game I was sturdy enough I very rarely had anyone die except from the occasional one shot I didn't time) Probably more useful if you haven't reduced the difficulty. Anyway, B'st is fine, they don't shine really but they also aren't weak. I'd argue they're akin to a Robo analogue? Personality wise I mean. They join late enough you don't get too much time with them but they're fine. My one real complaint is spoilery so I'll discuss later. Their ult is like Valere/Zale/Seraii's in that it's just elemental damage (it does look cool) and I like their design with constantly changing forms.
At one point in the game you'll get to build a town, very slightly like Breath of Fire 2. I liked the feature but it's kind of underused and you rarely end up going to town again except for specific plot contrivances. I wish building the town had felt more organic? Getting plans for new buildings is strictly tied to the rainbow conch collectible, which is just something you'll find hidden through out the game. No real rhyme or reason why, they just tied it to that. And finding the NPCs to recruit is so easy you practically trip over them if you're doing everything. It's overall fine, I just would've liked to see it focused on a little more and some more thought put into it? Honestly the town ends up being the easiest way to farm money as you'll get access to free fish and vegetables/fruit you can just pick repeatedly to sell for quick cash. Also the game could be more clear that spending time at the Spa is -extremely useful- (It gives each character a permanent Stat buff) Probably offering the first use for free would've helped let folks know this, otherwise it seems like an optional flavor thing to do.
The villains are fine. I don't have a ton to say about them, not because some of it is spoilery but because they're just... fine? Most of them are pretty one dimensional, though I did like the ultimate big bad. More behind spoilers.
Like Chrono Trigger every character gets end game sidequests to go fill out their best weapons/armor. I liked these overall, though a couple like Seraii's/Re'shan's probably could've done with having a little more lore to them. Also I wish there was more to the ultimate equipment than just being the biggest stat sticks, I like when they do something extra like buffing defense 10% or giving some resistance or more health or doing more damage to a specific enemy type, etc.
The ending is kind of brief. There's only 2 endings and I will save you some heartburn stressing on it and tell you that you can't miss the 'true' ending and you need to beat the game once to unlock it, and it'll drop you right back at the end of the game to go complete what quests you need to unlock it so don't stress on it, there's nothing missable.
Okay I guess I should get into spoiler territory because I'm running out of things to say that aren't spoilers. So, here's a big break if you want to skip them. Like I said, overall, I loved the game and would recommend it. But...
***SPOILER BREAK***
*** SPOILER START***
Okay, if you see any of this it's your own fault at this point.
So let's get the biggest issue with the story out of the way. Garl.
As I said, I don't dislike Garl. I like positive characters. I liked Steven Universe. I like Ralsei from Deltarune. I enjoy positive characters who want to keep everyone happy and will try to make friends before resorting immediately to violence. Garl is nice. Everybody likes Garl.
And that's the problem. -Everybody- likes Garl. Too easily. He's the cheery extrovert that greets everyone with a smile and a handshake and everyone in this world falls head over heels for him. It doesn't feel earned and it never bites him, the world simply shapes itself around Garl. I would even argue that Garl is the real main character because so much of the story revolves around specifically him, even when it makes no sense to the plot literally hands him the tools he needs to to keep the plot centered around him and bends the world to work by his rules. it feels a little mary-sue-ish and at the very least makes me feel like Garl is an author insert, not egotistical enough to -be- the destined chosen one, but enough to be the chosen one's cool friend that everybody likes and still gets to go on a big adventure with.
And all that aside, the biggest problem is that Garl's presence negatively affects Zale and Valere's characterization, because their biggest personality trait is that they both REALLY like Garl and when he's not there, they have to mention that they miss Garl and how much they like him or what he'd say if he were there. If you cut Garl out of the story you'd have to rewrite vast vast portions of the game, up to and including having to rewrite Zale and Valere. It's really sad to see because Zale and Valere are dreadfully bland and their single minded devotion to Garl is a massive part of that problem. There's a little more I'll discuss later, but anyway about Garl.
Garl also dies. When I say this game wears it's love for Chrono Trigger on it's sleeve, I'm not kidding. Garl sacrifices himself like Crono and it's actually a pretty surprising moment and I didn't think they'd go that far.
Unfortunately, they go all the way with this. The true ending is gotten through -saving Garl-. Once you beat the game, you can restart back at the final save point and then if you've completed all the main character sidequests and the rainbow conch collectables, your reward is to save Garl from his fate in pretty much exactly the same way they save Crono. This is where my main issue with B'st storywise comes in because it turns out B'st's -main purpose- is to accomplish this rescue act by being the Crono Decoy. B'st is essentially a plot device that joins your party and is mostly just another body, which is really disappointing.
I'm not too surprised they saved Garl, but it really hammers home how much the game just loves him that it bends the rules and make him the special boy the rules don't -really- apply to when everyone tells him the rules -do- apply to him. I thought it was more powerful to just let him stay dead but the writers love him too much and stick too close to their inspiration to let that happen. Worse, once he comes back he is again given omniscience so he just -knows- everything that's happened and what to do next. What really put the pin it for me though is he's granted 1 wish upon his return and it makes it sound like a genie wish that it could have been -anything- and.... he just asks for a fancy dinner at an exclusive restaurant and omg I just wanted to fucking scream. It's just overkill niceness. And I'm not arguing the sidequest is bad or the feast scene is bad, it's all very touching and nice but it's also -right before facing the big bad- so the sudden meandering feels less like 'preparing for the end' and more like just fucking around to kill time. It took any sort of build up and dramatic tension and tossed it out the window (especially because you have to beat the game once to even do it). And it just speaks to how childish Garl's mindset is. There's stop and smell the flowers and appreciate the small things in life, and then there's stopping for a fancy meal when the literal fate of the world is at hand. Just not how I would have done it at all. I will say that Garl enacting the real final boss fight by insulting the dude is pretty funny. But the whole 'reverse funeral' thing should have taken place post-game.
Again I don't dislike Garl. The game just bends over backwards too much to fit him in and keep him the center of the story and I think it's worse for it. It just doesn't feel earned because it all happens too easily. There's a way it could have worked, like I can see what they were going for and having him be the 'wild card' that changes how events are supposed to go. I just don't like the execution of it. The ending is sweet and touching, the power of friendship, yada yada. Oh though I thought waking up the dragon with giant bread was just stupid as hell. Didn't like that he's just given how to do it, didn't like that it worked, didn't like that it's mostly a set up to give the dragon a goofy name because the dragon in the messenger had a goofy name/desire to be a butler. I just didn't like any part of it and it left a bad taste in my mouth and it's just another example of the universe bending to fit Garl's simplistic mind/worldview.
The villains are fine but a little underdeveloped. The initial baddies are the Fleshmancer's acolytes, that don't get names and just get numbers. They're standard card carrying baddies though the resolution to their story is essentially they're backstory for a boss in the Messenger which... if you aren't keeping up on the Messenger lore will just make you wonder why they just disappear from the story.
The Fleshmancer himself I really like. They build him up well, he gets some depth particularly with his parlays with Re'shan, he's very lore important. I wish we got more of his motivation and backstory? They tease some of it but he is ultimately 'just evil' and dicking around because he can. He feels properly threatening and you get enough of an idea of his villainy it feels good to pummel him.
I did not like his boss fight though. It drags on a bit too long, though I think part of that was I was just bad at the galaga portion of the fight, which was very frustrating. But he just felt too much like a giant wall of HP. it was nice to have a challenging boss fight (the normal ending boss is mostly just an homage to the Queen Zeal fight, which was fine but a little too bland [besides visually]) I kind of shudder to think of what he's like with none of the relics turned on, I probably would've been racing to keep reviving characters.
The twist villains aren't too shocking. like Erlina just looks like someone that's going to become a villain, so it was a nice twist it just wasn't a surprise one. However I wish their reasoning had been... better? She seems to chiefly argue that the job of a solstice warrior is just never ending when the story makes pretty clear repeatedly that, yes, it does end and they're almost done before she fucks it up. It's weird because they write it like she's intended to instill doubt in Zale and Valere but it just doesn't work? I think this would have been good to give Zel and Valere some depth where they're forced to question themselves and their roles but they just kinda skip past it.
What's disappointing is that she's actually not entirely wrong. Like there actually IS another Dweller they have to go kill and I think it would have been clever to imply that she's just traumatized from it or learns of it in some way and thinks she needs to cut a deal to avoid it? but the connection is never really made. Instead she just wrongly claims that the solstice warrior ideology lies and their quest is never ending. it's kind of disappointing because I think they could have threaded the needle here so her betrayal makes more sense and is tragic in a way.
Also Brugraves is just there. he's kind of like Zale in that he mostly exists because the lore requires there to be -2- solstice warriors. He also just disappears from the story because again he ends up in the Messenger.
Again, some perfectly sound concepts that just fall down from underdeveloped execution.
I really liked Re'shan. I wish his rule against fighting dwellers would have come into play more than the once, it felt like an interesting limitation. The biggest problem is simply 3/4 of the way through the story Re'shan simply peaces out and while he remains in the party it's literally a puppet with no personality or dialogue or anything, it's just a literal body to fill space. It sucks cuz I was really enjoying him and then.. there's just not a lot to say he becomes -just- a gameplay mechanic and that's disappointing. Would've liked to see him either stick around or just be replaced entirely by B'st. But again B'st was -also- just a plot device.
So yeah. The cast is where the game is probably weakest. Combat wise all the characters are fine. But realistically, Garl, Seraii, and Re'shan are the only characters with actual personality, Garl is essentially a Steven Universe mary-sue, and Re'shan is only actually a character for half the time you have him in the party. Leaving just Seraii as the only -actual- character with motivations, depth, personality, etc that's with you the whole game.
And even then, parts of Seraii's story are simply -not told-. She's a ninja-cyborg-pirate-resistance fighter with cool portal powers. I don't mind so much not knowing how she crossed the Sea of Stars, keeping that vague is fine. But I really wanted to know how she ended up masquerading as Captain Cliche (I'm not using the silly spelling) Like it's clear she's largely using the pirates for the goal of getting the magic ghost ship that can travel the sea of stars, but HOW she met them and WHY she masqueraded as a captain or why they made her captain was a story tidbit I really wanted to learn eventually. The story has a problem in that they keep a lot of Seraii's story as a mystery box and when the box is finally opened it's a hell of a twist (I was extremely shocked and very pleasantly surprised) but we still don't get like, some tidbits they felt like they were hiding and I kept expecting there to be a reveal between her and the pirates and it just never happened.
The pirates are fine. They're quirky as a personality and that's fine. Standard RPG NPCs.
Also her end game sidequest about The Queen Who Was needed more explanation. The teeks story involving it is strictly about the expedition and doesn't fill in the gaps enough. Would've liked more info.
Still even with those issues, Seraii still wins best character hands down. Though I wish you could have had the option to keep her cool mask and not look at her freaky terminator mouth all end game >_>
So that's my take on Sea of Stars. I still rate it really highly. It's very polished and the team very clearly put a lot of love into it. From a gameplay and design stand point I think it's absolutely stellar, but it trips over itself with it's story and characters for a number of (I think avoidable) reasons and keeps itself from being as good as the games it draws inspiration from.
I still recommend you buy it, especially if it's on sale. Thanks for reading!
Well I just finished Sea of Stars. If you're not aware it's a JRPG that was made via kickstarter campaign a while back and made by the folks that did The Messenger (the ninja gaiden style game that was very well received). It was wildly successful and it's apparently getting some DLC too.
So, what'd I think? I really enjoyed it. I am glad I backed it on kickstarter and I'm happy with the results and glad to have my name in the credits. If the studio wants to do more I'd happily toss money at them.
Overall rating... probably an A- or B+? It's good but not perfect and trips in some areas.
The music and art design are top notch S+. All the characters, the enemies, every location, the -bosses- all look fantastic. The bosses especially have some awesome monstrous designs.
Combat is very similar to Chrono Trigger. You have 3 party members on the field (though like FFX, you can swap to your alternate members on the fly, so while you only 'use' 3 at a time, you really have access to your entire cast at any given time, depending on who is with you). Enemies are positioned against you and positioning matters when it comes to certain AoE effects and unlike Chrono Trigger you get some abilities to help you manipulate positioning (which was VERY welcome, even if it didn't matter -too- much).
Full disclosure on the difficulty. The game gives you 'relics' that you can turn on or off, they're really mostly difficulty sliders to make things a little easier for you and I did use some. Chiefly the Bonus XP, the 30% damage reduction, and the one that auto times about 1/3 of your defending hits. The game has a timing system akin to Super Mario RPG where you get bonus damage for timing attacks/abilities and reduced damage from enemy attacks if you successfully time a block. While the game makes a point to emphasize that you don't need to be a master at this and it's merely a nice bonus, I'd kind of argue that if they meant that they could've toned the bonuses down a bit more and evened things out, particularly taking damage. There are some boss fights even with the 30% reduced damage I found myself sucking wind occasionally and if I wasn't timing hits I'd be near dead (which tells me with the slider off, I -would- be dead). There is a relic that auto times all attacks but reduces the bonus. I didn't use it but it's an option. Overall with my settings I felt I had a 'just right' kind of balance. Maybe a bit easy in spots in the game but I never struggled too bad but also didn't feel like I was just blowing things away. With the increased XP leveling felt very smooth and I never ever had to grind at all for levels.
I did have to grind a little for money. Combat gives you very little in the way of gold so a lot of the ways you make it are selling drops (lot of enemies drop food stuffs and the occasional 'this is only used to be sold for money' items, though they're rare and don't sell for much). You tend to 'make' money by replacing equipment finding it in the wild and selling the old stuff or foraging (respawning) food ingredients. I apparently missed a relic that gives a shop discount but it's only about 10% so I still would've needed to hunt for money occasionally, would've liked to see either enemies drop more money or the 'sell for money' drops to be more valuable. I always felt like I was mostly broke and carrying -just- enough to update most/all my equipment and snag one or two odd items like relics or recipes.
This is simplified a bit as there aren't that many types of items in the game. Equipment is your standard weapon and armor stat sticks, every character has 2 slots for basic accessories that mostly bump stats (there are a few unique ones, some character specific that alter abilities, I wish there had been more of these) and then a special accessory that has some global effect like bumping party health or getting to see enemy health/weaknesses (also wish there had been more of these so I had to choose) The only consumables you deal with are food, and you cook that yourself with ingredients you find/buy. There's no status ailments in the game except getting KO'ed, so the only healing items are health, MP, and revives (and mixes thereof). You do only get to carry 10 food items at a time, which felt limiting and made me ration them more than I probably should have (also you really only want to carry a max of 9 with you, as you find the occasional food in a chest in the wild).
Combat abilities generally feel good, especially once you get enough MP to use them regularly (You'll start out sucking wind. Thankfully you can restore 3 MP (4 with an accessory) with a basic attack, which gives combat a decent flow. Using abilities/attacks also builds combo points, which let you execute abilities like the duel techs in Chrono Trigger, so less on demand but they're usually impactful and worthwhile. And then you'll also build an 'ultimate' meter. Every character has an Ult, though with no status effects or even buffs/debuffs, ultimates boil down to 'multiple hits of a damage element' (with one exception, Re'shan's ult will heal your party as well, which is very nice). They're very flashy attacks akin to Summon spells in a Final Fantasy game, but more style than substance (they do come in handy though for the lock system). Characters are limited to 3 abilities and most unlock fairly early on. Not a bad thing, there's some okay variety but I think I'd have liked to see maybe a 4th ability per character. Or some unique abilities like a charm or steal or the like. Also the game could be a little clearer on when abilities need to be timed for the bonus (if they can at all) there are some abilities I just never learned their timing. Most are fairly obvious though.
The element system is very decent as is the associated lock system. Every attack or ability has 1-2 elements associated with it and every character specializes in 1-2 different types, like Valere does a lot of blunt damage and is the only Moon element character. Occasionally enemies will wind up a big ability and present multiple element types as a 'lock', if you can hit the enemy with all the element types (So like, 2 blunt and 1 moon, or 2 cuts and 2 arcane) you'll stop them from casting the spell altogether and waste their turn and even if you can't match all the elements before the spell goes off, the closer you get to breaking the lock the less effective the attack will be when it goes off. And every character can 'boost' their basic attacks with their home element. It's overall simple and effective and can be challenging (bosses for instance will lower the time on their locks the closer they get to being beaten). There is 1 ability that you can use to delay an enemy's turn and it is so stupid valuable I wish one more character could do it in some similar way.
The overworld map is nice and again Chrono Trigger style with little chibi versions of the party running around. Everything is small islands though so the world feels pretty small. There's a twist later on that adds to it but even then it still feels small. I would've liked to see like maybe 1-2 extra areas added just for some fluff? The game has no padding where I think a little might've helped. Travel is fairly standard RPG fare, you get a few quick travel options (that're actually fairly funny) and a ship to get around and eventually you can fly (I won't spoil how, it was a nice surprise though). Dungeon design probably could have been a little better. Every dungeon -looks- amazing, but once you've explored it and completed the puzzles they're shorter and simpler than you'd expect, most time in dungeons is really spent figuring out the puzzles. They're serviceable though. I think I would've liked to see the final dungeon be bigger/more challenging.
The setting is really cool, there's a lot of lore and they give you an NPC follower that is there just for lore dumps in a fairly setting appropriate way. They do have a bad habit of suddenly tossing out names of people and locations -before- this NPC can tell you about it, so that can be -slightly- disorienting. But overall the game does a pretty good job of explaining and introducing things and it feels cohesive.
The plot is overall serviceable. If you're unaware, a -lot- of this story is tied to the messenger and is about setting -that- game up in certain ways, so if you're a big Messenger lore fan this game is meant to fill in a lot of details. You don't need to play the Messenger to understand anything in this (I didn't) everything is explained fairly well enough in game you can miss it, but knowing the Messenger probably makes things click slightly more and feels richer when you recognize the links. There are a couple points where knowledge of the Messenger is needed somewhat to make sense of where some plot threads tie off.
It has a few twists in it I liked quite a bit and didn't see coming. I always enjoy when a story can surprise me. It does wear it's love of chrono trigger on it's sleeve though in both good/bad ways. I will say there's some shades of Phantasy Star too which really surprised me (in a very good way). The team that made this game loved RPGs and it shows highly.
Is the plot good though? Mmm, unfortunately I'd say it's kind of middling. It's not -bad-, but there's a number of elements that needed to be handled -better-. It's very serviceable, there's a good journey here and again some twists I think are a lot of fun and surprised me. Unfortunately I can't discuss my problems with the plot without going into spoilers. Sorta. One issue with the plot is simply that the supposed main protagonists, Valere and Zale, are... just dull as cardboard. I think if they could have gotten away with it they would have used the silent protagonist bit like with Crono which -might- have worked better, -except- there's 2 of them so you can't have -2- mutes responding 'in your head' like Crono does. Honestly the characters are the weakest part of the plot. Again they're not -bad- exactly, but there was more they could have done. Both are 'chosen ones', dedicated to being the chosen ones, and they really like their friend Garl. That's about the extent of characterization.
I guess I should just talk about the cast.
Of the two, I liked Valere better. Her personality, what there is of one, shines through and she tries to stay positive. Or rather I guess she's more stubborn? I picked her as my main, though the choice of who to 'play as' is just cosmetic as both characters never leave you so it's just whoever you feel like putting in the lead when you run around. As I said above, there's not a lot to her character. She's dedicated to being a solstice warrior and being your average do gooder. Her ability kit is nice and varied, she gets a simple AOE, a multi-target attack you can time to rack up hits, and a basic group heal/shield spell I really got use out of. Her ult looks cool.
Zale is a mirror to Valere personality wise. He gets a little more doubt, but not much. He gets the cheapest single target heal, a splash damage AOE, and one of the few multiarget spells that hits all enemies. He'll serve as your main healer and he's fine at it. There's not a ton to say about Zale, he's a bit boring. His ult looks cool too.
Then there's Garl. I have a lot to say about Garl and a good chunk of it I'm keeping to spoilers. Garl is specifically non-magical and non-destined and he's extremely nice and everybody likes him. He's like Steven Universe except he uses more violence and he's more focused on cooking. He's okay in combat, he gets an expensive single target heal, a single target damage that moves enemies (useful), and a non-elemental AOE attack. His ult is the best in the game but it's gated in a way I won't spoil. Ult aside, his kit is only okay and I replaced him pretty much at the first opportunity except for quick tag ins for like, a heal. I'll talk about Garl more later. I don't dislike Garl, but I dislike how much the game loves Garl.
Seraii is my favorite character. She's a cool ninja, her story is honestly pretty surprising and awesome. Her combat kit is good, a very useful multitarget that's just a poison copy of Valere's (but that's fine, and it -looks- cool) a high damage single target spell, and then the single most useful ability you will use every boss battle and probably most general battles, disorient, that delays an enemy's turn. It's so useful I wish another character had something similar, like an AOE version that just delayed every enemy 1 turn or something. Disorient is powerful enough that it feels like a number of boss battles were balanced around you using it frequently. Which isn't inherently bad, but it makes her feel like a -must use-. Given you can swap characters freely so it's not a big deal, but I just kept her in my main party pretty much constantly. Her ult is cool, plot driven, and the only multitarget/multihit attack that combines slash and blunt damage so it's useful (and I think it's the first ult you get?) I would say my only complaint is that I would have liked more of Seraii's story as there's some gaps that.. annoy me a little. But she is otherwise an all around solid damage character and one of the highlights of the story.
Re'shan I can't talk about -too- much without going into spoilers. I will just stick to his name though. His kit is fine, though I rarely used it? He's the first character you get that can use arcane and he's the only multi-element character (his basic attack is Poison damage by default, he can boost with arcane) He has an arcane AOE that clusters the enemies together (not bad but late enough in the game it's not super important) a skill that just breaks up to 2 lock types on default (this is handy, but by the time you get him you mostly have a handle on being able to supply the right elements anyway) and then an AOE heal that's okay? Kinda pricy, I didn't use it all that much, especially for it's cost/healing output. If it were like 3-4 manage cheaper and healed 10-20 percent more I'd have used it, though I also never timed it right (I'm not even sure if it can be timed). As a character I -really- like him, he has probably the most depth out of any character and is extremely lore important. There is a big problem that limits him as a character but that's spoiler territory. Overall I liked him, he's probably my favorite behind Seraii. His ult is the only one in the game that has a function besides damage, it also heals the party which is very useful.
Lastly there's B'st. B'st joins very late in the game and his kit is very basic. He has a single target that can be timed multiple times (I didn't know this until late, it didn't matter much), an arcane spell that if timed becomes multitarget (useful) and then the only character to get a revive (which I never used because late game I was sturdy enough I very rarely had anyone die except from the occasional one shot I didn't time) Probably more useful if you haven't reduced the difficulty. Anyway, B'st is fine, they don't shine really but they also aren't weak. I'd argue they're akin to a Robo analogue? Personality wise I mean. They join late enough you don't get too much time with them but they're fine. My one real complaint is spoilery so I'll discuss later. Their ult is like Valere/Zale/Seraii's in that it's just elemental damage (it does look cool) and I like their design with constantly changing forms.
At one point in the game you'll get to build a town, very slightly like Breath of Fire 2. I liked the feature but it's kind of underused and you rarely end up going to town again except for specific plot contrivances. I wish building the town had felt more organic? Getting plans for new buildings is strictly tied to the rainbow conch collectible, which is just something you'll find hidden through out the game. No real rhyme or reason why, they just tied it to that. And finding the NPCs to recruit is so easy you practically trip over them if you're doing everything. It's overall fine, I just would've liked to see it focused on a little more and some more thought put into it? Honestly the town ends up being the easiest way to farm money as you'll get access to free fish and vegetables/fruit you can just pick repeatedly to sell for quick cash. Also the game could be more clear that spending time at the Spa is -extremely useful- (It gives each character a permanent Stat buff) Probably offering the first use for free would've helped let folks know this, otherwise it seems like an optional flavor thing to do.
The villains are fine. I don't have a ton to say about them, not because some of it is spoilery but because they're just... fine? Most of them are pretty one dimensional, though I did like the ultimate big bad. More behind spoilers.
Like Chrono Trigger every character gets end game sidequests to go fill out their best weapons/armor. I liked these overall, though a couple like Seraii's/Re'shan's probably could've done with having a little more lore to them. Also I wish there was more to the ultimate equipment than just being the biggest stat sticks, I like when they do something extra like buffing defense 10% or giving some resistance or more health or doing more damage to a specific enemy type, etc.
The ending is kind of brief. There's only 2 endings and I will save you some heartburn stressing on it and tell you that you can't miss the 'true' ending and you need to beat the game once to unlock it, and it'll drop you right back at the end of the game to go complete what quests you need to unlock it so don't stress on it, there's nothing missable.
Okay I guess I should get into spoiler territory because I'm running out of things to say that aren't spoilers. So, here's a big break if you want to skip them. Like I said, overall, I loved the game and would recommend it. But...
***SPOILER BREAK***
*** SPOILER START***
Okay, if you see any of this it's your own fault at this point.
So let's get the biggest issue with the story out of the way. Garl.
As I said, I don't dislike Garl. I like positive characters. I liked Steven Universe. I like Ralsei from Deltarune. I enjoy positive characters who want to keep everyone happy and will try to make friends before resorting immediately to violence. Garl is nice. Everybody likes Garl.
And that's the problem. -Everybody- likes Garl. Too easily. He's the cheery extrovert that greets everyone with a smile and a handshake and everyone in this world falls head over heels for him. It doesn't feel earned and it never bites him, the world simply shapes itself around Garl. I would even argue that Garl is the real main character because so much of the story revolves around specifically him, even when it makes no sense to the plot literally hands him the tools he needs to to keep the plot centered around him and bends the world to work by his rules. it feels a little mary-sue-ish and at the very least makes me feel like Garl is an author insert, not egotistical enough to -be- the destined chosen one, but enough to be the chosen one's cool friend that everybody likes and still gets to go on a big adventure with.
And all that aside, the biggest problem is that Garl's presence negatively affects Zale and Valere's characterization, because their biggest personality trait is that they both REALLY like Garl and when he's not there, they have to mention that they miss Garl and how much they like him or what he'd say if he were there. If you cut Garl out of the story you'd have to rewrite vast vast portions of the game, up to and including having to rewrite Zale and Valere. It's really sad to see because Zale and Valere are dreadfully bland and their single minded devotion to Garl is a massive part of that problem. There's a little more I'll discuss later, but anyway about Garl.
Garl also dies. When I say this game wears it's love for Chrono Trigger on it's sleeve, I'm not kidding. Garl sacrifices himself like Crono and it's actually a pretty surprising moment and I didn't think they'd go that far.
Unfortunately, they go all the way with this. The true ending is gotten through -saving Garl-. Once you beat the game, you can restart back at the final save point and then if you've completed all the main character sidequests and the rainbow conch collectables, your reward is to save Garl from his fate in pretty much exactly the same way they save Crono. This is where my main issue with B'st storywise comes in because it turns out B'st's -main purpose- is to accomplish this rescue act by being the Crono Decoy. B'st is essentially a plot device that joins your party and is mostly just another body, which is really disappointing.
I'm not too surprised they saved Garl, but it really hammers home how much the game just loves him that it bends the rules and make him the special boy the rules don't -really- apply to when everyone tells him the rules -do- apply to him. I thought it was more powerful to just let him stay dead but the writers love him too much and stick too close to their inspiration to let that happen. Worse, once he comes back he is again given omniscience so he just -knows- everything that's happened and what to do next. What really put the pin it for me though is he's granted 1 wish upon his return and it makes it sound like a genie wish that it could have been -anything- and.... he just asks for a fancy dinner at an exclusive restaurant and omg I just wanted to fucking scream. It's just overkill niceness. And I'm not arguing the sidequest is bad or the feast scene is bad, it's all very touching and nice but it's also -right before facing the big bad- so the sudden meandering feels less like 'preparing for the end' and more like just fucking around to kill time. It took any sort of build up and dramatic tension and tossed it out the window (especially because you have to beat the game once to even do it). And it just speaks to how childish Garl's mindset is. There's stop and smell the flowers and appreciate the small things in life, and then there's stopping for a fancy meal when the literal fate of the world is at hand. Just not how I would have done it at all. I will say that Garl enacting the real final boss fight by insulting the dude is pretty funny. But the whole 'reverse funeral' thing should have taken place post-game.
Again I don't dislike Garl. The game just bends over backwards too much to fit him in and keep him the center of the story and I think it's worse for it. It just doesn't feel earned because it all happens too easily. There's a way it could have worked, like I can see what they were going for and having him be the 'wild card' that changes how events are supposed to go. I just don't like the execution of it. The ending is sweet and touching, the power of friendship, yada yada. Oh though I thought waking up the dragon with giant bread was just stupid as hell. Didn't like that he's just given how to do it, didn't like that it worked, didn't like that it's mostly a set up to give the dragon a goofy name because the dragon in the messenger had a goofy name/desire to be a butler. I just didn't like any part of it and it left a bad taste in my mouth and it's just another example of the universe bending to fit Garl's simplistic mind/worldview.
The villains are fine but a little underdeveloped. The initial baddies are the Fleshmancer's acolytes, that don't get names and just get numbers. They're standard card carrying baddies though the resolution to their story is essentially they're backstory for a boss in the Messenger which... if you aren't keeping up on the Messenger lore will just make you wonder why they just disappear from the story.
The Fleshmancer himself I really like. They build him up well, he gets some depth particularly with his parlays with Re'shan, he's very lore important. I wish we got more of his motivation and backstory? They tease some of it but he is ultimately 'just evil' and dicking around because he can. He feels properly threatening and you get enough of an idea of his villainy it feels good to pummel him.
I did not like his boss fight though. It drags on a bit too long, though I think part of that was I was just bad at the galaga portion of the fight, which was very frustrating. But he just felt too much like a giant wall of HP. it was nice to have a challenging boss fight (the normal ending boss is mostly just an homage to the Queen Zeal fight, which was fine but a little too bland [besides visually]) I kind of shudder to think of what he's like with none of the relics turned on, I probably would've been racing to keep reviving characters.
The twist villains aren't too shocking. like Erlina just looks like someone that's going to become a villain, so it was a nice twist it just wasn't a surprise one. However I wish their reasoning had been... better? She seems to chiefly argue that the job of a solstice warrior is just never ending when the story makes pretty clear repeatedly that, yes, it does end and they're almost done before she fucks it up. It's weird because they write it like she's intended to instill doubt in Zale and Valere but it just doesn't work? I think this would have been good to give Zel and Valere some depth where they're forced to question themselves and their roles but they just kinda skip past it.
What's disappointing is that she's actually not entirely wrong. Like there actually IS another Dweller they have to go kill and I think it would have been clever to imply that she's just traumatized from it or learns of it in some way and thinks she needs to cut a deal to avoid it? but the connection is never really made. Instead she just wrongly claims that the solstice warrior ideology lies and their quest is never ending. it's kind of disappointing because I think they could have threaded the needle here so her betrayal makes more sense and is tragic in a way.
Also Brugraves is just there. he's kind of like Zale in that he mostly exists because the lore requires there to be -2- solstice warriors. He also just disappears from the story because again he ends up in the Messenger.
Again, some perfectly sound concepts that just fall down from underdeveloped execution.
I really liked Re'shan. I wish his rule against fighting dwellers would have come into play more than the once, it felt like an interesting limitation. The biggest problem is simply 3/4 of the way through the story Re'shan simply peaces out and while he remains in the party it's literally a puppet with no personality or dialogue or anything, it's just a literal body to fill space. It sucks cuz I was really enjoying him and then.. there's just not a lot to say he becomes -just- a gameplay mechanic and that's disappointing. Would've liked to see him either stick around or just be replaced entirely by B'st. But again B'st was -also- just a plot device.
So yeah. The cast is where the game is probably weakest. Combat wise all the characters are fine. But realistically, Garl, Seraii, and Re'shan are the only characters with actual personality, Garl is essentially a Steven Universe mary-sue, and Re'shan is only actually a character for half the time you have him in the party. Leaving just Seraii as the only -actual- character with motivations, depth, personality, etc that's with you the whole game.
And even then, parts of Seraii's story are simply -not told-. She's a ninja-cyborg-pirate-resistance fighter with cool portal powers. I don't mind so much not knowing how she crossed the Sea of Stars, keeping that vague is fine. But I really wanted to know how she ended up masquerading as Captain Cliche (I'm not using the silly spelling) Like it's clear she's largely using the pirates for the goal of getting the magic ghost ship that can travel the sea of stars, but HOW she met them and WHY she masqueraded as a captain or why they made her captain was a story tidbit I really wanted to learn eventually. The story has a problem in that they keep a lot of Seraii's story as a mystery box and when the box is finally opened it's a hell of a twist (I was extremely shocked and very pleasantly surprised) but we still don't get like, some tidbits they felt like they were hiding and I kept expecting there to be a reveal between her and the pirates and it just never happened.
The pirates are fine. They're quirky as a personality and that's fine. Standard RPG NPCs.
Also her end game sidequest about The Queen Who Was needed more explanation. The teeks story involving it is strictly about the expedition and doesn't fill in the gaps enough. Would've liked more info.
Still even with those issues, Seraii still wins best character hands down. Though I wish you could have had the option to keep her cool mask and not look at her freaky terminator mouth all end game >_>
So that's my take on Sea of Stars. I still rate it really highly. It's very polished and the team very clearly put a lot of love into it. From a gameplay and design stand point I think it's absolutely stellar, but it trips over itself with it's story and characters for a number of (I think avoidable) reasons and keeps itself from being as good as the games it draws inspiration from.
I still recommend you buy it, especially if it's on sale. Thanks for reading!
Congrats on beating the game! I think we feel similarly on a lot of things, notably the difficulty. I’ll also add that I as well missed the shop discount Relic until very late in the game and found myself scrounging for coin regularly.
I also agree that the world of the game felt fairly small. Once it starts to open up to you, you realize that most areas that you could only glimpse at before were fairly uneventful one-stop places for either the story or side quests. Even the second world was quite brisk (I thought it was indicating that we’d reached the midpoint of the game!)
Personally I enjoyed the story but I agree that the dips in between the high points stand out pretty well. I also think Valere was the best of the two chosen heroes and Seraii is the best character hands-down. I honestly feel like she’s the true main character, or at least SHOULD be. She has the most to prove and the one who’s most proactive in solving problems.
Re'shan is… frustrating. He quickly became my favorite when he joined, I was in love with his design, his personality, and what he meant for the world. It felt like the “now we’re ready to take on anything” moment in the story.
Then the story beat at the Seat of the Triumvirate happened, and he became the best example of things being not very well explained and just kind of out of the character’s control for little other reason than “this has to happen now”.
I felt like it didn’t do enough to rationalize his or Aephorul’s reasons for all this. And as a result I was coping for him to have a “Han Solo” moment at the end but no dice sadly.
Also? I fully agree on Garl. I was really impressed with how they handled his “moment” with a decent amount of time spent internalizing it and giving it the moment it needed, despite it being such a clear homage. Then… the true ending happened and it felt IMMENSELY cheap. I get that this game loves Chrono Trigger but it soured a lot of what the game puts the player through over the course of its adventure.
Overall, I’m with you, I don’t dislike Garl. But the game clearly wants the player to like him and tolerate all these things it lets him do more than I’m willing to truly do. And that’s a problem when he and his actions are THAT essential to the plot.
I like the Fleshmancer as well and felt he was an entertainingly nasty and nihilistic villain, and the turncoats were also expected but fun to watch. Yet I also feel Erlina was made out to be more sympathetic than I really could find myself being for her and the game never really cashes in on the emotional development they could’ve made for either her or the chosen duo.
Overall this is a game with plenty of flaws and things I wish could’ve been different/better. But beyond that, and even looking beyond the phenomenal aesthetics and soundtrack, it’s clearly a game made with immense passion. And that’s important, especially in this day and age. I’m not going to overlook its flaws because of that fact, but to anyone who’s curious about it I will still very much recommend it on that basis among other positives.
Fantastic review, again I feel similarly about a lot other these things so apologies if I felt like I was parroting a lot of your points, or even misinterpreted some, but I’m glad I got to read this perspective. Thank you very much for this!
Yeah, Re'shan and Aephorul needed more development but i get the sense these are important characters in the universe that the company plans to expand on more. So, maybe some future payoffs? but I agree, for what we get it's kind of unsatisfying and I'd have loved to have explored their backgrounds more, we get a glimpse when Re'shan realizes his whole Great Eagle ability came at unknown cost and that Aephorul was evil even before he was officially the fleshmancer, it was a great moment but I really wanted more of the origin and at least Aephorul's motivations, the game definitely suffers a little when he's strictly just a card carrying asshole. Just knowing that this whole mess is a rivalry between the two of them just isn't enough.
What also cheapened it for me is the realization that all the emotional moments of Garl being in pain and pushing on is... just B'st faking it. Like, the first time before the time loop sure it's authentic, but once he's saved it means 'Garl' with you through that whole sequence was B'st just acting and.. yeah, feels so bad. Way different than Crono just being evaporated. And also begs the question of if B'st substituted himself, -how- did B'st know what to say the whole time he's 'dying'? He had no knowledge of the prophecy to ask for a Vial of Borrowed time, much less why the vial would work when he's not actually dying. It's just very messy.
I think we just needed another scene or two with Erlina and Brugraves. We get them discussing things secretly, we get the big reveal and her speech which doesn't make a ton of sense, but then after that we only see them twice, once when the Fleshmancer shows up to grant them their 'rewards', and then Erlina doesn't appear again until the final fight for the normal ending. I really think making her an antagonist we see throughout Seraii's world would've been more effective and given us more chances to see inside her logic.
It's definitely a big passion project and I know the game did very well so I expect we'll see more of this universe in more games, so I'll definitely be keeping an eye peeled for them. Even with it's flaws it's a very polished result and shows they have the potential to learn from this experience. Here's hoping they do!
It's not bad per se, and there are a lot of good things in it, but the execution often feels flawed, which is a shame since it could have been so much better.
Having played the messenger, it did have a few good payoffs in this game, but I do feel that some significance is lost if not.
One thing the creator and his team do have, is passion, and he has stated to create more, to worldbuild his own setting, which this was a setup for in part.
Definitely keeping my eyes out for that too ^^