Read This Before Playing Sea Of Stars

Sabotage’s new game, The Messenger from 2018, is a throwback to the 16-bit RPGs that were popular in the early days of gaming. The game takes its inspiration from those classics while eliminating the frustrating elements of some older games. The game is available blind but it’s worth reading the update posted on its Kickstarter page. This Prologue, titled The Two Alchemists lays out the foundation for the Sea of Stars universe and introduces the two main characters.

You Should Know the Prologue

To quickly summarize, Aephorul and Resh’an are alchemists who figured out the secret to immortal life, but it turns out being immortal is kind of terrible and the two came to this realization in opposing ways. Aephorul, a former good man who turned to evil in order to spread chaos throughout the world using monsters called Dwellers and was known as “The Fleshmancer”, became The Fleshmancer. Resh’an embraced good and tries to make life better for the mortals by combating Aephorul’s shenanigans. Resh’an primarily does this with the aid of Solstice Warriors (which is what you play as in Sea of Stars), which use the power of the sun and moon to fight Aephorul’s Dwellers. If the Dwellers are not checked, they will become World Eaters. This is bad.

Aephorul A.K.A. The Fleshmancer has a dark side. Dwellers is the name of his creations. Solstice Warriors battle the Dwellers in order to prevent them turning into World Eaters. Resh’an is the good guy. The story is much more complex, but these are some of the key elements.

Sea of Stars is set in the same world as The Messenger, though it takes place many years before the events of The Messenger. Sea of Stars is not a prerequisite for The Messenger, however, if it’s played first there will be some interesting references.

Locks are destroyed

The game has a tutorial for this, but if you want to make it more clear it’s always advisable. You should attack the enemy with the symbols above their heads. If, for example, you see the enemy above, they will do a strong attack after two turns. Your best strategy is to make sure that at least one does not execute this attack. Which is that weird enemy on the left side? In one turn you need to use the sword twice. You should then use the sun attack in conjunction with your sword attack for the following turn. The moster will be unable to move and take his turn. This system is great because it makes you use your team’s abilities and mix up the game.

Replace characters in Reckless Adandon

In RPGs with swappable characters, it’s common to find a few favorites that you stick with. When you switch characters during a battle, the cost is usually a turn. You can switch members of your party only between fights in some games. Sea of Stars lets you switch out party members at any point without incurring penalties. All players share the experience in a single pool. This means that you do not need to make sure one character is on the battle more often than another.

Sell Ingredients

The ingredients are abundant, can be used to create dishes that restore HP and MP, and will regrow when you return to old places. These ingredients can be used to cook, or sold by any merchant. There are only 10 dishes you can carry at once, so there were a lot left over. You should always keep a few ingredients, but you can sell up to 25 of them to get the staff you want.

There’s More to Climb Than You Think

Do not hesitate to approach walls or edges to A/X/B. The protagonists Valere & Zale can climb higher than expected. Brisk’s port is full of locations you wouldn’t think possible until you try.

Bring on the Falcon-eyed parrot

Sea of Stars has Relics that can enhance your gameplay. Certain Relics are available to purchase to help make the game more difficult, although not all of them directly relate to it. The Salient Sails, for instance, make your boat faster. The Falcon-eyed parrot is one of my favorite Relics. The parrot in that relic will let you know if you got everything you needed on each island. This parrot will be especially helpful with the next tip.

Rainbow Conch Shells

You will find Rainbow Conch Shells in chests early on. Near the half-way point of the game, you’ll meet someone who is a collector. You should go out of your route to get them all. The rewards for finding all of them are great, and it was worth the effort.

On a final note of completionism, be sure to speak to other party members while camping. Here you can get clues to various sidequests that are worth doing, like collecting Rainbow Conch Shells.

Check out the website for more information on this game. Play InformerSea of Stars Review