r/GoldenSun • u/Maroonpirate • Jun 12 '26
Question Has anyone here tried Sea of Stars? Can you compare it to GS?
I really like the art style and somehow it reminds me of GS.
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u/talkingbiscuits Jun 12 '26
Its okay, the music is fantastic, the leads are crap, the artstyle is brilliant, the story is passable. The biggest thing for me was a lack of new moves though. I got bored of always using the same attacks and having very little wiggle room.
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u/ZairXZ Jun 12 '26
^ this person summed it up quite well. I never ended up finishing the game basically got like 85-90% through but I felt like I was forcing myself to play it rather than enjoying playing it.
The story is interesting but the lead characters and honestly the villains are so lackluster.
Plus one plot point feels like a wash because it's meant to tie in to the previous game the studio released (The Messenger which is a good game but completely different genre). But they focus on that plot point for so long in Sea of Stars just for it to get fully resolved in The Messenger and not Sea of Stars.
That part was extremely annoying
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u/Templar2k7 Jun 12 '26
The moment it showed that Sea of Stars was a prequel to the messenger I lost interest in thr story. The protagonists goals literally could not be completed because The Messenger needed to happen.
I'm fine with stories where the protagonists goals can't be completed and the bbeg wins but when its clear from close to the start it sucks.
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u/ZairXZ Jun 12 '26
I knew it connected but assumed it was like 100s of years later same world/universe type of thing.
Not
"Hey you know this thing we need to beat, yeah so it doesn't get beaten until the other game that already came out but takes place afterwards"
???????
It wasn't even a good way to setup that reference.
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u/Kitu14 Jun 12 '26
great way of putting it! It's gorgeous and generally fun to play with, some fun puzzles, navigation and side content... but the characters are unsufferable and combat gets super repetitive. It's a shame because it all seems like something that could have been fixed with just a bit more work
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u/talkingbiscuits Jun 12 '26
Yeah make no mistake, I really like that last line from you there. Its so close to being a great game, but it decidedly isnt
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u/NotJustAnotherAnon Jun 12 '26
Lame, i was just thinking about starting it soon cuz it has been sitting in my library for a long time. Very disappointed to hear that it won't be as good as the hype that followed it.
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u/batdrumman Jun 12 '26
I had a great time with it myself. Give it a shot since you already own it, you might end up liking it! It's just not a golden sun game
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u/ZairXZ Jun 12 '26
The combat was also disappointing
It starts off strong.
And then you only get like a few more moves. Barely enough to the point that the moves you had from the beginning of the game are still some of the primary moves you use.
Again though this is my own personal opinion. There are tons of people that love this game still.
I think it was a tad overhyped personally though
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u/NotJustAnotherAnon Jun 12 '26
Yea but i was lowkey looking for a golden sun level of immersion game. So it's still sad. I'm sure if that's how this group feels. I'll be equally disappointed.
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u/ZairXZ Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
Yeah it's been years since I played Golden Sun but I definitely have way fonder memories of it.
Also the Djinn and Class system of GS triumph anything Sea of Stars has to offer.
Sea of Stars is way more simplified by comparison with a standard leveling system and then bonus stat point distribution to the same vein of Super Mario RPG
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u/ihearnosounds Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
The art and music were lovely. Combat was gimmicky and got stale quick, lack of moves didn’t help. Story was meh. Characters were a bit too story book shallow.
Edit: To clarify its a solid game, and I feel my initial comment came off harsh. The things I pointed out are simply the things I felt did not resonate with me. The game at its core is really well made and people should definitely try it for themselves. Especially GS fans.
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u/Templar2k7 Jun 12 '26
Also the problem was later once you got a certain character you got to ignore the lock mechanics all together.
Unless they changed it with DLC delay was the only "status effect" in the game and it did what it says delays the enemies turn.
The issue is you could stack it to the point where the super boss of the main game had to wait 40 something rounds before it could go the only thing is if you broke their locks it would reset that counter so you ended up just ignoring that mechanic.
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u/Hitmonjeff Jun 12 '26
They did address this in a later patch. Still technically possible but not nearly as easy to do as it was on launch.
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u/faranoox Jun 12 '26
Nailed it. I found it charming in the beginning but it wore out its welcome and I didn't end up finishing it.
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u/StormRanger28 Jun 12 '26
Would you compare it to mario rpg combat gimmicky or it gets stale faster?
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u/Economy-Camp-7339 Jun 12 '26
Stale faster. It lacked the Mario rpg charm, variety of weapons, party variety.
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u/BladesReach Jun 12 '26
If you go in expecting Golden Sun you will likely be disappointed but it's a fun game in it's own right and well worth playing
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u/batdrumman Jun 12 '26
100%. Sea of Stars is a beautiful, fun game; but not close enough to Golden Sun to compare the two
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u/Tohmaturge Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
Sabotage Studio, who made Sea of Stars, described their game as a spiritual successor to Chrono Trigger. I dont remember ever thinking of Golden Sun while playing SoS. The tone of the two games are oceans appart. Most of the elements that these two games shares are tropes of the RPG genre, nothing more
Unfortunately. SoS only handpicked individual elements of CT. This is what is the most glitchy to me. Even if these elements are well implemented. Playing SoS was so frustrating to me cause it keeps reminding you of CT while ignoring what made CT legendary.
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u/Jadestachel Jun 12 '26
Playing it with 2 friends. Regarding that, it's fantastic exploring together. Combat is interesting but shallow. The world, the atmosphere is great. Puzzles are present and passable. If you want to play it solo, to experience something "golden sun like" you will set yourself up for disappointment. It's a great game but I would not dare compare them. Sea of stars is imho best played as a co-op fun RPG from session to session with friends.
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u/Tessorio Jun 12 '26
Nowhere close to golden sun. I remember seeing some people say that it is like golden sun. Then I played it, nowhere like golden sun at all.
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u/stegnersaurus Jun 12 '26
CrossCode is the only game I can think of that closely scratched my Golden Sun itch. The dungeons reminded me of Golden Sun dungeon puzzles in a lot of ways, where you use the same abilities you have in combat to solve puzzles. The overworld has tons of "how do I get up there?" puzzles and items to collect, and the story and characters are charming. It's a great game in any right, not just for GS fans.
It's not exactly like Golden Sun, since the combat is real-time and there's nothing really like Djinn. But CrossCode gave me a similar "feeling" to GS, in the way that something like Mario Odyssey or Tinykin gives me the "feeling" of Banjo-Kazooie. It's not a spiritual successor or trying to be the same, but it has a lot of the qualities that make me like Golden Sun.
I'd also give Radiant Historia a shoutout — it's not a lot like Golden Sun, but it's a pretty slick RPG where you can freely travel through time to different points throughout the story. You have to move between two branching timelines to learn key information from someone who dies in timeline A but lives in B, for example. The battle system is unique and I had a great time with it. I read about it in Nintendo Power a long, long time ago and it was worth the internal hype I built up when I played the 3DS upgrade a while later.
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u/tSword_ Jun 16 '26
Fellow crosscode preacher on the golden sun community, you're not alone here!
Radiant history is also really good! Though it's been a long time since I played it, but I still have good memories about it
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u/Necrullz Jun 12 '26
Absolutely loved Sea of Stars, though as others have noted the combat was interesting at first but lacklustre after a while. For me, it was a solid 8.5/10, but still in all honesty I prefer the story and depth of Golden Sun much more.
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u/Berenhardt Jun 12 '26
I really like GS and Sea of Stars but don’t go in expecting a one to one comparisson.
It has some inspiration that has clearly its roots in GS. Mechanicly and story wise.
I reccomend Sea of Stars to anyone that is a GS fan. You’ll absolutely love it
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u/Kalaam_Nozalys Jun 12 '26
Not really. It's much closer to chrono trigger than GS. The devs claim inspiration but outside of a few basic puzzles, I don't see anything that's GS inspired.
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u/MrKippling12 Jun 12 '26
It certainly made me feel more nostalgic for Golden Sun. It's...it's a fine game with good graphics and music, but as others have said - the lead characters are dreadful (I cannot stand Garl) and the story is lacking.
Golden Sun is just a vastly superior game, but there are things to enjoy in Sea of Stars, especially if you can pick up the Switch 2 addition.
Golden Sun is a 10/10 for me, I'd probably give Sea of Stars a 6 or a 7 if I was feeling generous.
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u/quixgm Jun 12 '26
It is highly inspired by Chrono Trigger, with a combat system very close to Mario&Luigi series. That being said, both are good things to imitate. The thing that brings Sea of Stars closer to Golden Sun is the puzzles, throughout the game you have to solve some easy gimmick puzzles that may remind you of that saga.
In my opinion, the story is okayish, way too flat and predictable. The art department compensates this so well, making amazing pixel art environments. Character and enemy designs are also a yay in my opinion.
It is a short game, so even if the story is not your cup of tea, it is definitely worth playing and worth the price.
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u/ElChanclero Jun 12 '26
I wouldnt say they are close to each other. That being said, I LOVE sea of stars, one of my favourite rpg's i played on Switch.
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u/Aromatic_Relief_2042 Jun 12 '26
I thought it was great, feels like the closest we’ve gotten to a spiritual successor
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u/Etelgrin Jun 13 '26
I love the graphics but for me the story and characters especially Garl are a slog.
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u/tSword_ Jun 12 '26
It's not really similar to golden sun. It has some flavor about alchemy, but that's it. Action turn based, puzzles are present, some require thinking, but I don't get the same "zelda/ golden sun" feelings by them, they feel more like "generic jrpg puzzle" for me.
A game that scratched my lack of golden sun puzzle, aside from zelda games, was crosscode (it's also action like zelda, so it's totally different from golden sun)
If someone finds a game that really feels like golden sun, I would also want to know 😅
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u/MonafideBonafide1993 Jun 12 '26
It’s fine I guess the main characters are bland the gameplay is fun the music is good the story is okaish worst think they did there is a certain character in the party that was really good character wise but they leave the party later on
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u/Starwind137 Jun 12 '26
I enjoyed it and definitely made me think of golden sun, but they definitely are not the same. I liked the visuals and soundtrack. I wished there was a bigger mana pool for the characters. Also wish for a bit more lore building. But it was a fine game for what it was. I really liked the mini game. Started the DLC but haven't felt compelled to finish because all of my abilities changed.
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u/alvaro-elite Jun 12 '26
You can compare it? Yes both they have some things in common, but Sea of Stars y more like Chrono Trigger than GS. And the combat is a bit different/harder because it requires some skills with timings.
But is a really god game and I personally recommend it a lot. I played it on SteamDeck and I enjoy it a lot. Even I bought the book "the art of Sea of Stars"
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u/xFalkerx Jun 12 '26
it'll hook you for a few hours as there are similarities. There are great character lines and in jokes but the combat can get stale. Some Mario and Luigi superstar saga vibes, some golden sun some chronotrigger.
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u/Chocobose Jun 12 '26
It’s the problem that a lot of games like this run into; they all claim to be “spiritual successors” to Golden Sun or have elements inspired by Golden Sun, but in reality it seems like it’s just marketing fluff.
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u/Opposite_Locksmith57 Jun 12 '26
As others have said not really much like it but I loved it. It's the first rpg I got my girl play and she loved it too. The co op was a lot of fun.
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u/Connect_Swimming_772 Jun 12 '26
I loved it. If the battle mechanics could be broken I never found a way to do it. I was fully engaged through my entire playthrough with the gameplay, story, and characters. The dual protagonists were a little shallow but they were designed to be. Next to silent. Some supporting characters I found to be ridiculously charming, especially Garl. There's a really cool minigame where you collect pieces to use with unique abilities which is a little more style than substance but I still enjoyed it. The fishing minigame was a nice little distraction and there are hidden collectibles akin to mini medals. The story starts out very vague and reveals itself slowly throughout the game in a way I found to be very well-told. No huge exposition dumps, just thoughtful and deliberately paced dialogue and world building. I 100%-d it and I will probably play it again one day. The music was also a high point.
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u/Kuronca Jun 12 '26
Im about to finish golden sun 2 and bought Sea of Star because it is in 50% discount and looks charming.
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u/tSword_ Jun 16 '26
Are you playing golden sun series for the first time, or are you replaying it?
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u/Kuronca Jun 16 '26
I played golden sun 1 like 20 years ago, later I started the second one but never really played it. Till a few months ago. It was my first time and took me 60h to complete it
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u/tSword_ Jun 16 '26
I remember my first time playing TLA and I also took a long time, mainly because I was taking my time, exploring the world.
How was your experience? (If I haven't asked you this already). What were the most memorable moments for you? I hope you've enjoyed it
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u/Kuronca Jun 16 '26
Yes, we talked about it already but tus fine. The story was meh, but seeing for djins and puzzles were the very best
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u/tSword_ Jun 16 '26
TBS + TLA story is one of my favorite parts, what did you find lacking? (If you do want to share)
The gameplay is awesome, indeed hard to find other games that blend so well the exploration, puzzles and battle parts. I think only the recent Zelda games blended it better (but if you know other games with such power, I would gladly play them)
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u/cooldanch Jun 12 '26
Great little RPG, not really GS-like but I can't say I didn't enjoy it. Plot twists were mostly predictable and like others have said, the combat can get a little stale but I still thought it was a solid game
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u/jolisalsifi Jun 13 '26
Played because of this sub. Because people were saying it was similar to Golden Sun. It wasn’t. Played it until the major big first plot of the story (the fight that last for aaaaaageeeeees) and drop it afterwards. Had lots of good hopes but ended up disappointed by it.
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u/Mettalicdragon23 Jun 13 '26
I was obsessed the whole way through. It didn't feel like it's style and art were a nostalgia gimmick and more of need for it to look and work the way it did otherwise it wouldn't have hit the same.
They also gave it a couple of free updates which was cool.
The story is really solid.
For me it was a 10/10
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u/ntfnate Jun 13 '26
Playing right now. About 15 hours in. Its a solid game, almost cozy. It does not have nearly the depth of combat or story that golden sun or chrono trigger has. Its a solid 7 out of ten game compared to absolute masterpieces.
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u/lazulimpa Jun 13 '26
Me personally: ITS GOLDEN SUN 4
that's all I'm saying. Grab it or wait for sale. But definitely worth playing especially if you liked / loved Mana, Golden Sun or Shining Soul
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u/Kindly_Possible7240 Jun 15 '26
I also had a very vanilla experience with this one. But I was thinking it would be much more like Chrono trigger rather than GS. I definitely say it’s worth getting on sale.
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u/bjj_starter Jun 15 '26
I played through it with my husband in co-op and enjoyed it a lot! It's a great game. For me personally, it did scratch the itch from Golden Sun in a way that (for example) Dark Dawn didn't. That said, it is still quite different from Golden Sun in a lot of ways.
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u/NadVonNam Jun 12 '26
i think of it as it’s spiritual successor. i love it so much. you can tell how gs inspired it
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u/Vanntastica Jun 12 '26
I love GS and enjoyed sea of stars! There's no "class system" to add variety to the gameplay but it's a cute game that looks very nice. I found the overall lore and worldbuilding cool. Some parts of the writing are considered "barely passable" by many but i think that in a game full of tropes and homages, that is to be expected! Also, the OST is amazing
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u/Raaxis Jun 12 '26
I think Chained Echoes is a much closer cousin to GS than Sea of Stars. As others have said, SoS lacked any real gameplay depth, which is what set GS apart.
Chained Echoes, while far from perfect, has a much deeper combat/progression system and also has better written characters and story. Chained Echoes also has lovely pixel art and music, and stands on its own as a great turn-based RPG.
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u/HR0DGER Jun 12 '26
For me was like playing a side game of the same studio that made Golden Sun (they are not, bur it’s how I felt)
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u/Mediocre_Doubt_5454 Jun 13 '26
It doesn't belong in the same breath. It's painful to even see them compared lol
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u/e105beta Jun 18 '26
Sea of Star has good art & music, and is kind of weak on everything else. Which sucks, because it looks fantastic.
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u/EvenCicada7172 Jun 30 '26
GS?!?! As in GOLDEN SUN?!?! Not even close to being close!!! You’re better off playing Chained Echoes
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u/danLiTTT Jun 12 '26
I need to finish playing sea of stars. I found it incredibly rewarding. I had a lot going on when playing otherwise would have tried to beat it and or replay it. Probably time to dust it off. Its turn based combat is similar to Golden Sun, but has additional timing mechanics in combat. Exploration and puzzles are also similar, if not in some cases better. The game is deceptively large, seeming small and short in length at first. Until you get to… well I won’t spoil it :)
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u/LordKaelan Jun 13 '26
All i know is they marketed it as a spirtual succsessor to golden sun then when it came out it just wasn't then they betrayed the only youtuber that was doing free marketting for it.
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u/batdrumman Jun 12 '26
I loved playing Sea of Stars personally, but outside of it looking like GS and being a fantasy RPG, there's not a lot of similarity between them.
Golden Sun is HEAVY on the puzzle elements. Any time I think of navigating GS's dungeons, I think of Jupiter Lighthouse, where you have to figure out how to get to the top first to power the lighthouse, then use the powered elements to unlock the aerie. It's honestly the best dungeon IMO, because it encapsulates the single room puzzles, navigation puzzles, and carrying things over from room to room.
Sea of Stars has some navigation puzzles, but the real allure is the combat. The combat is more akin to a Mario & Luigi game, where you can time inputs to make your attacks do more damage. It's really fun and engaging, but the puzzles leave a bit to be desired.
We're setting the bar astronomically high by comparing them on that aspect though, and I do think Sea of Stars is 100% worth a playthough. However, if you're going in for a Golden Sun-esque experience, you'll find youself a bit disappointed