Indie developer Sabotage Studio has created a masterpiece with its recent release, Sea of Stars. The turn-based RPG is easily one of the best games of the year, with an average score of 90 on Metacritic. It’s available on all major consoles, as well as PC, and is included as part of both Microsoft’s Game Pass and Sony’s PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium subscription services so fans of the genre and of intuitive and creative video games in general should definitely check it out.
Sea of Stars includes a host of brilliant gameplay mechanics that keep it feeling fresh and exciting. It also does a fantastic job of involving players in its combat beyond the simple press of a button, as can easily be the case for turn-based games. However, all of these features can seem a little complex at the start. Here are the most important tips and tricks to help new players get acquainted with this brilliant title.
10 Take The Time To Explore Sea Of Stars
Sea of Stars is a glorious homage to old-school games, both in terms of its turn-based combat and its world design. As expected, there are useful chests containing powerful weapons, armor, accessories, coins, or other valuable items hidden throughout the world. Players who take the time to explore every corner of the game’s dungeons will be rewarded for their time.
However, exploring Sea of Stars‘ world is not just useful for its in-game rewards, it’s also hugely satisfying. Each area is perfectly designed to encourage curiosity and exploration. For example, the dungeons aren’t overwhelmingly large and often tease other sections of the map within the player’s sightline that seem inaccessible but can be reached after solving a few puzzles or finding alternate paths. The game is designed to be explored and makes it both massively enjoyable and worthwhile for the loot.
9 Equip Sea Of Stars’ Abacus
The Abacus is an incredibly useful early-game accessory that reveals the HP of all non-boss enemies, letting players better optimize their attack strategies. For example, by knowing an enemy only has a little HP left, players won’t waste boosted attacks or magic attacks on them. Later on, it can be upgraded to the Eye of Yomada, which also reveals the resistances and weaknesses of non-boss enemies.
The Abacus can be found in the cave right next to the first save point after Garl rejoins the party early in the story. Players simply need to defeat the enemies inside before climbing up the wall and following the path around to find the chest. Alternatively, anyone who missed it can also simply buy it from a merchant at the Stonemason’s Outpost.
8 Plan Sea Of Stars’ Order of Attack
Sea of Stars is turn-based with no time limit, so players can take as long as they need to plan their attack strategies. A key feature in the game’s combat is that enemies often have locks on more powerful moves. These are a series of symbols that, if matched by the player’s attacks, will break, weakening or even preventing the opponent’s attack entirely. Figuring out the best order to attack to most efficiently break these locks is vital.
It’s also important to plan which Sea of Stars enemies to attack. Often, they have timers above their heads, signaling how many moves the player has until that enemy takes their turn. If players can’t kill an enemy due to attack next but can kill one before it attacks in 3 turns, for instance, it’s better to do the latter to avoid taking hits from both enemies. Thinking about these details is key to Sea of Stars‘ combat.
7 Target Weaker Enemies First
Sea of Stars‘ battles can quickly become overwhelming if players don’t deal with weaker enemies first. Whether it’s a tough boss fight with protective minions or attached living tentacles, or simply a regular encounter with a large group of enemies, these weaker enemies are designed to prolong the fight.
Sea of Stars‘ weaker foes can often multiply by summoning more minions, or they can heal the bigger foes, essentially canceling out the player’s prior moves. The small chunks of damage they deal also add up. The solution is to focus on killing off these weaker enemies first to ensure they can’t provide important backup to the main threats. Once they’re out of the way, dealing with the bigger enemies becomes a much simpler task.
6 Use Sea Of Stars Skills Frequently
Each Sea of Stars character has a set of skills that require mana to use. However, unlike in most RPGs, Sea of Stars‘ party members regain mana not only through potions, or in this case, restorative meals, but predominantly by performing regular attacks. Choosing this option will restore 3 MP to the respective character, meaning it’s usually easy to replenish enough mana to utilize their skills.
These skills are also very powerful and often have bonus abilities, such as knocking back an enemy’s turn timer or targeting multiple enemies at once. As such, they’re key to dealing large amounts of damage and ensuring the party stays on top of a fight. Also, regular attacks can obviously only replenish mana that’s been used, so it’s important to make sure the skills are used frequently.
5 Don’t Be Afraid To Consume Meals In Sea Of Stars
Meals in Sea of Stars are a lot like those in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Players can choose to consume them to restore HP, and occasionally MP, for individuals or the whole party. Sea of Stars‘ cooking ingredients, especially fish which can be found by the bucketload at fishing lakes, are abundant so it’s easy to cook more.
Although the party can carry only 10 meals at a time, it’s still easy to get through a level without having consumed even half of them when players are used to saving health potions in other RPGs. The game’s campfires, where players can cook more, aren’t spread out either, so remembering to consume meals and keep the party at full health will make enemy encounters a whole lot easier.
4 Optimize Sea Of Stars Live Mana Boosts
When players launch a regular attack upon an enemy, they’ll notice some glowing orbs scattered around the combat arena. They also immediately appear if the player initiates combat by sneaking up on an enemy. These orbs are “live mana” and they can be absorbed to boost a character’s move, offensive or defensive. They can be stacked so that one character can consume up to three boosts at a time.
It’s important to optimize when to use these boosts, especially against Sea of Stars‘ tougher foes. Zale’s Sunball skill, which costs 8 MP, is particularly powerful and easy to charge, so combining that move with three live mana boosts, for example, can prove devastating. On the other hand, if an important character is low on health, using a boost on Zale’s Healing Light or Garl’s Nourish skill can restore more HP. Boosting a regular attack also infuses it with the character’s magical ability, making it very useful for breaking complex locks. Making effective use of these boosts can be the difference between life and death in Sea of Stars.
3 Learn Enemy Attacks In Sea Of Stars
Each dungeon contains a different series of enemies, but they repeat enough that players can begin learning their attacks. Doing so will be useful for several reasons. First, it can help to plan the order of the player’s attacks as they learn to understand which opponent’s locks are most devastating and, therefore, need to be broken first.
Second, players should learn the timing of these attacks. If they press the action button right as an enemy attack lands, they can block the attack, so it’s definitely worth doing. Not only does blocking slightly reduce the incoming damage, but it also builds combo energy, which is another key mechanic in the game.
2 Focus On Building Combo Energy In Sea Of Stars
Combo energy is built up separately in Sea of Stars and can fill up to three combo diamonds. Characters have special combo moves that they can perform with another character as long as the combo partner they need isn’t currently knocked out. Some moves require one full combo diamond to pull off, but big moves often require more.
Each combo can only be performed by specific character combinations so it’s also important to understand which characters link up for which combos. Combo energy is accumulated by performing different actions including blocking and landing attacks. However, lock-breaking builds combo energy faster than anything else so it’s even more vital that players focus on this technique.
1 Talk To Companions At Sea Of Stars’ Camp Sites
Throughout the game, players get the chance to set up a campsite around a campfire. Here, they can cook new meals and rest to fully recover the party’s HP and MP. They can also talk to their travel companions. Although such chit-chat isn’t helpful in terms of gameplay, it’s great for players who want to learn more about the game’s story and lore.
For example, early on in the game, players will meet a Traveling Historian called Teaks. She’s a non-playable character who will read stories to the party around their campfire. She offers more background information and fun lore about certain aspects of the game’s world and story in an interesting and engaging manner. Not everyone loves lore, of course, but Sea of Stars is a lot more fun when players know why they’re sailing this difficult ocean.