Sea of Stars borrows from two of the biggest RPGs from the SNES era. It has the look of the battle system from Chrono Trigger, but these turn-based encounters play a lot more like Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. That’s because the battle system is time-based.
A well-executed button press can make a normal attack stronger, but players can also use these timed presses to lessen damage. Besides normal attacks, players will have control over a variety of spells and techniques with their six playable characters in Sea of Stars. These eight skills are the most useful non-Combo abilities in the game, so let’s rank them out.
8 Healing Light
One of the most important things in an RPG is a way to heal. Healing Light is one of the first healing spells that players will acquire and it belongs to Zale. The MP cost is relatively low at four, so players can get a lot out of it if they take care of increasing their MP allotment.
Between the two Solstice Warriors, Zale is a stronger mage. So, players may feel conflicted about using precious MP to heal instead of attacking with another spell that will be covered later.
7 Warble
This game has an interesting approach to death in battle. If a character falls, they will only be knocked out temporarily until they pick themselves up. There are dishes that players can prepare to revive a party member quickly.
That’s how a lot of healing will get done as Sea of Stars has a cooking mechanic. Otherwise, players will have to resort to spells such as Zale’s Healing Light or B’st’s Warble. This ability can revive a fallen party member and give them a good boost to health too.
6 Petrichor
Petrichor is the final healing spell that will be covered and it is a doozy. It belongs to Resh’an who is easily the most mysterious character in the game. This spell will heal everyone in the party once Resh’an mixes his potions. In the middle of a fight, especially a boss fight, there is nothing better than getting all of the healing done in one go.
The one downside to this spell is the cost which is set at twelve MP. Like Zale, Resh’an has a good spell that players may want to use a lot more than Petrichor in battle because of its practicality and cheapness. That will be highlighted further as well.
5 Lunar Shield
Lunar Shield is technically a healing spell as well but there is a twist. This one belongs to Zale’s fellow Solstice Warrior, Valere. This spell will cast a shield around every party member that will absorb a significant amount of damage once.
It’s best to use Lunar Shield when it is obvious players can’t break through an enemy’s spell before they can cast it. It’s the only shield-equivalent spell in the game which is odd for an RPG but it is a grand one.
4 Venom Furry
Venom Furry is a poison-infused attack skill that belongs to Serai. She may pose as a pirate initially, but Serai is a ninja through and through which is made apparent by her abilities. For Venom Furry, Serai will jump back and forth between two portals she opens up as she throws daggers at enemies.
If players can time their dagger throws perfectly, they can keep this going for a while. The attack will target all enemies on the battlefield no matter where they are placed.
3 Abeyance
Abeyance is another spell from Resh’an but this one is offensive. He will launch a magical ball at one enemy that will pulse and pull all other enemies toward it. There are exceptions to this such as boss fights or enemies that are strongly rooted in the ground.
For most battles though, this is a huge deal as it is a supportive spell in disguise. Grouping enemies with increase the effectiveness of a lot of area-based spells from other characters in Sea of Stars.
2 Moonerang
Moonerang is almost exactly as it sounds in Sea of Stars. It is another one from Valere and it is an attack spell. She will throw a moon-shaped boomerang at enemies and this boomerang will get stronger the more times she can deflect it back.
Like Venom Furry, it all depends on how good players are at time-based attacks. Hopefully, they have played a lot of the aforementioned Mario-based RPG games to get the best out of Moonerang because it is an essential technique.
1 Sunball
Sunball is the strongest, normal spell in the game. There is a caveat to that because all characters have special skills, called Ultimates, that act like Limit Breaks in the Final Fantasy series. Zale’s is like a bigger version of Sunball.
Now, the normal version of Sunball is pretty easy to execute as players just have to know when to stop growing it. This is an area attack but the reach can be limited sometimes based on enemy placement. That’s where a spell like Abeyance can come in handy for a killer combo.
Sea of Stars was released on August 29, 2023, and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.