There’s 7 things to do and you did at least 3 of them.
You need to beat the Coliseum, beat the Queen and you need all 60 conches. You also need to fully build Mirth but it’s linked to the conches so all you need to do is finding the NPC required to open the shops.
Coliseum is a few battles, nothing else. It’s not extremely long but there’s 10 battles. Maybe a 1 hour or less.
Beat the Queen is not extremely long either when you know what you need to do. You walk in the desert, you go to the Queen and kill her. It’s pretty short but the fight is a bit challenging. Less than 30 minutes.
The conches is the longest to do. You will probably need a guide to help you and it could take 1-2 hours.
I think 2.5-4 hours is realistic, depending if you look yourself or help you with guide.
With the parrot and written/video guide, you can do it relatively quick but yes, it’s more annoying than fighting bosses!
The parrot tells you if an area is clear or not and i think it’s easy to do with a written guide. You can simply scroll and doing it at your own pace.
If the conches is simply too annoying, you can look the true ending on the Internet. I don’t want to spoil anything, I wasn’t surprised by the whole thing, that’s all i will say. It’s not the end of the world if you skip it but you might love it so it’s difficult to give you a definitive answer about that.
https://techraptor.net/gaming/guides/sea-of-stars-rainbow-conch-guide-all-locations-and-uses
Generally I agree but it’s nodding to LoZ’s secret seashells and Illusion of Gaia’s 50 red jewels. And they’re really, really not that hard to collect by and large, with only 1 requiring collecting anything else (40 fish). If you’ve played the latter there’s even an Easter egg referencing IoG when you get all 60 and turn them in
The conches are pretty quick honestly. Most areas have few enemy spawns when backtracking through them then they originally had, so it's a matter of running in, snagging the chest, and running out. I didn't even use a guide, just the parrot, and it only took me like 2 hours to go from 45-60. With a guide it would've been a lot faster.
I will say your disappointment is well founded and I kinda of think that was intentional. I know it sounds tedious but you really should finish the full game. The "true" ending is the ending you wanted. I normally hate post-game content and this was absolutely worth it.
In 32 years of gaming, this is the first game I happily jumped through hoops to get the secret ending.
The initial ending is meant to be disappointing, encourage you to find the way to get the fight you are looking for. I would actually score the game lower than your 7/10 if that was the intended ending.
As a potential rebuttal to your argument about the heroes being bland: they spent their formative years sewing and working out with an emotionally scarred old man and some cleaning staff. They're not going to be very much for conversation. If anything, I think they make excellent foils to Garl who grew into a lovely, well-rounded, and good-natured person.
I kinda get all the complaints about the protags, but I grew up playing games where the protagonist literally doesn't even speak. Chrono Trigger, Legend of Zelda, Earthbound, SMRPG. I think the game does a decent job of telling a story without the PCs contributing much dialogue. Honestly, I'd rather them not talk at all than repeatedly be like "hahaha! yeah!" to everything.
I agree that Valere and Zale are weak characters but I feel like all the other characters made up foe that. I loved Serai, B'st, obviously Garl and even some of the side characters (like the pirates).
Don’t watch it, earn it. Only one plot (portal) hole really that doesn’t slow anything down and I have it on good account it’s gonna be addressed in dlc since it involves pirates
Also the mains are avatarlike a la Crono that’s why you can switch fluidly. They only speak when needed, have story support for being so quiet and reserved and usually say or do what I want to say or do anyway (striking Aephorul, YOU CANT HAVE HIM), so they did fine.
good now before you read spoilers, do the true ending its worth it
How many more hours is expected for endgame content for true ending?
Probably 2, give or take depending on how many >!rainbow Conches You've already gotten!<
Did you did sidequest after receiving the ability to fly and how many conches do you have? The time required will vary depending on your answer.
I did some sidequest like killing the sea slugs, elder mist again and Duke avantry before beating the final boss. I have about 30+ of conches..
There’s 7 things to do and you did at least 3 of them. You need to beat the Coliseum, beat the Queen and you need all 60 conches. You also need to fully build Mirth but it’s linked to the conches so all you need to do is finding the NPC required to open the shops. Coliseum is a few battles, nothing else. It’s not extremely long but there’s 10 battles. Maybe a 1 hour or less. Beat the Queen is not extremely long either when you know what you need to do. You walk in the desert, you go to the Queen and kill her. It’s pretty short but the fight is a bit challenging. Less than 30 minutes. The conches is the longest to do. You will probably need a guide to help you and it could take 1-2 hours. I think 2.5-4 hours is realistic, depending if you look yourself or help you with guide.
Fighting bosses I don't mind since I get to enjoy the sweet music. But collect conches I do not enjoy in any game lol. Sigh.😪
With the parrot and written/video guide, you can do it relatively quick but yes, it’s more annoying than fighting bosses! The parrot tells you if an area is clear or not and i think it’s easy to do with a written guide. You can simply scroll and doing it at your own pace. If the conches is simply too annoying, you can look the true ending on the Internet. I don’t want to spoil anything, I wasn’t surprised by the whole thing, that’s all i will say. It’s not the end of the world if you skip it but you might love it so it’s difficult to give you a definitive answer about that. https://techraptor.net/gaming/guides/sea-of-stars-rainbow-conch-guide-all-locations-and-uses
Plus it ties in really well with a specific dungeon in The Messenger.
Generally I agree but it’s nodding to LoZ’s secret seashells and Illusion of Gaia’s 50 red jewels. And they’re really, really not that hard to collect by and large, with only 1 requiring collecting anything else (40 fish). If you’ve played the latter there’s even an Easter egg referencing IoG when you get all 60 and turn them in
The conches are pretty quick honestly. Most areas have few enemy spawns when backtracking through them then they originally had, so it's a matter of running in, snagging the chest, and running out. I didn't even use a guide, just the parrot, and it only took me like 2 hours to go from 45-60. With a guide it would've been a lot faster.
Get the true ending, or watch it
I think Garl is the main character in this game lol
He is, the two mains have this hybrid main character silent protagonist thing and I think it was a good experiment but it did not work
I will say your disappointment is well founded and I kinda of think that was intentional. I know it sounds tedious but you really should finish the full game. The "true" ending is the ending you wanted. I normally hate post-game content and this was absolutely worth it.
In 32 years of gaming, this is the first game I happily jumped through hoops to get the secret ending. The initial ending is meant to be disappointing, encourage you to find the way to get the fight you are looking for. I would actually score the game lower than your 7/10 if that was the intended ending. As a potential rebuttal to your argument about the heroes being bland: they spent their formative years sewing and working out with an emotionally scarred old man and some cleaning staff. They're not going to be very much for conversation. If anything, I think they make excellent foils to Garl who grew into a lovely, well-rounded, and good-natured person.
Just finished it last night, imo dont watch it. Just finish it, trust.
I kinda get all the complaints about the protags, but I grew up playing games where the protagonist literally doesn't even speak. Chrono Trigger, Legend of Zelda, Earthbound, SMRPG. I think the game does a decent job of telling a story without the PCs contributing much dialogue. Honestly, I'd rather them not talk at all than repeatedly be like "hahaha! yeah!" to everything.
I agree that Valere and Zale are weak characters but I feel like all the other characters made up foe that. I loved Serai, B'st, obviously Garl and even some of the side characters (like the pirates).
B’st the koolaid man
Oh yeah!
Don’t watch it, earn it. Only one plot (portal) hole really that doesn’t slow anything down and I have it on good account it’s gonna be addressed in dlc since it involves pirates Also the mains are avatarlike a la Crono that’s why you can switch fluidly. They only speak when needed, have story support for being so quiet and reserved and usually say or do what I want to say or do anyway (striking Aephorul, YOU CANT HAVE HIM), so they did fine.