Here we are with a fresh and flashy retro-modern JRPG releasing next week, Sea of Stars. It feels like a “must-play” role-playing title to me, so it’s a question of, “When?” The tricky part is that the pending launch is digital only; I prefer physical. And I prefer not to wait, maybe.
That tangible version, with a soft-plastic case featuring cool box-art and a cartridge that spares my microSD's storage space, doesn't hit store shelves until next year! That sounds like a loooong ways off. Wait until 2024? But even if I buy the digital bits in a few days, I wouldn’t start playing for months anyways since I'll still be enjoying Tears of the Kingdom for quite a while.
The upside of waiting for the physical release is that, at least for now, I won't add yet another title to my backlogcollection of owned-yet-unplayed games. So I plan to wait.
Waiting should be easy.
It's not like I'm gonna get bored with Tears of the Kingdom while I wait, right? And Sea of Stars is just a cool looking "love letter" to JRPGs of yesteryear. It's not like it totally plays on my nostalgia for 16-bit RPGs I enjoyed in my teens on the SNES. And it's not like it also resembles the fantastic HD-2D pixel-art style first showcased in Octopath Traveler, one of my favorite JRPGs of all time.
So waiting will be a piece of cake. Yeah, no problem.
Besides, next week when Sea of Stars launches upon the gamer-verse, it's not like all the RPG sites will drop reviews for the game, detailing its Eclipse magic mechanic between the two protagonists representing the sun and moon. And it's not like Metacritic will show me the aggregate high review score of the game.
I mean, waiting might be a little hard if a bunch of gamers on social media talk about it next week upon release, but surely that won't be a thing, right?
Yeah, no, waiting to play will be the easiest thing I do this year. There's no way I'll be tempted to buy a digital copy on my Switch next week when it appears in the eShop and the Nintendo news channels. Plus, it's not like the algorithm on YouTube will notice that I looked up early impressions and launch trailers of the game and thus shove Sea of Stars videos in my face, constantly reminding me how cool it is over and over again.
Nah, besides, good things come to those who wait. The saying must be true. I must believe it.
So I'll wait...for hundreds of bright and dark sun/moon cycles, the same thing the game's main mechanic is based on, to pass before I play Sea of Stars. There's only one, no two, well maybe three whole entire seasons (Fall, Winter, and maybe Spring) before the tactile cartridge can find its way into my gamer paws. That's only like waiting six to nine more lengthy months, each one full of like 30 different 24-hour periods of time. But who's counting anyways? And it's not like I've been following the game's development cycle for the past year or two.
I mean, it's just a turn-based JRPG, only my most favorite kind of video game that exists.
So that's my solid plan. Ignore the fact I could be playing a fun new JRPG next week. And simply delay gratification until the year two-thousand and twenty-four. And pretend down to my bones that I can survive through the dead cold of winter and Christmas season without playing the new game.
The entire planet earth will revolve half-way around the sun before I play Sea of Stars. No worries. I won't miss out on anything meanwhile. I'm sure I can curb my enthusiasm and contain my excitement.