Promising the Sabotage touch in every system, Sea of Stars aims to modernize the classic RPG in terms of turn-based combat, storytelling, exploration and interactions with the environment, while still offering a hearty slice of nostalgia and good old, simple fun.

Rather than have a direct "difficulty" selection at the start of a playthrough, Sea of Stars will slowly introduce "Relics" to the player throughout the game that can positively or negatively affect your experience, as far as it relates to how difficult the combat will be. A relic with a blue icon generally has a positive effect while one with a red icon will be a negative effect. A full list of the relics, their effects, and their locations can be found below. These do not void achievements, so feel free to turn them on/off to suit your playstyle.
 

For the first part of your main playthrough, focus on completing the story. There is nothing missable and no difficulty-related achievements, so you can use as many of the relics listed above as you'd like. While exploring each area, try to collect as many of the rainbow conches, treasure chests, combos, stories, and recipes as possible. Also be sure to catch every fish you can, and play all of the Wheels champions you come across. Again, nothing is missable and you'll be able to free-roam to every area after the story is complete, so don't worry too much about this - but follow the guide linked below to save some time. Complete the main story at your leisure and we'll clean up everything else while going for the True Ending in the next step.

You'll likely naturally break 50 locks during combat, and should use Valere's Moonerang often to practice and work on getting 25 bounces for that achievement. Otherwise, there are no combat-specific achievements to speak of.

As you play through the game, follow the collectible guide found HERE which will point out everything you need to complete the achievements. There is also a great walkthrough to be found HERE. Thank you to 100% Guides on Youtube for all the great videos they compiled that I've included in the guide below!

SPOILER WARNING: This step will contain a large spoiler to one of the game's main plot points. Complete the story and Step 1 above first without reading on if you don't want to ruint it!

After beating the game, if you pay attention to the scenes in the middle and post sections of the credits, you'll notice hints of things your party members still may want to accomplish. There's a chance you've done some of them already if you did extra exploring before getting the Normal Ending. The game will show you the mysterious set of stones in Moorland have now activated, and any side-quest you've completed already that corresponds to the True Ending will light up.

You'll create a clear save file and will be placed back in the Fleshmancer's Lair before the final boss. To qualify for this ending you must help your companions and people you've met during your journey to light up all of the stones:
 

Once you have completed all seven of the above achievements, visit the stones in Moorland to unlock the New Garl + (30G) achievement, resurrecting Garl, and then you can go back to the Fleshmancer's Lair to initiate the game's ending a second time - however, this time you'll get to face The Fleshmancer himself and unlock the True Ending. After that, you'll get another clear save file (this time a gold star) and can continue adventuring if there is anything left to do such as collecting treasure chests, defeating Wheels champions, cooking recipes, listening to stories, or completing the quizes.

This achievement is for defeating 10 bosses with the Artful Gambit relic turned on. The reason this requires a NG+ run is due to how late in the game you get it. You can find this in a chest during Serai's portion of Step 2, and even if you do her step first out of that list and decide to begin using it immeditately, there would only be I believe seven qualifying bosses left in the game. At the very least, you'll need to kill a few bosses in NG+ with that relic on. It's important to note, ONLY bosses need to be killed with it on, so feel free to turn it off while adventuring and fighting normal enemies. I'd suggest just ignoring it during your first playthrough entirely, as those final few bosses will be rather difficult and have some harder timing of the attacks compared to ones you'll face early on in a new game.
 

So, with all that said, I'd suggest starting NG+ and going for this achievement. You must defeat 10 specific bosses (mentioned in the achievement guide below) up to the Leaf Monster. There are a few enemies you'd think count that don't, so pay attention to the list. Because you're on NG+ you'll have a high level, all the best equipment and accessories, and will likely be one-shotting most of the bosses (especially since you get double damage for perfect attacks). Turn on any helpful relics you'd like since they don't counteract the Artful Gambit relic. Just be sure to save prior to every boss in case you fail to time a block, because some can target every character and possibly kill you in one hit.
 

Sea of Stars is a dream game for me. I grew up on this style of RPG and the nods to favorites like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG are all over the place from the types of characters, locations, and even the combat. I backed it on Kickstarter, and even though it launched into Game Pass I was happy to have supported the dev and certainly will on anything they do in the future. This is a must-play for any turn-based JRPG fan. It's an absolute bonus that the achievements are mostly a breeze despite a lot of collectibles, with nothing missable and plenty of in-game help to point you in the right direction for anything missing - and of course this guide will do the rest!