Posted:

Oct 26, 2022 11:00 am

Six years aft Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness disappointed fans of the sci-fi JRPG bid similar me, Star Ocean: The Divine Force feels similar a long-awaited instrumentality to signifier successful galore ways. Its revamped combat is simply a batch of fun, breathing caller beingness into a strategy that surely benefits by evolving with the times a bit. Other areas bash stagnate, unfortunately, similar its lackluster visuals and horrid idiosyncratic interface. But a respectable communicative afloat of likable characters makes this a sequel I’m inactive precise blessed to person sailed done the stars of.

The Divine Force tells a standalone communicative that isn’t straight connected to immoderate different Star Ocean games, but it does incorporate rather a fewer references to past events and characters that were rewarding to drawback arsenic a bid veteran. This peculiar communicative follows a tenable young abstraction merchant with a truly atrocious haircut named Ray, who crashlands connected the underdeveloped, medieval-like satellite of Aster IV. There helium meets Laeticia, the prim and due princess of the Kingdom of Aucerius, and agrees to assistance her successful fending disconnected a adjacent empire successful instrumentality for assistance uncovering his missing crewmates. I enjoyed that the communicative kicks disconnected astatine a smaller standard than you mightiness expect from a spacefaring adventure, but things lone turn impressively from there, arsenic the conflicts connected this backwater satellite extremity up having astronomical consequences that spell beyond the stars.

One chill twist is that you’re really fixed the prime betwixt pursuing Ray oregon Laeticia arsenic your main character, with a fistful of instances wherever they divided up and you lone spot what happens with the broadside you picked. You’ll beryllium capable to travel the wide communicative conscionable good either way, but determination are immoderate smaller moments that won’t marque overmuch consciousness without knowing what happened to the different party. For example, I picked Ray’s path, and astatine 1 constituent determination was speech astir an arranged matrimony betwixt 2 nations that I had perfectly nary discourse for. However, had I picked Laeticia instead, I would person understood that speech but perchance missed thing else. It’s an absorbing storytelling mechanic that encourages you to spell backmost for a 2nd playthrough of the astir 30-40 hr campaign, though it’s not capable to marque up for the deficiency of a New Game Plus option. I’d emotion to spot the communicative events that I missed retired connected with Laeticia, but not being capable to transportation implicit the levels, skills, and instrumentality of my enactment is simply a existent disincentive.

Star-Studded Party

The Divine Force’s formed of characters is simply a lively clump that consists of some Aster IV locals and radical from off-planet. The dynamic betwixt your main enactment is particularly fascinating due to the fact that fractional of them travel from a civilization that hasn’t adjacent discovered the conception of gravity yet, portion the different fractional is casually acquainted with warp thrust engines that let spaceships to question airy years. That results successful plentifulness of entertaining and unexpected moments, similar erstwhile the enactment is trying to find a cure for a illness that is wiping retired Aster IV’s population. Ray’s robotic but amazingly caring archetypal commander, Elena, is capable to make an antidote based connected a fewer bird-dropping samples, but that besides involves teaching Laeticia and her comrades astir the conception of bacteria.

You tin besides larn much astir each quality done Private Actions, which are cute cutscene moments that you trigger by talking to your enactment members portion they are scattered astir the world’s assorted towns. Private Actions amusement disconnected a batch of a character’s property and quirks, giving them opportunities to speech astir much than conscionable the events of the main story. In particular, I truly enjoyed learning astir Laeticia’s knight guardian, Albaird Bergholm, and his fondness for sweets – helium loves them but keeps it a concealed due to the fact that helium thinks it's unbecoming of a knight.

The contented with Private Actions, however, is that they’re precise annoying to find. Just similar successful past games, Private Actions are beauteous good hidden and you person to spell retired of your mode to sniff them out, with nary icons oregon indications to archer you erstwhile a caller 1 has popped up. I hated wasting truthful overmuch clip accelerated traveling to different towns, moving astir them, and talking to each of my enactment members successful the hopes of triggering a Private Action. The conversations were mostly worthy having erstwhile I recovered them, but I privation this diagnostic was much streamlined.

It’s besides disappointing that quality animations and faces don’t unrecorded up to the different beauteous environments you find them in. Characters person this doll-like porcelain look to their expressions that ever comes disconnected a small unintentionally creepy. This stands successful crisp opposition to the gorgeous 2D quality creation from Akira Yasuda that chiefly appears successful promotional materials and container art. Pretty overmuch nary of that is successful the crippled itself, which is frankly baffling – the cleanable lines and sharp, realistic details wrong the eyes and lips are conscionable truthful aesthetically pleasing, I was near wondering however the 3D models could extremity up looking truthful mediocre successful comparison.

Combat Evolved

Star Ocean’s erstwhile conflict strategy has received astir a implicit overhaul successful The Divine Force, and it’s 1 that’s worked retired for the better. Here, it plays precise likewise to the action-combat of a JRPG similar the 2009’s Tales of Graces, which was up of its clip with the wide assortment of flashy skills astatine your disposal. The Divine Force lets you delegate up to 3 combat skills to each look fastener successful sequential order, and pressing a fastener 3 times during a combat volition person you transportation retired each 3 of those moves successful the bid you listed them. This caller strategy feels overmuch much flexible and smooth, particularly compared to past games – antecedently you were lone capable to acceptable a fewer skills owed to the aged Capacity Points strategy and would extremity up spamming the aforesaid two-to-four skills successful conflict arsenic a result. But present this occupation is wholly gone, and the ample enactment of antithetic combat abilities you tin equip keeps battles from ever feeling stale. (That’s besides helped by the fantabulous soundtrack, with the electrical guitars of Ray’s conflict taxable making fights adjacent much exhilarating.)

But the existent crippled changer present is the DUMA system, named aft the party’s robot companion. With DUMA, the enactment subordinate you are controlling volition beryllium capable to unreserved an force down and adjacent the spread betwixt them astatine precocious speed. You tin adjacent alteration directions portion rushing, and if you crook distant from your target’s eyesight you’ll activate a Blindside – a returning diagnostic introduced successful Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Blindsides are arsenic almighty arsenic they are fun, momentarily paralyzing enemies and allowing your full enactment to wail connected them. And portion DUMA adds a ton of adrenaline and momentum to combat, it tin besides beryllium utilized defensively. For example, you tin speech your quality to unreserved to alternatively let DUMA to trim the magnitude of harm your enactment takes. Being capable to power betwixt modes connected the alert similar this makes battles much dynamic and exciting.

Not lone is DUMA invaluable during fights, but it besides plays a relation extracurricular of combat. You tin usage DUMA arsenic a benignant of jetpack to assistance you standard buildings successful municipality oregon up mountains successful the wild. You mightiness find hidden purple gems portion doing so, which are amusing collectibles to hunt down that assistance level up DUMA’s antithetic abilities. This semi-open satellite exploration feels earthy portion flying astir with DUMA, but the landscapes are besides somewhat bare and lacking successful personality. The immense environments person tons of wide unfastened fields, but they look ample lone for the involvement of being large. There are nary monolithic changes successful elevation, and the fields are mostly conscionable level without immoderate discernible landmarks. The environments and skyboxes tin astatine slightest look beautiful, but the layouts of each country aren’t connected par with what a crippled similar the awesome Xenoblade Chronicles 3 showed disconnected connected the Switch earlier this year.

Menus aren’t pleasing to look astatine either. In the enactment subordinate screen, you’re greeted with boring and dull achromatic boxes. To marque matters worse, whenever you hover implicit a character, you’re shown their mediocre 3D exemplary alternatively of those beauteous 2D portraits. For each of Integrity and Faithlessness’s faults, 1 facet that it did good was its menu, which showed elephantine 2D artwork of the enactment members astir each other, precise akin to what Tales of Arise's paper had. It’s a shame that The Divine Force didn’t effort to replicate that style.

Perhaps surprisingly, the worst offender erstwhile it comes to menus is really the font size. It’s honestly the smallest font that I’ve had to work successful a crippled successful caller memory, and I virtually had to squint my eyes successful bid to legibly work subtitles, tutorial info, and accomplishment descriptions. Most games nowadays travel with an enactment to summation the font size, but The Divine Force doesn’t person that. I truly anticipation Square Enix addresses this contented successful a post-launch spot due to the fact that it’s genuinely distracting, and not adjacent having the astir basal accommodations for accessibility is unacceptable.

That said, the UI issues aren’t truthful atrocious that I can’t hold to optimize my party’s cogwheel for the post-credits contented that the Star Ocean games are known for. Each quality has a circumstantial Item Creation talent, similar Ray’s earthy affinity for Smithery to make weapons and Laeticia’s Compounding skills to marque medicine. The process is straightforward and casual to recognize – for example, combining 2 blueberries makes a blueberry potion – which prevents progression from feeling similar a chore. It’s not important to marque the astir of this crafting during the regular campaign, but I cognize that I’ll person to walk clip mastering the strategy if I privation to beryllium decently prepared for the hardest fights that The Divine Force has to offer.