Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness

1. DeLeon

   Jun 28, 2016

   10

   The game is actually good. Yes it may not be the kind of RPG everyone could enjoy like FF VII, the Witcher or Xenoblade but it's worth it.The game is actually good. Yes it may not be the kind of RPG everyone could enjoy like FF VII, the Witcher or Xenoblade but it's worth it. Critics have been too harsh… Expand

   • 22 of 56 users found this helpful
2. blakfayt

   Jun 29, 2016

   9

   The first question you have to ask yourself before buying SO: I&F is, "Do I like old school RPGs?" And when I say old school I meanThe first question you have to ask yourself before buying SO: I&F is, "Do I like old school RPGs?" And when I say old school I mean unskippable cut scenes, areas that exist specifically for encounters and fights, standard progression, and limited save points. Because those are the biggest things people are complaining about.
   
   Star Ocean Integrity and Faithlessness is a classic wrapper that has a new food inside it. Things look very similar to previous games, but there's been a lot of gameplay tweaks since the last good Star Ocean game. Combat and cut scenes are now integrated into the game. When you bump into enemies on the map your characters pull out their weapons and the fight begins with no transitions. The same for a lot of the story, people simply start speaking. It doesn't cut to dialogue boxes or a scene, in most cases. Naturally there are going to be some scenes that aren't in game at some points.
   
   On top of removing transitions, SO has changed up how the mechanics of the gameplay. The rock paper scissors of previous titles is very prominent and easy to understand and works probably the best I have ever seen. I did an entire boss fight with counter attacks, which would have been difficult to judge in previous entries. Atop that skills have an upgrade system and a mastery system, as well as the game having a new system for learning skills instead of simply leveling up. They have also introduced AI altering "roles" which can be purchased with SP (which is used for buying skills of various types). Roles not only affect how the AI acts but give bonuses relating to the role, like increased damage to certain enemy types or extra stats.
   
   The crafting system is back and it's more fine tuned than SO3. You see the materials you need, and when you gather them up you can make the item. However, what items you can make are limited by your specialties, sort of passive skills that let you craft items or gather materials for crafting (in the early parts).
   
   Of course in an RPG we can't neglect the story and characters. Which, I'll admit, are rather dry. Around an hour in I had already predicted the big twist of the game (It's Star Ocean, of course it had something to do with space invaders.) But naturally the characters had to go through the phase of "OH WOW! WE WOULD HAVE NEVER GUESSED!" which is pretty annoying. As for the characters themselves, I feel like I've become jaded by college courses on how to write because none of them are particularly interesting. None of them are horribly offensive and annoying (Like half the cast in a Tales of series game, or completely lacking any depth like most Western RPG characters) but the game does feel kind of sped up.
   
   What does help in both of those regards is the PA system, which has returned. Private Actions are chats with your party where you often get to make a choice that raises or lowers their affections, and in previous games altered the ending for your protagonist. PA's are usually short scenes that add more depth to a character or situation and they're welcome as the main plot focuses less on the characters you're adventuring with and more on the action (a faux pas of professional writing. The characters and their reactions should be what's interesting, not wondering what the next set piece of the game is. I should care about the characters)
   
   Overall, Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness gets a 9/10 from me. It's a classic shell with new content and I've been craving an RPG since Fallout 4 let me down. The writing could have been better, but the combat is sweet and rewarding, the exploration is simple but the areas are visually stimulating and lovely. I think if Square had made this a PS4 exclusive (the game came out on PS3 in Japan) then it could have been a 10/10 easily with better textures and more development time. Unfortunately it's held back by the previous generation of consoles in some regards, but it's still a blast to play. The people who say they cleared it in under 30 hours are either playing on easy mode or ignored the side quests and are lying about that. I spent over a half an hour in the first exploration zone after spending fifteen minutes in the tutorial town. These are people trying to make it look bad by speeding through so they can **** out day one reviews.… Expand

   • 21 of 33 users found this helpful
4. nubsauce

   Jul 3, 2016

   8

   Played 37 hours in 4 days...this game is my life right now. If you want to get addicted, this is your game...
   
   Btw, the game is pepperedPlayed 37 hours in 4 days...this game is my life right now. If you want to get addicted, this is your game...
   
   Btw, the game is peppered with nice slice of life humour, and Fiore's ass is so beautiful I could stare at it for days. :P… Expand

   • 7 of 10 users found this helpful
5. OxyKun

   Nov 17, 2016

   6

   This game is fun. But it's lacking in many areas.
   
   I'll start of with the pro's and con's and will go more in depth after. Pro's: -This game is fun. But it's lacking in many areas.
   
   I'll start of with the pro's and con's and will go more in depth after.
   
   Pro's:
   - Great graphics. Probably one of the most gorgeous JRPG's on the ps4 yet.
   - Great music.
   - Easy to pick up and play battle system.
   - The game isn't done when you've finished the story.
   - Likable and diverse playable characters.
   - Over the top skills and spells.
   - Multiple endings
   - Multiple difficulties
   
   Con's:
   - Short story for a RPG.
   - Game is very linear. There is almost no room for exploration.
   - Many unskippable cutscenes
   - Lots of backtracking.
   - Shaky camera at times
   - You won't go out to explore other planet's like older star ocean games.
   
   Story:
   The game is about the 2 main character's finding a young girl, who is being chased around by some people after saving the girl they decide to go out and find her parents for her. On the way they meet people who are willing to help and join them in their quest. Not knowing there is much more to this girl than they think. I won't go in any more details because of spoilers. But the story does its part in keeping you entertained and not beeing to difficult to follow. It's a typical story which JRPG and anime fans alike will like. With characters taking on the anime stereotypes. Such as: The tough guy, the cute girl, the pervert and the sexy lady. To name a few.
   
   Gameplay:
   The gameplay is very simple it has a strong/weak attack and a button for blocking. And you can use skills and spells. Which you unlock more of the further you get in the game. The skills and spells are over the top and flashy. All party members are playable and fullfill the typcal classes of rpg's. Like the fighter/tank/mage/healer and ranger.
   
   Post-game content:
   After you finish the story, the game isn't done yet. You can do a lot of side quests and there is a post game dungeon for the truly hardcore jrpg fans. With bosses who are almost impossible to beat. It needs to be said though, that there is a difficulty spike here and lots of grinding needed do you want to finish of the final boss of the dungeon.
   
   Difficulty:
   When you start the game there are 2 options the games "easy" mode and "normal" mode. I have played the game on normal mode and the game felt like a breeze untill you finish the game. When you finish the story you'll unlock the games "hard" and "expert" mode. Which require some grinding at points in order to beat some bosses.
   
   Time to beat:
   To finish the story takes about 20 hours depending on your skill level.
   
   To finish the games post content and sidequest takes about 60 hours.
   
   To get al trophies is a grind and walkthroughs and guides are needed, and you need to beat the game 3 times as the difficulty trophies dont stack. This will take well over 100 hours to complete and feels like it was put in to compromise for the games short story.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
6. Huntaku

   Jun 30, 2016

   4

   Oh boy, where should I start. As someone who really loved the last hope on the 360 I had very mixed feelings with this one. Aside from theOh boy, where should I start. As someone who really loved the last hope on the 360 I had very mixed feelings with this one. Aside from the combat and anything that is linked to it (character building, AI, etc.) everything else is wrong in this game.
   
   Story: Story is laughable, its soo basic that even the developers couldnt stretch it out to last more than 25 hours. None of the characters are memorable, they all have a single trait. Worse is the actual main character who doesnt even have 1. He rarely speaks and if he does its just bare bone generic reactions to another character or an event. You barely have any cutscenes because its replaced with in game active cutscenes where you can move around, while the other characters going blah blah blah. Also since you are in control, in order to see some bare bone facial reactions, you have to pose and move the camera so you can see that one character, buy you dont want to do that because the lipsinching is horrible no matter if you roll with the english or the japanese language.
   
   Graphics: I usually dont really care much about the graphics. It's a mix bagged to be honest. When its battle time and you have more than 6 characters in your party the game looks awesome, with all the magic effects and other effects going on. Outside of combat however, the game looks nowhere near as good.
   
   Gameplay: Now with all that bad out of the way, as I mentioned at the beginning, the combat it self is pretty awesome, especially when you go up against a boss fight in the RAID like Cathedral missions. Your partner AI is pretty good over all, depending on the roles you give them, which you have a TON to choose from btw so building a good DPS, or a deceant healer can make the fights much easier. For example Mage DPS characters will keep their distances from the enemy and not just mindlessly cast spells till they die, healers prioritize characters under attack or ones with the lowest hp. If you give your characters a descent set up, than they can even handle the battle alone without even you doing anything. Really the only complain I have is that holding aggro is impossible because when a character hits a blocking enemy with a light attack, the enemy automatically starts attacking that character no matter if he/she only attacked that one time (or is a mile away), and tanks have no way to hold aggro they have to follow and deal enough damage to that enemy again to get aggro off of the other character. Also while battles are fun, they can be pretty easy unless you handicap your self.
   
   Overall, with the horrible story, generic stereotipical characters, and mediocre graphics its really hard to recommend at full price. The only reason why it gets a 4 out of 10 is the enjoyable battles you can have which is surprisingly enough to keep you playing while you torture yourself with the abysmally short and horribly written 20-25 hour "story"… Expand

   • 8 of 16 users found this helpful
7. Azeriel

   Jun 28, 2016

   3

   Let me preface this as a long time fan of the Star Ocean series and JRPG in general - which means I'm used to whatever spectacle any JRPGLet me preface this as a long time fan of the Star Ocean series and JRPG in general - which means I'm used to whatever spectacle any JRPG titles is going to throw my way, grinding, impossible boss fight, you name it).
   
   You know you messed up this series when you introduce space travel in the last 30% of your game, when the game itself was about space travel in the first place.
   
   8 hours in, and the first thing I have to say is this: Activate the Japanese voice actors right away because whoever is doing the North American VA apparently has lost their souls. This does not help the fact that the first two heroes in the game (Miki and Fidel) are as bland as a sack of potato. Previous gen graphic, mediocre combat, soulless acting, average story, empty map and a lot of pointless travelling that falsely pushed this game for 20 hours+ of game play.
   
   This game feels like they had a lot of experimental ideas but felt rushed to completion without properly fulfilling those ideas. What a shame because it could have been great.
   
   As a fan of previous Star Ocean series, I had high hopes for this. But this is a swing and a miss, wait for a sale.… Expand

   • 15 of 39 users found this helpful
8. sapphireglaceon

   Mar 27, 2022

   0

   these games are getting less and less of a star ocean feel to them 5&6 mainly first departure felt right this just feels so off from that andthese games are getting less and less of a star ocean feel to them 5&6 mainly first departure felt right this just feels so off from that and tri ace should have stopped after till the end of time and should have remade 3 and brought that to america as well as remastering 2 and TTEOT for switch the only good thing i can say about this is the music everything else is just NO… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful

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