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- Square Enix
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- Square Enix
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- Square Enix
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- Square Enix
Star Ocean: The Divine Force
Released On: Oct 27, 2022
69
6.5
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 49 Critic Reviews
69
39% Positive
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
57% Mixed
28 Reviews
28 Reviews
2% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 49 Critic Reviews
69
39% Positive
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
57% Mixed
28 Reviews
28 Reviews
2% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
I don’t want to take anything away from this game, though. I have enjoyed Star Ocean: The Divine Force more than any game in the series since the third one. The developers have calibrated just about everything about this game perfectly, from the classically entertaining JRPG plot and characters, to the incredible aesthetics and superb pacing. The Divine Force is by no means a short game, but it has a way of making the hours fly past so that it never feels like it’s dragging on your time. Yes, the combat is a little unrefined and too pacey for its own good, but it’s still very playable, and totally worth dealing with to enjoy the most exotic JRPG of 2022.
There’s still a layer of jankiness the series can’t escape in terms of visuals and tropey writing. But the compelling characters and gameplay mechanics overshadow the rough edges. If this is the last Star Ocean game, Tri-Ace has gone out with a bang.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 163 User Ratings
6.5
58% Positive
94 Ratings
94 Ratings
13% Mixed
22 Ratings
22 Ratings
29% Negative
47 Ratings
47 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 163 User Ratings
6.5
58% Positive
94 Ratings
94 Ratings
13% Mixed
22 Ratings
22 Ratings
29% Negative
47 Ratings
47 Ratings
Honestly this game is fun story is good so far I think it is a great game on PS5 I haven't had frame dips or anything bug wise. I know I am a bit late but I think this game deserves a chance and not just review bombed by people who just expect things to change. To me Star Ocean is the perfect blend of Anime with amazing character models. It's how ALL the games have been and being a fan since til the end of time which was amazing this game is just as good!
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PlayStation 5
This is The Best Star Ocean Game In The Series,
They got everything right, item creation from 2, best battle system, best cast of characters, fantastic story and soundtrack, what more do you want?
Play it right now!!!
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PlayStation 5
Star Ocean: The Divine Force is yet another Tri-ace jrpg, beautiful in the combat system, while poor in the aesthetic realization of the game world.
I admittedly haven’t played any of the older Star Ocean games from back at the peak of its popularity, so I can’t say for certain whether Divine Force is a return to form. But for fans disappointed with the previous entry, there’s plenty here to make a dive back into the franchise worthwhile. Here’s hoping tri-Ace gets another shot with a bigger budget next time, because I believe they’re on an upswing.
The Divine Force isn’t necessarily a standout in this long-running series, but it is a much more successful effort to bring Star Ocean into the modern age than its predecessor. The revamped battle mechanics do wonders for its previously limited combat system, offering more freedom and flexibility than ever before. The main cast of characters is also charming, even if the world they are exploring and the animations that accompany them are far less captivating. I wish its interface issues were less obnoxious, but even so, The Divine Force at least proves that Square Enix’s sci-fi JRPG certainly deserved another shot.
Star Ocean struggles to keep its interest over the hours, due to an outdated style, a gameplay below the competition, and a nice story, but anecdotal.
Star Ocean: The Divine Force presents us with a game that may have once been a stellar JRPG title 20 years ago, but those standards just don't hold up in 2022. When compared to its contemporaries, it's just not on the same level, in any way. It's always been a B-Tier Square Enix franchise, but once upon a time, Star Ocean was an essential title. It's a shame that more effort has not gone into modernizing and revitalizing a beloved franchise.
I am really impressed with this game. It is a MASSIVE improvement from Star Ocean 5. I would say it's even better than 4 too. The dialogue is really nice and the voice acting is top notch. The characters act realistically, including how the ones from underdeveloped planets would react to futuristic technology. The combat is really fun and the massive world is stunning. I hope to see this series grow.
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PlayStation 5
It's good, not AAA good but still solid.
The Good:
• Combat Can be fun, if you mix the right skills into your combo chains. It's simplified over previous titles in terms of things to track in battle, its more reactionary action orientated.
• Exploration and moving around the zone is good, you don't need to rely on fast travel, your sprint is fast enough combined with some shortcuts via the DUMA bot you get makes moving around and exploring the zones fun.
• Plenty of character interaction on-field to keep you on track from point A to B while giving you some additional insights without stopping your progress, they even continue into combat. After coming from Scarlet Nexus and Tales this is such a welcome change, it gets tiring when your continually stopping every 5mins through a zone for a "Skit" to play out or having combat stop the skit in its track.
• Story is good overall, Graphics are good, not like AAA FF16 or Tales of Arise but still solid considering PS4 Limitations (which will carry through PS5) Had it been a strict PS5/Xbox Series title than I'd expect a bit more. Star Ocean has always been a budget game so my expectations are tempered to that.
The Bad:
• Combat can be frustrating if you don't find the right combo chains and it pigeon holes you into ideal chains instead of free-flow do as you will combat which kinda defeats the purpose of having the ability to set the skills in the chain in the first place, this is more exaggerated with some characters over others. It's still fun and overall good just... could be better.
• Crafting can be a chore and VERY VERY Repetitive.
• Drop Rates are abysmal for monster based items. For Instance your asked to get 4 "Axe beak feathers" for a side quest because apparently despite disease spreading through the town like a wildfire through California NPC needs to have fluffy pillows... I digress ... target mob is in the field outside town... theirs like 6 of them on the map, you will go from one end of the map to the other 4-5 times, maybe more before you get a single feather.... this means 20+ trips through a massive field just for one side quest.
• Speaking of sidequests... Their abysmal. Their often obscure like fail a specific craft 10 times to get desired item to Eat a specific food at the inn then go to a specific spot to get an enemy to spawn... and theirs no menu or tracking. You get a quest update notification in with your battle drops if applicable and that's it so it's inefficient at one point I spent 45+Mins trying to get some old lady's purse to drop in some ruins... only to find out I already had it in my inventory... when did I get it? who TF knows because the notification was buried in the drops from the battle.
• Glaring Plot holes. Yes I said I liked the story overall but hot-damn there are some major plot holes and reaches in the game. For instance your android companion falls to the planet, she calls you before hand to say her pod can no longer maintain altitude... then you run out to her pod to find out she's missing an arm and leg and is gonna run outta juice in 56 **** run to your hidden pod and get the materials so you and the middle aged bro from the backwaters planet your stuck on that has no idea what an android is but hey he's gonna fix her right **** apparently you have a spare pair of her futuristic low cut leather pants laying around...shhh.... don't ask questions just go with it.
• New Game +... this one loses big points. Holy Balls... why make a dual pov storyline and NOT give players a bonus through the second play-through?
I know it sounds like more bad than good but overall its a fun game to play. Star Ocean has always been a budget game so it's never been as good as say Final Fantasy so you have to temper your expectations going in.
TLDR: Got it on sale, worth what I paid, probably wont play again and wouldn't be worth full price unless your a huge Star Ocean fan. Overall though not a disappointment.
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PlayStation 5
Solid action jrpg, decent story, good combat system, but also some bad character design.
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PlayStation 5
Pro's
Great graphics
Great music score and voice acting
Descent looking characters
DUMA adds an extra way to travel
Con's
Bad AI
Poor Battle system
Terrible level designs especially late game
EXCESSIVE backtracking
Too much useless crafting fluff
Lagging in certain areas even when set to performance
Esowa requires no skill at all just brute force
Heavily cliche story that barely qualifies as a Star Ocean game
90% of the game is set on one planet only
Significant grinding for the best weapons/gear
Barely 40hr game at most to beat
Side quests are bland and lack information
D.U.M.A exploration gets character stuck in scenery
Many areas are barren and empty
Forced to keep re-equipping your characters accessories bug
Enemy lock-on system is garbage
Lacks many QOL improvements
As a long time fan of the star ocean series, I was originally excited for this and after playing for hours and hours the short comings and issues that plague this game become very apparent and quickly ruin the run, the amount of backtracking in the first 10 hours of the game is pretty insane if I'm being honest, its go forward one **** **** **** to the nearest **** back to the first **** back to the **** back to the **** to the next **** back to the first village and so forth, this level of backtracking is near CONSTANT and without fast travel it would get old fast, this level of backtracking puts older JRPGS to shame.
The story is the typical Star Ocean trope to a tee, advanced civilization crash lands on an under developed planet that has two warring factions and end up in a war because, reasons. This plays out over a good 25 hours or more of your gameplay until you start to learn more of the truth behind the story, and at this point you'll start to get increasingly frustrated with the various bugs, questionable design decisions and levels, once you start to hit end game levels like the Hybrid Research Vessel Terranus you'll quickly develop a rage as this particular level was designed by a pseudo masochist, the level is so badly designed in a typical maze/puzzle that requires you to run around blindly to find key cards to unlock a doors to unlock an elevator all the time monsters will keep respawning endlessly, without the player being given any indication where to go, what to do and what to find that a guide is all but necessary for completion of the level, and this type of puzzle level continues into the final stages of the game just to slow down the players progress to hide the general lack of content the game offers.
Graphics are above par but because of that, tax even the PS5 hardware even when set at performance over quality, quite often stuttering or even getting visible lag which shouldn't really happen. The sound and music are good too, as well as the excellent voice acting which helps to make the cliche story bearable.
In closing, this really to me is just a Star Ocean game in name only. The vast majority of the main storyline is on Aster IV only and eventually it expands to the Vyr homeworld and that's it, the story feels extremely weak in places and highly predictable, the backtracking and grind is excessive and forces you to really beat the game with both playable characters as the story branches off at several points until the team reunites, honestly - this game started out pretty good but for me, just got worse over time and had to force myself to finish the game, in many areas the landscape is just barren with invisible walls all over the place too, this at the end of the day is a big disappointment that lacks polish, lacks a significant amount of meat to the game that is filled with a lot of time sink bloat, even the story itself often has so many plotholes it feels rushed.
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PlayStation 5
The story is not bad if it is only the outline, it is not bad, but there are few surprises and ups and downs.
Despite that, I feel that the settings are good in places, but I can't make use of it in the main line
The production is terrible because it is full of reused motions
"The execution ground event is especially terrible."
Combat is a good concept in itself, but in the end it pushes this and that, so doing it becomes monotonous.
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PlayStation 5
Summary STAR OCEAN THE DIVINE FORCE features an original story with two individual narratives and many playable characters, a unique combat system, and the freedom to soar in the skies and explore planets. Featuring a blend of sci-fi and fantasy, this fresh Action RPG has challenging yet thrilling battle experiences, with high-speed movement in ...
Rated T
for Teen
Platforms:
- PlayStation 5
- PlayStation 4
- Xbox Series X
- PC
- Xbox One
Initial Release Date: Oct 27, 2022
Developer:
- Tri-Ace
Publisher: Square Enix
Genres:
