Star Ocean: The Divine Force review: PS2-era JRPG nostalgia

Anticipating a new Star Ocean game means balancing anxiety and excitement. The quality of the franchise has been trending downward since the PlayStation 2 era, when developers Tri-Ace and Square Enix seemed to think little about what to do with his sci-fi RPGs, and the quality of his next two entries. suffered from it.

So I approached Star Ocean: Divine Force It involves a fair amount of uncertainty. A few hours later, after my journey to save the kingdom of Auselius came to a sudden halt in an unexpected turn of events, I got clarity. As it can be devised, it needed the princess of Auselius to collect samples from the birds that excreted the plague in the port city on its last days. This was the Star Ocean I remember, a strange and slightly awkward amalgamation of sci-fi and fantasy, with recognizable elements from other RPGs morphed and combined that somehow felt fresh. While clinging so closely to its past, power of godIt’s a strength, but it’s also a definite weakness.

Star Ocean: Divine Force It starts with selection. You can follow Rey, a cheeky interstellar merchant, or Letitia, a modest princess from an outback planet. There was a lot of Ray-centric marketing, so I chose Leticia for a perspective unique to the good old kingdom. Her mission-driven princess and her willingness to help her new friends in need, even in light of her desperate mission to find her allies and aid the kingdom’s cause in the impending war. I couldn’t help but sympathize. I was engaged in seemingly unrelated minor quests, from repairing robots to retrieving merchant items.

With few questions asked and shadows of ulterior motives hanging over both parties, Rey, Leticia, and her staunch vassal Albeard take on a series of quests that steer them away from their primary objectives instead of toward them. I left for Instead of unfolding in a coherent narrative with major milestones, power of god gradually intersects a series of seemingly random events. An intergalactic merchant, a mysterious warrior, and even bird poop all come together for an exciting, satisfying, and totally clean ending.

power of god‘s localization and voice acting play a key role in elevating what could otherwise be described as a mediocre plot. power of god A unique sense of gravity and quality — an even more impressive feat given that teams sometimes rarely work with scripts.

power of god Moves quickly and spends little time looking back at characters or expanding themes, but is premised on spending time hunting them down, aside from private actions (optional conversations between party members) I’m doing it. power of god It’s not indicated which characters you can do private actions with or where you can find them.

The result is a story that ends on a satisfying note and, despite reaching some compelling heights, feels unconfident to go deeper. We expect you to feel invested in unseen events, lore you never explain, relationships you choose to ignore. Like Helger’s disease in the early game, power of god Beyond the role it plays in easily advancing the main story, there’s little interest in exploring it.

Image: Tri-Ace/Square Enix via Polygon

Over the past decade, JRPGs have dabbled in narrative innovations with some success while maintaining some established tropes. Tales of Arise It turned the series’ own past ‘two worlds collide’ assumption into a tale of rebellion and liberation. dragon quest 11 It turned an initially safe story upside down with a mid-game twist that gave it unexpected emotional weight. Ni no Kuni 2 Side mode also added city building and light tactical combat elements. Star Ocean, on the other hand, still tells the same kind of functional story in much the same way the series did on the PlayStation 2.

The sketchy approach spills over into holistic world building. Nearly every town is filled with barren houses and silent NPCs, save for a handful of quest givers waiting to engage you. Except the Overworld is vast but empty. Tales of ZestiriaWe often hear about the effects of plagues and diplomatic disputes between Auselius and the Vale Empire, but we see no connection between the villages of Auselius, let alone the countries of the continent.

In some quests where Leticia and Ray are split, it feels like Tri-Ace prioritizes Ray’s story and treats Leticia’s story as an afterthought. In an early example, Letitia wants to gather information about her from settlements all over Auselius to find out what people think of her pod in the space she landed. Meanwhile, Ray helps his AI restore his companion, Elena, to full functionality. Letitia’s justification for her mission is flimsy enough, but she decided that talking to about two people was enough to satisfy her curiosity and formulate her plan of action. Still, nothing significant happens as a result, and it feels like a way to kill time. power of god I was spinning my wheels while I found my next destination.

Moments that connect substantial plot points may not stand up to scrutiny, but they’re a good excuse to pick and enjoy fighting the local wildlife power of godStunning action combat.borrowed tri-ace power of godBandai Namco’s Main Combat Features Tales of Xillia And that action meter. Each character has a choice of attacks that cost anywhere from her 1-3 bars on the action meter. He starts the fight with five bars and needs to plan his combos wisely so as not to get stuck helplessly against hordes of monsters.

Image: Tri-Ace/Square Enix via Polygon

Where power of god Unlike Xillia How to extend the combo meter. Ray uses his DUMA to slam into his Aucerius. DUMA is an advanced alien technology that literally sticks to you, increasing your combat potential. DUMA can sometimes act as a shield and charge enemies. If you change direction at the last minute, you can also activate a “blind side” attack. (Attacks like this also expand your combat meter.) Previous Star Ocean games struggled to differentiate themselves from other action RPGs, especially Bandai’s Tales series. Adding DUMA will enable combat power of god Despite using only 3 combo chains per character, it gives it a unique sense of rhythm.

Ray and Leticia play the standard knight and fencing roles, but in the first few hours you’ll find healers who can buff action points, robots with electric whips, and cynic spellslingers who blow mountains and hurricanes away. Adopt Crush your enemies. Each role also has its own DUMA abilities, which makes changing his members of the actual playable party more rewarding than most RPGs. power of god Keeps combat fresh until the end.

Some boss battles rely heavily on the use of DUMA attacks, but combo customization and strategic balance adjustments power of god‘s combat system is one of the most enjoyable in recent memory. The only downside is an unnecessary set of skill trees, a sprawling set of unlockable nodes, and the majority only unlocking minor stat boosts that can be granted by equipping or leveling up in the first place.

Rather than aiming for evolution like Bandai Tales of AriseTri-Ace and Square Enix Star Ocean: Divine ForceThe results are solid, but power of god had the potential to reach even greater heights, establishing the series’ identity as a thoughtful reflection of technology and philosophy. At least it proves that Star Ocean is still full of potential and deserves another chance.

Star Ocean: Divine Force was released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on October 27th. The game was reviewed on his PS5 using a pre-release download code provided by Square Enix. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not affect editorial content, but Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased via affiliate links.discoverable Additional information on Polygon’s Ethics Policy can be found here.