It’s “only” six years since the last episode of staroceansoberly baptized Integrity and Faithlessnesswas released on the consoles of sony. Six years isn’t a lot after all, but to be honest, we didn’t think that tri-Ace and Square-Enix would put the cover back in 2022 when the saga has not made an impression since the PlayStation era. Although Star Ocean: The Divine Force is taking more and more freedom with its original formula, doubts hang over its ability to stand out by the end of the month.
Very pleasant confrontations to take in hand.
However, this sixth canonical opus has all the tools to impose itself, starting with a universe specific to the series. Like its predecessors, Star Ocean: The Divine Force mixes in the same world futuristic ships and a history of space conquest with very medieval elements. The artistic direction has nothing to be ashamed of on this side, if not the eternal clichés of the genre. But as it takes to start the adventure, it’s on the crash of the friend’s ship Raymond what starts this starocean. Aster IV nothing welcoming. Apart from a small friendly kingdom and a princess who will follow him on his adventures, this underdeveloped planet is only an invitation to roam its open world. Or at least that’s the promise. Aster IVwe surveyed it largely for its fights which remind us that above all we have a Action RPG in front of us.
As Valkyrie Elysiumthe remaining DNA J-RPG which still flowed in the veins of starocean continues to be diluted in this very trendy style in the productions of Square-Enix. It didn’t necessarily succeed. Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness which suffered from fights, certainly dynamic, but oh so messy. The good news is that Star Ocean: The Divine Force seems to erase this ugly flaw. If the clashes are more readable, it is also because the allies are more balanced, understand by this that they know how to stay away to let the main character do his thing. The result is very pleasant confrontations to take in hand, althougha bit repetitive for their lack of combos. We regularly find ourselves abusing the same key in a loop to defeat the hordes of enemies.
Pleasant does not necessarily mean that Star Ocean: The Divine Force escapes substantive criticism. What the game wanted to reveal to us was quite simple and actually quite generic. We probably expected more from a title that still uses Action Points to give substance to his battles. Maybe it’s a real bias to give a completely new experience among the multitude ofAction RPG. If so, successful bet, because Star Ocean: The Divine Force indirectly forces us to regularly change characters during the confrontation. This obviously contributes to the dynamism we were talking about above, but it is above all a necessity so as not to get stuck with heroes who empty their gauge far too quickly. Action Points and who are therefore unable to fight.
The desire to qualify Star Ocean: The Divine Force as a “nice little game” is there.
Not always very tactical and driven by frustrating mechanics, we question the merits of this feature for clashes. However, it has to be said that it works, but we prefer to attribute the merit to the DUMA who, at least, does not play the emotional elevator. This species of drone introduced fairly quickly into the story makes coffee. As useful for exploration as it is for combat, the DUMA can in particular make our character fly with the possibility of gliding as an option or of jumping into the fray. Star Ocean: The Divine Force then becomes the allegory of juggling where we spend most of our time changing characters before using this famous DUMA which seems so permissive that it also questions us about the balancing of the action. We keep our questions for the final release, but one thing is certain on the other hand: this new starocean will not be a technical gem. On the contrary, the title shows some gaps graphically, as if the textures of its landscapes did not belong to the right generation.
Our first impressions: Could do better!
The desire to qualify Star Ocean: The Divine Force of “nice little game” is there, and yet we know that we are dealing with a big title. Thing is, this production doesn’t seem to culminate either in the open-world genre, or in theAction RPG. In some ways, the game seems lacking in polish, especially when it comes to graphics. From another angle, it is simply agreed. Whatever, Star Ocean: The Divine Force may not be enough to get the series back on track. Let’s wait and see…
You can pre-order Star Ocean: The Divine Force at €62.49 on Amazon.