Star Ocean: The Divine Force

Star Ocean: The Divine Force is a messy game, but I've enjoyed it. The only other Star Ocean I played prior to this is the Super Famicom title (which is great), but I know that the series I've had some rocky couple of years prior to this. Without strong reviews and mixed reception on Steam, well can't really blame people for missing out on this one. However it's a super ambitious title that tries to do too much, it's really trying to be on par with the big AAA games but with apparent budget issues getting there.

Graphically the game is pretty nice and the character models look good (aside from the lips absolutely not matching the English script) but after a few cut scenes you do get to notice that they keep making the same movements when talking as if was automatic emotes based loosely on what's being said. Some of the female characters do have excessive cleavage, but perhaps they were hoping to market that towards horny teenagers or something. But aside from those distracting issues, the game does have a pretty grand story about space travel and machines taking over. It starts off with you being stranded on an under-developed planet which had its own internal war issues and eventually opens to space in the 2nd half. The fist portion does play like a semi-open world with big fields to explore and fight off enemies to get where you need to go, but the 2nd portion is all in closed enviroments where just one moment where you return to said planet. The game also has various systems like its own mini-game (like Gwent where you talk to randoms to play), side quests, gathering material and private conversations between members... but somehow it feels not so relevant to the grand story and acts a little bit as filler just for additional stuff to do.

The combat is interesting, I've read that it's not "true" to typical Star Ocean combat and I'll have to believe that for now. You have a D.U.M.A. orb that allows you to charge on enemies, really the backbone of the whole combat system. Landing a surprise hit (blindside) will allow you to raise the total AP points you have for the battle, and allow you to land more hit of the various skills you have assigned. Large skill tree does allow for some customization on your attacks (along with passive abilities among others) all of which you can also upgrade. This goes for all of the 8 or so main characters, of which you'll eventually choose your favorites and stick with them for most of the game. The combat I find pretty fun, it's perhaps a notch behind Ys 8 and 9 (golden standard for modern action JRPG imo), but it definitely works and it's cool to have the whole party fight. There is an issue of balance as some of the bosses are total party poopers while getting to them is sometimes really easy, those difficulty spikes can be pretty daunting and it's not always clear what you have done wrong. One of the characters Nina is the healer and is absolutely crucial to your party, but given that she is controlled by AI you are kinda hoping that she hits the heal or revive abilities on times as her defense points are lackluster on top of it... A lot of the battles will be you reviving Nina so she can keep reviving others, especially in the 2nd half of the game.

There's really a lot of other various minor issues and I would not really blame anyone for saying this isn't a great game for reasons x, y and z... it does have its many faults. But the grand epic story is worth experience and the voice acting is quite excellent, all of them have a lot of personality and they are entertaining to listen to. On top of the quality combat, I think I can turn a blind eye to its shortcomings. Tri-Ace really wanted to build something big here and they did do well if my theory on it lacking the budget for its ambition. I think the game is worth experiencing and I'm curious where the Star Ocean franchise will takes things to next (hoping Tri-Ace and Square Enix want to commit to it more), just do not expect a flawless masterpiece with it.