Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness

 PlayStation 4
User Score
6.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 287 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 139 out of 287
  2. Mixed: 62 out of 287
  3. Negative: 86 out of 287
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  1. 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 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    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 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
  2. hibiscus
    Jun 28, 2016
    5
    I imported this game from Japan when it came out because I like Star Ocean. I was disappointed by this game.

    The main scenario took me around 20 hours due to my slow reading speed. I also did side quests (around 70% of them) and the Cathedrals. I think someone who is fluent in Japanese could take around 15 hours. For reference, SO2/SO3/SO4 were all 30 hour games for me, without doing    I imported this game from Japan when it came out because I like Star Ocean. I was disappointed by this game.

    The main scenario took me around 20 hours due to my slow reading speed. I also did side quests (around 70% of them) and the Cathedrals. I think someone who is fluent in Japanese could take around 15 hours. For reference, SO2/SO3/SO4 were all 30 hour games for me, without doing many side quests.

    For an action RPG, the camera is pretty important. The camera in this game is just wonky... When you walk around on the field, the camera is focused relative to how far from the ground Fidel is walking around at. During cutscenes, you have to move the camera around yourself (on the amusing side, you can emote during "cutscenes" and make silly faces during important parts) but you can't do something like first person mode or re-focus the camera so the back of Fidel's head isn't the center of the frame.

    In battle, the camera will sometimes get snagged on the terrain/environment. You now seamlessly transition into battle from the overworld (in previous SO games, you'd load into battle and have a square battle field with no environment / terrain). The boundaries and objects in these environments aren't very well defined, resulting in characters sometimes getting stuck behind walls/etc. Like if a character was behind a wall when you approached an enemy and started a battle, they can still be behind the wall (and their AI will run around in circles trying to get out of the wall until you manually move them - it's pretty amusing).

    The battle system itself is good, combining elements of SO3 and SO4. It feels a bit like SO3 ("cancel" combos and such) but you can build up a Rush gauge like SO4. There is an artificial difficulty spike in combat once you reach a segment where you have to protect a character in battle multiple battles in a row. You use every single character you get in your party, but battles are seemingly balanced around all participants being alive at all times. In reality, people die pretty quickly.

    The new role system augments the SO3/SO4 battle system pretty well. You can level the roles and set bonuses and such and influence how the characters AI works. But there is a particular set of roles that can make combat a complete joke, well into the post game dungeon. (I'm not going to spoil what they are.)

    Despite you now being able to use every single character in battle, the new battle skill system means you have to pick and choose who to give skill books to. You don't get battle skills by leveling up. You have to find a book that lets them learn level 1 of the skill, but 2 characters will share each book. I think this would've been better suited to a previous SO game where you didn't have every single party member in your party at once.

    The story and characters aren't anything particular to write home about. The story is basically "protect this little girl because she is a little girl". The majority of the characterization takes place in optional Private Actions. As mentioned before, you now control the camera during cutscenes, so unlike Star Ocean 4 where you had more cinematic cutscenes for all of the Private Actions, Star Ocean 5's private actions are you standing there talking to the other character, and you can still emote as you control Fidel. Welch's Private Actions (which unlock Item Creation) were all pretty enjoyable. The rest were mostly anime tropes.

    The world itself is not very big. You only travel to one planet, and there are 4-5 proper cities/towns (YMMV on whether the 5th one counts as a town or not) on this planet. There aren't many overworld maps or zones either.

    For those of you looking for new music by Sakuraba, you won't find much of it because 1/2 of this games OST was taken from other tri-Ace games. Not even remixed like Stab the Sword of Justice was remixed for SO4, but straight up copy/pasted. The shrine uses the same shrine music from SO3. The battle vs Del Sol uses The Divine Spirit of Language. Etc.

    Overall, I can't recommend the game unless you absolutely must play every Star Ocean game.    … Expand
  3. Prrgangsta
    Jun 28, 2016
    4
    This game is a hazard buy even if you are a fan of the series it was as if the creators are slowly turning this game into an mmo from the lack of narrative and cutscenes to the insane battle system. The story is uninteresting and the maps are big but lifeless and empty. Enemy placement is predictable and missions are mostly fetch quests that are tedious and boring. The only good i couldThis game is a hazard buy even if you are a fan of the series it was as if the creators are slowly turning this game into an mmo from the lack of narrative and cutscenes to the insane battle system. The story is uninteresting and the maps are big but lifeless and empty. Enemy placement is predictable and missions are mostly fetch quests that are tedious and boring. The only good i could see was building up my characters skills and abilities my own way.… Expand
  4. DeLeon
    Jun 28, 2016
    4
    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
  5. 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 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    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 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
  6. peropify
    Mar 15, 2017
    4
    The most disappointing game of 2016. As a lover of JRPGs, and a fan of "The Last Hope", I was keen to pick this up day one. Unfortunately, the game reeks of poor effort on the dev side, with an empty game world that did not match the character models, and bleak story. The battle system had great potential, but was mired with skill exploitations, The game feels like it was unfinished to beThe most disappointing game of 2016. As a lover of JRPGs, and a fan of "The Last Hope", I was keen to pick this up day one. Unfortunately, the game reeks of poor effort on the dev side, with an empty game world that did not match the character models, and bleak story. The battle system had great potential, but was mired with skill exploitations, The game feels like it was unfinished to be honest - a beta game. Wondering if something happened. But there is no doubt the polish was lacking, and you should not waste your time picking this one up at all.… Expand
  7. consolfreak1982
    Sep 29, 2016
    9
    I apologize for having ignored this game so long - it was one of my most wanteds this year and the negative/mediocre Reviews and user comments drove me away ...
    Im a huge Fan of the Series (well, not SO4 lol), and since it was on Sale I just thought what the hell lets just buy it - mediocre or not.
    And guys - I regret for having missed out on this amazing game just because some opinions    I apologize for having ignored this game so long - it was one of my most wanteds this year and the negative/mediocre Reviews and user comments drove me away ...
    Im a huge Fan of the Series (well, not SO4 lol), and since it was on Sale I just thought what the hell lets just buy it - mediocre or not.
    And guys - I regret for having missed out on this amazing game just because some opinions on the Internet changed my mind.
    Yes, its "old shool" and has its flaws - the graphics are good, especially the character art, design and models. The fighting may be "buton mashy", but its fast, flashy and fun! The seamless gameplay and very fast gameplay is a huge improvement over .. well .. most other JRPGs out there! No slow start, no interruptions between exploration and combat, less cutscenes ... the flow of the game is incredibly high for a JRPG.
    Yes,
    the graphics could be way more detailed - environments are samey, almost empty/same sized/same shaped/lackin Detail
    the Soundtrack is always "epic" - which can be exhausting sometimes
    the battle System is mostly button mashing and way too flashy and shallow (lol just try highest difficulty new game plus haha good luck on emphemeral queen lv 255)
    the overal lack of love for the Detail
    the short lenght of the main Story (about 20-30 hrs)

    BUT:
    None of them really matter when youre playin the game - trust me.
    If you like JRPGs and StarOcean you wont be disappointed - its way better than SO4 in any regard, its a great JRPG with likeable characters, very fast gameplay and very fast game flow in General.
    The only Thing I regret is that I have not bought it until it was on sale - at least I saved some Money too and got an awesome game as well - win win Situation :)    … Expand
  8. hungryparrot
    Jul 8, 2016
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is, for all intents and purposes, a very old-school Japanese role playing game. Because of this, it gets lost in market that is so driven by opinion (which this review also is), it's hard for anything to stand on it's on two feet that doesn't follow the current AAA model. Conversely, because of this, it truly scratches that deep itch for someone looking to rekindle the spark with jrpg love. Based on time constraints that 'professional' reviewers are under, they tend to miss what's most important in gaming, pure enjoyability. And to my fellow cursory readers, Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness has that in spades.

    **POTENTIAL BEGINNING SPOILERS** Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness tells a very compelling story, albeit one that has been told before. If you're akin to the SO lore, you already know that this entry falls between Second Story and Till The End of Time (SO II and III respectively). Fidel Camuze lives a peaceful if uneventful life on the planet, dubbed by the Pangalactic Federation, Faykreed IV with his childhood friend Miki Sauvester. Living directly in the long-reaching shadow of his father Darill, Fidel struggles to be his own person while educating the town's hopeful at his family's training hall for swordsmanship in their seaside town of Stahl. When war breaks out over resources (sound familiar?) and the small town is caught in the crossfire, Fidel sets out to seek the crown's assistance in protecting the small hamlet. From there, Fidel and Miki find themselves caught up in a conflict that just may be out of their world.

    If the above sounds like boilerplate jrpg framework, it's because it is. What sets it apart however, and frankly what most reviewers are missing, is the way in which the narrative is weaved. From the eyes of Faykreedians, the world they know is just that. Nothing more and nothing less. But when a rival nation shows up to a sword fight with 'gleaming sticks,' the Medieval land of Resulia is left polarized. How could they possibly hope to defend themselves against such technology?

    Now, that's all well and good but what about gameplay? As I stated before, Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is brimming with fun.

    BATTLE SYSTEM:

    What's a good jrpg without a good battle system right? Tri-ace has nailed their battle system here. I've seen many complaints about the AI being less than standard, and the fighting being too 'button-mashy'. I can't speak for anyone other than myself but I have to assume that other reviewers didn't give the 'Role System' any real thought. Yes, it's true that in the beginning it feels a bit one sided, especially if the player plays solely as Fidel (of course you would), but as you progress the roles start to unlock at a brisk and satisfying pace (assuming, of course, that you're tackling side quests along the way. More on that later). As soon as Fidel's party started to round out, I was amazed to see the AI reacting appropriately and smartly. Nothing is more satisfying than going up against a high level Cathedral of Oblivion (random dungeon spawn to test your mettle) boss and watching your team wreck. The short advice here is to play and use the systems that you are given! They aren't there for show, they're incredibly useful and necessary for full-party usage and potential! Trust me, when all seven (actively six fighting) are in the mix, you're going to want everyone locked in. And when it clicks, it feels fantastic.

    The rock, paper, scissors paradigm also works like a dream. Please do me (and yourself) a favor and avoid holding circle for that strong attack spam. 'X' attacks are mapped as weak, while 'O' attacks are mapped as strong. Each of these buttons can also be assigned 2 battle skills, two for LONG range and two for SHORT. The cancel system works as such: Weak attacks interrupt strong, Strong attacks break guard, and Guard counters Weak (press '[]' twice after a successful block, it took me way to long to figure that out). You also get what's called a 'Cancel Bonus' if you continuously vary your weak and strong attacks, to a max of 5 times for a 200% damage output bonus. It really works when you work it.

    SIDE QUESTS, PA's, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT and CRAFTING:

    Yes, there is backtracking. Yes, those side quests involve a lot of it. But it is highly recommend to pursue them if nothing more than to unlock specialties that are attached to them! The PA's. These are perhaps the biggest missed elements from everyone that seems to be playing. For everyone saying that they feel no attachment to the characters it's because they are not pursuing these beautiful moments. The amount of character development that is attached to these is paramount to understand the stakes for everyone involved. If you want immersion, chase these. Crafting is back and it's sublime.

    In short, SO:IaF is a highly enjoyable reminder of yesteryear. Compelling, highly competent, and incredibly fun.    … Expand
  9. Super_Cloud
    Feb 14, 2018
    5
    What a huge disappointment Star Ocean 5 is, no space exploration is what kill it for me. They also got lazy recycling music, this is not a bad thing since they are good but i wish i could have discovered brand new music. This was also the shortest Star Ocean i played. The difficulty was unbalanced sometime from very easy to hard to very easy again. The battle system was enjoyable for mostWhat a huge disappointment Star Ocean 5 is, no space exploration is what kill it for me. They also got lazy recycling music, this is not a bad thing since they are good but i wish i could have discovered brand new music. This was also the shortest Star Ocean i played. The difficulty was unbalanced sometime from very easy to hard to very easy again. The battle system was enjoyable for most part except i wish the skill were better, the basic double slash was more over power than the one you get later. I would lie if i said i did not enjoy this game but it was still disappointing.… Expand
  10. vahn
    Mar 7, 2019
    4
    Another disappointment from SE: I'm not even surprised at this point and if anything I have myself to blame for this. I KNEW this was going to suck and I didn't try to listen. And here I am, with a game that I CANNOT continue due to being so bad, so boring, I can't even get past hour 13 - in a game supposedly 20 hours long.

    And this is truly a shame because I believe that with more    Another disappointment from SE: I'm not even surprised at this point and if anything I have myself to blame for this. I KNEW this was going to suck and I didn't try to listen. And here I am, with a game that I CANNOT continue due to being so bad, so boring, I can't even get past hour 13 - in a game supposedly 20 hours long.

    And this is truly a shame because I believe that with more polish this game could've been even better than SO4, which was considered one of the worse installment. Sure SO4 had crappy plots - which SO doesn't have crappy plots? - but it had a charming kind of crappy and the combat was simply wonderful and fun: I definitely enjoyed that game far more than I imagined.

    But before we get to the bad stuff, what's good in it?
    Well, the characters are decently good, even better than SO4: Fidel is not a terrible MC, Miki is annoying but okay, Relia is mysterious but not annoying, and Fiore is surprisingly less **** than she makes it appear, Emerson is more skilled than he makes it look, Anne is okay and Victor is too. I mean it's not Oscar worthy but it's not "Lymle" or "Phaze" levels of bad either. And the story isn't that bad too - at least to the point I was in I got interested - and I could try to go further once I get beyond the suckiness.

    Other good things are the large amounts of good voice acting, interactions with your companions, smooth but barebone graphics that at least remain at a stable 60 fps, combat with 7 people which is a nice difference and the usual mix of sci-fi and fantasy where we can play the fantasy side first - I think only star ocean 1 and 2 made you play from the part of the fantasy dwellers first, and in 2 you could choose which characters to go with first.

    Anyway, that's the good stuff so let's talk about bad because there are plenty!

    Star Ocean has always been fast-paced action combat by using 2 buttons in different ranges and that's it: there wasn't much else to learn and it worked pretty fun. It's still the same now but with a difference: skills take a century and a half to cast or perform and this makes combat less fluid than you might think. Even the first skill you use, Double Slash, is extremely slow at performing and it's a 2hit combo!

    There are 7 people in combat, which is nice, but one will never fight so you actually have 6 people fighting and one buffing all the time. I feel that if they looked at Suikoden they would've learned a lot more in making passive fighters but instead, Relia is a character you'll be pumping with passive roles.

    Oh right, the roles: instead of giving your characters orders now you can only give them roles, which are actual buffs and passives that you level up...I fail to see the point of this: why not just give them actual orders? Why square does have to overcomplicate everything?!

    Speaking of overcomplicated: quests are needed if you want to learn new abilities and skills. Yes, you heard it right: abilities (like compounding, smithing, gathering, emoting, etc) and skills (the ones you use in combat) are learned from books and said books can come from quests or chests. I wouldn't complain if quests weren't a pain to complete...but of course they are sucky and requires a lot of backtracking and they knew nobody would do them. So they ended up locking important stuff behind it. I can't say it's not brilliant manipulation at least!

    Also, at least to the point, I'm in (13 hours) I could NOT teleport or move anywhere freely which means backtracking on foot and let me tell you that you run so slow you NEED to hold the sprint button to make it more bearable. Problem with sprint? It's on the circle button which means you cannot reposition your camera while you sprint - in SO4 the sprint was a dash that you couldn't control, which made sense. Again, more chores to a game full of chores.

    Another issue with combat is that you can switch control to anyone you desire but outside of combat you will always return to Fidel, which is not the problem: the problem is that you enter combat without loading and this means that whenever you start a fight the camera will jerk around from Fidel to X then X to Fidel: this is really stressing on your eyes as you can feel motion sick and even eye strain!
    In addition, since I like using long ranged fighters, I ALWAYS have to move because as soon as I get into combat I'm beyond the edge and an escape meter appears as if I want to escape.
    They didn't even properly test this game.

    I just can't even...seriously just forget this game: it's clear as day they cut the funds and made it barely work just for the sake of it. Square only cares for Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Dragon Quest, and it shows - actually not really because FF15 and KH3 are also rushed but whatever.

    If anything this means SO4 is no longer the worst one so go ahead and pick that one up: I'll take Lymle's M'kay and Phaze bootlicking every day if it means to play a better game.    … Expand
  11. moonman1994
    Feb 5, 2017
    6
    Star Ocean 5 invotates some in terms of gameplay but lacks in most of the other places that the Star Ocean series usually excels. Over all it's an alright game but certainly the weakest entry in the series. Overall score: 6.5/10

    Battle System: 8/10 The battle system in Star Ocean 5 is mostly innovative. It allows you to control each individual character as well as take your entire team    Star Ocean 5 invotates some in terms of gameplay but lacks in most of the other places that the Star Ocean series usually excels. Over all it's an alright game but certainly the weakest entry in the series. Overall score: 6.5/10

    Battle System: 8/10 The battle system in Star Ocean 5 is mostly innovative. It allows you to control each individual character as well as take your entire team into battle. Your team also runs around the map with you and the transition from map to battle is pretty fluid. As far as criticisms of the battle system go: there are a lot of battle skills but manually you're limited to four which kind of sucks. Also you don't many normal attacks that you can string together unlike in the other star oceans which makes the individual (non skill) attacks seem kind of slow. The largest criticisms I have of the battle system are during certain boss battles or story events. During some battles there is important dialogue that is near impossible to hear which is frustrating. There are also these protect Anne events that are simply infuriating. That being said these are luckily few and far between. Some reviewers mentioned the battle camera which I personally never had a problem with so I don't really understand where their issues came from.

    Graphics/World Design: 8/10 The graphics are a major step up from Star Ocean 5 and the manage to maintain the Star Ocean design. The world is absolutely beautiful (possible aesthetically the best of the star ocean games). Unfortunately the world is small and because of this the awe of beauty that you had looking at each new location ends up wearing off by about 15 hours into the story since you've seen almost every location and you've seen all of them many times.

    Soundtrack: 5/10 The soundtrack relies on songs from previous Star Ocean games far to much and the new songs are nothing special. The unfortunate reality is that every tune that stuck out tended to be a song from Star Ocean 3 that was reused. The new music wasn't bad but was completely unmemorable and the Maze of Tribulations music wasn't even a new rendition which was simply disappointing.

    Story: 6/10 The story is just enough to keep you engaged. It's short (around 20 or so hours), you also are stuck on one planet (minus several spaceships) the entire time, and it just felt like large portions of it were cut. The villains were not fleshed out and they were pretty much cookie cutter villains. It feels too like there were times where another planet could easily have been added, or lore could have been added but it seems simply that that too was cut.

    Characters: 6.5/10 The characters are all at face value interesting enough and they're designed well enough but they're not fleshed out at all. Their motivations are hard to make sense of because (minus the two from earth) the motivations they have for their actions seem to come completely from the fact that "they're good people" which is kind of ridiculous. The game also brings back the PA system which would be great if every PA wasn't 30 seconds at max length and if these were actually used to develop the characters. Unfortunately the characters seem like outlines of what could have been great characters with nothing filled in.

    Side Quests/Bonus Material: 7/10 There are a lot of side quests, PAs come back, you have many unlockable roles and specialties, and everything seems collectable (items, enemy encounters you name it). This all makes the completionist gamer happy but as many extra things as there are to do they end up getting derivative after a while so I find it highly unlikely that many people did or would even want to complete all the lists in the game (battle trophies, items etc.) Also the game features the good old Maze of Tribulations so you do at least get a solid bonus dungeon.

    Misc: There are certain other slightly annoying aspects of Star Ocean 5. The (english) voice acting for some of the minor characters and minor villains is bad and in some cases really bad however the voice acting for the main cast is pretty solid. The minor villains in particular are not well developed and on of them is a direct rip of of Star Ocean 3's Albel (minus the redemption).

    Summary: Overall Star Ocean 5 was just disappointing. Star Ocean 3 is my all time favorite game and I throughly enjoyed the other three star oceans. It felt like the production was rushed and it felt like they turned the outline of a game into a full game with out adding anything past the outline. This won't stop me from hoping for a Star Ocean 6 but I certainly hope that they return more to their roots. Overall: 6.5/10    … Expand
  12. pypes
    Jul 30, 2017
    2
    This isn't my first star ocean game but it may well be my last.

    An attempt to "update" what has always been the poor relation in the Squenix RPG stable, which has left behind all of the bugbears of RPGs past and added nothing of worth. The combat attempts to blend seamlessly with general running around, except it is still more than a little jarring, and while it can occasionally be    This isn't my first star ocean game but it may well be my last.

    An attempt to "update" what has always been the poor relation in the Squenix RPG stable, which has left behind all of the bugbears of RPGs past and added nothing of worth.

    The combat attempts to blend seamlessly with general running around, except it is still more than a little jarring, and while it can occasionally be fun for the most part it's mindless and a far cry from what a real action RPG has to offer.

    The overarching story isn't terrible, but with cookie cutter characters, weird pacing, a certain someone being kidnapped every 5 minutes, and a whole daddy issues subplot being foisted in and then resolved in the space of 20 minutes it's far from good.

    My main gripe however is with some fundamentally broken mechanics. All cutscenes are un-skippable, especially the long ones before boss fights. Saves take place at save points, which are frequently blocked and you'll often be expected to complete 2 consecutive boss (or otherwise instant fail) fights between saves. There's a role system that lets you create some extremely broken (in a good way) builds, but it's never properly explained, and certain bosses will resort to spamming massive AoE attacks every 5 seconds if the AI decides this is a good idea.

    I honestly can;t bring myself to finish it at this point. It's the old sunk time / cost trap, a platinum will cost you 3 play-throughs and 100 hours +, very little of it is fun.

    I can honestly say the thing I enjoyed the most was the costume design, the rest is somewhere between passable and infuriating. Don't kids yourself that this is just a "hard" game, or that I'm whinging about JRPG staples, this is honestly a really really bad game.    … Expand
  13. accessaccess
    Jul 16, 2016
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game deserves a 2.

    I'll grant it 2 points for it's battle system which is seamlessly tied into the world and was refreshing because you didn't have to stow or manage character participants. Everyone participated 100% of the time which means that there were no "wasted builds" or situational regrets for not having someone in the party due to simply being a first-time player. The SP system allowed for adequate grinding and the option to trade exp. for other elements was a good move plus the title system felt intuitive and it made sense to build certain roles and gave expected results.

    I'll deduct 2 points for the story which was rushed and the pacing was poor. The beginning of the game was fine, very standard pacing, but the middle of the game really felt dry regarding the whole "daddy" element and going ten minutes in game play between the beginning of that conflict and the end including the revenge which felt awkward at best. Same with the whole final dungeon; it just never felt like a final dungeon and when I played it I felt let down to say the least.

    I'll deduct 2 points for the music. Some of it was in previous games for the dungeons and obviously so. It felt lazy to me and the original tracks were just not good to begin with. Unacceptable.

    I'll deduct 2 points for the Characterization. They characters had awkward depths and massive inconsistencies. It never panned out correctly. Fidel and daddy for instance was just not good for an In Media Res type relationship and nothing really came of the whole system of individuals. Nothing felt too terribly compelling.

    I'll deduct 2 points for the environments. Again, beginning of the game, it was standard and semi-interesting but soon it becomes clear there are no maps. The number of areas in the game is fewer than any of the previous games and even if "larger" that size difference doesn't make up for the diversity problem. You went from field to field. You had four or so legitimate dungeons on Faykreed: Signescila, Slaughtery, Kronos 1 and 2. That's it. There are actually no other dungeons in the game. All other areas are throughports including W. Dekaav Tunnel.

    Overall there was no glue to the game to make it an RPG. I still love the game's seamless battle system and I almost rated it higher because of the weight it has in my enjoyment but being fair and keeping things even I realized rather swiftly that I wish I had just Gamefly'd it and sent it back.    … Expand
  14. Jamesshen
    Nov 16, 2016
    1
    This is one of the worst RPG i ever played. The gaming system was very bad and the same thing goes to the characters. The only points that i give to this game is the beautiful scenery that it gives. Wont even bother to complete it. Completely waste of money
  15. Gaudy
    Jan 7, 2021
    2
    Muy aburrido. De lo peor de la Saga Star Ocean, decepcionante para los seguidores. Graficamente obsoleto, parece de PS2. El diseño de los personajes es mediocre y son puros estereotipos. El mundo a investigar, muy aburrido y sin encanto ninguno, vacio. No apetece explorar, se hace pesado. El sistema de combate se hace repetitivo, totalmente roto y mal nivelado. Enemigos randon muyMuy aburrido. De lo peor de la Saga Star Ocean, decepcionante para los seguidores. Graficamente obsoleto, parece de PS2. El diseño de los personajes es mediocre y son puros estereotipos. El mundo a investigar, muy aburrido y sin encanto ninguno, vacio. No apetece explorar, se hace pesado. El sistema de combate se hace repetitivo, totalmente roto y mal nivelado. Enemigos randon muy faciles y jefes de repente imposibles, totalmente descompensado. Traduccion en ingles, sin español. De los peores J-RPJs que he jugado.… Expand
  16. Darky1600
    Apr 7, 2020
    0
    Bland and boring no soul what so ever. I paid 49.99 for this on release and will never forget how disappointed i was and still am. Played all the SO games and loved them, unfortunately this one didn't meet up to any sort of 'good' standards at all.
  17. Vachekiri
    Mar 5, 2021
    4
    Ce jeu est une purge. Tu passes 95% du temps à spammer une touche comme un idiot. La plus part des combats sont bidons puis d'un coup tu tombes sur des mobs surpuissants qui te démontent en 30sec. Et l'IA autant pas en parler c'est pas mieux. Bref les bons rpg deviennent de plus en plus rares... Ah oui aussi, aucune carte du monde. Pour un rpg c'est le top du top
  18. Juliosouza1988
    Oct 26, 2022
    4
    Decepção é a palavra chave nesse jogo. Cheio de bugs , história ridícula de chata e uma campanha de um pouco mais de 20 horas. Pontos possitivos ? O gráfico.
  19. FaytesEnd
    Jul 7, 2016
    8
    If you enjoyed past star ocean games or like older school RPGs this game is pretty good. I'm more than 40 hours in and looking forward to finishing the story, playing the post game content and even trying again at a higher difficulty.

    Graphics are good. Some slowdowns in towns, battles are pretty solid. Camera can be a bit wonky. It hasn't given me motion sickness like Bloodbourne (dang    If you enjoyed past star ocean games or like older school RPGs this game is pretty good. I'm more than 40 hours in and looking forward to finishing the story, playing the post game content and even trying again at a higher difficulty.

    Graphics are good. Some slowdowns in towns, battles are pretty solid. Camera can be a bit wonky. It hasn't given me motion sickness like Bloodbourne (dang stutters in BB... such a good game though).

    Sound is good. I enjoy a lot of the music and the effects are done well.

    Combat is fun and fast. It is a bit simple, but rewards planning and button mashing.

    Story - not terrible, but not great either. The characters are fun though and I enjoy them. They're the normal Japanese tropes, but the voice acting is done well.

    Crafting - is where its at. Very fun, lots to do.

    I go with an 8/10 because there are some pretty big flaws. No space battles, no even in cut scenes. Camera. Some people like to walk as other party members, that doesn't bother me though. Some cheesy story parts that make you shake your head. Small world and lots of back tracking, but at least the enemies change as the story progresses (they get stronger versions of the same enemies, but with more attacks).

    Worth a buy if your an RPG junky, worth a rent if your not.    … Expand
  20. 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 peppered with nice slice of life humour, and Fiore's ass is so beautiful I could stare at it for days. :P
  21. LucianoBAKA
    Jul 4, 2016
    1
    I've just created an account here because I am too pissed off with this game...

    This is nothing like an Old School RPG, nor like a current gen RPG. It tries to mix those two styles but dies in the middle. I just can't see anything memorable nor enjoyable in this tittle. Story is not existent, graphics are meh, camera is clunky, acting has no soul, characters are generic, lot of    I've just created an account here because I am too pissed off with this game...

    This is nothing like an Old School RPG, nor like a current gen RPG.
    It tries to mix those two styles but dies in the middle.
    I just can't see anything memorable nor enjoyable in this tittle.
    Story is not existent, graphics are meh, camera is clunky, acting has no soul, characters are generic, lot of loading screens... and I could go on forever...
    The developers didn't even try.
    Even they used the PS4 system save to save the progress.
    This game is a pile of crap...sorry...
    And don't say the "IT'S AND OLD SCHOOL" bulls***.

    I have to learn to not preorder anymore...    … Expand
  22. PauloRaz3n
    Jul 2, 2016
    8
    No New Game+ ruined the game... I Like the system Battle, the difficultyt, but i dont want start a new game without my progress in a new dificulty...no DLCs, i think games like this, need DLc to extend the game, Dlcs Like, New area, new boss, new super boss.
  23. Sai1
    Mar 12, 2018
    6
    This game was extremely disappointing as it wasn't really that 'rpg.' Just because something has a story, doesn't mean it's rpg, regardless of the sea of fraudulent companies (looking at you FF 13). Exploration, bond with characters (think star ocean til the end of time or ff10), soul instead of genericism all matter. I don't think star ocean I&F is the worst 'rpg' but it's definitely notThis game was extremely disappointing as it wasn't really that 'rpg.' Just because something has a story, doesn't mean it's rpg, regardless of the sea of fraudulent companies (looking at you FF 13). Exploration, bond with characters (think star ocean til the end of time or ff10), soul instead of genericism all matter. I don't think star ocean I&F is the worst 'rpg' but it's definitely not true to the original series or it's fans or any rpg fans tbh. A larger scaled platformer (by that I mean more explore room than mario, but not enough to be REALLY considered explorative. Quests gotten from billboards makes me not care about quests. Not enough individual character story or scenes to make me care about characters. I know you are trying to appeal to autistic, lazy, instant gratification, illiterate casual gamers, but ppl that buy rpgs are the opposite of them, they don't want generic, easy win, souless crap k? Learn who your target market is please!… Expand
  24. 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 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    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 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
  25. Zero_Kyrael
    Jun 29, 2016
    7
    This game has a bit more to offer than I believe most reviews are giving it credit for. It has flaws Hands down, but there is enough here to make it a good JRPG. It is not great, but I have no regrets about my time spent with it. Why well....
    1. The music is pretty great. I had the game come with Valkyrie profile music, but did not use it much as I was really enjoying the music on its    This game has a bit more to offer than I believe most reviews are giving it credit for. It has flaws Hands down, but there is enough here to make it a good JRPG. It is not great, but I have no regrets about my time spent with it. Why well....
    1. The music is pretty great. I had the game come with Valkyrie profile music, but did not use it much as I was really enjoying the music on its own. It is used very well and fits the tone while also being memorable.
    2. Game runs smooth at 60 FPS no issues has a few bits of great scenery to enjoy!
    3. The characters are solid. While the story has issues (I'll address below) I really enjoyed everyone from the Fidel to Fiore.
    4. I had a lot of fun with the combat. There can be a lot of micromanaging, but with a party of seven you really get a brawl feel that works out FAR better than most people say it does. There is ONE glaring issue that really sours the combat experience and I feel is focused on too much which again I'll address below.

    Downsides however...
    1. Really short and not very imaginative Story. Star Ocean fans will know it for its fun mix of Sci-fi and Fantasy along with long story that gives everyone time to grow. This game clocked me in at 22 hours and it felt a bit rushed. Story itself is good, but nothing you have not encountered before really using a lot of cliches.
    2. Okay the combat problem! ESCORT MISSIONS! While the AI is not amazing you won't have to much of an issue until you hit one of these. With 7 members fights are a bit crazy and the enemies will rush your escorted target making it really hard to keep them up without a lot of micromanagement. Having to watch an intro scene before each of these fights coupled with that issues will piss anyone off. However, I still feel that these are only a few fights and the rest of the combat is solid.
    3. Camera issues. These are not game breaking, but they might break your immersion. The game tries for a seamless mix between game world and story telling so you will just be kept in an area not able to leave while everyone talks and does whatever. This can be annoying and hard to get camera in place to watch/listen in an immersive manner. Sometimes you may miss things cause you are fighting to get things into place.

    Overall I think that Star Ocean 5 is a Average JRPG. It has good and it has bad. I don't have any regrets about playing it, but it is definitely not the most memorable or genre defining entry in the star ocean series. If you are a Star Ocean fan you will enjoy the game. If you are a RPG fan and looking for something to spend time on then they're far worse games to choose, but also better ones out there! I hope this helps someone with their choice! Cheers!    … Expand
  26. Vanillabear
    Jul 5, 2016
    4
    First of all this game is nowhere near a 10 and this is coming from a big fan of the series.

    Nothing about this game is very special, the world is actually tiny (maybe 10 zones if i'm being generous) and the games length for me was 16 hours with 70% of side quests complete. There is little to no character development, Story is very rushed, Combat is extremely easy when you unlock    First of all this game is nowhere near a 10 and this is coming from a big fan of the series.

    Nothing about this game is very special, the world is actually tiny (maybe 10 zones if i'm being generous) and the games length for me was 16 hours with 70% of side quests complete.

    There is little to no character development, Story is very rushed, Combat is extremely easy when you unlock something called "berserker" as all you have to do on hard is spam circle and the side quests are VERY uninspired.

    Music is not memorable and the camera is your biggest enemy in the entire game with it's constant jolting and random zooming in and out, You can't do anything to stop this so be warned.

    If you do take this bullet to the heart then i warn you to save often as it does crash when you use a certain item (Communicator)

    Grab the game second hand and it will probably be worth it, Don't buy it at full price as it does NOT deliver as a jrpg.    … Expand
  27. Teddycrunsh3d
    Jul 4, 2016
    9
    I am going to make it short, i will only list the good and bad parts of the game (spoiler free), so here we go:

    + very good and enjoyable combat(that`s totally addicting, at leats for me) + The PA`s are very funny at times, I enjoyed them very much + The Char. designe is superb (At least for my standards) + The Grafics are good, dispite it being realesed one year ago on the PS3 in    I am going to make it short, i will only list the good and bad parts of the game (spoiler free), so here we go:

    + very good and enjoyable combat(that`s totally addicting, at leats for me)
    + The PA`s are very funny at times, I enjoyed them very much
    + The Char. designe is superb (At least for my standards)
    + The Grafics are good, dispite it being realesed one year ago on the PS3 in Japan
    + The role system gives you the oppertunity to costumise the behavior of your PM, ecsactly like you want it
    + The music is well written, and underlines the atmosphere of the current sinario and fits perfectly with the world, like in all the previous installlments
    + The oldschool leveling system where you gain exp, sp, and have to find/buy and use skill tomes to unlock skills is very rewarding and fun
    + Emotes!
    + Welch`s Laboratory/The creation system, easy to access and develop items
    and last but not least
    +the VO (Japanese/English) is allways on point, fits the Char. and gives the Char. live and makes them spritefull
    and now the negative ons:
    - The story could use some work, it`s not totally bad but very predictable/ boring at some points(It`s a SO game afterall)
    - Some things that you have to do, like guarding a fellow Partymember while your attacked and some other annoyibg stuff
    - Some repetativ Sideguests
    - Some unfair area attack spaming, allmost to powerfull Bosses
    Now onto the coclusion:
    If you like oldschool JRPG`s like Final Fantasy, Tales of... and SO 1,2 and 3 this game is for you, because it takes old RPG Elements and mixes them with newschool stuff like real time combat, without transition between traversing and fighting. The game is not innovativ by any means, but not all games have to do that. It`s a fun and awesome experience. So give the game a chance besides what all the critics say.    … Expand
  28. AvantGuardian
    Jul 10, 2016
    7
    Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithfulness, "Faithfully" gives fans of the Star Ocean series the things they loved about the previous games while drastically improving upon the combat and leveling system. Star Ocean boasts an extremely original and phenomenally crafted leveling system, by which, in addition to gaining experience after battle, you gain "SP" which you use to spend on roles thatStar Ocean: Integrity and Faithfulness, "Faithfully" gives fans of the Star Ocean series the things they loved about the previous games while drastically improving upon the combat and leveling system. Star Ocean boasts an extremely original and phenomenally crafted leveling system, by which, in addition to gaining experience after battle, you gain "SP" which you use to spend on roles that you can upgrade and assign to each character. The roles, of which each character can have 4, determine what they do in battle as AI when not controlling them, and gives them stat boosts as you upgrade the roles. So technically, with this system, there is no limit to the customization and how strong you can get. You can also Min-Max, and become and incredibly powerful glass cannon, which is rare, and cool for an JRPG.

    Pros:
    •Fun and colorful cast of characters including a perfect girly, a gorgeous girly, and a super cutie who has a huge crush on the protagonist.
    •Amazingly fluid and innovative combat and leveling system
    •Classic Star Ocean Planet/Space story with a combination of fantastical magic and super advanced space technology
    •A unique style of cutscene more retro than new, but allows for some really well-written dialogue. It feels sort of Star-Trek-esque the way the space ship cutscenes are handled. It's rather neat.

    Cons:
    Very short - about 18-24 hours playthrough, depending on how much side questing you do, which you really needn't bother as all they offer is items to make you stronger and you can get plenty strong without them.
    Unoriginal Story, and rather lame one at that - Plot revolves around a very young girl with incredible lab-created powers and a long game of cat and mouse protecting and rescuing her over and over again.
    I feel this game would have much better reviews if they had a better storyline. That being said, almost every other aspect of the game was certainly up to par with both Star Ocean, and other JRPG series.
    •Minor annoyances such as inability to skip cutscenes, a worthless crafting system compared to The end of Time, 3 protect-based battles which were absurdly difficult to the point of calling Square Enix and complaining, and instant game over screens that leave you wondering WTF happened.

    Overall:
    Worth playing for sure. Why not?    … Expand
  29. thaesino
    Nov 16, 2016
    9
    I'm not going to get involved in the petty arguments that come with social media these days, so I'll say this:

    If you really love the Star Ocean series but aren't a fan, disregard this game. If you are a huge fan of the Star Ocean series, play this game but wait until its price drops to $39.99 If you love the Tales series, you may actually find that this is the first Star Ocean to be    I'm not going to get involved in the petty arguments that come with social media these days, so I'll say this:

    If you really love the Star Ocean series but aren't a fan, disregard this game.
    If you are a huge fan of the Star Ocean series, play this game but wait until its price drops to $39.99
    If you love the Tales series, you may actually find that this is the first Star Ocean to be more like Tales than Star Ocean... the art style won't look it, but the battle system is similar (sort of), and the humor of the conversations is right up there with Tales of Vesperia's funnier moments.

    What can I say? I'm not a big fan of the majority of JRPGs heavy on fan service, so I'm quite surprised by this one and do not believe, as some say, that this is the "nail in the coffin" for the SO series.    … Expand
  30. mikehettfield
    Mar 11, 2017
    7
    I'm not fan of space plots, but this game is so beautiful, a little too anime for my taste but the music is so epic that made me bought this game and i dont regret it, combat is so fluid, and its a real rpg in every sense. great value if you used to like golden era of JRPGs on ps1.
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Awards & Rankings

46
#46 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2016
47
#47 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
58

Mixed or average reviews - based on 67 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 67
  2. Mixed: 50 out of 67
  3. Negative: 8 out of 67
  1. Easy Allies
    Dec 1, 2016
    50
    Despite having nearly seven years to figure out a way to improve upon The Last Hope, Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is lacking in just about every department. Not even a solid soundtrack is enough to salvage this wreck. There’s nothing special about this below average RPG, and it completely misses the mark.
    Read full review
  2. Pelit (Finland)
    Oct 12, 2016
    20
    A washout. Somebody let the vampire in at Tri-Ace and it sucked all the life and personality from the once weird and funny JRPG series. Bring EDGE MAVERICK back. [Sept 2016]
  3. Games Master UK
    Sep 6, 2016
    48
    A lacklustre offering in a long-running series of great games. A huge shame. [Sept 2016, p.80]
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