Star Ocean: The Divine Force

 PlayStation 5
User Score
6.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 161 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 94 out of 161
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 161
  3. Negative: 47 out of 161
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  1. grisai
    Nov 14, 2022
    6
    The story was royal and good
    Only one planet can be explored
    In the second half, you can go to other planets, but only towns and dungeons
    There are too few places to go even if you can fly with VA
    I wanted to explore various stars
    Graphics are inferior to next-gen games
  2. cid33
    Nov 21, 2022
    7
    Amazing rpg that i could not put down till i finished it, and still hungry for another playthrough,
    tho not without issues i highly recommend for J-rpg fans, Star ocean is BACK.
    Story = 6 Average but entertaining. nothing special but fun non the less. characters are kinda meh, not unlikable per say, but i struggled to care about any of them. Combat = 8 very fun, i like the blind    Amazing rpg that i could not put down till i finished it, and still hungry for another playthrough,
    tho not without issues i highly recommend for J-rpg fans, Star ocean is BACK.

    Story = 6
    Average but entertaining. nothing special but fun non the less. characters are kinda meh, not unlikable per say, but i struggled to care about any of them.

    Combat = 8
    very fun, i like the blind side and D.u.ma stuff keeps combat fun for 60h+
    lots of challenges to find of the path, and in post game.

    Graphics = 7
    Above average for large games like these, but plagued by frame drops in towns and cities,
    thankfully this is not an issue in combat and dungeons.
    characters are detailed but have **** face animations, some have weird 3d models that don't match the character art, while others look fine, this is standard star ocean stuff tho.

    Wold and Navigation =8
    Plenty of areas lots of secrets, chests, side quests Private actions to find.
    some areas look stunning other meh but always fun to explore, the duma lets you fly across areas and gives dungeons verticality and a way to cover area fast when in need.

    Interface/ui = 4
    Worst in the series the menus look terrible, and sometimes lag when you start crafting allot, especially when entering the equip screen with many things in inventory.
    Crafting flashes Fullscreen White at end, gets panful when you craft hundred of items against the dark menu. Text is way to small in the ui, mini-map is to small and way too zoomed in, it show´s less then what you can see with your eyes often only showing blue ground making it useless.    … Expand
  3. WHYsox
    Oct 29, 2022
    6
    The game has a lot of potential but sadly is hindered by questional gameplay choices and technical issues.

    Pros: Fun battlesystem which is more action focused and in realtime A bit cliché but loveable characters Big areas to explore 2 Playable main characters similar to Star Ocean 2 Cool features like D.U.M.A which lets you fly in battle and during explorations Great Character    The game has a lot of potential but sadly is hindered by questional gameplay choices and technical issues.

    Pros:
    Fun battlesystem which is more action focused and in realtime
    A bit cliché but loveable characters
    Big areas to explore
    2 Playable main characters similar to Star Ocean 2
    Cool features like D.U.M.A which lets you fly in battle and during explorations
    Great Character designs (by Akiman) and Music (by Motoi Sakuraba)

    Cons:
    Technical and graphically outdated models look kinda outdated as well...
    Framerate issues (Stutter, slowdowns in some areas or towns)
    Partner Characters have to be re-equiped after entering and leaving the town
    Stiff animations in cutscenes (sometimes reminds me of cutscenes in an online game)
    Areas a big but quite empty sometimes (some towns as well)
    A lot of backtracking even with the given D.U.M.A. / Teleportation
    Partner AI is not very smart in battles they often just attack and die easily (Worst when playing on Universe)
    Camera issues in battles and in small towns where the camera stucks or isn't following the character fast enough
    Recycelt NPCs and elements from Star Ocean 5 and amnanesis

    Sadly due some weird design choices on the gameplay part, technical issues and the small budget of the game are hindering Star Ocean the devine force to be something awesome. It's not the worst Star Ocean game or game overall Tri Ace has made but it leaves much to be desired. Its a medicore JRPG but a good attempt from Tri Ace and hopefully if the budget is higher we can maybe expect a better next installment because even with these flaws its going in the right direction while tripping over some stones.    … Expand
  4. Jt0429
    Oct 29, 2022
    7
    Good-
    Great characters; Fun story.
    Bad- Middling combat. Thoughts- Star Ocean: The Divine Force may not look like the most impressive game out there, and while its combat may be passable at the best of times, something about the game keeps making me come back to it. It’s got an entertaining story, sure, but I think the best aspect of Star Ocean: The Divine Force is its cast of    Good-
    Great characters; Fun story.

    Bad-
    Middling combat.

    Thoughts-
    Star Ocean: The Divine Force may not look like the most impressive game out there, and while its combat may be passable at the best of times, something about the game keeps making me come back to it. It’s got an entertaining story, sure, but I think the best aspect of Star Ocean: The Divine Force is its cast of characters. Both Raymond and Laeticia make for compelling protagonists, and even if it were just one of them leading the show, they could’ve pulled it off quite well. The inter-character writing is also quite fun, giving the game some heart. The lengthy story, especially if you take into account the possibility of needing two playthroughs that, while largely the same, will give you a more complete picture of the story, might sound like a tough pill to swallow, but with characters like this, the pill starts sounding quite sweet.    … Expand
  5. Retro_Player_77
    Nov 5, 2022
    5
    Game looks cheap and is filled with performance issues. Story is okay but generic at most. Characters looks more like mannequins, exploration is good and the gameplay is fun for a few hours but the game doesn't hold my interest for too long.
  6. Kingoftheplant
    Nov 13, 2022
    6
    This game is average. Nothing special. Bought it the day it came out. Only played a little bit. It's ok. Really clunky
  7. RowanBlack
    Nov 3, 2022
    6
    Mixed bag of success and meh. The game has several questionable design decisions that bring it down but I will just talk about the things I liked. Character design is fun...not going to say good because this one is a matter of taste, I like funky outfits and pretty girls so for me it's a win. English dub track, again this one isn't "good" but at least it's included and covers a greatMixed bag of success and meh. The game has several questionable design decisions that bring it down but I will just talk about the things I liked. Character design is fun...not going to say good because this one is a matter of taste, I like funky outfits and pretty girls so for me it's a win. English dub track, again this one isn't "good" but at least it's included and covers a great deal of dialogue and for me that is another win. mini game, if you have never played GO this game might take a moment to figure out but I enjoyed the mini game more than actual combat. Everything else was middle of the road and could have been improved.… Expand
  8. eXoFrey
    Nov 8, 2022
    7
    This game has been for me a rollercoaster of ups and down. The graphics of the world are gorgeous, but still some parts where they could have worked better details were terrible, especially inside houses. It almost felt lazy to have such an amazing new gen graphic view while traveling, but still looking at plates and gobelets that seemed to come out of a ps2 game. The music is quite good.This game has been for me a rollercoaster of ups and down. The graphics of the world are gorgeous, but still some parts where they could have worked better details were terrible, especially inside houses. It almost felt lazy to have such an amazing new gen graphic view while traveling, but still looking at plates and gobelets that seemed to come out of a ps2 game. The music is quite good. Some of the characters are very cliche and look like a copy paste of any other character you would find in another japanese game. The story is good by moment and really long and boring by some other moments. By the end of the game, you are mostly just watching an anime for there is not much exploration anymore and there's not much more you can do than watch long animated scenes and fight bosses. The combat system was alright. Still giving it a 7 cause, like I said, the graphics, music and story can be really good by moments. I also really do love that they give you the option to chose the hero of the story at the beginning which will make you get specific scenes for the hero you chose.… Expand
  9. sensei_slayer
    Nov 18, 2022
    6
    Pros
    - The main characters are interesting, you get curious of their inputs when the story progresses
    - Combat is fun and easy - No loading on enemy encounter, combat feels fast - Better than Integrity and Faithlessness Cons - I miss the cooking system - No New Game+ - Difficulty spikes even in Galaxy mode - Final boss is underwhelming - Progress in the mini game is hard to    Pros
    - The main characters are interesting, you get curious of their inputs when the story progresses
    - Combat is fun and easy
    - No loading on enemy encounter, combat feels fast
    - Better than Integrity and Faithlessness

    Cons
    - I miss the cooking system
    - No New Game+
    - Difficulty spikes even in Galaxy mode
    - Final boss is underwhelming
    - Progress in the mini game is hard to track, and the actual gameplay is boring and repetitive
    - You can't track of the some of the quest unless you follow and walkthrough

    Verdict:
    - Buy this if you are a Star Ocean fan, it's a good buy, else wait for a sale    … Expand
  10. biggpaul87
    Apr 21, 2023
    5
    Mediocre at best. Like many other people the story isn’t bad, what ruins it for me mainly is the combat system they chose. Apparently tri-ace has never heard the phrase if it anti broke don’t fix i, it strayed way too far from the previous games. The ap system is more of a headache and makes simple things far too tedious. And they stole from the tales series with the skill mapping butMediocre at best. Like many other people the story isn’t bad, what ruins it for me mainly is the combat system they chose. Apparently tri-ace has never heard the phrase if it anti broke don’t fix i, it strayed way too far from the previous games. The ap system is more of a headache and makes simple things far too tedious. And they stole from the tales series with the skill mapping but dosent play well with the ap system. Overall I’m struggling to finish the game and I probably never just because of how unenjoyable it is to play. I hope this was a lesson for them and if they make another game they scrap this system and go back to their roots.… Expand
  11. Dreamcast2040
    Jun 12, 2023
    7
    Solid action jrpg, decent story, good combat system, but also some bad character design.
  12. Aokana
    Sep 5, 2023
    7
    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    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 hours....now 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 up....And 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.    … Expand
  13. Anthlon
    Dec 14, 2022
    7
    Star Ocean to me felt like Tri-ace wanted to create a large budget space epic, but weren't given the budget they needed to convincingly pull it off. While that first sentence may seem overall negative I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing through Star Ocean: The Divine Force, however there were parts that I struggled with. I am by no means a Star Ocean veteran, I have played through FirstStar Ocean to me felt like Tri-ace wanted to create a large budget space epic, but weren't given the budget they needed to convincingly pull it off. While that first sentence may seem overall negative I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing through Star Ocean: The Divine Force, however there were parts that I struggled with. I am by no means a Star Ocean veteran, I have played through First Departure R and had a great time with it, but there are design choices within The Divine Force that made it difficult at times to engaged and to fully appreciate what the developers were looking to do.

    At the beginning of the game you're given the choice of playing as one of two characters, Raymond or Laeticia, I opted for Raymond. You're travelling through space when suddenly you're shot down by another ship, forcing you to crash land on a close by planet. In doing this your split from your crewmate and eventually meet up with the Laeticia, who is actually a princess for the kingdom you've just crashed in who are decades behind you technology wise. From this point on you will continue going from area to area looking for new party members that will help you protect Laeticia's kingdom and her people. I generally was okay with the plot, it didn't do anything completely different, but the clashing of more traditional methods, against the newer, better technology was interesting to see. Around the half way point the game started to get really cutscene heavy, choosing to, what it felt like giving an exposition dump and bored me heavily.

    Gameplay wise, I enjoyed a greatly. Star Ocean The Divine Force presents you with an ATB system with you starting on 5 tabs, and you can increase these by performing specific actions, but getting hit will make you lose a tab, this can make for some interesting choices as you want as many as possible so you can consistently applying damage, and in doing so will force you to switch characters as building up these ATB tabs will be easier with certain characters in different situations, however the AI partners while generally great in my opinion, can also be quite dumb, such as standing in AOE fire taking damage and not moving because the enemy hasn't moved either. One of the combat's shining points is the system called D.U.M.A, this is what allows you to perform backstab moves and swift movements while in battle. I really liked this, it made the fights frantic, and gave them large amounts of flair, it's also not restricted to combat mode only, you can use D.U.M.A to fly around the open areas looking for secrets, enjoyed that a lot.

    I played with the game on 'Performance Mode' and it felt like it'd hit 60FPS around 95% of the time, with some frame drops in one area of the game which became quite noticeable to me. The game also doesn't shy away from side quests, although I never really delved into them too much, I tried to do them but I couldn't find a way to view what my actual objective was. Commonly you'd speak to an NPC and they'd describe their problem, and ask for your help, after accepting the quest description would feel vague and wouldn't really give me much indication of where I was supposed to be going, which to some could be viewed as a good though as you're forced to engage your brain, unfortunately I'm not so lucky to see it that way.

    Graphically I think the game looks good, the environments feel detailed and the characters look nice, there are some parts that I feel didn't really live up to the standards surrounding. The lipsyncing of characters feels cheaply done, it felt very noticable that it was just enough to convey that they were speaking, but that was the extent of it. I also weirdly felt that Raymond looked very strange in the face, there was something that just seemed off about his face to me.

    Musically the game delivers, I enjoyed a lot of the music and I feel that it's one of Star Ocean's strong points and it's consistant in the delivery here.

    Star Ocean: The Divine Force is a flawed, but fun game to play. I feel if you're a Star Ocean or JRPG fan you will most likely enjoy your time with this game, but there are just some story and design issues that are holding this game back from being great, although settling for good isn't a bad thing either.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

33
#33 Most Discussed PlayStation 5 Game of 2022

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 48 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 48
  2. Mixed: 28 out of 48
  3. Negative: 1 out of 48
  1. Oyungezer
    Jan 5, 2023
    65
    This long-running series returns to classic roots with this new entry, but I doubt whether this is a correct choice or not.
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  2. Gaming Age
    Dec 7, 2022
    50
    Star Ocean: The Divine Force is an improvement from the previous game; Integrity and Faithlessness, but this is not a return to form to games like Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, or The Second Story. tri-Ace, to me, could do no wrong during the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 era. I would love to see tri-Ace return to greatness with a higher quality new Star Ocean title, but with this one I’ll have to settle for average.
    Read full review
  3. Dexerto
    Nov 29, 2022
    40
    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.
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