Star Ocean: The Divine Force Review: They Don’t Make ‘Em Like This Anymore
There’s something to be said for a B game. They’re not the flashiest, and they’re not going to win many awards, but they’re satisfying nonetheless, and when you’re craving the sort of experience they offer, they can be the perfect snack between bigger releases. While there were once tons of great B titles, their supply has largely dried up thanks to rising budgets. That’s why I was so pleasantly surprised by Star Ocean: The Divine Force. Given the series’ recent struggles, we were skeptical of it, but this is easily the best Star Ocean title since the PS2 days. It’s still an imperfect game and one that won’t appeal to everyone, but gameplay is its greatest strength, and if you want an action RPG that offers an interesting take, you should absolutely consider it.
Pick Your Path
You play as either Captain Raymond Lawrence, the captain of a ship transporting goods around the galaxy, or as Princess Laeticia Aucerius, the daughter of the King of a major country on an underdeveloped planet. More accurately, you play as both of them, at least for major portions of the game, along with a larger cast of charming characters. Their stories crash into each other almost from the very start of Divine Force, and both were regulars in my party throughout much of the game. You start your game by choosing one of them, though, and who you choose does matter, because, at times, their stories will diverge, and you’ll follow your chosen character as the pair split up and go their own ways.
Raymond has been stranded on Laeticia’s planet and just wants to find the rest of his crew and maybe figure out who shot him out of the sky. Laeticia is dealing with a number of issues in her Kingdom, including a quickly spreading disease and tensions with their neighbors, which threaten to lead to war, and she’s desperate to prevent this. They find that putting their heads together gives both of them the best chance to accomplish their goals.
I don’t want to spoil any more of the story, other than to say that it mixes fantasy and science fiction in the way Star Ocean always has, taking you to incredible places and putting characters in situations that are far outside their comfort zones. I wish I could say I found it entertaining, but most of the villains did little for me, and the plot itself mostly grows less interesting as the game goes on, and it wasn’t that interesting to start with. It’s not awful or anything, but it’s mostly carried by a strong cast. I eventually grew to like every member of my party, with each of them going on their own personal journeys of growth which are far more satisfying than the overarching plot.
Seamless Combat
Thankfully, the story isn’t the main reason to check out Divine Force. No, instead, you’ll want to keep going because of almost shockingly strong gameplay, which is incredibly addicting. Both exploration and combat take place on the same plane, with the game transitioning between the two seamlessly. You can go for surprise attacks and actions before a fight, giving you a chance to freeze your foes in place. The action here is super fast and furious, with enemies being aggressive. It rarely felt unfair, however, and you unlock so many skills and options that I felt like I could always handle myself. While I had to get used to having to pause the action to use items, once I did, this worked well, and I love that you can freely swap your party members, even in the middle of a fight. This allows for some truly interesting options.
If that was all, there was to the combat though Divine Force would offer only a pretty standard, albeit well-executed battle system. What sets it apart, however, is D.U.M.A. A robot you engage with early in the game, it changes everything, having a significant impact both in and out of battle. D.U.M.A. allows you a lot of abilities, such as acting as a shield and letting you scan the environment, but the most important is the ability to fly. Well, maybe more accurately, the ability to dash through the air and then fall with style, but still.
D.U.M.A. Stands Out
In combat, that primarily manifests as you dashing across the field to slam into your opponents. You can even dodge at the last second and come at them from a new angle, setting up a blindside that can freeze opponents in place. It perfectly complements your standard attacks, which you have a limited number of uses of until they recharge and give you extra of your regular attacks. It all plays together harmoniously.
Combat isn’t the only place to enjoy D.U.M.A., though. You also can fly around while exploring the world, grabbing upgrade points that allow you to improve your D.U.M.A. skills. This encourages you to explore everywhere, and while fast travel is convenient and works well, sometimes it’s nice just to run through fields while your party bickers and chats. One might be concerned that moving through these huge areas would lead to performance issues, which were somewhat common in the demo, but I found moments that caused issues to be rare in the full game, at least on performance mode where I chose to play. A few frames dropped here and there in huge areas, but it was never an issue.
A B Game Through and Through
It’s good that this is at least something to keep you busy outside of the main story, though, as little else in the game is all that interesting. I did like the Es’owa board game present, which you can use Tri-Ace themed pieces for, which are a fun and non-distracting bit of fan service. There’s also crafting, which I found mostly dull, but your mileage may vary, and it’s admittedly a deep system. The only real side quests, however, are all fetch quests, and they don’t feel like they had any passion behind their development, they feel like they’re here because the developers thought they had to be.
The game’s interface is a bit of a mess as well. Your party members have all kinds of upgrade options. You have a skill tree with a massive amount of abilities and stat upgrades to buy as you level up. It’s not unsatisfying, but it is rather slow, and you level up so frequently that you’ll spend a ton of time in these menus, especially when your party starts getting bigger. There are also options to upgrade individual skills, and passive abilities, and equip different passive abilities, and switch in accessories which the game is fond of unequipping from people every time they leave your party, which happens a lot. You end up having to go back in and set these up all over again. It’s even difficult to sell multiples of items in shops. I like actually having things to manage in an RPG, but this tends to be a bit much at times.
Missing That Modern Feel
From an aesthetic point of view, Star Ocean: The Divine Force is an extremely mixed package, really driving home that B-game feel. Graphically even on current generation systems, it feels somewhat old, not necessarily bad looking, but also not modern. Character models, perhaps, are the worst. While some are worse than others, the protagonists, in particular, are hit hard. Raymond’s proportions just feel strange, and Laeticia’s face sparked a sort of uncanny valley feeling that never fully went away. Most of the rest of the party look a bit better, as long as you’re okay with somewhat exaggerated proportions, but these two never quite worked. Which is a shame because so much else in the game can actually look really good. Maybe not from a technical standpoint, but there are some stunning vistas and designs, particularly when you look up into the sky.
An excellent soundtrack helps a lot, too, with every area having unique music that’s catchy and feels appropriate for the moment. Voice acting is mostly well done, which is impressive because the script can be pretty rough in parts, and the actors mostly make it work. It might have been good for whoever was directing the actors to decide on a consistent pronunciation of Laeticia, something which gets almost comical at times as characters say it so many ways, but outside of that, the cast does good work.
Conclusion
Star Ocean: The Divine Force admittedly has a number of issues. A poor interface, a main story which isn’t all that interesting, and certain character designs that just look bad. For me, however, its strengths more than overcame those issues, with a truly charming cast of characters, intense and enjoyable combat, and a novel twist in D.U.M.A. who makes moving around both in and out of combat a joy. It won’t be for everyone, but fans of the series or genre who have spent years waiting for a Star Ocean game worth their time will find this is exactly the sort of B game they don’t make enough of anymore.
Final Verdict: 4/5
Available on: PS5 (Reviewed), PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC; Publisher: Square Enix; Developer: Tri-Ace; Players: 1; Released: October 27th, 2022; ESRB: T for Teen; MSRP: $59.99
Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of Star Ocean: The Divine Force provided by the publisher.
