GOTY tbh. Beat Raymond's route in about 34 hours first, will do Laeticia's later on.
Story
I really like the premise of this game's story, its a lot of fun. Space FedEx deliveryman Raymond's ship is attacked and he crash lands on a fantasy themed underdeveloped planet named Aster IV where he gets involved in a war between nations. There is a law in universe that prevents people from interacting with underdeveloped planets so that the evolution of their society isn't influenced by anyone but Raymond doesn't give a fuck, its very entertaining to see Sci Fi and Fantasy mix together in his interactions with the residents of Aster IV as they react to the increasing presence of advanced technology on their journey. I don't get the complaints some have about the game suddenly ending, but I do wish we got a bit more at the end with Aster IV, though that may be because I am attached to this cast.
Characters
The characters the draw of the game for me. The party in this game is pretty varied and they're mostly good. Midas in particular is a joy to watch because of how little patience he has with the royalty of the planet and also due to how his inventor side reacts to Sci-Fi stuff. He's also buff as fuck for a mage. Private Actions are a mechanic where the MC gets to converse with party members mostly one on one during their downtime in cities and its put to great use here, loads of funny and interesting conversations with great characterization.
Gameplay
The combat although easy is a lot of fun and personally, buffing up, blindsiding an enemy and then hitting them with your strongest chain combo/Vatting attack never got old. They also somehow made it fun to play as the healer and it felt pretty natural to swap to Nina to build up AP and then swap to Elena/Marielle to own enemies. Figuring out the best chain combos for the party is neat but I will say, I never bothered figuring out what was best for the mages(I'm lazy).
One of the key features of a Star Ocean game is its unique Item Creation mechanic. Unfortunately for me, this is my first Star Ocean game so I did not interact with it much beyond doing the side quests for Welch to unlock them and making stronger revive items with it. I have seen online that its very useful for making great items and equipment though. I'll definitely be using it more in post game.
Exploration is pretty good with a fair amount of visual variety as well as vertical emphasis due to the ability to launch yourself into the air and glide although sadly the vertical aspects of the area design peak towards the beginning of the game. Most of the exploration is done in open fields that are visually great but sadly empty beyond some chests and gems for upgrades. Towards the end of the game the areas get replaced with dungeons and they are actually decently designed. There's even a teleport dungeon, hats off to Tri-Ace honestly for implementing one in their game even if it is a simple one.
Music
Motoi Sakuraba killed it on the music. I haven't played the other games he's composed for besides half of Valkyrie Elysium, I can hear the similarities and I gotta say I much prefer his work here over Elysium. Some of my favorites are "Special Delivery, Coming In Hot!", "Dance of The White Blade", "Bravery Flows Where Flesh Meets Steel", "Blaze Your Own Path: The Aldous" and "Paladurnia". I actually have a lot more but I don't want to list like 70% of the OST.
Conclusion
The Divine Force is a very fun time with great characters, combat and music. A must have honestly but I think the weaker story may affect some people's enjoyment of the game. Its hooked me on the series and I will be playing the rest of them
Story
I really like the premise of this game's story, its a lot of fun. Space FedEx deliveryman Raymond's ship is attacked and he crash lands on a fantasy themed underdeveloped planet named Aster IV where he gets involved in a war between nations. There is a law in universe that prevents people from interacting with underdeveloped planets so that the evolution of their society isn't influenced by anyone but Raymond doesn't give a fuck, its very entertaining to see Sci Fi and Fantasy mix together in his interactions with the residents of Aster IV as they react to the increasing presence of advanced technology on their journey. I don't get the complaints some have about the game suddenly ending, but I do wish we got a bit more at the end with Aster IV, though that may be because I am attached to this cast.
Characters
The characters the draw of the game for me. The party in this game is pretty varied and they're mostly good. Midas in particular is a joy to watch because of how little patience he has with the royalty of the planet and also due to how his inventor side reacts to Sci-Fi stuff. He's also buff as fuck for a mage. Private Actions are a mechanic where the MC gets to converse with party members mostly one on one during their downtime in cities and its put to great use here, loads of funny and interesting conversations with great characterization.
Gameplay
The combat although easy is a lot of fun and personally, buffing up, blindsiding an enemy and then hitting them with your strongest chain combo/Vatting attack never got old. They also somehow made it fun to play as the healer and it felt pretty natural to swap to Nina to build up AP and then swap to Elena/Marielle to own enemies. Figuring out the best chain combos for the party is neat but I will say, I never bothered figuring out what was best for the mages(I'm lazy).
One of the key features of a Star Ocean game is its unique Item Creation mechanic. Unfortunately for me, this is my first Star Ocean game so I did not interact with it much beyond doing the side quests for Welch to unlock them and making stronger revive items with it. I have seen online that its very useful for making great items and equipment though. I'll definitely be using it more in post game.
Exploration is pretty good with a fair amount of visual variety as well as vertical emphasis due to the ability to launch yourself into the air and glide although sadly the vertical aspects of the area design peak towards the beginning of the game. Most of the exploration is done in open fields that are visually great but sadly empty beyond some chests and gems for upgrades. Towards the end of the game the areas get replaced with dungeons and they are actually decently designed. There's even a teleport dungeon, hats off to Tri-Ace honestly for implementing one in their game even if it is a simple one.
Music
Motoi Sakuraba killed it on the music. I haven't played the other games he's composed for besides half of Valkyrie Elysium, I can hear the similarities and I gotta say I much prefer his work here over Elysium. Some of my favorites are "Special Delivery, Coming In Hot!", "Dance of The White Blade", "Bravery Flows Where Flesh Meets Steel", "Blaze Your Own Path: The Aldous" and "Paladurnia". I actually have a lot more but I don't want to list like 70% of the OST.
Conclusion
The Divine Force is a very fun time with great characters, combat and music. A must have honestly but I think the weaker story may affect some people's enjoyment of the game. Its hooked me on the series and I will be playing the rest of them
3 Comments
out of curiosity, which difficulty setting did you play on?
Played on Galaxy which seems to be normal difficulty
Shu_Watch
1 year ago