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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2023!!!
« on: February 24, 2023, 06:47:52 am »
04. Star Ocean: The Divine Force (PS5)
Has anyone here played the new one - The Divine Force? I've just about beat it and have had a blast!
It's very much like a PS2 era JRPG - And I mean that for better and for worse.
After SO5, I never thought the series would recover - it wasn't offensive but the most unremarkable experience I can think of. So news of the latest game had me anxious. I ended up getting as a Christmas pressie and have put a good 60+ hours into it.
The games premise is very much like the over games which features a sci-fi civilization crash landing on a underdeveloped planet and you explore the difference in cultures as they clash through a dramatic JRPG story. Overall i found the story very compelling! There is a lot of writing put into the game and the concepts it explores are interesting. The characters too are also a lot of fun to be around and very likeable – Each having valid reason to be apart of the journey. I think the problem with the story is how heavy dialogue the cutscenes are. It is clear the game still had a small budget and lacks many action scenes or suffers a little on certain attempts.
That said, I love the visuals of the game! I've heard a lot people complaining about the doll like characters but I think t hey look really detailed and nice! Also well animated too! The art direction is very strong too with each area having it's distinct feel – One of my favourites was this dark forest overridden with thick vines to climb. I was going up a hill and there would be toads and magical enemies in dark armour hidden in the depths to get you. The DUMA system really leads to a decent amount of verticality to t he map layouts.
The combat is a lot of fun too you can assign different commands to 3 face buttons. if you tap it you can assign a 5-hit combo which you can assign the moves from or hold to use a stronger attack - I mostly just used the hold attack. Then there is DUMA, A Sci-fi gadget which acts as a burst jet pack, it allows you to lunge in and strike enemies, I found the combination of this and the power attack to be fitting for most of the game.
The game also has a lot of complex mechanics its item compounding, it has like 7 different settings where you can mix different items and its really only accessible via a game-guide. What's worse is that it's not a matter of just having the items but there is also a percentage of the mix working - which leads to a lot of save scumming! This is essential to tackling the games post content dungeons too.
The game also continues its Private Action sequences which in concept is great, the idea of entering a town and seeing what the other characters are up to is fun. But sadly so has never executed this feature effectively. To get most of the scenes you have to return to areas which aren't story related later on and while they're entertaining they just don't fit into the pace of the game – As there is little incentive to return to these areas past their initial visit.. I still feel FFIX executed the concept better with its Quick Time Events – God I miss that aspect of the game!
I felt compelled to tackle the games post game dungeons and it kept me invested. It is a case of just breaking the game with it's components and accessories which take a lot of prep to get but quick to execute – you can max out your characters levels very quickly once you have the right equipment buffs. The last boss did create a challenge and while looking at advice from guides online I did venture into a little item conjuring of my own to build a set up to beat the Ultimate Boss – A little proud of that too!
Overall I found it to be an above average JRPG with heart. It's a massive step up from the previous game and if they would consider another Star Ocean game I would certainly be on-board!
Has anyone here played the new one - The Divine Force? I've just about beat it and have had a blast!
It's very much like a PS2 era JRPG - And I mean that for better and for worse.
After SO5, I never thought the series would recover - it wasn't offensive but the most unremarkable experience I can think of. So news of the latest game had me anxious. I ended up getting as a Christmas pressie and have put a good 60+ hours into it.
The games premise is very much like the over games which features a sci-fi civilization crash landing on a underdeveloped planet and you explore the difference in cultures as they clash through a dramatic JRPG story. Overall i found the story very compelling! There is a lot of writing put into the game and the concepts it explores are interesting. The characters too are also a lot of fun to be around and very likeable – Each having valid reason to be apart of the journey. I think the problem with the story is how heavy dialogue the cutscenes are. It is clear the game still had a small budget and lacks many action scenes or suffers a little on certain attempts.
That said, I love the visuals of the game! I've heard a lot people complaining about the doll like characters but I think t hey look really detailed and nice! Also well animated too! The art direction is very strong too with each area having it's distinct feel – One of my favourites was this dark forest overridden with thick vines to climb. I was going up a hill and there would be toads and magical enemies in dark armour hidden in the depths to get you. The DUMA system really leads to a decent amount of verticality to t he map layouts.
The combat is a lot of fun too you can assign different commands to 3 face buttons. if you tap it you can assign a 5-hit combo which you can assign the moves from or hold to use a stronger attack - I mostly just used the hold attack. Then there is DUMA, A Sci-fi gadget which acts as a burst jet pack, it allows you to lunge in and strike enemies, I found the combination of this and the power attack to be fitting for most of the game.
The game also has a lot of complex mechanics its item compounding, it has like 7 different settings where you can mix different items and its really only accessible via a game-guide. What's worse is that it's not a matter of just having the items but there is also a percentage of the mix working - which leads to a lot of save scumming! This is essential to tackling the games post content dungeons too.
The game also continues its Private Action sequences which in concept is great, the idea of entering a town and seeing what the other characters are up to is fun. But sadly so has never executed this feature effectively. To get most of the scenes you have to return to areas which aren't story related later on and while they're entertaining they just don't fit into the pace of the game – As there is little incentive to return to these areas past their initial visit.. I still feel FFIX executed the concept better with its Quick Time Events – God I miss that aspect of the game!
I felt compelled to tackle the games post game dungeons and it kept me invested. It is a case of just breaking the game with it's components and accessories which take a lot of prep to get but quick to execute – you can max out your characters levels very quickly once you have the right equipment buffs. The last boss did create a challenge and while looking at advice from guides online I did venture into a little item conjuring of my own to build a set up to beat the Ultimate Boss – A little proud of that too!
Overall I found it to be an above average JRPG with heart. It's a massive step up from the previous game and if they would consider another Star Ocean game I would certainly be on-board!