Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Twitch
    Game on Aus
    • News
      What’s coming to PlayStation Plus in June 2023?

      What’s coming to PlayStation Plus in June 2023?

      June 1, 2023

      IT’S JUNE! — and that means two things: it is officially the rainy season & it’s time for the next…

      ANZPL Split 1 2023 Trophy

      ANZPL Split 1 2023 LAN Finals: Champions Crowned

      May 30, 2023

      This is it. The ANZPL Split 1 2023 LAN Finals. Who would win the Lower Final and make it to the Grand Final to face the Skorpions?

      Company of Heroes 3 Xbox console give-away

      Company of Heroes 3 Xbox console give-away

      May 30, 2023

      TODAY’S release of the Company of Heroes 3 Console Edition released on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, FiveStarGames…

      Assassin’s Creed: Mirage details emerge

      Assassin’s Creed: Mirage details emerge

      May 25, 2023

      AT the PlayStation Showcase this morning there was a few moments of excitement for me, one of them being the…

      PlayStation ’23 Showcase report

      PlayStation ’23 Showcase report

      May 25, 2023

      PlayStation went ahead with its PlayStation Showcase earlier this morning and kicked off the old E3-style season presentation of a…

      View All
    • Reviews
      Crucial T700 – The SSD powerhouse!

      Crucial T700 – The SSD powerhouse!

      September 6, 2023

      The Crucial T700 sets a new standard in performance when it comes to Consumer Grade SSDs, pushing speeds faster than…

      Hyper Karting and Hyper VR street signage

      Hyper Karting & Reality Hyper Amazing!

      June 7, 2023

      I recently visited Hyper Karting, a go-kart and VR centre in Sydney. As well as the go-karts, I was very keen to experience Hyper Reality.

      Company of Heroes 3 (Console Edition) – Tactical Brilliance

      Company of Heroes 3 (Console Edition) – Tactical Brilliance

      June 5, 2023

      Company of Heroes 3 marks the highly anticipated return of the critically acclaimed real-time strategy franchise to consoles. Developed by…

      Diablo 4 Review – A Dark and Thrilling Return to Glory

      Diablo 4 Review – A Dark and Thrilling Return to Glory

      May 31, 2023

      Diablo 4 is the long-awaited continuation of the iconic action role-playing game series developed by Blizzard Entertainment. I had the…

      Alienware AW510K Low-Profile RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

      Alienware AW510K Low-Profile RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

      May 25, 2023

      When I reviewed the Alienware AW720M Tri-Mode Wireless Gaming Mouse at the start of the year, I came away intrigued…

      View All
    • Podcasts
      Nuts & Bolts Ep 84 Hero Card

      Nuts & Bolts Ep 84: What Is The LCS Doing?

      June 3, 2023

      The World Of Tanks ANZPL LAN Finals have decided the Split 1 champions. Jim takes us through the action! Lots…

      Nuts & Bolts Ep 83 Hero Card

      Nuts & Bolts Ep 83: Let’s Get Down To Business

      May 20, 2023

      There’s lots to cover this week. Join Mercury and Jim as the World Of Thanks ANZPL heads towards their LAN…

      The Weekly Show Ep 279 Hero Card

      The Weekly Show Ep 279: Tech Issues: The Show

      May 19, 2023

      Doomcutie joins Stormie and Jim as they talk through mods, leaks and so much more! Plus our Bloody Good Game Of The Week thanks to Aussie Broadband.

      Nuts & Bolts Ep 82 Hero Card

      Nuts & Bolts Ep 82: We Missed You!

      May 13, 2023

      It’s been a couple of weeks so Jim and Mercury catch up to talk all things Dreamhack Melbourne. Plus Snoop…

      The Weekly Show Ep 278 Hero Card

      The Weekly Show Ep 278: Look Who Just Drops In

      May 12, 2023

      Doomcutie joins Stormie and Jim as they talk through mods, leaks and so much more! Plus our Bloody Good Game Of The Week thanks to Aussie Broadband.

      View All
    • Categories
      • BY PLATFORM
        • Playstation
        • Xbox
        • Nintendo
        • PC
        • Mobile
        • VR
        • Retro
      • BY GENRE
        • Action
        • Action-Adventure
        • Battle Royale
        • Fighting
        • FPS
        • Horror Games
        • RPG
        • Simulation
        • Sports
        • MMORPG
        • MOBA
        • Platformer
        • Strategy
        • Survival
        • Indie
      • GOA ESSENTIALS
        • Esports
        • Conventions
        • Tabletop
        • Hardware
        • Funny
        • Streaming
        • Win
        • Podcast
        • Video
    • More
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
    Game on Aus
    Home » Star Ocean: The Divine Force – Review
    Star Ocean: The Divine Force – Review
    ACTION-ADVENTURE

    Star Ocean: The Divine Force – Review

    Mikeey BarrowBy Mikeey BarrowNovember 1, 2022
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    STAR OCEAN has long been a series that has always intrigued me since its first release on Xbox 360 with Star Ocean: The Last Hope, as I’m a huge sci-fi and RPG fan, but back then I was a bit of an RPG newbie and didn’t quite understand it. Now with a lot more RPG experience behind me, I jumped at the chance to review Star Ocean: The Divine Force.

    From the outset of the game, you are given a character selection between Raymond and Laeticia who serve as the game’s main characters. Ray who is a bit of a space maverick whom you meet at the outset of the game and Laeticia is the Princess of the Kingdom of Aucerius of the underdeveloped planet of Aster IV.

    Star Ocean: The Divine Force – Review
    The vistas and skies are beautiful

    While throughout your time in the game you can choose to play whoever is in your party as you are able to switch at any time, the opening selection of characters will serve as a different perspective when the group disbands in many of the towns in the world you will visit.

    Star Ocean: The Divine Force starts off with Raymond who is serving as the captain of a ship on a delivery run across the stars, when they are shot down but an unidentified enemy and are forced to abandon ship in their escape pods and find themselves alone and scattered on Aster IV, the main world the game takes place on.

    It is here that Laticia and her companion Albaird find Ray alone and unconscious, when he awakes he is concerned for his missing crew and sets out to find them. It is here from the outset of the game that the main feeling out of ‘I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine’ missions start out as it appears they are heading in the right direction but require some help on their mission. They are also very intrigued by the technology Ray possesses in the form of his shuttle and communication gadgets.

    Star Ocean: The Divine Force – Review
    You will meet a variety of people on your journey

    The voice acting in Star Ocean: The Divine Force is all really well done and I actually laughed out loud as it seems like a cross between Guardians of the Galaxy and Game of Thrones when these two worlds collide. On one side, you have Ray who is from an advanced world that travels across the stars, sounding a bit ‘dudish’ and Laticia who speaks very properly in a royal manner and Ray who often lets out a yell of “Sweet!” when he finds loot scattered across the world.

    While on the topic of the world, I must say that the vistas of the world and its horizons look absolutely stunning, with many close moons in the skies, there are some really beautiful views to be taken in. It’s just a shame that these wide open areas you will be exploring don’t do as good a job.

    Star Ocean: The Divine Force – Review
    Each area is different

    Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of collectables to be found and enemies to engage, it’s just very uninspired landscapes you will be exploring of which you can’t really notice any landmarks that will prompt you to know where you are. The best way to do this is by looking at your map as the waypoints are quite helpful, but sometimes require the map to know which path to follow. While varied, are nothing to write home about.

    Across your travels, you will eventually find some of the cargo you were transporting called a D.U.M.A. This is a little robot creature of advanced technology that can be used for traversing the land as well as aiding you in combat. Once you find this, it adds a level of verticality to your exploration of the world, being able to get to higher grounds and mountains to collect D.U.M.A points which will allow you to upgrade its system to assist in combat.

    Star Ocean: The Divine Force – Review
    The D.U.M.A system is an important combat mechanic

    Speaking of combat, the system that you start out with is rather simple.

    Three of your controller face buttons all serve as a starting move, but as you level up during your gameplay, you will unlock more active moves and be able to create your own combos, which I thought was such a fantastic idea!

    These are all simple three-press combos for each of the face buttons, except for X, that’s reserved for jumping. But it allows you to play the way you want to play, something I really enjoyed experimenting with as the game progressed and enemies became increasingly harder.

    Rounding out the combat is the R1 button that operates as D.U.M.A, when using this it can assist you in surprising or blindsiding enemies to give you and your team the advantage at the start and during battle.

    I do however need to mention that the menu can be quite daunting at the start as there are many things to upgrade, from your D.U.M.A, to weapons, armour and unfortunately all of your party members. Seeing as there is no auto upgrade option, you will be looking to make sure that all your characters up upgraded to the maximum if you want to stand a hope of surviving these dangerous areas.

    Star Ocean: The Divine Force – Review
    Combat looks stylish once you create your own fighting style

    Alongside this, I found it strange that when purchasing new armour from the many hub towns you will visit, they didn’t alter the character’s appearance, which I felt was a missed opportunity as all the armour looked unique and interesting yet the appearance of the weapon would change; in other words everyone will look the same through your 20-30 hour story.

    The towns you visit in Star Ocean: The Divine Force all vary in size from small towns to grand kingdoms, all of them having a hotel where you can rest and replenish your health, as well as buying a meal to give your character buff’s for the upcoming battles in the open world and merchants to buy all the required health, armour and weapons.

    In each town, there will come a time when you will disband and be able to roam the streets, talking to the citizens, taking on smaller side quests and unlocking private actions. These are little conversations that you can have with each of your party, it’s just unfortunate that there’s no way to tell who or when this will trigger, especially in the bigger towns and castles as you do have to travel around a bit to find all of your companions.

    Star Ocean: The Divine Force starts off really slow for the first half of the game but then ramps up for the second half when the main war of the world starts out and continues with higher stakes than just simple quests.

    I think I was hoping for a Mass Effect styled space opera but didn’t really get that from the game; It just felt and looked like a single player Final Fantasy MMO set in space.

    I think I expected more from the makers of the Final Fantasy series. Don’t get me wrong, the second half of the game is fun and exciting to play when the stakes are raised – just make sure you have the patience to make it through the first half.

     

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Previous ArticleWhat’s hot on Xbox Game Pass November 2022
    Next Article Apple Arcade games for November 2022

    Related Posts

    Crucial T700 – The SSD powerhouse!
    GAMING REVIEWS September 6, 2023

    Crucial T700 – The SSD powerhouse!

    The Crucial T700 sets a new standard in performance when it comes to Consumer Grade SSDs, pushing speeds faster than…

    Hyper Karting and Hyper VR street signage
    GAMING REVIEWS June 7, 2023

    Hyper Karting & Reality Hyper Amazing!

    I recently visited Hyper Karting, a go-kart and VR centre in Sydney. As well as the go-karts, I was very keen to experience Hyper Reality.

    Subscribe

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    Ads

    Categories
    • ACTION
    • ACTION-ADVENTURE
    • APPLE
    • BATTLE ROYALE
    • CLOUD GAMING
    • CONVENTIONS
    • DLC
    • ESPORTS
    • Events
    • FEATURE
    • FIGHTING
    • FPS
    • FUNNY
    • GAMING HARDWARE
    • GAMING NEWS
    • GAMING REVIEWS
    • GIFT GUIDE
    • GOA
    • GOA PODCAST
    • HORROR GAMES
    • INDIE GAMING
    • Industry
    • MMORPG
    • MOBA
    • MOBILE
    • NINTENDO
    • Open-World
    • OPINION
    • PC
    • PLATFORMER
    • PLAYSTATION
    • Press Release
    • PREVIEW
    • RACING
    • RETRO
    • RPG
    • SIMULATION
    • SPORTS
    • STRATEGY
    • STREAMING
    • SUBSCRIPTION GAMES SERVICE UPDATES
    • SURVIVAL
    • TABLETOP GAMING
    • TECH
    • VIDEO
    • VR
    • XBOX
    Related Article
    Crucial T700 – The SSD powerhouse!
    GAMING REVIEWS

    Crucial T700 – The SSD powerhouse!

    September 6, 2023Zak BearmanBy Zak Bearman

    The Crucial T700 sets a new standard in performance when it comes to Consumer Grade SSDs, pushing speeds faster than many other NVME PCI-E…

    Crucial Memory and DDR5: Unleashing Epic Experiences!
    GAMING HARDWARE

    Crucial Memory and DDR5: Unleashing Epic Experiences!

    July 13, 2023Zak BearmanBy Zak Bearman

    Our friends at Crucial offered us an opportunity to review some of their Pro series memory! Me being the avid gamer and hardware savant…

    Hyper Karting and Hyper VR street signage
    GAMING REVIEWS

    Hyper Karting & Reality Hyper Amazing!

    June 7, 2023Darren 'Str8JaktJim' MacneallBy Darren 'Str8JaktJim' Macneall

    I recently visited Hyper Karting, a go-kart and VR centre in Sydney. As well as the go-karts, I was very keen to experience Hyper Reality.

    Game on Australia Logo

    Game On Aus is an Australian games publication working across written, video and podcast, and supported by an ever-growing community of content creators and fans!

    Copyright GameOnAus 2023. Privacy Policy. Website by Digital Hitmen

    CONTENT
    • News
    • Gaming Reviews
    • Podcast
    • Tech
    • Indie
    ABOUT GOA
    • About Us
    • Contact

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.