Star Ocean is an odd sequence with an odd historical past. 1995’s unique Star Ocean didn’t attain the West for over a decade, however its 1998 sequel, Star Ocean: The Second Story, made it abroad simply advantageous. Folks liked, and proceed to like, that sport. It felt like studio tri-Ace took the ‘all the things however the kitchen sink’ strategy to sport design — right here was a Japanese role-playing sport with an excellent diploma of depth in its each core mechanic. It’s a sensible RPG, from its characters to its fight to its wealth of decisions.
The franchise has had a decidedly checkered popularity since. Many, together with myself, principally adore the third one. Its late-game plot twist, nevertheless, has seemingly left a not-inconsiderable subset of the fandom with narrative-related belief points ever since. The fourth entry marries a superb battle system to some of the disastrous casts of characters to grace the gaming medium, and when the fifth arrived six years in the past, it was so mediocre that I feared Star Ocean could be placed on ice indefinitely.
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, a sixth Star Ocean was introduced — subtitled The Divine Power — with what gave the impression to be a major uptick in price range from its clearly cash-starved predecessor. Loads of individuals deeply conversant in the saga of the Pangalactic Federation and different blatant Star Trek stand-ins dismissed The Divine Power outright. That they had been burned too many occasions.
I get it. I do. However I dared to dream that this long-running space-meets-fantasy IP may bounce again, at the very least to some extent. That it may provide greater than a mere glimmer of what attracted so many people to the dual destinies of The Second Story’s protagonists, Claude Kenny and Rena Lanford, 1 / 4 of a century in the past.
Star Ocean: The Divine Power greater than surpassed my hopes. To make certain, my expectations had been modest. A enjoyable time swinging swords and slinging spells in action-packed skirmishes; an merchandise creation system (a sequence hallmark) that’s remotely compelling; and a soundtrack that’s unmistakably the work of Motoi Sakuraba. That’s all I needed. As an alternative, I bought a genuinely good online game.
I’d made my peace with the notion that tri-Ace can now not craft compelling casts, and heck, I can’t say I’ve ever felt like they’ve written award-winning dialogue to start with. At finest, as was the case with the early installments, we’d get just a few memorably quirky characters, in addition to a brooding dude so over-the-top we couldn’t assist however crack a smile.
Think about my shock when, from the soar, service provider spacefarer Raymond Lawrence gained me over. He’s removed from standard hero materials — extra of a far-future FedEx supply driver, in fact. That is what retains him refreshingly disinterested in sustaining the type of non-interference legal guidelines with much less superior societies that has held again many prior Star Ocean leads. It additionally paves the way in which for a surprisingly compelling string of occasions that echo just a few of Star Trek’s best ‘morality play’ episodes.
For those who assume two Star Trek references is an excessive amount of on this assessment, belief me, there’s sufficient trek on this ocean for an additional dozen. I’m holding again.
In fact, to quote Raymond because the lead character could be a disservice to Laeticia Aucerius. In a pleasant nod to The Second Story, Star Ocean: The Divine Power permits gamers to decide on whose perspective to comply with between the pair. Whereas Raymond’s a complete fish-out-of-the-water on Laeticia’s planet, Laeticia is aware of it properly. She’s of royal blood, even. And whereas Ray’s early-game targets are merely to seek out his lacking crew mates and get off this rock, Laeticia’s targets are extra instantly complicated.
Irrespective of who you decide because the perspective-based protagonist, Ray and Lae meet up rapidly, and spend the majority of the sport collectively (alongside a genre-customary ragtag band of associates, whose characterization high quality is wildly uneven). However there are sufficient separate moments to justify one other playthrough.
By the point The Divine Power’s plot is in full swing, there might be no scarcity of well-worn cliches alongside for the experience, however for essentially the most half they’re dealt with properly. The planet Aster IV is a strong springboard for the introduction of extra galactic-scale occasions, too, although within the custom of (most) Star Ocean titles, don’t count on to take off from its medieval fantasy trappings till a superb chunk of the way in which into the sport.
Graphics are unbalanced throughout the board, as you’ve fairly presumably heard by means of the grapevine by the point this piece is printed. There are some frown-inducingly low-resolution textures, and so they’re frequent sufficient to stay out like sore thumbs. Facial animation leaves one thing to be desired, and it isn’t doing them any favors that that is a number of the worst lip-syncing jobs I’ve seen in years.
That mentioned, when Star Ocean: The Divine Power units out to shine, it shines. The skies of Aster IV are beautiful, with multicolored nebulae tracing traces like brushstrokes upon a canvas even by day. It’s a nonstop reminder that this isn’t the proverbial Kansas, however an alien world stuffed with its personal marvel.
Good artwork design covers a good variety of visible wrinkles, too. I believe that, ten years down the road, The Divine Power’s important settlements might be remembered fondly. From seaports and mountain cities to thriving capitals among the many stars, these are properly well-realized locations. There aren’t as many buildings for gamers to really enter and discover as there have been within the first by means of third entries, however that’s been a problem for many RPGs today. It’s price mentioning, and factoring into my ideas as I sort this out, however I doubt it’s going to shock anybody.
Cities could also be restricted to retailers, inns, and a mere handful of interactive constructions every, however they’re additionally hubs that appeal to Es’owa aficionados. Es’owa is a board sport performed towards a ton of NPCs who all occur to have their very own decks of ‘pawns’ — metallic miniatures of well-known who’s-whos all through the Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile franchises.
For sure, there’s no rationalization to be discovered for why a bunch of oldsters who’re unaware of clever life past their very own planet are amassing collectible figurines of individuals like Fayt Leingod and associates, however then once more, there wasn’t a single Triple Triad guru in Last Fantasy VIII who ever stopped to marvel why essentially the most highly effective playing cards had been primarily based on a gaggle of teenage mercenaries.
Es’owa is fairly enjoyable. The principles will sound complicated at first blush, however it’s simple to get the dangle of with simply a few matches. Pawns have set quantities of assault energy, in addition to skills that make their when and the place to position them a tactical affair. Your purpose is to cut back your rival’s HP to zero earlier than they do the identical to you. If I’ve one grievance, it’s that the overwhelming majority of Es’owa devotees are fairly simple to pummel into the bottom. I solely ever misplaced one match, and I’ve colleagues with spotless data.
The true great thing about Es’owa belongs to the pawns themselves. Along with getting used to kind your energetic deck, each pawn may be geared up as an adjunct, and the rarer kinds present stat boosts and such that went properly past what I assumed to seek out. It additionally makes amassing them properly definitely worth the effort, and there are many good ones to find whereas touring for individuals who would favor to not have interaction with the mini-game in any respect.
Merchandise creation is cut up into seven classes: Compounding; Smithery; Authorship; Crafting; Engineering; Alchemy; and Synthesis. The expertise mechanic returns, giving particular characters innate bonuses towards specific varieties while constructing contemporary abilities over time. The system is suitably complicated, if not fairly as diversified in potential outcomes as we’ve seen previously.
And sure, there are superb methods to fully break the sport’s issue if you realize exactly what you’re doing right here. Need to improve a weapon’s energy tenfold earlier than the journey’s midway level? You may. However you’re going to be committing numerous time to the hassle, to say nothing of web information analysis. It’s greater than sufficient effort for many gamers to gladly transfer on at a traditional clip, saving The Divine Power’s extra excessive angles for its submit sport content material as an alternative.
There’s a robotic pal who serves a formidable triple position in Star Ocean: The Divine Power. D.U.M.A. acts because the eventual catalyst for story shenanigans, however when it’s launched inside the first moments of the sport, you’ll discover that it kinds the idea for a plethora of points inside the battle system. Your chosen celebration member will seize on to D.U.M.A. to launch themselves ahead, swerve at good intervals to blindside opponents, and extra.
If that wasn’t sufficient, you’ll be able to soar throughout the overworld at a speedy clip with it, which results in one in all The Divine Power’s odder bits: scattered all through cities and landscapes are 1000’s of purple gems to gather with D.U.M.A.’s help that, when used, will increase its personal capabilities each in fight and as a scout for finding treasure.
For those who haven’t caught on by now, I fairly get pleasure from Star Ocean: The Divine Power, and it’s a reasonably simple suggestion. That mentioned, I’d be remiss to not point out its down sides. This is without doubt one of the buggiest JRPGs I’ve touched in a very long time. I’ve gotten caught between obstacles on a number of events, I skilled a pair of onerous crashes, and at one level the audio desynced so badly that it brought on my characters to host solely separate conversations, every of them seemingly speaking to themselves in tandem. Satan’s advocate right here, however at the very least it was humorous.
There may be an overarching sense in just about each style that Star Ocean: The Divine Power may have used extra time within the oven. It’s onerous to shake the sense that the bundle is much less polished than the studio would have most popular. Preventing feels a tad much less fluid than it should be. Voice path generally bungles its respectably proficient forged’s efforts by stitching collectively recordings by which the celebration will pronounce their friends’ names in several methods. (Notably, Ray can’t appear to resolve whether or not Laeticia’s identify has a comfortable ‘c’, or the ‘cia’ turns into a ‘sh’ sound.) It’s distracting.
One of many first issues I inform new gamers is to allow the sport’s chat log, as a result of it’s oftentimes unattainable to discern what townsfolk are saying to one another with out it. Their traces are so low, there’s simply no manner this was intentional. There are additionally loads of repeat NPCs, particularly within the early going. You’ll hear the identical small conversations from people who find themselves, allegedly at the very least, solely unrelated. (Take a drink each time somebody’s both scolded for not working or complains about their again.)
This has gotten quite a bit longer than I had supposed. I suppose all the things about this sport has shocked me, together with how a lot I’d must say about it. I haven’t even informed you in regards to the bunnies, have I? You may catch little bunnies, and present them to an enormous bunny for rewards. I unironically know at the very least three individuals who would possibly purchase the sport as a result of I mentioned that.
It’s no secret that tri-Ace is in dire monetary straits currently, and I’m fearful Star Ocean: The Divine Power gained’t transfer the capitalist needle sufficient to save lots of them. The recognition of this once-beloved sequence has diminished vastly, leaving solely essentially the most hardcore followers to precise enthusiasm earlier than launch. If I’m not the one one who digs this sport, then maybe word-of-mouth will result in sustained gross sales and a brighter future for this firm. Or possibly Star Ocean: The Divine Power will come and go together with a whimper, buried beneath the discharge of so many fellow RPGs this season.
If that is it for Sq. Enix’s anime house opera saga, at the very least it bows out with an almost-galactic bang. This newest chapter may not rival the very best video games in its sequence, however it feels so good to have the ability to say, in any case these middling years, that Star Ocean has properly and actually returned.
And as Claude Kenny would say, “that’s someplace round eighty factors.”
Disclaimer: PlayStation 5 assessment code offered by the writer Sq. Enix.