Star Ocean: The Divine Force

6 years after the disappointing Integrity and Faithlessness, fans can now sink their teeth into The Divine Force and it's one great RPG.

As the sixth main installment in a JRPG series that dates to the 16-bit era, one with a slightly tarnished reputation in recent years, Star Ocean: The Divine Force evokes a comforting sense of familiarity even as it experiments with some of its expected returning elements and pushes in exciting new directions. There’s a lot of ground to cover, and Tri-Ace has done a wonderful job of crafting a new world long-time fans and newcomers alike may feel reluctant to leave once the credits roll, even keeping in mind a few rough patches they encountered along the way. That’s no minor achievement, and m...

Star Ocean: The Divine Force is labeled as a 25th-anniversary project for the series, and that shines through in its liberal adoption of best ideas from across the franchise. The Divine Force riffs on the dual protagonists from Star Ocean 2, the fantasy-inspired wår story from Star Ocean 3, and an action-heavy combat system from Star Ocean 4. It feels like Tri-Ace really distilled what makes the series special, and for the most part, it works.

The history of the Star Ocean series is an interesting one, to say the least. The first entry in the series, released back in 1996 on Nintendo's Super Famicom system in Japan, was the first game developed by tri-Ace as an answer to Namco's Tales of Phantasia, which members of tri-Ace worked on as part of Wolf Team. And in many ways, the original Star Ocean surpassed the first entry in the Tales series by offering a more dynamic story whose final outcome was partially influenced by the choices players made during Private Actions, special optional events that allowed players to learn more about ...

Star Ocean: The Divine Force is a throwback to the PS2-era, but that's part of what makes it fun.

While Star Ocean: The Divine Force may not be the most revolutionary, prettiest, or most action-packed JRPG out there, its fantastic cast of characters and generally fun story do quite a bit to make the game’s 40+ hour journey feel quite cozy. Add in the fact that you’re guaranteed to get some uniqueness through its two protagonists having their own bespoke story beats that warrant multiple playthroughs and you’ve got plenty of JRPG to bite into here.

Star Ocean: The Divine Force has some great mechanics and a beautiful world, but performance on the Deck has some minor stuttering and some heavy areas.

Star Ocean: The Divine Force is an excellent step forward for the series, and should mean plenty to longtime fans of the series. Between the changes to combat and the enhanced exploration abilities, there has never been a better time to sink your teeth into this action RPG series. However, Divine Force doesn't shy away from delivering an epic journey that might wear players down before they ever get to the finish.

Star Ocean: The Divine Force feels drained of life. It has a strong, highly-customizable combat system along with a solid soundtrack, but there’s not much praise to speak of outside of that. The two hero option is a fun gimmick we haven’t seen since The Second Story, only observing one perspective of the story at a time, but the problem is that there are so few compelling characters. The cast and story is one of The Divine Force’s biggest downfalls, not to mention severely-fluctuating presentation values. Laeticia and Raymond are some of the stalest protagonists, lacking emotion and charm. The...

After forty-five hours, a few smiles, and one or two frowns, we walked away from Star Ocean: The Divine Force with a shrug. It’s a middle-tier Japanese role playing game that at no point, ever, threatens to get promoted to top-tier status nor sink so low that it ends up sandwiched between Hyperdimension Neptunia and Unlimited Saga. Mid-table mediocrity. The Crystal Palace of JRPGs.

Star Ocean: The Divine Force is a competent game in the Star Ocean franchise but it is hindered by some in game decision with menus, quest logs, and the party member AI. It isn’t the best transition to 3D from the art, but playing and fighting enemies is very enjoyable.

Star Ocean: The Divine Force has exciting combat mechanics and a fun traversal system, but it's hampered by poor performance, bland cutscenes, and questionable pacing.