Star Ocean: The Divine Force - DEMO Review & Impressions!

[@Riku_Darkness]

I pretty love the star ocean series and i am very happy about this game after so many years. This game looks super interesting and huge.

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

I'm quite new to the series but I plan to go back and play some of the others after this one. I'm buying the game on day one and I'll be putting out a review on it as soon as humanly possible. I hope you enjoy the game too!

[@Sonnance]

Long time Star Ocean fan here, and wanted to say I enjoyed your video! I think my impressions of the demo itself echo yours pretty closely, and I figured I’d just leave a little context/add a bit of what to expect from a Star Ocean game in general, as they’re a bit different from your usual JRPG. The series’ “thing” is, as you picked up on, exploring scenarios of sci-fi meets fantasy, and has a fascinating setting. Intricate worldbuilding is one of the series’ claims to fame, so if that’s your thing definitely keep an eye out. Additionally, the series is also known for its super deep progression via its various crafting systems. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see what 6’s spin on this looks like in the demo, but past entries let you basically break the game in half if you were clever. Normal difficulties don’t usually require you to bother with it if it’s not your thing, but I personally find it super fun to figure out all the little tricks to make super busted gear. Shame about the performance, for sure, but even as someone with a base PS4 I’m super excited for another entry!

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

That's really nice of you to say, I appreciate that😊. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge on the series with me and the other viewers, its very helpful. I like the sci-fi meets fantasy theme and I'm glad I was able to pick up on it. Has that always been the case? Right back to the original? I'll keep all of that stuff in mind when I play the full game later this month. I will be doing a full review on it but it'll be posted during the week following its release. I do get review codes from publishers but not currently from Square Enix. They require around 10K subs minimum and I don't quite meet that yet lol. I'm hoping that a day one update will help improve the games performance but to be honest, other than that, I have nothing bad to say about it. Looking forward to playing it and thank you once again for watching and for your comment.👍🏻

[@Sonnance]

@@ConsolesOnlyGaming No problem! Like I said, I’ve been a Star Ocean fan for a while so I’m always happy to talk about it! And yeah, the sci-fi meets fantasy theme goes all the way back to the first entry on the SFC, which has since been remade into Star Ocean: First Departure. Fun fact, the series was actually made by former Tales of devs who left to form their own studio (Tri-Ace) after making that series’ first game, Tales of Phantasia. So there’s unsurprisingly a lot of similarities between the two series, even as they chose different focuses going forward. Tales being more focused on characters and fighting-game inspired combat, and Star Ocean on unique progression systems and building a single evolving universe with each entry.

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

Oh wow, that IS interesting. Considering that I liked this demo, would you say its worth playing The Last Hope Remaster & Integrity and Faithlessness on PS4? Is there a strong timeline that I need to follow? I've seen the list of the games that make up the series but I don't know if they're direct sequels that need to be played in order. Thanks again for any info!👍🏻😊

[@Sonnance]

@@ConsolesOnlyGaming Well, the nice thing about the series is that each entry is pretty self-contained so you can really start wherever. There is a timeline, but it’s not necessary to play in any particular order to understand things, as games are often set decades or even centuries apart, and star a new cast each time. Think of it a bit like the Zelda timeline, if a bit more explicitly told; there if you want to dig deeper into the world, but easily ignored if you don’t. The games do a good job of not spoiling each other as well. As for where to start, I’d probably say whichever catches your eye the most. With the exception of 1 and 2 which use the same engine, each entry plays differently enough that you won’t have any awkwardness playing them out of order like you might with Tales (Going from Abyss to Symphonia can be difficult because Abyss directly iterated on Symphonia’s combat, for example.) I will say that 5 might not be the best showing, as it’s clear they hit some budget walls during development. But it has a lot of cool ideas and systems that show their ambition despite that. 4 is probably the better rounded experience, though it’s probably got the most ANIME plot of the series which some people weren’t crazy about. 1 and 3 are also on PS4, but 2 sadly isn’t for the West. The most recent version we got of 2 was on PSP. But again, it’s up to you. I think each game does something interesting and unique that makes it worth playing, so whichever looks most appealing to you is a fine way to go.

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

Thank you very much for detailed explanation. Its greatly appreciated. Now that I know all of that, I'll take a look at each game individually and see what's readily available on Amazon UK/ other UK stores. I don't put much stock into Metacritic but it looks like Last Hope is the highest rated Star Ocean game that I can easily purchase. I'll probably go for that, I've got no issue with the plot being too anime lol. Thanks again!👍🏻

[@remilacorne5607]

Nice video. You have a very good voice! I've been a Star Ocean fan since Second Story and from the demo, I feel like they're going back to what Star Ocean used to "feel like". I'm very happy about this and very hyped, even if the game has obvious production value issues and flaws!

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

Haha, well thank you very much! You're like, the 7th person to say that about my voice and I'm starting to worry haha🤣 I'm really looking forward to the full game and I will be reviewing it asap after launch. Probably around a week later. As I said to a few other viewers, I do get review codes from big companies but sadly, Square Enix isn't one of them at the moment. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for giving it a look!👍🏻

[@remilacorne5607]

@@ConsolesOnlyGaming I have it preordered too, but I will watch your review still. I enjoy watching reviews of things after I made my own mind to see what others think!

[@jamberrycloud]

I was kinda surprised I wasn't bugged by the character/visual design as much as I thought I would. Also the DUMA flying isn't as dumb as it looks like in trailers lol! The story setup up seems interesting, and characters too, if very trope-y. Not enough time to play this right now, but I'll probably pick it up in the future... But I also don't want tri-Ace to die! Decisions decisions... (Resonance of Fate is one of my favourite games of all time. Everybody please play it!)

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

Yea, I'd say I agree with all of that. From the demo it seems to be an enjoyable and solid game, nothing ground breaking but easily worth playing. I SHOULD have been starting my playthrough of this today, but we have postal strikes in the UK right now that delayed my game getting to me. I should be here tomorrow so I can start recording/ playing/ writing my review. Typical!😭 I remember Reseonance of fate actually, its one of those games I always meant to play but never got around to it. There's a 4K/HD edition of it on PSN isnt there? If so, I might give it a go during my down time.

[@jamberrycloud]

@@ConsolesOnlyGaming Yup there is the facelift version on both PS and PC. I love all the systems in that game, they are like mini puzzles (tabletop games type). The combat really isn't difficult like most "reviews" claim, you just need to head to the arena and do all tutorials the first time you leave town. Stay on the safe hexes and you won't have random encounters.

[@hazzar7784]

I was watching this video, and as you were talking about framerate and said ' not sure if it's showing in the video' my internet lagged and the videos frame rate dropped and I was like 'is he...doing this on purpose?' Those character models look weird. Hard to put my finger on it. The action figure thing reminds of when I would draw and be too lazy to use a ruler so it was 'the style' I didn't want a straight line there anywhere :P

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

Haha well to be fair, the video does show the lag pretty well in places. Are you SURE it was your internet and not the game? lol. It was most common the wide open grassland section. Very choppy indeed. Hopefully it'll be sorted for launch day. The characters do look a bit odd but not in a way that bothers me personally. I mean...Elena looks pretty good...just sayin' lol.😍 *coughs* anyway...thanks for watching as always my good sir!👍🏻

[@NastyClanRecords]

the fact that you get to fully customize your light and heavy combos is beautiful. i immediately thought of Xenoverse 3 lmao. but Honestly this game is gonna be a riot. best Star Ocean, and honestly looks like one of the best action rpgs to take that full devil may cry gameplay style approach

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

Yea, its a pretty cool way of doing it. I wasn't into it at first but after a while, I realised its brilliance lol. Seems really promising and I've got the game on pre-order for release day. I will be doing a review on it but it'll be posted about a week after the game comes out. I do get early review codes from big publishers but Square Enix isn't one of them (yet!). Thanks for giving my video a look!

[@ranzorr]

One thing that wasn't mentioned in the video and that I really hope will be fixed upon release is the font size. It's just too small, and makes it really hard to read all the descriptions in-game.

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

That's a good point! I didn't really notice it myself when playing the game but after going to back to check, they do seem a bit small. I wonder if they can be enlarged in the options menu? I'll be sure to include information about it in my full review so thanks for pointing it out!👍🏻

[@ranzorr]

I didn't find any way to enlarge the text, but I do hope there's an option for it in the final version. My couch is some 8 feet away from my TV, and it gets really hard to read everything.

[@johndalquen7668]

The problem I have with triple A titles is that their boring and shallow with multiplayer tacked onto the side. With niche/double A titles, they might look a little rougher but their more fun to play. I've never played a star ocean game before but I will download the demo for this. I like the fact there is an intentional art style and the environments look cool as well. This game is giving me an Y's 9 vibe to it with the gliding mechanics and the overall combat, which to me is a good thing. Maybe if people can look past rough looking graphics they may find some really awesome games, after all checkers is a few pucks and a checkerboard and that took of in 3000 B.C.E and is still enjoyed today. I did a whole 6 seconds of research for that as well.

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

Absolutely agree. The more AAAs we get the more soulless and corporate they become. There's definitely some exceptions, I mean I don't care about God of War Ragnarok but I don't think you can say its soulless by any stretch. I've only played 1 Star Ocean game, many years ago and I don't think I ever finished it. To be honest, I barely remember it at this point lol. I see the comparison with Ys 9, that's a very good point. The combat doesn't feel too similar but other than that, yea, it has that overall vibe. Let me know what you think of the demo and also, I'd be interested to know if you have any performance problems. Thanks for watching as always my friend!👍🏻

[@danbooke2001]

Audience beware, it has some very severe performance issues on Series X/S that hopefully get patched by release. My primary place to play is Xbox, so I hope they get it up to speed to the PS5 version soon as I really don't want to buy it there. Plus, I support Square on Xbox more when I can in hopes they bring and continue to bring their titles there. Either way, it does not look good at all on Xbox at the moment :-(

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

I'd heard that the Xbox performance wasn't great, is it really THAT bad? On PS5 its not great but its playable. Hopfully it can be fixed on all platforms before release because if the games runs well, I think it'll be pretty good.

[@galaticwars]

Don't forget that xsx is missing the HDR toggle in the settings.

[@Tucauppercut]

It seems to stutter a lot on series S

[@cika3leches]

I'm the same as you. I prefer to support JRPGs on the Series X (even fighting games). I'm waiting to see if I should get it on the X or the Deck

[@creatorsfreedom6734]

sooo what Voice Language are the Character's Synced too ?

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

I played the demo with English dub and I have to say, I THINK its synced to the Japanese audio because the mouth movements seemed way off most of the time. It could just be bad sync across the board but the English dub looked like a poorly dubed martial arts film at times lol. So yea, I don't know for sure but I'd say its probably synced to the Japanese voice track. I should have mentioned that in the video actually, my bad on that one. Thanks for watching though!

[@ShadowCthulhu]

Did you read my comment on Dead Space and Iron man 2? Cause you basically read that comment at the start of this video.

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

I did indeed! I read that comment and the more I thought about it, the more I realised that you were spot on. I've felt like that with demos AND full games and you're absolutely correct.

[@JD-dm1uj]

This game’s environment leaves a lot to be desired, low quality textures and a minimal color palette. Has some late game PS3 resemblance, still looks interesting though. Everyone rebought Skyrim multiple times, lol😢!

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

Yea, definitely some lack luster environments here and there but some places look pretty nice. Not great but you know, decent. Graphics are not going to be this games selling point but it also doesn't seem like they were actively trying to impress us with the visuals either. I think its worth a try so let me know if you decide to play the demo😊. That's very true about Skyrim lol. I'm ashamed of myself but at the same time, I would absolutely buy it again haha. Man I hate myself sometimes lol.😭🤣

[@thelegendaryjanitor2008]

The texture quality is pretty much on par with , PSO2 NGS , KH 3 and DQ 11 . Those game also has texture like that to reduce file size and load time for fast combat and many effect that will happen in the field . Game with bigger environment , more effect , more object and faster movement speed will to do that . Also are u all forget how FF 7 R texture of environment look like back during released on PS4 :)) Cut this team some slack, their game significant sold less than FF and work with smaller team while people demand their game to has 100 + hours of content with long story campaign .

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

Oh definitely! I absolutely agree with you. I don't think it looks "bad" or anything. I think its fair to say that its not a graphical powerhouse (nor is it meant to be) but that doesn't bother me at all. I've always been a gameplay over graphics person so yea, I completely agree with all of your points there. It looks more than good enough for my tastes and I'm buying the game on day one😊 Thank you for your input and thank you for watching!

[@tokiwartuthe]

I mean if the world is empty....then the whole flying around that map is really obsolete if there is no reason to do it you know

[@ConsolesOnlyGaming]

Yea I see what you mean. Its not THAT empty but its not exactly packed full of stuff either. There's loot, enemies and upgrade materials to be found in the world but having said that, I do absolutely see your point. Hopefully the full game will feel a bit more "lived in".