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[Komatsu]

Developer: tri-Ace
Publisher: Square Enix
Director: Kentaro Arakawa
Artist: Akira Yasuda & Yukihiro Kajimoto
Genre: Action JRPG
Consoles: PC, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5

Story​

The Pangalactic Federation, a galaxy-spanning power, attacks the a starship named Ydas while it is on a normal cargo operation. Raymond Lawrence, the captain of the Ydas, flees the ship and crashes lands on Aster IV, a primitive world where people still reside in castles and kingdoms engage in armed conflict. He encounters Princess Laeticia, who is defending her country from the advancing Vey'l empire, here. The two of them will embark on a mission that could alter the course of the universe together.

Characters

Raymond Lawrence

Voiced by: Subaru Kimura (Japanese); Mark Whitten (English)

The captain of the merchant vessel Ydas, Raymond hails from a non-federated planet of Verguld.

Laeticia Aucerius

Voiced by: Inori Minase (Japanese); Danielle Judovits (English)

A princess of the Kingdom of Aucerius, who is currently on a secret mission to save her country.

Albaird Bergholm
Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae (Japanese); Max Mittelman (English)

Laeticia's Childhood Friend, who now protects her as a knight of the Kingdom of Aucerius.

Elena
Voiced by: Atsumi Tanezaki (Japanese); Erica Lindbeck (English)

Raymond's second-in-command on Ydas, Elena is a calm and collected individual, highly trusted by the crew.


Gameplay

[Fly Around Areas Freely]
In STAR OCEAN THE DIVINE FORCE, characters can freely move in 360° degrees and roam the skies.

[Move and explore freely in three dimensions: everything you see can be explored!]
You can move in three dimensions whilst flying around the largest environment ever.
Whether you’re flying around and exploring rockfaces and roofs of buildings in the city, or leaping off cliffs to seamlessly enter battles, you’ll have more freedom in terms of both adventuring and battling.

[The Fastest and Strongest Action of any in the Series.]
While the game will give you space to play as you please, the scope of its battles has also evolved.
Characters can subdue a large number of enemies with super high-speed movement attacks, special abilities where you can vanish for a brief moment from right in front of your enemies’ eyes, and a skill which could kill in one hit!

Media


Where to Buy

Playable Demo
Playstation & Xbox​

 

[Komatsu]

Saving this for future use.

 

[Cornbread78]

Sweet, good stuff! Grabbed my copy earlier, now gotta find time for CoD & SO, lol

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I’m enjoying the hell out of it so far. Battle and traversal are so fast and fun. I thought Raymond looked like a total douche but I ended up liking his character.

PC port is a little disappointing. You can only choose 30 FPS or 60 FPS, and it appears the mouth movements are a fixed 30 fps regardless.

Slight frame hitches here and there I think related to loading stuff. Otherwise easily runs at a smooth 60 fps in 4K, this is with a RTX 3090 + 12700K

EDIT: turning on “precompiled shaders” in the graphics menu completely fixed the stutter, runs very smoothly now

 

[Mister Wolf]

I'm enjoying it so far. Getting used to using the Blindside technique.

 

[Yoshichan]

I would play this if the font wasn’t made for fucking ants.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I’m going to play it on my Steam Deck with a magnifying glass. I’ve preloaded the game, so I will be playing some of it tonight.

 

[Arsic]

Grabbed it on a whim since reviews were all saying it’s great.

Star Ocean The Second Story is one of the best games of all time. Everything since has been progressively worse for this franchise, but this seems to at least sound on par quality wise with till the end of time.

Here’s hoping it exceeds that.

 

[KàIRóS]

Great and deserved OT I'm only 7 hours in but damn it's surprising me a lot.

 

[Metnut]

Pretty much everyone whose gotten it seems to really be enjoying. Looking like a sleeper hit. Have a bit too much going on right now to get into it, but will buy it before the end of the year to support tri-ace.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Pro tip for PC gamers: to get rid of the stuttering, turn on precompiled shaders in the graphics menu. It’ll have to compile them AGAIN when you go back to the main menu. After that it’s buttery smooth

 

[Shifty1897]

Just want to reiterate here that if this game doesn't hit or exceed sales expectations, Tri-Ace will likely be going into bankruptcy. If you ever want to see this company get a chance to make another game, be it Valkyrie Profile or Star Ocean, this game HAS to sell enough to motivate Square Enix to fund another.

 

[Strider Highwind]

Yessssssir ill be on this in the morning

 

[Northeastmonk]

Pro tip for PC gamers: to get rid of the stuttering, turn on precompiled shaders in the graphics menu. It’ll have to compile them AGAIN when you go back to the main menu. After that it’s buttery smooth

On the Steam Deck this game runs like ass. It freezes every 30 feet and during combat every time the character performs a series of combos. That sucks ass. I was looking forward to playing this on the Steam Deck.

 

[IFireflyl]

On the Steam Deck this game runs like ass. It freezes every 30 feet and during combat every time the character performs a series of combos. That sucks ass. I was looking forward to playing this on the Steam Deck.

This is a random question, but do you own a Steam Deck?

 

[Northeastmonk]

This is a random question, but do you own a Steam Deck?

I sure do. Stuff like this is why I got it. Star Ocean on the go.

I’m not sure what setting would make my character stop freezing in place. Low settings look awful. The character textures make them look soupy/cloudy. These settings make it playable, but it still freezes every 10-15 seconds, especially turning around while running.

 

[IFireflyl]

I sure do. Stuff like this is why I got it. Star Ocean on the go.

I’m not sure what setting would make my character stop freezing in place. Low settings look awful. The character textures make them look soupy/cloudy. These settings make it playable, but it still freezes every 10-15 seconds, especially turning around while running.

I was just teasing because you said Steam Deck twice in a very short span. I haven't had a chance to play this yet. I'll have some time this weekend, hopefully. If I do I'll see how it feels on my Steam Deck as well.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I was just teasing because you said Steam Deck twice in a very short span. I haven't had a chance to play this yet. I'll have some time this weekend, hopefully. If I do I'll see how it feels on my Steam Deck as well.

Please let me know if you find some settings that work

 

[Pasta la Vista]

I am... undecided.

 

[Exentryk]

Still finishing another game and the demo on ps4 didn't quite sell me tbh. And God of War is also coming soon.

Decisions decisions.

 

[Danjin44]

Just too many games on my plate at this moment, I might give it a try once I'm done wth other games.

 

[Cao Cao]

Just want to reiterate here that if this game doesn't hit or exceed sales expectations, Tri-Ace will likely be going into bankruptcy. If you ever want to see this company get a chance to make another game, be it Valkyrie Profile or Star Ocean, this game HAS to sell enough to motivate Square Enix to fund another.

Maybe they should have delivered higher quality JRPGs then. SO5 was a joke. And this looks pretty average too.
They even removed Battle Trophies???

 

[Shifty1897]

Maybe they should have delivered higher quality JRPGs then. SO5 was a joke. And this looks pretty average too.
They even removed Battle Trophies???

If you want to watch their particular brand of JRPG die out, I've got nothing for you, and probably neither does anyone else in this thread.

The rest of us can recognize the series for what it is, and even enjoy it. By all accounts that I've seen, this is a step up from SO5 in terms of quality, and I want to see an SO7 that builds on what worked from this game.

 

[drganon]

Got my copy late last night. Just about where the demo ended.

 

[Graciaus]

Damn this game is way more fun than I was expecting. 4ish hours in at the second town. I really hope it stays this way.

First off the exploration once you get the flight thing is so much fun. Little things are hidden in the field and usually you just hug the perimeter which is where everything is in plain sight. But here I'm flying high or falling down into chests. Without it you'd just walk a to b but I'm here combing through the maps and towns looking for stuff and it's actually there.

I am annoyed with the towns though. While they do keep the elevation exploration stuff most of the buildings you can't enter and worse you can't talk to a single NPC. The handful you can speak to challenge you to something I don't have access to yet which I would assume is a card game.

The combat on the highest difficulty has been pretty easy expect for one enemy I probably wasn't supposed to face yet. Either early game enemies are really weak or stats don't have a high enough multiplyer. One hit from his fire sword thing either outright kills most things or does a massive chunk of damage. I don't really get the blindside stuff yet but I'll pick it up eventually. Surprising the enemies with the flight is fun and is how the bonus xp/money is stacked.

It is odd you don't start with a healer and are forced to use items. Had to cut my exploring short once since I ran out of items.

Story nothing has happened yet. Did laugh when the guy just basically said "fuck it lol this shouldn't happen for hundreds of years on this planet but here is everything you need" to know to the locals.

Voice acting is excellent in Japanese. I nearly uninstalled the game when the waifu died in the first 5 minutes.

Spoiler

All is well after I looked up the playable characters.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I’m liking Raymond way more than I thought I should. He’s just some normal bro with a “how did I get myself into this shit” kind of attitude about anything.

I LOLed at some early game conversation something like

Spoiler

you bump into Nina and she tells you about her infirmary or whatever.
Albaird: “what was that all about?”
Raymond: “she probably saw that look on your face and thought you were about to drop dead”
Albaird: “ if it wasn’t for you and Laeticia I wouldn’t have to make these faces”
Raymond: “hey Laeticia did you hear what he just said about you?”

This guy is cracking me up, especially after I was expecting him to be some Cloud Strife anime grunting douche

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Any reviews?

 

[drganon]

Any reviews?

There's a review thread. It's mostly getting 8s and 7s.

 

[Zephir]

Play videogames, they say...
You can evade from reality, they say...

Spoiler

 

[Komatsu]

Enjoying it quite a bit so far. Double dipped since I want to keep the franchise going. That said, I wish Laetitia & others would be a bit more shocked by advanced technology, like the Roak planet inhabitants were back in Star Ocean 1.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

I think this is actually the first reasonable Star Ocean since 3. I skipped 4 and 5, but didn't mind the demo for this.

I plan on trying this out in Dec/Jan once the price has come down.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Looks good, I wanted this kind of JRPG’s back .

 

[KàIRóS]

Nina has the most interesting playstyle I've ever seen for a Healer, her whole skill kit is basically abilities to command the rest of the party, if you use stop mode you can even pretend you're playing a turn based RPG.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I was just teasing because you said Steam Deck twice in a very short span. I haven't had a chance to play this yet. I'll have some time this weekend, hopefully. If I do I'll see how it feels on my Steam Deck as well.

I forgot I had my FPS locked at 30 on my SD. I set it to auto and it runs a lot better. Minor drops that aren’t that terrible. It runs a lot better, but not perfect. I hope it gets patched, but does the developer even care at this point, to make it better for Steam Deck? My biggest complaint are character textures. I wish they looked better without sacrificing performance. I’ll probably play more of it once I finish Bayo. I had a great time with the demo. It’s going to suck if we lose the developing house of SO due to sales. Especially if we lose a chance at a SO2 re-release.

 

[IFireflyl]

I forgot I had my FPS locked at 30 on my SD. I set it to auto and it runs a lot better. Minor drops that aren’t that terrible. It runs a lot better, but not perfect. I hope it gets patched, but does the developer even care at this point, to make it better for Steam Deck? My biggest complaint are character textures. I wish they looked better without sacrificing performance. I’ll probably play more of it once I finish Bayo. I had a great time with the demo. It’s going to suck if we lose the developing house of SO due to sales. Especially if we lose a chance at a SO2 re-release.

I'm noticing the same thing with performance. I hope they'll optimize it for the Steam Deck, but I won't hold my breath. Honestly, I wish they would sell the Star Ocean franchise to someone who has the capability of making it what it once was. I feel like Tri-Ace lacks proper funding. I kind of wish Square Enix would just acquire them and put more resources on future games and potential remasters.

 

[Methos#1975]

They really need to fix this font size, it really ruins the game

 

[Panajev2001a]

Just want to reiterate here that if this game doesn't hit or exceed sales expectations, Tri-Ace will likely be going into bankruptcy. If you ever want to see this company get a chance to make another game, be it Valkyrie Profile or Star Ocean, this game HAS to sell enough to motivate Square Enix to fund another.

 

[drganon]

 

[Graciaus]

Sad to see the pc version getting bad reviews from people with potato pcs. Game runs great 4k/60 with no stutters in 15 hours. The shader thing was odd but it took me 8 minutes to do.

Game is fun would recommend. Just pick combos for the ai or they won't do much. Played awhile before my healer actually healed since I initially messed with her.

 

[cash_longfellow]

Played my part. Purchased on ps5. Gonna delve in a little later today.

 

[cash_longfellow]

They really need to fix this font size, it really ruins the game

I works for me because I have a 65” screen, but I can definitely see it being an issue for anything under probably 55”. I imagine they will patch it with font size modifier…at least I hope lol

 

[Exentryk]

Ended up buying even though the demo on PS4 wasn't doing it for me. And wow, what a difference playing on PC at 4K 60fps makes! PS4 was probably 720p at 20 fps and it really soured the experience of this action RPG.

The borderless window mode seems odd as it keeps the game window above everything else. Decided to stick with Fullscreen ON. HDR looks decent.

Still in the first town you get to, but I'm taking my time exploring the zones which I didn't really bother in the PS4 demo. Looking forward to playing more tomorrow.

 

[Trumpets]

I'm only an hour in but already this is a massive improvement on the previous game. It has cutscenes!

DUMA seems like a great addition too as it livens up the exploration and the combat.

EDIT: Forgot to mention: the music is great too, particularly the tune that plays as you travel to the first town. Didn't know Sakuraba still had it in him...

 

[thatJohann]

Any comparisons of PS5 vs Series X to see which one looks / runs better? (I’m assuming Series X looks and runs the best but you never know)

 

[Doctor Hades]

Any comparisons of PS5 vs Series X to see which one looks / runs better? (I’m assuming Series X looks and runs the best but you never know)

Don't know whether it's fixed in the final game but the demo of the game on Xbox Series X had a weird font scaling issue that made the ugly UI look even uglier and this was not present in the PS5 demo. The PS5 was the better version for that reason and ran fine for me. However, I decided to buy the game for PC rather than consoles.

 

[Vlodril]

How do you actually perform combo's? Like it has for square 3 abilities in a row. you press square three times? You wait until one is done then press square again?

 

[Zephir]

Ok, this made me laugh XD

Spoiler

How do you actually perform combo's? Like it has for square 3 abilities in a row. you press square three times? You wait until one is done then press square again?

Basically yes, but you can also press the other buttons mid-combo to make a longer chain of different attacks.
Also don't forget that you can add active abilities and items too
Also, you have to make combos for every character, because even when IA controlled, they'll fight only with the attacks you set up

 

[Vlodril]

Ok, this made me laugh XD

Spoiler

Basically yes, but you can also press the other buttons mid-combo to make a longer chain of different attacks.
Also don't forget that you can add active abilities and items too
Also, you have to make combos for every character, because even when IA controlled, they'll fight only with the attacks you set up

Alright i'll try to set up everyone then. Thanks.

 

[KàIRóS]

That board minigame was totally designed by a Yu Gi Oh player, it's pure though and it gives some really good accesories as rewards.

 

[Esca]

Can't wait to pick this up soon, really liked the demo. Once I finish up valkyrie elysium in the next few days hopefully (really like this one) and on top star ocean and then Callisto Protocol. Oh yeeeeah