Aside from old-school JRPG followers, the point out of Star Ocean won’t imply a lot. The sequence has at all times been two or three steps down in recognition from the likes of Final Fantasy and even Dragon Quest, however those that have dug into this barely extra obscure sequence are fast to sing its praises. First established in 1996, the Star Ocean video games have come at an irregular tempo, with solely 5 whole video games within the mainline sequence launched to date, the newest being Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness in 2016. That sport, and the earlier entry, weren’t all that well-received, leaving followers uncertain about this smaller franchise’s future.
Sony’s October 2021 State of Play occasion wasn’t stuffed with many large surprises, however the announcement of Star Ocean: The Divine Force was one which meant quite a bit to followers of the sequence and in addition has made followers of JRPGs on the whole inquisitive about this unusual sport that mixes fantasy components right into a sci-fi-inspired universe. The trailer we received was solely a short two and a half minutes, however extra info has been trickling out. If you had been intrigued by this unique-looking JRPG from the masters of the style, Square Enix, right here’s every thing we find out about Star Ocean: The Divine Force.
Further studying
Release date
Star Ocean: The Divine Force has been given the discharge date of October 27, 2022.
Platforms
While the trailer made for Sony’s State of Play occasion solely listed Star Ocean: The Divine Force as coming to PlayStation 4 and PS5, it’ll even be coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and S, in addition to PC. It will hit each platform day and date, so there’s no platform exclusivity, timed or in any other case. Obviously, we count on the current-generation variations to have advantages over the earlier ones, however for now, we don’t know what these variations might be. Graphics, load occasions, and body charges are the standard suspects, nevertheless.
Trailers
Just just like the Final Fantasy sequence, every new Star Ocean sport is a standalone expertise. The story and characters are all new right here, so there’s no must have performed any of the prior video games within the sequence to get pleasure from Star Ocean: The Divine Force.
The trailer begins with a crew flying by way of house as their ship’s warning alarm blares. They’re compelled to desert ship on account of an incoming assault, the place we reduce to a sweeping shot of a lush planet with large clear spheres within the sky. We get to see some glimpses of one of many protagonists operating by way of the world with a floating robotic companion that permits him to sprint and glide by way of the air.
As some gameplay and motion play out, the textual content reads, “When our two heroes cross paths the fate of the universe awakens.” From there, we get fast traces from extra characters, photographs of extra environments, together with an imposing, castle-like metropolis, and a few large enemies which might be each improbable, equivalent to dragons, and futuristic, like a flame-spewing robotic.
Overall, this trailer had little substance by way of story or characters, however exterior sources have sprouted up with way more info. Just like in Star Ocean: The Second Story, Star Ocean: The Divine Force will use the dual-protagonist system. Our two leads on this sport, who we noticed within the trailer, are named Raymond and Laeticia. Raymond is the captain of the ship we noticed within the trailer, named the Ydas, and hails from a extra technologically superior civilization. On the opposite hand, Laeticia is a princess in addition to a knight from the planet the crew finds themselves on, which remains to be early on in creating applied sciences.
Raymond is detailed as being from a planet not related to the federation, referred to as Verguld. He captains the Ydas for his household’s firm named Lawrence Logistics and cares deeply for his crew.
Laeticia is the princess of Aucerius on the planet Aster IV. She is admired by nearly everybody in her kingdom, but hides her fight means. When a rival nation threatens her personal, she embarks on a secret mission to seek out an unnamed ally to assist, finally crossing paths with Raymond, who has turn out to be stranded on her world.
The sport’s narrative, together with which characters might be included, will change relying on which of those two protagonists you play as and what decisions you make in the course of the story. The sport is designed to encourage you to play by way of the sport twice, as soon as from every perspective, to see the complete breadth of the story. The solely different two named characters recognized to date are Elena and Albaird. Aside from that, nothing of the specifics of the plot have been shared, although we will count on the story to have wide-reaching penalties. The “fate of the universe” is repeated usually, so it must be secure to count on an epic story.
Another trailer was proven off when the discharge date was shared as effectively. It exhibits extra interactions between the 2 leads and the way their particular person conflicts usually are not terribly totally different. It appears to be taken from when the 2 meet or no less than agree to hitch forces.
We then get quite a lot of cuts between totally different characters and settings, with no actual context as to what’s what — it’s primarily proven for spectacle. One essential new character, when you can name them that, is D.U.M.A. This robotic attaches itself to Raymond and appears to be what provides him his enhanced mobility choices, like gliding.
While it’s not possible to make sense of the out-of-context traces, Star Ocean: The Divine Force is clearly going to be a sport with a layered plot of betrayal, twists, double-crossings, and intertwining webs of politics.
Gameplay
While every sport within the sequence is separate from the remainder, followers of previous video games will acknowledge some returning mechanics in Star Ocean: The Divine Force. We already know there would be the dual-protagonist system, however whether or not you’re taking part in as Raymond or Laeticia, exploration and traversal had been main factors proven off. Verticality specifically was a spotlight, with characters flying in all instructions up and across the environments. The sport will encourage full 3D exploration, which ought to make the world much more enjoyable to dwell in.
Combat additionally received a great deal of display screen time, plus some extra hints through official statements. Right off the bat, this JRPG goes full-on motion fight, which means it’s not a turn-based affair. Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness used a mixture of real-time and turn-based fight, however this time, they’re leaning in on the motion facet of issues. Combat and exploration can have no seams between them and no random battles. Enemies all exist on this planet so that you can have interaction with or keep away from at your discretion. If and while you do determine to battle, there’s no transition into preventing, and attacking appears to be like swift and responsive to date.
Beyond regular strikes, expertise and skills might be a serious element in fight. We see characters dashing round battles, abandoning neon trails whereas attacking every thing of their path, plus what look to be animations of the characters interacting with the robotic companion main as much as large assaults. Magic and different assault expertise appear to have a small startup time that can go away you susceptible if finished on the fallacious time.
Other programs seem on display screen, like one thing referred to as Best Avoidance and Sight Out, that give totally different bonuses. It’s unclear what’s going to set off these buffs in the intervening time.
The sport will even assist a extra tactical type of play by letting the participant pause the motion and provides instructions, swap characters, or simply take a second to plan at any time.
Aside from Raymond and Laeticia, which you’ll select between at first of the sport, the opposite celebration members additionally seem playable. We see moments of Elena operating round a canyon-type atmosphere and attacking with some form of laser whip weapon, and Albaird casting ice magic. We can then assume that each one celebration members, assuming the forged is bigger than simply these 4, might be playable. Depending on which character you choose in the beginning, you’re going to get a unique forged of celebration members as effectively.
Outside of fight, you’ve gotten quite a lot of freedom in mobility, equivalent to leaping and gliding far throughout the terrain.
Multiplayer
While they technically haven’t denied it, there’s no cause to assume there might be any multiplayer element in Star Ocean: The Divine Force. There was an non-obligatory versus mode in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time Director’s Cut, and the cell sport Star Ocean: Anamnesis does enable for gamers to workforce up, nevertheless it’s by no means been included within the correct sport itself. JRPGs usually don’t incorporate multiplayer, and for essentially the most half, followers don’t actually need them to. This appears to be like prefer it desires to observe within the footsteps of one thing like Tales of Arise and concentrate on reintroducing the sequence by specializing in making essentially the most strong single-player expertise doable.
Pre-order
Star Ocean: The Divine Force might be getting just a few totally different editions you’ll be able to choose from, although they don’t seem to be but open within the west. No matter which version you pre-order, you’re going to get a mini-game pawn pack. Here’s what every of them consists of:
Digital Deluxe:
The base sport
OST with over 80 songs
Two armor items
Four equipment
Greatsword weapon pack for Raymond, Lionheart’s Blutgang and Dual blades for Laeticia, and Flashing Naglering
Limited Edition (PS4 and PS5 solely):
The base sport
Four-CD soundtrack
Artbook
Two Star Ocean keychains
Code for all of the objects from the Digital Deluxe version
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