After forty-five hours, a number of smiles, and one or two frowns, we walked away from Star Ocean: The Divine Power with a shrug. It’s a middle-tier Japanese position enjoying recreation that at no level, ever, threatens to get promoted to top-tier standing nor sink so low that it finally ends up sandwiched between Hyperdimension Neptunia and Limitless Saga. Mid-table mediocrity. The Crystal Palace of JRPGs.
Given the tumultuous historical past of the Star Ocean sequence, The Divine Power being merely okay might be a step in the suitable course. And whereas this recreation wouldn’t make our greatest of 2022 record until we’re doing 100 video games every this yr, among the enhancements made right here, and among the techniques put in place imply it’s conceivable the subsequent Star Ocean recreation might genuinely be good. It’d even be nice.
However we’re within the right here and now. The yr of our Lord 2022 and we’ve obtained a job to do. We crammed over forty hours of this recreation into 5 days simply to get up to now and now that we’re right here: yeah, it’s alright. What’s there to say? There’s no attention-grabbing speaking factors or incisive critiques we are able to make. No jokes. No good jokes, anyway. If it was actually unhealthy not less than we might make snide remarks however as it’s we are able to merely shrug and get on with it.
Star Ocean: The Divine Power means that you can choose considered one of two characters to play as throughout your journey all through area and stuff. There’s Raymond who’s a kind of anime Han Solo with one of many worst haircuts we’ve ever seen in a online game, after which there’s Laeticia, a blue haired princess of the realm who fights on the entrance traces in excessive heels.
We performed as Raymond as a result of we couldn’t take our eyes off his bizarre, golden area mullet, however for the hour or two that we tried as Laeticia it’s mainly the identical recreation, simply when the get together splits up often all through the journey you see what she was doing as a substitute of him. Additionally you’re carrying excessive heels. So your alternative is between wanting fabulous and searching like an fool. And we picked fool for some cause. What had been we pondering?
Raymond is the captain of a spaceship. It’s like Star Trek, kinda. There’s even an android tapping away on a console like that one in Star Trek, solely as a substitute of being designed by Gene Roddenberry this one was designed by Russ Meyer, apparently. When you’re too younger for the Russ Meyer reference then he was an auteur who made camp, smutty motion pictures within the sixties and seventies about scantily clad, prime heavy women. We’re simply saying that the android is a sexbot, okay?
Anyway, Raymond crash lands on a pre-spaceflight planet and rapidly meets Laeticia and her squire and so they quickly set up that they each need assistance getting someplace and so in the event that they work collectively it’ll profit each events. Raymond needs to search out different survivors from the crash after which get off the backwater rock he’s landed on, and Laeticia is making an attempt to cease a conflict breaking out between her Kingdom and a rival Empire.
Alongside the way in which our two heroes meet and be a part of up with a forged of largely tropey characters, like a cranky outdated man and the compulsory annoying kooky woman, and so they uncover that there’s a sinister hyperlink between their two quests, and the very destiny of the universe. Everyone knows the place that is going, proper? You’ve performed a JRPG earlier than. And in the event you haven’t then this shouldn’t be the one you begin with. Persona 5 is correct there ready for you.
The story begins sluggish but it surely does get extra attention-grabbing within the again half. It’s not notably deep or thought scary but it surely not less than poses a few philosophical and moral questions on issues, like synthetic intelligence and the perils of a complicated civilization assembly an underdeveloped one, even when it doesn’t discover them totally. Much less meals for thought, then, and extra of a Tic-Tac for thought.
Cutscenes have some fantastically questionable animations in them and there’s been zero try made to lip-sync the characters to the voice appearing. Cutscenes are additionally overnumerous in direction of the tip of the sport as all is being revealed, and there’s one stretch of the sport specifically by which it appears you do nothing however stroll from one room to a different so the individual telling the story can inform it with a distinct décor for about two hours.
Fight is quick and versatile. It is enjoyable at occasions, too. You play as one character in actual time whereas your three get together members are managed by AI. You’ll be able to arrange combos on your get together to make use of in battle by choosing what assaults they’ll do in what order, and as you stage up you’ll unlock extra assaults. You may also add gadgets to heal or buff into your combos, and later assist actions, too.
When you spend a little bit of time experimenting with the arrange of your squad you’ll discover which you can flip them right into a well-oiled machine, therapeutic harm get together members or reviving unconscious ones with out a lot supervision from you. This leaves you to focus on the D.U.M.A. system which is among the greatest issues in regards to the recreation.
D.U.M.A. is an AI floaty ball factor that helps you in battle and it elevates what would in any other case be largely humdrum encounters. With a faucet of R1 you may zip to an enemy, or you may choose to slip round their again and assault from behind. Typically, again assaults will stun an enemy leaving them open to huge injury. You’ll be able to even use D.U.M.A. exterior of battle that will help you traverse the world, climbing to excessive ledges or flying throughout ravines. Thanks, D.U.M.A.
Conclusion
Star Ocean: The Divine Power is sort of a snug pair of JRPG slippers. When you’re within the temper for a Japanese position enjoying recreation and you have performed all the good ones then you may relaxation assured that this one is okay. It is okay. It is consolation meals. that feeling while you simply want Netflix would make one other season of Mindhunter and so you find yourself watching Prison Minds? That. Solely in area.
