In the Square Enix Plays 2022the event organized by the company in London and that has served to bring part of the Tokyo Game Show 2022 to Europe, has come in handy to try and discover some great games that are coming to stores, such as The DioField Chronicle, Valkyrie Elysium or the expected Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion, although not everything that was available has captivated me enough.
The first title I went straight to was Star Ocean: The Divine Force, which I wanted because I’m a fan of the saga, but the feelings that Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness left me with at the time weren’t too good. for that very reason I wanted to see if tri-Ace had learned its lesson and managed to develop a round product and much superior to the previous chapter. You just have to keep reading to see what has finally happened.
Learning to fight in very basic combat
The story of this JRPG introduces us to Raymond Lawrence, who is dedicated to traveling through space with his crew in a ship to transport loads that are requested. Unfortunately for him and his companions, the ship is attacked and our protagonist ends up crashing on a planet where he will meet Princess Laeticia. From this moment is when one of the two test versions that were enabled begins.
In the case of this first one focused on the most basic controls to learn how to play and see some of the possibilities offered by the title. In the case of the combats that we will fight, they will be in real time and at first it had some very simple attacks to use and combine depending on the button pressed, although one peculiarity about them is that you cannot attack everything you want due to a bar of energy that the characters have.
After hitting the creatures that we meet several times in a row, we will have to wait a few seconds to wait for the energy to recharge and thus continue distributing tow. This means that you have to learn to dodge and move around the stage looking for the right moment to regain strength and thus continue fighting. Of course, during the first bars of the adventure the energy was very limited, so I couldn’t do much either.
After fighting a few clashes I ran into the DUMA device, a robot that will accompany our group of protagonists at all times and with which the action starts to get a little more interesting. More than anything because thanks to him we will be able to carry out other attacks that will allow us to fly through the air and plummet against enemies to make a brutal attack, which even comes from pearls to enter directly with a devastating blow.
Especially since the enemies will be roaming freely everywhere in huge settings with a touch of fantasy. However, the use of the robot is also limited and the skills that we can use with its help have their own bar that recharges based on using basic attacks. Besides, at any time we can switch between one character or another of our team, while the others are controlled by artificial intelligence and at least for the moment they give the impression that they know how to cope perfectly in the face of any adversity.
This first part of the demo ended with the confrontation against a robot in the form of the final boss. The only thing that was special about the confrontation was that we could hit him in different parts of the body, so that there were certain places that could cause him to be temporarily stunned and incidentally take more life than normal. It is not that it was a very challenging combat, but it is also normal since it is the beginning of the adventure.
A touch of exploration that needs more depth
The second part of the demo was a little later in the plot, with our characters a little more powerful, but the bad thing is that the combat did not improve much more. The problem is that it is noticeable that something is missing to make it attractive, because hitting with basic attacks and using DUMA does not end up filling enough to motivate us to fight everything that comes our way.
And do not think that you will be fighting battle after battle constantly, because it is not like that at all. While the good thing about these matchups is that there will be no loading screens and everything will take place in real time, the problem is that there are not too many enemies and the scenarios feel tremendously empty. There are objects to collect, some crystals that I’m not sure what was the point of catching them and little else, because most of the time I spent going from one place to another.
The positive part of this matter is that the device that accompanies us can be used at least as a propeller and thus fly to move at full speed. I certainly appreciated it a lot when I had been playing for a few minutes because the areas look spectacular and are full of details, but a beautiful landscape is not worth it if in return I have almost nothing to do with it.
Also, I don’t know if it’s because the characters had a lot of level, but it was too easy to kill any enemy I was defeated with just a few hits, so I didn’t find it very motivating to participate in these battles either, especially knowing that I had a very limited time to play. For all these reasons, this whole second part of the demo convinced me even less than the first.
At least I was able to take a look at other sections, such as the configuration and customization of the group of protagonists. So I noticed that the equipment could be modified and based on leveling up, the characters obtained points to exchange them in a huge panel of improvements and skills, with dozens and dozens of possibilities that will affect the statistics and the way of playing depending on what you prefer. each.
On the other hand, at the end of the trial version I reached a town with which I was able to have conversations with some of the inhabitants and with my fellow travelers. I even saw that making contact with them and chatting will affect the relationship, but at this point in the game and the demo I don’t know how much it will affect anything or what exactly it will do.
In short, Star Ocean: The Divine Force It has room for improvement and I keep hoping that when I play the final version, when I see everything in greater depth, my feelings will improve, because of course it would be a disappointment if another installment in the series was a disappointment.
- platforms: PS4, PS5 (played version), Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC
- multiplayer: No
- developer: tri-Ace
- Company: Square Enix
- Launch: October 27, 2022
