STAR OCEAN THE DIVINE FORCE

71%
Game Brain Score Based on 1,164 reviews
  • story
  • graphics
  • optimization
STAR OCEAN THE DIVINE FORCE Game Cover
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"Star Ocean The Divine Force" is a single-player Fantasy RPG with a good story, phenomenal gameplay, and plenty of humor. Players can freely move in 360 degrees and roam the skies in the largest environment ever, with battles offering super high-speed movement attacks and subdue a large number of enemies. The game boasts pretty visuals, good music, but also contains lots of grinding, bugs, and is poorly optimized. Characters can explore everything they see and experience challenging yet thrilling battles.

  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Play​station 5
  • Windows
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X|S
  • Play​Station
  • Xbox
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

71%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,164 reviews
story193 positive mentions
optimization122 negative mentions
  • Great space sci-fi party-based action JRPG with innovative exploration and movement.
  • Deep, fast battle system with challenging bosses and a diverse cast of characters.
  • Incredible music from composer Motoi Sakuraba, enhancing the overall experience.
  • Performance issues on PC, including massive lag spikes and stuttering.
  • Poor AI for party members, leading to frustrating combat experiences.
  • Crafting system is tedious and relies heavily on RNG, making it less rewarding.
  • story779 mentions

    The story of "Star Ocean: The Divine Force" has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it to be a standard JRPG narrative that lacks depth and originality. While some appreciate the character development and the dual protagonist system that offers different perspectives, others criticize the plot for being predictable and filled with clichés, often feeling disconnected from the characters' motivations. Overall, the story is seen as decent but not exceptional, with many players suggesting that the gameplay and character interactions are more engaging than the narrative itself.

    • “The story is engaging, and the characters are well-developed, each with their own motivations and arcs that contribute to the overall depth of the storytelling.”
    • “The story hooks you in with likable characters and funny interactions between a space traveler and a princess who has never seen a phone before.”
    • “The story is well written and fluid, and very easy to follow with no true loose ends or confusion.”
    • “The story is basic and the characters are colorful enough, but the human element that it needs to connect with the player is very sparse and unfocused.”
    • “The story is incredibly insipid.”
    • “The story is poor and at a lot of times extremely cringe and did they have a robot do the character designs, because almost the entire game they had almost no emotions at all in their facial expressions.”
  • graphics264 mentions

    The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many players noting issues such as blurriness, poor optimization, and dated character models that detract from the overall experience. While some appreciate the art style and find certain environments visually appealing, others criticize the graphics for feeling last-gen and lacking polish. Overall, the game appears to struggle with performance, requiring players to adjust settings to achieve a smoother experience.

    • “The graphics are stunning and run very well, although I have a semi-beefy computer: R5 5600X, 48GB RAM 3600MHz, and RX 6700XT with 1TB Samsung 970 Evo Pro storage.”
    • “The game's visuals and audio are spectacular, a testament to the series' growth and the developers' dedication.”
    • “Graphically the game is impressive.”
    • “Firstly, the graphics had this awful blurry look on it.”
    • “The optimization is so bad that I had to lower my graphics to normal and 30 frames just for it to stop stuttering every 4 seconds.”
    • “The graphics look like they are from the PS3 era.”
  • optimization258 mentions

    The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with many players experiencing severe stuttering, frame drops, and crashes, even on high-end hardware. While some users report smoother performance after recompiling shaders or adjusting settings, the overall consensus is that the game is poorly optimized and requires significant patches to address these issues. Many recommend waiting for improvements before purchasing, as performance varies greatly depending on individual setups.

    • “Steam Deck performance was great on the latest version of Proton-GE and some tweaks as seen on ProtonDB.”
    • “On my system, I'm running at 4K with favor performance engaged (I believe this implements resolution scaling) and everything else on maximum settings and rarely if ever dip below 60.”
    • “I optimized for quality and have had no frame dips or screen tearing.”
    • “The optimization is so bad that I had to lower my graphics to normal and 30 frames just for it to stop stuttering every 4 seconds.”
    • “The game has bad optimization, and it probably isn't a problem that can be fixed with brute force (having a better PC) because it has the same feeling as the stutters that happened in Elden Ring no matter the hardware you have.”
    • “Performance issues mar this otherwise classic JRPG experience.”
  • gameplay238 mentions

    The gameplay of "Star Ocean: The Divine Force" has received mixed reviews, with many praising its engaging combat mechanics and exploration features, particularly the new mobility system that allows for vertical traversal. However, several players noted issues with the game's execution, including a lack of depth in combat strategies, clunky mechanics, and performance problems that detract from the overall experience. While some found the gameplay fun and reminiscent of classic JRPGs, others criticized it for being shallow and repetitive over time.

    • “The combat mechanics are the highlight as it is addicting and fun to experiment with different attack combos and party compositions.”
    • “The gameplay is where the game really shines, with the duma system giving additional mobility to the action combat to make it all feel very fast-paced and exciting.”
    • “Overall, a solid gameplay with fun traversal thanks to the robotic companion that lets you fly and glide.”
    • “But, the gameplay execution is downright awful.”
    • “If you decide to buy it anyway and you wonder if after 119 minutes of playing the game will get better, at this point I can tell you that after 15 hours of gameplay I saw no improvement.”
    • “Gameplay seems a bit of a mess and right now there are a lot of small annoyances that really would feel like nitpicking when talking about my experience so far.”
  • music146 mentions

    The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising the compositions by Motoi Sakuraba as captivating and well-suited to the game's atmosphere, while others find certain tracks generic or distracting. Some players enjoyed the soundtrack's nostalgic elements and emotional depth, while a few criticized the balance and repetitiveness of the combat music. Overall, the soundtrack is generally regarded as a strong aspect of the game, contributing positively to the immersive experience despite some inconsistencies.

    • “The worlds are breathtaking, and the soundtrack is as captivating as ever, making my journey across the galaxy a delightful sensory experience.”
    • “The music is beautiful and well matched for circumstances.”
    • “The soundtrack is above average as far as JRPGs go, but there aren't as many strong melodies like you'd find in Star Ocean 2 and 3.”
    • “The combat music feels very strident and distracting.”
    • “Had to mute the battle music, constant overdramatic noise.”
    • “The music is very standard, also sometimes feels like filler with maybe only a few good outliers like the Nihlbeth field song and the standard battle music that plays.”
  • character development44 mentions

    Character development in the game is generally viewed as shallow, with some players expressing disappointment over the lack of customization options and depth in character arcs. While character designs are divisive—ranging from well-received to criticized as poor or dated—many players appreciate the voice acting and the overall likability of the characters. Despite the mixed opinions on aesthetics, the game does offer opportunities for players to engage with the cast and explore side stories that enhance character development.

    • “The only saving grace this game was the character development and better graphics.”
    • “The world building and environments are extremely detailed and the character development is top notch as far as the genre goes.”
    • “Not only are the character designs nice, but the characters themselves are likable.”
    • “Very shallow character development.”
    • “The story is poor and at a lot of times extremely cringe, and did they have a robot do the character designs? Because almost the entire game they had almost no emotions at all in their facial expressions.”
    • “I feel like more time could have been given to character development, but that being said I'm not done and have no idea how long it will go on.”
  • grinding40 mentions

    The reviews highlight that grinding is a significant and often tedious aspect of the game, with players expressing frustration over repetitive mechanics, lengthy item creation processes, and the necessity to farm for experience and materials. While some appreciate the impact of grinding on character progression and combat, many find it burdensome, leading to a lack of engagement with the game's world and story. Overall, the grinding experience is seen as a double-edged sword, offering potential rewards but often feeling like a chore.

    • “If you are a speedrunner, you will love this game; there is no farming or any reason to explore and waste time.”
    • “The movies are really well made with excellent animation and camera work; no grinding is required, which is awesome!”
    • “The gameplay is 'find your favorite button and go at it', and the item creation system should basically have a 'save and load' button on its screen with how much save scumming and grinding it's asking you to do.”
    • “Upgrading your characters, be it armor/weapons/accessories, their combat skills, or even just crafting skills, is infuriatingly grindy.”
    • “The characters are all terribly bland, the art style has no idea what it’s doing, the open areas are an afterthought that are thoroughly tedious to explore, the crafting system is complete garbage and once again useless until and only if you care about the mind-numbingly boring post game, and combat is… frustratingly almost good.”
  • stability32 mentions

    The stability of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting significant issues such as frequent freezes, stuttering, and various glitches that hinder gameplay. While some users have managed to run the game smoothly on higher-end systems, others have faced persistent problems regardless of their hardware, leading to frustration and requests for refunds. Overall, the game's performance appears inconsistent, with a notable divide between those experiencing severe issues and those who report a stable experience.

    • “The game runs great at high settings with shadows set to normal.”
    • “The game runs great for me after disabling bloom and recompiling the shaders from within the game's settings menu.”
    • “My PC sits somewhere between minimum and recommended specs and it runs great on high graphics.”
    • “Spent days troubleshooting to no avail.”
    • “Wow, the game has been out for a year and still freezes and stutters. It looks like the developers have given up on this game. This should be illegal; serious $64 down the drain.”
    • “I experienced numerous glitches, stuttering, and even some game crashing.”
  • humor23 mentions

    The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with many players finding it genuinely funny due to awkward character animations, quirky dialogue, and amusing interactions between characters. While some aspects, like the inept AI and dynamic gameplay, elicit laughter, others suffer from poor execution that detracts from the overall experience. Despite its flaws, the game manages to deliver moments of charm and humor that resonate with players, making it a "beautiful mess" that stands out in the JRPG genre.

    • “The game itself is very funny and dynamic.”
    • “His humor is great, his struggles feel real, and his personality perfectly flows into his gameplay style.”
    • “The dialogues kept me laughing and smiling for a long time.”
  • replayability9 mentions

    Overall, the game offers decent replayability, primarily due to the option to choose between two main characters, which encourages players to experience different storylines. However, some reviewers noted that the linearity of the game and lack of significant changes in subsequent playthroughs limit its long-term replay value. While there are minor elements that can enhance replayability, such as exploring new areas, the absence of more dynamic features like respawning chests and enemies with scaling rewards is a missed opportunity.

    • “This I count in my bank of replayable games that I revisit for nostalgia every few years.”
    • “There are two main characters to pick from during the beginning of the game, which increases the replayability.”
    • “Two characters you can choose from, adding to replayability.”
    • “I would have liked to have seen chests along with enemies respawn with scaling rewards for replayability.”
    • “Ehh... the FPS drops are playable, but the game itself is far too linear for me.”
    • “But it provides replay value equal to the other games, even if it seems like each character only has one unique party member.”
  • emotional8 mentions

    Reviews highlight a mixed emotional impact in games, with some titles like "Dragon Quest 11" praised for their unexpected twists that enhance emotional depth, while others suffer from bland storytelling and recycled animations that fail to engage players. Additionally, technical issues in the English version of certain games detract from the overall emotional experience, leaving players feeling disconnected from the narrative.

    • “Dragon Quest 11 upended its initially safe story with a mid-game twist that lent unexpected emotional weight.”
    • “This is the first RPG I've played in quite some time that made me feel like I was playing an actual old-school video game.”
    • “The emotional impact in the English version is severely lacking.”
    • “The story felt uninspired and the environments were dull, making it hard to connect emotionally with the characters.”
    • “The character animations were awkward and recycled, which detracted from any emotional impact the game could have had.”
    • “Overall, the lack of depth in the narrative and the bland visuals left me feeling disconnected and uninterested.”
  • atmosphere6 mentions

    The game's atmosphere is a mixed bag; while one planet is beautifully crafted with diverse biomes and engaging music, the overall experience is marred by lifeless towns, flat characters, and repetitive side quests, leading to a sense of dullness for some players. Despite these shortcomings, others appreciate the atmosphere and find it enjoyable, particularly when combined with the story and refined battle system.

    • “Although that one planet is very beautifully crafted and has a great mix of biomes and areas, and overall great atmosphere to it.”
    • “About 10 hours into the game so far and enjoying the story, refined battle system, atmosphere, and of course the music.”
    • “Wonderful atmosphere.”
    • “The towns are lifeless, the field is mostly big empty space, the characters are flat, the side quests are just fetch or kill quests, and the overall atmosphere is dull and boring; I am bored playing this game.”
    • “As some already said, it is a bit rough around the edges, but the atmosphere, the characters, the music, and the combat system quite balance out the flaws.”
  • monetization1 mentions

    Reviews indicate a growing frustration among users regarding monetization practices, with many feeling that publishers are frequently resorting to exploitative cash grabs rather than providing fair value for their products.

    • “Publishers are consistently getting away with poor practices and cash grabs.”
    • “The monetization strategies in this game feel exploitative and prioritize profit over player experience.”
    • “It's frustrating to see so many paywalls and microtransactions that hinder gameplay.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

19hMedian play time
23hAverage play time
7-50hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 9 analyzed playthroughs

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