Star Ocean The Divine Force demo is out on PSN

[Twinblade★ 3,891]

15gb

[Twinblade★ 3,891]

Intro was good, directing and music is solid so far. The character designs are fine except for the main character’s. He looks like an unfinished blender 3d model made by an amateur.  
 
dialogue is acceptable, bigger problem is the lip syncing. Not sure if the full game will be different but it’s clearly synced for Japanese voices and not the English VA. 
 
Combat is enjoyable so far. I know there were concerns about the limited AP but I don’t hate that aspect. In fact it actually seems to discourage mindless button mashing which was always a problem with the previous games. Because of this limitation your positioning in battle actually becomes more important. The game sometimes throws large mobs of monsters at you so instead of just spamming attacks you have to figure out how to best position yourself so you can hit as many enemies as possible with the limited AP you have available. It’s a simple but surprising level of strategy that I appreciate, and it could develop into some interesting battles later in the game.
 

I’m not finished with the demo but I’m digging it so far. There’s definitely no way the game won’t at least be better than SO5.

[Twinblade★ 3,891]

Finished the demo. I definitely have a good feeling about this game.

[Sabo 442]

Ehh, I didn't even finish the demo. Its definitely just another Star Ocean game so not interested. 

[Delita 698]

I played 5 mins and shut it off. For any other game you can say that’s not enough to give a fair assessment, but I’ve played every single star ocean and I can already tell it is the exact same shit. 
 

Somehow or another I’ve managed to buy every single star ocean either at release or at a discount but this one I can say I won’t ever touch.

 

Its disappointing because I always look at a new SO at what it can be and the potential but it never tries to be anything more or different than just being a wal-Mart brand Tales game

[Delita 698]

Star ocean 1 was great, after that though I really don’t know 

[Twinblade★ 3,891]

18 minutes ago, Delita said:

I played 5 mins and shut it off. For any other game you can say that’s not enough to give a fair assessment, but I’ve played every single star ocean and I can already tell it is the exact same shit. 
 

Somehow or another I’ve managed to buy every single star ocean either at release or at a discount but this one I can say I won’t ever touch.

 

Its disappointing because I always look at a new SO at what it can be and the potential but it never tries to be anything more or different than just being a wal-Mart brand Tales game

 

Thats overly harsh. The demo is almost 2 hours long and has tutorials leading up to the end so 5 minutes isn't enough to see any of the stuff it does differently.

[Sabo 442]

The game comes out next month yet that demo left me feeling like the game needs another 6 months. So much needs tightened up and the performance is just bad. The DUMA stuff in particular needs a lot more work because it does not feel or behave right and that's suppose to be the main feature for the game. This game is not ready.

[Twinblade★ 3,891]

2 minutes ago, Sabo said:

The game comes out next month yet that demo left me feeling like the game needs another 6 months. So much needs tightened up and the performance is just bad. The DUMA stuff in particular needs a lot more work because it does not feel or behave right and that's suppose to be the main feature for the game. This game is not ready.

 
Having to come to a dead stop to use the scanning feature feels bad, but other than that I didn’t have any problems with the DUMA stuff.

[Sabo 442]

Flying felt finicky, analyzing didn't even seem to work half the time, and Blindside is super janky. So janky in fact it's literally the reason I stopped playing. My character got fuckin locked in the animation and I couldn't do anything. Didn't matter which buttons I pressed, nothing I did got a response. So I was just like, "Well, guess I'm done with the demo now" and turned it off and uninstalled it.

 

Game did me a favor though, I really wasn't enjoying the hour or so I spent with it. The combat is way too simple for my tastes and the difficulty is nonexistent.

[Twinblade★ 3,891]

1 hour ago, Sabo said:

Flying felt finicky, analyzing didn't even seem to work half the time, and Blindside is super janky. So janky in fact it's literally the reason I stopped playing. My character got fuckin locked in the animation and I couldn't do anything. Didn't matter which buttons I pressed, nothing I did got a response. So I was just like, "Well, guess I'm done with the demo now" and turned it off and uninstalled it.

 

Game did me a favor though, I really wasn't enjoying the hour or so I spent with it. The combat is way too simple for my tastes and the difficulty is nonexistent.

 

Its more of a boost to get you to high up places. Its a bit janky if you use it at ground level but at that point its better to just sprint.

 

And this is the game's intro so I don't think its fair to judge the combat complexity or difficulty.

[Quad Damage 1,717]

4 hours ago, Delita said:

I played 5 mins and shut it off. For any other game you can say that’s not enough to give a fair assessment, but I’ve played every single star ocean and I can already tell it is the exact same shit. 
 

Somehow or another I’ve managed to buy every single star ocean either at release or at a discount but this one I can say I won’t ever touch.

 

Its disappointing because I always look at a new SO at what it can be and the potential but it never tries to be anything more or different than just being a wal-Mart brand Tales game

 

i was thinking this exact thing, except i guess star ocean has space? lol.

 

also i dont like how the flying move in this, encourages pseudo platforming - what every jrpg doesnt need.

[Sabo 442]

1 hour ago, Twinblade said:

 

Its more of a boost to get you to high up places. Its a bit janky if you use it at ground level but at that point its better to just sprint.

 

And this is the game's intro so I don't think its fair to judge the combat complexity or difficulty.

 

We're not playing a beta, we're playing a demo. The point of a demo is to give you a taste of what to expect and to sway you to buy the product. It's very rare for the final game to differ from the demo.

 

I'm sure you will unlock more skills but in typical Action JRPG fashion those aren't going to add new mechanics or actually change the combat in any meaningful way. They'll just be new attacks that deal bigger numbers. All the actual combat mechanics are already present and the combat is simple.

 

Could the difficulty increase? Maybe, but given Tri-Ace's track record I doubt it. Resonance of Fate is considered their hardest game and I thought that game was easy too.

 

I've said it before but I guess I'll say it again- I'm not a fan of this series. Never have been, never liked it. Star Ocean has always been second rate to me but despite that I was still willing to give the game a chance. Because hey, maybe this will be the game to change my mind. However, the demo just reaffirmed to me that nothing's changed, this is still just another game in a series I don't give a shit about.

 

No thanks, not interested. I'll check out something else. 

[Mr. House 3,371]

6 hours ago, Delita said:

I played 5 mins and shut it off. For any other game you can say that’s not enough to give a fair assessment, but I’ve played every single star ocean and I can already tell it is the exact same shit. 
 

Somehow or another I’ve managed to buy every single star ocean either at release or at a discount but this one I can say I won’t ever touch.

 

Its disappointing because I always look at a new SO at what it can be and the potential but it never tries to be anything more or different than just being a wal-Mart brand Tales game

Neither series, nor Star Ocean, nor Tales of games have hit the spot for me since the 90s when I think about it. 

 

My expectations couldn't be lower at this point. I don't even know why I bother. It's just going to be another JRPG I can't bring myself to finish.