![]() A character will either be wearing a traditional suit of armour or moving around in a contraption so illogical it must have come from the future. A town or city will be either something straight out of Tolkien or drenched in neon. Where Final Fantasy and every other similar JRPG aims to meld sci-fi and lo-fi fantasy together to create a cohesive whole, Star Ocean explicitly contrasts them. It’s not the first series to meld science fiction and fantasy elements – Final Fantasy itself does that – but Star Ocean does it differently. What sets the Star Ocean series apart is that it’s a juxtaposition of classic fantasy and Star Trek-like spacefaring epic. With a page-turner of a plot that flows beautifully, and incredible, vividly exotic spaces to explore, I just lost myself in The Divine Force. ![]() I’ve played a lot of stuff that I absolutely loved, but even the likes of the mighty Elden Ring haven’t put me in a state where, as I did as a teenager, I would curl up on a lounge and just play, and play, and play. Games haven’t really done that to me in many years. This is one of the rare games where I settled in for an extended play session, and the next thing I know it was 3am and I was both very tired and yet still want to play more. But, if you’re part of a small audience for which it clicks, it is going to click really hard. I’ll tell you right away, sitting here writing this before the embargo has lifted and the media have started publishing their reviews: it’s going to be polarising, and probably weighted towards people that don’t enjoy it. It’s been around for 25 years now, and The Divine Force is the sixth of the main series entries. Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are, of course, the big guns, but this series is not insignificant. Star Ocean acts as something akin to the “b-tier” for Square Enix.
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