Recent reviews by SaturnHorizon

I never played the original, but this checked all the boxes for me and answered a lot of questions from the original. It also leads into the remake nicely. I wish we could get more content like this for other beloved entries, especially VI, IX and X. I highly recommend. It's much shorter than your average FF game, so keep that in mind.

Reminds me a lot of Star Ocean the Second Story if it had a modern face lift. Characters are good, story is incredible and immersive. The dialogue gets repetitive fast when in battle or roaming around the maps. Combat is not balanced very well, I felt like I spent most of my time as Alphen using reigning slash almost exclusively because of how much more damage it does than any other Arte.

All in all, I'd give it a solid 8.5/10. It could be better, but not by much. Definitely recommend.

Absolutely incredible from start to finish.

This game is long and difficult as it is adorable, which is very. A solid game, with the exception of the horrible way the game explains its systems, controls and mechanics to you. There are tons of youtube videos titled "X number of things Ni No Kuni 2 doesn't tell you" videos out there, and they all amount to the same thing: the game is great but it expects you to slog it out as you go, and if not that's your problem. Visually it's stunning, absolutely gorgeous and probably the most fluid and pretty 'cel shaded' animation I've ever seen in gaming. Story wise it's not bad; kind of predictable, but not bad. There's humor, there's romance, there's action, there's something for everyone here. Just don't expect them to tell you how to get there. Ni No Kuni 2: You're On Your Own.

This review is coming from a huge Star Ocean fan and overall huge fan of RPGs and most JRPGs. I am convinced Tri-Ace is completely incapable of making a perfect game. I don't think they understand how to. There's always trade-offs, whether it's the cringey voice acting of Second Story, my favorite and will be referenced a few times in this review, the weird combat of Last Hope, or the sh** show that was the previous entry. It's always going to suffer somewhere, and Divine Force is no exception. The best you can realistically expect from a Star Ocean game is 7.5 to 8 out of 10.

Positives:

1) Story, while predictable, is well executed and written. Character relationships feel impactful and important. I found myself caring a lot about them thus far.
2) Soundtrack is incredible.
3) Graphics are very pretty once stuttering is fixed.
4) Easter eggs galore.
5) Combat system is fun and engaging.
6) VA system adds a fun new layer to the game that I hope they'll carry into the next iteration.
7) Voice Acting is pretty good despite animation not matching up.

Negatives:

1) Don't play this on mouse and keyboard; it's miserable. This game was clearly made for controllers.
2) Recompile Shaders is necessary to have this game even remotely playable in it's current form on PC. Out of the box it runs like hot garbage with frame rates bouncing around in between 5 and 60, often in combat. Stuttering is painful here.
3) Character animations are flat and it's obvious they were only animated once regardless of language as it is at it's worst during dialogue where it looks less like a AAA title and more like a 70's kung fu movie.
4) Skill tree is fun for the first 20 hours and then you realize how flat and boring skill progression is.


All in all, this game is for fans of the old games. It's a shameless nostalgia romp, but I'm glad it's here and I really like this game. I'd say it's my favorite since the 2nd story and the game does in fact play like a love letter to the 2nd game with many references to it.

For a Star Ocean game, I'd give it 9/10 because I think this is the best we're going to get. For a regular game, I'd give it a 7.5/10. If you love Star Ocean, you'll love it. If you're a newcommer, wait until it's on sale.

Incredible game. Beautiful, fun, great storytelling.

Not perfect, but nowhere near deserving of all the hate either.

Is it great compared to what we were promised? No.

Is it a great game on it's own? Yes.

Boring. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ boring.