Star Ocean Integrity and Faithlessness (that’s a long game name!) released last week, and I purchased it as soon as it got out. I haven’t finished the main campaign yet, but I’m having a blast playing it so far! Honestly, this is the type of game the deceiving Tales of Zestiria should have been when it released last year. Read below to find out why I like this game so much and why you should also play it right now!
For starters, knowledge of the Star Ocean lore isn’t necessary as this game is set on a story separate from the other games. As a quick recap on the general Star Ocean story, it is set in the far future, and there are various alien civilizations out there. Most of them adhere to the Underdeveloped Planet Preservation Pact which states that more advanced civilizations have to let the less advanced ones evolve at their own pace without being helped.
With Star Ocean – Integrity and Faithlessness being a Japanese RPG, I had great expectations about the battle system, and it didn’t disappoint! After the many hours I’ve spent with this game, I think that this is a near-perfect battle system, which is very progressive. You also fight with as many as seven concurrent members at once! This is CRAZY!
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There are a plethora of Skills that are unlocked as you progress by using “books,” but what I liked the most is the new Role system. Each character has four different Roles slots in which you can set whichever one you want from the available list (a role is basically a character’s AI, and drives his/her decisions on the battlefield).
You are in a hot fight and want to change your attacker to a long-range specialist? Press Triangle mid-fight and change its role on-the-fly! Fighting a boss and want to switch an offensive mage to have a second healer? Do so right away! Roles can also be configured outside of the fights, but only one character at the time can have a specific role. This means that you can’t overuse one overpowered role and set it to all your characters. If you’re having a hard time battling a boss, it might be because your roles need to be updated.
Outside the main campaign, there are also a ton of sidequests that can be tackled at your own pace since none expires even as you progress through the campaign (this is great news for completionists!). I also liked the deep yet very easy to use item crafting system which will help you make your own great items using less powerful ones! There are a lot of backtracking involved while doing both the main and sub-quests but at least you can walk past enemies without fighting every one of them.
As for the game presentation, the graphics and environments are top-notch and shows that this release is at home on the PlayStation 4. The soundtrack is also great, and the gameplay is perfect!
I highly recommend this game to all JRPG fans looking for a fun and lengthy adventure with a great story and a very impressive battle system!
