Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness Reviews
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is an RPG that is built specifically for the PlayStation 2 crowd who still pine away for the mid-2000s and the days when Japanese developers hadn’t yet played Skyrim. Those who want another JRPG from that era that is unashamed to be Asian (complete with Fiore’s bouncing breasts, which might make up for Miki’s “diapers”) and delivers on the promise of taking Star Ocean into the current generation shouldn’t be disappointed.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness carries a weight of expectation that it is incapable of satisfying. A legacy JRPG franchise, published by Square Enix, should have some meaning, but here it translates to pure mediocrity. Series fans may find some brighter elements to latch onto, but for JRPG stalwarts there are far better examples of the genre.
Even with all of its shortcomings the game kept me interested to its end. It just doesn’t feel like a full-priced title.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness will probably not be remembered as one of the PlayStation 4’s finest. It’s greatly let down by technical issues with a camera that actively works against the game’s strengths: the epic sense of scale and the beautiful presentation. Dig beneath that, however, and you arrive at a game with an enjoyable narrative, fun characters, and a solid action JRPG combat system – all the stuff that’s actually important, in other words.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is a 20 hour game, and some are pointing that out as a negative given that the series usually clocks in at about 60. I’m calling it a mercy killing though as I did not want to spend another minute with it after writing this review. It’s the worst kind of pacing: too fast to not let players catch their breath bask in the story and slow enough to where one hour of gameplay can stretch to seem like four.
Old school to a fault, the worst thing about this Japanese role-player is it doesn’t seem to have any idea just how clichéd and outdated it really is.
Integrity and Faithlessness is a little less than stellar it has to be said, it’s possible that my expectations going in were a little too high maybe. It’s definitely not a bad game, though I feel a large portion of this review was negative, but just not as good as I had hoped. The game does feature some gorgeous visuals, a vast open world to explore and a really fun battle system. Did the bare-bones plot affect my enjoyment, yes somewhat, but it’s still a fun and enjoyable game and I’m sure Star Ocean fans will enjoy it.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is a beautiful game that is well crafted in some areas, especially in the menu and combat systems. Sadly, the game trips on its own inconsistent difficulty and poor or incomplete feel of the gameplay design.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is essentially JRPG comfort food.
One small step forward from Star Ocean 4, one giant leap from being a compelling experience. Integrity and Faithlessness is, much like Fiore's outfit, a case of the Emperor's New Clothes.
Star Ocean returns with its fifth installment, but after 20 years its evolution has not been quite good. The AI is terrible, the mechanics are really repetitive and the story is pretty dull. Only the players that enjoy the classic JRPG games will have fun with this one.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
A painfully undercooked Japanese RPG that shows how far the genre has fallen behind its western rivals.
While it’s understandable that Square Enix wanted to create a Star Ocean more like the fondly remembered early titles of the series, they seem to have forgotten what made those titles great. Whatever it was, Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness has none of it.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness isn’t a terrible game by any means, but is let down by some poor story-telling, dreadful delivery and a lack of originality. If you don’t mind the slightly repetitive nature of the combat, the poor camera and hammy acting then it’s well worth a look.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is a microcosm of everything wrong with modern JRPGs, from its slapdash presentation to its trope-filled narrative. Worst of all, it's seen fit to cram in everything that genre aficionados hate: unskippable cutscenes, greyed-out save points and painfully poor AI are just a few of the hurdles you'll face on your way to fun.
A JRPG with great classic tones, but too "inflated" and formulaic to recover only through a discrete combat system.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is an RPG that merely fulfills its obligations. It's not awful thanks to a cast of likeable characters and an interesting premise, but an abundance of clichés, uneven polish, and messy combat and AI make it less than memorable. And as its main story only provides around 20 hours of playtime instead of the 60 or more the series usually delivers, some of those obligations aren’t met in full. As for me, I can't say I regret my time with Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness, but 20 hours was enough.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness can be loads of fun, but also doesn't offer anything new. Fans of action JRPGs such as the Tales series will find something to enjoy, but definitely not everyone.
The fifth entry into the series suffers from old habits, but long time fans may still find something special in the mix.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is a clunky, sometimes beautiful mess, navigating between some exciting highs and many disappointing lows to fall short of its promise.