Today Square Enix released a new trailer and screenshots of the upcoming Star Ocean JRPG Star Ocean: The Divine Force.
We get to meet “DUMA,” a mysterious entity with advanced intelligence and consciousness. It’s associated with the serial number 004213 and it looks like a machine, but it’s actually a life form. Its purpose is unknown, but it decides to accompany the heroes for some reason.
DUMA can grant supernatural abilities to each person it accompanies. A typical DUMA ability is “Vanguard Assault” (VA for short).
Vanguad Assault grants aerial movement, allowing characters to fly at high speed in any direction both in the field and within a city. It can be used repeatedly and can help you find hidden objects.
There are crystals scattered around the world that can help DUMA grow. Finding and collecting them will give you an edge.
DUMA can also use “Field Scan” simplifying greatly the search for hidden items across the field, which would otherwise be very challenging to spot.
You can also use VA Attack. Holding the appropriate button makes your character levitate and releasing it lets you perform a flying attack that can deal a lot of damage.
Blind Side attacks let you dash out of the enemy’s field of view and then suddenlòy change direction executing a VA Attack. This stuns the enemy and increases damage further.
The Hate Radar lets you see the field of view of the enemies and their direction of attack, showing a path for your Blind Side attacks.
There are enemies with a wide field of view that usually cannot be blindsided, but you can restrict it by meeting certain conditions.
You can also perform a VA attack before the battle begins. If you can hit an enemy while it’s unaware, you will receive a “Surprise Attack Bonus.”
When this bonus is triggered, the enemy that has been hit and all the nearby enemies will be blindsided. If they’re destroyed before the Blind Side effect wears off, the reward for the kills will be increased.
You can watch the trailer(with both English and Japanese voice overs) and enjoy the screenshots below.