Like many of Square-Enix’s recent titles that made up the tsunami of titles to release in the Q3/Q4 window, the post-launch updates for Star Ocean: The Divine Force are coming thick and thin. Square-Enix has announced a big update will be coming to the game this week, on December 8 specifically that will bring with it a range of quality-of-life improvements, as well as a number of other requested additions to improve the experience further.
Of course, there are the usual bug fixes and optimisations, that are found in any game’s update, but courtesy of the official Square-Enix Support website, we have the full details of the key tweaks and changes that are coming to the game. You can check them out below
■Retention of equipment and accessories equipped by characters who leave the party
・It has been changed so that accessories which characters currently have equipped are not removed when they leave the party during story progression.
*Es’owa decks can still be changed while accessories are equipped.
■Ability to carry out DUMA scanning while moving (walking or dashing) *Excludes VA and gliding
・It is now possible to use the DUMA action “Scan” while moving.
■Adjustments to the frequency that allied characters use healing actions during battle
・The chances of Nina’s AI using a heal action has been greatly increased.
■Adjustments to specific battles
・The trigger conditions for factors such as “XX+YY% while waiting” have been tweaked to include “shift movement”*
(*Shifting refers to the slow walking movement while maintaining distance from a target unique to AI characters)
・The weaknesses of several enemies such as Sampati, the Holy Bird have been adjusted.
・Changes have been made so that the Vatting gauge starts from the 90% mark at the beginning of the battle where Vatting is learned.
・The target lock display has been altered to make it easier to follow.
■Changes to UI and controls
・The following lists have been amended so that pages can be cycled using the left and right directions on the D pad.
Party screen: Used item list for when setting link combos, battle and active skills list, equipped weapons armor and accessories list.
Item screen: Items list
Item creation screen: Items list
Collection screen: Main story, side stories, enemies, dictionary, spaceships
Shop screen: Inventory list, Items to sell list
・Region names have been enlarged when the map is expanded on the map screen.
・The time that notices (e.g. messages about items obtained or consumed etc.) are displayed on the left-hand side of the screen has been extended
・Loop processing for selecting item quantities
■Bug fixes
・Partial fixes to the bugs currently occurring.
・Amendments to mouse sensitivity on the STEAM edition.
■Optimization
・Optimization of game behavior on the various platforms
The update will be live on all platforms from Thursday, December 8. Star Ocean: The Divine Force is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC