I've said in the past that I'd be much more diligent when it came to uploading less review cards and stuff like that from then on. And while that is true, I haven't said I'd completely stop right?
And besides, with a game that I had a crap ton of hype for treats me like THIS, I must say something. Although I HAVE said something already, I feel the need to reiterate why this game has seriously let me down...

GAMEPLAY: A

This IS (supposedly) a Star Ocean game after all, and the franchise's gameplay is one of the biggest reasons I ever fell in love with it in the first place. In case you have not noticed, I LOVE RPGs, particularly action and/or real time ones. Star Ocean is among the best in that craft concerning gameplay. Everything else is... well... not terrible, but could be better ya know? And I'll get to all that in a bit.
Star Ocean 5 in particular boasts a rock-paper-scissors like mechanic in its battle system. Where minor attacks interrupt major ones, major attacks break guards, and guards block minor attacks. Since this is in real time, you have to pay very close attention to your character and the enemy to execute the right move. However, with seven party members and sometimes more enemies than that, it can be difficult. Each success in the combat system will award you one of three bonuses in the bonus gauge that corresponds to what success you pull off. EXP, SP, and Fol (which is the game's currency). Building up enough let's you unless a rush talent, which is a very powerful attack. This is something I never really used because it saps your bonuses. And I like my bonuses.
Out in the field the player can interact with the environment, such as mining, fishing, or harvesting for materials for the game's Item Creation system, which has vastly improved from Star Ocean 3's RNG and Star Ocean 4's limited access to it. Thank. God for that... Although making items in this game is significantly more difficult than in the other two games before it, so keep that in mind.

STORY: C-

Star Ocean was never particularly strong with the stories it presents in each of its entries, but they were never really terrible. But in this game, it was surprisingly low stakes. I suppose I should have seen this coming considering the 2015 E3 trailer, but still. This game's story was nothing special at all. 'kay so, this game opens with the main protagonist, Fidel Camuze and his friend Miki defending the village they live in from raiders. They win, but only just, so they had to go and find help in their country's capital. Their request was turned down because they were at war with another neighboring country. Shortly after all this, they come across a young girl with strange powers emerging from a crashed spacecraft. Since this world they're in is an "underdeveloped" one, Fidel and Miki do not know what is going on. So the game is then spent on attempting to unravel these mysteries.
So apparently this game also has multiple story endings or branches based on the choices we make throughout the game, but I can't tell you exactly how that works; the game was not exactly clear on this at all. And when it comes to a story like this it... it isn't very strong at all. Star Ocean 3's pot was about its protagonist being separated from his father and childhood friend in an intergalactic war. Star Ocean 4 (A prequel BTW) was Earth's first steps into worlds outside our own. Don't those sound better...? Because they were. This story definitely leaves much to be desired.
And don't get me started on the fact that it took me only 35 hours to complete. And that is WITH a ton of grinding for items and quests. SO3 and 4 lasted much longer than that for me! Damn it guys...

CHARACTERS: C

I honestly don't have much of an opinion on the cast of characters that this game presents. I'm more neutral on them than anything, but comparing them to Star Ocean's 3 and 4, this game's characters are middle ground for sure. Fidel is the typical swordsman who's protective of his friend Miki. WAY too much like Fayt was to Sophia in Star Ocean 3... Victor is a soldier in the Resulian army who knows not much other than war. Fiore's outfit scares the hell out of me and she is a scholar studying Signeturgy, which is this game's name for symbology, which is essentially magic really. Emmerson is a womanizer that is one of the only characters that bring in intergalactic elements INTO the game. Anne is the one trying to KEEP Emmerson in check while this happens. And Relia is the girl with no memory, no emotion, and the strange powers that continuously help the team out.
All I can say about them is that they... are better than Star Ocean 4... And that is all I can say really...

CONTROL- A-

Control is as good as ever as well. Star Ocean was never a really glitchy game or difficult to handle except for the disastrous release Star Ocean 3 in Japan. Seems Tri-Ace has REALLY learned their lesson from that and that is for sure. Sure there are a few issues with targeting in battle as well as getting the right timing with chains while in battle, but other than that, the controls are very solid.

ORIGINALITY/CONCEPT AND ITS EXECUTION- D-

Okay... so THIS is where the game REALLY lost me. This franchise's concept is supposed to be about traversing the stars and going to other worlds where crazy shiz happens, right? Well in this game, there is... actually almost NONE of that whatsoever. I'm not joking. Sure there are spacecraft here or there and sometimes you DO go into the stars, but guess what? It's never for very long and you never seem to go ANYWHERE! Seriously, the only actual planet you go to in this game is the one you start on and that is that! When you go to space, you only travel between spacecraft, whether it'd be your own, or to infiltrate the hostile Kronos ones. And that. Is. All. ON the planet, which is called Faykreed IV, by the way, there ARE Kronos laboratories that are located in the desert, but again... it isn't much.
"Where the fate of a planet, hangs in the balance" -E3 Trailer 2015
I should have taken that as a very bad sign right off the bat. I mean come on. Star Oceans 3 and 4 had conflicts that resulted in the entire god damn universe to be at stake dammit! The issues in THIS entry are so small that its almost criminal. I mean, yeah. Sure. A planet IS still a big deal, but compared to the grand scale that the two games before it set, this... is nothing. This execution. Is nothing. At all. It just plain and simple sucks...

SOUNDTRACK- B

The soundtrack of these games is another key reason I fell in love with this franchise. To this day I believe Star Ocean 3 has the second best OST of all time, behind Xenoblade Chronicles. Star Ocean 4 was a tad underwhelming, but still good. Perhaps Motoi Sakuraba, the franchise's composer peaked too early, I dunno, because it was a little downhill again in this game too. But the decline is a much ore gentle slope than you'd think, because what music there is in this game is nothing to shake your head at and say "it sucks" because it is all still good. But the soundtrack DOES lose a few points because it uses tracks from Star Oceans 3 and 4 throughout. Now, normally, I'd love to hear all these older and nostalgic tracks, but I think Star Ocean 5 relied on them, just a little bit too much. Almost like fan service if you ask me. It's like the devs know that they're losing their audience...

DIFFICULTY CONSISTENCY- C

Star Ocean is not a super difficult game, any of them. There ARE difficulty options upon starting a new game after all so you can choose just how punishing you want it to be. However in this entry, it WAS surprisingly difficult at times. And not in the best of ways. How do I put this... Oh right. The worst thing the franchise has ever decided to do. You know Anne, the woman mentioned in the characters section? Well sometimes she needs to gather data to progress the story and when the party is under attack, you must protect her at all costs. Let her HP drop to 0, and it's instant game over. Despite the fact that you yourself are still alive, despite having restorative items and spells. It still game overs you. Really? Really... And it does not help AT ALL when ALL the enemies in the room target Anne and drop her HP from full to 0 in less than THREE SECONDS so you have almost NO time to react at all! It is simply unforgiving and terrible. So you grind and grind and grind only for the same shit to happen more... And when you DO win, suddenly you're overleveled AF. Wonderful.

REPLAY VALUE- D

It is the job of most RPGs to have very high replay value in which you can go back into the game and have a different experience than the one before. Pokemon does it fantastically with how customizable your team is. Xenoblade Chronicles has the crap tom of side quests and paths off of them. Star Ocean 5 in particular supposedly has different endings to its story if you make certain decisions within the game to trigger them. Problem is, I dunno what it means by "choices" nor do I believe it will change the overall experience from the game. It tires to have replay value, but I don't think it does it very well. Maybe if I CAN figure it out, the rating will change. As an RPG with as little to experience as this one has compared to those before it, its replay value seriously suffers. At least so far anyways. We'll see what happens

GRAPHICS- B

Another not-so-strong-suit of Star Ocean is its graphics. I mean, did you SEE Star Ocean 3? It's graphics are... ...not good. At least on the character models anyways. Star Ocean 4 greatly improved on that and Star Ocean 5? Does not feel all THAT different from Star Ocean 4's. Sure it IS still improved, but for some aspects of it, it hasn't improved THAT much. Maybe it's because there is a PS3 version for Japan and because of that, the engine did not allow for drastically differing graphics from the PS3 to the PS4, I dunno. I dunno much about this technical crap. But let's just leave at, the graphics are good. Not spectacular, but good. Alright? Alright.

FINAL GRADE- C-

This... this does not feel like Star Ocean at all. I'm to be honest in saying that this game is not a very good one at all if you're a Star Ocean fan. If you like RPGs like this, sure you'll find something out of it if the story or concept don't matter too much to you outside of gameplay. But other than that, I can't say I recommend this game at all! A lot of things from this game are seriously dumbed down or outright missing and take away from the experience immensely. like where is the tournaments that were in SO3 and 4? Sure they weren't necessary, but they were awesome. And if Maze of Tribulations is the only post game dungeon, then I will be very sore... The gameplay and soundtrack, while as good as ever, can't rescue everything else the game does wrong. The story is low stakes, the characters are mostly forgettable, the concept's execution fails spectacularly, and those god forsaken "protect Anne" segments, make this game a complete and utter disappointment.
In fact... this IS the most disappointing game I ever played. I was so hyped for this game when I first heard about it in April of last year. I bought a PS4 SOLELY for this game! And then this... do I regret getting it? No not really, but as is...
Star Ocean 5: Integrity and Faithlessness is the most disappointing game I ever experienced... the more I think about it, the worse it gets. The more negative reviews I see of this game I see, saddens me more, ESPECIALLY knowing that it honestly deserves them. Tri-Ace, Square-Enix. If you ever decide to make a sixth game... learn from these mistakes and bring back this once great franchise. Don't you let this series go Final Fantasy or god forbid, Sonic on me alright? Alright. Either end it here, or git gud. Got it? Duds exist in every place. Let this be the only real one. Come on guys. Do not make me become faithless in you...