Star Ocean 4
- June 12, 2008 00:00 AM PST
The Star Ocean series is making its debut into the "next-gen" era. So far, things are looking out of this world.
One of the more surprising parts of Tuesday night's Xbox 360 RPG event in Tokyo was Star Ocean's new graphical style. Developer tri-Ace has made the transition from PS2 to Xbox 360 mean quite a lot, by using the hardware to achieve a more realistic, Final Fantasyish (think fantasy armor made of sci-fi materials) look, as producer Yoshinori Yamagishi explained:
"...Star Ocean for PSX only had 2-D characters and then for the PS2 the characters were made in 3-D because the hardware enabled them to evolve in that way. For the Xbox, this is next generation hardware and obviously there's brand new technology and new abilities that can be put into the game that tri-Ace had held off on prior [to now] because the hardware was not able to handle it."
Definitely check out the screens if you haven't already!
For being in its early stages, this game looks absolutely gorgeous.
The story is not a continuation of Star Ocean 1, 2, and 3, but rather a prequel to the trilogy, "...depict[ing] how Star Ocean came to be." In fact, during development the dev team was calling it Star Ocean 0, but changed it to 4, with the official subtitle of "The Last Hope" to avoid the negative connotation of zero. WWIII pretty much levels the world with a heaping helping of "weapons of mass destruction" so mankind heads out into the stars to escape. Looking at the amazing view from the spaceships in the CG trailer, you can't help but think how unrealistic that portrayal is-a zillion stars glowing brightly in what is scientifically mostly empty space-but it's so breathtaking you don't mind.
When asked whether the title was Xbox exclusive, Yamagishi replied, "I think your question probably translated to, 'Would it be coming out on the PS3 as well?' and the answer to that is here are really no plans, nothing set in stone at the moment. We can't say right now that it will come out or it won't come out for sure. It could go either way." He did confirm that it will be on 360 first, sometime in 2009 for Japan.
Did we happen to mention that this game is absolutely gorgeous?
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Related Star Ocean Links:
- Star Ocean Screen Gallery
- Trailers: Star Ocean 4 Trailer
- Trailers: Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope Trailer
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Comments [12]
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- Jun 13 2008 at 05:21:11:AM PST
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Japan loves JRPG's, Japan hates the 360...this will be interesting to say the least.
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Great! I love Jrpg's, and the 360 is getting a lot of RPG love this gen.
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I dont think anything will make the 360 sell in Japan, unless Microsoft erases history and becomes a japanese founded company. The main reason it doesnt sell is because Japan basically doesnt like us. They believe their technology and culture is superior and theirs alot of hate still there for the A-bomb from WW2. I know this firsthand as i went to a trip there and thank god im a dark hispanic so people werent sure i was american so alot of their hate was felt on the blonde/white peeps i was with. Game looks awesome
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I don't care what this game does for the 360 in Japan. And to tell you the truth, it probably won't affect the 360's state at all in Japan. All I care about is this game coming to my 360 in America. It may not boost Japan console sales, but I'll be one happy gamer playing some SO over here in the States.
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CoD4Rocks speaks the truth. It will be a while before the Japanese start supporting an american console. This has nothing to do with whether the system is good or bad.[p] I personally cannot wait for this game....360 is getting a nice selection of RPGs. :]
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FF13 owns this shit...... but for early in production it still looks hot
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