New Star Ocean 4 screens show space, Fayt 2.0

by Nick Doerr { Sep 6th 2007 at 4:00PM }

If we notice anything about the newly released scans/screenshots of Tri-Ace's Star Ocean 4, it's that they haven't yet pumped up the character designs from the critically acclaimed, but fanbase panned, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. Case in point: Fayt enjoyed keeping his sword at an awkward horizontal position around his bum. Sure, it may be convenient for quick-unsheathing, but for moving through a crowd that would be irritating! Seems the new main character of Star Ocean 4 has the same line of thinking, along with touting a lady friend at his side.

We're not complaining -- the games deliver fun and fast-paced battles and we're very excited to watch this newest entry mold itself into something spectacular. Seriously, the new generation of consoles need their RPGs and for a lot of people, Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata just won't cut the mustard. We'll keep looking for more info on this game as it develops, as it already looks to be on the right sci-fi track, as the screens depict. Despite this, we doubt it'll surpass the sheer quality seen in PS2 titles such as Unlimited Saga.

Tags: starocean4, tri-ace

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Johnny @ Sep 6th 2007 4:28PM

Can you play this game properly without playing its previous games?

Ithilis @ Sep 6th 2007 4:29PM

"Seriously, the new generation of consoles need their RPGs and for a lot of people, Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata just won't cut the mustard."

And what about Mass Effect? That's gonna cut a LOT of mustard.

I own both systems, and I never thought I'd say it, but I'm much more excited about the 360's RPGs right now. There's FFXIII, sure, but it's pretty damn far away. Blue Dragon sucks, I admit, but Eternal Sonata and Mass Effect look brilliant.

Sammy @ Sep 6th 2007 4:40PM

Eternal Sonata and Blue Dragon while looking good initially have not been excellently received. Tri Ace is an exceptional company. Star Ocean 3 was possibly the best JRPG on the PS2.

I think as far as Western RPGs go the 360 has a massive lead. Fable 2 (MrrrRRrrr the game I will buy the machine for), Mass Effect looks exceptional too.
Compared to the PS3...which has...
...
...
...
Nothing.

But he seemed to be comparing the Japanese RPG offerings.

P.S: I am waiting to buy both consoles...as I always like to wait until software becomes more readily available and prices go down.

Popfrogs @ Sep 6th 2007 4:39PM

Hey troll, you only have to click Add Comment once.

Ithilis @ Sep 6th 2007 4:43PM

To #5 -

It's hardly trolling if HaleysComet is responding to a blatantly ignorant, presumptuous and trollish remark by the journalist. Blue Dragon got sub-par reviews, sure, but Eternal Sonata isn't even out yet!

Egster @ Sep 6th 2007 4:51PM

Blue Dragon is utter shite. Can´t judge Eternal Sonata.

shase @ Sep 6th 2007 4:52PM

I am an RPG fan and Western RPGs has almost no appealing to me... maybe i hate the animation of the try-to-be-real-but-so-fake facial animation which makes char look butt ugly, or the too non linear storyline and crap for endings - KOTOR, Mass Effect, NWN2 (NWN 1 was "ok). Blue dragon looks nice but I would only play that if the cast got a whole face lift-meaning Toriyama isn't designing it.. i am so sick of the same Dragon ball look alikes... and the fact that i never liked how they looked in the first place doesn't help either.

Fujishima who draws Ah! Megamisama (wonderful manga btw) did Tales of the Abyss and his character creations are somewhat similar to his manga and that was ok because the characters (to me at least) looked good in the first place so it wasn't "sore to the eyes" to look at them again and again. Eternal Sonata I would definitely want to play but it is certainly not a game I want to buy a 360 for.

I guess when people put down games of another system of the same genre they like on another they should give reasons like I did and not "Seriously, the new generation of consoles need their RPGs and for a lot of people, Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata just won't cut the mustard." What he said might be true from his pov and not fanboyish at all but please back it up so others wont see that comment as fanboyish.

gullum @ Sep 6th 2007 4:53PM

I don't think Nick has anything to be Jealous about. As the reviews show, Blue Dragon is poo poo. Mass effect is only an RPG as much as Castlevania:SOTN is an RPG (read: its not). That leaves Eternal Sonata. Which may or may not be any good but like Nick said, it won't be enough for those jonesin' for their RPG fix. Now, Star Ocean 4, White Knight Story and of course Final Fantasy XIII. Those are games RPG fans should definitley look forward to.

shase @ Sep 6th 2007 5:00PM

@10

Yeah gollum, the RPGs I am looking forward are Lost odyssey, eternal sonata, FF13, White knight , SO4 etc. Oddly enough most of them fall into PS3 because of their system of origin and I am happy I dont need to buy a 360 to play 1-2 games i like on it. I am hoping with these games they stay exclusive to PS3 so they can be done very well worth the wait instead of us gamers waiting for so long for an RPG that turns out mediocre because of multiplatforming. Or wait so long for a "perfected" multiplatform RPG.

a.j. @ Sep 6th 2007 5:01PM

I love my PS3 so don't flame but in Blue Dragon's defense, if you like old school JRPG's it's actually really good. I've been sharing time between Warhawk and BD and loving them both. Star Ocean 3 was quite good, so this is great news.

dp @ Sep 6th 2007 5:14PM

Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata just won't cut the mustard?

78% and 79% scores respectively on metacritic appear to agree. jaw dropping, next gen jrpg has not been done yet.

i'm sure that is all the Nick is saying.

white knight story is where my best lie.

Xavier @ Sep 6th 2007 5:25PM

"Blue Dragon is poo poo. Mass effect is only an RPG as much as Castlevania:SOTN is an RPG. That leaves Eternal Sonata. Which may or may not be any good but like Nick said, it won't be enough for those jonesin' for their RPG fix. Now, Star Ocean 4, White Knight Story and of course Final Fantasy XIII. Those are games RPG fans should definitley look forward to."

Because the're on PS3? yes FF13 is the shit in RPG games, but dont discount the 360..right now the 360 has more RPG's than the ps3 period., J or not. the only J-RPG's the ps3 has exclusively right now that we know of is FF13 and White Knight Story, but atleast the 360 has Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata, Lost Odyssey, Cry On and infinitie undiscovery...as far SO4...no one knows what system its coming out for, so as far as we know it could be PS3, could be 360.....could be Wii

NATO_Duke @ Sep 6th 2007 5:37PM

Gotta agree with post #1, whether you think he is trolling or not, that quote stood out to me as pretty lame. Those RPG's are pretty nice (per the demo's), and there was no need to slam them. It was a stretch that was done just to slam the 360 - and was there really a need for that other than to start a pissing match?

Kattleox @ Sep 6th 2007 6:08PM

White Knight Story is SO underappreciated. It garnered mention, yes, but Level5 will perfect the action RPG genre with it. How? It's level5. I'll probably buy a 360 for Eternal Sonata for no other reason than that it slightly resembles Dark Cloud 2.
Star Ocean and all these will be good, yes. And I think Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata won't "cut the mustard" for everyone because most people don't have 360's. Great games in their own right, yes, but Final Fantasy VII didn't cut everyones mustard and it is the epitome of JRPGdom. The same goes for Dragon Quest and Dark Cloud 2 (ESPECIALLY the latter). I've seen people that flat out hate FF because It's too serious and FF fans strike back at Dragon Questers with the opposite. No game can cut ALL mustard. Some will only cut ketchup, and we should be happy with that.

ndoerr @ Sep 6th 2007 6:15PM

@ All -- I knew my sarcasm would get lost among the crowds looking for a fire. I'm not slamming those two games, I'm actually impressed with the visuals and concept behind Eternal Sonata (honestly, I'm not taken by Blue Dragon, but there's not really a reason for it). My comment about those two not "cutting the mustard" has to do with this: next-gen consoles have been out nearly two years and we get a measly two next-gen RPGs from Japan? It doesn't matter what console they're on, it's the fact that I'm still buying 3-4 JRPG's for my PS2 every couple of months.

All I want is an influx of my favorite genre. The FPS lovers are getting a hell of a lot, y'know? That's it. No hate at all, but it was a noble effort to point out and I'll try to be more frank in what I mean.

Honestly, I'm surprised no one called me out on the Unlimited Saga love. That was placed there to get some debate, since it's awarded "crappiest game evar!11one!" by many, but some appreciate it's insanity.

a.j. @ Sep 6th 2007 6:25PM

@16..lol...i actually purchased Unlimited Saga for $4.99 on EBay just because I felt it necessary to own the "worst RPG" ever lol. i played it for about an hour and was like "WTF?"...i recall a series of spheres and a map, but no character interaction or movement. very odd.

Tim Parsons @ Sep 6th 2007 6:40PM

no doutb this game will totally blow!

End of Time was the most boring and worst RPG i've ever played period. It was such a task to play through and beat because I hate it,. the story, the voice acting was lame,. the dialog sucked,. the game was HORIBLE.

This will be one RPG for me to avoid like AIDS!

Sammy @ Sep 6th 2007 7:23PM

Thus far I have avoided getting AIDS. I hope to see more RPGs on both of the next generation consoles. I think once Japanese support picks up (I feel most likely in the direction of the PS3 considering its domestic sales)...The Wii is a different story but should also play host to a few gems. The PS3 has been around for less than a year Microsoft should have made more of its headstart in Japan. It is starting to make a dent.. but still quiet.

heh @ Sep 6th 2007 8:16PM

I agree that Till the end of time was a snoozefest. Im sure all of you who played that slept through the opening cutscene.

Madam President @ Sep 7th 2007 8:49PM

I hope Star Ocean 4 doesn't share Star Ocean 3's similarities! That game was such a kick to my uterus! Bad sound track, A.I. with the I.Q. of 40, endless back tracking, shallow characters, lack of traditional Private Actions, poor item creation system, and the most INANE plot twist (Read: THE DEVELOPERS RAN OUT OF IDEAS FOR A STORY) I have ever come across in my long love affair with RPGs! Nel Zelpher and Maria Traydor made me feel insecure with my womanhood, however. They were female protagonists, but not your usual run of the mill (Sophia) spineless RPGs broads. I loved 'em.

EVERRAIN @ Oct 9th 2007 6:57AM

- Tri-Ace has posted a job recruitment ad in Japan to look for designers, game planners and programmers for two new titles, one is a new fantasy RPG, the other one is a new installment of a popular fantasy RPG, and both projects are planned for Xbox 360. It seems like the two RPGs refer to Infinite Undiscovery and Star Ocean 4.
(http://www.the-magicbox.com/gaming.htm)
IS FOR 360 OUCH!