[GAMES] Star Ocean 5 – A First Look

If you are a fan of the Star Ocean series, rejoice! Star Ocean 5: Integrity and Faithlessness is on it’s way to PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. The game is being developed by Tri-Ace, the developers of the game that kicked off the series, and is set to be published by Square Enix.

While a release date has yet to be announced, some key details have been revealed via Japanese gaming magazine, Famitsu. Only three characters have been revealed to date. They are:

Fedel Camus (voiced by Kaito Ishikawa),the protagonist specializes in fencing and protects the order of his village.

Miki Soresta (voiced by Nao Toyama) the game’s heroine, she’s a childhood friend of Fedel.

And Lilia, a girl who lost both her memories and emotions.

Set on the uncivilized planet of Feycreed, between the events of Star Ocean 2 and Star Ocean 3, the game will feature “”seamless realtime battles” with attacks depending on the character’s distance from the target, combined with the different button combinations, players will be able to execute different moves based on how far they are from their opponents. The game will also feature a dynamic system, where enemies can capture your allies which will result in branching outcomes.

Here’s the game’s prologue as translated by Kotaku:

Do the depths of space forbid peace for mankind—

Centuries after leaving Earth, after a multitude of trials, with the creation and spread of the ‘Galactic Federation,’ humanity was on the verge of unified order and peace.

But the embers of conflict have begun to burn again.

Over 6,000 light years from Earth, on the unsettled planet, ‘Feycreed.’

Just as so many times before, the waves of history begin from a remote planet.

With the game at roughly 30 percent completion, producer, Shuichi Kobayashi has stated that the developers are not thinking about story downloadable content or a “full version” to be released at a later date, stating that “I sincerely don’t want to do anything with the game that will upset people even a little bit.” He added: “I’d like to be able to keep putting these games out. By the end, when it’s all finished, we hope to have a game that draws in  series fans and new players alike” when asked about the future of the series.

In a round table with Famitsu, Kobayashi said he had wanted to make a new Star Ocean for quite some time, “But as I’m in charge of marketing, so I kept hoping someone would do it but….,” he told Famitsu, “So I decided I’d go ahead and start the project. I decided to give my life to Star Ocean and changed departments and became in charge of production.”

Kobayashi felt that it was important to get both Tri-Ace’s Yoshiharu Gotanda, the man who created Star Ocean, and Hiroshi Ogawa, who worked on Star Ocean 2 and 3, involved in the making of the game. “I wanted to insert the essence of Star Ocean 3 heavily into Star Ocean 5,” Kobayashi explained. Gotanda is the game’s lead programmer and conceptual creator while  Ogawa took up the mantle of director.

Gotanda also hinted that there is enough material for future installments, saying “Of all the games I’ve worked on, I’ve written enough for this game alone to fill several novels. I do not know if everything I’ve written will make it into the game, but I hope people will get to experience a grand story.”

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness will be the first installment of  the series since 2009, when Star Ocean: The Last Hope was released.

We leave you with a couple of screenshots from the game.

And the game’s teaser trailer featuring scenes from past editions of the Star Ocean franchise:

pictures via: Famitsu, Famitsu.com