An Ocean of New Info for Star Ocean 4

Though maybe not enough to make you forget about the terrible Cry On cancellation news, Square Enix has recently released some new info on their upcoming tri-Ace Xbox 360 RPG, Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope via Weekly Famitsu. I have the info from the article, plus the info on previously revealed character, Crowe F. Almedio.

First up, the characters.

Crowe F. Almedio
Like Edge and Reimi, Crowe is a member of the SRF mission, and serves as the captain of the SRF ship mark 001, Acura. He is also a childhood friend of Edge and Reimi, and is seen by the two as an older brother figure. Edge especially feels close to him, and regards him as both a best friend and his rival.
Though Crowe appears to be naturally gifted at everything, he is actually a very hard worker, and his achievements are a testament to the many hurdles that he has overcome. He always maintains a cool head, and is able to make decisions and act with precision.

Muria Tionises
A woman working as an investigator of the Planet En II , Muria is skilled in both physical combat as well as Symbology. She is strong-willed and has a fierce temper. Though she possesses a beautiful smile, she has come to display a stern look more often than not since a certain incident. Currently, she is searching for a certain man while conducting her research.

The rest of the article focuses mainly on SO4's use of the series' staple Private Actions (PAs). This may be review for many long-time series fans, but there are a few interesting changes to the system to keep veterans on their toes.

For the uninitiated, PAs are mini-events that occur occassionally between the main character (Edge) and certain party members. During these events, how the player handles the conversations will affect character's relationships with each other, changing how characters behave in battle, and ultimately will decide how the game ends.

SO4 will feature "hidden" PAs that will require the player to fulfill certain requirements before they become available. For instance, in order to unlock some of these hidden PAs, it may be requisite to have seen a previous PA, or to have said some specific to a certain character. Many PAs are also time-specific, and can only be accessed at certain points in the story.

The article reports that there are roughly 100 PAs in total.

As with previous Star Ocean titles, party members' relationships are governed by Emotion Points. Through Private Actions and other events, these Emotion Points will change and eventually determine the game's ending. Deciding how to treat each character becomes very important if you are aiming for a specific outcome. It should also be noted that some hidden PAs are only available once a character's Emotion Points are at a certain level.

Finally, the article touches on the previously hinted Roommate System. There are 4 living quarters on board the Calnus, with each room capable of housing 2 characters. Depending on which characters you assign to each room will affect how the characters feel about each other, what goes on in the Calnus while on board, and can make certain PAs available. Roommate assignments can be changed at any time via a panel accessible on the Calnus.

It may interest you to note that there are only 8 character slots shown in the Roommate System screen, though we anticipate that there will be more than 8 recruitable characters, meaning the player will likely have to choose to recruit certain characters over others. But, hey, it just wouldn't be Star Ocean without it, right?



Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope will be available for Xbox 360 on February 19, 2009 in Japan, and on March 3, 2009 in North America.