Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Even More Star Ocean 4 Info

Phew, I feel like all I’m doing lately is articles on SO4. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I wouldn’t mind having a few other games to be this excited for.

Whatever. Via the most recent issue of Weekly Famitsu comes yet another dump of info on tri-Ace and Square Enix’s upcoming 360 RPG, Star Ocean: The Last Hope. I’ve translated in into English for your reading pleasure. Check it out.

Steve D. Kenni
“Brave pioneers embarking on your journey into unknown space, I pray for your safe voyage.”

The commander of the USTA (United Science and Technical Affairs) Moonbase, General Kenni was originally in the military before volunteering to pilot in Professor Trillas Bachtein’s warp drive experiments. Being the first human ever to travel faster than the speed of light, he became known as the “Light Speed Hero.” He became heavily involved in the SRF Deep Space Pioneering Project after transferring to the USTA.
He is also clearly the ancestor of Ronixis and Claude.

Collections
As with any good JRPG, Star Ocean 4 is stacked with multiple items, people, places, and enemies. To help you keep track of all of this good stuff, you are outfitted with several collections, which can also help you out in other ways.

Arts Collection
The Arts Collection replaces the old Battle Collection, and keeps a record of your successes in battle. Each individual character has his or her own special missions that can be completed through fighting. You will be rewarded by accomplishing these missions and increasing your collection.

Weapon Collection
The Weapon Collection, as you might guess, contains data and visuals of the various weapons that you come across throughout your journey. This collection is updated when you obtain a new weapon for yourself, or defeat an enemy that uses a weapon you’ve never seen before. This database is huge, but do your best to complete it.

Spaceship Collection
The Spaceship Collection keeps a record of all the various ships you encounter through your travels. It is updated when you investigate various bookshelves and/or computer terminals aboard the spacecraft that you board, and has valuable information regarding each vessel. It seems like it will be difficult to complete.

Monster Collection
The Monster Collection is, very obviously, a database of the various enemies that you encounter during your quest. These monsters are recorded in the collection once you have defeated them, along with their stats, where they are found, what items they drop, etc. Of particular interest, however, is that each time you defeat a monster, your database is able to analyze it better (according to a percentage). Once a given monster has been defeated enough times to bring your analysis to 100%, you will be able to make a Monster Jewel out of it. These Monster Jewels contain attributes of the monster slain, and can be equipped to increase your character’s stats. Additionally, some of these Jewels may be required in Item Creation.

Quests
As with other JRPGs, sometimes certain townsfolk will ask you to carry out quests for them. These quests can range from defeating monsters, collecting or synthesizing items, or searching for things or people. You will somehow be rewarded for each quest you fulfill, and there are many different quests to undertake.

Battle Arena
The Battle Arena from previous games is alive and well in SO4. Through winning battles in the Arena, you will be awarded with special Fight Coins, which can be traded for luxurious prizes.
As you continue to win battles in the Arena, you will be able to continue to increase your ranking there, qualifying for more challenging matches.

Bunny Races
Also making a return is the Bunny Races, which is a minigame where you can bet on your favorite Bunny as it hops its way through the race course and towards the finish. Though the Bunnies move on their own, you will be able to give your Bunny certain commands, like dash or jump.
You will be able to raise and race your very own Bunny after completing a certain quest.

Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope will be available for Xbox 360 on February 19, 2009 in Japan, February 24, 2009 in North America, and April 24, 2009 in Europe.

2 comments:

zerolocked said...

So much stuff in the game. I know it could be longer than 40+ hours.

Brandon said...

it probably just depends on how you play. I know some people were able to finish Tales of Vesperia in like 35 hours, and Lost Odyssey in 40. it took me over 90 for LO, and over 100 for ToV (and I still could have kept playing to get more stuff).

I would imagine SO4 will take me at least that much. but then, I tend to be pretty thorough in my RPGs.