Okay, as a disclaimer, this info was released in last week's Famitsu, but since I never could get a hold of Japanese scans, I didn't bother posting the info. But the article recently went up on Famitsu.com (which is in Japanese), so I can now bring you the good word.
First off, the 6th playable character was revealed to be a 16 year old Lesser Fellpool named Meracle Ch
amlotte (it is currently unclear how the Lesser Fellpools are related to normal Fellpools like Leon from SO2, if they are related at all). Meracle was separated from her companions when she was little, and thus has been forced to learn how to live on her own. Though she is typically seen as a very upbeat girl, and always tries to cheer up those who are feeling down, she often tends to feel lonely. Being the stereotypical "cat girl" character, she obviously possesses hightened senses of smell and hearing, and fights with claws.The article also details two newly revealed facets of the game's real time battle system:
The BEAT System allows you to customize your controlled character's fighting style to suit your tastes. For instance, the BEAT S style gives your character a more speed-based style that emphasizes obtaining tactical advantages by "Sighting-Out," while the BEAT B style is more focused on powerful, direct attacks. There are apparently various other BEAT styles that can be learned and utilized by your party.
The other feature detailed is called Rush Mode, and functions very similarly to Tales of Vesperia's Overlimits. As you inflict and receive damage, you Rush meter (the gague below each character's MP gague) fills up. Once full, the character will be able to trigger his or her Rush Mode, surrounding them in a white light and bestowing increased speed and power, allowing for high damage combos.
Finally, since I was doing this article and another Chinese SO4 scan came out, I figured I'd just tack it on the end of this post.
The article introduces the 7th playable character, a man in red armor with an energy sword named Crow F. Armedio. Unfortunately, I can't provide you with any more details than those until a Japanese version of the article can be found. However, if the open spaces on the character page of the official SO4 website are to be believed, it is possible that Crow is the last recruitable character. (I really hope not as 7 characters is unbelievably low for a Star Ocean game.)
The article also seems to cover Rush Mode and the BEAT system, so you're not missing much there.
Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope will be available for Xbox 360 in Japan on February 19, 2009, and on March 03, 2009 in North America. There is still no European date at this time.
3 comments:
gameplay vid from TGS showed 8 character slots. So there's definitely more than 7 characters in the game. The producer mentioned in an interview the cast will be about as big as the one in SO3.
(whew) Thanks Anon! I feel quite relieved.
I was worried that there wouldn't be any real competition for Reimi as my favorite girl. I mean, there always has to be one other girl that can give the heroine a run for her money, right? Lymle and Mericle just weren't doing it for me.
This is looking to be a great game. I just hope the VS mode will make a return from SO3.
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