On February 7, 2009, Microsoft held a preview press event for tri-Ace and Square Enix's upcoming Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope in Japan. The press was given a chance to play the final product for themselves, and given a Q&A session with the game's producer Yoshinori Yamagishi, and assistant producer Hajime Kojima.I've taken the liberty of reporting several interesting details that surfaced from the Q&A session.
First, fans of the series should be happy to hear that several musical pieces from older installations of the series (namely Star Ocean 1 and Star Ocean 2) have been remade for SO4 for certain areas. For instance, the BGM for the planet Roak will feature the same songs as SO1's Roak, but remade.
Second, Yamagishi confirmed the existance of a bonus dungeon and multiple endings, which have been staple elements for the series up til now. The number of endings has not been confirmed, but Yamagishi mentioned that it would be extremely difficult to get them all. (That probably means there are a ton.)
The press also asked if tri-Ace had any plans on using SO4's engine (the same engine that Infinite Undiscovery uses) to remake any previous Star Ocean titles. Yamagishi said that doing so would require a ton of work, and the team would rather work on a Star Ocean 5 than revisit past titles. (This shouldn't be confused as a confirmation of SO5 as tri-Ace has said that SO4 is supposed to be the last one, but it sure sounds like it is possible.)
Finally, It was asked if any downloadable content was planned for the game, and Yamagishi explained that rather than work on DLC, the team felt it was more important to put everything they wanted into the game right from the start, so there are no plans for DLC. Similarly, there are currently no plans for a "Director's Cut" like SO3 received in Japan, which is nice to hear.
As a last little extra, check out the 4th Private Event video released, this one featuring Edge, Bacchus, and Welch. (Thanks to zerolocked for finding this!)
Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope will be available on Xbox 360 on February 19, 2009 in Japan, February 24, 2009 in North America, and April 24, 2009 in Europe.
7 comments:
I'm no fanboy for any system, so I didn't care about what system it was on...but..
Since It was released on the Xbox 360, I was hoping for some sort of DLC. I wonder why tri-ace would limit the potential of the game?
For instance, they could have released a DLC containing a whole new planet for players to explore...dammit...the sooner I forget about this "no DLC plan" the better!!
Hmm, I don't think we're missing out on anything by not having any DLC. Since Yamagishi said they put everything in from the start that they wanted in the game, I'm not sure what else they would put in as DLC?
Tales of Vesperia didn't have any DLC (unless you count paying for in-game items with real money), and I thought the game was better for it.
I'm of the mindset that I don't want to pay more for stuff that the developers should have put in from the start, so no DLC is actually good news for me.
Though I suppose I can see where you're coming from in wanting add-ons.
Just think of it as the "complete" version with one price tag. Really, that is what it amounts to.
mm I read at ign that they had to cut things so that's why they were thinking to maybe do a director's cut, and blah for the dlc I wanted the menus and anime from the jpn release.
ugh, they better not release a director's cut. I hate feeling like I'm missing something when I buy a game.
P3:FES made me rather upset for that reason. I bought it because I didn't want to miss the extras, but I had already sunk over 100 hours into the original, and never felt like playing FES just for the few things they added. :/
True! I was thinking that only if they made some sort of DLC in about a year or so later.
Like Phansty Star Universe did for the Xbox 360, ala Ambition of the Illuminus.
But I'd be happy enough with the game. I picked up Tales of the Abyss and that game seems awesome too!
tri-Ace never said Star Ocean 4 was the last Star Ocean, that was something made up by the press here in America. Probably some confusion regarding the translation. I'm pretty sure there will be more Star Ocean games, this is tri-Ace most popular franchise after all.
I heard that Yoshinori Yamagishi is through with developing the Star Ocean series, and I am shocked about that. I still want tri-Ace to develop Star Ocean 5 for PS3 or PS4 and/or Xbox 720. If tri-Ace were to remake a Star Ocean game, the development should at least remake Star Ocean: Till the End of Time for PS3 or PS4.
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