Details are few and far between (aren't they always) but Star Ocean: The Last Hope was announced yesterday at a Japan-only Xbox 360 press conference. World War III has ruined Earth, and humanity has jumped ship in search of a new place to live, literally planet hopping through "a star ocean." I c wut u did thar, Square Enix. This is a prequel to the previous Star Ocean games and will feature Edge and Remi as hero and heroine, respectively. According to IGN, we should be seeing a new battle system, but that's about all I can tell you.
What I can tell you is that the game will be released in 2009 for the Xbox 360. However, PS3 fans shouldn't despair -- producer Yoshinori Yamagishi was quoted in regards to 360-exclusivity: "We cannot announce anything on that. We can say that it will be released first [on the Xbox 360]. Whether we'll release it on the PS3 is undecided. We may release it, we may not." As of right now, the game is playable, so here's hoping for a Q1 2009 release.
In any case, check out the gallery for some screenshots. The game is obviously polished and gorgeous (par for the course for high-production SE games), if a little uninspired and heavy on bloom lighting.
Also, the person that comes up with the best pun on the fact that The Last Hope may be the Xbox 360's last hope for a market share in Japan gets three gold stars.
Joseph Leray is a founding Destructoid editor and has better hair than you. He speaks French and needs to send us his updated bio in English, preferably.
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Confuse Ray, Feel My Blade
A Mabari War Hound,
Snot,
Spiral Arrow,
Argo,
Dan Smith's critical hit bark,
Rolling things up into my life
Meet the rest of the team
Is it just me or is the title of this blog not actually on the page? Anyway what makes this series any different from other JRPGs because I remember seeing an advert for the PS2 game years ago.
I totally called this one. :D It's a new Star Ocean game- why wouldn't we be happy? While personally I would love to just retcon the insipid plot twist at the end of Star Ocean 3, I'll take what I can get.
I'm not a big fan of Star Ocean but it's nice to see some more "current-gen" JRPGs. I don't know if I'll ever get used to seeing them on X360 (especially (timed) exclusives) but the more love the better.
So Square-Enix a company that recently had shakeups galore about revenue is releasing a JRPG exclusively on a console that has sold like crap in Japan.
They better have received a BUCKET of cash from MS on this one. While Japan isn't the only market it is a really important one for jrpgs. This is pure stupidity if there isn't a back door deal with MS.
@Tempy - You're probably right. I think this is more about Microsoft trying to push more consoles in Japan. SE is doing Microsoft a very expensive favor here.
...well I was excited about it, the main characters look like SD versions of Tidus and Garnet. And we all already know that the Star Ocean universe is a video game within the video game. Feels kind of anti-climactic I guess.
God, what a mistake it is to bring this to the 360. Everyone knows that the 360 is for one type of game only. FPS's Thats all the system ever does any fucking good with. Someone please name me one game thats had decent enough sales to push the system and hadn't had some sort of First-person point of view in it.
I promise anyone and everyone this game will be in the bargain bin for 20 bucks inside 4 months cause it on the 360. What a goddamn waste of whats shaping up to be a good rpg.
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Contest:
11:39 AM on 06.10.2008
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I can't play Star Ocean, not after what SO2 did to me.
I'm pretty sure Tri-Ace learned it's lesson. so I'll be looking forward to this
They better have received a BUCKET of cash from MS on this one. While Japan isn't the only market it is a really important one for jrpgs. This is pure stupidity if there isn't a back door deal with MS.
also, surprised at the timed exclusivity.
(and i give them kudos for "the twist" in SO3, even if it didn't work out)
I promise anyone and everyone this game will be in the bargain bin for 20 bucks inside 4 months cause it on the 360. What a goddamn waste of whats shaping up to be a good rpg.
Shut the fuck up fanboy, get over it.
Game looks good, will buy most likely