Star Ocean 4 Scan Shows Amazing Visuals

Star Ocean 4 scan from Dengeki magazine.

[sonarus]

they still haven't announced a platform for this right?

[ruibing]

Yeah Square Enix really seems to love their media blackouts.

I mean I have not heard a thing about Last Remnant since forever. I really hope they will reveal more at least by E3.

[gEnKiE]

Well those images are filed under the PS3 section.....its defintely not for the Wii and I can't see SquareEnix put that on the 360 since its selling poorly in Japan and thats where a majority of the fans are.... M$ does have their nasty ways of getting games on their system though, so who knows.

[zane547]

Why it was filed under playsation 3 myself either. Visuals do look to impressive to be a Wii title but I'm not going to rule out a 360 version or it being ps3 and 360 release, like Last Remnant is going to be.

Star Ocean is like FF, it is actually popular in some of the western territories, multi-format release may make sense.

[wow4u]

@1.2 - reported as SPAM:

"M$ does have their nasty ways of getting games on their system though, so who knows."

Take it to the Open Zone.

[Mandangoof]

Now, is it a PS3 exclusive or PS360?

[BilI Gates]

Star Ocean 4 will be exclusive to one console.

[sonarus]

or it could be timed 360 exclusive. PS3 has final fantasy and final fantasy VS. Msoft could easily convince them to give them star ocean timed. It will sell poorly yes but msoft doesn't care they just want to slow down the ps3.

[BilI Gates]

It's exclusive.

And not that I'm giving any hints or anything (I'm really not) but Star Ocean is huge in Japan.

[Richdad]

It will be 360 exclusive Triace is already making Infinite Undiscovery on 360 so this one could be for PS3 and 360 both but only 360 I dont think. Also all the previous ones where on PS.
Anyways the Cell Shading shows a whole new way to do Cell shading if they can do seamless world with that kind of graphics I will be stunned.
Lets wait till E3 if Star OCean looks this good Triace other game Infinte Undiscovery will be of same level.

[wow4u]

@2.2

They dont want to "slow down" the PS3, they want to get a good variety of good games for every gamer.

They are doing that better than any other company this generation, no doubt about it.

[griff]

that's why i put this on 'industry news'.

[Iamback]

Just another metrosexual blond boy, with naked belly. Japanese (especially Square Enix) need to change some tings, its about f...ing time.

[Alcaponedyou]

it says 'exclusive RPG for Wii'

[Alcaponedyou]

jk?

[rukusa]

"j/k ?"

Too late. ;)

[LaChance]

I have to agree with you on that one.

They have to stop with those "gay" looking characters and shallow personnalitys.

They've been using the same formula ( that is concerning the character , their personnality etc )since FF 10 (which is by far the boringest and most predicatable RPG on PS2).

[rCrysis]

a 360 exclusive would be suicide in japan for this franchise. as Bill Gates said, Star Ocean is huge in Japan

[wow4u]

triAce (the Developer of Star Ocean) is working on Infinite Undiscovery exclusively for Xbox 360.

This can serve the purpose of getting triAce familiar with Xbox 360 development.

I dont know if SO4 will be multi-platform or not, but there is a chance that the triAce relationship with MS could extend to include making SO4 multi-plat. We'll have to wait and see.

There are already 3 (Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Eternal Sonata) top quality JRPG.

There are two more (one JRPG, one MMO(J?)RPG) from Final Fantasy creator Sakaguchi-san's studio.

Square Enix is bringing Last Remnant and triAce's Infinite Undiscovery.

Namco Bandai is bringing the next Tales game, Tales of Vesperia exclusive (at this point...).

And, those are just the known games, who knows what other JRPGs are coming. Frankly, I can't see anyone playing that many JRPGs in one year.

[rCrysis]

lets just see the sales data on JRPGs when they are released for PS3 and 360.

I don't want to argue about which is better. I'm trying to make the point that Xbox JRPGs in Japan don't sell as well as PS3 JRPGs in japan.

We just need to wait for a JRPG that was released on 360 to be released on PS3. 1st will either be Eternal Sonata or Infinite Undiscovery.

[clintos59]

PS3 exclusive or a multiplatform game including PC and Xbox 360. Reason I say this is square enix is going to go from sales and since japan is where this game really shines, its a no brainer that the ps3 has to be involved with this game since playstaion is where star ocean became big on. Do the math 500,000+ xbox 360s sold in japan vs 2 million ps3's in japan. Same reason why capcom has brang devil may cry 4 over to the 360 because the sales for there games in the US such as lost planet and dead rising on the 360 were a success on the 360 because of US sales. Square didnt do good with sales with ff11 on the xbox 360 world wide so this is why I believe square will either make it a ps3 exclusive but more likely be multiplatform since xbox 360 and ps3 already have exclusive games coming from square enix.

[tplarkin7]

Since the platform is kept secret, it only makes sense that it would be multi-platform. Games that are multi-platform usually get less attention.

[Spydr07]

Looks nice. I just wish SE wasn't so secretive about evertyhing they do.

[clintos59]

E3 is right around the corner and sony did say they had a big suprise that is going to hurt its competitors. I rather them make a secret then suprise us at e3, it always brings out the, "WOW" or, "WHOA" in me for every system.

[Rick Astley]

I know what some of you are thinking but Square-Enix doesn't work that way.

"Ok we gave Sony and their PS3 two exclusives [that will make us millions] already so that's enough. Even though Infinite Undiscovery is 360 exclusive and will probably sell like crap we're also going to make Star Ocean 4, one of our biggest franchises in Japan, a 360 exclusive."

Does that make any sense to you?

It's exclusive to PS3.

[RecSpec]

I still want to know what they were thinking when they moved Dragon Quest to DS.

[Rick Astley]

Yuji Hori doesn't like this gen. He believes the consoles (mainly PS3 and Xbox 360 obviously) are too difficult to develop for.

Wii and DS are not only easier to develop for but they're currently outselling every other platform in Japan. Anything with the name Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy in the title will instantly sell millions there so it's not a problem at all actually.

Level-5 will continue Rogue Galaxy and Dark Cloud on PS3. Possibly some more new IP's as well.

[LaChance]

They can just make it multiplat.

By the way Lost oddesy is at 600 000 copises sold in only a couple of months (with USA and EU the majority of sales ).There is a world outsinde of Japan for RPG's you know !

Thats already more than Blue dragon and its selling as fast as Uncharted ( which is according to Sony fans the best looking and simply the best game in 2007 which by the way used the incredible Cell technology )

Now tell me why on planet earth wouldnt SE want this game to go multiplat since moreover its a proven franchise and Lost Odyssey isnt and still sold well.

[Greysturm]

Had it been released in japan on any other console it would have hit the million a long time ago probably the first month. Uncharted is a westerm action adventure title and as such sells piss poor on japan just like most western design games such as halo bioshock and mass effect.

[Snukadaman]

If trends in japan are a basis for bringing a game to a console, then I think it will be either a wii or psp exclusive....both next gen consoles are doing terrible in japan and I think if you look at the current jrpgs selling theres no question that there is a market for them in the west...japan seems to be disinterested in anything that is not on wii-psp-ds.

[wow4u]

IS that the best you can do?

How about this:

"Ok we gave Sony and their PS3 two exclusives, but that is going to cost us many sales because the worldwide install base is half the size of Xbox 360, already so that's enough. So, we're going to bring Infinite Undiscovery to 360 to target that larger base. We cant afford to give up too many more sales, so lets make Star Ocean 4, one of our biggest franchises in Japan, a multi-platform game -- heck, triACE is already working on the Xbox 360. After all, the japanese game market is shifting so fast to handhelds, and the Wii, we really cant take any chances by just ignoring that +18M Xbox 360 market."

Does that make any sense to you?

I would *doubt* that it is exclusive to Xbox 360, but it could be multi-platform.

Sony has paid *very* dearly for Final Fantasy to be exclusive to PS3 (i'm sure) -- *OR* MS went to Square and said "ok, we know Sony is willing to pay you for FF exclusivity, how about we partner on some of your 2nd-string titles and some totally new IP.".

That said, I'd be very willing to bet that Square is making Last Remnant their most important JRPG of 2008 -- because including the Xbox 360 fanbase is an opportunity for far more sales.

I'd wager Last Remnant (Xbox 360 + PS3) will sell better than Final Fantasy (PS3 Only).

@RecSpec
Portable games are booming Japan, and its eating the console market.

[IntelligentAj]

Even with it being on two consoles you can't deny the fact FF13 with sell a phenomenal amount of copies, easily surpassing that of Last remnant on both consoles. FF is an established IP and one of the game that people bought a PS3 for. Also by the time it comes out(next year) the PS3 install base will at least be at 16-17 million and that's a lowball number, given their momentum already.

[RiseOfMonster]

Is any fanboy going to comment on the visuals?
50/50 chance you'll eat crow later...

OMFGWTFBBQ!! this could only be done on the ______!!!!!!

[RecSpec]

Another RPG I'm interested in but will never play due to time constraints.

[Ariexv]

1)They said it's exclusive so only 1 console
2)They already have the engine running on 360
3)Square said they want to get more into the Western hemisphere for gaming(aka U.S which means 36)
4)They were hiring devs for a 360 game in an established famous series of games(aka SO)

[destroyah]

How can you make such claims and not give any proof?

Also like some people have already mentioned, Star Ocean isn't as big in the west as it is in Japan. Square Enix is currently working on two 360 games and one of them is exclusive. Both will release in the west.

The PlayStation brand is what made Star Ocean what it is today. Not the Xbox.

Square Enix has 3 main franchises that are HUGE in Japan and will remain exclusive to Japanese consoles.

1. Final Fantasy
2. Dragon Quest
3. Star Ocean

Anybody that thinks otherwise is a retard.

[rukusa]

1)Correct.
2)Incorrect. You drawing this from Infinite Undiscovery running on the 360 console. You do not know if its the same engine. Tl;Dr - youre grasping for straws.
3)You really HAVE you find that article that states that, by the way this is not a square developed product. Tri-Ace is behind it, Square is publishing. Plus Square stated they do not take the 360 seriously, main platforms are PS3 & Wii, DS. What THEY meant about western connections was partnership outside of Japan.
4)They were hiring for PS3, 360 and DS. Sounds like youre going for selective quoting.

By the way Ariexv, get back to Neogaf. You have "biased" written all over yourself.

[heyheyhey]

LOL

yeah keep dreaming, you just spun a whole load of BS AriexV

i predict an 80% probability that its a multi-platform release and a 20% probability that its a PS3 exclusive

your just being an idiot fanboy, keep dreaming and hoping that Square will release an installment in their 3rd biggest franchise that sells exceptionally in Japan exclusively on the 360

[Ariexv]

lol @ "Go back to neogaf" N4G is close to 100x more biased then Neogaf is. Also the hiring I was talking about was from 6+ months ago, the one that included Ps3/Wii was only recently.

[wow4u]

@10.1

If Star Ocean does so well in Japan, how about a SO4 Xbox 360 bundle?

An established IP would be serious motivation for console sales...MS isnt going to just "give up" on Japan.

@12.1 Below;

"appreciating graphics for the style, aesthetics, and artistic merits "

This needs to be said MORE. The games over-all style makes the game, not just nit-picking the "jaggies" here or there or whatever.

Look at "hail to the chimp" -- that game just *looks* great. We need more risk-taking in the visuals dept.

[vloeistof]

i want to know if it comes to ps3

[Cartesian3D]

imo the visuals in the scan isnt that impressive.. may be Im wrong .. but just look at the jaggies and some textures in the environment.. :P

anyway it will be an AAA RPG game for sure.. I believe in Tri-Ace

[Jdoki]

You are kidding right?

Did you blow up the scan from a magazine page to 300% or something, because I don't see the jaggies myself. And it's pretty hard to comment on texture work from magazine scans. It all looks nice to me.

People need to look past all the technical cr@p and start appreciating graphics for the style, aesthetics, and artistic merits with in the game world the devs create. Not OMFG Game X runs at 719p rather than 720p!

[Cartesian3D]

r u blind?

I clicked on the picture and I can see the jaggies from that resolution ..

Im pro in graphic and art design ..and I dont give a damn about the native resolution , I just want solid frame rate and smooth edges and textures..

like Uncharted & COD4 .. or gears of war (W/O solid frame rate :P) ..

[Jdoki]

Obviously I must be going blind... I guess heading towards mid 30's the old eye sight must be going. :)

Looking at the straight lines, like the lamps in the bottom right screen, the telephone wires, and the curve of the arc in the background... I don't see any. And they would be areas where jaggies normally show up.

Even the pic in the top left looks good.

You say you're a graphics pro... Perhaps it makes you hyper critical. I'm sure a gynaecologist gets pretty critical looking at the same thing day in day out!!

[INehalemEXI]

99.9% free of jaggies I saw what might be some in the space station pic. Possibly some also on the tree in the snowy pic. Total nit picking though. Not many games actually look that smooth. 3 of those shots look like they where captured from a CG clip and not in-game to me.

"You say you're a graphics pro... Perhaps it makes you hyper critical. I'm sure a gynaecologist gets pretty critical looking at the same thing day in day out!! " .....Lawl

[LinuxGuru]

Dude, I'm in graphic design too, yet I can NOT, and refuse to, make a judgement on a picture as small as that, from a magazine scan.

If you're seeing jaggies, you're either lying, or.....full of sh|t.

[Glad to be a gamer]

What ever console it comes out on. I'll keep an eye on this one.

[NinjaRyu]

to see Star Ocean 4 come to the 360. However I don't think the Sony shareholders at Square Enix will let that happen.

[mrlokievil]

It's probably coming to PS3 and maybe 360. The teaser trailer was on the bonus disc that came with the Star Ocean 2 remake, which was released on the PSP. I don't think Square would advertise a 360 exclusive on a Sony platform. Plus, why have it exclusive to a platform that is doing horribly it you're home country. My money is on PS3 with a possible multiplatform release in the US and Europe.

[Ariexv]

Infinite Undiscovery was on that same disc.

[Guy Incognito]

yawn...nothing to be impressed by regardless of the system.zzzzzz nothing

[bakasora]

Hey I see similar Fayt's sword.
Nice.. sword fight is good for JRPG.

[moses]

Is it just me or is it not that impressive, or well from what I see from three small pictures on a grainy scan, it's definitley good looking, but nothing all that stellar o_o, maybe if they had larger more high quality shots, we could actually tell.

[HighDefinition]

If it`s in-engine shots, if it CG not so good, unless it`s a PSP title, Then GREAT. Confused? LoL.

:)

[bruiser81]

wouldn't it be funny if this was a psp only game looking like this

[Harry190]

XBOX360?

[Darkiewonder]

it's for ps3. Still not impressed with the whole space thing yet. SO3 was so a let down. I'll have to see more anyways.

[bakasora]

I think SO3 has the best battle system. I think.

[jahcure]

I have to disagree with you there. I pumped 300 hours into SO3. I think it was one of the best battle systems ever on a rpg title. This was one of the first titles to really hit the "alternate fighting styles" on the head. You were able to marry power with grace flawlessly. The battle trophies and item creation were just other super additions, they took the game to another level. I for one would be looking forward to this game purely based on it's predecessor and not on silly things like which console it's on. SO3 was very very good and for that I will look forward to SO4.
If i had to guess though, i'd say it'll be coming out on the PS3. But that's just my guess.

[INehalemEXI]

SO3 was great IMO had one of the best story's in a game ever. Would make a great MMO too.

[mirroredderorrim]

I've been playing these games for almost 3 decades now. I'd like to go along with some of the people who posted on this article, already. PS3 exclusive or multi, it won't be Xbox 360 exclusive, though.

[J@D]

The game visual look awesome... too bad the can its quite blurry and can't define the true visual of those FMV or maybe are really in-game visuals. Anyway, SO4 its ONE CONSOLE game I'm bet it will be a PS3 if ended on the Xbox360 good to the xbox360 fellow but remember they got the Tri-Ace Infinite Discovery on the side, so it look very natural or obvious to me that Tri-Ace it making SO4 for PS3. 50-%/50% get it?

[Forbidden_Darkness]

xbox gets Infinite Discovery, PS3 gets Star Ocean 4. Infinite Discovery will sell like 200,000 in japan at most probaly, Star Ocean will sell 2 million in japan easly on the ps3 within the first month. so why would tri-ace be dumb to put it on the 360?

[The Lazy One]

It's dumb not to release most games multi platform. If you can get the engine working well on both, there's no reason outside of the console maker paying you not to go multi-platform.

You can either sell 2 million games, or you can sell 2,200,000. I'd take the latter. More sales is better than less sales.

[Lumbo]

Erm, multi platform development is way more expensive than platform exclusive development. For starters you have to code the engine for both, vastly different systems, and then you have to make compromises left and right cause certain techs only work on one system and not on the other. Hence if you want to get the best result for both, you end up developing each on its own. And just to add insult to injury you then have to get through certification AND quality control for both versions. That all may rise your cost by 30% minimum.

So you want to argue that a 10% increase in sales justifies a 30% rise in cost? please get real. Multi platform development makes sense if you expect to sell comparable on all supported platforms. If you only sell good at one platform you drop the useless one and make an exclusive game. Exclusivity is also a way to attract more buyers from the targeted system in marketing terms.

[The Lazy One]

Read my conditional:

"If you can get the engine working well on both, there's no reason outside of the console maker paying you not to go multi-platform."

As most of your reply pertains solely to that conditional being false, I won't reply more other than this.

The tech differences make the biggest cost difference when it's a game that's pushing each system to it's limit. In a story driven game like star ocean, there going to spend a lot more time on game design. there's also the fact that you pulled the 30% figure out of nowhere.

[sumfood4u]

Usually when this Announcement hits people reget the old Star Ocean an play it before it comes out! like all other Games in Videogame History!

[DJ]

Screens look like whatever. Just look at the trees in the snow field.

[Obama]

Most likely a ps3 exclusive. What's the point of releasing it on the 360 when no jrpg has even touched 1 million?

[supremacy]

well i do hope, this game comes out this year but i so doubt that. but since last year's e3 there has been rumors that this game is being made a ps3 exclusive. but things could change you never know, i mean man... im no kingdom hearts fan but the who wii exclusive thing just sucks really, i mean the first 2 games were on ps2 and now this? man if i were a follower of this series i would be so hurt but, im not oh well.

[PS360PCROCKS]

Looks good, I won't ever touch it but it looks good. So to me I could care less what system it comes on, neither of mine will play it. that's my opinion :)

[Torkith]

a piece of Star Ocean 4 news comes up I will be posting this... because everyone seems to forgot this little detail. The original trailer for the game was to only be viewed by individuals who recieved a code from the SO1 remake on the PSP. You would have to buy that game, get a code, enter the code online and you were eligible to view the trailer.

You had to purchase a PSP game, to view this trailer... not clear enough yet?

Do you have a PSP? yes? Do you have a PS3? ...

Well there you go.

Though, this doesn't mean it's exclusive but one thing is sure, this title will be on the PS3

[ReconHope]

star ocean till the end of time was a great game. hopefully this is good.