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[Elixist]

I love how ridiculous the Witch looks.

Not a fan of her low HP though.

you dont want to protect her?

 

[Uthred]

Just popping in to say that this is a REALLY shitty attitude. Like 5 minutes on tumblr/deviantart/any place where artists share their art should tell you this is full of shit.

Really shitty and pretty sexist as well

 

[Trojita]

The pink haired girl looks alright in concept art, but something doesn't add up when it is modelled in 3D.

That Witch though :S

I hope you can costume swap.

 

[LowParry]

The pink haired girl looks alright in concept art, but something doesn't add up when it is modelled in 3D.

That Witch though :S

I hope you can costume swap.

Instead of diamonds, we will get squares. Gotta keep the relics consistence of shapes.

 

[activatethesmile]

I am so starved for a proper JRPG for the PS4 at this point I don't even care anymore about stuff just gimme this.

.....Fuck this is not even a "proper" one isn't it since it is cross gen..... bleh. Whatever... just gimme.

 

[LowParry]

I am so starved for a proper JRPG for the PS4 at this point I don't even care anymore about stuff just gimme this.

.....Fuck this is not even a "proper" one isn't it since it is cross gen..... bleh. Whatever... just gimme.

Always got Tales that's coming out soon to play. It's been a while myself since I've played a jrpg.

 

[Zolo]

Gematsu translated a new set of details that accompanied the screenshots.

Feel free to go ahead and get Fiore's description out of your system.

Spoiler

lol @ wanting to show off the symbol on her leg through her whole outfit.

I like how it goes into detail about their battle roles.

 

[OmegaDL50]

Always got Tales that's coming out soon to play. It's been a while myself since I've played a jrpg.

There is also Disgaea 5 coming out next week if you want to classify that as one...It's more Strategy game, but still JRPG enough for me.

Tales of Zestiria is coming out the week after that too. I am not sure if you want to count Dragon Quest Heroes, but that is also out the same week as Zestiria.

I am not sure if it's a JRPG but Sword Art Online: Lost Song is due in November.

And if you own a Wii U, Xenoblade X is out in December.

Zestiria, Dragon Quest Heroes, and Disgaea 5 will hold me over until Xenoblade X, into the next year when Persona 5, Star Ocean 5, and supposedly FFXV will drop.

The JRPG deluge is just starting to begin. 2016 should be interesting for the genre.

 

[Fou-Lu]

I like most of the characters actually. Blonde guy and green haired girl being my personal favorites. Definitely a big leg up from SO4 character designs, or even SO3 character designs.

 

[WickedLaharl]

I hope you can skip the shit story scenes again and get a text summary.

 

[threelights]

Gematsu translated a new set of details that accompanied the screenshots.

Thanks for that.

There's a good explanation for the Reserve Gauge.

I also love how I tend to worry whether or not tri-Ace will mess up their gameplay systems but then they always reassure that they know how to make action games.

 

[Lucentto]

Kind of odd to me that the blonde character is in his 30s. But I am glad the characters are a bit on the older side compared to most JRPGs.

 

[Momentary]

Kind of odd to me that the blonde character is in his 30s. But I am glad the characters are a bit on the older side compared to most JRPGs.

I can't agree with this more.

 

[mintylurb]

After SO4 "gameplay" screenshots pre-release, i'm skeptical that it's gonna look like that, a lot

Well, 70% finished version of so5's graphics isn't as a severe downgrade as so4.
Though was hoping the final game would actually look this clean.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I know you all are probably sick of me complaining about the filter in this game, but I'm doing it anyway.

Fixed.

The fact that the UI isn't affected by the filter just makes it worse somehow. At least it's slightly less yellow now, I think.

EDIT: Fixed titty witch too.

I look forward to seeing the tan lines.

I prefer the images on the right.

 

[Momentary]

Some of these images look like they were downsampled from 4k.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

So we are using the worst possible examples of what an entire series is about now? Okay then.

PSA Reminder: The Producer of SO4 Yoshinori Yamagishi admitted to wanting to make an Eroge game claiming SO4 would be the last game he would produce for tri-Ace. Consider that for a moment.

Nevermind the fact that Star Ocean 4 as a whole in terms of direction was handled entirely differently than the first, second, and third games in the series. It was a black sheep of the franchise more or less.

But I digress, we've come full circle, I even said this earlier too - http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=180105850&postcount=90

I really only loved 1 and 2. I'm not a big fan of either 3 or 4.

 

[OmegaDL50]

Some of these images look like they were downsampled from 4k.

They are supposed to be screen captures from the playable demo at TGS.

Is it possible that the PS4 version is using the same resolution assets as the PS3 version but downsampled at a much higher resolution as form of AA?

Kind of like how PS3 version of Okami was handled?

Would be interesting if a similar approach was done for the PS4 version of Star Ocean 5.

 

[klee123]

Really looking forward to this.

Unlike SO4, I actually think the PS4 version of SO5 will do the prerelease screenshots justice.

 

[TheyTookOurJobs]

Didn't really delve into SOR4 much but I bought a copy cheap at 1/2 price books and want to dig into it again.

Loved, loved, loved SOR 1+2.

Let me guess: This ones coming out for PS4, right?

 

[Dio]

Didn't really delve into SOR4 much but I bought a copy cheap at 1/2 price books and want to dig into it again.

Loved, loved, loved SOR 1+2.

Let me guess: This ones coming out for PS4, right?

1080p60 PS4.

 

[WickedLaharl]

1080p60 PS4.

I'll believe when i see it.

 

[OmegaDL50]

I'll believe when i see it.

Why the skepticism?

The TGS playable build running on the PS4 is reported to be 1080/60. Not that it's difficult to achieve anyways considering it IS a PS3 port to newer generation hardware. It's not like this is natively developed on the PS4 from the ground up.

 

[Soriku]

This seems to be the battle theme?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCkV-npmY90

Seems people are really liking it, but I don't think it's nearly as good as SO2's (or SO4's arrangement of SO2's), SO3's, or SO4's.

Here's hoping for a Cutting Edge of Notion arrangement for this game.

 

[Zaventem]

Shame the game couldn't adopt that character art style.

 

[Prototype]

Witch looks great, excellent character design.

 

[crinale]

I won't argue with that. Tri-Ace were the ones to outsource the designs and most likely asked for this sort of hackneyed design.

Well on twitter Akiman has insisted how important those rhombuses are so I'm sure it came up from his brain

 

[le.phat]

The character designs could be great if they weren't si completely overdesigned. Still hyped tho, give me fast battles with big numbers and a bombastic soundtrack i can hype to. Oh, and synthesis. I'm ready.

 

[Newtype-001]

I'm a sucker for swordsman characters in all JRPGs, so while this is fairly generic looking, it's still pretty badass lol.

Feel the same. I love my swordsman characters. Always so cool

 

[texhnolyze]

Pink haired girl looks really odd.

Her face is...odd.

Her art looks much better though.

 

[Kamina777]

Will they not have the "!" dodging mechanic?

I don't care for the design either but LOL..

Heh, many eyes rolled I'm sure.

 

[WickedLaharl]

Why the skepticism?

The TGS playable build running on the PS4 is reported to be 1080/60. Not that it's difficult to achieve anyways considering it IS a PS3 port to newer generation hardware. It's not like this is natively developed on the PS4 from the ground up.

Because based on tri-ace's history they most certainly do not deserve the benefit of the doubt.

I ain't believing shit until an analysis is done.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Dangit, Tri-Ace! Try being original in your SO designs for once! We know you did End of Eternity and Valkyrie Profile!

EoE or VP designs wouldn't really fit SO. Tri-Ace have said that they want the game to remind people of the SO games before SO4, and these designs would fit right in with the casts of those games

 

[Perfo]

I never played a Star Ocean before but this one looks decent enough for me go get interested. Is there any chance of a decent story or that's not what to expect from this series?

 

[SixMachine]

I never played a Star Ocean before but this one looks decent enough for me go get interested. Is there any chance of a decent story or that's not what to expect from this series?

For SO2, you get to see a good amount of character interaction between all your party members and even can make endings where they pair up. SO3 scaled that back and the only relation that mattered was between your party member and Fayt for the ending. The games have PAs (Private Actions) where you can walk around town and see what your party does by themselves and the games have a lot of PAs. I didn't play SO4 so I can't comment on how it works. But think of it like Social Links where you get to know your party better, but not necessarily thrust upon you as much as Persona, where it's mandatory to do it for better Personas, though you do get stuff out of certain events.

The overall plot isn't amazing, usually save the planet/galaxy/universe after being on a backwater planet for 70% of the game.

Spoiler

Though there is something you may or may not have been spoiled on which might effect how you may or may not like the universe and how it effects everything preceding it, I'll tag which game it comes it though

Spoiler

The twist happens in SO3.

The games do thrive on endgame content though, large dungeons at the end and super bosses in all the games.

 

[Atlantis]

In previous games it was easy to make weapons that give 800% EXP on top of 150% Maxed bonus board for a total of 950% bonus exp. Again you only had 4 characters to a team and not 8.

So 2500% exp bonus shared between 8 characters with experienced divided isn't much worse compared to 950% bonus shared between four. The game clock would still easily hit the 140 hour mark by the time you reach 255, so even with the insane exp gains you really aren't rushing through the game.

People give those items and EXP gains in general WAY too much credit in these games. Your important stats are gained mostly from equipment upgrades so the main benefit you get from leveling up is learning new skills.

Even that isn't really that big of a deal since a lot of the skills in these games are close to useless and a lot of the best are learned early on. Hammer of Might, Scatter Beam, Sonic Thorn, Galvanic Shock, ect. In fact, three out of four of those abilities are available to you when the character joins the party.

Even at level 255 the Ethereal Queen, Lenneth, or even Freya bosses on Universe difficulty would destroy you without being careful and timing your specials carefully, due to that Anti-Attack Aura having returning all damage to the attacking character.

Star Ocean 4 wasn't much better either since it turned most of the post game bosses into HP sponges when Universe seemingly tripled their HP values, so instead dealing with a boss that had 40 Million HP, they had 120 Million and it turned into a one-hit kill fest with you feeding revival items to your AI partners as meat shields while the player controlled character did a majority of the damage dealing.

I can't imagine what sort of chaos Star Ocean 5 will bring with 7 or 8 characters in battle all at once at the same time.

All very true, except your description of SO4's super bosses. Those bosses don't even get to attack at all due to Rush Combo chains with Savage Sparrows or Blindside juggles with X-Claw.

This is actually good support for the "levels don't matter" thing. Meracle learns X-Claw at level 71. A level 71 Meracle is just as effective versus even Chaos Ethereal Queen as a level 255 Meracle is assuming both Meracle's have proper equipment.

Savage Sparrows is a Skill Manual, so I guess you could theoretically could have a Reimi at the level she joins the party that is just as effective a fighter as a max level one

 

[Yarbskoo]

I prefer the images on the right.

I just really don't like full screen filters that mess with the white balance or distort the colors. Those UI portraits are way more bright and colorful than the actual character models because they aren't affected by the filter.

In fact, I don't really care for most post processing at all.

 

[Narroo]

EoE or VP designs wouldn't really fit SO. Tri-Ace have said that they want the game to remind people of the SO games before SO4, and these designs would fit right in with the casts of those games

While the character designs of SO have always been "cheap anime wonky," these designs look like they've been taken out of a recent Tales game. I'm not really a fan. They need to simplify them a bit.

 

[Asd202]

Guarding seems similar to fury from SO3 and there's no rush from SO4 which is the best thing thing that could happen to the battle system as I hated the rush mechanic, fury was superior in every way. Also counters and I think something that resembles Mystic Arts from Tales. I'm really excited for this now.

 

[sensui-tomo]

While the character designs of SO have always been "cheap anime wonky," these designs look like they've been taken out of a recent Tales game.

"Star Ocean gameplay is often compared to the Tales series of video games by Namco, which is not a coincidence: after the release of Tales of Phantasia, practically its entire design department left and founded tri-Ace."

 

[Datschge]

"Star Ocean gameplay is often compared to the Tales series of video games by Namco, which is not a coincidence: after the release of Tales of Phantasia, practically its entire design department left and founded tri-Ace."

Don't know who you are quoting, but several parts of that are wrong.

 

[Thorgal]

reading this thread i must be the only guy who did not have any problem with any of SO 4 characters including lymle and Meracle ...

 

[Crankshaft]

reading this thread i must be the only guy who did not have any problem with any of SO 4 characters including lymle and Meracle ...

I too had no issue. I felt they were going for Lymle as a "Doll devoid of emotion" and I was fine with it. Other people acted like she was the spawn of Satan and ruined the game for them.

 

[Wagram]

reading this thread i must be the only guy who did not have any problem with any of SO 4 characters including lymle and Meracle ...

Didn't have an issue with either of them. It was Sarah. GOD I hated that character so much.

 

[Black Republican]

the less it looks like SO4 the better

 

[LordGorchnik]

Didn't have an issue with either of them. It was Sarah. GOD I hated that character so much.

This. Lymle and Meracle were fine. Sarah was an abomination that needed to be thrown BACK TO DARKNESS!

Also SO5 looks fan-fucking-tastic. Cannot wait to play.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

The character designs leave much to be desired but the game is looking pretty good so far.

 

[Dice//]

Pink haired girl looks really odd.

Her face is...odd.

 

[bomblord1]

Left looks slightly off right is straight up uncanny valley

 

[Newtype-001]

Original is better.