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[Edge_Maverick]

Thanks to @_ikenie

These are some of the questions, full interview here.

Famitsu (F): A release date has been announced, so is it safe to assume that development is proceeding as planned?

Kobayashi (K): It’s difficult to gauge, but if we’re talking about development progress, then we’re at around 70% right now. Basic systems are already in place, and we’re currently tweaking battles and dynamic cutscenes*. We’re having a particularly difficult time because the game is essentially all in real-time, is seamless, and, on top of all that, allows for totally free movement. When the camera angle is fixed, we can get away with a few things here and there (laugh). This time we can’t do that.

F: Will it be possible to change characters in the middle of a dynamic cutscene?

K: Since the player is the protagonist, and Fidel is, in a sense, the player’s avatar or alter ego, no, it won’t be possible. In exchange, we’re planning some special actions during cutscenes and on the field. The way things are seen depends on the players. Some will go, “I want to record that!” and others, “If it were me I’d do this.” I hope players will try out different things. Now I don’t recommend showing spoilers, so I’d like for players to have some consideration in this regard.

F: In this issue, we’ve published character introductions**, so could you tell us a little bit about who they are?

K: First, Fidel is a rather traditional character. He fights with a single-handed sword, so as a result, he attacks quickly and chains together combos quite easily. We’ve tuned him so that he’ll manage somehow even when he’s fighting solo against the enemy. First-time players will find him easy to use. By the way, I should also mention that Fidel is an instructor at the “Camus School of Swordsmanship” that’s run by his father. There are certain abilities at this school that, for one reason or other, people who’ve played previous Star Ocean entries will be familiar with.

F: I’d like to ask about a newly introduced character, Fiore. Is there a story behind her attire? (laugh)

K: In order to use incantations in this world, sorcerers must have an incantation mark carved somewhere on their bodies. To show off the strength of her own incantations, Fiore prefers to wear the kind of outfit that you’ve taken notice to. In Randock, the country that Fiore lives in, there are outfits used specially by sorcerers, and you can customize these in any which way you want. I can ensure you they are far from being indecent (laugh).

F: Are you satisfied with the battle style?

K: The image we’re after is using magic as a form of offense. Miki uses fire-based sorcery. In contrast, Fiore’s specialty lies in ice-based incantations. Fiore can also use support incantations, but unlike Miki, Fiore plays a central role in using magic as offense.

F: Our protagonist comes from an uncivilized planet. This is quite rare for the series, isn’t it?

K: That’s true. Besides Rena from Star Ocean 1 and 2, all other protagonists have come from civilized societies. This time, we’ve decided to go with an uncivilized planet. At the very beginning, we wanted the story to start from a place far removed from civilization, and gradually it became “Star Ocean”-like and sci-fi-ish. A grandiose tale involving the universe is basically what Star Ocean has been about (laugh).

F: There are 5 months left until release, and I know you’re headed into the final stage, but do you have any plans to incorporate the feedback given by players at TGS [Tokyo Game Show]?

K: The final product is almost in place, so any big changes would be difficult to implement. We’ve finished revising the action parts and have gone on to fine-tuning the events. But even if I say, “Don’t mess with that,” I doubt getting a feel for the game actually counts as really “fixing” anything. The ones developing the game are Tri-Ace, after all (laugh).

F: I see (laugh).

K: By the way, because the TGS version isn’t the quality that you’ll be seeing when you play the game for long periods of time, the demo ends before you familiarize yourself with the controls, and we’ve prioritized comfort and ease. The full game will definitely be firmer.

 

[Weiss]

"Her magic wizard culture dictates she be half naked all the time" is all I got from that part.

 

[JeffZero]

Great, thanks for sharing this.

That percentage response is a big pet peeve for me, but this fellow actually went ahead and specified what the heck he meant. Good man.

 

[Sakura]

K: In order to use incantations in this world, sorcerers must have an incantation mark carved somewhere on their bodies. To show off the strength of her own incantations, Fiore prefers to wear the kind of outfit that you’ve taken notice to.

Works for me.

Hope the game ends up being good.

 

[Shogun1337]

Try to put effort into crafting a storyline this time, 'k?

 

[Nightengale]

Great, thanks for sharing this.

That percentage response is a big pet peeve for me, but this fellow actually went ahead and specified what the heck he meant. Good man.

Just ignore percentages cited by Japanese devs when there's no context to what he means by said numbers.

Someone's 90% could easily be another dev's 60%.

 

[Supermanisdead]

Try to put effort into crafting a storyline this time, 'k?

Have you read the description for the sorceress outfit? Keep your expectations low.

 

[sensui-tomo]

Try to put effort into crafting a storyline this time, 'k?

Its star ocean, not exactly a series that has had a great story ever. (imo) I only expect great combat with a messup with balance in one of the allies which allows to break the game.

 

[Izana]

[sic]

 

[JeffZero]

Someone's 90% could easily be another dev's 60%.

Yep, that's what I always tell others.

 

[Nightengale]

Have you read the description for the sorceress outfit? Keep your expectations low.

Honestly? An in-universe setting-based fantasy logic to why characters dress strangely is the best explanation to justify these kind of things.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

This time, we’ve decided to go with an uncivilized planet. At the very beginning, we wanted the story to start from a place far removed from civilization, and gradually it became “Star Ocean”-like and sci-fi-ish. A grandiose tale involving the universe is basically what Star Ocean has been about (laugh).

Deja vu all over again.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Uhhhh, was there something wrong with the TGS version? What a strange question to ask, unless the demo really sucked.

 

[Izana]

[sic]

 

[Verelios]

Hahaha...tradition.

And the main of SO1 came from a backwater planet, so that's just 1 out of 4.

 

[Edge_Maverick]

I duplicated the SO5 translation by accident and deleted the page that I linked to ^^; This should work.

Oh you. Updated the OP

 

[Skittles]

K: In order to use incantations in this world, sorcerers must have an incantation mark carved somewhere on their bodies. To show off the strength of her own incantations, Fiore prefers to wear the kind of outfit that you’ve taken notice to. In Randock, the country that Fiore lives in, there are outfits used specially by sorcerers, and you can customize these in any which way you want. I can ensure you they are far from being indecent (laugh).

Kill la Kill is that you?

 

[johnsmith]

Well to be fair Heraldry/Symbology has been a concept in the series since the beginning
http://starocean.wikia.com/wiki/Symbology_(Term)

And lack of clothing to show off the symbols isn't only limited to female characters.

 

[OmegaDL50]

Well to be fair Heraldry/Symbology has been a concept in the series since the beginning
http://starocean.wikia.com/wiki/Symbology_(Term)

And lack of clothing to show off the symbols isn't only limited to female characters.

Yup, basically Heraldry Marks (SO2) / Runology (SO3). they are called Spell Marks in SO5. They apparently help focus with Symbology and Spell casting arts.

Celine had them in SO2

and Nel has them in SO3.

Myuria in SO4 has them as well on her face and legs.

Yeah this has been something that existed in the SO since the 2nd game as far as I know.

 

[Ravage]

Its star ocean, not exactly a series that has had a great story ever. (imo) I only expect great combat with a messup with balance in one of the allies which allows to break the game.

Yep, SO as a series is pretty bad in the story department. It's guaranteed to have at least one annoying character too. Just pray it won't be SO4-level atrocious.

What the series excels in is combat, with SO3 (along with Graces) being the finest ARPG ever created imo. From the looks of it, SO4 is going to do just fine.

 

[threelights]

Just passing by before everything becomes Fiore again...

I like that they're sticking with their vision for the game. And I find it interesting that they're implementing something you can do during the "dynamic cutscenes". I wonder if it's actions you can take during a PA or something. That would be pretty neat.

edit: also, there's the "oudou RPG" thing again.
Hmmm...

Okay, now everything is Fiore again...

 

[Klossen]

So you remain in control while watching cutscenes? Sounds neat.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

Fiore is awesome. Don't change her.

 

[sensui-tomo]

Just passing by before everything becomes Fiore again...

I like that they're sticking with their vision for the game. And I find it interesting that they're implementing something you can do during the "dynamic cutscenes". I wonder if it's actions you can take during a PA or something. That would be pretty neat.

edit: also, there's the "oudou RPG" thing again.
Hmmm...

Okay, now everything is Fiore again...

I hope we have good PAs again as SO4 just made them required to get endings. Love how SO1-3 did it.

 

[Cornbread78]

Very nice, it's gonna be a long wait for this awesomeness..

 

[Klossen]

Fiore is awesome. Don't change her.

Apparently Japan loves her so it's not happening.

 

[GasProblem]

Fiore is an ice mage so I like her. I don't know what it is with me and ice magic. If a game has an option to focus on ice magic, I'll choose it. I guess I just find it...cool.

Greatly looking forward to this.

 

[show me your skeleton]

Honestly? An in-universe setting-based fantasy logic to why characters dress strangely is the best explanation to justify these kind of things.

eeeehhh. it's always super flimsy and transparent.

 

[Acquiescence]

K: In order to use incantations in this world, sorcerers must have an incantation mark carved somewhere on their bodies. To show off the strength of her own incantations, Fiore prefers to wear the kind of outfit that you’ve taken notice to. In Randock, the country that Fiore lives in, there are outfits used specially by sorcerers, and you can customize these in any which way you want. I can ensure you they are far from being indecent (laugh).

Uh huh, yep. No, that's a sound explanation to me, it totally rings true. I could do little to combat that reasoning.

Spoiler

she's mega hot

 

[Nightengale]

eeeehhh. it's always super flimsy and transparent.

I'd rather a flimsy and transparent lore reason that has some amount of connective tissue with the universe set-up in previous games (previous spellmark users also show off their skin where their marks are located ), than a trying too hard to make it a character specific quirk/drama "I'm the only one who's dressed like this because of reasons!"

Put it this way. It's not uncommon for elves in fantasy fiction to be under-dressed. 19 out of 20 times, the reasons they're under-dressed are frankly super flimsy and transparent as well.

But at least there's a consistency to it. And when fanservice is constant across a larger swath of the population because it's part of the lore, normally they are not as exploitative of it within the storytelling, because that would undermine the lore aspect of why it was fanservicy to begin with. Whatever the motive of the designer, at least it's integrated as part of parcel of the setting they're trying to sell us.

 

[striferser]

As far as fanservice goes, at least SO goes both way...

 

[Mexen]

I've just seen her outfit and I am going to have a hard time concentrating during the game. This is Fran all over again.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

really looking forward to this game.

 

[Bladenic]

Oh great, another Star Ocean that's gonna take place 60% on some typical JRPG setting planet instead of giving us a true Scifi RPG.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Oh great, another Star Ocean that's gonna take place 60% on some typical JRPG setting planet instead of giving us a true Scifi RPG.

Yeah. When I played the first Star Ocean, I was excited when the main characters got beamed up from their typical fantasy planet into a Star Trek like spaceship - but then they all plopped right back down to that planet and threw out all the sci-fi aspects just as soon as they were introduced. What a waste.

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

Apparently Japan loves her so it's not happening.

Great, I could care less about the perpetual protesting that infected gaming culture in the states.

 

[cyress8]

Oh great, another Star Ocean that's gonna take place 60% on some typical JRPG setting planet instead of giving us a true Scifi RPG.

Don't douse my hype, bro. At least I can give credit to Star Ocean 4 for the fact that it tried to stay on the scifi side of things more than the others. So you there you go, SO4, you got at least 1 thing kinda right.

 

[Bladenic]

Don't douse my hype, bro. At least I can give credit to Star Ocean 4 for the fact that it tried to stay on the scifi side of things more than the others. So you there you go, SO4, you got at least 1 thing kinda right.

I haven't played SO4 but I know they had multiple planets and an actual spaceship, but it's the exception. SO1-3 were all typical JRPGs with a scifi element (a small one). I hope SO5 doesn't take place almost entirely on that planet.

 

[Kudo]

The more I hear about this game, the more I like it.
I hope they can keep the February release date and English release follows quickly after, wasn't this supposed to be December release at first?

 

[Dice//]

Great, I could care less about the perpetual protesting that infected gaming culture in the states.

It'd be incorrect to assume everyone likes fanservice as well.

Anyways, looking forward to it. I definitely wanna know how that first space ship shot fits into this given the backwater JRPG planet it starts on

 

[Big Green Anus]

I'm happy to hear that their targeting 60fps for the PS4 and PS3 version of the game. The game looks quite promising with a unique battle system.

Star Ocean 4 was my first Star Ocean game and I'm happy for this to be my second

 

[Inuhanyou]

I'm happy to hear that their targeting 60fps for the PS4 and PS3 version of the game. The game looks quite promising with a unique battle system.

Star Ocean 4 was my first Star Ocean game and I'm happy for this to be my second

Its not as if the previous game wasn't 60fps in battle either....although being 60fps even outside of battle is something we have not seen since 3

I just hope that what they say about cutscenes isnt true. I want some actual cutscenes dammit! SO3 had a decent amount

 

[Big Green Anus]

Its not as if the previous game wasn't 60fps in battle either....although being 60fps even outside of battle is something we have not seen since 3

I just hope that what they say about cutscenes isnt true. I want some actual cutscenes dammit! SO3 had a decent amount

I was just worried that Star Ocean 5 was going to be 30fps like Tales of Zestiria. It's not a huge deal breaker for me, but I do prefer 60fps for these kinds of games.

I guess I need to try out other Star Ocean games as well, since I heard Star Ocean 4 is quite mediocre compared to others. SO 4 was pretty good to me, other than the voice acting from Lymle and Sarah.

 

[Stone Ocean]

I wish SO4 actually ran at 30 fps. Holy moly did that game chug.

 

[Inuhanyou]

I was just worried that Star Ocean 5 was going to be 30fps like Tales of Zestiria. It's not a huge deal breaker for me, but I do prefer 60fps for these kinds of games.

I guess I need to try out other Star Ocean games as well, since I heard Star Ocean 4 is quite mediocre compared to others. SO 4 was pretty good to me, other than the voice acting from Lymle and Sarah.

Personally recommend SO2 and 3 as the best in the series, but that's just me

 

[freeofgreed]

Great, I could care less about the perpetual protesting that infected gaming culture in the states.

Don't get to happy, they could still alter her outfit for a western release.

Spoiler

not saying they will, but it's a possibility.

 

[Ridley327]

I wish SO4 actually ran at 30 fps. Holy moly did that game chug.

The crazy part was just how damn severe the resolution drop was for the battles, and it still had so much trouble keeping 60 fps. The battles looked like a Wii game being upscaled.

 

[OniBarubary]

As per usual, the explanation for why she is wearing a checkerboard tit-curve mini-skirt suit is flimsy and stupid.

As per usual, she will never leave my party.

 

[Soriku]

As per usual, the explanation for why she is wearing a checkerboard tit-curve mini-skirt suit is flimsy and stupid.

As per usual, she will never leave my party.

You fight with the entire party at the same time, so there's no need to take her out.

 

[Stone Ocean]

I was just worried that Star Ocean 5 was going to be 30fps like Tales of Zestiria. It's not a huge deal breaker for me, but I do prefer 60fps for these kinds of games.

I guess I need to try out other Star Ocean games as well, since I heard Star Ocean 4 is quite mediocre compared to others. SO 4 was pretty good to me, other than the voice acting from Lymle and Sarah.

If you thought 4 was good you'll have a pretty good time with the other games, specially 2.