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Star Ocean Scoots Up A Week
Denver, 6:04 AM
Thu Dec 17
63 posts in the last 24 hours
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Star Ocean Scoots Up A Week |
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01/09/09
Archaotic I choose you!
01/09/09
Yes, because I totally wasn't ripping on the game for SO3's past indiscretions before the console choice was announced. SO3 ruined this series for me long before the 360 even came out. Don't be an idiot.
01/09/09
And 4 days is not a week; it was done for weekend sales to post a profitable first week of sales. <3.
01/09/09
It's 360-only for the moment...Tri-Ace has been pretty cagey about it coming to PS3, only saying "it will if we want it to". Considering the economy and the way most 360 RPGs sell...it'll jump ship eventually, just probably not this year.
01/09/09
01/09/09
01/09/09
01/09/09
01/09/09
I hope I'm wrong.
01/09/09
Like other's have said, if this company was smart, they should've made it ps3 exclusive or just went multi-platform.
01/09/09
01/09/09
Tales is a much, much bigger franchise in Japan than Star Ocean.
01/09/09
Anywho, thanks for clarifying that.
:)
01/09/09
Oh, SO4 will likely sell, but like all the other 360 JRPGs before it, it'll sell well for one or two weeks before dropping into oblivion. The 360's userbase just isn't big enough to support sustained sales, especially considering a lot of people buy a console for one game and then sell it back when they're done.
I don't think SO4 will sell better than Blue Dragon (the best-selling 360 RPG thus far), in any case. MAYBE in the US, but I'd say it's pretty review-dependent.
01/09/09
01/09/09
Yeah, I was only talking about JRPGs. Vesperia and Lost Odyssey both got a very lukewarm reception in Japan, and Vesperia didn't meet expectations in the US. The only place LO did well was in the US. I was talking Japan-only sales here. Sorry for the clarity issue.
01/09/09
On a side note, what else is coming out that makes February a crowded month?
01/09/09
Killzone 2 and Street Fighter IV to name the Juggernauts.
Also, several intriguing Wii and DS games are coming out that month as well such as HotD: Overkill.
01/09/09
Also, I wonder if they realize that they're now releasing one day before Killzone 2 .
Now, they will get hardly any gaming media coverage immediately before its release which will lead some people forgetting the game's existence.
01/09/09
01/09/09
01/09/09
01/09/09
Because:
equality = (old audience + new audience) = (higher sales - stubborn fans)
Also, why not? It's just more money in their pockets to turn around and make more games for the rest of us, even if they won't listen (Looks at original Final Fantasy VII PS case)
01/09/09
01/09/09
Listen, less the unlikely happens and the gaming giants decide to grant our wishes to stand behind one console, there will always be exclusives. What's the point of owning one console over the other (or better yet, owning multiple) if they all offer the same games?
Square is doing the smart thing by standing behing Sony and cautiously offering support to other systems (mostly) in unique ways.
Yay for them.
01/09/09
Standing behind Sony? The PS3's been out for several years now and Square hasn't released a single title on the console. Meanwhile the 360 has four, counting SO4. No matter how you spin it, Square IS neglecting the PS3.
01/09/09
Support for the PSP is extremely strong in Squareland. FFT, CC:FFVII, KH:BBS, Space Invaders, etc
PS3... not so much, I agree. But Final Fantasy XIII and Versus has been in development for a while are obviously very high profile. Weren't Infinite Undiscovery and Last Remnant announced about the same time as XIII and Versus?
Development is taking a while... Proof that something magical is happening in Nomura-ville.
01/09/09
The problem that I have with it is that Square is willing to delay the PS3 version of FFXIII to launch with the 360 version, but Last Remnant can get an early 360 launch and the PS3 version gets "TBD"d like they don't even care about it. Square doesn't care about the PS3 at all outside of the two XIII titles, and it's starting to get more and more evident as time passes.
01/09/09
As a fellow fan, I share your sentiment.
I guess we all have to just wait and see. Square is locked in this mindset that they will die without a western studio, and I think that is where all of their questionable actions are coming from. Once they are content with gaining a foothold in EU and NA, I think that it won't be long before they start to calm down and true titles come out.
I'm waiting for the real Square, with the pretty polish and deep gameplay. One day, one day...
01/09/09
01/09/09
I still maintain that the worst thing to happen to Square is the merger with Enix...hopefully the old, true Square shows its face sometime before the end of this gen, because I'm sure as hell not gonna be part of the next generation.
01/09/09
I don't know how many times I've said it, but it always bears repeating - The only people that care about "loyalty" are fanboys. The industry cares nothing for it. No developer gives a crap about any of the consoles on the market - they only care about making money on one of them. It is *not* the developer's job to support a console, it is the console's job to encourage development on their system.
And I say this for everyone equally - which is why you don't hear me complain a lot about the Wii third-party issue being the developer's fault either.
01/09/09
It has nothing to do with loyalty, it has everything to do with Square basically lying to people's faces about treating the consoles equally. In no way can you spin Square's treatment of the PS3 as a positive.
01/09/09
@Archaotic: Negative. Spirits Within. Great concept, horrible execution.
And while I'd like to assume that Enix (being the master unit in SE) has had influence on the company as a whole, I can't shrug the feeling that they have a lot up their sleeves that they haven't showed us yet. Besides, I liked KH.
And... you can try to leave gaming... but you'll come back. They always come back.
@Rebochan:
Who is whining? Relax man, it's just a civilized discussion. No rabid fanboyism to be found here, okay?
Regardless, you can't stand and say that a company shouldn't be responsible for their fanbase and the games they develop, publish, etc for them. It isn't a mutual sense of loyalty between two parties, morals or what have you - it's simple economics and business practice.
01/09/09
Eh, I'm getting too old for gaming, and with the increased focus on casualized gaming, shooters, and other Western bullcrap, I don't think I'll have too much trouble bowing out after this current lineup of systems dies. I'm really not a fan of Western design at all, so unless the Japanese start pushing the envelope again the way they used to, I'm not gonna cry if I stop gaming.
01/09/09
I hear your argument there, my man. I'm only 20, so I suppose it's only empathetic, and not sympathy.
And what, you don't like testosterone
01/09/09
Not in the slightest. Not to mention the West's insistence toward multiplayer and shortened campaigns, or choosing "create your character" over detailed storytelling...there's just not much to like. I'm a story guy first and foremost, and I feel the West is just killing storytelling as of late with testosterone-overcharged protagonists or "open world" games totally lacking in plot and character development.
Every so often a charismatic, likeable hero like Nathan Drake might slip through the cracks, but those are the exception that just proves the rule. As long as the West dominates gaming, I'll be scaling back my involvement.
01/09/09
Hey, us in the west will always be fascinated by materialism and idolotry. We love our comic books.
Regardless, agree with you 100%, but I think there needs to be a distinction made. The east is primarily interested in storytelling first and foremost, with the west involved in actual gameplay. Is it too bad to ask for both? Our markets are colliding, and that's exactly what will happen. I'm positive you'll come back our way sooner or later.
01/09/09
With the advent of online gaming, I just don't see that happening. Story is already being killed off as a sacrifice to the multiplayer gods, and I don't see that stopping, especially when Live and WoW are so profitable. Everyone wants a piece of the pie, and single player story-based games don't have subscription fees. =/
01/09/09
*digresses*
You're the most depressing person on the interwebs.
01/09/09
I'm pretty good at that, yeah. There's just not much to be optimistic about anymore. =/
01/09/09
01/09/09
I know, I'm just lamenting Square's fall from grace, since I always preferred them over Enix growing up. Nowadays, that trend seems to be continuing; I like the games out of the Square half of the company more than the ones out of the Enix half.
01/09/09
Japanese developers were not looking ahead, this is one of the reason their quality has dwindled. When you have competitors like Fallout 3 and Mass Effect actually doing something a bit different in the RPG relms, such as open worlds, etc, its possible that less people will flock to the same old song.
Its sad because Japan has some of the greatest development teams out there and they damn sure make gaming fun, but sticking to your guns only last for so long. By all means keep the Japanese tradition in your games, just change it up a bit, all of their protagonists do not need to have a name like Ryot Zanderfield, or a sometimes confusing gender. Can we have an open world rpg with the same story quality and some tweaked traditional ATB or something?
01/09/09
I don't think it's possible to have an open world RPG with the same story depth and quality as a linear RPG, no. It's just not possible, due to the limits of disc size, the limits of developer skill, and budget constraints. It'd be far too time-consuming and expensive to make MULTIPLE full-depth storylines, especially when most Western games can't even finish one plotline without cutting it to pieces or pulling a Halo 2 on the player.
So were we in a perfect world, where developers could work infinite hours and never get tired, and budgets never dried up? I'd say it's possible, but since we don't...
01/09/09
01/09/09
Agreed. On a scale of Final Fantasy - Metal Gear Solid 4, how lost will I be if I jump into this game without playing any of the other games?
I've seen screens/video and I'm interested. I just don't wanna be all "wut" every second.
01/09/09
It's a prequel, so you won't miss out on anything aside from a few series inside jokes and recurring references.
01/09/09
01/09/09
Not for a while. Tri-Ace is a small studio compared to Square's internal teams. If at all, we won't see it for quite some time, possibly not even until Christmastime.
01/09/09
01/09/09
That'd be nice, but Square has been pretty clear they care much more about the PSP than the PS3 this gen. It's kinda pathetic.
01/09/09
They wanted money...360 has 10 million more consoles out there. Can't really blame them for making a business decision.
01/09/09
Unfortunately, not even 1 million of those consoles are in the region Square is trying to appeal to with this game. It's a stupid move all over, the game should've been multiplatform.
01/09/09
01/09/09
Luckily it seems Square is developing on the PS3 first, possibly doing the best they can, then down porting it to the 360.
01/09/09
1) I'm sure Microsoft payed a pretty penny for the exclusive.
2) I'm sure this will help sell 360s in Japan, making your comment of "not a million of those consoles are even in the market they're trying to sell to" less relevant.
3) There are people outside of Japan that want Star Ocean too, and are going to appreciate this move.
01/09/09
The game's actually not an exclusive, Square's never stated it is, the box art lacks the 'only on' icon, and Tri-Ace has even mentioned that if they decide to, it could certainly be brought over. The team's just too small to develop for both platforms simultaneously.
01/09/09
I can see them doing a JP PS3 release but not in the US. Looking at sales of both Disgaea 3 and Valkyria Chronicles here, I can't say I blame them.
01/09/09
Well, the box art on the Last Remnant manual was concept art, and certainly not the final art we see up top.
Either way, we saw how well that turned out for BioShock and Eternal Sonata, right? As it stands, they're avoiding using the 'only on' icon for the retail version of the game because of the POSSIBILITY of a future port, whether or not it actually exists isn't really the point.
01/09/09
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01/09/09
01/09/09
Not to mention it systematically slaughtered the meaning of the Valkyrie Profile series, considering SO and VP take place in the same universe.
01/09/09
I thought that the plot twist was actually pretty ballsy, in a Post-Modern "Dreaming in an Empty Room" kind of way.
I'd much rather see more things like that and more spacefaring in an ocean of stars, in comparison to the first half of Star Ocean 3 where you spent your time dicking around in some backwoods underdeveloped planet in RPG land.
01/09/09
Oh, believe me, I'd LOVE it if SO3 had been sci-fi all the way through. But the paradigm shift, combined with the invalidation of the entire franchise up to that point as well as an entire other series felt like a stab in the heart. Pick a genre and stay with it, I say.
01/09/09
AGREE. Never have I loved a game so much, only to be filled with hatred half way through.
01/09/09
Killed the series for me, it did. I can't even look it SO4 without thinking of that plot twist and the rage it induced in me.
Of course, SO4's absolutely hideous "real doll" character models don't help the game much either...
01/09/09
I dont think this is intended to be viewed as Star Ocean 4. Its a prequel isnt it?
01/09/09
It's a prequel, yeah, but it's the fourth game in the series even if it's the first game in the chronology. And even so, it doesn't erase the fact that the Eternal Sphere exists and is totally fucking lame. =/
01/09/09
Hell, I was happier when the Eternal Sphere was a bad ass sword in The Second Story. -_-
01/09/09
I skipped VP2 because the 3D battle system was fucking horrible but I still have a fascination with the series because of how legendary the first game was. 2nd best RPG on PSOne, that's for damn sure.
01/09/09
It's mentioned in dialogue during SO3 that the Valkyrie Profile planet exists in the Star Ocean universe, it's actually referred to multiple times, even before the game introduced the non-canon Valkyrie Profile cameo bosses.
01/09/09
I mean, each planet certainly wouldn't have its own god and afterlife, would it?
I don't know if I can tolerate going back to SO3. I played until you land on that first shitty planet and I remember growing tired of the gameplay shortly after.
01/09/09
Exactly. It just fucks the cosmology of both games up, and VP has always been better than Star Ocean, so Tri-Ace basically sacrificed their BETTER game in favor of a stupid plot twist to cash in on the Matrix craze going around at that time. It made me want to punch them, not even counting how annoying characters like Peppita were.
01/09/09
01/09/09
The one reference I remember most clearly is Maria mentioning Bloodbane (or Bloodvein), that insanely powerful dragon monster from VP1, by name, and mentioning the planet he lives on during a dialogue scene in one of the towns.
01/09/09
i turned off long before the end :/
simulation indeed BALLS
01/09/09
01/09/09
They basically say it once or twice that the VP planet exists in the same universe as the Star Ocean games. They're not connected directly by plot, but the two planets are in the same galaxy.
01/09/09
Stupid, annoying main character, plot loaded with holes, slow start (exploring the boring ass hotel of the future for 2 hours), you're saddled with lame fetch quests that kill any sense of urgency, horrible dialog, plot that always feels like something cool is about to happen but nothing actually DOES, etc etc etc.
01/09/09
It really did astound me how badly SO3 turned out, especially since Valkyrie Profile 2 was a flawed, but still very engaging and interesting game by comparison. It's like Tri-Ace wasn't even trying with SO3.
01/09/09
It's hilarious to me that I have always thought this yet never knew that other people felt the same way, haha. I mean, I'm absolutely fed up with this whole "beat the same bosses you already did all in a row without saving" trial at the end of games. It represents a laziness in design imo.
01/09/09
It seems a lot of people were let down or pissed off by Star Ocean 3's second half...it's the Devil May Cry 2 of the series, without question.
01/09/09
The way I look at the massive fuck-up near the end of SO3 is this:
Unless you really want the twist to have a bearing on canon, it doesn't. I _think_ its called chronological relevance. Look at it this way. When SO1 was made, that was the only piece of storyline to consider. When SO2 was made, the only pieces to consider were SO1 and SO2.
So when I go back and play SO2, I write the shit that happened in SO3 out of my mind. Same with Final Fantasy 4 & 10. No reason for a crap game later in the series to ruin what was good earlier on.
01/09/09
Kinda wish they'd release this on the PS3, or any other SE RPGs for that matter. I can only play Valkyria Chronicles and Fallout 3 so many times before waiting a new RPG to play...
01/09/09
White Knight's coming this year, don't worry. :D
01/09/09
01/09/09
I'm a writer. It's what I do. Story is JUST as important to me, if not moreso in the RPG genre, than gameplay. :P
01/11/09
01/09/09