Star Ocean 4 confirmed for Xbox 360

[Dreddz]

Sony blew it. (http://kotaku.com/5014894/star-ocean-4-coming-to-xbox-360-in-2009)

[Zeromus_X]

Haha, I thought so. Well, maybe they might do like they did with Eternal Sonata and port it to the PS3 with added content or something. Still, I'm very happy it's on a console I have access to. I can't wait for it.

[Dreddz]

The producer said it may or may not come to PS3. Im a little miffed about tri-aces decision to put it on the 360. Does loyalty mean nothing to these developers? Now this was obviously put on 360 due to Microsofts deep wallet but cant these devs for once turn down the money and make a game for the fans. Its not like this game will sell well on the 360 anyway.

Its also making it a hard time for RPG fans to pick a console, you've got more WRPG's and JRPG's on the 360 but Final Fantasy (which is still the only JRPG that really matters in this industry) is still on the PS3. I own both but alot of my friends are being torn in half deciding what console to buy. Sucks to be them.

[Karellen]

Does loyalty mean nothing to these developers?
Did Square-Enix give us Front Mission 5?

[Nifleheim7]

Squarenix just doomed the game.Well probably they got enough money from MS so they don't care about sales...

[Mirage]

Please explain to me how releasing the game for the console with the biggest market share (out of PS3 and 360) would doom the game.

[Dreddz]

Please explain to me how releasing the game for the console with the biggest market share (out of PS3 and 360) would doom the game.

Saying the game is doomed is an exaggeration but its fact that JRPG's do poorly on the 360. It would sell more on the PS3 due to it to being significantly more popular in Japan and the RPG gamers coming from the PS2. Alot of people bought PS3's (including I) with the assumption that it would have plenty of JRPG's.

Im sure Square took this into account but the bribe they got from Microsoft will likely make up for the lack in sales.

[Sarc the Swordsman]

I have a 360, and as much as I enjoyed Star Ocean 3, I'd much prefer it to be on the PS3. >_>

[Mirage]

I thought S-E has stated that they needed to rely less on the Japanese market for the majority of their profits, and more on the american and european markets, because there's potentially a lot more money to make there than in Japan. Maybe this 360 release is one of the steps in their new business strategy?

Sarc: Why? Because you need to feel a specific controller in your hands to get that "Star Ocean Feel"? :p. You could always get a third party 360 controller that looks like a Dualshock :p.

[Zeromus_X]

Saying the game is doomed is an exaggeration but its fact that JRPG's do poorly on the 360.

I don't know. It seems like more JRPGs from popular franchises or companies have been released lately (Eternal Sonata, Tales of Vesperia, and now Star Ocean 4). Sure, that's only a few titles, but perhaps if more JRPGs are released on the 360, this will change.



Sarc: Why? Because you need to feel a specific controller in your hands to get that "Star Ocean Feel"? :p. You could always get a third party 360 controller that looks like a Dualshock :p.

Haha, I didn't know they made those. But I would have to say the 360 controller is quite comfortable. It's definitely better than the original XBox controller, that's for sure...

[Vermachtnis]

I'm so glad I started a get Donny a 360 fund. Really just because it's not on the same system doesn't mean anything is going to change. Being on the 360 doesn't mean Master Cheif is gonna show up as an optional boss or whatever you people seem to be afriad of.

[Nifleheim7]

I still believe that the vast majority of western 360 owners,don't give a **** for JRPG's.

[JKTrix]

FF13 is really what will determine the ultimate fate of 'loyal' RPGs on the PS3. I think once that comes out and if it likely does really well, other RPG makers will be more comfortable making Sony exclusive RPGs again since there will be a guaranteed pool of RPGamers once FF13 comes out.

In the off chance that FF13 doesn't do as spectacularly as anticipated, we may just have to settle for the multiplatform releases. There is more potential money in the Xbox 360 right now, despite its status in Japan. This is why these 'traditionally Sony' RPGs are really focusing on a worldwide release, taking a chance on the rest of the world.

I doubt Star Ocean 4 is going to be 'exclusive' to the Xbox anyway. But I think we still have to wait for FF13 to see how the games that follow align themselves.

[Slothy]

Please explain to me how releasing the game for the console with the biggest market share (out of PS3 and 360) would doom the game.

Biggest market share perhaps, but the PS3 has been steadily closing the gap in world wide sales since it's release. Also keep in mind that Japanese RPG's have never been as popular in North America or Europe, excluding the Final Fantasy series which is the exception rather than the rule.

If Square-Enix is trying to appeal to people outside of Japan more than they have in the past, then they need to start making more games aimed at those markets, rather than putting games that are most popular in Japan onto systems that aren't popular there.

[Roogle]

I don't think that tri-ACE has what it takes to appeal to gamers outside of Japan in terms of storyline, character design, and other supplemental aspects of a video game.

[Dreddz]

Squares interests arent to appeal to people outside of Japan, there just happy with the sum of money they recieved. They've already got a solid fanbase outside of Japan, who predominately own Sony's consoles.

What Microsoft want out of this is to make the 360 more popular in Japan. Which I doubt as previous JRPG's released on the 360 havent made an overall impact. Maybe a slight spike in sales but thats it.

[The Last Oath]

damn, i really enjoyed so3 and i only get ps1/2/3

[Elly]

well that's just depressing that they would choose to put a potentialy great game on an inferior machine, that's just bad marketing there...

[Zeromus_X]

well that's just depressing that they would choose to put a potentialy great game on an inferior machine, that's just bad marketing there...

Why do you believe the 360 to be an inferior machine?

[Raebus]

I'm just going to ignore Elly and focus on the fact that it's coming to the xbox 360 which I'm getting pretty soon. ^_______________^

[Nifleheim7]

Why do you believe the 360 to be an inferior machine?

I have seen many times in professional sites like Gamasutra,people who either work or write for the industry usually say that the PS3 is indeed more capable than the 360.
Personally i don't care which is more powerful.The only thing that bugs me about the 360 is it's failure rate.

[JKTrix]

Why do you believe the 360 to be an inferior machine?

I have seen many times in professional sites like Gamasutra,people who either work or write for the industry usually say that the PS3 is indeed more capable than the 360.
Personally i don't care which is more powerful.The only thing that bugs me about the 360 is it's failure rate.

Indeed when it comes to the specs, the PS3 has far more advanced tech to be toyed around with. But I don't think the 'inferiority' is really that important. Of the 3 systems, the PS2 was the 'inferior' console last generation. So while a system's power is certainly attractive to a developer, there are other things, perhaps more important things that go into the decision process. And I certainly don't dispute that Microsoft is making 'money' a part of that decision process :p

All that said, I reiterate that I really do not think SO4 is going to remain a 360 exclusive. Though it's certainly coming out there first.

[Elly]

let's see... Stats, it's inferior; Media Disk Space (DVD vs BluRay), far inferior; and let's not forget the all to common "Red Ring of Death" and the mass recall of all X360's by Microsoft, i definately would not want to spend time on an 80 hour game to have the RRoD show up only 10-20 hours into it or worse 40 hours in...

[Krelian]

I'm glad they made this decision. That way I can still delay my purchase of the PS3 :p
The Xbox 360 may be inferior, but everyone should see that there's not such a big difference between the 360 and PS3 than between the PS3 and Wii. And while the RRoD issue is still up to date, they're at least working on it (albeit slowly) and the situation has improved.

Anyway, here's a new article, followed by a short interview: Star Ocean: The Last Hope Preview & Producer Q&A (Xbox 360) (http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/2006/Star-Ocean-The-Last-Hope/p1/)

[Rostum]

Squares interests arent to appeal to people outside of Japan...

Source, please.

[Goldenboko]

tbh I always felt Microsoft got into Video Games just to stick it to Sony, any success in the area was just a bonus xD

[Mirage]

It's stupid to start going on about how one console is inferior. There are no problems getting good graphics and gameplay out of a 360, and that ring of death is so rare nowadays that it's not even worth mentioning. I'll probably get a 360 core package when this game is released, those things cost less than a wii after all! Would you be against tri-ace releasing it for the wii if the wii had as good graphics as the 360?

[Jiro]

let's see... Stats, it's inferior; Media Disk Space (DVD vs BluRay), far inferior; and let's not forget the all to common "Red Ring of Death" and the mass recall of all X360's by Microsoft, i definately would not want to spend time on an 80 hour game to have the RRoD show up only 10-20 hours into it or worse 40 hours in...

I got the red rings, twice, and that was due to poor ventilation. All I payed was postage costs, and they fixed it up perfect both times. And, I got two months free gold Xbox live membership vouchers.

And so what if it happens 40 hours in? You send the 360 away, get it back a week or two later and stick your hard drive back in and continue. A lot of peopls seem to think the red rings equal bad news, but its not that bad. Some of the earlier models were epic fail, but why judge the entire console on a few bad eggs? xD

[Roogle]

Can someone explain the malfunction in the Xbox 360 that has caused it to be so infamous?

[Raebus]

Haha, it didn't take long to for someone to come into this thread and bring along with them the "THIS CONSOLE IS INFERIOR. LOL" opinion.

[JKTrix]

Can someone explain the malfunction in the Xbox 360 that has caused it to be so infamous?

Graphics chip overheats, everything goes dead.

More (and recent) details here (http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208403010) if you desire.

They've been 'fixing' it for a while, and failure rates on the newest models are apparently much lower.

[XxSephirothxX]

Unless it's a lot better than Star Ocean 3, PS3 owners whining over their loss of a JRPG won't really have much to complain about. The main characters in the trailer look so bland and ugh. And I think it's pretty likely it's going to be a multiplatform release, anyway.

[Mirage]

I'm prettu sure triace already stated it wouldn't be a multiplatform release. Regardless, a 360 will probably cost about $120 when this game gets out anyway, so why not get one?

And why shouldn't a PS3 owner who liked the previous Star Ocean be allowed to complain?

[Zeromus_X]

I'm prettu sure triace already stated it wouldn't be a multiplatform release.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope Preview & Producer Q&A (Xbox 360) (http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/2006/Star-Ocean-The-Last-Hope/p2/)


Is this an Xbox 360 exclusive?

Yoshinori Yamagishi: I believe your question translates into, would it be coming out on PS3 as well. The answer to that is, there are no plans, nothing set in stone at the moment—we can’t say right now that it will come out or it won’t come out for sure, so it could go either way. The only thing that’s confirmed right now is that it’s coming out on Xbox 360.

[Bolivar]

There are no problems getting good graphics and gameplay out of a 360

There does, however, seem to be serious problems in getting both of those things to translate into a respectable total gaming time. This is obviously a valid concern for an RPG fan.

As already pointed out, tri-ace has to know that the main market for this game is and will be Japan. On any given month, the 360 gets outsold by the PS2 for crying out loud.

Also, while the PS2 was the hardware-inferior console of the last generation, there wasn't a significant difference in format, and format is obviously at the top of the list of reasons why the 360 is inferior to the PS3.

[Karellen]

What makes you think that the 360 can't produce games of a decent length? Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey had average play times of 60 and 50 hours (for main quest completion) respectively. That's to say nothing of the life-destroying behemoth Oblivion. If your point is that they can't do so without spanning it over multiple DVDs (and this only seems to be an issue for Japanese games that are filled to the brim with cutscenes) then here's the world smallest violin playing for everyone who can't be bothered changing disk every 10-20 hours. Especially when both SO2 and SO3 were multi-disk games anyway.

[Spuuky]

What makes you think that the 360 can't produce games of a decent length? Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey had average play times of 60 and 50 hours (for main quest completion) respectively. That's to say nothing of the life-destroying behemoth Oblivion. If your point is that they can't do so without spanning it over multiple DVDs (and this only seems to be an issue for Japanese games that are filled to the brim with cutscenes) then here's the world smallest violin playing for everyone who can't be bothered changing disk every 10-20 hours. Especially when both SO2 and SO3 were multi-disk games anyway.
And I still say Oblivion was mutilated to fit onto consoles... so what does that say?

Anyway, I am disappointed in this because I will never buy a 360 and I do own a PS3, and I will buy this game if it comes out on a system I own.

[Karellen]

And I still say Oblivion was mutilated to fit onto consoles... so what does that say?

That statement is pretty vague, so I have no idea. If we're still talking about content and game length (which was the point I was making), then I don't see why they would need to cut anything out of Oblivion to make it 'fit' consoles. Both PC gaming and the 360 use DVD media and both could have utilized multiple DVDs if it came to that. If you're talking about performance or gameplay then that's a whole different debate.

[ValkyrieWing]

Ugh..i cant AFFORD a 360...and frankly there isnt enough games on it i'm really interested it to justify owning one...gr...lets hope something more hopeful happens for me! lol