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[Hunahan]

The field sections look so large and sparse to me. I really don't like that style of design, I much prefer a packed area with a smaller, linear path of highly detailed environments. One of the critical flaws with IU, I'm a bit disappointed to see it repeated (and seemingly amplified) here.

Other than that it looks good. I'll give it a shot, had fairly mixed reactions to SO2 and 3.

 

[Error]

IGN has a (shitty)preview and some gameplay vids in their site.

 

[Saiyar]

Nvm

 

[Error]

60fps, controllable camera, insane graphics, minimum load times. A tri-Ace victory, this is what happens when the veterans do their shit.

tri-Ace :bow

 

[FrankT]

60fps, controllable camera, insane graphics, minimum load times. A tri-Ace victory, this is what happens when the veterans do their shit.

tri-Ace :bow

Nice

 

[PhatSaqs]

IGN has a (shitty)preview and some gameplay vids in their site.

http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/903309/star-ocean-4/videos/starocean_tgsclip1_100908.html

Looks fantastic.

 

[Joule]

Looks like Rush Mode for enemies is very similar to the Tales Overlimit in that they become very hard or impossible to stun among most likely other effects.

They also become shining entities. Cool.

 

[h3ro]

So it is 60fps!

I was worried about SO4 after IU, but it looks like they were able to quickly iron out the problems that IU had and implemented the changes for the engine in SO.

 

[FrankT]

Jeez that gameplay looks great.

 

[Error]

One interesting thing I noticed, is how the character now turns around while attacking.

like, if the enemy moves while a character is attacking it, he will turn around with the enemy so his attacks won't miss. Interesting.

 

[FirewalkR]

Damn... what about Europe?

 

[Danne-Danger]

60fps, controllable camera, insane graphics, minimum load times. A tri-Ace victory, this is what happens when the veterans do their shit.

tri-Ace :bow

Want want want want!

Goddamn this game is so tempting.

 

[Dr. Acid Avatar]

The combat looks bat shit insane, I have confidence in that aspect. I hope the world is fun and the story keeps me interested. I will definitely pick this one up.

 

[Lebron]

story keeps me interested.

I would keep expectations low in regards to story, as far as tri-Ace games go. Err, wait, you said, interested. I read that as goodP). Yeah, hopefully it is interesting. It should be as long as they don't throw in any "plot twists":lol

 

[Danne-Danger]

I would keep expectations low in regards to story, as far as tri-Ace games go. Err, wait, you said, interested. I read that as goodP). Yeah, hopefully it is interesting. It should be as long as they don't throw in any "plot twists":lol

And hopefully, there'll be an event-skip button present.

 

[Negaiido]

Nice, I'll wait for the better port of Square for the PS3

 

[Darkman M]

Nice, I'll wait for the better port of Square for the PS3

:lol

 

[B.K.]

If I have a 360 by March, I'll rent it. I don't think it'll be able to redeem the series though.

 

[Mets39]

while i'm at it, 7 minutes of gameplay!
Looks awesome, even though the quality of the video is not great.

 

[J-Rzez]

The combat looks great in this after watching more vids. Hype +10. Big fan of the series, and loved the combat approach of SO3. Glad to see it basically carried over here.

 

[navi001]

Nice, I'll wait for the better port of Square for the PS3

Enjoy your one to infinite year old port.

 

[Jonsoncao]

Nice, I'll wait for the better port of Square for the PS3

:lol :lol :lol

 

[Negaiido]

Enjoy your one to infinite year old port.

eeewwww atleast the PS3 version is getting a nice cover

 

[harSon]

60 FPS and some of the best graphics in a game yet Infinite Discovery struggled to keep a constant 30 with considerably less? Tri-Ace you have some explaining to do

 

[icecream]

Tri-Ace you have some explaining to do

B-team, meet the A-team.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Negaiido banned? This day just keeps getting better and better.

 

[WinFonda]

60 FPS and some of the best graphics in a game yet Infinite Discovery struggled to keep a constant 30 with considerably less? Tri-Ace you have some explaining to do

Well, it's worth pointing out that Infinite Undiscovery was open-world environment and all the battles took place on the map, sometimes with many more characters on screen. Star Ocean 4 is loading small, enclosed arenas, so it's much different (easier) from an optimization standpoint.

 

[h3ro]

B-team, meet the A-team.

I PITY THE FOO' THAT BOUGHT IU

 

[Amir0x]

tsc tsc Negaiido

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Damn!!!!!! I love that they turnaround for the US is so quick. Early next year will be so good.

 

[Ganondorfo]

Isn't this the same week as resident evil 5, if so ouch.

But I can't wait for this game, even I think that star ocean 3 is one of the worst rpgs ever, but I loved star ocean 2.

At least another amazing ost from sakuraba.

 

[Error]

Couple of things I've noticed from watching the different gameplay vids

- the level design looks quite a bit different from SO3, from what I can gather. The dungeon in the demo look less maze-like.
- You can now make a dash like maneuver outside of battle, probably to avoid enemies and stuff.
- This is not actually in the vids but interesting nonetheless, is that SO4 will have FIELD skills now. If it's anything like SO2, then I guess these field skills will be stuff like sending a bird to buy items for you, being able to find items scattered around in floor and not in treasure chests etc.. etc..
- Clouds cast shadows, really impressive imo. In the gamekyo vid almost at the end you can notice how a cloud casts a shadow over Edge.
- Battles look amazing, the animation is top notch and way above what IU had. The battle skills effects are awesome but never overwhelm the action. Even the monsters animate well.
- You can map spells to buttons and use them like Battle Skills. This is like it worked in SO3.
- the camera looks really dynamic in battles, it takes neat cinematic angles to showcase the action.
- 60fps 60fps 60fps 60fps 60fps
- So far I haven't seen anyone pull off a Sight Out, I wonder if its hard to do or something.
- fully controllable camera in the field. no lame ass overhead view like in SO3.

I'm really impressed with what I've seen so far. I mean I expect tri-Ace games to look good, but after IU I was doubting their technical prowess a bit. Good to see these vids dispelled any doubts I had.

 

[Firestorm]

tsc tsc Negaiido

I just looked at his post history
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/search.php?searchid=2885666

Insecurity is a bitch.

 

[Rpgmonkey]

I was wondering how this game was going to prevent endless spamming with no fury gauge, but it seems the enemy's rush thing takes care of that.

Animates well, battle looks good, and manual jumping=best addition to the series since they made a way to prevent endless attack spamming imo. The site seems to imply there'll be more little details to the battle system than the Sight In/Out system too, which I expected, but it's nice to get confirmation.

Overall an impressive game, the heavy hitters of SE/tri-Ace are finally coming back next year.

 

[Error]

Another thing I noticed is that being knocked down doesn't seem to grant you invulnerability, same works for enemy. This goes a long way into making the game a lot more combo friendly.

 

[My Arms Your Hearse]

gamespot hands on with the game




http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg...=convert&om_clk=previews&tag=previews;title;2

not that informative, just some gushing at the graphics. One interesting bit is how she mentioned Killer Moves are now mapped to different buttons, kind of SO2. In SO3 they were mapped to the same buttons used for normal attacks, this basically confirms NO strong/weak attacks, NO anti-attack aura system, moves consume MP now so NO MP death (which was obvious, since enemy's info in battles lack an MP meter).

If anything in your last paragraph is true this game utterly and completely fails. And it looks so delicious Tri-ace can't handle HD consoles, it seems.

Btw, there will be more than "seven" characters... you'll probably end up dropping 2-3 in the course of the game.

 

[My Arms Your Hearse]

I don't think there a clear tier when it comes to characters in SO3, sure Maria was godly but characters like Peppita were useful and were fun to control thanks to the varied skillset for each character in SO3. I think it really depends on your playing style.

SO2 had a lot of crappy characters, though. Noel was such a piece of SHIT and it didn't help his VA was ear bleeding bad. Mages in SO2 were trash, too, because they interrupt the action for spell casting.

Maria and Cliff are godmode (Energy Burst/Radiation Bots and Max Shockwave). Everyone else is not even in the battle. Peppita is probably the runner up, ESPECIALLY if someone is skilled at her counterattacks. Dream Hammer is the fastest killing move in the game but requires other characters for it to be useful.

Christ, it's like they're actively trying to dumb it down to Tales level. My fucking heart is sinking. Ugh....

 

[Error]

You are overreacting, there are tons of features we don't know about from the battle system (judging by the site's battle section). why not just wait for more info?

 

[cvkpaladin]

Are there any direct feed videos of the gameplay yet?

 

[My Arms Your Hearse]

You are overreacting, there are tons of features we don't know about from the battle system (judging by the site's battle section). why not just wait for more info?

Meh, this is the same feeling I got with Infinite Undiscovery.... (but hey, at least I can control the other people here!). I'll try to remain optimistic but it really does seem as they've changed it up quite a bit from 3. Which is almost certainly a bad thing because 3 is just about perfect. It would really be a shame if all the technical sex is wasted on a game with subpar gameplay mechanics.

 

[SPEA]

You are overreacting, there are tons of features we don't know about from the battle system (judging by the site's battle section). why not just wait for more info?

Agreed. There is probably a bunch of info we don't even know about. I'd wait it out before people go crazy.

 

[Error]

So the producer said this is the last game in the series, in the 1up preview that is.

 

[duckroll]

So the producer said this is the last game in the series, in the 1up preview that is.

<Yamagishi> This is the last Star Ocean.

<Kojima> This is the last Metal Gear Solid.

Yup, I totally believe you guys.

 

[Error]

Exactly.

Famitsu has a hands on article up, but I can't read japanese. it seems to talk about the Rush gauge.

http://www.famitsu.com/event/tgs/2008/1218906_1829.html

 

[duckroll]

Actually the official site (in Japanese, duh) already has a pretty detailed explaination of the battle system. Gamespot pretty much sucks at explaining anything in detail or trying to find out how systems work in demos. Lolz.

 

[Rpgmonkey]

Basically:

A Button is attack. You can keep pressing it for a combo of course.
B button is for jumping.
Y button opens up the menu so you can access magic and stuff.
X button is for the "Rush Startup".

Rush is like a special move. Attacking causes the Rush gauge to fill. when it becomes full you can activate it. Pressing the B button occasionally fills up the rush gauge a little while Rush is activated (health glows as well apparently). Timing the L trigger correctly you can use special moves. After a battle is over the Rush gauge resets. Enemies and you other party members can use it too, and you can control how they use them in the tactics.

Err, Duckroll or someone can fix this if I messed something up or something...

 

[Diablos]

Very nice!!!

 

[duckroll]

It says that you hit X to start a Rush, during which all connecting attacks that you do will build up the Rush gauge. When the gauge is full, you hit B to activate Rush, making the entire character glow with light. When this happens you have to time the L trigger at the right time to pull off the special attack successfully. After this the Rush gauge resets.

They say that in normal battles you don't get to use the Rush attacks very often because the gauge resets after each battle, but since it builds up really quickly it's very useful for fighting stronger foes.

The other system that have been explained is the Sight system. In battles enemies have a field of vision and it locks on to characters when you're within their sight. When this happens the camera centers on that encounter and you're in "Sight In" mode. You can hold down the jump button to focus on the enemy, and then sidestep out of sight of the enemy. If you're successful it becomes "Sight Out" and you get a slow motion chance to go behind the enemy and pull off a critical attack.

 

[Error]

I'm disappointed with GT's coverage of this game. Only one shitty ass vid. Come on.

 

[Shouta]

I got to play it today. Long ass wait but well worth it! I also got a lot of time to watch people play the Last Remnant which looks like it has an awesome battle system.

The graphics are pretty impressive in terms of effects and environments but I gotta say that the character models, while detailed and fairly good, are even creepier in person than they are in pics and vids. The eyes and junk, scary. The animation is pretty good, could be a little smoother but very nice. Framerate is solid most of the time but it seemed to be choppy when lots of things are going on at the same time like landing tons of hits across a bunch of mobs and, in general, when you get in close and there's a giant cluster of effects. A little annoying but not bad otherwise.

Battle system is great. They fixed the hit detection disconnect and button response thing from Star Ocean 3. Rush was hard to get because we only had like 15 minutes and only one fight was kind of tough but it was interesting. Edge's skills chained very nicely and was really cool looking and easy to land, at least the initial skills. The other characters had a decent layout of skills as well. I can't really say much more since I didn't get enough time with the systems but it definitely looks promising.

The demo consisted of the characters starting in a dungeon after something and running into a boss dragon. You beat the boss then you're off to a snowy town for something and then off to search a field. I skipped the story sequences though since they got in the way of the gameplay. That's about as far as anyone could get in 15 or so minutes anyway.