STAR OCEAN 5: INTEGRITY & FAITHLESSNESS

Star Ocean series continues as the fifth installments heads to PlayStation 4 in the West! The release is scheduled for release in 2016. Star Ocean 5 is developed by tri-Ace & published by Square Enix. The footage showed today was running in 30FPS but the team is aiming to make the game run in 60FPS.

In April, Square Enix was teasing about a new project with a teaser site called “Secret”.  Followed by the usual Weekly Famitsu leaks, it turned out the game will be Star Ocean 5, titled as “Integrity and Faithlessness”. Star Ocean 5 is being developed by tri-Ace and published by Square Enix.

Story & Setting

Star Ocean 5 follows a story of Fedel Camus, a talented swordsman who’s working as the guardian for his hometown’s government. Other protagonist, Miki Sorvesta, is Fedel’s great childhood friend and they feel like siblings to each other. When it comes to fighting, Miki is very gifted with healing abilities. There’s also a mysterious girl Lilia who has lost all her emotions and memories from the past. What’s her story?

The setting asks the player: “Do the depths of space forbid peace for mankind?” Centuries ago, humanity had left Earth and they almost succeed at creating “Galactic Federation” where the whole mankind would have united and lived in peace. However, this naive dream of peace is soon shattered as opposite sides drift into another conflict. The future which once seemed certain is now in danger once again. It’s time for a new beginning.

The events of Star Ocean 5 are set between the second and the third entry in the series.

Gameplay

Star Ocean series is well-known as an action role-playing franchise and real-time battles – it was actually one of the first of games to use it on the consoles. In the past, battles took place on a separate screen, but all characters were free to move in the battlefield as the player likes. Dodging and special skills have always been part of the traditional gameplay elements in the series.

In the fifth installment, battles will be seamless and happen in real-time as well. The developers promise that there will be a large variation of different attacks and skills to keep the gameplay feeling fresh. The way the character executes his or her attacks is related to distance between the player and the target. By combining distance, abilities and skills, the player will be able to create a multitude of combos.

The game’s main platform is PlayStation 3 and it will be ported to PlayStation 4 with graphical upgrades. The developers are also planning to utilize PlayStation 4’s share features in unique ways.