PS3 Fanboy

If you've watched the Star Ocean 4 trailer posted last Monday, perhaps you were a little annoyed seeing the main characters' faces purposefully cropped out of the picture. If that's the case, then be happy for today's Famitsu scans; they are equally pretty and most of all crop-free. The scans reveal character artwork for protagonists Edge Maverick and Reimi Saionji.

Aside from that, however, nothing else major has been revealed about this Star Ocean prequel. We do get a brief look at the in-game graphics though. As far as we can tell, the game is shaping up nicely. See the other scans at Gamersyde.

If we notice anything about the newly released scans/screenshots of Tri-Ace's Star Ocean 4, it's that they haven't yet pumped up the character designs from the critically acclaimed, but fanbase panned, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. Case in point: Fayt enjoyed keeping his sword at an awkward horizontal position around his bum. Sure, it may be convenient for quick-unsheathing, but for moving through a crowd that would be irritating! Seems the new main character of Star Ocean 4 has the same line of thinking, along with touting a lady friend at his side.

We're not complaining -- the games deliver fun and fast-paced battles and we're very excited to watch this newest entry mold itself into something spectacular. Seriously, the new generation of consoles need their RPGs and for a lot of people, Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata just won't cut the mustard. We'll keep looking for more info on this game as it develops, as it already looks to be on the right sci-fi track, as the screens depict. Despite this, we doubt it'll surpass the sheer quality seen in PS2 titles such as Unlimited Saga.

This may seem a bit "well, duh!", but it's always nice to get confirmation about these things. In an interview with Famitsu two Tri-Ace developers have said that they will be announcing new details about Star Ocean IV at the Tokyo Games Show. We're hoping they finally tell us which console they're developing the title for, but we have our suspicions.

The interview reveals various other details regarding the game, including the names of the main characters (Reimi and Edge Maverick) and assurances that the combat system will be very different from Star Ocean III. Again, more details are due out during TGS and we will be there to relay the news to you first hand.

A lot of people have been keeping their fingers crossed for an announcement by Sony and/or Square Enix about Final Fantasy XIII releasing this holiday season. We've said it before, we'll say it again: not happening. It's not just that -- don't expect to see any Square Enix game get a release before April 2008. That means everything, no exceptions, the end.

Is this really that hard for people to swallow? Final Fantasy XII hasn't even been out a year and people expect the next one to be coming out already? How long did it take to make XII again? Exactly. Don't expect Versus any sooner and despite what you may have heard, The Last Remnant is not that far in production! Star Ocean IV was barely announced, Kingdom Hearts 3 isn't even past the drawing board, and Parasite Eve 3 (that's right, Nick's gonna say it) is still a secret ... and not the supposed phone game. Basically, it's official that nothing from Square Enix is coming until the next fiscal year, but we're not torn up. We're going to have a packed holiday season.

Square Enix have confirmed that The Last Remnant will be released for both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 at a press conference in Japan yesterday. It will be the first Square Enix game to be released in America and Japan simultaneously. While we already expected this, it's always nice to hear it from the horse's mouth. On top of this confirmation Square Enix released some screen shots and art from the game. They look gorgeous, of course. The battle scene showing the Japanese character, Rush, fighting on a battlefield is perhaps the most interesting as it gives various hints towards the potential gameplay mechanics involved.

Gemaga took photos of all the slides during the press conference. One that really caught our eye was the third one down in this post. It simply says 'Star Ocean 4 (tentative title) under development' with the Square Enix and tri-Ace logos at the bottom. It seems the console the game will eventually arrive on has yet to be determined. Hopefully we will find more out at the Square Enix party. If not, then there's this ominous 'May 30th' date which is mentioned in all of Gemaga's posts.

As a final treat, one slide shows some information on Final Fantasy XII: International, which will be released on the 9th of August in Japan and will feature something known as the 'Zodiac Job System'. Sounds intriguing. What is it? We'll let you know when we find out.

PSP owners, make sure you check out this post on PSP Fanboy for some more Star Ocean news.