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[Mista]

Square Enix has released the launch trailer for Star Ocean: First Departure R, which launched today for PlayStation 4 via the PlayStation Store and Switch via the Nintendo eShop for $20.99 / £16.99 / €20.99.

Here is an overview of the game, via Square Enix:

About

Originally released in the west on the PSP (PlayStation Portable) system, Star Ocean: First Departure R tells the story of a young swordsman, Roddick, and his companions who first set off on a journey to find the cure to a deadly disease, before becoming involved in an adventure that spans across a sea of stars.

Story

Space Date: 346.

From a power yet undiscovered, a new generation will be born.

Our tale begins on the primitive planet of Roak where Roddick lives in the peaceful and uneventful town of Kratus.

As a member of the village’s local “Defence Force” tasked with the protection of Kratus, Roddick learns of a mysterious disease that has broken out in the neighboring town. Those infected turn to stone, but continue to live on in a petrified state.

Roddick, along with his two friends Millie and Dorne, make their way to the neighboring town. Informed of a cure for the sickness, they head to Mt. Metorx where a healing herb is rumored to grow. When they reach the summit, the party encounter Ronyx and Ilia, who appear before them in a pillar of light.

Thus, the story of STAR OCEAN begins…

Key Features

• Full Voice-Overs – Players can choose between the original full voice cast from the PSP system version of the game in either Japanese or English, or the newly recorded version, featuring the Japanese voice cast from the original Super Famicom version, which was released in Japan only.
• New Character Illustrations – Players can opt for the original character illustrations from Star Ocean: First Departure, or brand-new versions drawn by the famous illustrator Katsumi Enami (Star Ocean: The Last Hope).
• Speed Mode – Players can traverse the world more swiftly.
• Adjusted Game Balance – Adjusted battle difficulty enables players to experience more challenges in combat.

Gematsu

 

[Bigrx1]

Considering how much I love Xenosaga and Xenogears you would think I would like Star Ocean too with it's similar anime style sci-fi but I've tried multiple times with a few different Star Ocean titles and they just never clicked for me.

 

[ROMhack]

Star Ocean: First Departure R tells the story of a young swordsman, Roddick, and his companions who first set off on a journey to find the cure to a deadly disease, before becoming involved in an adventure that spans across a sea of stars.

Could that sound more generic?

Never played any of them btw.

 

[Trojita]

Star Ocean: First Departure R tells the story of a young swordsman, Roddick, and his companions who first set off on a journey to find the cure to a deadly disease, before becoming involved in an adventure that spans across a sea of stars.

Could that sound more generic?

Never played any of them btw.

It's the beginning quest of a SNES game lol

 

[Codswallop_]

Really hope we get Second Evolution soon.

 

[ROMhack]

It's the beginning quest of a SNES game lol

Oh that is fair enough. Didn't see the remastered tag.

 

[blackjon24]

Considering how much I love Xenosaga and Xenogears you would think I would like Star Ocean too with it's similar anime style sci-fi but I've tried multiple times with a few different Star Ocean titles and they just never clicked for me.

Did you try 2 or 3? If you didn’t like those it’s all downhill from there. I really miss gears and saga

 

[Trojita]

Considering how much I love Xenosaga and Xenogears you would think I would like Star Ocean too with it's similar anime style sci-fi but I've tried multiple times with a few different Star Ocean titles and they just never clicked for me.

Do you like medieval fantasy RPG's? The games always mishmash the two.

 

[manfestival]

Still looks and seems better than the ps3 release sadly

 

[Codswallop_]

Tried it out briefly (ps4). I don't find the backgrounds look too bad blown up on a 4k screen, new sprites mostly mesh with the environment. Looking forward to tackling it this weekend, have an old school jrpg itch that needs scratching.

 

[TheContact]

Really hope we get Second Evolution soon.

I still play Second Story on my Vita. Such a great RPG. Didn't they mess up the OST though in Second Evolution or am I thinking of something else?

 

[Pejo]

This looks really good. I love the new art with it too. Since this is SE, I'm sure this will eventually port to PC, so I'll just hang tight for a while, but I actually never played the first SO before.

 

[kurisu_1974]

Loved Star Ocean: The Second Story back in the day.

 

[KiteGr]

All main character's names are once again in Capital Letters, so I guess they didn't fix a thing...

For those who don't know...
The first and Second Star Ocean game's storytelling revolve around a recruitment system, where only a few of your characters are mandatory, with the rest being recruitable, and each recruit usually prohibits someone ales from joining. It's one of those games that you need multiple playthroughs to see all characters. Especially the first game that only gives you 4 slots for the optional characters requires 4 playthroughs to see everything.

Regardless if this one gets a retail release I'll get it!

 

[KàIRóS]

Been playing since midnight, man this game really takes me back to the golden era JRPGs, I'll never understand why devs just stopped using pre-rendered backgrounds, they look so good even today.

I hope they are already working on Second Evolution R, come on Squeenix you're already giving a lot of love to Cloud, it's time to give some love to Claude C. Kenny too.

 

[zeorhymer]

Star Ocean: First Departure R tells the story of a young swordsman, Roddick, and his companions who first set off on a journey to find the cure to a deadly disease, before becoming involved in an adventure that spans across a sea of stars.

Could that sound more generic?

Never played any of them btw.

This has been every Star Ocean game. It's all about the "Private Actions"

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Excited for this, never played the first one. The more I play of the series the more I realize 2 was a huge outlier in terms of how damn good it was, but each game does have cool elements that make me still want to try them out.

 

[Spukc]

game is supposed to be wank

 

[Jooxed]

Square Enix has released the launch trailer for Star Ocean: First Departure R, which launched today for PlayStation 4 via the PlayStation Store and Switch via the Nintendo eShop for $20.99 / £16.99 / €20.99.

Here is an overview of the game, via Square Enix:

Gematsu

Mista am I adding this one to my JRPG list too?

 

[Mista]

Mista am I adding this one to my JRPG list too?

Damn right you are bro!

 

[RPGCrazied]

Needed that extra dollar that bad? $20.99 is such a weird price. And come on. Stop with the digitally only.

 

[Shifty1897]

I would kill to start this tonight but I just came back from vacation and have a mountain of work to do first. I may download it anyway and forego sleep. Star Ocean needs me.

 

[Scopa]

Another one to add to the list.

I’m going to be playing RPGs on Switch until the end of time, aren’t I?