Star Ocean Universe

Genre: Action/RPG

Developer/Publisher: tri-Ace/Square Enix

Platform: Unknown, PS3 likely

Players: 1 (most likely)

Japan Release Date: TBA

US (NTSC) Release Date: Unknown

EU (PAL) Release Date: Unknown

As many of us already know, or some may not Star Ocean 4 has been confirmed as in development, the great Star Ocean series is far from over yet. This was via the 2007 Square Enix party press release statement in May 2007 which is linked below, at the same time we also gained the great news of remakes for the first two Star Ocean titles.

Just prior Tokyo Game show 2007 in September 2007 Famitsu Scans were released (and new ones on the 2nd of March 2008) which per translations suggests that this will be a PS3 title, whether it’s exclusive or not is not confirmed. The lead males name will be Edge Maverick, and the lead females name will be Reimi Saionji. Star Ocean 4 is also likely to return back to having four characters in battle at any one time, as opposed to three in Till the End of Time.

Also just prior Tokyo Game show 2007 was the release of a new Star Ocean portal site (In Japanese), which will hopefully be the release point of new information regarding Star Ocean 4, to date this has included a number of updates for First Departure (Star Ocean 1 remake). This is noticeably tagged by Square-Enix and not tri-Ace. This perhaps explains why Blue Sphere and the original Star Ocean 1 & 2 names are not used, as Square-Enix as a merged company had not released them with this name.

More information released on the 2/4/08 suggest the game will start in Space Date 0010, which means this will become the first in the series, 336 years before any other Star Ocean title (First Departure). Although even with an extended original trailer and new scans the release date and console are still unknown. Many other Star Ocean elements such as an action battle system, private actions, item creation etc are expected to be continued as well in some form.

Other then speculation not a lot more is known to date, such as it's platform or release date. As more official news is announced it will be updated to this section. 

Check below for the first short trailer released for the game (Jp).

For further information on Star Ocean 4 check out the following:

- Star Ocean 4 Official Site (Japan)

- Official Press Release by Square-Enix - Confirming the creation of SO4, 14th May 07

- Discuss Star Ocean 4 in the forum