The tri-Ace General Discussion (& Star Ocean 5) Thread

[Agent D.]

No Klutz, no one is holding a gun to my head to play the game. However, having played all but 1 of the previous games and much like everyone else here, I have put my money forward to play a game series I enjoyed. It gives me every right in the world to complain about a direction the artists took in character designs. Much the same as some hillbilly telling me if I don't like how the government runs the country I can get out, I put a part of my life into the country and the company, if you don't care for my complaints, you can kindly ignore me as I am fully entitled to complain about either.

[Nel_Annette]

I own every game but SO3, so I'll probably pick this one up. Took me a few seconds to realize the diamond patterned clothing was revealing that girl's skin. XD

[Annubis]

Maybe we'll get alternate outfits like SO3.
I would gladly make her wear something that appears like clothing.

Maid clothes are clothing

[Klutz64]

No Klutz, no one is holding a gun to my head to play the game. However, having played all but 1 of the previous games and much like everyone else here, I have put my money forward to play a game series I enjoyed. It gives me every right in the world to complain about a direction the artists took in character designs. Much the same as some hillbilly telling me if I don't like how the government runs the country I can get out, I put a part of my life into the country and the company, if you don't care for my complaints, you can kindly ignore me as I am fully entitled to complain about either.

It was just meant to be an overly-dramatic response to an overly-dramatic complaint.

I fully support your right to criticize it, I just also don't think it's as big a deal as you're making it out to be. The series has never *really* been full-on anime style outside of the artwork, and while this game takes a new approach like pretty much every entry in the series, I don't think it's such a departure as to imply you'll be angry about it every minute you play, ESPECIALLY after the freak show that was Star Ocean 4's character models.

This is not to say you're wrong to have the opinion you do. But I think considering the series as a whole is worthwhile to step back and ask if it's really all that dramatic of a shift.

Also, I'm pretty sure Miki in the screenshots we've seen of her face are suffering from a poor combination of angle, lighting and expression. Just check out what we see of her in the screenshot where they're fighting in the city.

[Agent D.]

I'm just stating that I don't dislike anime here, but pinky mcstrangeface is just beyond off-putting. I'll play the game assuming it doesn't completely deviate from the usual Star Ocean path, but I have no love for the designs in general, ESPECIALLY hers.

No disrespect, b.

[Aeolus]

I'm just stating that I don't dislike anime here, but pinky mcstrangeface is just beyond off-putting. I'll play the game assuming it doesn't completely deviate from the usual Star Ocean path, but I have no love for the designs in general, ESPECIALLY hers.

No disrespect, b.

Actually, I think every character has that doll like plastic appearance to them and not just Miki. The Checkered Mage Chick is fairly noticeable too, especially if you look at the hair (while the others are less so due to their armor or jackets taking on/muting the sheen more effectively than hair or faces).

The image of them in the Space Ship is fairly indicative of what I'm talking about (though the scan quality isn't as high as it needs to be to illustrate my point).

[CoreSignal]

I'll just repeat what the headline said: Tri-Ace lives! I was really skeptical when that mobile company that bought out Tri-Ace out said they'd continue to make console games. Glad to know they weren't kidding.
So Star Ocean 5, bring it on. I'm a casual Star Ocean fan, only played some of SO2 and SO4, so I'm not sure what "this will be like SO3" means, but I'm looking forward to it. As for the character designs, it sounds like
the staff probably had to cater to what's popular nowadays. On the other hand, those background environments look amazing. I hope we get to see more sci-fi environments later on. In any case, I'm glad Tri-Ace
is back. You never know, there could still be hope for a Valkyrie Profile 3 or even a Resonance of Fate 2.

[Aeolus]

I'll just repeat what the headline said: Tri-Ace lives! I was really skeptical when that mobile company that bought out Tri-Ace out said they'd continue to make console games. Glad to know they weren't kidding.
So Star Ocean 5, bring it on. I'm a casual Star Ocean fan, only played some of SO2 and SO4, so I'm not sure what "this will be like SO3" means, but I'm looking forward to it. As for the character designs, it sounds like
the staff probably had to cater to what's popular nowadays. On the other hand, those background environments look amazing. I hope we get to see more sci-fi environments later on. In any case, I'm glad Tri-Ace
is back. You never know, there could still be hope for a Valkyrie Profile 3 or even a Resonance of Fate 2.

You want to know what the truly saddest thing about this game. Its the fact that the developers feel that SO3 is old enough to warrant trying to recapture, and they're right because it is.

What the hell happened to the last 11 years?

[Tomara]

Eleven years is a long time in videogame tems. And, I don't know, it feels like there's a perfect nostalgia storm brewing around tri-Ace as the result of their inactivity, new owner and so on. Everything Star Ocean 3 related seems weird lately. For instance, two weeks ago I posted this column about how I fucked up and overrated Star Ocean 3 (it was my first proper review for a magazine and I was a stupid teenager) and that game is basically the reason I give not so nice scores so often. The comment section devolved into jokes about how it's impossible to overrate Star Ocean 3, but the thick neon letters between the lines still read: man, that was a great game.

[Maxximum]

I never liked games where I don't have full control over my party, but times change and maybe It won't bother me as much any more.
I still have Star Ocean 4, which I bought ages ago but somehow barely touched. Not that I have time to commit (and in some cases stomach) jRPGs any more, but I may be willing to give it a try if I ever find a gap big enough to fit SO4 in.
As for SO5..well...it looks very...anime.
Hopefully they won't go nuts with fanservice, which has been out of control ever since consoles got enough juice to render round objects in 3D and calculate jiggle physics.
Either way, I'm not planing on buying a next gen console just yet, and this is hardly the game to convince me otherwise.

[Hathen]

I'm still a fan of anime-styled games myself, I just don't like current (popular) anime trends. Maybe I'm just a nostalgic and cranky old man because I grew up on RPGs like the Game Arts ones, Lufia, Shining Force, Final Fantasy etc and the first Manga I really loved was Parasyte and I still prefer that 80s/90s anime art style.

Things like the porcelain dolls and mediocre voice acting in 4 were only a symptom of the bigger problem I had with it, though. I mean, they didn't help, but even if you fixed those things (Which International technically did for the latter at least) scenes like these wouldn't be any less obnoxious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNauq6_9iP0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p4uoeimMEM
And I don't think I need to remind anyone of EVERY LAST SPECK, EVERTHING
Star Ocean 3 had its share of stupid things as well but they weren't even close to the level of cringe that 4 provided.

[EmeraldSword]

...enough juice to render round objects in 3D and calculate jiggle physics.

Jiggle physics like this certain upcoming jrpg game? ;P


Image courtesy of our fellow Aeolus from the Fire Emblem IF 3DS thread.

[Dice]

...enough juice to render round objects in 3D and calculate jiggle physics.

Jiggle physics like this certain upcoming jrpg game? ;P


Image courtesy of our fellow Aeolus from the Fire Emblem IF 3DS thread.

I like how magically incorrect videogame breast "jiggle" physics are.  Anyways, with that said, that woman has marvellous hair (and the 'bounce' on her curls actually looks amazing[ly accurate]!!).

I'm still a fan of anime-styled games myself, I just don't like current (popular) anime trends. Maybe I'm just a nostalgic and cranky old man because I grew up on RPGs like the Game Arts ones, Lufia, Shining Force, Final Fantasy etc and the first Manga I really loved was Parasyte and I still prefer that 80s/90s anime art style.

Things like the porcelain dolls and mediocre voice acting in 4 were only a symptom of the bigger problem I had with it, though. I mean, they didn't help, but even if you fixed those things (Which International technically did for the latter at least) scenes like these wouldn't be any less obnoxious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNauq6_9iP0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p4uoeimMEM
And I don't think I need to remind anyone of EVERY LAST SPECK, EVERTHING
Star Ocean 3 had its share of stupid things as well but they weren't even close to the level of cringe that 4 provided.

I've said it a bunch of times, but once more doesn't hurt.  SO4 had a ton of competent voice talent (Matt Mercer and Laura Bailey make up the two leads, and they're hardly bad actors and hardly inexperienced).  An interview with Matt said the game was rushed and poorly scripted (with barely enough time to do re-reads)... I mean really, could *anyone* or even the Meryl Streep's and Daniel Day's of the world make Edge's freakout during the Earth segment sound good?  I feel bad for the VAs getting the blame here, but honestly, I think the bigger issue was the person who wrote that garbage script to begin with... :S

I fully, fully agree that it's also a bad symptom of the 'in ideas' for anime and I never thought of it that way before.  It also kinda translates awkwardly, maybe in a way that tries too hard, when you get mo-cap into the mix... then it literally looks like it's pretending to "do anime" with a lot less of the "visual flair" that anime's use.  

Eleven years is a long time in videogame tems. And, I don't know, it feels like there's a perfect nostalgia storm brewing around tri-Ace as the result of their inactivity, new owner and so on. Everything Star Ocean 3 related seems weird lately. For instance, two weeks ago I posted this column about how I fucked up and overrated Star Ocean 3 (it was my first proper review for a magazine and I was a stupid teenager) and that game is basically the reason I give not so nice scores so often. The comment section devolved into jokes about how it's impossible to overrate Star Ocean 3, but the thick neon letters between the lines still read: man, that was a great game.

It's bad in a lot of ways.  The dungeons are obnoxious and horrible for one and the characters are 'ok' (going through a full dungeon to get to the Shrine of Kaddan only to face that stupid fucking moving block puzzle is a bag of ass).  I still think what the game got right it got extremely right: Environments are lovely (hell, despite the 10 years between them AND the different hardware, SO3 had a lot more inventive and interesting fields and dungeons than Tales of Xillia and Graces even bothered with), and of course, it's great to play a battle system meant for mature players.  The game was hard, and people expecting to get through JUST on grinding were in for a bad time --- and I love that, and tri-Ace never gets enough credit for doing that.

I actually think the plot, and yeah the big twist is stupid, is still somewhat ironically hated by passionate gamers. 

Still, I think if I liked it more I'd play it more.  Fact is, the game is just a pain in the butt with some pacing issues, sometimes annoying difficulty (the battle system feels like it's often against you), and dubious plot (I actually hated the Ameena bullshit ark more than the 4D stuff).  Um, I guess the point is: I'm really on the fence about this one. :O

Star Ocean 4 I think was better at "normalizing" the gameplay a bit better even if it toned down a lot of the unique concepts in SO4.

[Hathen]

I've said it a bunch of times, but once more doesn't hurt.  SO4 had a ton of competent voice talent (Matt Mercer and Laura Bailey make up the two leads, and they're hardly bad actors and hardly inexperienced).  An interview with Matt said the game was rushed and poorly scripted (with barely enough time to do re-reads)... I mean really, could *anyone* or even the Meryl Streep's and Daniel Day's of the world make Edge's freakout during the Earth segment sound good?  I feel bad for the VAs getting the blame here, but honestly, I think the bigger issue was the person who wrote that garbage script to begin with... :S

Oh yeah I agree, my entire point was about how the script (and the "storyboarding" if they call it that) was flawed from the get-go. The fact that you can toggle International over to Japanese voice acting didn't help because the characters are written in a really obnoxious way to begin with. (Also I speak enough Japanese so that it wouldn't really help me, I know some people switch over just because they can at least tell themselves they don't understand what's going on)

I don't think the actors were that bad, Edge and Reimi sounded fine for the most part, it was that the characters were scripted in such a way that they had to voice the characters the way they did. Half the cast were fetishized stereotypes so I don't see how you could voice them in any way other than the way they did, and even if it wasn't voiced the scenes are still stupid. In the context of the game Edge being upset made sense, but having Edge throw a fit in front of the crew the way he did ranged between cringeworthy and hilarious especially when you combine that with the aforementioned fetishized cast list.

If someone's a long-time Star Ocean fan I don't understand why they would single out 4 for bad voice acting. It's like they forgot what 2 was like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oKk0uUNryM

pick your favorites kids

mines the part where his voice nearly breaks as he yelps "BEHIND?????"

[Annubis]

I think the biggest appeal of SO3 (or at least it was for me) was the challenge.
As Dice said, the combat was brutal already on Universe and becomes a science of its own in 4D.
Normally, that'd just be frustrating, but combined with the trophy system, it made me want to meet the challenge.
That and the last rewards are just completely awesome (maid outfits and Fully Active Mode *drools*)

If someone's a long-time Star Ocean fan I don't understand why they would single out 4 for bad voice acting. It's like they forgot what 2 was like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oKk0uUNryM

Those feel so wrong without https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvT9ZdNcVao in the background.