Star Ocean 4 to be Xbox 360 exclusive? News

Said about Bioshock and was released on PS3 one year later...

That's a bit shocking.

So where has the PS3 version, that had trailers and screenshots, disappeared to?

Err, so wasn't bundling the original trailer with the PSP a bit counter-intuitive?

Meh, SO3 was possibly the most long winded and boring JRPG of all time, so can't really say I care..

Didn't the PS2 versions of Star Ocean come on 2 or 3 DVDs or something? Wonder how many discs the 360 version will use...?

And I presume this fourth instalment will be a standalone game in the series seeing as most 360 owners, myself included, probably won't have played the previous games?

cant wait to get this for 360, im pretty sure PS3 will see a port probably a year later

Old

Money talks.

@SeesThroughAll

Well it is business after all isn't it?

@Kryon

Philistine! Star Ocean 3 was an exceptional game!

Squenix in need of money.

They get loads of $$$ for a timed exclusive, while the PS3 build some more userbase in Japan.
They release it later on, thus selling more copieson PS3.

Win-win.

Still, too bad for all them PS3 RPG fans.

Oh, bugger... Not going to buy a 360 just for that game though. Microsoft sure are handing out a lot of cash to publishers and developers.

That sounds pretty much spot on Prodigy_BE. I cant see there being any other reason except being given some upfront money to prevent dual release, especially considering some of the comments people have made about trailers etc on the sony platform... very strange.

>Microsoft sure are handing out a lot of cash to publishers and developers.

Ha yes... the classic argument.

Maybe these devs are finding it much easier, quicker and more fun to develop on 360? Naaaaa!!! They MUST be handing out cash!!!! Maybe they can produce 3 games in the same amount of time?

Look at them squirm.

I remember playing the original SO, back in the day.

JRPG 360, thats what i dub thee.

So besides being the home console of big muscular ghey men, the 360 is now also the home of emos?

seems fair enough, considering sony exclusivley gets the king of all JRPGs, infact two of them

"Microsoft sure are handing out a lot of cash to publishers and developers. "

Can name some other manufacturers that did/do exactly the same.

>gets the king of all JRPGs

Dragon Quest is on Wii :)

I still can't help thinking that no matter how many JRPGs Microsoft throw at the Xbox 360, it still won't do much to change its ailing fortunes in Japan. I don't think anything short of making Final Fantasy XIV a permanent 360 exclusive will change that, particularly as they seem more obsessed with the Wii and DS these days.

I don't think FF is the king of JRPGs anymore, if it ever was. I mean, it's not like FF10 and 12 were better than the competition on PS2. Of course, they sold zillions of copies, but the games themselves were not miles above the competition. Shadow hearts 2 was definitely better than FF10, and FF12 is a very divisive game to say the least.

Squenix don't want sales in Japan? Surely that's the biggest market for these games.

360 exclusivity for this doesn't make sense. Then again, neither did PS3 exclusivity for Haze.

>Squenix don't want sales in Japan? Surely that's the biggest market for these games

Maybe.. maybe not. The market for HD consoles has been very weak in japan. Maybe SE thinks milking the Otaku people in the west is a better option.

Dizzy, I think you've got it a bit wrong, Dragon Quest is on the DS, isn't it?

>Dragon Quest is on the DS, isn't it?

Ha yes true.. DS exclusive. I forgot :) Must have mixed up DQ swords ;)

@parnoidzombie

was there a better jrpg than FFX during that generation? thats shown to be the case in critical reviews too and not just your opinion?

sales and overall review scores make FF the king of jrpg, not to mention that FF7 is regarded alot of the time as the best game of all time, and versus 13 has a bit of a FF7 look to it and 13 looks similar to X. roll on 2056 or whenever SE finish making it

I would love to see Tri-Ace develop titles for non HD consoles, namely Wii. Sales wise this should be a good idea too, since I don't think a JRPG like Star Ocean released exclusively on X360 will sell well.

I thought the general consensus was that (outside of japan) software sales x times >> ps3 and wii. Or have attachment rates leveled out now.

I don't think anything really toppled FF in the PS2 era, although the Rogue Galaxy bods seemed to be forging ahead with some quality titles near the end of the lifecycle. Looking forward to SOME tidbits about White Knight Story since they're behind that. Then you have the tactics RPGs by Nippon Ichi, plus games that didn't bloody come out in the UK. Regardless, I still say that FF is the flag bearer.

Much as I initially enjoyed Star Ocean 3 (bar the ridiculous decision to make the voice track quieter than the music/FX), it just didn't hook me in.

Think I got up to the bit where you can start making items/weapons (I forget) and didn't really move on. Call me old fashioned, give me an item shop, secret locations with 'nifty shit' and I'm happy. Cannot be bothered getting into the malarky of fusing items to make stuff. FF7:CC materia system falls foul of this for me too.

Its a bit of a strange decision really. I do think that MS had a bit of finacial clout in this.
To the person who mentioned the 360's lack of sucess in Japan despite all the JRPG's. I think its the same reason why MS have sucess in the US, patriosm. Americans support US products and Japanese are more supportive of Japanese products. All we need now is a decent European console and we can really split the market...

FFX was by far the best JRPG of the last generation. Unfortunately FFX-2 was the worse! :D

Things have moved on a bit now though, and FF has been looking quite weak compared to the competition, especially games like Lost Odyssey and Eternal Sonata.

That's really too bad. OTOH, I never have time to play all the games I buy for the platforms I have. But I would have liked to at least have the option, SE!

@farticus maximus

old generation FF games probably do seem dated now compared to current gen jprgs like lost od, but i would bet steak dinners right now that 13 and versus 13 sells more and are higher rated than white knight, lost odyssey 2, star ocean, infinite undiscovery and all the other jrpgs that get released in the next couple of years. FF just has that pedegree like gran turismo or halo in their respective genres

@chris_ace

Yet regardless of their past glories Gran Turismo and Halo have now been surpassed, and seem a bit old and tired compared to their peers.

Things change.

halo is still the number one 1st person shooter for sales and review scores, although if you prefer call of duty as most do the figures still say halo is king, and gran turismo is still the number one for console racing sims, forza not in its league yet

halo is still the number one 1st person shooter for sales and review scores, although if you prefer call of duty as most do the figures still say halo is king, and gran turismo is still the number one for console racing sims, forza not in its league yet

@chris_ace

Sorry, I beg to differ. This generation, Forza 2 has sold close to 4 million compared to almost 2 million for GT5 Prologue. Also, Forza 2's Metacritic cumulative review score is 90 compared to GT5 Prologue's 80.

Gran Turismo is not fit to clean the tailpipes of Forza 2. It's in a completely different league.

GT has become one of those games which is nice to look at, but when you actually come to play it.... urgh.. it suffers from horrible constant tearing, framedrops, unrealistic handling, piss poor AI and no damage modelling. It's like a parody of a racing sim.

Forza 2 has set the new standard for console racing sims, and GT has failed miserably to reach that standard (although GT still has the best replays)

Bullshit, this series doesn't sell masses outside of Japan, so I can imagine they'd only release it on the lowest-selling console over there. I'm reckoning that since they're not saying it's a full-on 360 exclusive, it will follow on PS3 at a later date.

ermm Gran Turismo 5 isnt out till next summer folks

your comparing forza to gt5p, compare gt4p to gt4 and see how huge the difference is. the real gt5 will be a huge improvment over a downloadable taster. the fact that it scored 80 as you say for what some call a demo is amazing. if gran turismo 5 (the real one) doesnt score higher than forza 2 then ill eat my own liver :D

piss poor handling in gt5p? i dont think so sorry

@peteb

Yes, that's right. Why do people still get surprised?

@Gnort:

Haze? It should have been cancelled altogether!

MS has paid for this to be a temporary exclusive ....of course Square cant go saying that it will come out for PS3.But it will ,as Bioshock.


Just think a bit.This game was announced in a PSP game (the remake of Star Ocean 1 First Departure).Do you really believe Sony would let Square make publicity of a rivals console game on a UMD for its system?

We all know its coming on PS3....MS have exploited the fact that Square Enix want to broaden there demographic.

Good luck to them.

@chris_ace

"your comparing forza to gt5p"

Yes, yes I am. When anyone points out that GT5p is only a demo they are shouted down by the fanboy crowd, so GT5p will be compared against as a full game.

By the time GT5 proper appears I expect we'll either be on Forza 3 or into the next generation of consoles, by which time I expect the genre will have moved forward again.


"piss poor handling in gt5p? i dont think so sorry"

I said unrealistic handling, piss poor AI. It's okay as an arcade style game, but it just doesnt have the right feel for a sim.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the GT series. I spent a considerable amount of time on GT1, 2 and 3. GT3 was the pinnacle IMO and I got one hell of a lot of play from it. GT5p looks slightly better than Forza too, until the framerate ballses up the vista.

However, there was no competition to GT in the past. Forza 1 had the handling almost nailed but the graphics engine wasn't quite as good as it could have been. Forza 2 has nailed both. Cars feel *just right* and the solid 60fps just makes it silky smooth.

Being a triple console owner, im pretty sure that the 3. party exclusive is a thing of the past. Mark my words - FF is coming to the 360 as well- As a publisher and studio - why would you not port- an FF game is pretty mush sure to sell atleast 1 mil copy's- How mush would Sony have to pay for that not to happen ? And Square needs money

@Farticus
"Things have moved on a bit now though, and FF has been looking quite weak compared to the competition, especially games like Lost Odyssey and Eternal Sonata."

FFXII did a lot new in the genre and Lost Odyssey - whilst very pretty - is structurally very old school in comparison. It's is much more of a traditional JRPG where FFXII had already ventured into some interesting more MMORPG areas in the combat. Personally I actually prefer a more traditional turn based combat system, but to claim LO is a progression from FF I don't think is correct - aside from the graphics.

They ACTUALLY said they were not allowed to comment on the PS3 version (as it was a Microsoft event). That to me sounds like Star Ocean 4 is a TIMED 360 exclusive..

Usual Eurogamer x-botch360 bias.

They ACTUALLY said they were not allowed to comment on the PS3 version (as it was a Microsoft event). That to me sounds like Star Ocean 4 is a TIMED 360 exclusive..

Usual Eurogamer x-botch360 bias.

They ACTUALLY said they were not allowed to comment on the PS3 version (as it was a Microsoft event). That to me sounds like Star Ocean 4 is a TIMED 360 exclusive..

Usual Eurogamer x-botch360 bias.