Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness

Gameplay

The battle system is similar to other games in the Star Ocean series, with the player controlling one of seven party members in battles, with the ability to switch control of characters. The real-time action battle system features improved game mechanics. The storytelling cutscenes are intended to be interactive and dynamic, and seamlessly transition with the gameplay. Features from previous Star Ocean games such the ability to create items are also present. Enemies are programmed to have a "very complex" AI, with players able to custom configure enemy intelligence to a degree. The game will use the "private actions" system of previous series titles, where the story tracks which party members interact during the story to adjust the stories direction.

Story

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness takes place in S.D 537 (A.D 2623), between Star Ocean: The Second Story and Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, the second and third games in the main Star Ocean series. It is set on the planet Faykreed, 6000 light years from Earth.

The story begins with a protagonist living on an "undeveloped" planet that is thrown into chaos by first contact with a more advanced space traveling race. Characters include Fidel Camuze, voiced by Kaito Ishikawa in Japanese and Max Mittelman in English, who is the protagonist of the game and a fencer who protects his home village; Miki Sauvester, voiced by Nao Toyama in Japanese and Eden Riegel in English, who is the heroine of the game and Fidel's childhood friend; and Relia, an emotionless and amnesiac girl. The story will feature multiple endings depending upon user choices.

Development

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness was first announced to be under development on April 14, 2015, in an issue of Famitsu. The developer was announced as tri-Ace, who has developed all of the other main titles in the series, and the publisher as Square Enix. The game was produced by Shuichi Kobayashi and directed by Hiroshi Ogawa. The characters are being designed by Akira Yasuda.

After Star Ocean 4, many at Square Enix thought the series was over due to the games producer Yoshinori Yamagishi being done with the franchise. Because of this, Kobayashi took it upon himself to work on a sequel proposal in secret with the series creator Yoshiharu Gotanda. Kobayashi forced himself to take on the project and worked on the proposal until it was ready, since he feared that a rejection of a sequel would mean the end of the franchise. Kobayashi also wanted to relaunch Star Ocean because he was concerned that the shrinking console market and the continued push by Square Enix and other developers to make simpler games to launch on mobile platforms would make further sequels impossible for less famous franchises.

Kobayashi stated in an interview that he wanted the game to draw its "essence" from Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. The logo is also intended to be reminiscent of the logo for Star Ocean 3 and the project as a whole is meant to reassure fans that the developers are still committed to the series.

The game was developed primarily for the PlayStation 3, with the PlayStation 4 version as a port. The PlayStation 3 version of the game was not released outside Japan due to the very small PlayStation 3 market remaining outside Japan. As to why the game was being developed for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, Kobayashi stated that the focus was on getting the game to fans of the original games, and that meant delivering the game to those consoles. Technical differences exist between the two different console versions, with the PlayStation 4 achieves 60 frames per second and 1080p resolution compared to the PlayStation 3 at 30 frames per second and 720p resolution, along with more detailed character models. The PlayStation 3 release was moved back from the original launch date by several weeks to give more time for optimization for the game systems hardware and to "raise its quality."

Also in consideration of the games fan base increasing age, the protagonist Fidel was made to be 23 years old instead of a teenager to be more relatable to the games audience. Kobayashi said that downloadable content was a possibility, but traditional console players would prefer more work on the game or its sequel instead. The game producers altered the character Miki's clothes to make her dress more conservative after backlash from western audiences against teenagers in sexually provocative clothing. Other localization adjustments were made during the quality assurance testing included a moment where Miki meets Relia, a younger girl, and reassures her by patting her on the head; this gesture, however, did not register positively internationally and was modified.

A large focus of the game was on making it "seamless", such as smooth transitions between gameplay and combat, eliminating random encounters with enemies, as well as perfecting the angling of the in-game camera to automatically go to the best spot for players to see their enemies during combat. The development team was guided by the principle that gameplay should not be interrupted unless it is necessary. Also part of the seamlessness was the reduction in cut scenes to keep the narrative more cohesive and focused on the gameplay experience.

Reception

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness received "mixed or average" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. Famitsu awarded the game a score of 34 out of 40 points.

Sales

The PlayStation 3 and 4 version of Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness sold a combined 175,000 copies in Japan as of September 2016.