Well today was certainly a shocker for sure, I didn’t expect to see a Star Ocean game so soon, kinda a shame that I did my comparison so early, I could have included it in there, don’t think you’re going to escape from my scrutiny Star Ocean 6, I will certainly take great pleasure in tearing you apart like I did with all the other games in the series. Regardless, with the announcement of Star Ocean 6 came a very depressing revelation, the fact that we have had 2 Star Ocean games in a row with no Valkyrie Profile games in between, even if we count mobile games, this is still true since Star Ocean also has a mobile game. This immediately hit me when I saw this announcement and I thought “this isn’t what I truly wanted, but it’s better than nothing”.
It honestly shocks me that they have gone this route with the game because I expected them to do a remake of Star Ocean Till The End Of Time because it would be a sure sell. Instead what they seem to be doing is taking a more modern approach to the Star Ocean series. What this means is that the entire Star Ocean series is going to have a completely new identity. Now this can go one of two ways. We could either get lucky and get the Pokemon Colosseum of the Star Ocean series, or we could get unlucky and get the Diablo 3 of the Star Ocean series, where everything that made the series special to begin with disappears and gets replaced with trash modern gameplay.
Now I know that a lot of people hated Star Ocean 5 but honestly this could actually get worse but at the same time it could get better. If there’s one thing 5 did right it’s the fact that it stayed true to the formula for the most part. Now I highly doubt that Star Ocean 6 will be the worst Star Ocean since it’s pretty damn hard to top Star Ocean 3 and Anamnesis in that regard. What I will say though is that this could and probably will change the Star Ocean series forever, its identity will change for the better or for worse and we should brace ourselves for this transition. I both fear and anticipate Star Ocean 6, it is the unknown, it is all or nothing, this is the last hope for the Star Ocean series… because the previous last hope was ruined by an emo loli, a cat girl and a winged demonic creature that overdosed on helium and has a crayon stuck in their brain, so we need another hope to save the series.
Here’s the reality people, many of the people who worked at tri-Ace in the past have sadly departed, Suguro is gone now and so many other people have left the company. They have hired new talent and because of this, we have to expect something completely different. I have a feeling that when I do get to play Star Ocean 6, I will hopefully enjoy it but at the same time, I will be one of those guys who misses the good ol’ days of the early games. Still I am always up for change because at least there’s a chance that change can bring good. The only problem is that I am a member of the 2000’s renaissance, I yearn for the good old days and the industry as it is today has a lot of problems. I fear that Star Ocean 6’s new approach may be a colossal failure due to the state of the industry. At the same time I feel like I may be alienated by the game due to the fact that the entire industry has alienated me for over a decade, yet only 1 Star Ocean game has been released in the previous decade, the one beforehand getting 2 releases, so forgive me for sounding like a grumpy old sod but I feel like gaming has left me behind.
The thing is though, I do really want to play this game at some point but at the same time, I have so many games to play right now as it is that I can honestly wait till 2024 to play my new Star Ocean game, then again I don’t want them to delay it for so long that it becomes another Duke Nukem Forever or Final Fantasy XV, we certainly don’t want that do we? I certainly can wait for it though and I will, I can’t say that I can’t wait because I have plenty to do in the meantime, so many 6th gen gems for me to play for the time being. Just means my backlog is gonna get bigger and bigger till I get buried under it, someone help me, I’m dying from lack of oxygen due to all the unfinished games piled on top of me, blocking the air flow!
I think my perception of gaming has changed a lot in the past few years, it went from being excited to new releases to being “Oh ok, this is a thing, I’ll try to pretend to be excited” hopefully I won’t miss the party when I’m busy playing No More Heroes as well as countless other games, most of which are 6th gen gems because I don’t want to miss this game as it is a tri-Ace game and tri-Ace games, no matter how flawed they may be, always speak to me in ways that few other games can. Let’s just hope that this tri-Ace game will maintain their streak, I might have enjoyed Star Ocean 5 but that could very well change, I could actually end up losing interest in the series as a whole.
Now I don’t want to leave this on a negative note because even though I am Cynical Gaming Blog, I will definitely say that what I have seen based on the trailer has all been good so far, the thing is that trailers have a habit of showcasing only the best parts of the game. Will that huge city I get to fly across be like one of like 6 places I get to visit in the entire game? It could be. Also when the game comes out, the combat might actually suck because we have barely seen anything on it. For all we know, they could be bringing back the dreaded MP Death mechanic, god forbid that ever happens. Ok, sorry I’m being negative again, it’s become a habit of mine, blame the industry. I’ll give the trailer a 10/10 for trying, just try to exceed my expectations for once instead of building up false hope like the cruel cruel industry you are.
Trailer Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwlduVD_aqc
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