Star Ocean Producer discusses rebooting the series and his hopes for a new Star Ocean game

Shuichi Kobayashi, a producer at Square Enix, had been the one to revive the once dormant Star Ocean with the release of Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness after the series had been quiet for roughly seven years. And in a recent interview with Sisilala, Shuichi spoke about his experiences with rebooting the series and discussed his hope for the development of a new Star Ocean title.

Thanks to Siliconera, some of the highlights from Kobayashi’s interview have been translated to English:

  • When Kobayashi went to get approval from producer Yoshinori Yamagishi who said he’ll no longer make a Star Ocean game, he was jokingly told “So you’re going to take one for the team.”
  • Kobayashi said there wasn’t any chances in his favor but felt it was a waste to see the IP that is Star Ocean remain dormant. He always felt that it was worth doing since he understood that it has many passionate fans, but since nobody stepped up to the task he decided to do it myself.
  • Unfortunately, Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness didn’t meet its sales expectations, but that was also something that Kobayashi expected.
  • Resource management was one of the first things Kobayashi thought about. From the very start, he had no intention to simply make Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness and stop right there.
  • The producer explained that nowadays if you make something from scratch and end it there, the hurdle of making profit is very high. For this reason, it’s important to manage resources. For better or worse, by “customizing and recycling” well you can consequently secure its quality.
  • Assets are part of your resources, and something that has been cultivated doesn’t go bad. By using those resources, you can think of various new developments, reduce risks, and develop with a sense of speed. Simply put, you can use assets as a base and from there it is possible to make something even better.
  • Kobayashi used assets from Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness, including  its game engine, character model data, backgrounds, and other texture data in the early development of Star Ocean: Anamnesis.
  • When Kobayashi first brought the idea to bring back Star Ocean, he presented a three-step proposition to Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda:
  • The Star Ocean series that has been dormant will reboot under Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness on console and revive the IP.
  • With the revived IP we’ll develop an IP and bring sales from there.
  • If this development works out we’ll continue boosting the series with new title developments.
  • Star Ocean: Anamnesis is being supported by many fans. If Star Ocean’s popularity continues, and there’s enough demand from fans, Kobayashi hopes to be able to do the next thing for the series.
  • Star Ocean: Anamnesis uses tri-Ace’s very own Aska Engine, and they have modeling, effects, and textures on a level that can even be used on PlayStation 4. That said, unlike Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness that was made from scratch, Kobayashi feels that they can make a sequel with less expense and time using their resources.

With the HD re-release of Star Ocean: The Last Hope 4K & Full HD Remaster on PC and Playstation 4, it will certainly be interesting to see where the series will go from here.

Sources:


About the Author

Raptorchan Raptorchan joined the Nova Crystallis team in 2017 after discovering her passion for writing and gaming journalism. She is not only an avid Square Enix fan, but also a cosplayer who loves collecting figurines, playing RPGs and making videos.

Comments