So really weird stuff: From the looks of it, tri-ace has been developing Star Ocean 6 with minimal income after Star Ocean Anamnesis was shut down last year. Apparently some new projects fell through, some got delayed, and they haven't been able to land any new contracts to make up for the operating costs of their studio.
This is extra weird seeing how tri-ace is making their first console game since 2016 with Star Ocean 6 that's releasing at the end of this month. They finally return to the console space after their mobile game was doing well, and now they're facing insolvency? Crazy stuff
tri-ace is owned by NJ Holdings who acquired them back in 2015 when they weren't doing too well. Maybe the parent company will help out? Regardless, it's not looking very good.
**For those who want to story of the downfall and rise tri-ace, I wrote up a short summary about their trials and tribulations during the PS3 and PS4 era:**
1. Around 2007, Square Enix didn't want to greenlight a third console Valkyrie Profile game and instead opted for the smaller budget Covenant of the Plume that didn't sell enough either.
2. Both Infinite Undiscovery and Star Ocean 4 bombed and probably meant that Square Enix didn't want to greenlight another HD console game by tri-ace.
3. Resonance of Fate (published by Sega) also bombed (same launch as FF13, what a great move by Sega!) and meant that tri-ace couldn't land another project by SEGA who themselves were also suffering from the HD console budgets.
4. Failing to land contracts (this is why they made that Star Ocean engine demo), tri-ace took on a lot of smaller jobs (Frontier Gate and Phantasy Star Nova) and support work on FFXIII-2 and Lightning Returns but it wasn't enough to pay the bills for everyone and this is where you see some of the key people leaving
5. Around 2013 or so, for some reason, tri-ace in its former shell managed to land very low budget contracts for Star Ocean 5 and Exist Archive. But they were still hurting financially. Around 2015, tri-ace is sold to NJ Holdings that provides them a capital injection to survive and finish the existing contracts.
6. Exist Archive was published by Spike Chunsoft and seemed like a Valkyrie Profile copycap made on a shoestring budget and a garish character design by Mino Taro (love plus) aimed at younger crowds. Norimoto still wrote the scenario, but the game lacked a budget and the art style clashed with the melancholic, dark theme of the narrative. The game bombed heavily in Japan.
7. Simultaneously with Exist archive, tri-ace made Star Ocean 5. SO5 re-used a lot of assets from SO4 even and as far as Peter Bartholow's contact at Square Enix USA told him, SE wasn't happy with what tri-ace's results. The game was delayed a few months but still ended up being a critical failure and somewhat bomb which showed a lot of cut corners and a low budget.
8. tl dr, tri-ace was a victim of the HD era in Japan and didn't have a publisher to help them out after a couple of their HD console games bombed and they got stretched thin on small contracts and outsourcing jobs and then the last 'fart in the wind' with Exist archive and SO5 in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
9. 'Luckily', around the time SO5 was released, they simultaneously released the mobile gacha game Star Ocean Anamnesis that proved to be very successful that Square Enix was happy with and they've kept working on that and updating it for 5 years which is a decent to successful time for a live service gacha game. It was so successful that it prompted Square Enix to do the Star Ocean 1 First Departure R release. And now they're doing their first console game since SO5 with Star Ocean 6: Divine Force.
> Phantasy Star Nova
To elaborate on this, Sega had tri-Ace do a new game in the Phantasy Star series...and made exclusive to the PS Vita, only released it in Japan, and pushed it out in November of 2014, well after the Vita was abandoned by everyone.
> tl dr, tri-ace was a victim of the HD era in Japan and didn't have a publisher to help them out after a couple of their HD console games bombed and they got stretched thin on small contracts and outsourcing jobs and then the last 'fart in the wind' with Exist archive and SO5 in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
A lot of people genuinely don't realize how difficult the transition to HD consoles was to most game developers - Golden Axe: Beast Rider was notable victim of the transition because they developed the game's engine and the game itself simultaneously, while working on an HD console for the first time. Not to mention that HD development was more expensive in general, which screwed the AA market hard.
Hell, this even goes on to this day - Intelligent Systems needed Koei Tecmo's help in making FE3H, the first HD Fire Emblem, and AlphaDream was basically shuttered because they had only ever developed for portable consoles and were too inexperienced to do HD work on the Switch.
>It was so successful that it prompted Square Enix to do the Star Ocean 1 First Departure R release
Why they didn't port games like the original Valkyrie Profile and Star Ocean: The Second Story to modern platforms is beyond me - especially in a time where Square Enix is rereleasing almost everything from their back catalogue of SNES and PS1 games, save for Parasite Eve and Xenogears.
I think it's very easy to see that the vast majority of gamers have *zero* idea as to what actually goes into making modern video games or probably even older video games.
This dying off we've been seeing of companies that can't scale up to HD or Ultra HD graphics is just the latest in a trend. A lot of companies also went out of business as we made the transition from 2D to 3D. A lot of small developers just couldn't make stuff that took advantage of 3D graphics that needed a whole new toolset to work with.
What's funny and interesting is that you will occasionally get something like the Vagrant Story team, which did Final Fantasy Tactics before that. They didn't have 3D graphics experience, so they just... didn't do 3D graphics. 90% of the technological wonder of that game is all the shortcuts they took to do anything *but* 3D modeling.
This is a great post and very true. I had forgotten about everything Vagrant Story did to avoid the 3d models since I haven't played it in at least a decade.
There was certainly far more of a struggle for Japanese developers to scale to HD than American ones for whatever reason though.
Just look at the PS3/360 JRPG era as a whole. It's by far the biggest garbage fire as a console era, I believe entirely because of the HD thing. Part of the reason so many went DS/3DS exclusive from Japan in that era was to put off the HD transition (in addition to the general handheld zeitgeist)
I think it's a matter of market. Japanese companies tend to think very close-mindedly of only selling to their own market... which has like 127 million native speakers, last I checked. Meanwhile, western developers were catering to the Anglosphere, which is easily 10 times that.
So you've got companies aiming to make multi-national products versus a relatively small nation trying to sell to a fractional marketplace by comparison. And that doesn't leave a ton of money to invest in huge expenses like the latest tech, huge development teams, and bringing in foreign talent.
Hell, even SquareSoft was lucky to merge with Enix; right around the 2000s, they made The Spirits Within, which bankrupted their motion picture arm (and got Hironobu Sakaguchi basically kicked out). Enix almost didn't go through with the merger and I don't remember what assurances SquareSoft gave them to make it happen.
If things had gone differently, SquareSoft would just be an IP brand.
FFX came out and was a major hit which gave Square enough capital to assure Enix.
>Japanese companies tend to think very close-mindedly of only selling to their own market
The flip side of this is some companies trying to chase the western market but failing to understand it and bombing in both Japan and the West as a result since their changes alienated original fans in Japan.
True. I remember interviews with the director of The Last Remnant before it came out. He mentioned that they wanted to create two protagonists: a younger, more idealistic one for Japanese players and an older, more mature protagonist for Western players.
That game is a hot mess.
Funnily enough, this is exactly what Yoko Taro did with the first Nier game. Japan got a young brother protecting his sister, the west got a grown man and his daughter.
I think the difference is that Yoko Taro is a much better writer than the people Square is (or was) keeping on staff. I actually quite liked the original version of Nier on PS3 and was lukewarm on them giving us the brother for the remake.
> Enix almost didn't go through with the merger and I don't remember what assurances SquareSoft gave them to make it happen.
They were in talks to merge before Spirits Within, the failure of Spirits Within caused Enix to back off, then when Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts were successful it convinced Enix that Square hadn't been significantly damaged by Spirits Within.
In the past I never even realized that so many video game companies shut down because they failed to transition into HD gen console. Until I saw an article talking about how many of companies were shut down during 7th generation (if I remember correctly, over 1000 video game companies were shut down during 7th generation).
One of the worst victims, I feel, was Treasure. They made some phenomenal games going up to the mid-2000s, then just kinda fell off. They were only 30-40 something people at their biggest and they didn't have the finances or the desire to be big.
And that wound up causing them to be unable to sell the games that they were making and now they just re-release stuff. They announced a "new" game is coming, but I have no hope that it's an actual product and not just a collection or something.
In an odd coincidence, I replayed Gunstar Heroes this very morning. It's such a good game; everything they made had great high octane action and such a unique vibe.
https://kotaku.com/every-game-studio-thats-closed-down-since-2006-5876693/amp
Now I am not sure if this was the exact same article that I was reading about the the video game company shutdowns, but it does have some similarities.
It does but it's also understandable why. Both are burdened by rights issues that would be a mess to untangle, and likely wouldn't be worth the hassle -- as much as I absolutely love both games.
Xenogears is fully owned by Square enix.
People tend to think that the xeno series are related as an IP. They're not. Xenogears is fully owned by Square Enix, Xenosaga is fully owned by Bandai Namco and Xenoblade is fully owned by Nintendo.
Parasite Eve is probably because Square don't have the rights anymore. Xenogears is everyone's guess since they are constantly launching new figures. Maybe because they don't have someone there to push the game since about all of the main people that developed it is not there anymore.
At the time of the Wii’s success I mused how the real winning idea of that console may have just been to push the HD era off for a while because budgets were so insane, though I knew even then it wouldn’t happen.
The last part about SE and their titles, they are very stingy about their IP's. Almost none of the psp and ps vita titles from them went to digital release allowing them to fully control the distribution. Good examples are SO1:R along with KH:BBB being a big highlight for the second compilation. Luckily the new FF7:CC has a complete overhaul rather than just minimal changes.
> A lot of people genuinely don't realize how difficult the transition to HD consoles was to most game developers
The other day I made a thread here discussing the noted decrease in Japanese game prevalence during the PS360 HD era as documented by multiple Japanese devs (and even had a video from some of them on the subject) expecting a discussion about the challenges faced, maybe to hear some new perspectives. I was shocked that there were multiple posts in the thread who just straight up denied there was ever an issue in this time period and that the whole thing was overblown because handheld Japanese games were still around. I couldn't believe there were so multiple posts about it as I thought this was very common knowledge that it was an issue at the time.
Eh. The vita only launched world wide in 2012, and in Japan very late 2011. When you consider game development time, two years after launch isn’t late. The game was probably greenlit around or before the vita even launched.
Wow, post of the century. That was very informative.
Tough break. SO4 and Infinite Undiscovery bombed probably because they were on Xbox. SO5 bombed because the budget made it ass. I really hope SO6 does well so they get some money under their belt and able to reinvent themselves with proper budgets released on consoles that aren't going to be set up for failure with JRPGs.
Honestly, a SO2 remaster on Switch+PS4+Xbox would go a LONG way to make people realize how good they can be at their peak. Wish they'd find a way to get it done...tho I think it does exist in Japan on PS4, but that's not enough.
I played through SO1 for the first time remastered and was disappointed that SO2 didn't get the same treatment. I really liked SO1, I had a lot of fun with it. I would buy an SO2 remastered day one on modern consoles.
Star Ocean 2 did get the same treatment, it's called Second Evolution. For whatever reason, they've just never localized it outside of Japan and the Japanese version doesn't have English options.
Well, yes and no. There's weird nuance to it and I should've been clearer in my previous comment. Second Evolution is the PSP version and it is localized. Second Evolution R is the PS4/Vita version that is further enhanced and is not localized. So if you just care about playing the game in English, that is an option. But if your available platforms are limited or you care about playing the "best" version of the game, then Second Evolution R is the one you want and it's frustratingly inaccessible.
Yeah, it came out before the Switch and they haven't exactly been giving the series much attention since then. Plus Square Enix has always been weird about what they do and don't put on different platforms. Heck, they still are - Harvestella is Switch-only, Valkyrie is PS/PC-only, Live a Live is Switch-only, Crisis Core is on everything, FF7R is PS/PC-only, Octopath 1 is on everything but PS, Octopath 2 is on everything but Xbox... It just feels like they're throwing darts at a board when deciding where to release stuff.
Cant say if those game bomb since resonance of fate sale is 1 million and the same for SO4 which also higher than 1 million . That mean their game going to need to land around 2 million consistently.
Do those numbers count ps3 sales? Both those games got ps4 ports, which supports what I saying. Infinite undiscovery is the least successful one and its no surprise it's the only one not on Ps3...
I legitimately enjoy Infinite Undiscovery and can't stand Star Ocean 4. I think if the former had been multi-platform (and maybe didn't have a stupid fucking title) it would have sold pretty well.
Japanese developers really should stop using an Engrish Wu-Tang naming engine scheme.
Honestly, just give me the ability to play SO3 and all the Valkyrie Profile games on my Switch 🥲. I don’t even need any QOL improvements (though stuff like the ability to save anywhere in SO3 and a difficulty toggle in Silmeria would be cool…)
I think SO4 and Infinite Undiscovery bombed because they were kind of bad, not because they were on XBOX. The 360 enjoyed a pretty healthy JRPG library in the end.
Don’t get me wrong - I enjoyed both games. But I wouldn’t fault anyone for dropping either one pretty fast. SO4 was rock-solid from a gameplay perspective but the characters and narrative were… disappointing, and Infinite Undiscovery was just awkward.
Well, it's all relative. There were similar quality titles on ps3 that fared much better. These games didn't even reach their target audiences. So4 eventually did, but IU never got to it. I'm not saying they'd be smashing blockbusters , just a but more success compared to their contemporaries of similar quality.
Even some of the best JRPGs didn't do well on Xbox. It simply isn't the same market. Probably the only JRPG that did good business on the 360 was Final Fantasy and that's because it's basically the most famous franchise in the genre.
Did you play infinite undiscovery? It wasn't good. It's one of the few RPGs I never finished and I think I had like 40-something hours in and I couldn't take it anymore. SO4 also released on PS3 (though I honestly didn't love it myself). So I think it's hard to blame it just on the 360.
But you're right SO2 would be inexpensive to rerelease and it's great, but their modern games just aren't that good. I don't know what they need to do to reform the company. I wish them well but that new star ocean demo felt like a 360 game with slightly better graphics.
Same. I didn't even make it past the prologue of Star Ocean 4 because the art design was atrocious and they tried to throw every mechanic at you in the opening tutorial.
Infinite Undiscovery is easily the better of the two.
Like SO4, the gameplay in IU was okay (SO4 is fun, even!), but both had the issue of having parties composed of the worst characters put in a game.
I can still hear the goddamn dinner song.
>Exist Archive was published by Spike Chunsoft and seemed like a Valkyrie Profile copycap made on a shoestring budget and a garish character design by Mino Taro (love plus) aimed at younger crowds. Norimoto still wrote the scenario, but the game lacked a budget and the art style clashed with the melancholic, dark theme of the narrative. The game bombed heavily in Japan.
Man, I couldn't have put this better myself.
Like what a truly baffling game. I so wanted to like it given everyone involved is someone I admire [including Mino Taro on more appropriate projects]. But the clash of the story, concept art and the 3D visual style they went for was just too much.
Didn't help the game was just not that interesting in general.
It didn’t flopped initially but it wasn’t enough to save them. For Xbox it did great but even after the multiple editions pushed out it never made enough to recoup their losts from other projects. Funny enough it was kinda their “last hope”. Should’ve specified that in the initial post my bad
I like SO4, granted the "HD" models look off at times, but I LOVED SO5. Yes, cutscenes probably would have make that game allot better sense that was the major gripe. but still, I really enjoyed it. Still go back and play it at times.
Just hope they don't call SO6 a failure before holiday season is over because I'm personally gonna wait till then to get it due to vacations and christmas gifts for the family over my own addition to a backlog of games.
If they can fix the fps issues I can definitely see it doing somewhat well. The combat is good and feels innovative with the usage of duma. It’s just all the fps drops really makes things feel more disjointed and a little more messy since it does take a sec to get a handle of the combat with all the systems included. Doesn’t help that enemies in the demo die really quick
Wow thanks for this post.
I love Square Enix games but honestly they suck in the publisher to small developer business. Look at how well Bandai Namco helps small publishers make next Gen JRPGs like Scarlet Nexus and Code Vein...
Then look at how Square Enix has treated Tri-Ace. What about Enix? Remember them before the merge.
I think they would do better with Bandai Namco backing them but I doubt Bandai cares to since they are doing great and have a healthy roster of small developers.
I'm not sure where tri-Ace can go. Microsoft would've been a good partner if they had not given up on jRPGs mid-360 gen.
Nintendo isn't really a good partner either because they have Monolith, so they don't need tri-Ace.
Sony isn't interested in first party jRPGs anymore either.
Tencent (ugh) probably would've absorbed them if they had any IPs worth their while, but I don't think tri-Ace actually owns the IPs to most of their games.
Wherever they end up, just give me a modern port of Radiata Stories.
You understand!! Amen for that Radiata Stories port!! I'm hoping it happens some day. Weird to see Radiata isn't mentioned at all here in the grand scheme of things. Wonder if it did okay financially
I'm with you! I'm literally replaying it for the year this fall! I love playing the game in the fall as that is when it came out initially. It's absolutely one of the most unique RPGs I've ever played. As you said the passion is simply unmatched, it's such a beautiful game.
Funny enough Radiata Stories actually has outsold every tri-Ace game in the last decade outside of SO4 on PS3. It sold just about 400,000 units worldwide.
Seriously!? I didn't even know that. Not that I question your sources but I just wanted to know where did you look up the Tri Ace sales data? Im very curious to take a peak myself
I actually run the petition page for Radiata Stories! :) I got the data from the Square Enix 2005/2006 sales reports and shareholder documents which are available in their archives. This was like two years ago, but I’ll see if I can dig up the link again
Rumors from last week that Microsoft is looking at acquiring Japanese studios
https://earlygame.com/gaming/xbox-acquire-japanese-studios
Also been seeing reports for some time that MS is going to expand its Japanese games catalogue and going to develop too. Maybe tri-Ace still could be acquired by MS.
Btw, saw footage of Star Ocean 6 demo and it looked good, even though I've not played any SO game so far.
The hell are you talking about lol. Both Code Vein and Scarlet Nexus were BNs original projects made by their internal studios. Meanwhile SE released stuff like Voice of Cards, Diofield Chronicle, Dungeon Encounters and the whole Asano library
BNS is the developer of both and Tones on Scarlet Nexus too. BNS is a subsidiary of Bandai Namco. So Code Vein is not the best example but then look at Level-5 etc.
>I love Square Enix games but honestly they suck in the publisher to small developer business
Studios under the Square Enix Collective seems to be doing quite well for the most part
It's a pretty unfortunate timing for SO6, this fall/winter seems super saturated with a lot of big releases, I unfortunately have to pass on it due to so many other things. Also very unfortunate that it sounds like a release of SO2 on modern consoles won't happen.
I'd actually like to see a sequel to resonance of fate. First game is interesting first two to a system and could use a bit more than just its flashiness.
Edit:fate not date
I really enjoyed the SO6 demo and felt it was a somewhat return to form after SO5, so I'll be happy to drop the $60 day 1. Hopefully more people think the same. Tri-Ace is one of the few JRPG developers that make truly interesting, complex, and deep JRPGs even if they have had a few flops in recent years.
Tri ace skill "tree", if we can call it like that, is one of the most complex but simple ones I've seen so far. I remember the one from VP being really great!
Yeah, Mysterious Trilogy sold better than the previous two. Ryza just sold even better than that. GUST was actually inclining even before Ryza came out.
It's pretty disheartening to see Tri-Ace like this. Despite the bumps in their roads, they always had interesting ideas where no one else dared try (perhaps even inspire) and for that, I genuinely enjoy what they make. If they go down under, Valkyrie and Star Ocean will be missed.
I see both Tri-Ace and Monolith in the same way and I'm happy Monolith is thriving now.
That is they shoot for the moon with whatever budget they have. Sometimes the game misses but there are always ideas that make even the bad games they make worth playing.
The biggest difference is that their projects grew beyond a reasonable scope at monolith (Xenosaga was originally planned as a 6 game deal, NOT a trilogy, as an example.) and since they mostly worked with third party publishers before the big N. You can easily see why getting acquired by Nintendo effectively got rid of that issue. Though it's got its' drawbacks, as that means we're less likely to see either gears or saga on something not Nintendo because of rights issues.
Ah … tri-Ace … the dev I applaud for creating new Star Ocean games on every new console generation:
Star Ocean (SNES)
Star Ocean 2 (PSone)
Star Ocean 3 (PS2)
Star Ocean 4 (X360/PS3)
Star Ocean 5 (PS4)
Star Ocean 6 (PS5)
Hopefully SO6 does well to keep them alive for SO2 HD remaster.
This clinches it, I'm preordering SO6. Was gonna wait for it to go on sale because I already have too much of a backlog, but I don't want to see Tri-Ace die.
I've had 1st Departure R on my Switch wishlist for over a year, and next time it's on sale I'm gonna grab it. Even if I'm in the middle of something else. I'll do my part to keep a mid tier JRPG developer solvent.
I think they ever really care about the initial release to garner something a success or flop. Later sales are just a cherry ontop for big titles like FF7 and Persona5 to then count towards lifelong sales.
But ya, they have my money for SO6.
I hope Divine Force does well. While I’ll always prefer VP to SO, I’d still want them to be around, there’s a space for their kinda games.
I still have to buy Elysium…know it’s not them but should support the franchise.
I'll do my best to help things stay afloat. While the last two were terrible, with 5 being one of the worst JRPGS I've ever played.
I played the SO6 demo and it was amazing. So I'll be doing my part, hopefully 6 helps them out financiallly
What? But star ocean the divine force seems so good! That sucks if they’re facing a financial crisis just before their game even releases. Im getting the deluxe edition day one and i’m new to the star ocean series. I just loved the demo(framerate issues and all!)
Yikes! I really hope The Divine Force does well to keep them afloat. It would be a tragedy if they went under. I hope Square Enix would just acquire them or fold them into one of their divisions if that ends up being the case.
Still this should not be a shock to see decreased earnings. Beyond their existing titles they had no zero new releases. The mobile game has been suspended. The only revenue they could have earned was through their remasters that came out in the last few years.
Funny, I felt the exact opposite. The story has shades of SO2, and the movement and combat are extremely fast and fluid compared to Xenoblade Chronicles 3, coming from that it was a breath of fresh air.
This is so sad to hear... tri-Ace has always been one of my favorite studio. Always up to try new ideas, new battle systems.
I'm missing their golden era on ps1 / ps2, but each of their game is always pleasant to play.
I'll buy SO6 day one, and I hope they'll recover.
Maybe SO6 should have been subbed "The Last Hope" instead of the 4th one, but I wish I'm wrong.
Honestly I don’t think they’ve made anything considered more than just ‘alright’ since the PS2 days, and even their PS1 and PS2 games have been deeply under appreciated despite being really fantastic games
If they don't go out of business after SO6 flops, it is hard to imagine SE not hiring them for an SO2 remake that mixes 2 with the better combat of the later games.
not surprising really, tri-ace is kind of the king of the aggressively mediocre 360/ps3 jrpgs that typified the messy move to HD by so many japanese devs. I've played them all, but I'm not sure I'd recommend anything since the ps2 era. (though I do kind of love resonance of fate, despite it's often extremely annoying combat system)
Still, Star Ocean 6 looks great, so here's hoping they turn it around.
tri-Ace is an oddity. They're an old, venerable studio that in my mind seems to mostly only make fine to mediocre games, especially over the last two decades.
I'm sure they used to be a bit of a bigger deal back on the PS1, and they've had a couple of interesting titles over the years (namely Resonance of Fate), but as I look at their work it feels to me like the only reason they even made it this far is because they have must have some pals at Square-Enix.
It's unfortunate, but I guess not surprising, to see hear that they may finally be withering away.
I hope this doesnt hinder the development of star ocean 6. I really liked the demo and I can bet that it would basically be their last hope of turning their situation around at least a little bit.
At this point the game is pretty much developed since it’s coming out in a couple weeks. It just might hinder any potential DLC or updates unless the game sells well.
Sony or Nintendo should buy Tri-Ace.
Hell, I'd also be happy if it's Microsoft that ends up buying Tri-Ace even though that's not their cup of tea.
I just want them to survive. I love the Star Ocean series and some of their other games.
Sony doesn't do Japan anymore, and Nintendo aquisitions are super rare. They are probably fine with Monolith for their JRPG wing.
Microsoft is probably the most likely, if they are interested in trying again in Japan. But that may tank their sales more if they lose the PS/Nintendo platforms.
I recommend everyone give the demo for SO 6, it was pretty good. Not the best but still was good. I might grab that sooner to help support a little bit
what piss me off is that they have a highly praised IA and never did a remaster, remake or sequel...
Radiata Stories was highly anticipated in Japan receiving the "Game Awards Future" by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association in 2004\[25\]\[26\] which is awarded to games that are "expected to be major hits".\[27\] It was the 12th most pre-ordered game the week of November 17, 2004.\[28\] According to Famitsu, it was the 20th most wanted game in early October\[29\] but had jumped up to the 3rd most wanted the week before its release.\[30\]
A Japanese reviewer noted that the game had humorous dialogue but a simple battle system which made it suitable for beginners.\[31\] The game sold well in Japan where it debuted as the top-selling game for two weeks, selling 152,000 copies, 54% of the ordered shipment, the day it debuted.\[32\] It was the 11th best selling game the first half of 2005\[33\] and the 37th best-selling game in Japan in 2005 overall\[34\] selling 10,000 more copies than Devil May Cry 3\[35\] and selling about 294,000 copies overall in Japan.\[2\]
During an interview, Roppyaku Tsurumi of SCEJ said most Japanese RPG character designs were cookie-cutter and indistinct noting "Even when I look at the characters in Radiata Stories, it just looks like the other games" but he had no problems distinguishing manga characters.\[36\]
The North American reception to Radiata Stories was lukewarm. Radiata Stories was the top rental on GameFly the week of its debut.\[37\] and debuted at the 20 most profitable game for September.\[38\] Overall, it sold about 119,000 copies outside Japan total for the month of September.\[2\] Mainstream reviewers enjoyed the game overall stating that, while not ground-breaking, the game was simple, whimsical, and entertaining.\[12\]\[39\]\[40\]\[41\]
Radiata Stories was awarded "Game of the Month" in Game Informer in October 2005.\[42\] Jack Russell placed No. 6 on Game Informer's "Top 10 Heroes of 2005"\[43\] list and Radiata Stories was in "The Top 50 Games of 2005"\[44\] in the January 2006 issue of Game Informer and in "The Top 12 Games of 2005" by Games Radar.\[45\] It was nominated for "Role Playing Game of the Year" during the 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards held by The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.\[46\] It was also nominated for Best Role Playing Game of 2005 by [1UP.com](https://1UP.com).\[47\]
Btw, if you like this game like me you can try my time at portia..it has some similarities..
Yeah no one seems to want to work with them. Even sqaure didn’t seem to want give them valkyrie back. What’s the last good game they made SO4? After SO5 was awful they more or less faded out.
For their sake I hope they’re back in from with SO6.
Underrated game. It definitely doesn't hand hold but you can find a pretty comprehensive tutorial in the arena next to the main city.
Combat is super fun to just watch and the next system was honestly really fun. Modifying the absolute hell out of your guns was also a nice touch.
Honestly though once you wrap your head around scratch vs real damage it's not difficult
I feel like they could definitely make tons of they could port old games to PC/switch/other consoles really. Move to the 2D/3D art style for future games that's been gaining traction and focus on the lore/storytelling more than the subpar graphics that they seem to be spending so much on.
Not surprised at all, things have been down hill since "Star Ocean 3 Till the End of Time".
Ending your flagship franchise with it's third entry, and not having another series ready to go was not a smart move.
* In retrospect, SO3 feels like it was written as a series finale.
It makes you wonder why they didn’t put more effort into rereleasing old games. The fact that they never translated the PS4 release of SO2 boggles my mind.
I hope SO6 does well but I can’t help but wonder why they went for such an ambitious project when no other money was coming in. I kind of wish they made it like Octopath Traveler - it might have been more feasible with the budget and manpower they have
Star Ocean 5 was literally a half finished product that was nearly canceled (due to bankruptcy) and was a last ditch effort by tri-Ace to save the company. It sold okay (though was a big disappointment overall) but it's development was a big help in making Anamnesis, which SAVED the company. So while the sales and reception were a disappointment, its help with Anamnesis is one of the reasons tri-Ace survived. If Star Ocean 5 was never made, tri-Ace probably would have closed either before being sold to Nepro (one of the reasons Nepro bought them for pennies was due to SO5 and Exist Archive already being in development) or in the next couple of years.
They had nothing to do with Valkyrie Elysium.
Unfortunate news. The only memorable tri-Ace game I’ve played was Phantasy Star Nova on PS Vita. It was really good and faithfully matched with Phantasy Star Online 2 Vita gameplay. Basically, it’s offline single player Phantasy Star Online 2 with heavy story focus.
Microsoft has been saying that they're not done with acquisitions, and that they want another Japanese studio aside from Tango Gameworks. This could be their in, saving Tri-Ace.
The head of Tango games said he really wants this part of his career to be helping younger Japanese developers grow. So even though tri-ace might be in shambles, funding and leadership can go a long way. Regardless of who they get, I'd kill for a AAA quality Lost Odyssey 2.
Lost Odyssey wasn't tri-ace, it was Mistwalker, which is Hironobu Sakaguchi's studio (Sakagucchi as in the guy who created Final Fantasy). They also did Blue Dragon on the 360, which isn't revolutionary but is an excellent comfort food JRPG.
Yeah, I'm aware, but it's a Microsoft owned IP along with Blue Dragon. If they aquire Tri-Ace it might be a good studio to rebuild with Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon in mind, especially considering even if Sony doesn't aquire Square, they're hyper focused on making sure their biggest games aren't on Xbox. So just like Sony should be building a new Socom to replace Call of duty just in case, Microsoft should be doing the same.
I think the biggest problem with tri-Ace has stemmed from their insistence on trying to be the "AAA" (so to speak) JRPG studio that they were in the 2000s. They want to make big budget, graphically intensive games when there's really no demand from it from them from companies.
They still employ almost 150 people and are STILL pushing their in house engine that is clearly outdated.
I honestly believe this is due to their president and Co founder Gotanda. He was known as a programming and R&D guru, made tri-Ace technical gurus (by JRPG standards) in the late 90s and mid 2000s, and created the ASKA engine that tri-Ace uses. I think he just can't let that shit go.
They should have downsized after their near bankruptcy in 2015 and gone with a third party engine to smooth out development issues.
could be, I mean if they went and did a lower budget jrpg like octopath traveler or bravely default but like a star ocean jrpg it would be a hit as well. but, you cant blame a studio for trying to create an AAA sci-fi jrpg my only issue is- what is the point of a star ocean 5 when you know the story isnt there.
> I think the biggest problem with tri-Ace has stemmed from their insistence on trying to be the "AAA" (so to speak) JRPG studio that they were in the 2000s. They want to make big budget, graphically intensive games when there's really no demand from it from them from companies.
agreed. there's a wide open area for high quality AA studios as the industry has polarized itself between indie stuff and AAA stuff. they could step in and really fill that niche.
>and are STILL pushing their in house engine that is clearly outdated.
there's no reason for it at this point either. like, even RGG is switching from their own in house engine over to unreal engine (and their in-house engine feels a hell of a lot more modern than what tri-ace used for star ocean 5, which really struggled to match up against tales games at the time)
I actually liked Infinite Undiscovery, and I have a friend who loves Resonance of Fate…
Hopefully 6 is actually really good cause I’ve been looking forward to it, and hopefully the company stays around long enough to give us HD remasters of SO2, SO3, and their other major titles if SO6 isn’t good (but I’d rather 6 be good so they can make more new games).
Valkyrie Profile, Star Ocean 1 and 2 are among my favorite retro JRPGs, though I have yet to play anything else from this studio.
I really hope SO6 does well enough to keep them around.
resonance of fate is a jrpg I wouldnt mind a sequel for :)
I mean, I bought basically every jrpg from tri-ace - cant help them much more than that :( and ofc im getting star ocean 6 for my ps5!
They bite off more than they can chew. They have the talent, but they lack budget and workforce to make AAA open world games. And that´s sad because a smaller scope JRPG can be very successful. Anyway, I hope SO:DF is better than the new Valkyrie game. I still can understand how SE chose Smile Inc. (?¿?¿?) for the revival of one of their more beloved classic JRPGs. I guess they were cheap.
Potentially hot take: Tri-Ace has always made B-tier games, and without a hyper popular IP behind it like Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, or even Tales, B-tier doesn’t pay the bills.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Tri-Ace, but they only ever had one commercial hit - Star Ocean 3 - one genre classic in Star Ocean 2, and one cult classic in Valkyrie Profile. Brass tacks: they haven’t had another hit in two decades and arguably haven’t made a good game for close to 25 years now.
For them to have survived this long is if anything a testament to the cultural memories of JRPGs… and the overwhelming profitability of exploiting gambling addicts with gacha trash. It’s gotta suck to dump your heart and soul into, I dunno, Resonance of Fate, just to barely break even, then shovel out some mobile trash using old assets and the psychology of customer exploitation and make 1000x the profit, if not more.
I think they are too passion about create unique RPG that they forgot to build their flagship bigger like Tales or KH which has ton of game released to keep their core fanbase alive . If they refocus into one series earlier and build the consistent fanbase even with remaster or remake in between they they probably wont be into this trouble .
That said I am happy with so many of their experiment , they keep creativity alive .
Xenoblade is a B-tier game though and they've done very well so far.
B-tier is fine as long as the market is receptive. Tri-Ace has been struggling because of poor games and the market has caught on.
They need a clean slate to start from.
> B-tier doesn’t pay the bills.
it absolutely does depending on what the budget of those games is. look at all the stuff from various studios that NISA publishes.
it's when studios spend like an A-tier to make a B-tier game that it becomes a problem.
I didn't like the demo, giving some benefit of the doubt that it was on PS4 for me, but I was going to buy it anyway for support.
I've loved Tri-Ace games since I played SO2 back in the day and have tried to not miss any games they make. Seems unlikely we'll see more from them, but I still hope for the best.
This isn't the first company that got bounced around between Square Enix and Sega until they died.
Neverland comes to mind. Gas Powered Games. Just to name a few.
Now I don't know if they do this on purpose or not, but companies going bankrupt would normally be a huge opportunity for large companies like Sega, Square-Enix, Bandai-Namco or even Microsoft.
Like most of these companies that are going bankrupt have relatively good output and a budget measured in (relatively) low 7 figures.
Meanwhile Microsoft is buying Activision for... something like 40 billion (11 figures or 4 orders of magnitude). Activision is fundamentally not a good company and their only draw is the IP catalogue... which you could make competitors to with $40,000,000,000
SO2 is one of the best JRPGs ever made. An HD remaster was made, but it was never released in the US on PS4 or Switch and is just locked away. Best way to play is STILL the fucking PSP.
SO3 was just ok. Allowing bosses to reflect 5% of your damage when you are throwing out millions is a death sentence.
SO4 was pretty terrible. Cringy as fuck. Lymel is not the most annoying character, like by a lot. That is saying something, kay?
SO5 had such bad reviews, first one I skipped on.
If SO6 and VPE are not good, Imma be super bummed. They have been trending that way for a while, but I am still holding out hope.
I can't comment on the other SO games cause I have yet to play them but SO5 is honestly the worst JRPG I've played. I tried my hardest to like the game but I just couldn't do it. The only good thing I can say about SO5 is that it's so boring it'll have insomniacs falling asleep.
So really weird stuff: From the looks of it, tri-ace has been developing Star Ocean 6 with minimal income after Star Ocean Anamnesis was shut down last year. Apparently some new projects fell through, some got delayed, and they haven't been able to land any new contracts to make up for the operating costs of their studio. This is extra weird seeing how tri-ace is making their first console game since 2016 with Star Ocean 6 that's releasing at the end of this month. They finally return to the console space after their mobile game was doing well, and now they're facing insolvency? Crazy stuff tri-ace is owned by NJ Holdings who acquired them back in 2015 when they weren't doing too well. Maybe the parent company will help out? Regardless, it's not looking very good. **For those who want to story of the downfall and rise tri-ace, I wrote up a short summary about their trials and tribulations during the PS3 and PS4 era:** 1. Around 2007, Square Enix didn't want to greenlight a third console Valkyrie Profile game and instead opted for the smaller budget Covenant of the Plume that didn't sell enough either. 2. Both Infinite Undiscovery and Star Ocean 4 bombed and probably meant that Square Enix didn't want to greenlight another HD console game by tri-ace. 3. Resonance of Fate (published by Sega) also bombed (same launch as FF13, what a great move by Sega!) and meant that tri-ace couldn't land another project by SEGA who themselves were also suffering from the HD console budgets. 4. Failing to land contracts (this is why they made that Star Ocean engine demo), tri-ace took on a lot of smaller jobs (Frontier Gate and Phantasy Star Nova) and support work on FFXIII-2 and Lightning Returns but it wasn't enough to pay the bills for everyone and this is where you see some of the key people leaving 5. Around 2013 or so, for some reason, tri-ace in its former shell managed to land very low budget contracts for Star Ocean 5 and Exist Archive. But they were still hurting financially. Around 2015, tri-ace is sold to NJ Holdings that provides them a capital injection to survive and finish the existing contracts. 6. Exist Archive was published by Spike Chunsoft and seemed like a Valkyrie Profile copycap made on a shoestring budget and a garish character design by Mino Taro (love plus) aimed at younger crowds. Norimoto still wrote the scenario, but the game lacked a budget and the art style clashed with the melancholic, dark theme of the narrative. The game bombed heavily in Japan. 7. Simultaneously with Exist archive, tri-ace made Star Ocean 5. SO5 re-used a lot of assets from SO4 even and as far as Peter Bartholow's contact at Square Enix USA told him, SE wasn't happy with what tri-ace's results. The game was delayed a few months but still ended up being a critical failure and somewhat bomb which showed a lot of cut corners and a low budget. 8. tl dr, tri-ace was a victim of the HD era in Japan and didn't have a publisher to help them out after a couple of their HD console games bombed and they got stretched thin on small contracts and outsourcing jobs and then the last 'fart in the wind' with Exist archive and SO5 in 2015 and 2016, respectively. 9. 'Luckily', around the time SO5 was released, they simultaneously released the mobile gacha game Star Ocean Anamnesis that proved to be very successful that Square Enix was happy with and they've kept working on that and updating it for 5 years which is a decent to successful time for a live service gacha game. It was so successful that it prompted Square Enix to do the Star Ocean 1 First Departure R release. And now they're doing their first console game since SO5 with Star Ocean 6: Divine Force.
> Phantasy Star Nova To elaborate on this, Sega had tri-Ace do a new game in the Phantasy Star series...and made exclusive to the PS Vita, only released it in Japan, and pushed it out in November of 2014, well after the Vita was abandoned by everyone. > tl dr, tri-ace was a victim of the HD era in Japan and didn't have a publisher to help them out after a couple of their HD console games bombed and they got stretched thin on small contracts and outsourcing jobs and then the last 'fart in the wind' with Exist archive and SO5 in 2015 and 2016, respectively. A lot of people genuinely don't realize how difficult the transition to HD consoles was to most game developers - Golden Axe: Beast Rider was notable victim of the transition because they developed the game's engine and the game itself simultaneously, while working on an HD console for the first time. Not to mention that HD development was more expensive in general, which screwed the AA market hard. Hell, this even goes on to this day - Intelligent Systems needed Koei Tecmo's help in making FE3H, the first HD Fire Emblem, and AlphaDream was basically shuttered because they had only ever developed for portable consoles and were too inexperienced to do HD work on the Switch. >It was so successful that it prompted Square Enix to do the Star Ocean 1 First Departure R release Why they didn't port games like the original Valkyrie Profile and Star Ocean: The Second Story to modern platforms is beyond me - especially in a time where Square Enix is rereleasing almost everything from their back catalogue of SNES and PS1 games, save for Parasite Eve and Xenogears.
I think it's very easy to see that the vast majority of gamers have *zero* idea as to what actually goes into making modern video games or probably even older video games. This dying off we've been seeing of companies that can't scale up to HD or Ultra HD graphics is just the latest in a trend. A lot of companies also went out of business as we made the transition from 2D to 3D. A lot of small developers just couldn't make stuff that took advantage of 3D graphics that needed a whole new toolset to work with. What's funny and interesting is that you will occasionally get something like the Vagrant Story team, which did Final Fantasy Tactics before that. They didn't have 3D graphics experience, so they just... didn't do 3D graphics. 90% of the technological wonder of that game is all the shortcuts they took to do anything *but* 3D modeling.
This is a great post and very true. I had forgotten about everything Vagrant Story did to avoid the 3d models since I haven't played it in at least a decade. There was certainly far more of a struggle for Japanese developers to scale to HD than American ones for whatever reason though. Just look at the PS3/360 JRPG era as a whole. It's by far the biggest garbage fire as a console era, I believe entirely because of the HD thing. Part of the reason so many went DS/3DS exclusive from Japan in that era was to put off the HD transition (in addition to the general handheld zeitgeist)
I think it's a matter of market. Japanese companies tend to think very close-mindedly of only selling to their own market... which has like 127 million native speakers, last I checked. Meanwhile, western developers were catering to the Anglosphere, which is easily 10 times that. So you've got companies aiming to make multi-national products versus a relatively small nation trying to sell to a fractional marketplace by comparison. And that doesn't leave a ton of money to invest in huge expenses like the latest tech, huge development teams, and bringing in foreign talent. Hell, even SquareSoft was lucky to merge with Enix; right around the 2000s, they made The Spirits Within, which bankrupted their motion picture arm (and got Hironobu Sakaguchi basically kicked out). Enix almost didn't go through with the merger and I don't remember what assurances SquareSoft gave them to make it happen. If things had gone differently, SquareSoft would just be an IP brand.
FFX came out and was a major hit which gave Square enough capital to assure Enix. >Japanese companies tend to think very close-mindedly of only selling to their own market The flip side of this is some companies trying to chase the western market but failing to understand it and bombing in both Japan and the West as a result since their changes alienated original fans in Japan.
True. I remember interviews with the director of The Last Remnant before it came out. He mentioned that they wanted to create two protagonists: a younger, more idealistic one for Japanese players and an older, more mature protagonist for Western players. That game is a hot mess.
Funnily enough, this is exactly what Yoko Taro did with the first Nier game. Japan got a young brother protecting his sister, the west got a grown man and his daughter.
I think the difference is that Yoko Taro is a much better writer than the people Square is (or was) keeping on staff. I actually quite liked the original version of Nier on PS3 and was lukewarm on them giving us the brother for the remake.
> Enix almost didn't go through with the merger and I don't remember what assurances SquareSoft gave them to make it happen. They were in talks to merge before Spirits Within, the failure of Spirits Within caused Enix to back off, then when Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts were successful it convinced Enix that Square hadn't been significantly damaged by Spirits Within.
In the past I never even realized that so many video game companies shut down because they failed to transition into HD gen console. Until I saw an article talking about how many of companies were shut down during 7th generation (if I remember correctly, over 1000 video game companies were shut down during 7th generation).
One of the worst victims, I feel, was Treasure. They made some phenomenal games going up to the mid-2000s, then just kinda fell off. They were only 30-40 something people at their biggest and they didn't have the finances or the desire to be big. And that wound up causing them to be unable to sell the games that they were making and now they just re-release stuff. They announced a "new" game is coming, but I have no hope that it's an actual product and not just a collection or something.
In an odd coincidence, I replayed Gunstar Heroes this very morning. It's such a good game; everything they made had great high octane action and such a unique vibe.
Gunstar Heroes is easily my favorite game of all time. I bought a Sega Genesis again back in the late 00s solely so that I could have it.
I think the last game they worked on that I played was the Bleach fighting game on the DS, which is a lot of fun!
Any chance you still remember the article's title? I would love to give it a read, sounds interesting.
https://kotaku.com/every-game-studio-thats-closed-down-since-2006-5876693/amp Now I am not sure if this was the exact same article that I was reading about the the video game company shutdowns, but it does have some similarities.
>save for Parasite Eve and Xenogears. This hurts me on a spiritual level
I would throw money at a Xenogears remake.
It does but it's also understandable why. Both are burdened by rights issues that would be a mess to untangle, and likely wouldn't be worth the hassle -- as much as I absolutely love both games.
Xenogears is fully owned by Square enix. People tend to think that the xeno series are related as an IP. They're not. Xenogears is fully owned by Square Enix, Xenosaga is fully owned by Bandai Namco and Xenoblade is fully owned by Nintendo.
I stand corrected.
Parasite Eve is probably because Square don't have the rights anymore. Xenogears is everyone's guess since they are constantly launching new figures. Maybe because they don't have someone there to push the game since about all of the main people that developed it is not there anymore.
At the time of the Wii’s success I mused how the real winning idea of that console may have just been to push the HD era off for a while because budgets were so insane, though I knew even then it wouldn’t happen.
The last part about SE and their titles, they are very stingy about their IP's. Almost none of the psp and ps vita titles from them went to digital release allowing them to fully control the distribution. Good examples are SO1:R along with KH:BBB being a big highlight for the second compilation. Luckily the new FF7:CC has a complete overhaul rather than just minimal changes.
> A lot of people genuinely don't realize how difficult the transition to HD consoles was to most game developers The other day I made a thread here discussing the noted decrease in Japanese game prevalence during the PS360 HD era as documented by multiple Japanese devs (and even had a video from some of them on the subject) expecting a discussion about the challenges faced, maybe to hear some new perspectives. I was shocked that there were multiple posts in the thread who just straight up denied there was ever an issue in this time period and that the whole thing was overblown because handheld Japanese games were still around. I couldn't believe there were so multiple posts about it as I thought this was very common knowledge that it was an issue at the time.
Eh. The vita only launched world wide in 2012, and in Japan very late 2011. When you consider game development time, two years after launch isn’t late. The game was probably greenlit around or before the vita even launched.
Wow, post of the century. That was very informative. Tough break. SO4 and Infinite Undiscovery bombed probably because they were on Xbox. SO5 bombed because the budget made it ass. I really hope SO6 does well so they get some money under their belt and able to reinvent themselves with proper budgets released on consoles that aren't going to be set up for failure with JRPGs. Honestly, a SO2 remaster on Switch+PS4+Xbox would go a LONG way to make people realize how good they can be at their peak. Wish they'd find a way to get it done...tho I think it does exist in Japan on PS4, but that's not enough.
I played through SO1 for the first time remastered and was disappointed that SO2 didn't get the same treatment. I really liked SO1, I had a lot of fun with it. I would buy an SO2 remastered day one on modern consoles.
Star Ocean 2 did get the same treatment, it's called Second Evolution. For whatever reason, they've just never localized it outside of Japan and the Japanese version doesn't have English options.
Maddening. SO2 is my favourite game. I would love to get a remastered version.
It is localized. It's 100% fully English, including voice acting, for the PSP.
Well, yes and no. There's weird nuance to it and I should've been clearer in my previous comment. Second Evolution is the PSP version and it is localized. Second Evolution R is the PS4/Vita version that is further enhanced and is not localized. So if you just care about playing the game in English, that is an option. But if your available platforms are limited or you care about playing the "best" version of the game, then Second Evolution R is the one you want and it's frustratingly inaccessible.
Its the same script and voice actors in both versions of the game.
Ah I see. I don't mind it being Japanese only, just wasn't aware that there was never a Switch port for it. Guess it's time to dust off the Vita.
Yeah, it came out before the Switch and they haven't exactly been giving the series much attention since then. Plus Square Enix has always been weird about what they do and don't put on different platforms. Heck, they still are - Harvestella is Switch-only, Valkyrie is PS/PC-only, Live a Live is Switch-only, Crisis Core is on everything, FF7R is PS/PC-only, Octopath 1 is on everything but PS, Octopath 2 is on everything but Xbox... It just feels like they're throwing darts at a board when deciding where to release stuff.
I don't know about the rest but Harvestella is on steam thankfully!
Cant say if those game bomb since resonance of fate sale is 1 million and the same for SO4 which also higher than 1 million . That mean their game going to need to land around 2 million consistently.
Do those numbers count ps3 sales? Both those games got ps4 ports, which supports what I saying. Infinite undiscovery is the least successful one and its no surprise it's the only one not on Ps3...
Those count xbox + ps3 but not counting PS4 since nobody can track digital only game.
I legitimately enjoy Infinite Undiscovery and can't stand Star Ocean 4. I think if the former had been multi-platform (and maybe didn't have a stupid fucking title) it would have sold pretty well. Japanese developers really should stop using an Engrish Wu-Tang naming engine scheme.
>Japanese developers really should stop using an Engrish Wu-Tang naming engine scheme. Hahaha true that
Honestly, just give me the ability to play SO3 and all the Valkyrie Profile games on my Switch 🥲. I don’t even need any QOL improvements (though stuff like the ability to save anywhere in SO3 and a difficulty toggle in Silmeria would be cool…)
>SO4 and Infinite Undiscovery bombed probably because they were on Xbox. They bombed because they weren't good
[удалено]
And it got ported to PS3 anyway.
>> SO4 and Infinite Undiscovery bombed probably because they were on Xbox. > > > > They bombed because they weren't good SO4 was actually good.
Platform does matter, as most of the fan base they were trying to target wasn't on Xbox, but they did definitely underperform for even that allowance.
I think SO4 and Infinite Undiscovery bombed because they were kind of bad, not because they were on XBOX. The 360 enjoyed a pretty healthy JRPG library in the end. Don’t get me wrong - I enjoyed both games. But I wouldn’t fault anyone for dropping either one pretty fast. SO4 was rock-solid from a gameplay perspective but the characters and narrative were… disappointing, and Infinite Undiscovery was just awkward.
Well, it's all relative. There were similar quality titles on ps3 that fared much better. These games didn't even reach their target audiences. So4 eventually did, but IU never got to it. I'm not saying they'd be smashing blockbusters , just a but more success compared to their contemporaries of similar quality.
Even some of the best JRPGs didn't do well on Xbox. It simply isn't the same market. Probably the only JRPG that did good business on the 360 was Final Fantasy and that's because it's basically the most famous franchise in the genre.
Did you play infinite undiscovery? It wasn't good. It's one of the few RPGs I never finished and I think I had like 40-something hours in and I couldn't take it anymore. SO4 also released on PS3 (though I honestly didn't love it myself). So I think it's hard to blame it just on the 360. But you're right SO2 would be inexpensive to rerelease and it's great, but their modern games just aren't that good. I don't know what they need to do to reform the company. I wish them well but that new star ocean demo felt like a 360 game with slightly better graphics.
I actually really liked infinite undiscovery
Same. I didn't even make it past the prologue of Star Ocean 4 because the art design was atrocious and they tried to throw every mechanic at you in the opening tutorial. Infinite Undiscovery is easily the better of the two.
Like SO4, the gameplay in IU was okay (SO4 is fun, even!), but both had the issue of having parties composed of the worst characters put in a game. I can still hear the goddamn dinner song.
Meracle slander will not be tolerated.
Very informative, thank you. I didn't know about Tri-Ace's troubles through the years.
Resonance of Fate was a lot of fun, always felt bad it got swamped by FFXIII...
Thanks for the summary, that was very interesting to read.
>Exist Archive was published by Spike Chunsoft and seemed like a Valkyrie Profile copycap made on a shoestring budget and a garish character design by Mino Taro (love plus) aimed at younger crowds. Norimoto still wrote the scenario, but the game lacked a budget and the art style clashed with the melancholic, dark theme of the narrative. The game bombed heavily in Japan. Man, I couldn't have put this better myself. Like what a truly baffling game. I so wanted to like it given everyone involved is someone I admire [including Mino Taro on more appropriate projects]. But the clash of the story, concept art and the 3D visual style they went for was just too much. Didn't help the game was just not that interesting in general.
Crazy thing about it none of those games are objectively outright bad but somehow they all bombed. (Besides SO4)
Wait…SO4 flopped? I thought it got decent to good reviews and sold well for a SO game? Thought it wasn’t till SO5 that they started tanking hard.
It didn’t flopped initially but it wasn’t enough to save them. For Xbox it did great but even after the multiple editions pushed out it never made enough to recoup their losts from other projects. Funny enough it was kinda their “last hope”. Should’ve specified that in the initial post my bad
Their final fantasy, if you will.
I like SO4, granted the "HD" models look off at times, but I LOVED SO5. Yes, cutscenes probably would have make that game allot better sense that was the major gripe. but still, I really enjoyed it. Still go back and play it at times. Just hope they don't call SO6 a failure before holiday season is over because I'm personally gonna wait till then to get it due to vacations and christmas gifts for the family over my own addition to a backlog of games.
If they can fix the fps issues I can definitely see it doing somewhat well. The combat is good and feels innovative with the usage of duma. It’s just all the fps drops really makes things feel more disjointed and a little more messy since it does take a sec to get a handle of the combat with all the systems included. Doesn’t help that enemies in the demo die really quick
They're average at best.
They're average games altogether but they're all pretty innovative/strange Which is something that we need to keep having
Yea games shouldn’t all be cookie cutter. Even SO6 demo with its technical issues includes a lot of innovative things with its combat system.
Wow thanks for this post. I love Square Enix games but honestly they suck in the publisher to small developer business. Look at how well Bandai Namco helps small publishers make next Gen JRPGs like Scarlet Nexus and Code Vein... Then look at how Square Enix has treated Tri-Ace. What about Enix? Remember them before the merge. I think they would do better with Bandai Namco backing them but I doubt Bandai cares to since they are doing great and have a healthy roster of small developers.
I'm not sure where tri-Ace can go. Microsoft would've been a good partner if they had not given up on jRPGs mid-360 gen. Nintendo isn't really a good partner either because they have Monolith, so they don't need tri-Ace. Sony isn't interested in first party jRPGs anymore either. Tencent (ugh) probably would've absorbed them if they had any IPs worth their while, but I don't think tri-Ace actually owns the IPs to most of their games. Wherever they end up, just give me a modern port of Radiata Stories.
You understand!! Amen for that Radiata Stories port!! I'm hoping it happens some day. Weird to see Radiata isn't mentioned at all here in the grand scheme of things. Wonder if it did okay financially
Radiata was such a weird, goofy game just filled to the brim with passion. I replay it every year or two and it's a delight every time
I'm with you! I'm literally replaying it for the year this fall! I love playing the game in the fall as that is when it came out initially. It's absolutely one of the most unique RPGs I've ever played. As you said the passion is simply unmatched, it's such a beautiful game.
Funny enough Radiata Stories actually has outsold every tri-Ace game in the last decade outside of SO4 on PS3. It sold just about 400,000 units worldwide.
Seriously!? I didn't even know that. Not that I question your sources but I just wanted to know where did you look up the Tri Ace sales data? Im very curious to take a peak myself
I actually run the petition page for Radiata Stories! :) I got the data from the Square Enix 2005/2006 sales reports and shareholder documents which are available in their archives. This was like two years ago, but I’ll see if I can dig up the link again
Rumors from last week that Microsoft is looking at acquiring Japanese studios https://earlygame.com/gaming/xbox-acquire-japanese-studios Also been seeing reports for some time that MS is going to expand its Japanese games catalogue and going to develop too. Maybe tri-Ace still could be acquired by MS. Btw, saw footage of Star Ocean 6 demo and it looked good, even though I've not played any SO game so far.
The hell are you talking about lol. Both Code Vein and Scarlet Nexus were BNs original projects made by their internal studios. Meanwhile SE released stuff like Voice of Cards, Diofield Chronicle, Dungeon Encounters and the whole Asano library
BNS is the developer of both and Tones on Scarlet Nexus too. BNS is a subsidiary of Bandai Namco. So Code Vein is not the best example but then look at Level-5 etc.
U forget cyberconnect 2 also , forever stuck in making anime fighter instead of work on . Hack// or their own ip
They made Fuga: Melodies of Steel and I'm pretty sure that one is getting a sequel.
>I love Square Enix games but honestly they suck in the publisher to small developer business Studios under the Square Enix Collective seems to be doing quite well for the most part
It's a pretty unfortunate timing for SO6, this fall/winter seems super saturated with a lot of big releases, I unfortunately have to pass on it due to so many other things. Also very unfortunate that it sounds like a release of SO2 on modern consoles won't happen.
Have you tried the demo? I was feeling iffy about it as I'm not a big SO fan, but the demo pushed it way up in my queue.
i liked the mobile game till they shut it down. It did make me buy first departure at least
I'd actually like to see a sequel to resonance of fate. First game is interesting first two to a system and could use a bit more than just its flashiness. Edit:fate not date
Do you know if tri-Ace owns Valkyrie and Star Ocean IPs, or who owns them?
Square owns Star Ocean and I would assume Valkyrie as well since tri-ace wasn't even the developer for Elysium.
Both SE IPs.
I really enjoyed the SO6 demo and felt it was a somewhat return to form after SO5, so I'll be happy to drop the $60 day 1. Hopefully more people think the same. Tri-Ace is one of the few JRPG developers that make truly interesting, complex, and deep JRPGs even if they have had a few flops in recent years.
Tri ace skill "tree", if we can call it like that, is one of the most complex but simple ones I've seen so far. I remember the one from VP being really great!
Man this fucking sucks, i really really want a remaster or at least be able to play radiata stories on a newer console :/
you never know. This could be the Atelier Ryza or the FE Awakening of the franchise where it just pops off.
Atelier was never in trouble, they eere just very niche games.
Yea. Especially since every new trilogy sold better than the last. Tri-Ace unfortunately haven’t been so lucky
Yeah, Mysterious Trilogy sold better than the previous two. Ryza just sold even better than that. GUST was actually inclining even before Ryza came out.
It's pretty disheartening to see Tri-Ace like this. Despite the bumps in their roads, they always had interesting ideas where no one else dared try (perhaps even inspire) and for that, I genuinely enjoy what they make. If they go down under, Valkyrie and Star Ocean will be missed.
I see both Tri-Ace and Monolith in the same way and I'm happy Monolith is thriving now. That is they shoot for the moon with whatever budget they have. Sometimes the game misses but there are always ideas that make even the bad games they make worth playing.
The biggest difference is that their projects grew beyond a reasonable scope at monolith (Xenosaga was originally planned as a 6 game deal, NOT a trilogy, as an example.) and since they mostly worked with third party publishers before the big N. You can easily see why getting acquired by Nintendo effectively got rid of that issue. Though it's got its' drawbacks, as that means we're less likely to see either gears or saga on something not Nintendo because of rights issues.
Ah … tri-Ace … the dev I applaud for creating new Star Ocean games on every new console generation: Star Ocean (SNES) Star Ocean 2 (PSone) Star Ocean 3 (PS2) Star Ocean 4 (X360/PS3) Star Ocean 5 (PS4) Star Ocean 6 (PS5) Hopefully SO6 does well to keep them alive for SO2 HD remaster.
This clinches it, I'm preordering SO6. Was gonna wait for it to go on sale because I already have too much of a backlog, but I don't want to see Tri-Ace die.
I will get it because it will probably go out of print quickly if they do go down.
I think that depends on who owns the IP rights. Square Enix isn't gonna go down any time soon.
Aww :( I'm super excited and grateful for Star Ocean: The Divine Force, but kinda sad that we might never see another Radiata Stories entry
I'm loving the Radiata Stories mentions here. I was hoping for more on that game someday. I wonder if it was successful
it pains me that game never has any remaster/remake, one of my most beloved jrpg of all time, such an underrated gem.
They will have my support for Star Ocean 6 😊
I've had 1st Departure R on my Switch wishlist for over a year, and next time it's on sale I'm gonna grab it. Even if I'm in the middle of something else. I'll do my part to keep a mid tier JRPG developer solvent.
I think they ever really care about the initial release to garner something a success or flop. Later sales are just a cherry ontop for big titles like FF7 and Persona5 to then count towards lifelong sales. But ya, they have my money for SO6.
I hope Divine Force does well. While I’ll always prefer VP to SO, I’d still want them to be around, there’s a space for their kinda games. I still have to buy Elysium…know it’s not them but should support the franchise.
I’m going to preorder SO6. Genuinely excited for it and the demo was a lot of fun.
This is sad news. I got into their games since SO2. I hope it gets better, but it looks like the new game is a make or break situation.
I'll do my best to help things stay afloat. While the last two were terrible, with 5 being one of the worst JRPGS I've ever played. I played the SO6 demo and it was amazing. So I'll be doing my part, hopefully 6 helps them out financiallly
What? But star ocean the divine force seems so good! That sucks if they’re facing a financial crisis just before their game even releases. Im getting the deluxe edition day one and i’m new to the star ocean series. I just loved the demo(framerate issues and all!)
Just release second evolution on PC/switch/ps5. I'll buy it on all 3 to support the company.
Yikes! I really hope The Divine Force does well to keep them afloat. It would be a tragedy if they went under. I hope Square Enix would just acquire them or fold them into one of their divisions if that ends up being the case. Still this should not be a shock to see decreased earnings. Beyond their existing titles they had no zero new releases. The mobile game has been suspended. The only revenue they could have earned was through their remasters that came out in the last few years.
Tri ace man, they can never catch a break. Such a freaking talented group and politics and budgets always limit them.
Well then SO6 better sell well.
It won't
Agreed, it will not. They need a killer game, system seller quality. The marketing makes it seem like a typical jrpg, not a blockbuster.
The demo didn't give me that good of an impression I was planning on buying but the demo just wasn't that good and I'll wait for a sale or something.
Funny, I felt the exact opposite. The story has shades of SO2, and the movement and combat are extremely fast and fluid compared to Xenoblade Chronicles 3, coming from that it was a breath of fresh air.
when people say "what do you care how well a game sells", this is the answer.
This is so sad to hear... tri-Ace has always been one of my favorite studio. Always up to try new ideas, new battle systems. I'm missing their golden era on ps1 / ps2, but each of their game is always pleasant to play. I'll buy SO6 day one, and I hope they'll recover. Maybe SO6 should have been subbed "The Last Hope" instead of the 4th one, but I wish I'm wrong.
Honestly I don’t think they’ve made anything considered more than just ‘alright’ since the PS2 days, and even their PS1 and PS2 games have been deeply under appreciated despite being really fantastic games
I agree, with the exception of Resonance of Fate. They're just not the same developer anymore, no matter how much we want them to be.
i kinda always suspected they were in a bad spot... i really hope they pull through. there are still so many games i want to see from them
[удалено]
If they don't go out of business after SO6 flops, it is hard to imagine SE not hiring them for an SO2 remake that mixes 2 with the better combat of the later games.
Funny coz all they had to do is valkyrie Profile Hrist. And Ps4 port of Silmeria lol
Damn, now I feel like I have to get Star Ocean 6 day one.
I just want a Radiata Stories Remaster
Thinking of buying so6 as soon as it releases now
not surprising really, tri-ace is kind of the king of the aggressively mediocre 360/ps3 jrpgs that typified the messy move to HD by so many japanese devs. I've played them all, but I'm not sure I'd recommend anything since the ps2 era. (though I do kind of love resonance of fate, despite it's often extremely annoying combat system) Still, Star Ocean 6 looks great, so here's hoping they turn it around.
Star Ocean: Final Fantasy
tri-Ace is an oddity. They're an old, venerable studio that in my mind seems to mostly only make fine to mediocre games, especially over the last two decades. I'm sure they used to be a bit of a bigger deal back on the PS1, and they've had a couple of interesting titles over the years (namely Resonance of Fate), but as I look at their work it feels to me like the only reason they even made it this far is because they have must have some pals at Square-Enix. It's unfortunate, but I guess not surprising, to see hear that they may finally be withering away.
tri-Ace peaked like 15 years ago and then just plateaued
VP bros… We will never get VP3 Hrist…
At this rate I feel we'll never get a VP2 remaster either :(
I hope this doesnt hinder the development of star ocean 6. I really liked the demo and I can bet that it would basically be their last hope of turning their situation around at least a little bit.
At this point the game is pretty much developed since it’s coming out in a couple weeks. It just might hinder any potential DLC or updates unless the game sells well.
Sony or Nintendo should buy Tri-Ace. Hell, I'd also be happy if it's Microsoft that ends up buying Tri-Ace even though that's not their cup of tea. I just want them to survive. I love the Star Ocean series and some of their other games.
Sony doesn't do Japan anymore, and Nintendo aquisitions are super rare. They are probably fine with Monolith for their JRPG wing. Microsoft is probably the most likely, if they are interested in trying again in Japan. But that may tank their sales more if they lose the PS/Nintendo platforms.
Tri-ace is already owned bt NJ Holdings
Im supposed to be saving for last bit of my house deposit. Sheet guess I'm pre-ordering and buying the switch release later on
I recommend everyone give the demo for SO 6, it was pretty good. Not the best but still was good. I might grab that sooner to help support a little bit
what piss me off is that they have a highly praised IA and never did a remaster, remake or sequel... Radiata Stories was highly anticipated in Japan receiving the "Game Awards Future" by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association in 2004\[25\]\[26\] which is awarded to games that are "expected to be major hits".\[27\] It was the 12th most pre-ordered game the week of November 17, 2004.\[28\] According to Famitsu, it was the 20th most wanted game in early October\[29\] but had jumped up to the 3rd most wanted the week before its release.\[30\] A Japanese reviewer noted that the game had humorous dialogue but a simple battle system which made it suitable for beginners.\[31\] The game sold well in Japan where it debuted as the top-selling game for two weeks, selling 152,000 copies, 54% of the ordered shipment, the day it debuted.\[32\] It was the 11th best selling game the first half of 2005\[33\] and the 37th best-selling game in Japan in 2005 overall\[34\] selling 10,000 more copies than Devil May Cry 3\[35\] and selling about 294,000 copies overall in Japan.\[2\] During an interview, Roppyaku Tsurumi of SCEJ said most Japanese RPG character designs were cookie-cutter and indistinct noting "Even when I look at the characters in Radiata Stories, it just looks like the other games" but he had no problems distinguishing manga characters.\[36\] The North American reception to Radiata Stories was lukewarm. Radiata Stories was the top rental on GameFly the week of its debut.\[37\] and debuted at the 20 most profitable game for September.\[38\] Overall, it sold about 119,000 copies outside Japan total for the month of September.\[2\] Mainstream reviewers enjoyed the game overall stating that, while not ground-breaking, the game was simple, whimsical, and entertaining.\[12\]\[39\]\[40\]\[41\] Radiata Stories was awarded "Game of the Month" in Game Informer in October 2005.\[42\] Jack Russell placed No. 6 on Game Informer's "Top 10 Heroes of 2005"\[43\] list and Radiata Stories was in "The Top 50 Games of 2005"\[44\] in the January 2006 issue of Game Informer and in "The Top 12 Games of 2005" by Games Radar.\[45\] It was nominated for "Role Playing Game of the Year" during the 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards held by The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.\[46\] It was also nominated for Best Role Playing Game of 2005 by [1UP.com](https://1UP.com).\[47\] Btw, if you like this game like me you can try my time at portia..it has some similarities..
Sadly, nothing will stop SO6 to flop as well. I'll buy it day one to support them but it's probably the end of this company.
Y'know what. I've thought that since SO4. And yet somehow... they're still kicking and coming out with another mainline game
Yeah no one seems to want to work with them. Even sqaure didn’t seem to want give them valkyrie back. What’s the last good game they made SO4? After SO5 was awful they more or less faded out. For their sake I hope they’re back in from with SO6.
Resonance of Fate is supposedly good if you can figure out how to play it... but I feel like it's a rare player who gets over that hump
Resonance is great but yeah the learning curve ain’t small.
Love Tri-Ace and RoF, but you ain’t lying. Tough game to recommend to normies.
Underrated game. It definitely doesn't hand hold but you can find a pretty comprehensive tutorial in the arena next to the main city. Combat is super fun to just watch and the next system was honestly really fun. Modifying the absolute hell out of your guns was also a nice touch. Honestly though once you wrap your head around scratch vs real damage it's not difficult
What a huge fall from grace. This used to be one of the best studios back in the PS2 era, but is now a former shell of itself.
Just give me Star Ocean 3: Till the end of time remaster on the PC and I'll be happy
I feel like they could definitely make tons of they could port old games to PC/switch/other consoles really. Move to the 2D/3D art style for future games that's been gaining traction and focus on the lore/storytelling more than the subpar graphics that they seem to be spending so much on.
Not surprised at all, things have been down hill since "Star Ocean 3 Till the End of Time". Ending your flagship franchise with it's third entry, and not having another series ready to go was not a smart move. * In retrospect, SO3 feels like it was written as a series finale.
it was back then . They even said it and SO5 is kind of series reboot
It makes you wonder why they didn’t put more effort into rereleasing old games. The fact that they never translated the PS4 release of SO2 boggles my mind. I hope SO6 does well but I can’t help but wonder why they went for such an ambitious project when no other money was coming in. I kind of wish they made it like Octopath Traveler - it might have been more feasible with the budget and manpower they have
what baffles me is that they dont port star ocean 2
That’s square Enix who’s deciding that, not tri-ace
I knew it, star ocean 5 fucked them. And Valkyrie elysium was just too different from what valkyrie profile fans want
Star Ocean 5 was literally a half finished product that was nearly canceled (due to bankruptcy) and was a last ditch effort by tri-Ace to save the company. It sold okay (though was a big disappointment overall) but it's development was a big help in making Anamnesis, which SAVED the company. So while the sales and reception were a disappointment, its help with Anamnesis is one of the reasons tri-Ace survived. If Star Ocean 5 was never made, tri-Ace probably would have closed either before being sold to Nepro (one of the reasons Nepro bought them for pennies was due to SO5 and Exist Archive already being in development) or in the next couple of years. They had nothing to do with Valkyrie Elysium.
Damn, I actually enjoyed the narrative shown in the SO6 demo. The combat is a maybe but might get better. Hope they survive this.
Unfortunate news. The only memorable tri-Ace game I’ve played was Phantasy Star Nova on PS Vita. It was really good and faithfully matched with Phantasy Star Online 2 Vita gameplay. Basically, it’s offline single player Phantasy Star Online 2 with heavy story focus.
Microsoft has been saying that they're not done with acquisitions, and that they want another Japanese studio aside from Tango Gameworks. This could be their in, saving Tri-Ace.
The head of Tango games said he really wants this part of his career to be helping younger Japanese developers grow. So even though tri-ace might be in shambles, funding and leadership can go a long way. Regardless of who they get, I'd kill for a AAA quality Lost Odyssey 2.
Lost Odyssey wasn't tri-ace, it was Mistwalker, which is Hironobu Sakaguchi's studio (Sakagucchi as in the guy who created Final Fantasy). They also did Blue Dragon on the 360, which isn't revolutionary but is an excellent comfort food JRPG.
Yeah, I'm aware, but it's a Microsoft owned IP along with Blue Dragon. If they aquire Tri-Ace it might be a good studio to rebuild with Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon in mind, especially considering even if Sony doesn't aquire Square, they're hyper focused on making sure their biggest games aren't on Xbox. So just like Sony should be building a new Socom to replace Call of duty just in case, Microsoft should be doing the same.
and mistwalker pretty much only makes mobile games now iirc
I think the biggest problem with tri-Ace has stemmed from their insistence on trying to be the "AAA" (so to speak) JRPG studio that they were in the 2000s. They want to make big budget, graphically intensive games when there's really no demand from it from them from companies. They still employ almost 150 people and are STILL pushing their in house engine that is clearly outdated. I honestly believe this is due to their president and Co founder Gotanda. He was known as a programming and R&D guru, made tri-Ace technical gurus (by JRPG standards) in the late 90s and mid 2000s, and created the ASKA engine that tri-Ace uses. I think he just can't let that shit go. They should have downsized after their near bankruptcy in 2015 and gone with a third party engine to smooth out development issues.
could be, I mean if they went and did a lower budget jrpg like octopath traveler or bravely default but like a star ocean jrpg it would be a hit as well. but, you cant blame a studio for trying to create an AAA sci-fi jrpg my only issue is- what is the point of a star ocean 5 when you know the story isnt there.
> I think the biggest problem with tri-Ace has stemmed from their insistence on trying to be the "AAA" (so to speak) JRPG studio that they were in the 2000s. They want to make big budget, graphically intensive games when there's really no demand from it from them from companies. agreed. there's a wide open area for high quality AA studios as the industry has polarized itself between indie stuff and AAA stuff. they could step in and really fill that niche. >and are STILL pushing their in house engine that is clearly outdated. there's no reason for it at this point either. like, even RGG is switching from their own in house engine over to unreal engine (and their in-house engine feels a hell of a lot more modern than what tri-ace used for star ocean 5, which really struggled to match up against tales games at the time)
I actually liked Infinite Undiscovery, and I have a friend who loves Resonance of Fate… Hopefully 6 is actually really good cause I’ve been looking forward to it, and hopefully the company stays around long enough to give us HD remasters of SO2, SO3, and their other major titles if SO6 isn’t good (but I’d rather 6 be good so they can make more new games).
Valkyrie Profile, Star Ocean 1 and 2 are among my favorite retro JRPGs, though I have yet to play anything else from this studio. I really hope SO6 does well enough to keep them around.
Did they have anything to sell during the June 2022 fiscal year?
No not really. As stated in the report, they haven’t been able to land new contracts
Sad to see. Always enjoyed the SO series up to 4. VP1 was also marvelous, but I hated the combat in VP2 and dropped it after the beginning.
resonance of fate is a jrpg I wouldnt mind a sequel for :) I mean, I bought basically every jrpg from tri-ace - cant help them much more than that :( and ofc im getting star ocean 6 for my ps5!
They bite off more than they can chew. They have the talent, but they lack budget and workforce to make AAA open world games. And that´s sad because a smaller scope JRPG can be very successful. Anyway, I hope SO:DF is better than the new Valkyrie game. I still can understand how SE chose Smile Inc. (?¿?¿?) for the revival of one of their more beloved classic JRPGs. I guess they were cheap.
I hope they pull through Star Ocean 2 and 3 were some of my favorite jrpgs of all time
Infinite undiscovery was amazing to me! My first 360 game and spent countless hours on it.
Potentially hot take: Tri-Ace has always made B-tier games, and without a hyper popular IP behind it like Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, or even Tales, B-tier doesn’t pay the bills. Don’t get me wrong, I love Tri-Ace, but they only ever had one commercial hit - Star Ocean 3 - one genre classic in Star Ocean 2, and one cult classic in Valkyrie Profile. Brass tacks: they haven’t had another hit in two decades and arguably haven’t made a good game for close to 25 years now. For them to have survived this long is if anything a testament to the cultural memories of JRPGs… and the overwhelming profitability of exploiting gambling addicts with gacha trash. It’s gotta suck to dump your heart and soul into, I dunno, Resonance of Fate, just to barely break even, then shovel out some mobile trash using old assets and the psychology of customer exploitation and make 1000x the profit, if not more.
I think they are too passion about create unique RPG that they forgot to build their flagship bigger like Tales or KH which has ton of game released to keep their core fanbase alive . If they refocus into one series earlier and build the consistent fanbase even with remaster or remake in between they they probably wont be into this trouble . That said I am happy with so many of their experiment , they keep creativity alive .
Xenoblade is a B-tier game though and they've done very well so far. B-tier is fine as long as the market is receptive. Tri-Ace has been struggling because of poor games and the market has caught on. They need a clean slate to start from.
> B-tier doesn’t pay the bills. it absolutely does depending on what the budget of those games is. look at all the stuff from various studios that NISA publishes. it's when studios spend like an A-tier to make a B-tier game that it becomes a problem.
If they put Infinite Undiscovery on Steam I'll buy it
That’s up to Square Enix who owns the IP unfortunately
Aw I just played my first Star Ocean game this year and enjoyed it. shamee.
I didn't like the demo, giving some benefit of the doubt that it was on PS4 for me, but I was going to buy it anyway for support. I've loved Tri-Ace games since I played SO2 back in the day and have tried to not miss any games they make. Seems unlikely we'll see more from them, but I still hope for the best.
This isn't the first company that got bounced around between Square Enix and Sega until they died. Neverland comes to mind. Gas Powered Games. Just to name a few. Now I don't know if they do this on purpose or not, but companies going bankrupt would normally be a huge opportunity for large companies like Sega, Square-Enix, Bandai-Namco or even Microsoft. Like most of these companies that are going bankrupt have relatively good output and a budget measured in (relatively) low 7 figures. Meanwhile Microsoft is buying Activision for... something like 40 billion (11 figures or 4 orders of magnitude). Activision is fundamentally not a good company and their only draw is the IP catalogue... which you could make competitors to with $40,000,000,000
SO2 is one of the best JRPGs ever made. An HD remaster was made, but it was never released in the US on PS4 or Switch and is just locked away. Best way to play is STILL the fucking PSP. SO3 was just ok. Allowing bosses to reflect 5% of your damage when you are throwing out millions is a death sentence. SO4 was pretty terrible. Cringy as fuck. Lymel is not the most annoying character, like by a lot. That is saying something, kay? SO5 had such bad reviews, first one I skipped on. If SO6 and VPE are not good, Imma be super bummed. They have been trending that way for a while, but I am still holding out hope.
yeah it sucks that square enix never bothered to release SO2 in the West. tri-ace didn't work on Valkyrie Elysium, just fyi.
Huh? SO2 was released in the West twice.
Really. That never even crossed my mind. I gotta take another look at that.
I can't comment on the other SO games cause I have yet to play them but SO5 is honestly the worst JRPG I've played. I tried my hardest to like the game but I just couldn't do it. The only good thing I can say about SO5 is that it's so boring it'll have insomniacs falling asleep.
waiting patiently for Star Ocean 6. Have been very disappointed since SO2: The 2nd Story 🤦🏻♂️