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Perhaps adding to the anticipation surrounding Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, bios for the game's main cast have recently surfaced.

Fate Linegod, a 19-year-old, has a reputation for being a very honest, determined young man. His parents are the most renowned and highly respected scholars of Heraldry Genetics in the Galaxy Federation. Following in his parents' footsteps, this Earthling also studies Heraldry Genetics at the Burktine Science Acadamy. While he'd prefer playing sports and games, he is committed to practicing martial arts every day in a "combat simulator." Like most RPG heroes before him, Fate would never abandon someone in need.

Sophia Esteed is also a student at Burktine. Now at the age of 17, she and Fate formed their friendship before they could even talk. Sophia is always reaching out to those in need and, much like the stereotypical "perfect girl," her smile could melt Antarctica.

Nel Zelpher is a secret agent assigned to keep an eye on Fate and his comrades. The source of her orders is unknown, and the 23-year-old is willing to sacrifice anything and everything for the success of her mission. However, her naturally kind heart is sure to make some of her decisions unimaginably difficult.

At age 36, Cliff Fitter is the oldest cast member. Cliff's neck bears green lines--a trait which indicates that his home planet lies in the Claustro System. Natives of Claustro are naturally more athletic than humans, with superior eyesight to boot. While Cliff can sometimes let this go to his head and act like your average "tough guy," he's just a big softie. He certainly doesn't hesitate to indulge in the things he loves, and ultimately hopes to live a simple life.

Souffle Rosetti is a 14-year-old dancer for the Rossetti Troupe. The general consensus of those around her is that she is exceptionally beautiful, and her good looks will only get better as she matures. Souffle is certainly not one to disagree, as she tries to draw even more attention to herself by wearing red bands around her waste and wrists, which compliment her silver hair and golden skin. The young girl comes off as carefree simply because she has immense difficulty expressing her true emotions.

A race called the Menodics, whose members never grow taller than three feet, dwell in a certain mountainous area. That's just where players will meet Roger S. Huxley. Roger certainly couldn't have been a cast member on The Little Rascals, because his grand love of women would've made him an outcast from the start. Even at age 12, his fondness for the ladies is quite visible. He's never shy around any woman, regardless of her age or title. Perhaps this is part of his ongoing efforts to prove to the world that he's a "real man." He and his friends are always taking various "tests of manhood," hoping to outdo a rival group in the village.

This wacky cast will be romping through a fully 3D world in which 400 years have passed since the end of Star Ocean: The Second Story. Star Ocean: Till the End of Time should be available in North America later this year.

Square Enix announced today plans for a Japanese re-release of Star Ocean 3 under the title Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time -- Director's Cut. The director's cut is being shown at the Square Enix Tokyo Game Show booth in video form, and although firm details on its new content haven't been revealed, some have suggested that there are new characters floating about in the footage.

Aside from any possible changes to the game's content the director's cut will bring, we're certain it will also fix the bug problems that plagued Star Ocean 3 at its release. The bugs caused quite a stir, with then Enix actually allowing users to trade in problematic disks for new ones. With the game having sold below Enix's original expectations, it seems that the bugs may have gotten the best of the title to an extent.
A Japanese release date for Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time -- Director's Cut is set for this Winter. No word yet, of course, from Square Enix on if an American version of Star Ocean 3 would include changes from the director's cut.

Square Enix had Star Ocean: Till the End of Time in playable form at its E3 display, and we took just a few minutes to try the game out. The version of the game on exhibit hadn't undergone any noticeable localization efforts, so we made our way through the demo area and considerable amounts of Japanese text as best we could. Despite the language barrier, the game played quite intuitively and seemed like it will be a solid entry in the sci-fi RPG series.

The demo of the newest Star Ocean didn't contain any cinematics or dialogue to speak of; rather, we just ended up running around a little bit. Enemies will be visible on the overhead map before an encounter, and of course this means you'll be able to avoid them at times if necessary. As in previous games, you'll play battles in real-time, and you'll only be able to control one character at a time--the other members of your party will be controlled by the game's AI. Once in a battle, you can attack enemies in real-time, switch to other party members, and open a menu to access items, special skills, and the like. It seemed like the AI was doing a pretty good job of controlling the other party members, as they were making intelligent choices during battle and not just blindly rushing into the thick of things.

The one demo area on display at Square Enix's booth was an odd sort of crystalline platform floating in space, and both the design and implementation of this area were really quite good. The background looked a bit abstract, but if it's any indication of the graphical quality of the overall game--and current screenshots suggest that it is--then Star Ocean: Till the End of Time will be one of the better-looking RPGs on the PS2.

From what we saw, it looks like Till the End of Time will successfully transition the Star Ocean series to full 3D. The game is currently slated to be released this fall, so stay tuned for more information in the weeks to come.

Square Enix and tri-Ace have finally admitted the reason behind the lengthy delay of the North American version of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. This August, they will release the director's cut, a special enhanced version of the title, instead of the regular version sometime earlier this year.

The director's cut includes two extra characters, two extra dungeons, a versus mode, and some extra story bits, minus the nasty bugs that plagued the first Japanese version of Star Ocean 3. The North American version will include another notable change; the name of the main character has been modified slightly from "Fate" to "Fayt."

CHRIS PRIVITERE
E3 CORRESPONDENT



In the middle of a battle.
As I continued around Square-Enix's booth, I came to Star Ocean 3. The first thing you notice here is that there are two demos. One of them was showing off parts of the games. The other was demoing a 1 on 1 battle system where you and your friend were able to choose any character and go at it.


Stuck in a dungeon.
I chose to look at the game. I was placed in a gray dungeon where I was able to run around and try to avoid fights as enemies showed up on screen ala the Lunar games. When I was unfortunate enough to get attacked, I was treated to very nice models of my characters, who then proceeded to destroy everything on the screen. I pretty much stood there and watched while pressing X a lot. It took me 4 or 5 battles to realize that I could cast spells by standing still a while and then opening the menus. It seemed like the battle system was doing everything for me. I did notice that I could put the other two people on manual and control them all, but I'm not really sure why I should bother expending effort to cast spells myself if they're gonna do it for me.

The demo I saw didn't show any story. Which is too bad since the dungeon itself wasn't very interesting. I was running around without a clue, collecting elemental orbs that I could put into little shrines and watch glow. I just wasn't interested in finding out any more as I coulnd't really think with all the battles interrupting me.

Oh well, it does look pretty, and the battle system has lots of explosions and is at least fast and fun to watch. If the plots good and the dungeons aren't all like the one I played, it'll turn out well. Just don't expect challenging combat.