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Bad news, RPG fans. The future of "Final Fantasy" may look bright after Square Enix held its "Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV" event last Wednesday, but another one of the company's beloved series, "Star Ocean," has recently had its own future thrown into doubt after the release date listing for "Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness" on Square Enix's website changed to "TBD."
Last week, Square Enix had put up "Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness" for pre-order on its website, listing the game as having a June 28 release date. However, that has since changed over the weekend, and the release date now reads "TBD."
The release date isn't the only thing that is seeing a change. On the listing, Square Enix had announced a "Day One Edition" that featured the following exclusive in-game content:
•Ring of the Valkyries - Increases ATK, INT, and Critical
•Gold Bunny Statue - Increases EXP and FOL"
•Bushybrume Cincture - Reduces amount of MP used
•Wristlet of the Stars - Reduces Damage taken
•Secret Stahlian Tome - Increases HP healed
•"Valkyrie Profile" and "Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria" BGM - Customize the battle BGM within the game to battle music from the "Valkyrie Profile" series.
Instead, the page now features the generic art on the box as well as a simple description which reads:
"'STAR OCEAN,' the epic, sci-fi RPG saga that takes players to the stars and beyond, makes its triumphant return with its forthcoming fifth installment in the series. The title is developed by tri-Ace, the celebrated studio behind each of the previous iterations, with character designs by akiman (Akira Yasuda)."
The only things that remain the same are the $59.99 price and its platform: the PlayStation 4.
It's unclear what's going on here, as not even the official "Star Ocean" Twitter page made any mention of the release date change. But then again, it never made an announcement when June 28 was confirmed as the release date, either. As of Sunday afternoon, its most recent posts are ones featuring the three trailers that were shown during the "Star Log" live stream which aired last month.
The official website makes no mention of the new listing either.
Of course, all of this isn't to say that the game has been definitively delayed. Maybe the listing change was just a momentary error on Square Enix's part, or maybe the release has been pushed up (not likely). Of course if it has been delayed, then hopefully Square Enix will promptly announce a new date that isn't too far off from the initial June 28 release date. Then again, it would also beg the question as to why the delay occurred to begin with.
In related news, there has been a bit of controversy surrounding "Star Ocean" after it became revealed that Miki Sauvester, the game's heroine, had her costume tweaked a little by developers out of fear of western backlash. It's already one thing to censor games for Western audiences, ask Nintendo about this, but Japan also saw its version altered, which left gamers upset that their games had been affected by Western sensibilities.
In the meantime, fans can look forward to the second episode of Square Enix's "Star Log." A broadcast date hasn't been announced, but another one coming this month isn't totally out of reason.
