Star Ocean 5 Details On Its New Characters Emerson And Anne, And Battle System

We previously got a look at two new characters for Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness, and this week’s issue of Famitsu magazine provides us with more details on the newcomers and on the game’s battle system. [Thanks, Hachima.]

Emerson (CV: Junichi Suwabe): he might look like tough guy, but he has a frank personality, and is a lover of alcohol and women. While in battle, he uses his powerful bow gun to attack enemies from a distance.

Anne (CV: Ayumi Fujimura): a calm and intelligent woman who travels alongside Emerson. Thanks to her variety of martial arts skills, she can practically toy around with her enemies. She also loves cats.

The next part, they detail the new “Role” battle system, where you designate roles for the party members. This system is mostly split into offensive and defensive types, and also includes a feature called “Factor” that enhances abilities.

A character can have up to four Roles, and they affect the actions of the characters when they’re being controlled by the AI in the party. Here are some of the offensive Role types:

• Attacker: prioritizes number of hits and focuses on attacking. ATK +4.

• Caster: prioritizes number of hits and focuses on using skill attacks. INT +4.

• Berzer: prioritizes attacking targets that hit with weak but fast attacks.

• Fighter: drops defenses to focus all on attacking.

In addition to offensive and defensive Roles, there are some for healing, supporting, and specialists for buffs. The more the Roles are used, the higher their levels and Factor effects become.

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness will release in Japan on February 25, 2016 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3, and in the West in 2016. The first-print bonus will include a DLC that allows you to change a part of the game’s BGM to something from Valkyrie Profile.