Star Ocean reminds us that Final Fantasy and Persona aren’t the last big-budget JRPGs

When the PlayStation 2 was on fire in the early 2000s, it felt like Japanese role-playing games were everywhere. Energized by the feverish worldwide reception to Final Fantasy VII and its followups, the genre entered a great renaissance, and Japanese developers were eagerly bringing their most talented creators — and their biggest budgets — to the newly introduced graphical powerhouse consoles. It’s a stark contrast to the situation today. The JRPG genre has primarily shifted to mobile and portable consoles, with only a few headlining series — Final Fantasy, Persona, the Tales franchise — appearing on current-gen console hardware. While some of these series are doing quite well, it’s a far cry from the genre’s heyday.

Such is why Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is such an oddity in the current marketplace. It’s the first new game for Square Enix’s Star Ocean franchise in seven years, which is noteworthy in itself, but it’s also one of a mere handful of high-budget JRPGs slated for release this year on the PlayStation 4.