Japanese games big and small are coming out of the woodwork for their big Tokyo Game Show debut next week. It's the biggest game party in the country, and everyone is gonna be there, so a Japanese company missing its chance to show off its wares to the public at TGS would be akin to it not shipping the game to stores because it just didn't feel like getting out of bed that day. You wouldn't do it, in other words, if you wanted to get any money out of it.

So it is with Star Ocean: The Last Hope, fourth game in the series and -- for now, anyway -- an Xbox 360 exclusive. Square Enix and tri-Ace's latest is hitting stores spring 2009 in Japan, and it'll be playable at the Microsoft booth in TGS next week. Weekly Famitsu magazine celebrated today be releasing more details behind the game's story, characters and plot. As far as Star Ocean's plotline goes, this game covers what could be considered prehistory -- the second half of the 21st century. World War III breaks out in 2064, razing the planet and forcing people to live in underground cities. The world governments see space development as a solution, and after the world's first working warp drive is invented in 2087, a new planetary exploration force is created to search for a new home for the human race.

Edge Maverick and Reimi Saionji, two childhood friends, are members of this elite team, with more characters joining them later on. Two new party members were introduced this week: Faize Sheifa Beleth, a rapier-wielding 18-year-old from planet Elder who's cool, emotionless, and resembles a Japan-designed, blond-haired Mr. Spock; and Lymle Remli Phi, a villager from planet Remlik who's gifted in magic and looks like a prepubescent young girl even though she's 15 years old -- not because the character designer's a perv, but because some incident in her past caused enough emotional trauma that she hasn't matured correctly. (Both of these characters' native planets are new to the Star Ocean universe, and presumably we'll be visiting both of 'em as the game goes on.)

The Famitsu coverage also gives us our first detailed look at SO4's battle system, a powered-up version of the 3D-based one from Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. You control your four-person party in real time, using a mixture of regular attacks, special moves, and magic as you maneuver around your enemies. One new facet of the system is a "sight in/sight out" concept -- every enemy has a field of vision, and suddenly leaving your opponent's line of sight (say, by jumping into the air or sidestepping out of view) will temporarily disorient him, giving you a clear shot at a slow-motion counterattack. Party members can be changed in and out of battle at will, and if things are how they are in previous Star Oceans, the result's going to be alarmingly hectic.

I've fixed the insanity in your post.

I have, and I still think you've been drinking the funny water, suzz.

Ok, if I win, you have to finally send me that PS2 memory card adaptor.

Isn't the "gameplay" video of Star Ocean 99% FMV?

So you're claiming that the playable demos of FFXIII and Versus at the Square Enix party were just very smart FMV sequences that reacted to the controller?

Just announced at the Microsoft press briefing during the Tokyo Game Show, Star Ocean: The Last Hope will land in North America on March 3 after it debuts in Japan on February 19. Microsoft also announced that the title will be made available in European and Asian markets but did not announce specific release dates.

Developed by triAce and published by Square Enix, Star Ocean: The Last Hope joins the list of strong Japanese style RPGs to find life on the Xbox 360.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope is one of Square Enix and Microsoft's key games at the Tokyo Game Show this year. Microsoft is showcasing the title in its own booth. We finally got our hands on the game to get a feel for the battle mechanics.

The Last Hope is Star Ocean's origin story. Previous games took place in space after World War III destroyed the Earth. This game tells how people developed the technology to leave the planet and live in space. Pesky hostile aliens will impede the player's progress, however. Unfortunately, Square Enix doesn't want to reveal much about the story at this time. Right now they're showing off the basic gameplay mechanics and visuals, which are pretty impressive.

It's an action RPG, but you have to encounter an enemy and enter a battle instance before you do any fighting. Along the way many characters will join you but only four can be in your party at a time. Once in a fight you can switch between each character with the right bumper. You can freely run around the battlefield attacking, jumping, and casting spells. The game almost has a button-mashing feel to it. Some weapons perform differently depending on how far you are from the enemy. The triggers are used for casting spells and performing special attacks, many of which are suitably impressive. If an enemy is off screen an arrow will point in their direction. You can tell when you are being targeted because a big yellow crosshair will show up on your body.

In our demo there was one environment available to run around in and get into fights. While the character designs and animations are quite impressive, this one area was pretty bland and monotonous. It was hard to tell where we could go because the tiles all looked the same. An area map luckily appears in the upper right corner of the screen indicating your destination.

The level led up to a boss fight with a humanoid dragon chap. A fun little cutscene preceded the action, showing the young girl in our party summoning a red lion to attack the dragon. It didn't do the trick, though, and we ended up fighting him. And pwning him.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope is set for an early 2009 release in Japan with a North American launch shortly thereafter. While there is still much to learn about the game it should definitely be on RPG fans' radars.