Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness comes to North America June 28, according to the Square Enix Online Store (via Siliconera). The release date comes amid reports that the development team altered the appearance of the character Miki for Western audiences.
The pink-haired, staff-wielding party member will be getting some more modest underthings for her journey across the Pacific. “Recently, there’s been a lot of flak from overseas countries saying that if you put teens in ‘sexual’ underwear it’s not good,” said Shuchi Kobayashi, the producer of Integrity and Faithlessness, in an interview with 4Gamer (helpfully translated by Niche Gamer). “So we increased the amount of clothing.” In light of the recent controversy about Overwatch’s Tracer pose, this may have been a wise decision, though could irk some already concerned about the censorship of games for Western audiences.
News of the June 28 release date for the latest entry in the Star Ocean saga brings with it the announcement of a Day One Edition, which will feature seven DLC bonuses, including five equippable accessories. These include:
- Bushybrume Cincture: reduces the amount of MP a character uses.
- Gold Bunny Statue: which increases the experience and money (Fol) earned.
- Ring of the Valkyries: increases the attack, intelligence, and critical rate of a character.
- Secret Stahlian Tome: increases the amount of health healed.
- Wristlet of the Stars: decreases the amount of damage a character takes.
The Day One Edition will also include the battle themes from Valkyrie Profile and Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria, allowing players to swap the older tunes into the new game.
The latest addition to the Star Ocean series hits the PS4 in Japan today, and comes to Japanese PS3s April 28. At present, Integrity and Faithlessness will be a PS4-only title in North America.
Are you planning to preorder Integrity and Faithlessness? What are you most looking forward to about Star Ocean 5? Let us know in the comments!
