'Star Ocean 5: Integrity and Faithlessness' release date: Square-Enix releases new details

Star Ocean 5 main charactersSquare-Enix

Square-Enix has released the first revealing details and screen shots of "Star Ocean 5: Integrity and Faithlessness" (courtesy of Gematsu), giving insight into the game's story, characters, setting, and how its battle system works. 

According to the report, the game will be set in between "Star Ocean II: Second Story" and "Star Ocean III: Till the End of Time." The official prologue states that the game takes place in a planet known as Feycreed, which is located 6,000 light-years away from Earth. The story will start in the town of Stahr, a village at the very borders of the Leslia Kingdom.

The main character of the game is 23-year old Fidel Camuze, son of a famous swordsman who founded the Camuze school of sword fighting in the Leslia Kingdom. Fidel is said to have inherited his father's skills and uses his fighting prowess to protect his hometown.

Along with him is 18-year old Miki Sauvester, a young magic-based girl who is both Fidel's best friend and a sort of adopted little sister. Joining them is the soldier Viktor Orkvil and the mage Fiore Burnelli, the latter hailing from the neighboring Randock Kingdom.

Battle will feature no transition that would take a player to a different battle area as battles take place on the field. Combat is in real time and players will be able to switch between party members with the press of a button. During combat, players can opt for light attacks, heavy attacks, guard, and guard counters.

Introduced in "Star Ocean 5: Integrity and Faithlessness" is the Reserve Gauge. Light attacks and guards will increase the gauge in small increments while big increments come from connecting combos and guard counters.Filling the Reserve Gauge lead to bonuses in cash, experience, and item rewards at the end of each battle.

"Star Ocean 5: Integrity and Faithlessness" is set to release in Japan on Feb. 25, 2016 for both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, while a Playstation 4 version is scheduled for North American and Europe sometime in 2016.