that 5000 order would be more inline with order's for movie, or data back up or for game's software?

the further saving's depends on your order. once again between 2 companies like rovix and pacificdisc

there was a big price markdown between them, take into account that does not include other disc replication companies in japan that offer blu-ray remember this format has been on the market in one shape or form in asia since 2003.

the US just started and so has other companies that have just invested into blu-ray production line's.may have only since 2007-2010. the point being sony is a publisher, and replicates Blu-Ray disc's they get order's for disc's in quantities that these game companies need on a regular basis. yes Sony may not be able to handle everyone's need's but like i stated companies shop arround, and the blu-ray replication  area is getting more competive.

Yuck. Is it a good enough game to pick up the international edition? Or should I just avoid it altogether?

back in 2007:

Blu-ray Wesley Novack on 09 Feb 2007

Blu-ray replication vs HD DVD replication costs revealed

Sticking with the 25,000 run quantity, we can see that ProActionMedia is quoting $1.59 per disc for Blu-ray SL (25GB), $1.45 per HD DVD SL (15GB) and $1.69 per HD DVD DL (30GB). This translates to approximately $0.064 per GB for Blu-ray SL, $0.097 per GB for HD DVD SL and $0.056 per GB for HD DVD DL.

Cost comparison conclusions
From these figures taken from 3 different replication sources, we can see that Blu-ray media replication does not cost significantly more than HD DVD. In fact, we found that Blu-ray is actually cheaper per GB in many situations! It is also interesting to note that at this point, most HD DVD-ROM movies are DL, while most BD-ROM movies are SL, which would make HD DVD more expensive to replicate in most situations. I did not include fees associated with authoring, setup, AACS protection, packaging and other costs in the quotes above, so keep in mind that the final cost of replicating an HD DVD or Blu-ray disc will definitely be a bit higher than the per disc pricing noted above. Also, according to our sources, the Blu-ray setup fee is only slightly more than the HD DVD setup fee, but it depends on the specific manufacturing plant. Looking at these numbers and pricing information, we can now dispell the myth that Blu-ray replication is significantly more costly than HD DVD.

http://wesleytech.com/blu-ray-vs-hd-dvd-replication-costs-revealed/

Of course having one disc is better but swapping discs isn't such a big deal unless you have to swap constantly.

exactly, it's not that bad at all unless like you stated , you would have to swap disc's alot durring the game. which is rare to say the least.

I enjoy jRPGs so much that I rarely regret playing one. So I dont regret playing star ocean, the combat system is very good (luckily), also the item fabrication system is big enough. But its about the only Pros, still, playing an RPG is better than not playing one at all. So I would recommend that you purchase it once youll have finish the other games your interested in. The overall experiences is still good 7/10 (take in consideration that I would almost never give below 6 to a jRPG), but at the end, you really wander why the devs decided not to ameliorate the story, side quest and lame characters.

me also I love the unique experience of each rpg. for me it come's mainly about the storytelling, so there maybe some storytelling that i may find somewhat lacking but I know there are alway's going to be something about every rpg i may find that i like, pretty much every RPG has some good qualities, I have yet to find a RPG with no good qualities. I may not enjoy some of them as other's but once i start one I have to finish it., Even if i find some part's overy repettive for my teste's, but I take it all in stride because that is the developer's vision  or the publisher's vision of the game..

Never?  No possible reason at all?  What if multiple disks offered a better framerate, faster loading times, better textures...?  This is not a black and white issue.

@topic: For me, I typically have several different games in progress at any one time so I'm slways swapping between those disks.  Consequently, one swap in the middle of a 40 hour game actually doesn't bother me.

Nice vision, I agree with it, storytelling is also a strong point for me. Its why I enjoy jRPGs like Suikoden 5 or Xenosaga, too bad those games doesnt sell enough to be create and publish nowadays :(.

the reliability and ease of game-play will always incline to one- disc or less discs always.