DEMO is expected to be as long as Valkyrie Elysium.

BATTLE SYSTEM:

- This is a an interesting take on the SO battle system. Normally speaking, normal attacks are preset for every character with the player only setting special moves. This time around you build your own combos out of specials. EVERYTHING attack is a special move that can be linked to other specials moves to form combo's.

- A combo chain can be set to Square, Circle, and Cross. The you switch between chains on the fly for extra long combos.

- Like SO3 there is hold function(hold the button down to initiate something) that can initiate skills, magics, items. Anything activated this way has a shortened activation time than if done normally.

- Like star SO3, there is a stamina meter that prevents you from going all willy nilly. Every attack has a AP cost. Run out of AP you'll have to give it a few seconds to recharge.

- Blindsides are back. Attack a group of enemies before they notice you and this will stun them, increase damage and increase you AP. Like SO3 you cab build links(keep the blindside chain up to increase money, exp, and drop rate). Kinda tough to do in the demo but I'm sure with the burst move it will be easier.

PRESENTATION:

- Areas looks great. While the game is not open world, its spacious and has lots of opportunities for flying/jumping around. Very Vertical. 

- One thing that was kind of annoying is that enemies kinda just stand around at there points waiting for you. I wish they were doing things that made them not look like they are just sitting around waiting for you. Look more natural.

- Mouth animations are clearly done with only the Japanese language in mind. Right off that bat we have characters talking without mouth movements or movements with no talking.

- tri-Ace 3dmodel/animation style is outdated. I get it though; it is unique. You immediately know when tri-Ace are the developers but nowadays it just looks very PS2

- Motoi "Boitoi" Sakaruba brings a smile to face. That Star Ocean sound that I love(and sadly missing from Valkyrie) is here in full force. Battle theme sounds great!

UPDATE:

- Got D.U.M.A.S, which allows for the flying. Makes traversal more entertaining. Again very vertical fields 

- DUMAS also has battle functions which have a slight learning curve. Outside of just starting fights by not being seen you can also blindside while in the middle of the fight. It requires you to hold the dumas button, have enemies look at you, and quickly zip out of their site. Harder than it sounds mostly because dumas gauge drains so quickly but super satisfying when you blindside a large group of enemies.

- Dumas does have a lot of upgrades that in theory should make this easier.

- Presentation looks better and better. Lighting effects are well down. 

- 2 presentation settings: FPS and Graphics. Biggest difference I  recall in game. FPS makes everything buttery smooth but really tones down the lighting and other presentation effects. Graphics mode does the opposite. There is super boss for the demo that really has frames drop when in graphics mode.

- When in the first town there was not a lot of talkable npcs. The ones that were want to challenge to some type chess game? I have 4 chest pieces and 2 of them are of Rena and Opera from Star Ocean 2 :). Great models.

- Cutscenes and private actions are weakest element so far. 

Overall. I love what I have been playing. The demo has made me much more excited for SO6 than I initially was. Like much more than Valkyrie Elysium demo wise.

Honestly the desync of voice and facial animations is what would turn me off entirely.
It was something that bugged me with The Last Hope... And made me shelve the franchise.

Thanks for the heads up, will download and give feedback later when I can play it.

another update. Anybody else try the demo?

Go play the demo. Silly reason to shelve any franchise. 

Not really. It makes the characters seem less believable, which in turn impacts the world and thus the story.
Yeah, I know it's also science fiction, but you still need to sell me on the characters being relatable and genuine to some degree.

It's hard (For me) to get invested in something with such a glaring issue.

Plus it's 2022, there are tools in most major game engines these days that allow for facial animations to sync with voices, things don't change if we don't vote with our wallets.

I don't like teasers or too much spoilers, so I haven't played the demo.

It is good to hear that you are enjoying the game though.

Same. No matter how excited I am for a game I can't stand the though of playing a demo of it. Every single time I've done it I play like 2 mins and just stop.

While syncing facial animations to voices has come along way, New Hope has shown that even today when it comes to syncing voice and facial animations, syncing a certain female crew member who is on extremely high doses of Valium is a bridge to far and since I'm not to sure if New Hopes engine even qualified as a major game engine, I'll simply chalk it down to over ambition and pray that they haven't decided to include Mordin Solus as a secret character in this one ?

BTW Pem have you looked at the demo and if so any opinion ?