Star Ocean 3 director's cut site launches

TOKYO--Square Enix has opened the official site for its upcoming director's cut edition of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, also known as Star Ocean 3.

The director's cut edition of Star Ocean 3 will include a number of additions to the original release. Most notable is that the game will now run off of two DVDs, and bring back elements that were taken out in the original Star Ocean 3 due to its disc-space limitation.

The director's cut edition will also have several new party members. Mirage Coast, who originally appeared as a scenario character, will now be joining to fight with the player's party. Claire Lasbard's father Adlai will appear as a new character to the game, and will also be joining the party. Mirage fights using similar battle skills to Cliff and Maria. Adlai is a samurai-like 58-year-old who fights bare-chested (with a tattoo of his daughter on his back). He also uses a combination of magic skills and physical attacks, taking advantage of his muscular physique.

Another major feature to the director’s cut edition is a new versus mode, where three characters fight against each other in a battle royale, with players controlling two fighters each. Each character also has two additional costumes, which can be used to differentiate between each other when multiple players pick the same character.

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time: The Director's Cut Edition is scheduled for release on the PlayStation 2 in Japan. The U.S. version of the regular game, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time will be available come February, 2004.