Probable Tropes in Star Ocean 5, In Order From Most to Least Likely

Even if you aren’t into the Star Ocean series, or the JRPG genre at large, you may have heard that Star Ocean V: Integrity and Faithlessness is coming to the United States this summer. There’s been some hubbub over the fact that the game’s producer, Shuichi Kobayashi, is a former marketer for the series who plans to bring Star Ocean back to its roots after Star Ocean 4’s lukewarm reception. (I’m not crying, you’re crying.)

But even though Star Ocean 4 was chock full of anime tropes, let’s be real: So were its predecessors. That’s the series’ charm, though! You’re just a motley crew of stereotypes in space working together to save the universe. So, as a long time Star Ocean fan, I’ve compiled a list of all the tropes and other game elements that I think could happen in Star Ocean V, ordered from most to least likely.

-Starring Troy Baker (debunked)

-Protagonist has an Awesome McCoolName (confirmed)

-Protagonist and healer girl have been close friends since childhood (confirmed)

-There’s a catgirl in the party (confirmed)

-Mage lady in revealing clothing (confirmed, combined with above trope)

-Butt shot of either the healer lady or the mage lady (confirmed for former character, latter character is walking fanservice)

-Edgelord guy voiced by Crispin Freeman (half-confirmed, Crispin Freeman voices a different character)

-Character in their early 20’s will be ridiculed as “old” (very likely)

-Everyone will ship the edgelord guy with the protagonist (very likely)

-Drama related to protecting underdeveloped planets from alien technology (very likely)

-Protagonist and healer lady are the canon endgame couple (very likely even if there’s a relationship system)

-Subtle references to previous games (likely)

-Sidequest character Puffy returns (likely)

-The characters visit Earth (somewhat likely)

-The young girl is actually thousands of years old (who knows? could go either way)

-You get to visit a total of three planets (a guesstimate)

-There’s a Radiata Stories reference (very unlikely, but a girl can dream)