Any word on a demo for this? And who's the girl in red?

Crap graphics, but i'll forgive that since it's tri-ace. It's tri-ace right?

I don't think it has crap graphics, and yes its Tri-Ace.

Looking at Screen 20 it looks like it may play like SO3 :O

Very extensive update today. They updated the world map, showing the 4 major regions in the world as well.

The Battle section is also updated with tons of more detailed gameplay specifics.

Tactics:

There are 6 party AI commands that can be active at any given time. Move freely, Split up and attack, Concentrate on one enemy, Stay behind and wait, Combo, and Conserve MP.

The Attack Point (AP) system is also explained in more detail, along with the Force system. I'll try to explain it in more detail because it's a little tricky to understand. You have two normal attacks (normal and heavy) as well as 2 battle skills that can be equiped at any time. Battle skills takes up MP, but normal attacks do not. At the same time, the heavy normal attack and most battle skills have "additional" physical attack properties. This can come in 3 possible forms - "knock back", "lift" and "knock down". This is when AP comes into play. The AP bar on the right has a "target" indicator which shows you how full the AP bar has to be, at least, before the targeted enemy you're locked on to will suffer those effects when you use a heavy attack or battle skill.

What does this mean? Say you have a battle skill that can lift the enemy into the air. If your AP bar is currently below the "target" indicator, you can use that skill to attack, and it'll take up MP as usual, but it will not lift the enemy into the air. If your AP bar is high enough, it will. So... why DO we care if enemies are lifted in the air, knocked back or knocked down? Well there are obviously advantages in gameplay as it's an action RPG and in these circumstances the enemy will be open to more combo attacks... BUT... the Force system makes it even more interesting.

The Force system rewards the player for pulling off combos (it doesn't have to be the main character that pulls off the combo, anyone in the party can do it, hence the Combo AI setting) on enemies in different circumstances. If an enemy if comboed while in a normal state, you gain yellow Force which fills up your AP bar (ah, so that's how we get AP), and as your AP bar fills up, it allows you to pull off the additional attacks as stated above. When an enemy is lifted in the air, all aerial combos will result in red Force, which is extra experience for everyone. When an enemy is comboed when in a knocked down state, green Force will result, which replenishes HP and MP for everyone.

Hope that helps!

looks crap.

Backgrounds look like a high res FFX and the characters are generic. Hopefully we'll get more Star Ocean media soon. Vesperia looks nice, too.