Recently, Square Enix had posted yet another countdown clock for a mystery title. The last countdown clock was for the announcement that “The World Ends With You” was coming iOS. While the port itself saw the definitive version of one of the best RPGs on the DS, it lacked a certain zeal that seemed foretold by the essence of a countdown clock. Seriously, if you put up a clock to countdown something, it had better be damn special! I digress…

This new countdown clock – found here - is speculated to be another entry into a beloved franchise owned by Square Enix right now: Star Ocean. According to international gaming news site, Siliconera, a patent for something called Star Galaxy right around when this teaser site came out. However, a few things stand out to me that say, “Don’t get too excited Jaime…” First, the teaser itself. Most teasers like this tend to have bad track record, as mentioned before. Secondly, that name that was patented. One of the reasons I picked up Star Ocean was because of its name; I had no idea the game was actually good! Changing the name seems rather unnecessary…unless you account for it being something completely different yet tied to the universe in some way. Im banking on a social/mobile game. It also doesn’t help that tri-Ace, the developer, aren’t seen anywhere on the teaser.

Another factor, albeit less indicative, is that normally their is only one Star Ocean per generation, if that. I doubt Square would allow the number of Star Oceans that come in a generation would match the number of Final Fantasies.

Well, we will all see in due time. If nothing else, there is one small sense of hope:

This small tech-demo from tri-Ace shows some promise, but will it come to fruition this gen? Nothing is for sure until the countdown clock hits zero, so expect a response in less than 24hrs from Analog Addiction regarding the surprise that could be awaiting all of us by 12/12/12.  Fingers crossed people…

Jaime is an avid RPG gamer and would be very happy with a new addition to the Star Ocean franchise. He is the current PS Vita and RPG editor for Analog Addiction and can be on Twitter here.