Square's sci-fi RPG series Star Ocean could go open-world in the future

At E3 2015 last week, publisher Square Enix revealed the latest entry in its long-running science fiction role-playing series, Star Ocean. But the intensely-titled Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is just the beginning of Square's plans for the franchise.

Speaking to Polygon at E3, Integrity and Faithlessness producer Shuichi Kobayashi made it clear that Square is taking the long view for this new game and what it means for the future.

"With Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness, I'd like to make something fundamental," Kobayashi said. "I'd like to make something that can work as a basis for future possibilities. We aren't just talking about this Star Ocean. We've got other plans as well. We want to produce Integrity and Faithlessness as a really clearly defined game, and then we can add on different elements to create more games in the future."

One element that Kobayashi says many fans have requested is a more open-world approach to Star Ocean. And that's a direction he'd like to take the series in.

"Personally, we'd like to give that a go some time in the future," he said. "At the moment, I'm quite happy to pursue a more scenario-driven concept. I'm looking for the best timing when we should make this evolution to an open world happen. But it's not now."

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is being developed for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, and is expected to arrive in North America in 2016. You can watch the E3 reveal trailer below. Stay tuned to Polygon for more info on Kobayashi's plans for the game from our E3 interview.