tri-Ace
 | |
| Company type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer and video game industry |
| Founded | March 1995 |
| Headquarters | Shinagawa Ku Oi Tokyo, Japan |
Key people | Yoshiharu Gotanda(programmer, current president), Masaki Norimoto (designer), Joe Asanuma (former President) |
| Products | Star Ocean series, Valkyrie Profile series, Radiata Stories, Infinite Undiscovery |
| Revenue | N/A |
Number of employees | 153 |
| Website | http://www.tri-ace.com/ http://www.tri-crescendo.co.jp/ |
tri-Ace, Incorporated (株式会社トライエース, Kabushiki Gaisha Toraiēsu) is a Japanese video game development company formed in 1995 by former Telenet Japan employees Yoshiharu Gotanda (programmer, current tri-Ace President), Masaki Norimoto (game designer,) and Joe Asanuma (director). The name is a play on words regarding the "three aces" who formed the company. All of tri-Ace's games have been published by Square Enix (originally by Enix).
The group exclusively makes console RPGs, and is known for giving their games action-packed battle systems and deep skill systems. This trademark style began when the founders of tri-Ace originally worked for Telenet Japan's Wolfteam, and had created Tales of Phantasia. This game, published by Namco, is a precursor to tri-Ace's own Star Ocean games in several ways; i.e. an action battle system where the player controls one character and AI controls others in the party and special battle skills that the player can assign to different buttons. (Radiata Stories is the latest example of this design.) Besides the Star Ocean series, they also released Valkyrie Profile in 1999. Their most recent release is Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, released in the United States by Square Enix on September 26th, 2006.
tri-Ace games have sold over 3.8 million copies worldwide as of September 2005.[1] The company's sound programmer Hiroya Hatsushiba formed tri-Crescendo in 1999 which has since independently developed Baten Kaitos and Eternal Sonata.
Titles
- Star Ocean: Released July 19, 1996
- Star Ocean: Blue Sphere: Released June 28, 2001
- Star Ocean: The Second Story: Released July 30, 1998
- Valkyrie Profile: Released December 22, 1999
- Radiata Stories: Released January 27, 2005
- Star Ocean: Till the End of Time: Released February 27, 2003
- Star Ocean: Till the End of Time: Director's Cut: Released January 27, 2004
- Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria: Released June 22, 2006
Port not handled by tri-Ace
- Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth: Released March 2, 2006
- Star Ocean: The First Departure
- Star Ocean: The Second Evolution
- Infinite Undiscovery: (In development)
- Star Ocean: The Last Hope: (In development)
- Valkyrie Profile: Toga wo seou mono: (In Development)
Recurring characters
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tri-Ace is known for taking characters from one game and placing them as optional, extremely difficult enemies in another, usually as part of bonus dungeons or other extra. Star Ocean: Till the End of Time features Lenneth Valkyrie and Freya from Valkyrie Profile as optional bosses; Radiata Stories features Valkyrie again, as well as Lezard Valeth. The main character of the game, Jack Russel, has a suit of armor that makes him look identical to Fayt Leingod, the main protagonist from Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. Also notable is that Ganz Rothschild wears a costume that makes him look identical to Claude Kenni from Star Ocean: The Second Story later on after he is expelled from the Radiata Knights. The optional enemies Gabriel Celesta and Iselia Queen/Iseria Queen (sometimes localized as 'Ethereal Queen') are also present in most tri-Ace titles, and are usually the most powerful and difficult foes in the entire game.
References
- ^ "tri-Ace Company Sales". tri-Ace.co.jp. Retrieved 2008-07-19.