This is interesting news. I've only played the third entry, Till the End of Time, myself (I also played Radiata Stories though that was a separate game but played much the same and did have an unlockable costume that looked like 3's main character. Anyone else play that?).
Oh, you played Radiata Stories... So you're saying you want to be best friends?
But anyway, I am so pumped for Star Ocean 5. SO3 was the first one I played, and I loved it. I didn't finish it for a few years (because I refused to level grind... just hit 'em real quick and go boss strategy), but I thought it was great.
I played the remake of SO1 on PSP, and it was a nice little RPG. Reminded me of older Tales games, but I felt like I cared more.
I still haven't played much of SO4 on PS3. When I started it, I was in trophy whore mode and got super intimidated by the plat and just kind of quit playing it. But now that I am a better gamer for being able to make do with accepting the fact that some games just don't need to be platted, they should just be enjoyed, yeah, I should give it another go.
But SO5 looks great so far, the characters and environments look better than ever, and that seamless transition into battle is just muwah! Also, being able to use all of the party members at once... Just yes.