White Knight review
White Knight Chronicles: Review
With the International Version now being released 14 months after its original release in Japan and a sequel already announced in development will this knight shine overseas despite the wait or has the rust already started to set.
The story is a JRPG at its simplest, princess gets kidnapped by an evil secret organization, therefore you, the simple peasant boy somehow end up being the only one able to wield a mighty weapon that can turn the tide of any battle. So of course you being the intellect you are, you jump head first into a daring quest to save the damsel in distress fighting against all odds and unraveling the truth behind the mysterious giant White Knight and yourself. Also somehow you end up falling in love with said maiden despite not knowing anything about anything, but don’t get me wrong this may be used in a lot of games but it’s used a lot for a reason.
This game has a lot of small and large hooks to keep people coming and going off and online. They decided to go with an MMO kind of feel with large maps that anyone could get lost in, many NPC’s in every town, and quests that you can partake with others online to have fun with. In the beginning you start with creating yourself a custom avatar which you can use during the games story if you wish but this is the character you use during quests and anything online, so you should make it to your liking but sadly the developers didn’t think of you in the main story with your custom character never partaking in anything serious and never doing more than standing in a place with a never changing expression. While I do understand why they did it I just wish our characters actually did something that helped with the actual story. Luckily the cutscenes are in real time so you can see what you got at all times, it’s not much but sometimes the little things go a long way.
The maps in this game can get very large, many using above and underground and multiple levels making things a little bit more difficult to navigate through but the world and the puzzles never seem too hard to figure out and some you may just stumble on the answers as you run about. Monsters are all shown in real time but when you active a battle it’s in a turn base style. By using your skill points you buy abilities for heavy weapons, bows, white and black magic, whatever you prefer, and assort them into slots where ever you want when you have the cursor over that option when the command circle is full you can use that attack or ability. Some, such as the Knights, require Action Chips which you gain by acting and slaying various monsters or by using certain items. While most attack only use a few depending on how strong the attack, to use the White Knight it takes 7 action chips which may take a while to gain but I never found myself really needing to transform outside of battles where you must do so. To keep with the MMO feel in the top corner they have a small screen that tells you everything that is happening from how much damage was done to what you got for winning the battle, it’s done well and very easy to see everything at all times.
While they do have a lot going on offline they out did themselves for the online aspects. While you can gain and do many quests solo you can go online and play them with others, which is obviously better. Because this is Level -5 they decided to bring back one of their old systems from the Dark Cloud series GeoNet. Like back in the old PS2 days using GeoNet you create your own town using minerals and items found by playing the main story to create homes, jobs and stores, the more you create and increase the more your town can create for you and sell in their shops some having far better items then you could get in the main game. Also in this you can keep track of those you have played with and keep an eye on the Forums for questions about anything. Finally for those that have done everything that the game has to offer using online GeoNet people can create their own quests to play with others and to keep having fun.
While this game has many good things going for it that fans of classic RPG’s would enjoy it does have its down falls. With turn based battles not being the main style anymore, two more game already announced in the trilogy meaning you won’t get a complete story and some of the worst lip-syncing to date, it may turn some people off this game but it’s a fun game none the less.
I give it an 8/10.
