Monday, April 12, 2010

White Knight Chronicles - Level 5 - PS3
It's been a while since I've done a review on a game that I've beaten, let alone a review period. My apologies for that.

This game was sort of a fluke buy. I watched the trailers, and I was really all for it, but as the reviews started coming out, I started becoming more and more skeptical. This is not like me, because I'm the last person who will base my purchase of a game on a review (does that make me a hypocrite for reviewing games for others?).

Anyways, WKC is your typical 'save the princess' storyline. You've got your heroes, allies, enemies, etc. If you're a gamer, you're familiar with all of these aspects, so I'm not going to delve into them too much. There are a few things that stand out in this game, both positively and negatively, which I will emphasize on.

First, your senses. This game is auditorially (made up word?) a very appealing game. All of the music is very fitting, and really gives you a good feel of where you're at, what's going on, and so on. I didn't really pay attention to who composed the music, but they definitely deserve some credit for coming up with an epic track. There are many different instruments used in each song, and if this game had an OST, I would recommend all game music listeners to purchase it. It definitely completes the project, that's for sure. One thing I noticed about it too is that none of it seems repetitive. In fact, you almost don't notice it's there unless you try hard enough to listen. That's just how good it is.

Also, the graphics in this game are beyond breathtaking. Granted, I played the majority of this game on my 19" 1080i Asus monitor, but still. Sometimes it really blows me away just how much the PS3 can do. The environments are expansive, the towns seem alive (similar to FFXII), and you really have to sometimes just drop the camera low to suck in all of the surroundings. I feel if you don't take in some of the sights (and use the Crystal Camera) then you are not truly experiencing this game.

The third was the battle system, and the primary reason this game lost a lot of points with me. You are able to free roam the environment, and pick and choose your battles as you see fit. This was great, because nowadays, I don't have time to wait as I get into a battle of a traditional RPG anymore, go through the battle, then item and experience distribution, then back to the field, only to get into another battle three steps later. Action RPG's have slowly grown on me over the years, and I have a feeling it'll be like that for a while. However, the way the system is set up feels clunky. Original, but clunky.

You set your attacks up based on the weapon you are carrying. For example, the basic attack of a shortsword is slash. If you change your weapon, and forget to change your attack tray, then you are stuck with no attacks. When you engage an enemy, a ring pops up with the name of the attack you're currently ready to use. When the ring fills, you can press X to initiate the attack, and the ring empties for it to be filled again. This ring fill speed is based on the equipment you have on your player. If you wear clunky, heavy armor, the ring fills anywhere from 6-8 seconds. If you wear light knit armor (or roll nude, which I needed to do a few times), the ring can fill as fast as 1.5 to 2 seconds. So in a sense, you still feel like you're trapped within a traditional RPG waiting for your ATB gauge to fill or something, and it's ugly on the screen. I understand their concern for making a button masher, but I can think of a few different ways this could have been handled. Then again, I'm not a game programmer, so who am I to say?

One of the biggest complaints that I saw in most reviews was the lip syncing and yes I agree, it is really badly done. The storyline is pretty cheesy as well, so it only adds to it. The one saving grace that it does have is that come midway through the story, it stops being cheesy and becomes much more drama filled, giving you much information about the characters you're with, their backgrounds, and why they are where they are. It does get good if you can bear with it, even to the point you almost forget how bad the voice acting is.

The game is relatively simple, and if you didn't horse around like I did, you can get through it in a few short hours. There is a few things to do outside of the main game, such as going on line and playing with peers (which is a lot of fun) or messing around with your Georama, but the game is pretty cut and dry. All of the trophies are hidden though, so be prepared to do a lot of playing to figure out what they are.

Overall, I don't regret buying the game, I just think there were some issues they could have (and should have) worked on before a release. I am just hoping WKC2 will address these issues. Oh, and the ending is totally worth playing through the game, if nothing more.

Rating:
7.5 / 10
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