White Knight Chronicles Review (PS3)

Every Christmas that free time is more than the rest of the year i focus on to games that need more attention and devotion than others. And most of them are RPGs. (yes u are gonna hear a lot RPG's stuff from me). So last Christmas i gave my heart to White Knight Chronicles a part turn-based time part real time battle JRPG developed by Sony Computer Entertainement. Though the sceptre of the genre if u ask me goes to Squaresoft (yes i know its SquareEnix nowadays but i liked Squaresoft more) Sony has a really decent and competitive past in the RPG history with its best release being the Legend Of Dragoon for Playstation. So this review is about White Knight Chronicles one shiny diamond for the new generation RPG fans.

PLOT: 7.5/10

Hmmm.. well the plot if u think about it, it isn't anything groundbreaking but its unraveling pretty well as the time goes by. Its about a phenomenically insignificant young lad named Leonard that tries to save the kidnapped cute and innocent Princess Cisna from the malicious hands of the Dark Lord Dragias as she is the key to their evil plans. When Leonard recklessly tries to wear an ancient armor-artifact he then realises that he is being chosen by it and his quest (as urs) beggins. Well thats a quite raw summary of the plot dont think that its that simple but that is the main story, around which is being built a quite deep non-linear and flexible scenario. It is worthy to be noted here that as i was playing WKC i noticed many similarities with the Legend Of Dragoon such as the ability of each character to transform into Knights as in LOD u could transform into Dragoons.

GAMEPLAY: 7.5/10

In WKC u have to do things as in most of the classic JRPGs. You control the main character Leonard and you built a party of 3 (including Leonard (sometimes the party joins one guest uncustomisable character who aids in battle)) and u set off to complete your main quest which basically is getting updated regulary and completed when u finish the game and along the way u are given the chance to do various sub-quest as well, just to buff ur party up! Character equipment includes swords, axes, lances, bows, shields, bracers, gauntlets, boots and so on and they are visible on them if equipped, which is an aspect that i actually liked quite a lot and it's rarely met on JRPGs. Menu is accesible with Triangle button where there are options such as Combat Setup, Items, Magic, Learn Skill etc. where u can optimize ur party and its battle behavior. Oh, i said battle... One of the things i anticipate to get to know to when i firstly play an RPG is the battle system. So it happened with WKC as well. But thats what filled me with thoughts... Well u see a fully turn-based time battle system is fully customisable as u can plan ur strategy precisely and turn the outcome of each battle to ur advantage. In a part turn-based time battle system the things are a bit more automated. What does that mean? Having to control actually only one character, ur focus is turned mostly on him/her. The player just adjusts the behavior for each possible situation for the secondary party members as he can control only one at a time. It may seems that the choices are many but in reality you will find urself making pointless circles around an enemy (and i say pointless cos u cant even avoid being hit that way) waiting for the time gauge to fill just to strike again.

One new thing is that the player has the option to fully customize combos choosing moves from a list of learnt ones and he is also being given the opportunity to name the combo as he wishes! Each character has his limited capacity for items (same thing at LOD ;) ) and the characters can exchange items to make room in each one's inventory. The character can attack, defend, use items and transform during battle. Simple attacks dont cost anything but some moves or combos cost a certain amount of AC. Same for the Knight tranformation option. The character must have the wanted amount of AC to be able to transform into the Knight. In the beggining  you are called to create ur own character. The options are a lot as u go through shaping him/her but unfortunately if u plan playing offline he will be just a secondary character. The offline WKC focuses on Leonard. The created character starrs in online mode! One more thing i found interesting is the presentation of each location and character! Also there is the choice of downloading new content (DLC) through the PSN.

Now about the online mode of WKC. Its a really decent attempt to make an offline JRPG with an online aspect and gameplay choice. The player has to play a bit of the offline storyline at least till the appearance of the first Knight. Then, near the town outside the castle, u are given Geonet which can used in save points in order to go online. There there is a brief setup such as assigning online ID, online status, choosing photos ... and finally the online interface is up. This is where there is the homepage, adventure log, friends (that u have made online), some rooms to choose whichever suits u etc. The online gameplay is almost like every other online rpg. The player can team up with other player from around the world. assist each other to complete quests, make gestures for fun, take pictures etc. Personally, i prefer the offline mode as well because the story in online mode is neglected and usually online games in consoles have "expiring dates".

ATMOSPHERE/MUSIC: 9/10

This is the part where WKC is at its best. The music is so well composed that it takes u to a different place. Its epic fantasy-medieval touch suits so well to the scenery that it couldnt be better. The battles themes are so intense that they give the feeling that u are in the battle urself. The atmosphere is really well given that combined with the medieval music it gives a magic almost ideal sense of how a world should look like.

GRAPHICS: 9/10

One more strong aspect of this JRPG is its graphics.  Designed with details, vivid colors and a lot of fantasy and creativity they give the impression tha it is a an interactive, grown-up, fairy tale on screen! Its landscapes are breathtaking the nature around the characters is realistic and their costumes suit really well in the "age" and world that they are in. The cinematics are plenty and a very nice break from the endless battles that can be tiring and, personally, they reminded me those of FF IX and Legend of Dragoon.

OVERALL: 8.25/10

Summarizing White Knight Chronicles is one of the best choices for an JRPG fan, especially if he had played Legend Of Dragoon in the past. Its a game with deep story, stunning graphics, wonderful soundtrack and it can promise you that you will spend more than 40 hours with it so why not give it a try?! After all the JRPG choices on PS3 are quite limited!