White Knight Chronicles Incorruptus
White Knight Chronicles II is a divisive game. As the follow-up to one of the PS3's most promising disappointments, there's a group of the fanbase holding out hope that developer Level 5 could work out the kinks and deliver the sort of experience they'd hoped the original would provide. A quick look at the re-mastered version of White Knight Chronicles (included as an extra) shows otherwise. Outside a couple of tweaks, White Knight Chronicles II seems intent on pushing its play style on players under its own terms.The thing is, White Knight Chronicles II is an entertaining game.
However, players will need to push through 40 or so hours before they get to the meat of the experience. Fans who weren't completely turned off by the original, or RPG fans tinkering with the idea of jumping into a long game, will find some reward for their persistence.
After forming a pact with an Incorruptus, your character will be able to transform into a Knight. Leonard is the first character to transform into the White Knight. The critically acclaimed White Knight Chronicles series comes to PSP for the very first time. Embark on an epic single player campaign, completing special quests to upgrade your character and equipment. Join forces online with up to three friends and trade your favourite avatars.
Anyone not in one of those categories won't find the same level of enjoyment.The original managed to turn a few heads, fueling much of its pre-release praise, and it only gets better with the sequel. Although far from a complete overhaul, many of the original's smaller issues have been cleaned up. Texture work is better, characters look nicer and there's a noticeable bit of spit-and-polish throughout the entire game. It helps build some sort of visual appeal, especially in the face of poorly-designed, awkward dungeon layouts and an overall lack of style. Everything looks pretty, but aside from the Incorruptus designs, very little sticks out as memorable.This is especially true for the soundtrack. I remember enjoying a few melodies, though couldn't tell you where I heard them or hum a few bars. As with the overall visual design, it is nice but with a generic JRPG style.
Voice work isn't nearly as grating as the previous game, but is sure to ruffle a few feathers. Similar to the first game, White Knight Chronicles II is best described as an online-offline MMO. Much of the game's underlying structure resembles the multi-hour grinds associated with MMOs, only here you're alone in the world. Unless, of course, you decide to connect with a few friends online to tackle the game's dungeons.The sequel picks up immediately after the original. In fact, the connectivity between the two plots is so strong, White Knight Chronicles II feels more like the second half of a much longer game than a traditional sequel. For this reason, it isn't much of a surprise that a copy of the original is included as a pack-in. If you decide to jump into the sequel, I highly recommend taking the time to go through the original before plunging into the sequel.
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You'll have a much better feel for what is going on, but can also import your character. Playing through the original also provides a much-needed tutorial since White Knight Chronicles II is completely content with just tossing players into the mix from the start.There's a story somewhere between the two games, though the details are as memorable as the soundtrack. There's a definite plot with a couple of twists, though ultimately it just provides a bit of glue to hold the game together. You'll spend most of your time grinding levels, collecting items and fighting enemies. Everything about White Knight Chronicles II hinges on how much time you're willing to put into it. It's a slow burn of a game that requires a lot of patience and time to fully enjoy.
You're offered a glimpse of the future early on, though you're stripped of the power and need to wait through about 20 hours of gameplay before you get it back.Another example is your town, which you can design and develop through your adventures. You can place businesses and recruit villagers to help increase your resource collections and access to shops, though you won't see the full benefits until you invest a lot of time and resources into its development.White Knight Chronicles II is at its best during online play, though once again, you'll need to dedicate a lot of time and effort in order to get the full experience. Completing offline quests boosts your Guild Rank, unlocking harder online quests. Higher ranked quests yield bigger rewards, though they also come with a hefty price tag. Earning enough money is a bit of a chore and will only appeal to a limited number of players, but the eventual payoff is worth it, though only if you're dedicated from the start. Although White Knight Chronicles II asks a lot of players as far as time spent playing, it isn't very demanding when it comes to difficulty.
Once again, it helps to play through White Knight Chronicles before jumping into the second game. The sequel has no interest in getting new players up to speed, instead choosing to overwhelm players with a blank slate of a character and lots of skill points to spend. Bringing your high level character also offers a good early power boost.With the exception of a few larger fights, battles are never overwhelming. However, the checkpoint placement is terrible and will likely force you into several retries on certain high level boss fights. Poor companion A.I. Exacerbates the issue. You can set your party members to specific behaviors, though it won't stop them from pulling off a boneheaded move.Although I normally stay far away from strategy guides, the sheer amount of content in White Knight Chronicles II (and lack of a tutorial) make the guide a worthwhile pick-up for players who really want to sink their teeth into everything the game has to offer.
It includes information on the bounty of weapons/ armors available, as well as more information on skills and abilities. Combat is a significant overhaul. Although not apparent from the start, the number of minor (and not so minor) mechanical tweaks helps create an incredibly deep combat system. The changes are never enough to stave off a couple of incredibly dull play moments, though there is a lot to consider in battle beyond tapping through layers of menus.For starters, you're presented with eight weapons classes with their own benefits and drawbacks in combat. Depending on your initial weapon class, you'll earn access to weapon-specific techniques.
These are incredibly important when putting together a party. Your party's equipment also influences how long it takes for their attacks to execute. Combat is real time, and Level 5 has done a lot to cut down on the amount of time spent waiting for gauges to fill and commands to execute.
Still, more/ heavier equipment translates to longer prep times between attacks. A party of heavily-equipped soldiers will do a lot of damage per attack, but you might not get a chance to get many hits.You can move your team around the combat area, though you'll need to take distances into consideration since damage varies depending on the weapon and distance to target. It is also possible to put yourself in position to interrupt opponent's attacks.Eventually you earn the ability to turn into an Incorruptus, a giant mechanized knight.
These guys can quickly sway any battle, though you can usually do just as much by developing a well-rounded character. White Knight Chronicles II offers a lot of freedom when planning out which weapons, skills and abilities to learn.
And, if your build isn't going right, you can always reset and redo your points in town.White Knight Chronicles II offers something for dedicated players only. If you don't have hours to dedicate to a game before it 'gets to the good part,' you won't enjoy it.
The combination of online and offline RPG elements is a neat one, and there are a couple of really cool ideas at play, but there isn't enough of an early payoff to keep you hooked for the long haul.AKA Ricky Tucker.
At first look, White Knight Chronicles: International Edition looks like any of a number of Japanese Role-playing Games (J-RPG) on the market. Considering that the title was actually released in Japan in December, 2008, it would be understandable if the graphics were a little dated.
The characters themselves, especially the supporting cast, do seem a bit plastic, not quite as life-like as those from games released more recently, but this does not detract much from the overall aesthetic of the game. Of all of the characters, the player's created avatar, whose appearance can be customized at the onset of the adventure, seems the most out of place in the mix. The characters wander through a wonderfully rich world, alive with movement and adversaries. Unlike some J-RPGs, monsters are visible in the landscape, meaning that if you want to avoid a fight, you can (try to) do so.
To further add to the visual richness, the cinematics are simply breathtaking at times. All told, the visualization of this adventure is by far one of its strongest suits.While White Knight Chronicles excels in graphical content, the audio leaves a bit to be desired. It is not that the music was bad, in fact some of it is quite good. It is just, well, expected.
The music does help set the mood and many environments have unique themes, but nothing really jumps out and grabs you. Character dialogue tends to be over-dramatic (again, nothing new to the J-RPG scene) and some of the filler lines while traveling get annoyingly repetitive. Combined, the graphics and audio could easily be the equal of many Japanese animation series currently on the market, which is likely the desired effect considering the targeted audience. White Knight Chronicles: International Edition follows the story of Leonard and his companions (of which the player's avatar is but one) as they seek to rescue an abducted princess and stop a war between two conflicted nations.
If this sounds familiar, that is because it is the basic premise of probably 70-80 percent of all J-RPGs. The party's adventures lead them through some large and rich environments and though the storyline is fairly linear, there are some side quests and open areas that promote a bit of exploration and discovery. Conceptually, players will not find many surprises in White Knight Chronicles: International Edition.
The bad guys are easy to spot, even those pretending to be good guys. Leonard, the main character, is just an average boy who suddenly awakens a hidden talent that has lain dormant for years. Now in control of an Incorruptus, a huge suit of armor that is controlled via Leonard's pact with a demon soul, he must battle a group of devout lunatics determined to gather the remaining Incorruptus suits and artifacts and, through their use, rule the land. Put the standard plot twists on a dart board, close your eyes and throw a dart, and you'll likely hit upon something that happens in the game. All of the hokey love-interests and silliness aside, the story is about what is expected and, while nothing to celebrate, certainly does not really detract from the overall experience either.There are some online elements added into White Knight Chronicles: International Edition as well. Up to four players are supposed to be able to join forces to battle the larger monsters in the game. I did not get a chance to experience this aspect of the game, but it does sound promising.
There is also a quest component which will surely require the help of some friends. As the story progresses, the player will have the opportunity to purchase quests from the Adventurer's Guild. These quests are located at various places within the world map and can often be done repeatedly if desired. When questing, the player is only in control of his avatar. Many of the quests can be done solo, but some absolutely cannot, especially at the recommended levels. To recruit help, players have the ability to build an online village through the Geonet interface.
This village can house a myriad of shops and in-game NPCs can be recruited to live and work in the village, helping to raise the level of productivity and providing inventory to the local shops which can then be purchased by the player. It is an interesting concept and one that I look forward to exploring further. For players with any experience with J-RPGs at all, playing White Knight Chronicles: International Edition will feel instantly familiar. Controls are fairly basic and the game does a good job of hand-holding just long enough at the beginning to allow the player to become comfortable with the control scheme. Standard movement and camera controls are accompanied by on-screen help for interacting with objects. Inventory management is a bit clunky, especially for players that are into customizing weapons and making items.
The save system is the too-common way-point concept, where players will need to find logic stones scattered throughout the world in order to save their progress. Logic stones are also where players can access the Geonet system, shift active party members and handle their inventory storage.As mentioned above, many of the environments are large in scope, which allows for more exploration, but also means that there will be a large amount of time spent running through previously visited areas. Traveling via the world map helps alleviate this to some extent, but there are still the occasional 'delivery' and 'escort' quests which require a little legwork. The most taxing element of the game is the battle system. Using the real-time concept where each player has a build up time before making a move, but where everyone is acting independently, encounters can get pretty confusing. The targeting system is fairly easy to use, but does suffer occasional issues. For the most part, the team A.I.
Is up to the task, but when battling the larger monsters, teamwork becomes hard to control. Combat does not break the game experience, but it is definitely something that can be improved upon in any follow-ups ( White Knight Chronicles 2 was recently announced at the Tokyo Gaming Convention, but few details have been made public). The mechanics of White Knight Chronicles: International Edition are easy to pick up, but difficult to master. As mentioned, fighting is done in a real-time turn based system. Characters can be switched on the fly during combat.
However, doing this does not help with the sometimes finicky targeting system, so the player may change characters only to find themselves scrambling to target the right foe or comrade, wasting precious seconds that can turn the tide of battle. As characters level up, they are awarded skill points which can be invested in various skill trees. The skills learned through this increase in level are then selected to be made available during combat.
Players be warned: have the appropriate equipment and skills equipped at the same time. Having skills from the Sword category equipped and forgetting to change them when you find and equip that awesome new Long Sword (different category) will spell a quick end in battle, as this skill adjustment cannot be made once battle has engaged.Now for the single largest complaint experienced while playing White Knight Chronicles: International Edition. The load times are exorbitant.
From the time the game is selected until play can actually begin is about 90 seconds. Granted, that is not a long time in the scheme of things, but it proves bothersome. Even more bothersome are the save times. It takes a full 30 seconds every time a game is saved (and yes, I did sit with a stopwatch to time this, as I could not believe it was taking so long). The load and save times need to be drastically reduced in subsequent releases.
Also, I should not have to choose what language I want every time I start the game. This is programming 101 here and is a bit embarrassing.Flaws aside, White Knight Chronicles: International Edition is quite enjoyable. The Incorruptus element is very cool and lends the fights a sense of scale. This is the first game where I felt I could realistically (in a fantasy setting) stand a chance against the over-sized monsters I was fighting. The graphics are very well done and the online mechanics, while still unproven, are extremely promising.
The original game was reported to span 100+ hours of gaming but, from reports I've seen, White Knight Chronicles: International Edition has been scaled back a bit, so that a play-through can be completed in 70-80 hours. Though I'm sure die-hard fans of J-RPGs are lamenting not having the full experience, that is still quite a bargain for the price.AKA Buddy Ethridge This site best viewed in.