White Knight Chronicles International Edition (Playstation 3)

For the past week I just have not been able to put this game down. This is by far the best RPG the Playstation 3 has to offer at the moment.

-Online?Story Mode?-

It's a unique hybrid of online play and a story driven single player campaign. Now the character you create doesn't have a part in the story, but will be the character you use online to help the single player experience by obtaining various materials and gold to create armor, weapons, items, etc..

-Why can't I be the main character!?-

Some people have a problem with the fact that the character you create has nothing to do with the story. Understand that the story was never intended to revolve around that character. This was something added in to make the game experience longer and also give you the opportunity to play with your friends.

-Online Play-

The Online portion(Geonet) is very impressive. You can build your own town that people can meet up and play together at, post on the Geonet's message boards, send messages via "B-mail" to other friends and companions within Geonet, and much more. The town you build is called a "Georama" and in this Georama you can recruit townspeople within the single player campaign to work at your Georama. The jobs are farmer, mage, warrior, miner, and chef. Each job specializes in bringing in certain materials that can be sold at your shop. After you complete a quest in a Georama, you can harvest materials in that Georama by talking to the NPCs working there and going up to an object some of the NPCs are working with.

-Story (NO Spoilers)-

As far as the story goes a lot of reviewers have treated it as a WHOLE story. Well if it was a whole story it would suck, but this is actually PART of a story. The title "White Knight CHRONICLES" makes that fairly obvious. Looking at this as some people have seen the Lord of The Rings trilogy, they usually hated the endings. Why? Because they were not really endings. White Knight Chronicles is a trilogy and a lot of questions from the first were left unanswered. The story may seem cliche and bland, but there is much more going on(maybe most reviewers just weren't paying attention?). The pacing of this game is great and for being only a part of a story, I am very impressed and cannot wait for the second one(which has already been announced).

And because people seem to have some strange obsession with numbers I am not going to give any. I'm just saying what I know and love about the game. I've played through the entire story and am on my second cycle, I've poured hours into the multiplayer with friends, and I'm not getting paid to say this is a bad game. If you are a jrpg fan this is a must have.

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After reading the mixed reviews White Knight received, I was a little worried about taking the $60 plunge. After playing for well over 5 hours, I can see that I made an excellent decision. I think the critical reception of WKC is mainly due to it's release window. WKC is sandwiched right smack in the middle of of the critics darling's Mass Effect 2 and Final Fantasy XIII. As a result I don't think they gave the game a fair chance. Admittedly WKC isn't a perfect game, but it is however an incredibly solid RPG. And the editions of online quests, online town building, and a whole online social community, push WKC head and shoulders above most RPGs out there.

For anyone is is familiar with Final Fantasy XI or XII, you'll feel right at home with WKC. The battle system is a real time system, but still has a very turn based feel to it. Before attacking you have to wait until your attack gauge fills, after that you can select from a huge amount of different attacks. As you progress in the game, you can unlock new skills and attacks. You can even create your own combos. You can even name your created combos which is a neat little touch.

After you progress to a certain point in the story, you unlock the ability to call a giant meck to aid you in battle. You need to have a certain amount of action chips in order to call the Knight. Action chips are hard to come by, so you'll want to save the knight for tough battles. This ensures that the combat stays balanced. You can't expect to call the knight for every battle, but he'll be there to aid you when it's necessary.

WKC's environments are HUGE. In addition to the massive size, they are visually stunning. The worlds are rendered in great detail and vivid colors. The games graphics really help to make the world feel alive and make the environments a pleasure to explore.

Admittedly, the game's story is fairly typical for a Japanese RPG. By no means is this a bad thing though. The games young inexperienced hero, unlocks the power to save a princess and unite a torn kingdom. It may not be the most original story, but it's actually much better than it might sound. The characters are surprisingly likable and the story moves at a good pace.

What truly sets WKC apart is it's online modes. You can embark on guild quests with up to 4 players online. Quests rang from simple gathering missions to killing massive monsters. It's a blast! The items and XP earned online are transferred back to the single player game. The environments are recycled from the single player game, but the different missions and the ability to play with other people, keep it feeling fresh and exciting.

But wait, the online modes don't end there! In addition to the quests, there is also a town building feature called Georoma. You can create your own town, complete with shops. Your town acts as a hub for players to gather before quests. Visitors can actually shop at your stores and buy items. It's an incredibly original concept and it adds a whole other layer to the online component.

But wait there's more! The game features it's own social network called Geonet. Players can post blogs and pictures and comment on other players profiles. I haven't seen this in a game before. It's incredibly original and helps to add to the already incredible experience.

Pros:

-Beautiful worlds

-great battle system

-long single player game

-online quests and town building

-online social network

Cons:

-The lip syncing is a little off

-the story isn't very original

It may not be a perfect game, but it's easily one of the best RPGs this gen. I highly recommend it to everyone who likes RPGs, MMOs, or Final Fantasy. Don't let this game pass you by. You'll be missing out on something special if you do.

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Its a very fun game to play..u get to build your own town..the graphics are great,the gameplay is pretty simple but some of the quest are hard...they would be easier if P3 was connected to the internet,but so far we have enjoyed this alot..WM

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