As one of the first huge flagship JRPGs for the Playstation 3, White Knight Chronicles has a lot of expectations riding on it. Level 5 wowed fans with trailers and announcements several months ago, but has since remained relatively silent—somewhat worrying, perhaps, considering the game is slated for release before the end of this fiscal year.
There was no playable build available on the show floor at TGS, but Sony and Level 5 sought to allay fears of a rush job or delay by giving a private presentation to the press off the show proper. Though the format was mostly Powerpoint, and producer Kentaro Motomura spoke through a translator, we still gleaned a lot of new info from the half hour barrage of bullet points.
First, a bit about the story: you play Leonard, an average dude in an average fantasy kingdom where a perhaps not so average Princess Cisna is about to have her coming of age ceremony. Bad stuff goes down—a terrorist group called Wizard raids the place, but Leonard escapes to a forgotten palace cellar with Cisna. There, he discovers a mysterious suit of armor possessing the power to transform into the White Knight. He uses it to fight off Wizard, but not before they snatch Cisna, and hence begins Leonard’s Epic Quest.
A few trailers showed a number of other party characters, including a sassy childhood friend named Yulie and a man with a truly frightening moustache. It remains unclear how many part members will make it into the main game, or who the final villain will be. An interesting slide did reveal, however, that Leonard is not the only kid on the block with the ability to transform. At some point in the game you will meet a “Black Knight,” who will apparently be a foil to Leonard; and also the enigmatic “Dragon Knight,” a knight with pinkish armor and who fights with a trident.
The games environments are your typical high fantasy faire. We saw a shining white city that looked like every surface had been gone over with a toothbrush, and a fiery stronghold apparently built inside a volcano. The outdoor environments are often populated with gigantic magical creatures, some of which you’ll have to face in battle.
White Knight appears to have two somewhat different combat systems: one for facing regular monsters, and one for facing the aforementioned giant magical creatures. The regular system appears to be closer to Final Fantasy XII’s style of pugilism. Your party and the enemy fight it out ATB-style, but movement occurs in real time and you’ll have to manually pause the action if you want to issue special commands.
You’ll have to use Leonard’s power of transformation to battle the truly dangerous beasties. Your other party members can still participate, but it’ll be your seven-meter tall white knight that’ll be giving and taking the brunt of the damage.
Interestingly, one of the characters that joins your party will be “you,” said Motomura-san. At some point in the single player game you will create an “avatar” through White Knight’s character creation system who will then join Leonard on his quest. Your avatar’s role in the single player game is still a secret, but he or she apparently plays a more significant part in multiplayer mode.
White Knight will ship with an “MMO style” online play. Your avatar will serve as your main player character. You can take him via PSN to a hub zone, where you can party up with as many as three others to take on missions and hunt down monsters. A new trailer showed a bit of this in action. Sure enough, it did resemble an MMO—there were a couple of people standing in a meadow, then they emoted a whole bunch, and then they went off to fight a huge troll. Level 5 says that your avatar’s experience level from the single player game will carry over to multiplayer, which is good news for those who don’t relish a long internet grind just so they can keep up with their buddies. A friends list and global chat system will aid in seeking out new members for your adventuring party.
The game’s production values still look solid, if not quite as mind-blowing as they did when it was first announced. Even though the industry has caught up a bit, White Knight’s HD-bolstered, motion-blurred environments still measure up. The footage on display showed incredible draw distance in its beautiful outdoor areas and impressive animation even on the truly monstrous creatures—one turtle-like monster carries an entire city on its back. The game’s music seemed especially heavy on the Celtic rock, which, in this reporter’s opinion, is a not a bad thing at all.
Until White Knight actually hits release, however, we’ll have to content ourselves with Level 5’s occasional, mysterious drops of information. Motomura-san couldn’t confirm whether there would be voice chat in the online mode, but he did promise “a huge number of quests.” Hopefully the team is hard at work trying to put them together before launch.
As one of the first huge flagship JRPGs for the Playstation 3, White Knight Chronicles has a lot of expectations riding on it. Level 5 wowed fans with trailers and announcements several months ago, but has since remained relatively silent—somewhat worrying, perhaps, considering the game is slated for release before the end of this fiscal year.
There was no playable build available on the show floor at TGS, but Sony and Level 5 sought to allay fears of a rush job or delay by giving a private presentation to the press off the show proper. Though the format was mostly Powerpoint, and producer Kentaro Motomura spoke through a translator, we still gleaned a lot of new info from the half hour barrage of bullet points.
First, a bit about the story: you play Leonard, an average dude in an average fantasy kingdom where a perhaps not so average Princess Cisna is about to have her coming of age ceremony. Bad stuff goes down—a terrorist group called Wizard raids the place, but Leonard escapes to a forgotten palace cellar with Cisna. There, he discovers a mysterious suit of armor possessing the power to transform into the White Knight. He uses it to fight off Wizard, but not before they snatch Cisna, and hence begins Leonard’s Epic Quest.
A few trailers showed a number of other party characters, including a sassy childhood friend named Yulie and a man with a truly frightening moustache. It remains unclear how many part members will make it into the main game, or who the final villain will be. An interesting slide did reveal, however, that Leonard is not the only kid on the block with the ability to transform. At some point in the game you will meet a “Black Knight,” who will apparently be a foil to Leonard; and also the enigmatic “Dragon Knight,” a knight with pinkish armor and who fights with a trident.
The games environments are your typical high fantasy faire. We saw a shining white city that looked like every surface had been gone over with a toothbrush, and a fiery stronghold apparently built inside a volcano. The outdoor environments are often populated with gigantic magical creatures, some of which you’ll have to face in battle.
White Knight appears to have two somewhat different combat systems: one for facing regular monsters, and one for facing the aforementioned giant magical creatures. The regular system appears to be closer to Final Fantasy XII’s style of pugilism. Your party and the enemy fight it out ATB-style, but movement occurs in real time and you’ll have to manually pause the action if you want to issue special commands.
You’ll have to use Leonard’s power of transformation to battle the truly dangerous beasties. Your other party members can still participate, but it’ll be your seven-meter tall white knight that’ll be giving and taking the brunt of the damage.
Interestingly, one of the characters that joins your party will be “you,” said Motomura-san. At some point in the single player game you will create an “avatar” through White Knight’s character creation system who will then join Leonard on his quest. Your avatar’s role in the single player game is still a secret, but he or she apparently plays a more significant part in multiplayer mode.
White Knight will ship with an “MMO style” online play. Your avatar will serve as your main player character. You can take him via PSN to a hub zone, where you can party up with as many as three others to take on missions and hunt down monsters. A new trailer showed a bit of this in action. Sure enough, it did resemble an MMO—there were a couple of people standing in a meadow, then they emoted a whole bunch, and then they went off to fight a huge troll. Level 5 says that your avatar’s experience level from the single player game will carry over to multiplayer, which is good news for those who don’t relish a long internet grind just so they can keep up with their buddies. A friends list and global chat system will aid in seeking out new members for your adventuring party.
The game’s production values still look solid, if not quite as mind-blowing as they did when it was first announced. Even though the industry has caught up a bit, White Knight’s HD-bolstered, motion-blurred environments still measure up. The footage on display showed incredible draw distance in its beautiful outdoor areas and impressive animation even on the truly monstrous creatures—one turtle-like monster carries an entire city on its back. The game’s music seemed especially heavy on the Celtic rock, which, in this reporter’s opinion, is a not a bad thing at all.
Until White Knight actually hits release, however, we’ll have to content ourselves with Level 5’s occasional, mysterious drops of information. Motomura-san couldn’t confirm whether there would be voice chat in the online mode, but he did promise “a huge number of quests.” Hopefully the team is hard at work trying to put them together before launch.
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