White Knight Chronicles

Brought to us by JRPG masters, Level-5, White Knight Chronicles is a game that many RPG fans had sky-high expectations for. To be fair, the game does many things very well, but it was near impossible for it to live up to the expectations people had of it. Still, it was successful enough to get a sequel and a spin-off on the PSP too.

Looking To The Future

One of the main complaints that you will hear about White Knight Chronicles is the story is lacking and I full-heartedly agree with this. The main protagonist in the game is a simple guy called Leonard who is tasked (along with his friends) to deliver wine to the party that is being held for Princess Cisana. The story is basically a plot about saving a Princess, but Leonard finds a special suit of armor along the way allowing him to turn into the White Knight.

The story has some good ideas and there are a few twists and turns and it is more than the “saving the princess” story that it suggests. The problem is the whole thing is just very dull, there is very little character development, and the ending… oh the ending sucks! Rather than giving a satisfying ending, they were clearly looking to a second game as it ends on a horrible cliffhanger.

Who Got MMO In My JRPG?

The gameplay of White Knight Chronicles is not bad. You can switch between the members of your party on the fly and when you build up enough energy to play as The White Knight it is really cool. The problem is the combat system feels more like a chore than anything else. To start with enemies can hit you no matter where you are, even a close attack can hit you if you are on the other end of the battle! However, this same thing does not apply to you! It feels completely unfair, add to this a timed system where you have to wait for a meter to fill before you can do a move and combat is very frustrating.

There is also a multiplayer component to the game, but you do not just play through the story with your friends. I feel that this would have been a much better idea and, in all honesty, would have made the game better. Instead, you guys team up to go on these Monster Hunter style missions. It may not sound like much, but back when this was released, I did enjoy this.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Before I talk about the visuals that White Knight Chronicles offers, I have to talk about the sound. The music in this game is fantastic, seriously I have the soundtrack on CD, that is how much I love the music in this game. The voice acting is also of a very, very high standard, I just wish the talented voice actors had more substance to work with in the story!

The visual presentation is ok, the characters have a kind of Final Fantasy XII vibe to them if you ask me. Not just in their design, but in the quality of them too. It is not horrible looking, but it just lacks that wow factor I expected. The worst thing about the visuals has to be the lip-syncing. Look, I get that most JRPGs when played with the English voice acting have poor lip-syncing, but this stuff is next-level bad!

Pros:

• I liked the White Knight
• The story does have a few twists and turns
• The music in this game really is fantastic
• I thought the voice acting was done very well

Cons:

• The combat feels completely unfair
• The cliffhanger ending makes you feel like you wasted your time playing it!