White Knight Chronicles: What Went Wrong?

This One Image Has More Entertainment Value Than 90% Of The Gameplay In White Knight Chronicles

Since my pre-teen years, Japanese RPGs have been the preferred role playing game; when a choice was available. Fast-forward to present day, I'm in my late twenties and have less time, but more love for the genre that demands patience and thought when I find the extra time to spend. Imagine my disappointment when I took Level 5's White Knight Chronicles out of my PS3 for the last time. My two and a half week trek with White Knight ended with confusion, boredom and a question. How can a game with this much potential systematically fail in every aspect of what makes JRPGs fun? White Knight has some of the worst combat I've seen in current role-playing games. The story goes from goofy-to-pathetic within hours. All these flaws and rough edges have made White Knight Chronicles the first RPG, of any kind, that I have never finished.

Protip: Customize Your Armor In Accordance To How Much You Hate Your Characters. Leonard Wore Nothing But Wet Underwear And Had A Twig For A Sword [/wish]

So what happened to this PS3 exclusive title? Could the inconsistent visuals and one-note characters be a result of rushed and mismanaged development? Though White Knight Chronicles has been cooking for years, looking at the release schedule, it would seem Level 5 may have been pressured to squeeze the anticipated title out after the U.S. holiday rush, but prior to Final Fantasy XIII's arrival. Be that as it may, the game fails more than it succeeds. Japanese games, in general, need these big titles to stand-out. I struggle to find positives for a game that punishes the player at almost every turn. The multi-player MMO mode is the game's ambitious saving grace, but to accomplish quests and defeat the obnoxiously high-level enemies you will have to grind your characters in the uninspired and weird single-player.

White Knight Has Its Fair Share Of Cut Scenes, But Its Jarring How Cool Some Of Them Look. So...Yeah...That's Something.

There is still something preventing me from deeming White Knight a throw-away. The game starts off on a good foot -- assuming you can get past the fact that the character you create at the game's start serves only as a silent, creepy, stalker that has no impact on the main plot [however, your avatar is used for the online quest mode]. The sound and music are great, but you may notice your party recycle lines ad nauseum while in battle or whilst visiting towns. Sidenote: I would suggest, when you are in character creation mode, give your avatar a ridiculous 'gravel-y' voice, makes those static dungeon crawling moments less snooze-worthy. Certain party members can transform into giant knights, which is cool until you realize that combos and some rudimentary combat skills are no longer available [example: any and all spell casting]. Making matters more cumbersome, you have no control over when you can transform back to your humanoid self. I can remember several occasions when Leonard [the protagonist and White Knight armor...wearer] would shrink down to human form in an area infested with enemies. All these wonderful ideas only for the end result to be me shouting expletives at my fancy-ass television. Did I mention that when you transform into your uber-knight form you occasionally break the camera?

Transforming Into The White Knight Is Really Cool, Until You Play Online And You Realize That Everything Is Just As Powerful As You Are.

The story and voice acting is just as archaic as the combat system. The plot consists of Leonard and his rag-tag bunch trying to save a princess [whom he's met twice] only for her to always and consistently be "in another castle" which is a device as old as Mario 3. The charm of White Knight comes from the odd and frustrating decisions Level 5 committed to. Thick Brit accent-having toad people, back tracking through deserts and dungeons only to rinse and repeat may lead you to believe that this handicapped title is epically long, but it isn't. This thirty-to-forty hour game just feels tedious. The combat system gives you a set number of slots to put skills and will always be a chore to navigate through because this game is all about punishing you for playing it. There is no "quick attack" making the simplest grind last longer than it should. When you want to attack, you have to wait for a time-gauge to fill and in between that time you have no control over what your party members are doing other than setting a combat characteristic [All Out, Safety, Healer, Auto]. The kicker for me was that you can freely run around in this vast world even while in combat. It doesn't matter how far away you are, if the enemy swings, you can be hit.

The Core Review Doesn't Talk Much About The Online, But It Actually Is An Interesting Mode. You Can Build Your Own Town. Create A Forum Topic. And Share Photos With The 12 Other People Playing This Mode.

White Knight Chronicles is a bargain purchase, at best. I can see thieves giving this back to their victims. Sony can file this exclusive next to Resistance 2, labelled "mistakes that never need to happen again". You want to give White Knight excuses and the benefit of the doubt, but the reality is that the finished product is a flimsy representation of what could have been.

I Give White Knight Chronicles

 

Because Change Is Sometimes A Strange And Wonderous Thing

 

The "This Is What Westernization Looks Like" Award