White Knight Chronicles
Review
From wine-hauling to princess saving
by Josh Jensen
reviewed on PS3
Avatar for online play
The most intriguing aspect of this game is its online feature. At the beginning of the game you create an avatar, though your creation will just be a side character in the main story. You can make a short, fat kid with a smirk on his face, a fu manchu and red lip gloss, or a tall, muscular type who would normally be seen in a game like this. It's extensive and realistic, as you can make your neck longer, your legs shorter, and your head bigger, all of which will affect your final height and weight.
You can then take your avatar online and build your own area, known in-game as your Georama. You can buy and move buildings around, as made possible in Level 5's hit, Dark Cloud. Throughout the main, offline story, you can hire characters you meet to work in your Georama's shops, which can be visited by anyone who wants to visit it. You can form guilds with your friends, and visit each other's towns. There are also currently 50 online quests which you and your fellows can participate in, and there are many more to come via DLC.
There have been many RPGs with extensive offline content, as well as games with extensive online content, but WKC is indeed a rarity, striking gold in this area. This will undoubtedly pave the way for future RPG's that have swung and missed in trying to give the end user an online experience worth mentioning.
Visuals
This is where the game becomes iffy, again. The environments are absolutely beautiful, as you would expect from just about any next-gen RPG, but the characters and animation leave a bit to be desired. This, however, is because of when the game was made. White Knight Chronicles is actually a port from Japan, where the original was released in late 2008. In order to truly appreciate the graphics for what they are, you have to take yourself back to that time. It is very well done, but by no means are the visuals in the upper-echelon of today's newest releases. Given the time that the game was created, it is difficult to speak negatively of WKC's visuals.
The only complaint I have that would span back to 2008, would be the lip syncing. This could also be because of the fact that the game is imported from Japan, thus changing the language in which the dialogue is spoken, but it is still hard to get over it. The voice acting is also semi-painful, which is also the norm in a port, since the original characters were obviously voiced differently. I sometimes found myself reading the subtitles, just so I didn't have to watch the characters' mouths move during a cut-scene.
Lasting Appeal
As long as you have a connection to the Internet, this game could be an eternal source of enjoyment. If Level 5 continues to release content for your Georama, such as items and quests, it will have absolutely no problem living up to Level 5's original claim, when CEO Akihiro Hino boldly claimed that White Knight Chronicles would have at least 100 hours of gameplay.
Conclusion
All-in-all, this game is sure to be a hidden gem in the category of Playstation exclusives. Being that the game is already over a year old, technically, and being released in the shadow of Final Fantasy XIII, White Knight Chronicles is almost sure to fly under the radar. However, if you can place yourself back in 2008, slightly lowering your graphical expectations, you will certainly lose yourself in this epic, turn-based story. This is absolutely a no-brainer addition to your Playstation 3 library.
8.5
fun score
Pros
Unprecedented online content, Conceivably unlimited game time, Immersive fighting system
Cons
Been-there, done-that plot, Visually a year behind the pack, Dreadful lip syncing
