White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

[Flawless]

This an RPG being developed by Level 5 (Dark Cloud, Dragon Quest VIII, Rogue Galaxy, Jeanne d'Arc) and published by Sony.

Some details on the online play in this weeks Famitsu.

The Level 5 developed title features a story mode that can "seamlessly" change into online play. Once connected, there's a meeting place that can accommodate up to 16 players. From that, players break off into parties of 4 for quests.

Much more to come later in the week.

[Cyros]

Re: White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

This and Heavy Rain are my most anticipate "would sell a system for me" PS3 games.

[Flawless]

Re: White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

What's the game about? The often teased White Knight Chronicles has reared its head in video form at TGS. Aside from turning heads with its eye-popping graphics and action-game styling, this PS3 exclusive from Level 5 aims to mix up the standard Japanese-RPG formula by adding the limited ability to change into a giant white knight when fighting overpowered foes. Though we haven't seen much of the game, the most recent trailer shows more colorful environments, fantastic humanoid creatures, and giant monsters.

What's new for TGS? Though White Knight Chronicles will have a standard story mode, the focus of the newest trailer was "live mode," which allows you to play online with friends on the PlayStation Network. You'll begin by creating your character and customizing its appearance (hairstyle, facial hair, skin color, etc.) and voice. After finishing character setup, you can individualize your character's battle style by selecting actions and combos.

Communicating with your friends online can be done quickly with a number of handy character gestures, but text chat appeared to be present as well. After you form a party, you and your friends will be able to tackle quests together (the showcased quest was just a fight with a large enemy). However, it wasn't clear whether the quests are story-centric or if the ability to change into the White Knight is also an option in multiplayer mode. Given the brevity of the video, it's also very difficult to tell whether the game's online component is fully fleshed out or just an afterthought.

What's our take? White Knight Chronicles has looked great every time we've seen it, and this video's no different. However, it's difficult to judge the online component based on what we saw. Provided the combat engine is strong and the quests are varied and engaging, playing Level 5's newest RPG online could be massively fun, particularly if it feels like an unfolding story rather than just a bunch of hub-based missions. Unfortunately, all we know at this point is that the multiplayer's there, and you'll have to wait for the full details until its Japanese release this holiday season.

At the very least, a full-featured online mode isn't what we expected when we first heard about the game. Even if the majority of the development time went into story mode, live mode should add an especially sweet bonus.

<div style="width:500px; text-align:center"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="319" src="http://gamevideos.1up.com/swf/gamevideos11.swf?embedded=1&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;a utoplay=0&amp;src=http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/videoListXML%3Fid%3D21931%26adPlay%3Dtrue" align="middle"></embed><a href="http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/21931" target="_blank">White Knight Chronicles 'TGS 2008' trailer</a></div>

[Flawless]

Re: White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

White Knight Chronicles to Have Built-in SNS

News of an online multiplayer party mode for White Knight Chronicles was one of Sony's biggest announcements at October's Tokyo Game Show. But they forgot to mention one big feature. In addition to online play, White Knight Chronicles will include a built-in social network service.

Announced today at a pre-launch event in Tokyo, the built-in SNS is formally known as "GeoNet." This area of the game has all the features you'd expect of an SNS, including friend lists, a journal with comment functionality, and messaging. The service also keeps track of who's reading your content, so you can see if your journal is popular.

This is just one feature of what should be a feature-rich RPG. Developer Level-5 is even giving the game content off the Blu-ray disc! Today, the White Knight site was updated with a web comic, White Knight Chronicles: Episode 0 Dogma Wars (this is an English translation of the Japanese name, Shirokishi Monogatari: Epsiode 0 Dogma Senki). This comic tells the story of a battle that took place 10,000 years prior to the game. You can see the Japanese version for yourself at the White Knight official site under the "Special" section.

White Knight Chronicle hits Japan on Christmas day.

More info and impressions

• Geonet Social Network System
• Screenshot function called Crystal Shot
• There appears to be an ignore list function
• The Knight Robert escort quest is a lvl 41 quest (characters were level 50) but is rather challenging.
• The draw distance in online mode is noticeably lower than in offline mode, but not bothersome.
• Online quests appear to have quite a bit of volume. Robert escort quest is estimated at 45min. Final boss is Gigas + trash mobs.
• Load time is pretty fast, or at least, the poster thinks it's pretty fast.
• 1 avatar per data (details very vague).
• No voice chat. Dev staff wants to be able to incorporate it in the future but no specific plans.
• Skills are distributed to weapons and magic. Depending on skill distribution, combo (hit count?) increases, status increases and what not can be observed.
• Equipment has durability...need to repair occasionally.
• Even warriors learn some level of healing so not necessary to force one person to a healer role.
• No transformation in online mode.
• Quests can be done w/o 4 people. Leader accepts quest, others see that and participate.
• Quest rewards are distributed similarly to monster hunter.
• No lag/slowdown even with a large number of enemies.
• White knight can equip a sword and shield. There were spaces for 2 other types of unknown equipment.
• Equipment changes in movies as well.
• Additional quests will be distributed via PSN.

I started by making a custom character, people will probably spend hours doing this but I just made one quickly to get into the game. Starting the game, my custom character can be seen in the beautiful opening cinematics. There were many options available, save game, item transfer and network, but since this was an offline play stall they couldn't be accessed.

Into battle! Monsters can be seen and encountered on the field and the combat takes place right there and then. your party members are always on the field too. You can tell if there's a giant monster around because the screen starts to shake. Depending on the creature the screen will pan out to show them in their entirety so you can see just how much bigger than you they are.

The game has many features you can take in-game screenshots there was a list of trophies. You collect many items like monster parts, I assume for synthesis but I didn't get to try it out.

In conclusion White Knight Chronicles is a great game for all PS3 owners and especially JRPG fans.

New Screens

[Flawless]

Re: White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

1UP Preview

As I sat down to write this preview, I reflected on the influence a major critical entity can have. In the case of White Knight Chronicles, my preconceived notions were strongly colored -- stained, really -- by a damning 29/40 review from Famitsu. The score seemed shockingly low, especially for a game coming from a major advertiser like Sony. Even the generally horrible Infinite Undiscovery did better (32/40), while the unfairly maligned The Last Remnant did much better (38/40). More alarmingly, Level-5's own disappointing Rogue Galaxy was considered the superior game (36/40). In short, I was expecting a disaster.

White Knight Chronicles is anything but. I don't get the feeling the game is a vibrant masterpiece -- not yet, anyway -- but it is certainly superior to Infinite Undiscovery, and corrects most of the problems with the deeply flawed Rogue Galaxy. Although WKC will turn out to be enjoyable comfort food for JRPG fans in whatever state it arrives on Western shores, a few simple tweaks here and there could improve it dramatically. I hope this preview will serve to highlight some of the niggling interface problems I encountered in WKC -- those little issues that all too often find their way creeping into otherwise highly polished Level-5 games.

The story may not be remarkable (being penned as it is by Hino, who "wrote" the wildly incoherent Rogue Galaxy), but the experience it sets up is an enjoyable one. I mentioned that WKC was an MMORPG at heart; that might be too kind. WKC is Final Fantasy XI. The near-identical controls, battles, camera angles, on-screen log, emote commands, macro shortcuts, and design -- extending even to legal action-worthy analogues of FFXI's Hume, Elvaan, Tarutaru, Mithra and Galka races -- nearly convinced me I was living a cruel flashback. FFXI held my life in a death grip for half a decade, but to return to its familiar control schemes was strangely enjoyable. For those who never tried Square Enix's soul-stealing online RPG, its game engine was a brilliant one; you've already experienced a great deal of its influence in FFXII, but it is even more profound here. That influence is first noticeable in WKC's vast, wide-open areas, which can take a good 15 minutes to traverse the length of. Cities are completely seamless -- opening the door to a shop or home simply lets you inside, with nary a screen transition to be seen. Environments have a true lived-in quality; there is a sense that the world continues beyond the boundaries your characters can move within, and that it would continue to function whether you inhabited it or not. WKC may not be a technical marvel, but its superb world design can make for the occasionally breathtaking moment, as you crest a rise to see glittering lakes far below, or stop to admire the intricate way a bridge loops back over an area you had been through hours before.

Control is also lifted from FFXI, with movement on the left stick and the targeting of enemies, NPCs, and objects accomplished with the digital d-pad. Targeting your own character brings up a list of commands. In battle, you can freely assign individual attacks, weapon skills, and magic commands to a palette of shortcuts -- a concept identical to FFXI's macros, though with somewhat less freedom. Enemies roam on the field, some aggressive, some not, and will link together on sight just as in...yeah, I don't even have to say it anymore.

Two areas in which WKC differs significantly from FFXI are its character growth and Combo systems. You have complete freedom to acquire whatever weapon skill, magic, or stat bonus you choose through the use of Skill Points obtained when you level up, and only through the learning of them are subsequent skills unlocked. It's like FFXII's License Board system, though with a less visual implementation. You can also create custom Combos by linking together several attacks via a sub-menu, which are unleashed in battle through a Quick Time Event-like button tapping scheme. Contrary to how they may sound, Combos may be the most enjoyable aspect of WKC's battle system, offering great freedom and accompanied by spectacular camerawork.

A mechanic which has no FFXI parallel at all is Leonard's ability to transform into the titular White Knight (complete with a hokey tokusatsu cry of "Henshin!") -- but only in wide-open areas, because the thing is freaking ginormous. As in fellow mecha-RPG Xenogears, the robot form is so powerful that it decimates regular enemies, but is virtually required to stand up to bosses. The cost for unleashing the Knight's power is almost negligible -- it will deplete Leonard's Action Chips (normally used for weapon skills) and MP, but both are refilled by simply walking on the field. Thus far, WKC has not been a challenging game, due in no small part to the transformation scheme.

As much as I'd like to tell you all about the Live Part, I can't. The WKC servers have been mercilessly hammered since launch, brought to their knees by "higher than expected traffic." Perhaps this should come as no surprise: Nearly every MMO from Japan experiences dreadful connection issues during launch week... a "tradition" that goes back to PSO. If I could connect, I'd be experiencing a four-player FFXI-in-miniature, with each person taking control of their personal avatar -- Leonard's co-worker and constant companion from the Story Part. After creating a lobby, you join instanced rooms for randomly generated quests that culminate in a boss battle. You avatar retains the levels, money, and items gained, and bring them back to Leonard's one-player Story Part. According to the manual, there are even social networking-style functions, like a personal home page on which you can link to friends, post in-game photos, and blog about your adventures. It all sounds fascinating, and I look forward to trying it...whenever Sony fixes its servers.

As I noted in my introduction, a DOA network isn't the only problem WKC suffers from. A few troubling, elementary interface issues that demand mentioning:

• There is no pause function. You're completely out of luck should you need to put the game down for a few minutes during one of the lengthy cut-scenes.
• There is no camera recentering function, which can occasionally cause awkward control issues.
• There is no auto-run. For a game so clearly inspired by FFXI, this is an egregious omission. Auto-run was designed so that targeting could be accomplished simultaneously with movement -- something that is virtually impossible in WKC.
• There is no quick access to area maps. Although a minimap is always present, the vast areas require frequent calling up of maps buried in the Select button sub-menu.
• Most unfortunately, there is no voice chat -- a complaint voiced by Famitsu and confirmed by the game's manual. In this day and age, there is simply no excuse. I realize Japanese gamers are frequently nervous about speaking online -- during my FFXI days, half my LinkShell members used voice changing software -- but Westerners have no such qualms. Despite these issues, my two days with White Knight Chronicles illustrated that highly valid, age-old point: Don't believe everything you read. The game is no disaster, and all its issues could conceivably be addressed with a patch, or eliminated entirely from the forthcoming English version. It is immediately the best RPG on PlayStation 3, a platform that is desperate for a good one. Depending on how much the online mode has to offer, it may even have the potential to be great.

[goh]

Re: White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

Apprently it sold out in 1 day and there won't be anymore untill tuesday. It's pretty strange the character you make is actually the side kick instead of the main character,the customization sounds pretty great too.

[Flawless]

Re: White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

Some footage from the retail Japanese version.

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[Money99]

Re: White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

This and Heavy Rain are my most anticipate "would sell a system for me" PS3 games.

Wow! I had never even heard of "Heavy Rain" until you mentioned it. I just read some previews and watched the hands-on video and I'm hooked.

I was excited for White Knight Chronicles until I read how you can turn into a big white knight. That doesn't really appeal to me.

It's still amazing to me that nobody has really gotten close to the Zelda games. Only Fable II is near in that regard. I hope that the PS3 can come up with one similar to those titles.

[Flawless]

Re: White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

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[Defel]

Re: White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

In-depth Import Review

http://www.rpgfan.com/reviews/White_Knight_Chronicles/index.html

[briand23]

Re: White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

Ok so since this game seems to finally be dropping here in the US on Feb 2nd... any OSers picking this one up?

[Admiral50]

Re: White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

I am seriously considering it but not sure if I'll have the time to invest and enjoy it properly. Especially with a number of big games coming soon after.

[briand23]

Re: White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

Yeah, I wasnt thinking about this game at all until I asked for recommendation for a good console online RPG... apparently this game's online mode is going to be epic. Not too great of a single player game... but the online sounds really cool.

[briand23]

Re: White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

Here is some info I found on the online play of WKC.


The MMO touches of White Knight Chronicles

Posted by Gieson Cacho on January 20th, 2010 at 2:48 pm | Categorized as Video Games | Tagged as PlayStation 3, preview, Sony, White Knight Chronicles

When I told an acquaintance that I saw White Knight Chronicles at a preview event last week, the first thing he asked was “Didn’t that come out two years ago?” For fans awaiting Level 5’s latest title, it definitely feels longer. Released in Japan on Christmas 2008, White Knight Chronicles has taken its time being translated and brought to our shores.
Japanese gamers have enjoyed this intriguing mix of online and offline RPG for months. For North American audiences, the wait for this “International Edition” yielded additional features such as Home and Trophy support (You can actually earn a White Knight statue for your Home space by earning a specific trophy) along with Voice Chat and Live talk. I had a chance to play the online portion of the game and talk with producer Tsubasa Inaba.



“There’s three pillars to the online experience,” he said. “GeoNet, Quests and Georama features.”
To actually get on GeoNet, players must have a PSN account and link it to their save data. Afterward, they have to finish Chapter 1, which according to Inaba takes about one or two hours. The GeoNet lets you play online, create a friends a list, blog and post on a bulletin board. “It’s the core base set of online functionalities that you’d expect in an online game.” It basically shifts White Knight Chronicles to the realm of the MMO.
When it comes to Georama, a feature that’s been in the series since Dark Cloud, Level 5 integrates the ability to build a village to the online space. Inaba says the Georama space is your online lobby that you could customize with about 150 different parts. You obtain these components by combining items or buying them in the single-player games. When playing with a friend online, they can see your village and you can see there’s and probably pick up some tips or hints. “With 150 parts that’s a lot to mess around with, it’s like giving a 3-year-old a box a Legos and letting them go off and play,” Inaba says.
On top of structures, you can populate the Georama with NPCs, who have different characteristics and professions. For example, scouting a farmer and giving him land will offer benefits to the players and his village. In addition, there’s three different themes — desert, plains and wilderness — so there’ll be some variety in the Georama spaces.

Lastly, there’s the online quests, which are the meat of the Internet experience. I played through a simple quest with a partner and the setup reminded me of Monster Hunter. Players can go in and out of online quests and the single-player campaign. Depending on how far they have gotten in the main campaign, players will have unlocked a few online quests. To actually do these and other higher level adventures, players will need certain Guild Ranks earned by completing online quests
Inaba explains further: “Guild Rank is scoring element or measurement method that we use to help us keep track of your gaming balance so that you’re not thrown into a very difficult online quest when you’re still a novice player.” To me, it sounds like a feature that would prevent twinking.
The good thing about the online mode is that your character from the main campaign is the same as the one online. This means that anything that you get in the online mode — such as rare one-of-a-kind items — helps in the single-player adventure and vice versa

Back at the GeoRama lobby, my partner went ahead and selected a quest and moved on ahead of me. All I had to do to join him was go to the bulletin board and find him. The screen loads with the appropriate setting and we engaged in a quest where we had to find two ingredients for a healing salve that would save a fellow adventurer’s friend.
The world itself is your typical fantasy fare that’s done in a Japanese style. It feels like an MMO with the way seven attacks laid out at the bottom of the screen. Players can switch among them by pressing the direction pad left and right. Hitting the attack button activates the move, and players will have to wait for a cool down before they can activate the action again. It’s a weird mix of turn-based and real-time gameplay. By pressing on down or up on the D-pad, players can access other skills such as spells or defend.
Unfortunately, because of a few circumstances, we ran out of time to finish the quest and ended up with a big incomplete.
But overall, there seems to be a lot there with a level 50 cap and the promise of additional downloadable quests for those who keep up with White Knight Chronicles and create uber character. Best of all, the new content will be free.
Those piqued by the potential of this Japanese role-playing game-MMO hybrid don’t have to wait long. White Knight Chronicles comes out Feb. 2.

[LingeringRegime]

Re: White Knight Chronicles (PS3)

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