A Great Role Playing Game With Plenty of Options!
Menus/ Presentation:
The menus are very straight forward and easy to use; however, save and load times take a little longer than most games I have played. This only happens when you come to a point that you want to save the game you are playing, so it is not a big deal. In contrast to this, I love being able to walk through a door to a shop and not have to wait for the game to load everything. When you open a door, you walk in, go to the counter, and speak with the attendant who will sell, buy, repair, or bind items for you without any load time – its great. The same applies when you are fighting through a dungeon and need to pass through a door – you just open it and pass through – no waiting for the game to load the next area. Everything from creating your avatar at the beginning of the game to learning the battle system is simple and won't take long for you to learn (I have not played online yet, so cannot tell you if the same applies online).The story in the game is nothing spectacular, but definitely gets more interesting the further you progress. It is enough to keep you interested for the 30-40 hours it will take to play through the campaign. The voice acting is better than I expected, but probably not the best you have heard. The actors put enough emotion into their individual character that you understand how each of the characters feel. This helps as you progress through the game and the plot slightly changes. Some of the things characters say do get repeated as you travel through villages or dungeons, but once again, the Voice acting is done well enough that the repetition does not annoy me.
Graphics/ Sound:
The game looks great as far as I am concerned. There are many Cities, Villages, Dungeons, ect… in White Knight Chronicles, and all of them had lots of detail put into them. Some of them naturally look better than others. For instance, a mountain pass with lots of lakes and waterfalls is more colorful and appealing than a dark mine. You will travel through both, and will probably feel the same way I do about the mountains looking better than a mine. Currently there are many games that look better than White Knight Chronicles, but this game still looks good, though I am sure games like Final Fantasy 13 will blow it away. I still think that everything from the character design to your avatar, and the weapons you carry look good, and I have not noticed any problems with the frame rate. I have enjoyed the cut scenes and do not notice much difference between the visuals in the cut scene, and the actual game play.As I mentioned before, the voice acting is good. The same applies to the music score, which is good, but not as good as games like Uncharted 2. Everything such as background noise, weapons, monsters, ect… sound good, and will keep you interested in the game.
Gameplay:
This is what I have really enjoyed about White Knight Chronicles. Just like many other Role Playing games, your characters will Level Up as they gain experience. You can use experience points to customize each character. Though this customization is similar to many other Role Playing Games it does not have a steep learning curve when compared to games like Final Fantasy 12, and I for one, really appreciate this. Customization is easy to get into and deep enough. There are different magic skills, and weapons each character can use or develop. These range from elemental magic to wielding a specific weapon like a battle axe, or bow. For the most part, each character can develop skills in any category with a few exceptions. I chose to give each character unique abilities with the type of weapon they use, and magic they learn. After learning skills and learning combos you can choose up to 21 of them to install in your "Functional Palette". During battle you select skills from your "Functional Palette" using the D pad while you move your character around and try to get in the best position while waiting for the circular attack bar to fill. After the attack bar fills, use the action button to wreak havoc. Some skills will require MP, and your character has limited MP so you will want to be careful. When battles get really tough, a few characters can transform into large battle knights – this is helpful when fighting a large foe or a boss. All I can say is that for those of you who played final fantasy 12, the battle system is similar but much better.Battles are also in real time, this means that you can see where and what your enemies are and as you approach them, and not whisked away to some arena when confronted. This is very helpful as you may want to change characters before approaching an enemy.
Is it a keeper?
The game should take you anywhere from 30-40+ hours to complete depending on whether you choose to follow the game directly, or go on side quests – choosing to do this, will put you at 100+ hours. With a great story mode and plenty of online content White Knight Chronicles has lots to offer. If you did not like final fantasy 12 you will probably not like this game and will want to stay far away from it, or if you are not sure try renting it first. I like the game a lot and will keep it in my collection.