A very good (and overlooked) RPG from one of the largest game publishers in the world.
User Rating: 9 | Radiata Stories PS2
Radiata Stories stars Jack Russel as the main character that you play as for the entire game of Radiata Stories. Jack is the son of a mighty warrior who was said to have slayed a legendary dragon long ago. The game opens up with Jack waking up from sleep in a small house that he shares with his sister. From there he trains and goes to the Radiata Castle to try to become a Radiata Knight and follow in his father's footsteps The main use of travel in Radiata Stories is on foot (though later in the game you can teleport from place to place). Travel takes place in narrow linear paths that restricts where you are able to go. At time you can see long plains in the distance that you'd love to explore, but as much as you want to, you can't stray from the path. Though the paths are linear, the whole game isn't just going in one direction. You can visit any place in the Radiata Kingdom (which is rather large). If you've played Star Ocean: Til The End of Time, the battle system in Radiata Stories is very similar to Star Ocean except a little slower. If you haven't played it, the combat takes place in a small, three-dimensional area that contains Jack, any of your party members, and the enemy(ies). The O button is the basic attack button that, when pressed, can link up to three attacks in one combo. The X button is the dodge/block button. When the X button is pressed twice, Jack performs a dodge that is used for getting out of the way of an enemy attack. Pressing (and holding) the X button is used to block attack which takes about half the HP away that a normal attack would take. The square button is used for stronger attacks that takes away 10 points that you acquire every time you successfully attack an enemy. When that point meter fills up to 100, jack can perform a powerful attack called Limit Break, which attacks the enemy's weak point for massive damage (sorry I had to). The level up system is very basic like many other RPG's. As you gain experience from each battle you level up and gain bonuses to your attributes. Something this game does differently than some RPG's (Suikoden) is the ability to recruit characters for your cause. Everyone and everything is interactive (interactive by being able to kick everything and starting fights with people) and is really fun to get into fights with people. The graphics in Radiata Stories can be summed up as anime characters in a storybook environment. The character models are wonderfully detailed and there is much variety between characters. The environments are brightfully colored and really capture that storybook feel. The overall sound is amazing. To the beautiful score to the voice-overs everything is done perfectly. The voice-overs really get that humorous feel to you and does it very well. The score also helps achieve the right mood for every occasion in the game. The game, for me, took about 20 hours to beat, which is an ideal time for RPG's in my opinion, but you can take a very long time to discover everything there is in this game. Radiata Stories is a very good RPG that may have been overlooked by many people and will never be played by as many people it deserves to be played by, but I consider this to be an enjoyable time to spend with a game and if you like RPG's you should give this wonderful game a try.
