Finally an RPG that's not afraid to try something different.

User Rating: 9.4 | Radiata Stories PS2
By omegabyte | Review Date:
RPGs have always fallen under two rather definitive sub-genres - the console RPG and the PC RPG. While the former tend to have long, complicated storylines involving numerous detailed characters, the latter are built around massive worlds with a focus on exploration and non-linear storytelling. Radiata Stories bridges the gap between these two genres by creating a breathtaking world to explore, with literally hundreds of unique, interesting characters to meet and interact with, and a charming, yet not overly long or complicated storyline. Likely the beginning of a new game series, __________ Stories, the Radiata ones focus around sixteen year old Jack Russell, a boy with aspirations of knighthood, and an energetic attitude not unlike his canine namesake. Now that he is finally old enough, he sets out for Radiata Kingdom to try and live up to his father's legacy. --- Graphics --- 9 --- Right from the moment you pop in the disc, you can tell that Radiata Stories is returning to the roots of fantasy storytelling. And I'm not talking about Lord of the Rings or Narnia roots, I'm talking about the roots that Tolkien and CS Lewis built their worlds from -- Aesop, the Brothers Grimm, Scheherazade -- the great writers of "olde." Radiata Stories is a fairy tale, as becomes obvious from the opening sequence, in which a the cover of a large storybook opens up and the pages turn to a depiction of a ferocious dragon being fought by a noble knight. And as you enter the world, everything, from the landscapes to the people, has a kind of simple charm that bring back memories of these classic tales from your childhood. As you walk around, everything is bright and radiant, almost glowing. Primary colors and earth tones are abundant. The characters, over two hundred of them (177 of which you can recruit into your party), are all richly detailed and unique in appearance. Using a modified anime style, the animators thankfully strayed away from the tired and cliched facial expressions used in most cartoons and developed their own, the result of which are breathtaking to behold. In no other game are the characters emotions portrayed so brilliantly and effectively. The environments put nearly every other RPG out there, with the possible exception of the latest in the Final Fantasy series, to shame. From the rolling hills to the red stone cliffs to the streets of the city, a monumental attention to detail has been given, leading to a world that is not only fun to explore, but takes on a life of its own. While certainly not of the technical magnitude of, say, Half-Life 2 or Doom 3, the graphics in Radiata Stories are by far one of its strongest points. They're simple, charming, and suit the game's tone in every way possible. -- Sound -- 8 -- The sound in Radiata Stories is one of those funny things where some things were done exceptionally well, while others were lacking. The musical score is excellent, featuring upbeat, bouncy rhythms from composer Noriyuki Iwadare. The music does an excellent job of keeping your spirits high, while staying out of the way of the voice acting and other sound effects. Speaking of voice acting, Radiata Stories' is phenomenal. With the exception of a few areas which sort of flopped out (mainly because the game was taking on a more serious tone at that time, and Radiata Stories just isn't good at being serious), every line of dialogue is well spoken. The reason for this is probably due to the fact that the game makes light of itself at every possible moment. It very rarely tries to be a gripping drama or a melancholy tragedy, but instead tries to be, well, a fairy tale - upbeat, charming, and humorous. The dialogue is well written and rarely sounds forced, and the game flows wonderfully because of that. The only downside to the voice acting is the lack of it in battles. While all the characters will shout out random battle cries at certain points, their cries are usually limited to one or two phrases. After a while you learn to just ignore the battle cries, but it would have been nice to have a few more thrown in there. The sound effects are fairly basic for the most part - sword slashing and footsteps and whatnot, but there are some situations in which the sound takes on a different role. In a number of scenes, generally humorous ones, little musical trills and other sound effects are played, much in the same way as they would be employed in a cheesy TV sitcom. Overall, the sound is above par, and does an excellent job. -- Gameplay -- 9 -- Radiata Stories is an action RPG, but it tries a number of new ideas out, and the results are quite interesting. First off, there is no mana. No MP, no TP, no nothing. Not a sausage. You don't get to experiment with special techniques or spells or anything of the sort. But don't despair, what you get instead is a truly novel approach to action gameplay. First, you have your "volty" gauge. Every time you hit an enemy, this goes up by 1 (or 2 if you have the right skill equipped). You can use your accumulated volty (max is 100) to launch a basic special attack, which never changes and costs 10 volty, or an ultimate special attack, which does an incredible amount of damage and costs 100 volty. You can also use your volty to issue commands to allies or to form battle links. You're in control of the main character, Jack, and you can equip him with four different types of weapon - one-handed swords, two-handed swords, spears, and axes. As you use these weapons more and more, you learn more basic attack types with them, and eventually learn the ultimate volty attack described earlier. Now, the truly unique aspect of this battle system is that you can arrange these attacks in any order you want, creating your own custom attack combo, which is executed simply by pressing the attack button repeatedly. What this does is give you the chance to design your own cool looking attack movements -- you can design them for effectiveness in combat or flashiness or whatever you happen to desire. Another interesting system is the command system. During battle, you have no control over your allies actions, but you can issue them orders such as to cure an injured ally, or to back off from an enemy to recoup, or even to simply "go nuts." There are also commands that function almost like special attacks, which can raise your stats, or even heal your entire party. These commands all cost volty points, so you have to be careful when and how often you use them. By far, however, the most interesting new system introduced in Radiata Stories is the Link system. During battle, you can order your comrades into special battle formations that grant certain bonuses or proficiencies. While you are linked, your party members are connected by red lines drawn along the ground. Links can range anywhere from the basic Box link (a square formation in which you try to surround your foe and then all attack at the same time from different directions) to the Attack link (an offensive formation that forces your party members to attack the enemy that you are attacking, when you are attacking them) to the Square link (an interesting link, causes your party members to get up close together and spin around to knock enemies away). Other than those changes, the battles play out very much like its predecessor, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. You move around a 3D map and attack the foe in real time. The innovations don't end with the battle system, however. One of the cooler features is that almost everything in the game - other characters included - can be kicked. Kicking objects can sometimes yield items, while kicking characters can anger them, forcing you into a fight. In addition, there are a number of neutral enemies in the game that can only be fought by kicking them. Sometimes these enemies are extremely weak and easy to defeat - hardly worth your time - but other times they can be worth a ton of experience or money, or in the case of the Tsuchinoko Snake, can drop rare items if you accede to certain conditions. There are also small stones on the roads of the game that you can kick along the path, sort of like a mini-game. Doing so doesn't do anything for you, but it's a neat little detail none the less. Radiata Stories also features 176 playable characters, plus the main character Jack. Most of these characters can be recruited on a permanent basis, though a few only show up for a couple of storyline moments and then become unavailable. Once a character becomes your friend, you can call on him/her to aid you in battle, very similar to Suikoden or Pokemon. The most interesting thing about the game, however, is the world itself. Radiata Kingdom is a truly amazing place. The world is based on a day/night cycle that takes about 45 minutes for a full day to pass. As each day goes by, every character in the game goes about his or her own life, and you can follow these characters around their daily business and see what they do. They might go to work in the morning, have lunch around noon, and head home at night, or perhaps they'll go for a drink first. You can literally spend hours upon hours just watching these characters to see how they live their lives, and there are dozens and dozens of little nuances in their behaviors that you could easily miss if you don't. For example, if you go up to the top floor of the restaurant around 8:30 PM, you can see a few friends of yours having some beers. The normal course of gameplay would never take you to this area, so you might miss it, but watching them chug down beer mugs almost as large as their heads is rather humorous, and one of them even passes out at the table! The only complaint I have is with the control scheme for the X and O buttons, which is a bit unintuitive. In menus, X is the confirm button and O is the cancel button, while on the world map, X is Kick and O is Interact. The result is situations where you want to talk to a person but kick them, which can lead to unnecessary battles. The end result of all these creative and innovative systems is an experience unlike any other roleplaying game, and that's a good thing. -- Tilt -- 10 -- To put it simply, Radiata Stories is amazing. You can literally spend a hundred hours just wandering around the town and soaking in the atmosphere of the kingdom. With two very different storyline arcs, a decently sized, challenging optional dungeon, and virtually endless potential party combinations, the game will provide you with endless hours of entertainment. I hope and pray that Tri-Ace continues this series, because they have stumbled on something truly remarkable.

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