White Knight Chronicles 2 – Review

Title: White Knight Chronicles 2
Alternate Title: White Knight Chronicles: Light and Darkness’ Awakening
Published By: SCEJ (Japan). SCEE (PAL Regions) and D3 Publisher (US)
Based on: The second game in the White Knight Chronicles series.
Console: Playstation 3
Genre: Role-playing Game
Rating: This title has been classified PG for Mild Fantasy and Violence. Gaming Experience may change online.
Audio: English Dubs
Subtitles: English, Francais, Deutsch, Italiano and Espanol
Region: This review was conducted on an Australian release version of the game. It is currently only available in PAL regions, with a US release due out in September.
Cost: $90ish from EB Games Australia
Blurb: A strong improvement in terms of design, gameplay and difficulty from the original game, however lacks in terms of the storyline, which can be perceived as “Go the opposite path to the first game”. New online levels and increased level cap caters well to those who enjoy the online features.

As I don’t really have much to say in this pre-review blurb, I intend on stating a few of the things about this game that you should be aware about before purchasing it. First of all, this game contains a fully remastered version of White Knight Chronicles 1 that is very helpful if you want to restart your character from scratch then having two Game Data’s. In terms of importing your WKC1 data to WKC2, it is possible however you need the file to be Clear Data, as a New Game+ file does not cut it to convert, which could be quite awkward if you trade in WKC1 when you purchase WKC2. Also included in the set is a Geonet Access Key, which you need to allow a single account (Not a machine) to access the Geonet services (i.e. Online Gaming). Anyway, that is pretty much all you need to know if you intend on going from my basic blurb and running out to purchase the game. Read on for the full review of White Knight Chronicles 2!

War casts its shadow across the land. Good becomes evil and hope turns to fear. Now, a new hero must step forward before the world is lost forever… Transform into a deadly giant knight, create your own attack combos, forge guilds and embark on an epic journey where online and offline play merge seamlessly.

During the course of this review, I shall only be focusing upon the second game in the series and not the first game, so please be aware that there will be some spoilers throughout it. The game takes place approximately 6 months after the first, with Cisna being rescued and now acting as the Queen of Balandor, however the outside world isn’t as well. There is one knight that still remains hunted by the Magi and the Yshrenia empire and that means trouble in the Archduke of Faria with Leonard and the others going to help out over there, and so their quest begins. Overall, unless you are a big devoted fan of the series and can blindly overlook this fact, you will be disappointed by the fact that most of the game is just visiting the same areas as the previous game in reverse order, fixing the wrongs which each of the regions have (Such as a poison fog in Greede and the Magi taking over Albana, but for the most part it is just non-storyline dungeon crawling. The storyline does pick up at times, with further knights being uncovered and a look into alternate versions of the night at the start of the first game, but these still pale in comparison to the excessive use of pointless storylines.

Character development is slightly better than the storyline, with more of a focus on characters such as Yulie who had very little in terms of development in the first game, and her development was probably the best out of anyones. Surprisingly, the Avatar you create gets his or her own sequences, totalling about two or three non-verbal ones which gives you the impression that he/she is actually there instead of a background character. The thing is, I am pretty sure that at some point Level-5 realized the truth, that most people would be using the same three character combination at the end of WKC1: Leonard, Caesar and Avatar, that is why in this game, characters flow in and out of the storyline, with at a  number of points, you are left without any Knights and characters you wouldn’t usually level, which also lends itself well to the character development as you don’t have all the other characters interrupting the moments.

In terms of Design, it has been given a nice boost in overall quality, with everything from the environments to the characters looking more realistic and visually appealing to the eye. The first thing you will notice as you begin the game within Faria (One of the few new areas in the game), that everything has the appeal and feeling of a small Japanese-styled town within the forest, and as you progress through the older levels, those of you who have played WKC: International Edition, will easily see the differences between the two. Character designs are also better designed, and the few new characters included also look like effort was but into their design… except one character who looks almost exactly like Leonard but is a female….

For those that were disappointed that the White Knight Chronicles International Edition didn’t have any lyrics in its opening, you might not be so disappointed if you get this version of the game. Whilst they have not included the Japanese dubbed lyrics, they did record an English dubbed version which whilst taking a few listens to warm up to, ended up being a satisfactory listen. The music in the game is mostly the same as the first one, with a few tracks added to it. The music suits the style of gameplay, and there was one remarkable moment in online mode where me and the other three people I was doing a mission with stopped and enjoyed the battle theme…. (Okay we were waiting for an elevator but we all complemented on the music). The voice cast from the previous game were retained, with a few new additions to the cast. Whilst there is nothing special about the overall quality of the voice acting, there wasn’t anything particularly bad about it, and heck, even the Avatar got a couple of new lines to scream in battle.

The one major concern with the original gameplay was that it was far to easy and provided you chose the right characters, you could essentially get through the game with minimal switching of characters (Usually when a new character joined the party). The gameplay is sufficiently harder this time, and you will most probably find yourself inundated with monsters, low MP, low HP and no ability to summon a Knight at all due to also having insufficient AP. You will find yourself dying quite a bit, to the point where it actually frustrated me…. after all, I have gone through these environments repeatedly in the first game. This is also a game that chains three boss battles in a row without a save point, which as these battles were a lot more challenging and usually had a save point right before them, proved to be a great opportunity to plan strategies further. You will also find that whilst the battle system remains the same as it was previously, it takes less time to attack, and with added skills, makes for a more enjoyable battle. The addition of two knights to your arsenal, including one that is customization to an extent (Very little is unlockable at the moment, I assume further patches will allow for it) and more control over the Incorruptus editing give that side of gameplay more customization.

The online mode is what I like to think is the biggest draw to the game, and a few of my major qualms were solved upon my playing it for the first time. The Geonet system is improved, allowing you to see a list of rooms instead of going to a random room if you selected Similar GR or Level and the game allows a total of six people per quest (For new levels not the older ones) which allows more friends to play together. Also, to allow gamers to get into the higher levels much faster, they have reduced the Guild Points required to unlock the next Guild Rank. For example, GR6 –> GR7 in the previous game required 1,000,000ish guild points, whilst I only needed 7,000ish in this version. Of course, they do get harder as your rank improves. Also removed are the Guild Rank requirements on all the equipment (At least those that required <GR13). The online mode is still the same however, and a fun way to kill time, with new customization options for your Avatar and many new levels to explore.

With the online mode, you will find there is sufficient content to give you several dozen hours of gameplay, and even more if you are striving to unlock all trophies, which is an achievement in itself due to the high degree of effort and time required to unlock the Platinum trophy. For those after just a single-player experience, it will really depend on you, as all that will be left for you at the end are a pile of semi-enjoyable quests / bounties and a bunch of Guild Quests that you can solo instead of playing with others online.

Personally, I definately prefer this version over the other, and would strongly recommend people go straight to this version if they want to play the game. However, I was expecting much more in the storyline department, as at times I found it hard to build up the motivation to continue on with the game due to another run down a mineshaft or desert. However, the online mode is enjoyable and is bound to capture more interest as the Free and Pay DLC content arrives, hopefully soon.

Final Score

Storyline: D
Character Development: D+
Design: B
Music: B
Voice Acting: B
Gameplay (Single Player): C
Gameplay (Online Play): B
Replayability: B-
Personal Opinion: B

Overall Score: C

and if you want a closer look at the game…. here is the official E3 Preview Trailer: