Ben-DutkaA great many role-playing fans are anxiously awaiting White Knight Chronicles 2 .
…wait, let me rephrase that- a great many US role-playing fans are anxiously awaiting White Knight Chronicles 2 . See, European RPG aficionados have had access to the hotly anticipated sequel since May 20. So we figured we'd torture you further with the best look yet at Level-5's latest.
Yeah, how was that? Now you want to do something crazy, like import it. Then you realize that it probably won't happen. Then you look at the calendar and go, "damnit, August 2 is still a long ways off!" Then you curse the stars for making you wait. Well, just keep playing inFamous 2 ; you want to go through it as both good and evil Cole, yes?
Related Game(s): White Knight Chronicles 2
wh…as much as I needed an rpg when the original wjc came…it just…idk…missed something. I know I'm not wating for wkc2…im waitin for a ps3 dark cloud a a dark cloud collection
This is one of the most hotly anticipated titles for me this year.
For those interested, the other video you can look at following that one is the story trailer for WKC2, it's in Japanese, but the music, sound and visuals are all excellent.
Why must we wait in the first place? I'm gonna have sex with this game.
I just beat inFamous 2 today, by the time the credits montage rolled it managed to get me a little emotional. Thankfully, I set everything up so I should be able to make it my first platinum game of all time if I just go through it as evil on hard. But that will have to wait, Duke and Alice are up next.
How was it? I bet it was awesome because when I played the demo it made me want the game even more. Damn you money!
GOTY so far, truly epic. Time just melts away when you play. Now that I've played the whole thing I can understand Ben's score a little better though because the more interesting and varied parts of the city that abandon the grid pattern do cause a few problems with the camera and mechanics later on. Certainly no dealbreaker though. What's good about this game crushes its minor flaws.
I love all the new powers, and pretty much everything from the first game has been enhanced in some way.
This generation has made it hard for me to sit and play a single game for like 3 hours straight like I used to do, but inFamous 2 brings that need back.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 6/14/2011 10:25:18 PM
Ah, I think that's going to be my next game I purchase when I can. Thanks for the info World.
I just beat inFamous 2 (as good Cole) and it was a great ending. Very emotional! The game was truly epic, and you're right, one of the first games in a long while that I absolutely couldn't put down.
This too will be my first platinum game, I just need to find a few more shards and beat the game on hard as evil Cole. The last 2 areas you unlock were a bit of a disappointment compared to the first. Its clear that Sucker Punch spent most of their time making that part of the city the most vibrant and more alive.
BTW Ben, I have a question for you- if you could answer this without giving away spoilers to those who haven't played it- what parts of the game contained the "moral decisions" that you thought were erratic?
I restarted for an evil play through and for practicality I didn't blow up the bridge at the very start so I got rewarded with Good karma for not obliterating the people. I thought I was simply being practical – HA! It took an inordinate amount of beating up on civilians to finally change my Karma to evil. Well, I guess I'll see how it goes, but I have to say I didn't much enjoy that process – it's not me.
Ha, looks like Sucker Punch doesn't value practicality. I enjoyed playing through inFamous 1 as good Cole, rather than evil Cole if only because I wanted to play as a true super hero. Playing as evil seems to be a bit easier just because you don't need to worry about collateral damage as much!
I think Ben wrongly believed that after doing a mission that does some good you can still receive a "Your actions have made you more evil" result. The reason this happens is you f*cked up too many civilians while fighting.
@ Highlander
I started I2 as evil cole and continued from the previous completed save file from part 1. What is this bridge you speak of in the very beginning? My very start to the game was drastically different and way more intense and I had no bridge to blow up.
Now you got me all curious and it will be like a song stuck in my head all day.
Well this is just a mean article now isn't it.
I want this game. NOW!
August 2nd is still hella days away. What the eff?
When I get this game, its gonna be a nonstop playfest of awesomly awesomeness.
Thankfully I have 2 games squirreled away to to spend July on, Yakuza 4 and Hyperdimension Neptunia. I also have Mirrors Edge on the way but I hear that's uber short.
AUGUST 2ND!!!!!!!!!!!!! *dies of excitement, goes to heaven where every video game ever has already been released*
….Oh… EVERY FF has been remade, except 7. Wada claims he didn't know fans wanted it. Oh yeah, he's here cuz I went down and took him myself…
Day One Purchase – pre-order at Amazon. Can't help wishing that there was a pre-order bonus.
Amazon still doesn't have an official pre-order, it's still the place holder with the placeholder date of the end of December.
I believe it got delayed until June 10th (from what I've seen at Amazon.co.uk and other sites).
Sadly SCEE locked the game to EU territories only so you can't import it from major sites like Amazon so to import it you really have to dig through smaller UK game store sites.
Will cost me $70 or so to import this gem before August 2nd… Hoping to get it this weekend or so.
rpg of the year
That trailer shows why I love this series. Towns, classic rpg story, nice characters, and a lot of customization.
Last edited by Scarecrow on 6/14/2011 11:59:09 PM
You are correct in that it missed its original May 20 date, only releasing last week.
INdeed.
As far as I know the PSP version does *NOT* have a US publisher, and so if anyone wants the PSP game, you need to import it.
I thought this game was gonna be region locked?
Like if your orginal wkc game data was from the us international version you couldn't use it to start a eu version of the 2nd one? Or was I fed a line of poo?
As far as I know, you are correct.
As far as I know, you are correct.
It's like that with every game for whatever reason, different regions can be played but they can't use eachothers save files.
So is the eu voice actors the same as the us voice actors?
And if I were to import, IF, will any dlc from the us work for a eu version? Or would that be. Region locked too?
I'm giving some serious thought to importing, cause I started completely over in the first wkc, so I'm not far enough into to care if I have to start Over again.
Any info would be much appreciated
Not sure about the DLC, though that's probably your bigger concern. I doubt that they'd change the voice actors though. I mean, I saw Nolan North's name in the credits 😀
Thanks lawless, much appreciated.
The dlc is my main concern. Id be a little miffed if the us dlc didn't work for the eu game. Ill have to do some diggig around.
The voice acting on the other hand, if it wasn't the same it would be like if I saw one movie with a set of actors and in the sequel they used completely different actors. It just wouldn't be right ya know?
It would be like since the used jody foster in silence of the lambs but then used jody foster in hannibl. It waas still good, but not the same.
But. Easy to get over
I ment to put they they used jillean moore or whatever her names is in hannibl.
I think that the English voice cast is the same, but the regionality (it not so much locking as it is 'regional' specificity) is based more on the online end of things.
You may not be able to move your online purchased elements from one region to another. I'm not sure how/if the saves work from region to region either.
May I just say: HAHA!
This be vindication for Demon's Souls I tells ya.
haha
What kind of RPG is WKC? Turn-based? Does it have similar mechanics to say, a Final Fantasy game from the PS1 era?
If so, I'm getting it tomorrow. (Being Aussie does have benefits after all, :P)
As I said in my review, I believe that it is exactly what FFXIII should have been. Actually, just check the review, if you feel up to dealing with my propensity to not shut up:
http://www.titanreviews.com/#/wkc-ii-review/4552336449
Last edited by Lawless SXE on 6/15/2011 3:47:29 AM
It's kind of turn based, but you have freedom to move on the arena during battle. So if you start a battle against an opponent, you take your turn attacking. How often it's your turn depends on your speed. The speed is a factor of the weapon, armor and type of attack you use. Once you take your turn, you have to wait for your turn to come back around (circle gauge indicates this).
Everyone's turns happen in this way – including enemies. So, it always looks a little more interactive and 'actiony' than it really is. Also since the battles occur in active time (that is when not paused, the clock is always ticking), if you just stand there not taking your turn for long enough, your enemies will beat on you until you fall.
Finally (and this confuses some), once the battle begins, your enemies are able to attack you and you can attack them as long as you are within their attack radius. this can lead to odd things such as if you are in a cave and start a fight. You can run around while fighting and potentially turn a corner losing sight of the enemy. However, you are still within range and the turn based combat is still going on, so your enemy can hit you, and you can hit them back. It's something that some reviewers found annoying with the first game, and it may have been improved in this sequel – I don't know. To me, if the battle system was really a hack and slash action system, this would be a problem. However since it's turn based and the ability to run around the battlefield is really a convenience for the player, I can understand why it happens. Still, if they can improve the system to account for losing sight of enemies during battle, it would be a good thing.
Sorry, that's a long explanation just to say it's turn based, but with some active, or real time attributes. It is fun though – IMHO.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 6/15/2011 11:22:14 AM
Cool, thanks guys. Sounds interesting. Might be worth picking up since the next games I'm getting is Resistance 3 and Gears 3 in September.
there is review up on eurogamer that scored it 5 out of 10 calling it an empty offline mmo. i can't find many other reviews on it, but i do hate mmo type battle systems.
i guess that comes down to preference. i guess i will await other reviews.
That review is a steaming pile of….
This is mostly the same as a comment I posted yesterday, but it seems most appropriate here, so I'll report with minor edits.
The Eurogamer reviewer had previously reviewed the International version of WKC and gave it a 7/10. Unless the game makes several mis-steps there's no reason for it to be given a far harsher review. Since I know that the game has improved graphics, and slightly streamlined mechanics for smoother play, I know that the very least it should expect is a similar review to the first one, but the reviewer has other ideas.
The review itself was – in my opinion – faulty from the start because the reviewer goes out of his way to do something that a player is unlikely to do. If you've not played WKC1, then you have no character to start with and you are advised to start at the beginning. If you are a player who played WKC to it's conclusion, you have a character to start with and pickup where you left off – with the opportunity to tinker with your character all over again so you can refine the appearance if you wish, and because some of the in-game systems are different, so you need to re-allocate your various skills. If you play through from the start – which new players are obliged to do, you start with the avatar generation.
Yet the reviewer goes out of his way to whine about the process of bringing his character to the new game. As if it was something that would put off players unfamiliar with the intricacies of the game. If the player completed the first game, and therefore goes through the process of bringing their character forwards, they are hardly unfamiliar with the intricacies of the game, are they? The reviewer also complained about an overly long cutscene – hello, haven't heard that particular complaint since MGS and Xenosaga, I guess that means that there is a story to pay attention to.
The rest of the review appeared to me to go through the game's features and pick holes in them, in a way that the reviewer's original WKC review did not. So, I can only conclude that since that first game, the reviewer took a great dislike to WKC, and decided that this was his opportunity to crap on the game in public.
Seriously, if you're reviewing this game either start at the beginning and review it as a new game, or start at the end of the first game and treat it as a direct sequel. The Eurogamer review appears to me to review the game from the mid-point (as if it's a direct sequel) but with the view point of a new player. That's a really faulty position to take, since a new player has to start at the beginning of the story. But, whatever.
You quoted a like from his review "the abiding feeling is that you are playing that most empty of propositions: an offline MMO". I can't help be wonder what he thinks changed between the international version of WKC and the sequel, since the new game has better graphics, more story and more options as well as the original online components and online multi-player. I mean seriously, the first game was the same way, why is he complaining about the sequel being similar? If anything the sequel makes a concession to single player by allowing NPCs to accompany you on the online quests. Personally, I think he's looking for reputation points somewhere.
I'm not sure what this reviewer's issue is, he seems to have dual personality with regard to JRPGs as he apparently likes Disgea games, but others, not so much. As an example, he gave Hyperdimension Neptunia a 2/10. 2/10 would indicate that the game is so bad as to be entirely unplayable. In fact to get a score that low, a game would have to lock regularly and be unplayable – even when working. It'd also have to feature near zero redeeming qualities. The reviewer get's lost in his own overtly PC belief that the game is simply a sexist cultural curio. While I'd never say Neptunia was a model example of the JRPG, it's absolutely not a 2/10 game. 6/10 perhaps, but not 2/10. That's simply derisive.
He similarly gave Aterlier Rorona a 6/10, which is a bit closer to the mark, but still below where I would consider the game. Rorona has no game play issues, it's a simple game with a coherent story and is turn based. But it's a game that is more about the alchemy system than traditional turn based combat. It's a very pretty game and deserves something in the mid 7-8 range, not a 6/10.
I don't know what to tell you, but considering some of his past reviews and the quality of this review, I would heavily discount this review in Eurogamer.
Edit:
"
You quoted a like from his review "the abiding feeling is that you are playing that most empty of propositions: an offline MMO". I can't help be wonder what he thinks changed between the international version of WKC and the sequel"
should read
"From the review "the abiding feeling is that you are playing that most empty of propositions: an offline MMO". I can't help but wonder what he (the reviewer) thinks changed between the international version of WKC and the sequel"
question: did they really pack the first one in too, as hinted some time ago?
Last edited by Catastrophe on 6/15/2011 11:23:46 AM
Yes, and it plays in the new engine, so it's not simply a case of playing the old version, you get all the story elements and scenes and play from the first one, but using the improved graphics engine and mechanics.
crap, another to the upcoming list then (and backlog not getting any shorter) and my wallet still refuses to magically vomit more cash…sigh
Last edited by Catastrophe on 6/15/2011 12:27:37 PM