White Knight Chronicles II (PS3) Review
Posted by Armando Rodriguez on 10.11.2011
The sequel to one of the few JRPG's in the North American market, White Knight Chronicles II improves upon the original in several ways and features an addictive MMO-style online component. Are these improvements enough to warrant your purchase? Read on to find out!
Game: White Knight Chronicles II
Genre: RPG/Action-RPG
Developer: Level-5
Publisher: D3Publisher
# of Players: 1 (offline), 2-6 (online)
Rated T for Teen
I am one of the first person’s to complain about the state of RPG’s on modern consoles. Sure, we have our first person open world games like Fallout and Oblivion and those are great. But my heart always goes out to those RPG’s that keep the traditional JRPG formula and I was very excited about the opportunity 411mania gave me of reviewing White Knight Chronicles II. Unfortunately I came to the same conclusion many gamers came up with long ago: If you want good JRPG’s, stick to portables.
Don’t get me wrong: there is a lot to like about WKC2. Is just that the execution of the gameplay concepts is poor and not to par with the classic JRPG’s of our past. WKC2 starts just one year after the events of the original and you can import your party and gold, which is a nice bit of continuity. If (like me) you haven’t played the first one you have two options: The ideal one would be to play the original White Knight Chronicles (which is included on the disc) or if you want to jump straight into the sequel, well….prepare to create a brand new party and add 35 levels worth of skill points. It is a daunting proposition for newcomers and I spent the better part of 3 hours on the game’s wiki page trying to sort things out and figure out where to invest my points and how to make the best party possible. I guess they expect you to play through the original, but for the purposes of this review, there was no way I would have enough time on my hands to play through BOTH games before my deadline. So I did some wiki-ing (is that a word?) and dragged a friend of mine who owned and played through the original over to help me with this thing. So a big thank you to William Mercado for that and be aware that every time I compare something from the first game to the sequel I am taking my friend’s word for it.
The first thing we noticed is that the combat system from White Knight Chronicles II is much better than the original. Don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t changed drastically, it is just more polished and fluid and feels faster and less of a chore. Battles occur in real-time and you issue commands from a series of menus. Equipment weight and character skills play a factor in how much time they take to charge up and in the damage they deal. Distance is also a factor since most weapons deal more damage the closer you are to a foe, which is something of a realistic touch. There is a great variety of normal and special attacks and they provide better visual feedback than the repetitive animations and effects in the first game. Turning into the giant robot-esque knights called Incorruptus feels more epic than in the last game as now you end up with four of them in your party and having enough AC (action points) to pull off the transformation is sometimes the turning point between victory and defeat. As a matter of fact, certain fights can only be won when transformed. Another good thing? The White Knight Chronicles II combat system is also available in the “Re-mastered” version of the original White Knight Chronicles that is included on the disc, which according to my friend makes that game 10 times better. The bad thing? The combat system is still not as deep or satisfying as the ones offered in similar titles and it doesn’t help that the game gets repetitive.
Yes, repetitive.Since the game takes place so soon after the end of the first game, expect to see a ton of recycled content, from enemies to locations. When half of the new game feels like the old game, I feel cheated. It doesn’t help that things get repetitive even in the new WKC2 areas. Really, 25-30 hours in I was still fighting the same enemies from much earlier, they were just stronger. Palette-swapping enemies is common on JRPG’s, but here they take it to the extreme. The A.I. is also quite dumb, although I have seen this happen multiple times in other games. Some notable examples include spell-casters who are set to heal or attack from range, only for them to rush in and melee an enemy, getting themselves into dangerous situations needlessly. I have also seem some of my A.I. mates run backwards from a fight and get stuck into a sort of loop, until an enemy whacks them back into the fight. Managing the Incorruptus is both, a blessing and a curse. It can be a real chore trying to survive a particular fight until you have enough AC for the transformation to kick in and there is a later section in the game in which transformations are disabled (plot reason) and the game sort of becomes a cat and mouse scenario as you try to avoid the larger enemies. I hated this section with a passion. Like I mentioned above, the combat system is much better than the original game’s, but not good enough to make battles more than passably fun. It doesn’t help that at higher levels; almost EVERY battle seems to take forever to conclude.
The story is also lame, even more so than the original and the fact that it recycles a good chunk of that game’s content makes it worse. Expect to see long-winded cinematics that in the end, lead you nowhere. Sure, they look pretty and all, but they advance the plot so little in some cases that I would have been happier without it. It is even harder to understand the sequel’s story if you haven’t played the first game, which is why I spent most of my time listening to my friend trying to make sense of things for me. Even with a detailed explanation, I didn’t like it.
But enough about the negative aspects, let’s look at what I really loved about the game. For starters, there is a ton of content, even if most of it feels recycled. Level-grinders and stat geeks will be in heaven with the insane level of customization available for the characters, since you can mold any character to any build you might possibly want. There is also a ton of loot and gold to be found; sometimes making it feel more like a hack & slash lootfest than the traditional JRPG it tries to portray itself as. Trophy hunters beware! It will take about 500 hours plus to platinum this game! Which is understandable since in my review playthrough I went a total of 52 hours, 47 minutes and I have yet to see the end credits. Coupled with New Game+ and the Online component (more on that in a second) and the potential to grind and grind and grind….well, as long as you can stomach the repetitive enemies and content, you could literally play forever.
The multiplayer component called The GeoNet is arguably the best part about the game. As a matter of fact, I would do away with the single-player component altogether for the sequel. This mode basically transforms the game into an MMO, as you get into groups to complete quests and gather gold, loot and XP . The gold, XP and other resources gathered online are usable in your single-player progress as well since both modes are linked. There is no online component without the single player and vice versa. The quests that can be purchased to be completed online are dependent on your guild rank and many of the best ways to increase your guild rank are by completing a series of (mostly) boring fetch quests for A.I. characters in the single-player mode. The game’s nature of grinding and repeating enemies and locations is less boring when you have up to five people playing with you and most of the issues with A.I. characters are thrown out the window as well. Too bad you can’t just play online all the time. Like I said, both modes are linked and you need to spend way too much time with the single-player mode in order to unlock some of the best online bits. There is also a “city-builder” component called The Georama that allows you to customize a city of sorts and access it from every save point. To be honest I didn’t spend much time with it, but it looks like a fun diversion.
Like the rest of the game, the graphics and sound are a mixed bag. For every impressive cinematic or towering beast you find you will also stumble into confusing, repetitive dungeon designs and monsters that looked like hi-res imports from a PS2 game. Not all the monsters, mind you, the great majority are well done, which makes the few sore thumbs stand out even more. There are also some graphic/A.I. glitches like the looped-backwards running party member glitch I described earlier. The sound effects and music fit in well with the vibe of the game, but like in every Japanese JRPG, expect to have your ears offended by some high-pitched creature sound that seems taken from the Pokemon sound library. The voicework is competent at best, but it’s not by any means memorable.
PROS:
- Extensive character customization allows you to turn any character into any build/class you could possibly want. Stat geeks will be in heaven with the deep and rewarding system.
- Tons of content, the game could last you well over 100 hours and with New Game+ and time consuming trophies you could probably play 500+ hours.
- Includes a remastered version of the original White Knight Chronicles on the same blu-ray disc.
- Improved combat system from the original. Even better? The new combat system is available on the remastered version of White Knight Chronicles, making the original game more fun as well.
- The GeoNet is an extremely addictive and rewarding MMO-style game. Playing with other players eliminates many of the negative A.I. issues and makes level grinding fun.
CONS:
- The story is even weaker than the original.
- The game recycles a lot of content from the first game.
- Not enough enemy variety.
- Requires extensive level-grinding.
- A.I. for party members can be a problem.
- Requires a huge time-investment into the single-player game in order to unlock most of the online component’s best content.
The 411:
White Knight Chronicles II is a mixed bag. The online component is a ton of fun and reminiscent of some of the best MMO’s, but it is tied to a single-player game that is mostly uninteresting, repetitive and dull. The combat system, while fun, is not as deep, rewarding or satisfying as the combat system in some of the best RPG’s. The story is weak and hurts the game’s pace. Some battles can be too long for their own good. But then again, this is a game that rewards you if you stick with it. Although I found a lot to hate about the game I can’t deny that I want to play it again…..and again……in other words, I got hooked. In the end, a potential classic is hurt by too many issues and ends up feeling like a very average game. If there is a third entry Level 5 should consider doing away entirely with the single-player component or at least make it more compelling, with a better story, pacing and more variety. In the end, White Knight Chronicles II is hard to recommend. If you liked the first game, then the sequel’s improvements might be enough to make it a must have. If you like JRPG’s like me, then you will find some enjoyment. But here is the catch: if you want to play offline only, SKIP THIS GAME. The online is the best part about the game and the single-player feels like an afterthought, like something you need to do in order to make online more fun. Thumbs in the middle, but leaning down.
Graphics
7.5
They are a mixed bag. Some cool looking beasts, character designs and special effects are pleasing, but you will also find repetitive dungeons and textures and some monsters look really bad, like HD versions of PS2 graphics.
Gameplay
7.3
A deep leveling system and a solid Online experience is brought down by a dull story, recycled content and barely average single player experience. The game requires a huge time investment, patience and lots of level grinding
Sound
7.0
The sound effects fit the game well and the music score is serviceable, if utterly forgettable. It works, but I won’t be spending on a soundtrack anytime soon. The voices are ok, but they get annoying sometimes and not a single one is memorable either. Li
Lasting Appeal
9.0
I guess this depends on your level of tolerance. If you don’t mind the repetitive dungeons, the recycled content and fighting the same enemies over and over, the game can last you for a very long time. Not only is it a long game, but it has New Game+, the
Fun Factor
7.5
Once again, this is my personal opinion only, but WKC2 is not as fun as it could be. Sure, the level-grinding, online and deep character customization can be fun, but they are sandwiched between a poor story and average at best mechanics. For every moment
