Radiata Stories

RPG fans should take note that not every RPG is made by Square Enix.  Yes I know that might come as a surprise to a few of you but it is the truth.  Square Enix has been very successful in releasing games that were not developed by their in-house programmers.   In fact several high profile titles that have been released by Square Enix (and scheduled to be released) were/are being developed by outside companies.  One of these companies is tri-Ace, a developer that has a long history of quality RPGs.  Thier most recent RPG was from the Star Ocean series which was released last year by Square Enix.  This time tri-Ace has a new RPG being developed that looks to be another quality title from tri-Ace and Square Enix.

The game is based in the kingdom of Radiata where a young boy and girl, Jack & Ridley, live.  Jack’s father was the hero of Radiata and on Jack’s 16^th birthday he tries to become a knight so he can become closer to his father.  Ridley is the only daughter of a noble family that has been raised to become a knight since birth.  Both Jack and Ridley become knights of Radiata only to have a war threaten Radiata and the world. 

The game is striving to create something new and unique by having a living world happening at all times.  What the developers are trying to create is a game in which all of the characters in the world have their own unique lives that happen regardless of you playing the game.  For example Square Enix mentioned that you will be able to visit a person in the game and watch that person live out their day to day life.  If the NPC gets up and goes to the store then you can watch them get up in the morning, go to the store and come back from the store.  The game will also include an internal clock that allows you to see the time of day during the game.  The time of day will determine if certain shops are closed or characters are unavailable because of the time of day.  The interaction with the characters in the game is crucial since you will interact with over 150 characters in the game.  Some of the characters might even be included in your party for battles.  Thank goodness because at first I thought a party for one battle might consist of 150 characters which would have been a little cumbersome to manage.

The battle system is a real time action oriented system.  You can control one character at all times during a battle and you will be able to see a monster before you engage them.  So you won’t have to worry about random battles.  But you’re not limited to just one player during a battle since you can issue commands to your other members.  You can have one character heal while the other two characters are attacking.  There is another feature in the battle system that allows you to link attacks with your other party members.  These link attacks can lead to more strategic commands such as forming a triangle during a battle with all of your characters.  The link attacks can also lead to larger group attacks on one specific creature at a time as well.  There are special attacks that can be pulled off as well that result in a specific animation for the special attack.

Radiata Stories looks to be another great RPG game from Square Enix.  The graphics were top notch with an anime look to the characters so fans of old school RPG look should keep an eye out for it.  The game is schedule for release in Fall 2005 which means gamers better get ready for another great RPG.  If anyone knows how to make and publish RPGs it’s Square Enix.

For All E3 2005 Previews