When Squaresoft and Enix got together a couple of years ago to form Square-Enix, the two biggest names in Japanese RPG's joined forces. Since then, however, the only games produced by the two of them that really blew my mind were Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Star Ocean: 'Til the End of Time. So when I saw that Radiata Stories was made by the same people responsible for the latest Star Ocean, it meant it was an instant buy.
Unlike the very serious and mature atmosphere of Star Ocean, Radiata Stories takes a more comic approach to both the story and graphics. The story does pick up after awhile, considering the fact that the developers probably wanted the same standard of writing found in the fabulous script of Star Ocean. Even though it's the kind of story where one doesn't even know the main enemy until one faces him, the story has enough quality to keep you highly intrigued and entertained throughout the entire 50+ hours of gameplay.
The cartoon-style graphics, though silly looking at first, are quite appealing in their unique art style. Every character looks original and different, with beautiful facial expressions. The exaggerations on face and body only help to support the huge cast of characters in this game. The backgrounds are good enough to tell their own stories and the range of colors and styles on clothing is truly something to behold.
More on the characters; it's possible to have over 175 people join you on your missions. I remember with Chrono Cross, you could also invite loads of people to join your team but eventually the characters started to feel the same as one another. The characters themselves were either not spectacular or unique enough to bother to try and hunt them down...they were just the same character as someone you already had on your team in a different uniform. In Radiata, however, almost every character is so different in appearance, skills and AI behavior in combat that finding and using them all is actually a real treat.
All of these characters can be found in a world so realistic and fluid that it feels like a MMORPG, though without the annoyances that come along with having to share the experience with human idiots that plague the MMORPG world. The world moves around a clock system (that only pauses in battles, cutscenes, or when the storyline feels it's appropriate) so that you can actually look forward to seeing certain people at certain locations during certain times. This adds a authentic feeling to completing missions (where enemies may actually be sleeping when you come upon them in the roads), finding characters and the overall flow of the game. Of course, it's annoying when you MUST to speak to a certain character who happens to be sleeping at 3am, meaning you must wander around and pass the time in some other way. But the feeling I had when dealing with this is that it's a good problem to have in a role-playing game.
There's more on the real-time combat previously mentioned. Compared to Star Ocean, the battles do seem to be rather slow. I thought at first that this would annoy me, but eventually I got used to it and didn't notice a thing. One thing that did bother me was the inability to fight as any character other than the protagonist, Jack. Yet this is understandable considering the amount of work it would require to actually provide the ability to use 175 characters in real time combat. To allow such a capability, and to do so properly, the developers would probably have only been able to release this when the PS3 came around. On top of that, equipping and maintaining all of them would have been a drag, quite like how it became with Chrono Cross. (I ended up adopting a "hand-me-down" system of clothing exchange in that game.)
Yet an added complication to the battles in comparison to Star Ocean is the ability to fight in a variety of formations. With up to three other teammates, you can switch into one of several formations that provide very different abilities. One wonders if this was added on near the end of development, though, because they aren't truly needed to finish the game. Not only that, but I only found perhaps four out of the 10+ in number to be truly useful.
While there are more than enough characters and link formations in the game, there are hardly enough saving spots. While the battles in Radiata are not individually as tough as those you might find in Shin Megami Tensai, they do manage to scary when one lost leads you to have to start over again after an hour's work. This is perhaps my biggest gripe with this game. Not only can't you save in between cutscenes, you can't even skip over them if you want.
Another gripe I have has to do with how stupid Jack, the main character, seems to be. From beginning to end, he doesn't mature in terms of intellect, which takes away from the credibility of him actually saving the world. Interestingly enough, though, Jack is called stupid rather often by the other characters in the game. It's great that the writers aren't trying to shy away the dumb character they've created, yet I would prefer to somehow admire the lad I'm supposed to control.
I have absolutely no gripes, however, with the music of this game, or the voice acting. Both are done so well that they're actually a positive aspect to the game. With most games, the music is forgettable or a negative aspect. Yet the music in Radiata, be it silly, character-themed, serious or sad...it remains memorable. The voice acting is actually very cool while still in English.
Radiata Stories is a gem, well worth the time of anyone looking for a quality role-playing game. It's quite re-playable, being one of those cool games where you can take some of the things you've gained from the first time through along with the second. Not only that, but you have to play it twice (or save the game before a certain junction) to truly take in the entire dynamic story. Don't ever doubt the value of a good Japanese RPG...this is the kind of offering that will allow it to continue to shine as its own genre.
