Radiata Stories

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Radiata Stories
North American cover
The North American box art, which portrays Jack Russell (Front) and Ridley Silverlake (Back).
Developer(s) tri-Ace
tri-Crescendo (sound work)
Publisher(s) Square Enix
Designer(s) Yoshinori Yamagishi (game producer),
Naoki Akiyama (game director),

Takashi Joono, Hiroshi Konishi (character designers),
Masatoshi Midori (scenario writer),
Noriyuki Iwadare (music composer)
Platform(s) PlayStation 2
Release date JP January 27, 2005
NA September 6, 2005
Genre(s) Action Role-playing
Mode(s) Single player
Rating(s) ESRB: T (Teen),
CERO: All ages
Media 1 × DVD-ROM

Radiata Stories (ラジアータ ストーリーズ Rajiata Sutorizu?) is a role-playing game. It was developed by tri-Ace and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2. It was released on January 27, 2005 in Japan and September 6, 2005 in the United States. The game was well-received in Japan but received a more mixed reaction in the United States.[1] It sold over 413,000 copies worldwide.[2] Noriyuki Iwadare is the composer of the soundtrack.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

Radiata Stories places great emphasis on its persistent world and NPCs each with their own lives, lifestyles, jobs, personalities, homes, dialogues and schedules, which are controlled by the game's Day/Night system.

The game provides the novel ability to kick almost anything. Kicking furniture and other inanimate objects will occasionally turn up items or dagols (the local currency). Kicking NPCs several times will cause them to fight Jack, or summon guards to fight for or with them. Jack gains experience, money, and possibly items when he wins these duels, but will not lose the game if he is defeated. Jack may only duel each character once each day.

[edit] Combat

There is no overworld map during fights. Battles takes place on a separate screen in real time, though monsters appear on the field screen. The player has direct control of Jack's movement and actions in all three dimensions, though bringing up menus pauses the action. Jack is the only character the player can ever control directly; all other party members are run by the in-game AI. The player can issue commands to individual party members, and the entire party can be ordered into tactical formations via the "Link System."

[edit] NPC Recruitment

175 NPC's are recruitable. Some need only to be talked to, some must be placated with fetch quests, some dueled, and some are only recruitable after Jack has reached a certain level. After recruitment, they are placed on his "Friends list," at which point the player may include them in Jack's party at almost any time. The Friends List also provides capsule biographies for each character. It is impossible to complete everything during any one time through the game, as a decision mid-way through the game forces Jack to choose between his human and fairy allies.

NPC party members can strengthen their single passive skill, but do not learn new active abilities or learn new ones, and cannot be given new weapons, armors and accessories, so skills and equipment are a significant criteria in choosing one's teammates. There is also no "magic" stat, forcing the player to constantly recruit new party members as magic spells do not increase in power.

[edit] Plot

 The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article.
Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot.

[edit] Setting

Radiata is at the center of the map and the city where the majority of humans live. It has explorable sewers and four gates to the outside areas. Each guild occupies a certain area and the Knights reside in the Castle at the center or Radiata. Fairy creatures live in outlying towns and settlements with each species occupying its own area. There are also some human villages scattered around the world like Solieu Village, where Jack grew up.

Humans and nonhumans have a tense coexistence exacerbated by periods when a disease called Algandars is spreading. Algandars is a disease that causes its human victims to become violent, strong and irrational. The disease originated from a dead Light Elf king who fell in love and mated with a human woman, violating the natural order, called Tottaus. When it infects light elves, it results in the elf being enveloped in a cocoon and dying permanently, instead of being reincarnated through transpritation after death.

[edit] Characters

The three main characters of Radiata Stories are Jack Russell, an insubordinate and happy-go-lucky brunette; Ridley Silverlake, a composed Knight who was trained to be a warrior since birth and feels the pressure of expectations from others; and Ganz Rothschild, a polite and gentle Captain of their brigade who is prone to becoming overexcited. Prominent supporting characters include the Prime Minister Larks; the cunning Knight Cross Ward; Lord Jasne, Ridley's overprotective father and the Lord Chamberlain of Radiata Castle; Lucian, Lord Jasne's advisor and human form of Aphelion the Silver Dragon; and Gawain Rothschild, Ganz's father and presumed murderer of Cairn, Jack's father.

The 300 characters and 177 recruitable NPCs of Radiata Stories were all given unique personalities and backstories. It is impossible to recruit every NPC during the first playthrough, and the game must be played at least twice to unlock all characters. Every time a character is unlocked, he or she shows up on the player's friends list, which also provides a summary of their history or personality.

Radiata is home to Radiata Castle, its Knights of the realm and four Guilds, (Theater Vancoor mercenary Warrior Guild, the Bandits' Void Community, the religious Olacion Order, and the Vareth Institute of Mages). Fairy species include Light Elves, Dark Elves, Blood Orcs, Green Orcs, Dwarves, Green Goblins and Black Goblins.

[edit] Story

The game begins with Jack, the protagonist, joining the Knights of Radiata under the command of Capt. Ganz Rothschild. Also in his brigade is a woman named Ridley Silverlake. One day, while trying to broker a trade agreement with the elves, Jack’s brigade is attacked by orcs. The knights slay the orcs, but Ridley is seriously wounded during the battle. Her life is saved when she merges her spirit with that of an elf who was killed by an orc. After Ridley’s father finds out what happened, Jack and Capt. Ganz are expelled from the knights.

Jack goes on to join another group of mercenaries from Theatre Vancoor. Ridley is promoted to captain, but guilt over the expulsion of Jack and Capt. Ganz slowly builds in her. She ultimately rebels. Ganz is unable to find a place with other knights, so he joins the bandit guild.

As the game progresses, tension builds between the humans and the nonhumans. One day, the Radiata knights are sent to persuade the dwarves to continue trade with the humans. During negotiations, however, Cross Ward, leader of the squadron of knights, disobeys his orders and has the knights attack the dwarves. Those dwarves that are not killed in the battle are enslaved. This starts a war between the humans and the nonhumans.

Days later, Jack is visited by Ridley, who tells him that she is going to visit the elf capitol city. At this point, the player must choose to either follow Ridley, or attend a meeting with Larks, the lord of Radiata Castle.

If the player chooses to attend the meeting, Jack is reinstated as a Radiata knight. He learns that the nonhuman people are protected by four dragons, based on the four elements. One was killed by Jack’s father many years ago, and another was killed by Cross Ward when he enslaved the dwarves. Jack is ordered to accompany Cross and General Dynas to kill the remaining two.

After the dragons are slain, Ridley visits Jack and informs him that she is going south to meet her destiny. After a final battle with the nonhumans, the king’s advisor turns into the Silver Dragon, one of the dragons that is to bring about the end of the world. The dragon flies south, in the same direction that Ridley when, so Jack follows.

At the castle, Jack finds that the Gold Dragon, the other apocalyptic dragon, plans to use Ridley as a vessel to destroy the world. The Silver Dragon kills Ridley to prevent this. Enraged by Ridley’s death, Jack kills the Silver Dragon. He then leaves Radiata.

If the player follows Ridley to the elf city, Jack joins the elves in the war against the humans. The story plays out largely the same way, with a few differences. Cross kills the dragons instead of Jack, who attempts to defend the dragons. Jack is also able to prevent Ridley’s death by the Silver Dragon. After the death of the Gold and Silver dragons, Jack returns to Radiata with Ridley.

[edit] Additional Adventures

After completing the game, a dungeon called the Dragon Lair Cave is opened up. It contains all the elemental dragons and a new boss called Radian. It also leads to the Distortion Corridor where you can fight Cairn Russel, Lenneth Valkyrie, Lezard Valeth, Gabriel Celeste, and the Ethereal Queen.

When the Ethereal Queen is defeated, the Dragon Lair Cave and Distortion Corridor are reset, allowing the player to re-explore these areas. The player is able to fight all of the bosses again and get many duplicate items. However, the second time through the Distortion Corridor, Valkyrie has been replaced by Quasar, the Gold Dragon. This allows the player to actually fight against every dragon mentioned in Radiata Stories (otherwise, there is no way to fight against the Gold Dragon).

Upon starting a new game, weapon skills, the friends list, links, money, a Training Device and a Feather Earring (if you had one) from the finished game carry over.

[edit] Development

Tri-Ace incorporated characters and references to their other games in Radiata. Ganz wears Star Ocean 2's Claude C. Kenni's clothes when he is part of the Bandit Guild. Jack can obtain Fayt Armor, which changes his appearance to that of Fayt Leingod from Star Ocean 3. Four bonus bosses are from other games: Lenneth Valkyrie and Lezard Valeth from Valkyrie Profile; and Gabriel Celeste and the Ethereal Queen, who are tri-Ace staples. Of these, only Valkyrie is recruitable.[3]

Japanese cover of Radiata Stories
Japanese cover of Radiata Stories

[edit] Audio

The soundtrack was composed by Noriyuki Iwadare. Prior to this all Tri-Ace music was composed by Motoi Sakuraba.[4] However, keeping in line with their tradition to refer to past games, three of Sakuraba's original compositions were rearranged by Iwadare. These are "Mission to Deep Space" (also in Star Ocean 2, Valkyrie Profile, and Star Ocean 3), "An Incarnation of Devil "(Star Ocean 2, Valkyrie Profile, and Star Ocean 3), and "Highbrow" (also in Star Ocean 3).[3]Tri-Crescendo, which has a strong affiliation with Sakuraba,[5] was credited with "Sound Direction" for the game.[6] Furthermore, the soundtrack was released under the TEAM Entertainment label which is the primary promoter and distributor of Sakuraba.[7]

The original soundtrack was 2 CDs with 79 songs.[8] One month later Iwadare released "Radiata Stories: Arranged Album" which rearranged 16 songs from the original soundtrack.[9]

The Sacramento Bee said the music was "peppy and cheerful, if unmemorable" but that the sound effects were "largely recycled from the developer's previous games, all the way back to 1999's "Star Ocean: The Second Story."[10] Gamespot remarked that "None of the music will get stuck in your head, but you won't want to mute it either."[11] Game Informer said the soundtrack was a "masterpiece".[12]However, the game does not support Dolby Surround sound.[13]

In November 2004, it was announced that all Japanese preorders of Radiata would come with a bonus audio disc, "Tri-Ace Battle Sound Collection."[14] The disc contained 2 battle themed tracks from Star Ocean, Star Ocean 2, Star Ocean 3, Valkyrie Profile, and Radiata Stories, respectively.[15]

The theme song to the Japanese version of the game, "Fortune", was sung by Japanese Pop star Nami Tamaki, who became known for her debut single "Believe", the third opening theme of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. She also played a recruitable party character of the same name in the game. The character Nami was modeled after Tamaki's likeness and her lines were voiced by the singer.[16] It was her first single of 2005[17]and her 16th single overall.[16] A music video with scenes from Radiata and her dressed in her character's clothing was released in January 2005.[18] The Japanese television advertisement for Radiata featured the song in the background.[19] This song is found in her second album Make Progress, which also includes 'Reason', the first ending theme for Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny.

The character's name was changed to Rachel for the English version and "Fortune" was cut from the game.

[edit] Reception and Criticism

Review scores by Japanese reviewers
Publication Average Score
Famitsu Weekly
36 of 40[20]
Famitsu PS2
27 of 30[21]
Dengeki Playstation
82.5 of 100[21]
Hyper Playstation
8 of 10[21]

Radiata Stories was highly anticipated in Japan receiving the "Game Awards Future" by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association in 2004[22][23] which is awarded to games that are "expected to be major hits".[24] It was the 12th most pre-ordered game the week of November 17, 2004.[25] According to Famitsu, it was the 20th most wanted game in early October[26] but had jumped up to the 3rd most wanted the week before its release.[27]

A Japanese reviewer noted that the game had humorous dialogue but a simple battle system which made it suitable for beginners.[28] The game sold well in Japan where it debuted as the top-selling game for two weeks, selling 152,000 copies, 54% of the ordered shipment, the day it debuted.[29] It was the 11th best selling game the first half of 2005[30] and the 37th best-selling game in Japan in 2005 overall[31] selling 10,000 more copies than Devil May Cry 3[32] and selling about 294,000 copies overall in Japan.[2]

During an interview, Roppyaku Tsurumi of SCEJ said most Japanese RPG character designs were cookie-cutter and indistinct noting "Even when I look at the characters in Radiata Stories, it just looks like the other games" but he had no problems distinguishing manga characters.[33]

Review scores by NA reviewers
Publication Average Score
IGN
8 of 10
Game Informer
9.25 of 10
Electronic Gaming Monthly
7.5 of 10
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine
3.5 of 5
GameSpot
7.7 of 10
PlayStation: The Official Magazine
6.5 of 10
GameSpy
60 of 100

The US reaction to Radiata was lukewarm. Radiata was the top rental on GameFly the week of its debut.[34] and debuted at the 20 most profitable game for September.[35] Overall, it sold about 163,000 copies outside of Japan total for the month of September.[2] Mainstream reviewers enjoyed the game overall stating that, while not ground-breaking, the game was simple, whimsical and entertaining.[10][36][37][38]

Radiata Stories was awarded "Game of the Month" in Game Informer in October 2005.[39] Jack Russell placed #6 on Game Informer's "Top 10 Heroes of 2005"[40] list and Radiata Stories was in "The Top 50 Games of 2005"[41] in the January 2006 issue of Game Informer and in "The Top 12 Games of 2005" by Games Radar.[42] It was nominated for "Role Playing Game of the Year" during the 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards held by The The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.[43] It was also nominated for Best Role Playing Game of 2005 by 1UP.com.[44]

[edit] Related Media

Two 5-issue manga series were released based on Radiata Stories: The Epic of JACK[45] and the The Song of RIDLEY.[46] Both were 5 issues published between 2005 and 2007.

A limited run of a boxed set of 6 figurines from Radiata Stories and Star Ocean included Jack and Ridley.[47]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Radiata Stories Reviews. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
  2. ^ a b c Sales Record. Retrieved on March 28, 2007.
  3. ^ a b Deja Vu. Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
  4. ^ The People Behind Tri-Ace. Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
  5. ^ Baten Kaitos Origins (November 2006). Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
  6. ^ Company Credits for Radiata Stories. Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
  7. ^ Motoi Sakuraba (November 2006). Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
  8. ^ Radiata Stories [SOUNDTRACK [IMPORT]] (February 2005). Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
  9. ^ Radiata Stories Arrange Album [SOUNDTRACK [IMPORT]] (March 2005). Retrieved on May 23, 2007.
  10. ^ a b Hoeger, Justin (September 2005). 'Radiata Stories' is fantasy on the lighter side. The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
  11. ^ Mueller, Greg (September 2005). Radiata Stories. Gamespot. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
  12. ^ Juba, Joe (September 2005). SUIKODEN SURRENDERS. Game Informer. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
  13. ^ Berghammer, Billy (September 2005). Radiata Stories Hands-On Impressions And Movies. Game Informer. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
  14. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (November 2004). Bonus Disk For Radiata Stories. IGN. Retrieved on March 29, 2007.
  15. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (November 2004). More on the Radiata Stories Bonus Disk. IGN. Retrieved on March 29, 2007.
  16. ^ a b Gantayat, Anoop (November 2004). Radiata Stories Theme Song Revealed. IGN. Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
  17. ^ :: INFORMATION. Sony Corporation (December 2004). Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
  18. ^ Radiata Stories Music Video (January 2005). Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
  19. ^ Japanese Radiata Stories Ad (May 2006). Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
  20. ^ Freund, Josh (January 2005). Latest Famitsu Scores. Retrieved on March 22, 2007.
  21. ^ a b c Radiata Stories stats (month =). Retrieved on March 24, 2007.
  22. ^ Game Awards Future (2004). Retrieved on March 22, 2007.
  23. ^ Corporate History (2005). Retrieved on March 22, 2007.
  24. ^ Niizumi, Hirohiko (October 2004). Eighth-annual CESA award winners announced. Gamespot. Retrieved on March 22, 2007.
  25. ^ Nix (November 2004). Ridge Racers PSP Outranks GT4 PS2?. IGN. Retrieved on March 28, 2007.
  26. ^ Famitsu - Most Wanted Games (October 2004). Retrieved on March 28, 2007.
  27. ^ Most Wanted Famitsu (January 2005). Retrieved on March 28, 2007.
  28. ^ Go-Iroreview (January 2005). Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
  29. ^ http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=4266 (January 2005). Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
  30. ^ Maragos, Nich (January 2005). News - Latest Famitsu scores. Retrieved on March 22, 2007.
  31. ^ Why Do American Games Fail in Japan? (February 2006). Retrieved on March 22, 2007.
  32. ^ Japanese 2005 Numbers (2005). Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
  33. ^ Isbister, Katherine (June 2006). "3.4", Better Game Characters by Design: A Psychological Approach (interview), The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive 3D Technology (in English), Morgan Kaufmann. ISBN 978-1558609211 pages = 85. 
  34. ^ GameFly Rental Chart Highlights: Week Ending September 12 (September 2005). Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
  35. ^ News - September 2005 NPD sales numbers (September 2005). Retrieved on March 27, 2007.
  36. ^ Haught, Jeb (September 2005). Radiata Stories amusing, fun, but lacks innovation. The San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
  37. ^ Kohler, Chris (September 2005). Radiata Stories Is One Funny RPG. Wired Magazine. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
  38. ^ Bell, Erin (September 2005). Review Radiata Stories. The Globe And Mail. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
  39. ^ Game Informer Staff (October 2005). Unlimited 2005. Game Informer. Retrieved on March 22, 2007.
  40. ^ (2006) in Game Informer Staff: Game Informer January 2006; issue 153 (in English). Sunrise Publications Inc, 84. 
  41. ^ (2006) in Game Informer Staff: Game Informer January 2006; issue 153 (in English). Sunrise Publications Inc, 90. 
  42. ^ Gaming Target Staff (January 2006). What If the Gaming Industry Stopped?: 52 Games From 2005 We'd Still be Playing (The Top 12). Gaming Target. Retrieved on March 22, 2007.
  43. ^ Gaming Target Staff (2005). Awards > 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Retrieved on March 22, 2007.
  44. ^ Pinckard, James (February 2006). The 1UP Awards. Ziff-Davis. Retrieved on March 22, 2007.
  45. ^ Epic of JACK at Ackodot. Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
  46. ^ The Song of RIDLEY at Ackodot. Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
  47. ^ Radiata Stories & Star Ocean Trading Arts. Retrieved on March 23, 2007.

[edit] External links