The Witch and the Hundred Knight

The Witch and the Hundred Knight
European cover art
Developer(s)	Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher(s)	NIS America
Artist(s)	Character Designer Takehito Harada[1]
Composer(s)	Tenpei Sato[1]
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3
Release date(s)	JP July 25, 2013[2] NA March 25, 2014[3] EU March 21, 2014[3]
Genre(s)	Action role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single-player
Distribution	Blu-ray Disc

The Witch and The Hundred Knight (魔女と百騎兵, Majo to Hyakkihei) is an action role-playing video game that was developed and published by Nippon Ichi Software exclusively for the PlayStation 3 in 2013.

Gameplay

The game is stage-based. However, once a stage is cleared, the player can revisit and find paths to new stages and areas. The character's main base of operations is Metallia's house in Niblhenne Swamp. Once the player departs from the swamp, they will be allowed to explore a large, semi-open world. However, the player cannot warp to any location until they activate a Pillar. If the player is KO'ed while exploring, they will return to Metallia's house and forfeit any items they acquired during their adventure. In addition to accepting quests from Metallia, players can encounter NPCs while exploring and accept quests from them. The player can also attack and slay them. NPCs also have the ability to react to how the player treats them, which can lead to NPCs attacking the player if they chose to antagonize them first.^[4] The player may also raid NPC villages to gain items.

The game is a hack-n'-slash played from a top-down isometric view that is reminiscent of games like Diablo II. The player character can equip up to 5 weapons and cycle through them to create combos. The player can also equip different "facets" that not only change their appearance but alter their stats and weapon proficiencies. As the game progresses, the player will gain access to special abilities and powers that can help them in battle and increase the bonus gauge, which leads to better rewards after clearing a stage.

While exploring the world, fighting enemies, and using special abilities, the player consumes Giga Calories, or Gcals for short. When the player runs out of Gcals, their HP begins to quickly and continuously deplete until they are KO'ed. The player can restore Gcals by consuming food items or devouring weakened enemies in a short quick time event. However, it is important to note that consuming enemies also places garbage in your stomach (which also serves as your item bag) that take up valuable space.

Characters

Main characters

• Metallia: A beautiful, intelligent and very powerful Swamp Witch and self-proclaimed Dark Hero who resides in Niblhenne Swamp. She and her rival, Malia the Forest Witch, have been locked in a mortal struggle for the past 100 years. Her main goal is to finally destroy her rival and spread her swamp across the land of Medea. She is the one who found and summoned the Hundred Knight and forced him to complete her goal. In the original Japanese version, she is known as Metallica. She is voiced by Mariya Ise in Japanese and Sarah Anne Williams in English.

• The Hundred Knight: The Hundred Knight is a robust and nearly immortal demon that was summoned by Metallia to accomplish her goal. While it is diminutive in size and looks relatively harmless, it is in fact capable of wielding large weaponry and casting powerful magic. It's true power, however, has been sealed away. The Hundred Knight does not fully accept Metallia as its master and tends to do as it pleases. The player controls the Hundred Knight throughout the game. It is voiced by Kaoru Mizuhara.

• Arlecchino: A magical being that has faithfully served Metallia for well over 100 years and as such knows her inside and out, including her personality and quirks. While he is loyal to Metallia, he is never afraid to make some snarky or snide comment about Metallia or her habits. He is voiced by Koji Yusa in Japanese and Patrick Seitz in English.

• Visco: A young female church inquisitor whose mission is to find and punish witches that are deemed to be evil. Her full name is Viscole Dotrish. She is honest, proud and fiercely loyal, but is often made the butt of jokes or the subject of ridicule. Recently, she was afflicted with a curse that makes her appear more like a canine. Despite being a witch hunter, she has decided to work with Metallia to remove the curse. She is voiced by Ayumi Fujimura in Japanese and Janice Kawaye in English.

• Mani: A rude and mischievous fairy whose attitude sets her apart from the rest of the fairies. She is a longtime friend of Metallia and is constantly in touch. She helps the Hundred Knight with navigation after Metallia suffers from major health problems. She is voiced by Matsuzaki Rei in Japanese and Xanthe Huynh in English.

Other characters

• Lucchini: A young male satyr astrologer from the desert. His full name is Lana Nia Lucchini. He is the latest in a long line of astrologers and has the ability to gaze into the future by reading the stars. He is a self-described "witch fanboy" with a particular fondness for Metallia. He is voiced by Tomoe Tamiyasu in Japanese and Erica Mendez in English.

• Malia: The Forest Witch and Metallia's rival, with whom she is been locked in mortal struggle for roughly a century. Her mission is to defeat Metallia and prevent her swamp from spreading and poisoning the forest. Despite being described as ugly, she is actually quite beautiful. She is voiced by Hitomi Nabatame in Japanese and Wendee Lee in English.

• Gelato: The Great Duchess of Valentine and a powerful Flower Witch. She is arrogant, and with little patience for incompetence with a very self-centered view on beauty. She uses several Korigon as underlings who are terrified of her despite being of a vengenful nature. After turning Metallia on a flower, she plots her revenge and releases Gelato's massive older sister, Cigaro that was sealed away by Gelato and is soon devoured by her. After Cigaro is defeated, Metallia tells the Korigon that Gelato is defenseless, prompting them to team up and beat her after years of slavery. Both sisters are voiced by Kumiko Nakane.

• Purple Peel: A powerful middle-aged Dust Witch from the southern deserts. Like her title suggests she is adept at sand magic and also boasts great physical strength on account of her large muscles. She has a very daring and bold personality and isn't afraid to speak her mind. Despite all of her prowess, she seems to have a lot of trouble controlling her young disciple, Lavi. She is voiced by Naoko Matsui in Japanese.

• Lavily Lalula-La: Lavily, or Lavi for short, is a Flame Witch and Purple Peel's disciple. She is incredibly powerful and gifted with magic. However, contrary to her young age and cute appearance, she is very belligerent, vulgar and rude. She also loves to stick her nose in other people's business and make matters more complicated than they need to be. She is almost never seen without her rabbit doll, Lord Bunnikins. She is voiced by Tomoe Tamiyasu.

• Ryubence:The Pumpkin Witch has extensive knowledge on history and magic, but seems to have a very pessimistic view on life. Her body is covered with various pieces of patchwork and stitches. It seems that she has a mysterious past. English voice Natalie Hoover

• Lillianne: The Ice Witch lives in a region covered in ice and snow, and goes by the nickname “Lily”. She is rather considerate of those around her and has a cool personality but can also get heated up when something passionate is involved.

• Teresa: Teresa the Tar Witch is Belda's apprentice and aims to become an official witch someday. She frequently causes trouble and loves to stalk Metallia, albeit for unknown reasons. She is voiced by Kaori Mizuhashi in Japanese and Christine Marie Cabanos in English.

• Nezaria: Nezaria Netherland the Fog Witch is considered one of the most talented witches. She doesn't speak much, instead using her staff to speak at the gatherings of witches, where she acts as the chairwoman. She is voiced by Kaori Mizuhashi in Japanese and Cristina Vee in English.

• Belda: The Scum Witch is a skilled and powerful sorceress, but is also the most conservative of the witches, acting almost like an honor student or class president. Lavi completely ignores her or looks down on her. She is Teresa's master. She is voiced by Rei Matsuzaki in Japanese.

Development

Development on The Witch and the Hundred Knights began around April 2010, while it was expected to be complete in one or one-and-a-half years, the game was delayed over time because of many issues. NIS claimed they did not want the graphics or visuals of the game to look inferior to other titles. There was talk, early in development, about making it an open world game, but instead NIS chose to focus on the 3D graphics technology. The development team has been working on the action part of the game and reducing load times, and the open world were scrapped.^[5]

Release

The Witch and the Hundred Knights was originally scheduled for release in Japan on June 28, 2012,^[2] but was later pushed back to an indefinite 2013 release date, and was eventually released on July 25, 2013.^[6][7] The game was released in Europe on March 21, 2014, and in North America on March 25, 2014.^[3] There is both a regular and limited edition version of the game. The limited edition comes with a 44-page hardcover visual book, a Metallia Nendoroid Petit figurine, and the game’s soundtrack on two discs.^[6][8]

Reception

Cubed3 awarded The Witch and the Hundred Knight 6/10, praising the "awesomely dark" main character Metallia, but noted there were some gripes in the gameplay, including repetitive exploration and unreliable camera angles. A major bug that spontaneously occurs at seemingly any time, forcing the game to return to the PS3 system menu - losing all unsaved progress in the process - is also a factor in the game not being received more favourably.^[9]

References

External links

• Official website
• Official website (Japanese)