Customer Reviews

Radiata Stories

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I am a fan of the Tri-Ace company. Their games have often combined good storylines with excellent music, but most importantly, they have always given the gamer a little bit more. With Star Ocean 2, and even more so, Valkyrie Profile, the gamer was (gasp!) not bored to fight battles, as strategy played a key role in success. Furthermore, SO2 and VP had extensive bonus dungeons and multiple endings (SO2 had 97, if I'm not mistaken), which added to replay value. I was a bit disappointed in SO: Till the End of Time. Although the after-game bonus dungeons were incredible, there seemed to be little originality present (including an item creation system that can only be described as baffling - where was the simplicity of SO2 and VP?). I liked the game, but was left wanting more...

In the case of originality, Radiata Stories (hereby dubbed "RS") delivers. A role playing game in which active recruitment is a driving force (much like Suikoden), you play as Jack Russell, the son of a famous knight Cairn, as he attempts to follow in his father's footsteps by joining the Knights of Radiata. Throughout the game, you will make friends and enemies (there are two separate paths that you can follow!), and in all, you can recruit 177 new members of your party (although I'm not sure that all of them may be called on in a single game).

The graphics of this game are beautiful (I wish that the Suikoden series would take a page out of this game's book!), and the recruiting is quite fun. However, as is often the case with these types of games, the story takes a back seat (it is very difficult to get interested in the events around you when your focus is making friends). Much like Suikoden and VERY much like Suikoden IV, there really isn't much going on here. Recruit people to fight a war that seems ill-conceived (and ill-defined - it is difficult to understand the motivation of the combatants) until you realize that some overarching entity is the true puppet master, in which you stop the entity. Moreover, the ending (or one of the endings - I haven't played through both paths yet) can only be described by "guh?". It is difficult to understand why you are doing anything at all, other than making friends.

But in that respect, the game delivers. It is difficult to recruit all 177 friends, but much of the fun involved is trying! Each person moves through the day according to some schedule, and at times might need your assistance. It is up to you to find those times, however. I found the recruiting to be a blast, in general. Of course, there is a secret character (maybe more, I haven't found everyone) that can only be recruited after defeating an after-game dungeon.

All in all, RS is a compelling title, and worthy of the legacy of Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile. I would however have liked more attention to be paid to the story...

Radiata Stories is a mission-oriented fantasy rpg set in Tottaus, a world which houses both humans, elves, dwarves and even orcs. They may all live there, but they don't always get along. Humans, the only mortal race are views with great suspicion and war is brewing once again. In the background the dragons charges with keeping the world's balance begin the moves that will once again signal the destruction of mankind.

In the midst of the disquiet, Jack Russell, the son of a famous knight, leaves home to find his on way to knighthood at castle Radiata. He will make friends and enemies as he follows quests, builds his powers, and on day has to make a fateful decision about whether he will play on the human sight or join Ridley Silverlake, a young woman who leaves the knights to take up the cause of the fairy world.

This is a critical decision. On the one hand Jack follows a path of duty and destiny, and on the other path he finds love and community. The choice is like a lightening strike in the middle of the story, as difficult a one for the player as it is for Jack. Whichever way you decide to go, the game will never be the same. For me this inserted an element of dissatisfaction in the tale, as one of the choices leaves you with disquieting doubts. And you really do have to play both to get the whole game.

Much of the game depends on Jack's efforts to befriend the people of Radiata and the surrounding lands. This will be how he creates his teams for the missions and to recruit the better characters he must recruit many of the others. Playing without a guide this is the real difficulty of the game. Some characters are easily recruited with a word or a quick battle, but others take an effort to discover what they want and how to satisfy their needs.

The battle system is real time, very much under Jack's control, with opportunities for him to learn skills from other characters. It takes a while to fully understand the system, but once you do it becomes fairly intuitive. Main story character interaction is primarily via cut scene, typical of mission game structures. This is compensated for by the need to talk to just about every other character of the game.

It is easy to understand the popularity of the game even though I much preferred one ending to the other. Despite a tremendous amount of leveling up needed, I never felt the battles were overly repetitive. Except when you're primed for battle level 70 team has to stop to demolish a couple of ants. Artwork, animation, and music are also well done. A worthwhile game, but one that needs the addition of a guide for complete enjoyment.

is all part of destiny.
Pros:
-nice polished graphics
-nice voiceoveres
-addictive gameplay
-decent story
-175 friends to get, man those who love this kinda stuff, is gonna have a ball.
-Days that go by like grand theft auto
-2 diffrent paths along the way which makes playing a second time a near must
-This is a nice game by tri ace
Cons:
-If Jack dies, it's game over(It doesn't matter if the rest of your crew is 100% healthy, if you lose, game's over)
-You can only control Jack(Say like if I needed to be healed and my healer wouldn't do it until my HP was blinking red, it wouldn't be much help if I got struck before I was healed.)
-Too short(Even with collecting friends as a hobby, I completed the game in 31 hours. Really says much about the lenght of the game's story.)
-Too much is given away before events(Too much dromatic irony does get repetitive)
-Cutting ouy Nami Tamaki's opening song and Yuka Imaizumi's lyrics for the end making it a instrumental ain't cool.(I'm the kinda person who loves hearing a nice ending theme after beating the game. And I love Nami Tamaki, so taking her out sux)
Nutral:
-Jack is the only one you have to buy for(In a way it saves money, but yet if everyone else had a weapon to upgrade by buying, that be cool.)
-If you remember suikoden for all the good or bad reasons, collecting friends might be exciting or boring.
-Man I wish you could get Jack to get with any of all the other chicks than ridley(Like maybe Flau, Miranda, Iris, Lily, Natale, Alicia, and Rachel)

Radiata stories is a decent game, altho it's definitly similar to suikoden, but more addctive gameplay, but too short for me. For those who like RPGs or suikoden, should give this a try.

peace

This game is pretty standard issue story wise. You play hero X, get involved with a grand malevolent scheme, thwart evil plans... blah blah blah. The story takes a huge back seat in this game, moving on.

The combat is the highlight of this game I believe, as should be expected of the makers of the Star Ocean series. You have your choice from a few different weapons each having unique attacks that you earn through use. You can combine up to 5 of these standard attacks to form your combo any way you see fit. You eventually learn one power attack (Volty Attack) for each weapon. I pretty much hack and slashed my way through every battle even though you can block and counter. I found that after you had attacks that could break the enemies guard you had basically won the fight. You can also call on your partners to use their various attacks once you get to a point in the story. Finally you can change formations on the fly which allow you to surround enemies and pound them or do flanking formations and other such things. The only thing that sucks about all of this is that you gradually open these features with the story so you're forced to wait quite a while before combat gets even remotely interesting.

Combat aside, this game is basically one big distraction of collecting friends Suikoden style. The crappy part is you don't get a castle/stronghold like in Suikoden, you simply collect 100+ equally worthless allies (Because your main character is all that really matters) while you wait for something to happen in the story. This drove me completely bonkers. I was so bored sometimes in this game I would repeatedly have to sleep or leave my game running just to get the story to advance because quite frankly I didn't care to collect every character after a while. In Suikoden you felt compelled to collect everybody because every now and again they acutally did something additional for you like sell you stuff or teleport you, not the case in Radiata Stories.

In summary, this is a collection game. The story is superficial and cliche, the combat is fun but one dimensional, and everything takes a side note to making friends. It's really a shame because the game looks and sounds good but it's can be a terrible bore to play at times.

As a big fan of the Squaresoft RPGs, especially the Final Fantasy games, I was psyched to check Radiata Stories out. Game Informer gave it a great review, and they were absolutely right - it's a really fun, creative game that you can't help but love. Younger players and adults alike can enjoy this diverse game, especially since it gives the player tons of freedom. As another reviewer noted, it's not a super-serious RPG epic like Final Fantasy X. Rather, it is an entertaining and often funny story about a young man's coming-of-age in a beautifully realized fantasy world. The depth of this world is the real draw here. It's more about exploring, making friends, and doing things your own way than it is about following a linear storyline like Xenosaga or similar RPGs. When the story finally starts to kick in during the game's exciting second half, you get to choose one of two paths, ensuring a unique replay. By the time I reached this halfway point, I'd already been playing 30 hours - there are that many sidequests, recruitable characters, and explorable areas. The story is more interesting than it initially seems, with some subtle influences from Norse mythology and a few cool twists. Ultimately, I haven't had this much FUN with an RPG in a long time. At once lighthearted and full of depth, this game is a must for anyone who wants an original RPG experience with lots of freedom.

I would have loved this game had it not been for the in-game clock rushing me to do things I'm not ready to do. It was a constant aggravation hurrying from point A to point B in time so that I could meet a character simply to buy a few items from him or her, or to get a key to opening up that character later on to become a friend (more on this saving grace later). And then, to add to that, there is only one permanent save point in the whole game, and going to that save point is often off-limits if you don't want to progress the story. In general, I felt rushed by the whole in-game clock system, and frustrated when real-life time-constraints forced me to move on.

The in-game clock also makes it hard to do one of the few things that makes this game fun: collecting characters to join in the quest. Even finding the characters that are recruit-able can be time-consuming, let alone getting the tasks done that is needed to recruit those specific characters. But as you collect more and more of these characters, the game turns into a Pokemon-like "gotta catch all" kind of thing. I constantly searched the back corners of the world of Radiata Stories in order to find absolutely every character possible, and though I failed in recruiting everyone I still want to go back through and try to find who I missed. Early on, most of the characters are weaker, but as the story progresses stronger ones make themselves available, and that means a better team when battling the monsters of the world.

That leads me to the battle-system. The main character, you, of the group must shout orders at the other three characters and, depending on what the characters are capable of, they will act accordingly. Most will attack if you tell them to, but only a few can heal. Plus, there is a link system where the four characters link up and perform special attacks or have special abilities. It adds a little something, I think, to constant, monotonous battle systems found in most RPGs. But still, there comes a point when shouting orders and linking becomes rather useless, as the characters get so strong that it turns into more of a button masher than anything else. Still, early on it's fun and unique.

The story is okay too. It follows Jack as he tries to go in the same path that his hero father did by becoming one of the famed Radiata Knights. Things don't go so well for him and he believes his hopes of becoming a knight are lost. It doesn't end that way, though, and Jack finds himself journeying with two other Radiata Knights on missions. Still, something goes wrong later and Jack suddenly finds himself ousted as a Radiata Knight. From there he must start over and joins the Theatre Vancoor, a warrior guild that accepts missions from the highest bidders (or whoever needs a job).

The three positives--the decent story, innovative battle system, and character collecting--made up for the one thing that nearly killed this game for me, that being the in-game clock. I had fun doing the things the game was rushing me to do, though I feel a little cheated at not being able to do everything the first time. As for recommendations, I can only recommend this to poeple who have quite a bit of time on their hands as it will take three or four attempts through the game to collect every character (or just two if you have an extremely large amount of time and a strategy guide).

I decided on Radiata Stories due to my positive experiences with previous Tri-Ace/Square Enix titles and enjoyed it a lot. It's not the most sophisticated or compelling game of its genre, but what it lacks in storyline, dialogue and voice-acting, it makes up for it with originality and just plain fun.

Radiata Stories is not your typical RPG in that there are no massive landscapes to explore, epic cut-scenes, 20-minute turn-based battle sequences or the like, but what it does it does well. Here are my Likes and Dislikes:

Likes / Pros:
- The setting: Most of the game is centered around the town of Radiata, which is a fairly expansive city, quite interesting to traverse. While many missions take place outside the city, you always return, and really do feel at home in Radiata.

- The time element. A running clock keeps the time of day/night. This is one of the more unique features of Radiata Stories. The events of the game are driven by the game clock and there are many occasions when you have to pay special attention to the time.

- The recruitment of characters: As stated by basically every other review, the game contains hundreds of characters - many of which can be recruited if you satisfy a particular objective. These characters have daily routines, so you'll find them in different places (or won't) depending on the time of day. I had a lot of fun trying to recruit as many as possible (for which, I'd probably recommend a guide, because it's probably too time-consuming and difficult to do otherwise.) Meanwhile, each recruited character has special strengths in battle, so it's fun trying to develop them and construct the best battle teams.

- The battle system: The active battle system is great. While you don't always have full control over your support characters, you are able to issue commands to them. Furthermore, there are special formations and strategic attack/defense moves that you can learn and develop as the game progresses. Your character improves techniques and skills through training and experience.

- The replay value: Mid-way through the game, you make a decision that alters the course of the remainder of the game - whether you'll fight FOR or AGAINST the humans. This enables you to play both sides of the storyline, recruit alternate characters and experience different endings.

Dislikes / Cons:
- Juvenile: My biggest complaint with the game is that it just feels a lot more "immature" compared to a standard RPGs. The dialogue is weak and often embarrassing to behold. Some things that are meant to be funny just aren't that funny. In short, it's more "cartoonish" than other Square titles.

- Some redundancy: There are some parts of the game that feel a little repetitive, such as having to traverse the same pathways multiple times (though maybe at different times of the day), defeat the same enemies, etc. Though, I guess this might be the case with most games.

Overall, I loved Radiata Stories and look forward to playing it again one day. It's a game that I typically recommend and, so far, have received good feedback on. It strays a bit from the standard RPG formula, but this was a plus for me, as I like to mix up my game styles a bit when selecting my next dedication.

This game is pretty good and original on SQUARE-ENIX's part. Sure, the time system can get annoying, but check out all of the stuff to do. Over 100 characters to recruit, pretty good graphics, and more. It also has an extremely large amount of voices done, basically every NPC has a voice.

If you want a fun RPG, this would be a good one to get.

Yeah, that's right, this game is really great. It's the only rpg that i did a lot of time (except maybe shining force 2 a tactical rpg on the sega megadrive). It's simple, when you got beautiful graphics and musics, sharp controls, a pleasant story, a "living" world, and a great sense of humor, you can not really complain.
But nothing in this worls is perfect so maybe even if you can gather a lot of people in your friends list and have them in your party, you will always play the main charachter, Jack. Then, even if you can choose your side and finish the game twice, the main story itself is not very long. It took me about 80 hours to finish the game twice and recruit Lenneth Valkyrie, a hidden character, in the optionnal dungeon. And let me tell you that i'm no god of game. But it can be about 150 hours if you want to complete everything because you'll have to do the game over and over again to add everybody in your list, have the best items, and more. Plus, you do not loose your leveling when you restart the game.
But i speak too much. Still, i believe radiata stories is one of the best rpg games that the ps2 had. And when you know that it had been made by the ones who did the star ocean series and the valkyrie profile series, you just know what you have to do now...

Despite its flaws, Radiata Stories deserves a bit better than 4 stars for some of the relatively unique things it bring to the table. Let's break it down:

THE GOOD:

-The time system: As many have said, the game consists of alternating between story progression and free time where you can run around doing sidequests and recruiting new members to your team. What many haven't given Radiata Stories credit for, though, is the time system reminiscent of the N64 Zelda game Majora's Mask. Each person in the game runs on a schedule based on the time of day; sometimes the schedule can change depending on the point you're at in the story. The entire world here feels more alive than 99% of RPGs on the market even to this day (2011) because you literally have something like 150 NPCs going about their daily life. Basically no two runs through town are the same!

-The combat: The combat is a lot like Star Ocean. You are free to roam around the battlefield and position your party tactically. There are a lot of options in combat, too. You set up which moves you will perform on a regular swing of your weapon, choosing between about 5 different weapon types with all-different nuances to them. As you swing, you build up points you can use towards special moves or special commands to buff or heal your party. You can also link your members up tactically to give you a lot of control over your 3 NPC helpers in battle. As you play, you really open up a lot of options on how you proceed with a battle. In my end party I actually didn't even bring a healer because all of my healing was done through special moves or items.

-Character Variation: As much as collecting characters can be a flaw of the game, who you bring into battle makes a big difference, and it's not all about raw stats. Different characters bring so many possible variations to the table through different AI thought patterns (you'll have to observe your party and what they're doing to figure this out) skills, weapon types, status ailments, etc. Someone with a terrible attack may make up for it by petrifying the enemies, for example. I ended up using at least 20 different characters in my first playthrough, and I wasn't even collecting them on purpose.

-Non-random Encounters: Not only are the encounters non-random - you see the enemies before you fight - but they don't respawn AT ALL until it's a new day. That means you won't be bogged down fighting excessively if you go the wrong way and have to backtrack.

-Story Splits: At some point the storyline branches off, and the choice you make drastically affects the outcome of the rest of the game. You will want to play it twice to see the whole game. There is a "new game+" option for this, although you don't get to keep your levels. The only downside to this is that you don't necessarily get a good ending. I don't want to spoil anything, but it's hard to feel completely satisfied with either path you can choose. I still consider this a huge positive to the game, though.

THE BAD:

-Collection: If you get into a completionist mindset, you will need to rigidly follow a guide, because collecting all the characters is nearly impossible on your own. If you're looking to sit down and enjoy Radiata Stories without stress, just take it easy and forget about getting everyone to join up. There are tons of missable characters and stupid things like the inability to get someone if you sell a certain item you got 10 hours ago. You don't NEED all the characters, though, to win the game and get a good ending. You also get some people to join up just by talking to them a lot or even one time.

-Travel: Although the game lets you warp around a bit, you can't always rely on that. Running back and forth through town to do sidequests and recruitment can be frustrating and boring. Some areas don't have a warp, so you will end up running for 10 minutes to get where you need to go. This especially sucks if you're running off on a recruitment task and realize you ran to the wrong spot or you didn't talk to the person enough times before trying to find the item they wanted or something lame like that. You can find an item early on (in the sewer) which boosts your run speed by 50%, though.

-Save Points: There are very few save points. If you die mid-dungeon, you may be looking at redoing up to an hour of gameplay. You also need to make sure you save your game without sleeping to regain health, because resting at your bed can move the story along and in some cases delay your ability to save. I know RPGs used to have fewer save points, but this game is a bit on the extreme side. At least you can pause the game any time if you need to get up and leave for a while.

NEUTRAL:

-Overall Story: The story here is a mixed bag. I love the personality of some of the characters, and I love some of the jokes, but it's not a storyline you'll be telling your friends about. The main character, Jack, is a stupid kid on purpose, too, so if you can't get over that you might be disappointed. Still, the story isn't annoyingly bad or anything, and the characters have a lot of personality. Having two different paths is also something that could keep you playing, so overall I can't say this is good or bad, it just is.

-Voice Acting: The voice acting was better than usual for this time period - the usual being pretty bad - so it might even be a good thing that I'm only putting this in neutral.

-Production Value: The game doesn't make use of many cinematic cut scenes.

-Unwinnable Storyline Battles: This game has to take the award for the most storyline battles that you can't win. This is foreshadowed by the very first fight: a fight you must lose. Sometimes you get a game over because you thought maybe it was a boss you were supposed to lose to, and you didn't bother healing. Other times you find out you had to lose after you just wasted 10 healing items. If you can't win the battle, I would prefer a cut scene. This isn't a big negative, though. It's almost funny.

FINAL WORD:

Radiata Stories is still worth giving 5 stars for its extremely good battle system and the awesome time system and living world. If you could combine some of these things with the story telling of a AAA RPG title, you would have the best RPG ever made. If you're a fan of Tri-Ace games like Star Ocean or Valkyrie Profile, you must give this game a try.