Inexplicably, when one member of your party is talking to an NPC, that NPC is unavailable to chat with anyone else in the party. Unfortunately, chatting with the NPC also revealed one of the game's annoyances. Props to Sony and Level-5 for including both gay and straight characters within White Knight Chronicles. Although it wasn't explicit, the text gave the impression that the two NPCs were a couple. One of the two men had been injured in an attack by giant trolls, and the other pleaded for your help to save his housemate. Starting the quest, we arrived at the home of two adventurers.
Note that the keyboard is only for chatting there is no option to control your character with a traditional PC MMO-style keyboard and mouse setup.
Chatting with others can be done via text message - the game supports pre-defined quick messages, the chatpad and USB keyboards - or via voice chat, if you have a Bluetooth headset handy. Partying up is done through the GeoNet interface, which consists of a number of virtual rooms where you can interact with other players Home style before picking a quest and heading out.
Instead, we partied up and took a jaunt through one of the online missions. Since the event was focused on multiplayer, we didn't get a chance to check out any of the story. It's a lofty ideal to be sure, and quite frankly, we are a bit skeptical about its chances of success, but if Level-5 can pull it off, it'll be an impressive feat. In doing so, the game promises to create a personalized base that is naturally tailored to your specific playing style. Where the buildings go is your call, and which merchants you invite to set up shop is up to you. As you progress through the game, you will be able to create a custom village from scratch. The Sony representatives made a big deal about the Georama feature, which is an evolved version of the city-building gameplay first seen in Dark Cloud. You can even publish your own blog, if you choose. It is here that you'll customize your character, chat with other players and build your Georama village. Linked to your PSN account (if you haven't yet created one, you will need to do so before playing the game), GeoNet is your portal to the online quests in White Knight Chronicles. Once you finish the first chapter, however, the GeoNet feature is unlocked, and the online component opens up. Curious to see how things played out, we recently sat down with Sony and played through one of the online quests.įor roughly the first hour or so of gameplay, White Knight Chronicles is solely a single-player affair as the basic story line is introduced and players get to grips with the gameplay system. Mixing elements of traditional RPG gaming with online play, the game attempts to blur the line between single-player gaming and a lightweight MMO experience. In December 2008, Japanese gamers got a look at the company's first PlayStation 3 title, White Knight Chronicles. Some of its past titles include Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, Rogue Galaxy, Jeanne d'Arc and the famously canceled Xbox Live MMO, True Fantasy Live Online. Although its most popular game to date is arguably Professor Layton and the Curious Village, the company has always kept its focus on the RPG genre.
In the time since, it has grown from a small independent developer to a well-known and well-established developer/publisher. It's been nearly a decade since Level-5 released its first RPG, the critically acclaimed Dark Cloud for the PlayStation 2.