Radiata Stories Review

Radiata Stories

~a fun, humorous adventure packing several doses of awesome

Japanese box art

Platform: Playstation 2
Genre: RPG, action-based battles
Developer: tri-Ace
Publisher: Square Enix
Japanese Release Date: 01/27/05
US Release Date: 09/06/05

Other games by tri-Ace: Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria (PS2), Star Ocean: Till the End of time (PS2), Valkyrie Profile (PSX, port on PSP subtitled “Lenneth”), Star Ocean: The Second Story (PSX), Star Ocean (SNES, JP only); also, before the team broke off from Namco, Tales of Phantasia (SNES, JP only)

Developer Credits: (from GameFAQs page, credit B.lu4R)
+ Show Spoiler +

Director Naoki Akiyama
Planning Kentaro Arakawa
Planning Shinya Ukawa
Planning Kentaro Takemoto
Scenario Masatoshi Mitori
Producer Yoshinori Yamagishi
Executive Producer Koji Yamashita
Executive Producer Yosuke Saito
Event Direction Kazuki Yahashitani
Programming Takaaki Hoshiyama
Programming Teruki Okushi
Programming Natsuki Nishimura
Programming Shogo Yoshino
Programming Hirohumi Tsuda
Character Design Takeshi Jonoo
Character Design Hiroshi Konishi
Character Creation Yasuhiro Akimoto
Character Creation Kunihiro Kanada
Character Creation Naruhiro Kishimoto
Character Creation Tomoaki Sato
World Design Yasuhisa Fukuma
World Design Emi Noto
World Design Kenishi Yamahashi
Character Motion Design Franki Pun In Shek
Character Motion Design Yuichiro Endo
Character Motion Design Yuki Hosokawa
Character Motion Design Takami Kubo
Character Motion Design Toyotake Ishida
Character Motion Design Yudai Niwa
Character Motion Design Tomonori Nakata
Character Motion Design Takuya Saito
Character Motion Design Yukiko Matsuse
Character Motion Design Ong Boon Siong Wilson
Script Kenji tokita
Script Yoshinobu Oyama
Script Shintaro Sano
Script Takuro Sato
Script Masato Takai
Script Toshifumi Nakae
Technical Programming Yoshiharu Gotanda
Technical Programming Tatsuya Shoji
Supervisor Masaki Norimoto
Supervisor Kenji Goshima
Planning Support Akira Nakamura
Planning Support Masayasu Nishida
Planning Support Takashi Sato
Script Support Ryosuke Yokono
Script Support Akiyuki Tomiyama
Script Support Takuma Hori
Effect Creation Support Yasuhiko Shibuya
Effect Creation Support Mariko Kamiya
Effect Creation Support Nana Kaneda
Effect Creation Support Tatsuro Torikai
Effect Creation Support Kenichi Kaneko
Character Motion Design Support Yasuhiko Shibuya
Character Motion Design Support Masaaki Yamashima
Character Motion Design Support Kaoiri Shibuya
Character Motion Design Support Yasuhito Shinchi
Character Motion Design Support Rie Izumi
Character Motion Design Support Yui Nishio
System Supervisor Chikaaki Tokuhiro
System Supervisor Takeshi Kitamura
Movie Production Kenichi Kanekura
Movie Production Yukinori Masuda
Movie Production Ryoi Shirakawa
Movie Production Kenichi Someya
Movie Production Kanako Fukumoto
Movie Production Naoki Hamada
Sound Programming Hiroya Hatsushiba
Sound Design Director Yusabuto Shimojo
Game Composition Masatoshi Mitori
Production Producer Yurika Dennis
Production Supervisor Gerard Jakubowicz
Director Steve Kramer
Director Ezra Weisz
ADR Engineer David Anglero
ADR Editor Alex Gordon
ADR Editor Samuel Perales Jr.
Recording Staff Yasuyuki Abe
Recording Staff Miki Umezu
Recording Staff Kazunori Hashimoto
Motion Capture Producer Masashi Sakamoto
Motion Capture Director Sakura Munakata
Motion Design Ken Hatsuumi
Motion Design Keisuke Matsumoto
Motion Design Koji Hayashi
Motion Design Go Sakuyama
Motion Design Nobuyoshi Ishii
Motion Actor Masanori Tomita
Motion Actor Hiromi Shinjo
Motion Actor Shoji Nitta
Motion Actor Emiko Saito
Motion Actor Sawako Akimoto
Recording Engineer Atsushi Kobayashi
Recording Engineer Norkiko Mihara
End Theme Tekuteku Aruka
Music Arrangement Noriyuki Iwadare
Vocal Yuka Imaizumi
Music Composer Motoi Sakuraba - only the original versions of a few tracks used repeatedly in different tri-Ace games in the postgame optional dungeons
Music Noriyuki Iwadare [Langrisser series, Grandia series, Lunar series, etc.]
Translator Philip D. Gibbon
Translator Noriko Iwahara

The intro movie which again nothing much like the actual game; that man isn't the main character, by the way

What is this game?

Often overlooked in favor of games by more famous developers or even more famous games by the same developer, Radiata Stories is a light-hearted yet engaging action RPG full of pleasant surprises. Radiata Stories was developed by tri-Ace between two maximalist, heavy-handed epic installments in their two running series in Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile as something of a break. But Radiata Stories offers much more than a simple cleansing of palette for a gamer needing a break between more "serious" titles; make no mistake--there's no break in quality here in what shapes out to be an outstanding game in its own ways. Presented as something of a storybook fairy tale, Radiata Stories features colorful graphics that value attractiveness and expressiveness over the realistic, all set to playful, often jazzy tunes composed by a surprisingly versatile Iwadare in a style and quality you might not expect from him. The fantasy medieval setting filled with humans, dwarves, light elves, dark elves, green goblins, black goblins, orcs, and more may sound like it's all too familiar, but Radiata Stories seems to unfailingly breathe new life into anything it touches.

Compared to VP2 and SO3, Radiata Stories has a battle system that is relatively simple, providing cleaner, faster play. For example, in battle you can only control Jack directly, and his only attacks are a a combo string of various moves that you put together before battle and two specialized moves that cost Volty Points; however, with four weapon types to choose from and about fifty moves in all for Jack, there's some variety yet. Also, Jack can issue commands to his allies in battle, such as "Be Bait", "Everyone Go Nuts", "Attack Enemy", and "Cure Friend", so in reality, when commands are combined with a unique Link system that offers specialized attack formations, the player has a substantial amount of indirect control over allies. Radiata Stories also offers the Game Over screen a lot less than other Tri-Ace games; expect moderately easy difficulty in a game less concerned with making you die (which is often a good thing) and more concerned with the superb environment and interaction between characters. Of course, many RPGs fall into the ridiculously easy category--that Radiata Stories is not, and some gamers do find themselves dying plenty enough. Fortunately, Radiata Stories is both well-translated and decently-voice acted--this combined with clever dialog and many memorable lines provides many legitimate laugh-out-loud moments. Unlike other games which can become desperately self-referential or maybe even overly zany like Earthbound (Mother), Radiata Stories' over-the-top yet grounded humor is well...funny.

One of many must-see scenes from the game: Jack's brigade encounters some Goblins early in the game as they're escorting a dwarf and some cargo

Jack Russell and the Plot

Jack, unlike 90% of RPG protagonists, isn't lame. He's not an honorable hero type, a loner, an emo with psychological issues, a prick, or your typical rogue. Although his late father was a hero in the Radiata Knights, Jack doesn't quite hold the same sensibilities. Instead, he's happy-go-lucky, brash, determined, cheerful, and not overly bright. While other RPG heroes inspect objects to look for hidden loot, Jack kicks objects (with the X button) irreverently. He can kick other people, too, if the mood strikes; after pissing somebody off by kicking them one too many times, he'll engage in a duel with them. But that's out of character--knocking (with Jack, more like banging) on doors just a little too loudly is more like it. No matter what happens, he's simply one of the most likeable characters around in all of gaming.

Despite Jack's demeanor, there are darker things afoot in the world--or rather, Radiata and the surrounding countryside including various farming villiages and fairy towns--, pieces falling into place and a conflict that must inevitably follow through. Friction between the different peoples around Radiata is mounting, a deadly disease seems to be recurring yet again, and the very balance of the world is shifting. These darker moments are interspersed throughout the game in a fashion that some have called schizophrenic, but they're merely reminders that the world is not all right, and our unlikely (or likely) hero in Jack, the same guy who is normally so cheerful, ends up in the middle of it all, the catalyst of greater forces. The actual story of the game is delivered with--although it may seem odd given the rest of the game--restraint and a good sense of pacing. Believe it or not, the plot isn't as superficial as it looks in the beginning, and surprisingly, Radiata Stories delivers a pretty good coming-of-age story with integrity about a guy who many have great expectations for, finding out how to make it his own way. How the game manages to both over-the-top funny and yet subtle at other times is something special that isn't quite emulated by any other game.

From left to right: Ridley, Jack, and Ganz (and head of some random), some of the main characters and members of the Rose Crochon Brigade

Other Characters

There are 177 usable characters in the game, from knights, farmers, townspeople, warrior guildsmen, bandit guildsmen, priests including martial arts monks, mages (of the human sort), light elves, dark elves, dwarves, green goblins, dark goblins, orcs, to the secret postgame character sort. Yes, 177. They are all playable, and you can use them in battle, unlike Suikoden's 108, some of which just operate the elevator in the castle or something. In battle, they all have their own unique set of attacks (generally 2-4) which may include combo strings that they use, each with different windup, attack damage multipliers, range, knockback, etc. They also have their own different tendencies towards passiveness and aggressiveness and, of course, different stats growths, starting stats, and equipment. However, stats may be misleading--some are quite strong statistically yet are passive and have sucky attacks (or attack really slow), so they're not actually that good; others look mediocre but have amazing attacks. Generally, a commander of Theater Vancoor, the warrior guild, is going to be stronger than an average farmer, but there's no way to know for sure except to try them out.

Aside from the few characters you do get automatically, you're going to have to recruit the rest. Some you simply talk to, and they'll be willing to become Jack's friend. Others are looking for a certain item and would be much obliged if you gave one to them. Yet others won't join unless you do some kind of favor for them or talk to them at a specific time. Some, being close to one or another one of your recruits, will only join if you've recruited someone else--or, in the case of guild leaders and such, you recruit every single person in their guild. Other recruiting processes take multiple steps or have even more unique conditions. Some characters also require you to best them in a one-on-one duel before they'll join. As a nice feature, the game keeps a nice little Friends List where you can look at short bios of everyone you've recruited, with a picture of your friend: for some characters who wear helmets habitually, this is the only time you see their faces.

A great, refreshing thing about fighting people is that whatever stats they have when you fight them is the exact same stats they have when they join you in battle. Radiata Stories doesn't do the whole omg you have 5000 HP when I fought you but only 400 like a mere mortal when you're on my team. They use the same attacks, same AI, etc. It's just natural.

Damage numbers are all over the place

Day and Night

Radiata Stories also features a time system wherein each minute of real time spent in the game not in a battle translates to something like 15 minutes on the game's clock, but it takes it a level past most games do. Each of the characters in the game including the hundred plus non-recruitable ones follows a daily schedule in all days that aren't dictated otherwise by the plot. For example, Adina's daily schedule taken from A Darkstar Ripclaw's FAQ (you can't see this in the game directly):+ Show Spoiler +

3:40-4:05am (Travels to Olacion Order Chapel)
4:05-5:45am (Olacion Order Chapel)
5:45-5:55am (Travels to Anastasia's Room)
5:55-8:00am (Anastasia's Room)
8:00-10:15am (Travels to San Patty Accessories)
10:15-12:00pm (San Patty Accessories)
12:00-12:45pm (Travels to Belmont General Store)
12:45-1:50pm (Belmont General Store)
1:50-3:30pm (Travels to Anastasia's Room)
3:30-6:00pm (Anastasia's Room)
6:00-7:00pm (Travels to Adina's House)
7:20-7:50pm (Travels to Morfinn's Clinic 2nd Floor)
7:50-9:50pm (Morfinn's Clinic 2nd Floor)
9:50-10:30pm (Travel's to Adina's House)

Also, Leonard's schedule:+ Show Spoiler +

10:20pm-7:30am (Trainee's Room)
7:30-8:35am (Travels to Training Facility)
8:35-1:10pm (Training Facility)
1:10-2:50pm (Travels to Men's Toilet)
2:50-4:15pm (Men's Toilet)
4:15-5:55pm (Travels to Training Facility)
5:55-9:15pm (Training Facility)
9:15-10:20pm (Travels to Trainee's Room)

So in any given day, all of the characters in the game are walking around, doing their own routine. They often have different things to say throughout the day, and some can only be recruited at certain times. Also, where somebody goes is often a clue in how to recruit them--if you follow Adina around, you'll see who else she works with besides Anastasia and why she goes to Morfinn's Clinic after work. All town and field musics in the game actually have two versions, one thicker version with more instrumentation for the daytime hours and one thinner-scored version for the nighttime hours.

Missions

Radiata Stories doesn't cook up some half-baked reason for you being in some dungeon in the middle of nowhere (to get X item which is required for Y to foil the plans of Z). Instead, the majority of time in the game isn't spent doing anything central to the main plot at all, which frees the plot from being unnecessarily complex. You can either spend it just wandering around talking to people or looking at the nice environments, or you can sign up to do missions, for which you're rewarded money. It's kind of like FFXII's marks, except that the missions don't send you to areas you've already been in, the objective isn't always to destroy some monster, and they're overall not as lame.

Plot events and plot-related dungeons are interspersed throughout the game, with triggers to begin each. Sometimes it's a certain number of days that must pass, while other times it may be that one of the missions or a certain number of missions is required first. As such, there's often a sense that Jack is being pulled out of his ordinary life to deal with the harsher realities of the world around--he's not artificially and unrealistically the initiator of every single event in the entire world as is common in other RPGs, although Jack certainly becomes a major player.

Nice-looking scenery as you go about your day

Miscellany and Summary

There is actually a complete branch in the game about halfway through. Thus, it's not possible to recruit all 177 characters in one game, although you can do it within two plays. Some argue that one plot branch seems like more of the "canon" one, while the other is more of a "what if?" scenario, and that might be a realistic interpretation of the two. In any case, the endings are different, as are the events that play out to the end, although some of the areas are shared between the two. It's interesting to have two different looks at the same general sequence of events depending on which route you take. Again, I supply to you two tracks from the game that are indicative of the game's style, for educational and demonstrative purposes only. They can be found here and here. Again, they will be taken down upon request.

If you didn't bother, do bother and watch the second YouTube video on this page, as it's a good indication of what the game is like.

Radiata Stories is a great game that simply does many things that other games probably should. And it does them well. Running around in the world, testing out new characters, and watching some truly pro cutscenes are all fun parts of a game that really deserves to be recognized more. It's a game that sits well while playing and sits pleasantly as a game that's been beaten, one that may be more palatable than other games by the same developer to those weaker of heart but with its own unique magic all the same. There's nothing to disappoint here except a lack of a difficult challenge and the relative lack of depth in the battle system--however, neither would fit in place in this game anyway. As such, Radiata Stories is the premiere light-hearted RPG adventure, the best of its kind.

This wraps up this week's review. No poll this time. I decided not to add X out of Y rankings for plot/battles/music/etc. despite last week's poll indicating some desire for such for a few reasons: (1) all the games reviewed I think are great (2) there's a huge range of years between the games, so what's 7/10 graphics on a two-year-old or a ten-year-old game supposed to mean? (3) such numbers artificially separate the elements that comprise a game when in reality games aren't equal to the sum of their parts.

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