The combat in White Knight Chronicles may be shallow, but at least the creatures that inhabit this world have a distinct look. The most noteworthy is a titanic being that has an entire city built right onto its back. It looks like a cross between an overgrown turtle and the monster from Cloverfield. The graceful manner in which it moves its appendages mixed with its screen-shaking roar make it a memorable aspect of your quest. The creatures you do battle with are almost as unique, showcasing a strong divergence of iconic figures. For instance, the Cerberus in the game is certainly ferocious, but it has an endearing quality as well that makes it eye catching, and--if it weren't trying to bite your head off--rather lovable. There is too much reliance on reusing these fantastic creatures over and over throughout the adventure, but that doesn't overshadow the fact that they are well designed.
6246851>Three heads? Now you're just being greedy.None
Some of the environments are equally adept at drawing you into the game. From a serene countryside to a stifling desert, many places you visit are colorful and inviting. Sadly, much of the game takes place in mundane underground caverns which lack the splendor of the outside areas. Furthermore, the level design is too reliant on confusing mazes, so by the time you find your way out of them even the most beautiful environments have long since outstayed their welcome. There are multiple instances of unnecessary mazes in White Knight Chronicles, and they only serve to artificially elongate the adventure, which just ends up making it tedious. During one section, you must dutifully wait by an overgrown dandelion until the wind blows a certain direction, making you stand still for minutes on end until you can travel onward. During another section, you leap randomly onto teleporters and cross your fingers it will take you where you want to go. Although during most of the game there is a waypoint showing you where your next objective is, it is removed during these intricate mazes. Thus, you are forced to wander around for hours until you finally reach the finish-line oasis at the end.
It will take no more than 30 hours to grind through the often monotonous adventure, but your travels are not quite over even after you take down the end boss. You unlock dozens of side missions during the course of your quest, and you can tackle these either by your lonesome or online with up to three of your friends. Teaming up with a band of hungry warriors certainly adds a bit more appeal to this usually sterile adventure, and you won't have to worry that the game lacks personality if your friends are injecting a bit of their own into the mix. But the online portion is as full of holes as the main adventure. The quests you unlock take place in the same basic environments with mostly the same enemies from the single-player portion, so if you've already rescued the princess, then you won't be able to look forward to many unique instances. Each side mission also has a recommend level rank and a required guild rank to enter it, and the conditions are so high for most of them that you will be forced to grind the entry level ones in order to earn you way into the tougher scenarios. Once you reach the appropriate requirements, the side quests don't offer much challenge for a well-prepared party, but getting your rank high enough to enter many of the quests is a chore. Furthermore, the white knight is completely absent from the proceedings. Because you play as your personalized avatar--who is not blessed with knight-changing abilities--you are stuck with the standard assortment of attacks found in every role-playing game out there.
The HUD takes up way too much of the screen during battles.
Aside from the uninspired side missions, the only other extra activity to take part in is a town-building minigame. Here, you sink your money into building a prosperous city, erecting buildings and recruiting residents from around the world. The reward for your hard work is access to rare ingredients that allow you to forge stronger weapons and troll-resilient armor that would be nearly impossible to acquire without your own personalized means of production. But like every other aspect of White Knight Chronicles, what sounds good in theory cannot live up to the lofty ideas in practice. The amount of money needed to upgrade your city is preposterously high. You can play through the entire adventure and only earn enough dough to upgrade your town a few meager levels. Unfortunately, you cannot recruit the best and brightest citizens to work for you until your town achieves a certain rank, so unless you're prepared to invest countless hours into your personalized oasis, you won't get anything of substance out of it.
On the surface, White Knight Chronicles does a lot of things right. The world and creatures look really good, you can battle a variety of colossal creatures during the single-player campaign or online with some friends, and turn into a giant knight whenever you desire. But there are just too many problems weighing the overall experience down. Shallow combat and a predictable story make going through the main quest a slog, and the online portion is crippled by the same problems as well as dull objectives that lack variety. The beauty of White Knight Chronicles cannot hide the flaws of this forgettable and often tedious adventure.
What You'll Pay
- See All Prices
- Set Price Alert
- Price History
