''Radiata Stories'' is an
action role-playing
An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre.
Definition
The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
. It was
developed by
tri-Ace
is a Japanese video game developer, video game development company formed in March 1995 by former Telenet Japan employees Yoshiharu Gotanda (programmer, current tri-Ace President), Masaki Norimoto (game designer) and Joe Asanuma (director). Th ...
and
published
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
by
Square Enix
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...
for the
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
. It was released on January 27, 2005, in Japan and September 6, 2005, in North America.
The game received mixed reception in both Japan and in North America upon release, however over time it has developed a loyal fanbase.
It sold over 413,000 copies worldwide.
Noriyuki Iwadare
is a Japanese video game composer.
Biography
Iwadare was born in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. He began to compose video game music after years of being involved with university bands. He began composing for Toaplan, arranging thei ...
composed the soundtrack.
Gameplay
''Radiata Stories'' places great emphasis on its
persistent world
A persistent world or persistent state world (PSW) is a virtual world which, by the definition by Richard Bartle, "continues to exist and develop internally even when there are no people interacting with it". The first virtual worlds were text-bas ...
and
non-player character
A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...
s (NPCs) each with their own lives, lifestyles, jobs, personalities, homes, dialogues and schedules, which are controlled by the game's Day/Night system.
The game provides the novel ability to kick almost anything. Kicking furniture and other inanimate objects will occasionally turn up items or dagols (
the local currency). Kicking NPCs several times will cause them to fight Jack, or summon guards to fight for or with them. Jack gains experience, money, and possibly items when he wins these duels, but will not lose the game if he is defeated. Jack may only win a duel against each character once each day.
Combat
There is no overworld map during fights. Battles takes place on a separate screen in real time, though monsters appear on the field screen. The player has direct control of Jack's movement and actions in all three dimensions, though bringing up menus pauses the action. Jack is the only character the player controls directly; all other party members are run by the in-game AI. The player can issue commands to individual party members, and the entire party can be ordered into
tactical formation
Element: A group of soldiers
A tactical formation (or order) is the arrangement or deployment of moving military forces such as infantry, cavalry, AFVs, military aircraft, or naval vessels. Formations were found in tribal societies such as th ...
s via the "Link System."
NPC Recruitment
176 NPCs are recruitable. Some need only to be talked to, while others must be placated with
fetch quest
A quest, or mission, is a task in video games that a player-controlled character, party, or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward. Quests are most commonly seen in role-playing games and massively multiplayer online games. ...
s, dueled, recruited after Jack or a certain character has reached a certain level, or during certain moments in the game's story. After recruitment, they are placed on his "Friends List," at which point the player may include most of them in Jack's party at almost any time. The Friends List also provides capsule biographies for each character. It is impossible to complete everything during a single playthrough.
NPC party members can strengthen their single skill. However, they do not learn new ones, and cannot be given new weapons, armors and accessories, so skills and equipment are significant criteria in choosing one's teammates. There is also no "magic" stat, forcing the player to constantly recruit new party members as magic spells do not increase in power.
Depending on
the path the player chooses, they will lose certain characters that they recruited, and characters they didn't recruit will be unrecruitable for the rest of the game. Also, certain areas of the game will be inaccessible.
Post-Game Play
After completing the game, the player may continue playing the same game, unlocking a bonus dungeon, the Dragon Lair Cave. If the player chooses the option "
Strong from Start", they will retain all their skills, money, and some items. All the characters the player recruited will be kept in their Friends List. However, the player must recruit the characters again in subsequent playthroughs.
Plot
Setting
''Radiata Stories'' takes place in the land of Radiata. The land has many regions linked by great bridges. In the center region is Radiata City, where the story starts and may continue, given the human path is chosen.
In Radiata, humans and fairy creatures
[elves (light and dark) goblins (green and black) orcs (blood and green) and dwarves] live together in peace until the story progresses. Just about halfway through the game, the player must choose a side by either choosing the Human path or the Non-Human path.
Characters
The three main characters of ''Radiata Stories'' are Jack Russell, an insubordinate and happy-go-lucky teenager; Ridley Silverlake, a composed female Knight who was trained to be a warrior since birth and feels the pressure of expectations from others; and Ganz Rothschild, the polite and gentle Captain of their brigade who is prone to becoming overexcited. Prominent supporting characters include the Prime Minister Larks; the cunning Knight Cross Ward; Lord Jasne, Ridley's overprotective father and the Lord Chamberlain of Radiata Castle; Lucian, Lord Jasne's advisor; and Gawain Rothschild, Ganz's father and presumed murderer of Jack's father, Cairn Russell.
The 300 characters and 175 recruitable NPCs of ''Radiata Stories'' were all given unique personalities and backstories. Every time a character is unlocked, he or she shows up on the player's Friends List, which also provides a summary of their history or personality. Due to the game having two mutually exclusive story branches, it is impossible to recruit every NPC during the same playthrough. Thus, the game must be played at least twice to unlock all characters' entries on the Friends List.
Radiata is home to Radiata Castle, its Knights of the realm and four
Guilds
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...
. Most humans in town belong to one of the guilds, while others, including many from the country side, do not claim any guild affiliation. Fairy creatures are grouped by species.
Story
The game begins with Jack, the protagonist, joining the Knights of Radiata under the command of Captain Ganz Rothschild, son of Gawain Rothschild, the alleged killer of Cairn Russell, Jack's father. Also in his brigade is a young girl named Ridley Silverlake. One day, while trying to broker a trade agreement with the elves, Jack's brigade is attacked by blood orcs. The knights slay the orcs, but Ridley is seriously wounded during the battle. Her life is saved when her spirit gets merged with that of an elf who was killed by one of the blood orcs. After Ridley's father, Lord Jasne, finds out what happened, he pressures Prime Minister Lord Larks into expelling Jack and Ganz from the knights.
Jack goes on to join another group of mercenaries from Theatre Vancoor. Ridley is promoted to captain, but guilt over the expulsion of Jack and Ganz slowly builds in her, and she rebels. Ganz is unable to pass the test necessary to join Theater Vancoor, and through several encounters joins Void, the bandit guild.
As the game progresses, tension builds between the humans and the non-humans. One day, the Radiata Knights are sent to persuade the dwarves to continue trade with the humans. During negotiations, however, Cross Ward, leader of the squadron of knights, disobeys his orders and has the knights attack the dwarves. The dwarves that are not killed in the battle are enslaved. This starts a war between the humans and the non-humans.
Days later, Jack is visited by Ridley, who tells him that she is going to visit the elf capital city. At this point, the player must choose to either follow Ridley, or attend a meeting at Radiata Castle with Larks.
If the player chooses to attend the meeting, Jack is reinstated as a Radiata Knight. He learns that the non-humans are protected by four dragons, based on the four elements. One was killed by his father many years ago, and another was killed by Cross Ward when he enslaved the dwarves. Jack is ordered to accompany Cross and General Dynas to kill the remaining two. Jack also encounters Gawain and vows to kill him.
If the player follows Ridley to the elf city, Jack joins the fairy creatures in the war against the humans. Cross kills the dragons instead of Jack, who attempts to defend the dragons. Jack also learns the truth about his father's death from Gawain, who joins Jack.
After the dragons are slain, Ridley visits Jack and informs him that she is going south to meet her destiny. After a final skirmish between the humans and the fairy creatures, the king's advisor turns into the Silver Dragon Aphelion, one of the two apocalyptic dragons. Aphelion flies south, in the same direction that Ridley went, so Jack follows.
At the castle, Jack finds that the Gold Dragon, Quasar, the other apocalyptic dragon, plans to use Ridley as a vessel to destroy the humans. If Jack followed the human path, Aphelion kills Ridley to prevent this. Enraged by Ridley's death, Jack kills the Silver Dragon. He then leaves Radiata. If Jack followed the non-human path, he is able to prevent Ridley's death, and defeats Aphelion. The victory comes at the cost of both Ganz and Gawain. Jack and Ridley then return to Radiata together.
Cameos
Tri-Ace incorporated characters and references to their other games in ''Radiata Stories''. Ganz wears ''
Star Ocean 2
''Star Ocean: The Second Story'' is an action role-playing video game developed by tri-Ace and published by Enix for the PlayStation. It is the second game in the '' Star Ocean'' series and the first game in the series to be released outside Jap ...
''s Claude C. Kenni's clothes when he is part of the Bandit Guild. Jack can obtain Fayt Armor, which changes his appearance to that of Fayt Leingod from ''
Star Ocean 3''. Four bonus bosses are from other games: Lenneth Valkyrie and Lezard Valeth from ''
Valkyrie Profile
or is a series of role-playing video games created by Masaki Norimoto, primarily developed by tri-Ace and published by Square Enix (formerly Enix). The series is notable for featuring elements from Norse mythology.
Common elements
The ''Val ...
''; and Gabriel Celestra and the Ethereal Queen, who are tri-Ace staples. Of these, only Valkyrie is recruitable; and her armor can also be spotted inside the kings' chambers in the Radiata Castle, as part of the background.
Audio
The soundtrack was composed by
Noriyuki Iwadare
is a Japanese video game composer.
Biography
Iwadare was born in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. He began to compose video game music after years of being involved with university bands. He began composing for Toaplan, arranging thei ...
. Prior to this, all tri-Ace music was composed by
Motoi Sakuraba
is a Japanese composer and keyboardist. He is known for his numerous contributions in video games, such as for '' Tales'', ''Star Ocean'', ''Mario Golf'', ''Mario Tennis'', '' Golden Sun'', and ''Dark Souls'' series, as well as several other ani ...
. However, keeping in line with their tradition to refer to past games, three of Sakuraba's original compositions were rearranged by Iwadare. These are "Mission to Deep Space" (also in ''Star Ocean 2'', ''Valkyrie Profile'', and ''Star Ocean 3''), "An Incarnation of Devil "(''Star Ocean 2'', ''Valkyrie Profile'', and ''Star Ocean 3''), and "Highbrow" (also in ''Star Ocean 3'').
Tri-Crescendo
tri-Crescendo is a Japanese video game developer. It was founded in February 1999 by Hiroya Hatsushiba, who still runs the company. Hatsushiba, originally being a sound programmer, carried his experience into tri-Crescendo; the company was initia ...
, which has a strong affiliation with Sakuraba, was credited with "Sound Direction" for the game. Furthermore, the soundtrack was released under the
TEAM Entertainment
A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal.
As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to infor ...
label which is the primary promoter and distributor of Sakuraba.
The original soundtrack was 2 CDs with 79 songs. One month later Iwadare released "Radiata Stories: Arranged Album" which rearranged 16 songs from the original soundtrack.
''
The Sacramento Bee
''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...
'' said the music was "peppy and cheerful, if unmemorable" but that the sound effects were "largely recycled from the developer's previous games, all the way back to 1999's "''Star Ocean: The Second Story''."
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
remarked that "None of the music will get stuck in your head, but you won't want to mute it either." Game Informer said the soundtrack was a "masterpiece". However, the game does not support Dolby Surround sound.
In November 2004, it was announced that all Japanese preorders of ''Radiata Stories'' would come with a bonus audio disc, "tri-Ace Battle Sound Collection." The disc contained 2 battle themed tracks from ''Star Ocean'', ''Star Ocean 2'', ''Star Ocean 3'', ''Valkyrie Profile'', and ''Radiata Stories'', respectively.
The theme song of the Japanese version of the game, "Fortune", was sung by
Japanese Pop
J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...
star
Nami Tamaki
Nami ( ar, نامي, ja, 波 ('wave'), ('regular'), etc.) may refer to:
Given name
* Nami (, , , , ), Japanese feminine given name
* Nami Akimoto (born 1968), Japanese manga artist
* , Japanese film director, screenwriter and editor
*, Japanes ...
, who became known for her debut single "Believe", the third opening theme of ''
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
is an anime series developed by Sunrise and directed by Mitsuo Fukuda. The ninth installment in the ''Gundam'' franchise, ''Gundam SEED'' takes place in a future calendar era, in this case the Cosmic Era. In this era, mankind has devel ...
''. She also played a recruitable party character of the same name in the game. The character Nami was modeled after Tamaki's likeness and her lines were voiced by the singer.
It was her first single of 2005 and her 16th single overall.
A music video with scenes from ''Radiata Stories'' and her dressed in her character's clothing was released in January 2005. The Japanese television advertisement for ''Radiata Stoires'' featured the song in the background. This song is found in her second album ''Make Progress'', which also includes "Reason", the first ending theme for ''
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny
is an anime television series, a direct sequel to ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED'' by Sunrise and the overall tenth installment in the ''Gundam'' franchise. It retains most of the staff from ''Gundam SEED'', including Director Mitsuo Fukuda. Se ...
''.
The character's name was changed to Rachel in the English version and "Fortune" played during the ending credits.
Reception
''Radiata Stories'' was highly anticipated in Japan receiving the "Game Awards Future" by the
Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association
Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) is a Japanese organization that was established in 1996 to "promote the computer entertainment industry ..with the aim of contributing to the strengthening of Japanese industry as well as to th ...
in 2004 which is awarded to games that are "expected to be major hits". It was the 12th most pre-ordered game the week of November 17, 2004. According to ''Famitsu'', it was the 20th most wanted game in early October but had jumped up to the 3rd most wanted the week before its release.
A Japanese reviewer noted that the game had humorous dialogue but a simple battle system which made it suitable for beginners. The game sold well in Japan where it debuted as the top-selling game for two weeks, selling 152,000 copies, 54% of the ordered shipment, the day it debuted. It was the 11th best selling game the first half of 2005 and the 37th best-selling game in Japan in 2005 overall selling 10,000 more copies than ''
Devil May Cry 3
''Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening'' is a 2005 action-adventure game developed and published by Capcom. The game is a prequel to the original ''Devil May Cry (video game), Devil May Cry'', featuring a younger Dante (Devil May Cry), Dante. Set ...
'' and selling about 294,000 copies overall in Japan.
During an interview,
Roppyaku Tsurumi
is a Japanese game producer and designer, known for the Japanese localization of the original '' Crash Bandicoot'' and ''Jak and Daxter'' series. He works for Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as ...
of
SCEJ
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
said most Japanese RPG character designs were cookie-cutter and indistinct noting "Even when I look at the characters in Radiata Stories, it just looks like the other games" but he had no problems distinguishing manga characters.
The North American reception to ''Radiata Stories'' was lukewarm. ''Radiata Stories'' was the top rental on
GameFly the week of its debut. and debuted at the 20 most profitable game for September. Overall, it sold about 119,000 copies outside Japan total for the month of September.
Mainstream reviewers enjoyed the game overall stating that, while not ground-breaking, the game was simple, whimsical, and entertaining.
''Radiata Stories'' was awarded "Game of the Month" in ''
Game Informer
''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 w ...
'' in October 2005. Jack Russell placed No. 6 on ''Game Informer''s "Top 10 Heroes of 2005" list and ''Radiata Stories'' was in "The Top 50 Games of 2005" in the January 2006 issue of ''Game Informer'' and in "The Top 12 Games of 2005" by
Games Radar
''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and ''Computer ...
. It was nominated for "Role Playing Game of the Year" during the 9th
Annual Interactive Achievement Awards
The D.I.C.E. Awards (formerly the Interactive Achievement Awards) is an award show in the video game industry started in 1998 and commonly referred to in the industry as the "video games Oscar". The awards are arranged by the Academy of Interac ...
held by
The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. It was also nominated for Best Role Playing Game of 2005 by
1UP.com
''1Up.com'' was an American entertainment website that focused on video games. Launched in 2003, ''1Up.com'' provided its own original features, news stories, game reviews, and video interviews, and also featured comprehensive PC-focused conten ...
.
Related media
Two 5-issue
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
series were released based on ''Radiata Stories'': ''The Epic of JACK'' and ''The Song of RIDLEY''. Both were 5 issues published between 2005 and 2007.
A limited run of a boxed set of 6 figurines from ''Radiata Stories'' and ''Star Ocean'' included Jack and Ridley.
See also
*''
Radiant Historia
is a role-playing video game co-developed by Atlus and Headlock for the Nintendo DS. It was released in Japan in 2010 by Atlus, and in North America in 2011 by their subsidiary Atlus USA. An expanded remake for the Nintendo 3DS, titled ''Ra ...
'' – A similarly titled game with common development staff members.
References
Notes
External links
Official site for Japan*
*
*
{{Authority control
2005 video games
Action role-playing video games
Fantasy video games
PlayStation 2 games
PlayStation 2-only games
Square Enix games
Tri-Ace
Tri-Crescendo games
Video games developed in Japan
Video games scored by Noriyuki Iwadare
Video games set in castles