White Knight Chronicles II Preview

Developer: LEVEL-5 Inc.
Publisher: D3Publisher
Release Date: September 13, 2011
Platform: PlayStation 3

When White Knight Chronicles released a few years ago, it was met with mixed reviews that praised the game’s multiplayer, but criticized the rest of the game’s story and mundane gameplay. The game sold well ,however, and a sequel was released last year in Japan, and will release next month in North America. I recently got chance to check out the game a get look at some of the improvements that Level-5 has made to make sure White Knight Chronicles II is a better experience for gamers.

The story takes place year after the original game and introduces new characters that will play an important role in Leonard and his companion’s quest to save the world. Theme has changed in the story, from the original love theme to bigger themes such as Ancient History and War. The change in theme does not necessarily mean there will be no love story, but you can expect a much more epic tale that players will immerse in. All these new elements will hopefully bring a proper conclusion to the story of White Knight Chronicles.

Improvements have been made to the gameplay, something heavily criticized for being slow and boring. Level-5 improved response time in battles, which gives combat a faster pace and will hopefully make grinding a lot easier, or more tolerable depending on how much you enjoy grinding in an RPG. I definitely felt the improvements in my short time with the demo. Attacking enemies felt fluid, and queuing up attacks was quick and easy to do. Players will be able to lock onto different enemies which will help when facing multiple enemies.

Another thing I noticed in the demo is the AI controlled members seem to handle themselves pretty well. I never got the sense that the player would have to constantly hover over their party member’s back to make sure they would engage enemies. I can appreciate never having to worry if the AI is doing their job or not, and allowing you to focus on the task at hand. Players can switch between party members to play in combat situations, or to buy items and customize in towns.

Speaking of customization, players will finally have the ability to customize their Incorruptus, so all of you who wanted that customization in the first game, you can rest easy.

White Knight Chronicles II has a few more features that will keep players hooked long after the game releases. The Georama mode, which allowed players to create their own city, makes a return to multiplayer. Players can carry over their city from the first game if they have the saved file for it.

Aside from developing cities, players can jump into six co-op, and tackle new quests together, another feature carried over from the first game. The only thing changed to the co-op is now players can join in on six player co-op, versus the four player co-op from the original game.

The game also includes all DLC from the first game and the Japanese release of the game, which comes out to around 300 DLC items. With all this extra content, players will likely invest around 100 hours into the game.

In case all the features are not enough, a remastered version of White Knight Chronicles International Version is included on the disc. The remastered version has updated graphics that will make it look like a different game to those who played it before, and improved gameplay to match that of the sequel.

Hopefully all the improvements will pay off in the end. White Knight Chronicles II releases September 13, on the PlayStation 3.