Radiata Stories (PS2) Preview

[RainOfTerror]

Prepare to journey through a living, breathing fantasy world in the Square-Enix/tri-ACE co-production Radiata Stories. Explore a living, breathing fantasy world where time passes and NPCs all have their own daily routines. Recruit allies and pick sides in the war between humans and the faerie. The future's riding on your decisions.

To play the game well, you need to keep an eye on your Volty meter, which charges up slowly while you play. Burning Volty points will let you issue commands to your allies, such as attacking a particular enemy or healing an ally, or let you assemble your party into a particularly useful formation. Some formations optimize your party's attack ability, while others might emphasize defense or healing. You can only keep your party in formation until your Volty meter runs out, and keeping a party in a given formation consumes Volty constantly. Using formations is the best way to use your team efficiently, and will eventually make your team overwhelmingly powerful. You can also use Volty to fuel maneuvers called "Volty Breaks," spectacularly damaging maneuvers unique to the character.Check the full Radiata Stories preview (http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=25927) over at WorthPlaying.

[Jetherik]

Living, breathing world where the NPCs have jobs, lives, and stuff? Sounds like Gothic and a few other games... But the more games that have it, the better the games seem to be.

[Dirty Harry]

been looking foward to this for awhile.

[Heretic Machine]

Sounds like Square is actually getting into the real RPG market! Good for them, I can't wait to pick it up.

[Tricky Thumb]

This game totally bombed in Japan, as in, splat.

[DeviantBoi]

This game totally bombed in Japan, as in, splat.

From the preview: This game caused quite a stir when it was launched in Japan, debuting at #2 on the sales charts and receiving some astronomical review scores from Famitsu.

[Heretic Machine]

Even if it didn't go over in Japan, that doesn't mean it's not a good game. I'm betting Morrowind wasn't a big hit either.

[Tricky Thumb]

From the preview: This game caused quite a stir when it was launched in Japan, debuting at #2 on the sales charts and receiving some astronomical review scores from Famitsu.

You seem to think this isn't normal in Japan the "Land of Fads".

[Lynxara]

There was some online controversy on Japanese gaming sites about the game, IIRC. A bunch of Star Ocean fans picked it up and were basically very, very pissed off that the game was nothing like Star Ocean. A close look at the tri-ace staff credits for Radiata Stories will reveal that the main staffers did very little work on the Star Ocean series, and I don't think any of them worked on Star Ocean 3.

This being said, it was a real controversy; the game had some extremely vocal defenders who would talk about how much they loved the battle system and how much they loved the game. I think, ultimately, Radiata is a bit of a matter of taste; I play a lot of imports and I loved it, but I also didn't buy it because I was expecting the next Star Ocean. It wasn't a #1 smash hit, but largely since it had to debut against the more heavily hyped ACE... calling it a bomb is a gross exaggeration.

[Worldcrafter]

You seem to think this isn't normal in Japan the "Land of Fads".

I wouldn't leave America out of the running for that title. Sure, we may not have vending machines that sell used schoolgirl panties, but does anyone remember pogs?

[Deadend]

well, the game seems honestly kinda cool.

[Mr_Snuffle]

http://mikesymonds.customer.netspace.net.au/radiatorstory.jpg

Radiator Story.

[Heretic Machine]

Why does the radiator have eyes?

EDIT: Better question. Why does it have eye brows? Even better question, why do I have eye brows?

[mister_slim]

Why does the radiator have eyes?

EDIT: Better question. Why does it have eye brows? Even better question, why do I have eye brows?
In Japan, all radiators have eyes. And eyebrows allow radiators to radiate their overwhelming radiatishness.