"Radiata stories is the sleeper hit of 2005"

I'd go as far to say that Radiata Stories is the sleeper hit of the year. A lot of people hadn't heard of it before it's release, even though it was produced by Square-Enix. The people at tri-ace did an amazing job with this game, and I feel I must say that it's possibly one of the best rpgs this generation.

Radiata Stories gives you control of Jack Russell, a sixteen year old boy, from a small village, who wants to become a knight. Though Jack is only sixteen, he is full of confidence to the point that at times he can seem arrogant. Jacks parents are dead, and he was raised by his sister. At the beginning of the game, he decides to try out for the Radiata Knights. In order to become a knight, he must beat everybody else that is training to become a knight in battle.

The story of the game is fairly light hearted, it has a lot of comic relief. It works very well in the game, At the same time, there are some really nice serious moments of the game, to make for an excellent mixture of the two. There are two story arcs to the game, and you get to choose which path you take. Will you side with the Humans? Or will you side with the non-humans? It's up to you to choose. Of course with a new-game+ option, which allows you to start with items, your party book (but you can't use the characters you got the time before, until you get them this time around) and various other things.

Regardless of the story arc, Jack must fight his way through to prove that he is a great fighter just like his father was. Radiata Stories is an Action RPG. The battle system is similar to Star Ocean, in that you have freedom of movement. However the similarities stop there. You may attack using the circle button. How you attack is determined by the skills you set to your weapon. You can make Jack swing from the right, swing from the left, do a jump attack, or various other types of attacks this way.

You may also use the volty gauge to attack. The volty gauge builds as you attack. Each time you, or one of your party members gets a hit, the gauge increases by one. If you get it full, you can use Volty Blast, which is a super powerful attack. Each weapon type has it's own volty blast you can get by learning all the attacks for that weapon type. You can also use a volty attack, that only costs 10 Volty Points. The gauge is conveniently placed in an easy to see area.

There is also a way to parry. By pressing X, you are able to parry an attack from an enemy. Although it doesn't always work, if you time it right, you can lower the number of damage you will receive. You can press X twice to do a backstep, or after parrying, you can hit circle to do a counter attack.

You can also use Links in battles to increase your effectiveness. By using Links, you increase the damage you, and everyone else in the link, does. There are many types of links that you learn through fighting. Using links is simple, by pressing the directional pad, you can pull up the menu to use a link. Links are also a great way to get Jack to learn new skills.

The menu in battle may be accessed by one of two ways. The first is the long way, using triangle to call the menu, and then use the item like that. This way allows you to switch weapons, armor, and use the items as well. The other way, is hitting L1. By hitting L1, you bring up a mini menu, that allows you to use items. The menu pauses the battle, but doesn't take you to a separate screen. This is very useful throughout the game.

Eventually, Jack will be able to issue commands to his party. When he does this you have to hit L1 twice to bring up the item menu. The first time, it brings up the command menu. Commands allow you to tell your party what to do. It can tell your party which enemy to attack, you can tell your party to back off, and many things more. You must buy new commands at the book stores in order to use them.

In battle you can have only four characters, but in the game total, you can collect 176 characters. That's a lot of characters, especially since you may only control Jack Russel. The reason you can only control Jack, is simple- he's the one that issues the orders. Issuing orders is something that only party leaders may do. At some points in the game, you can't issue commands. Also, if Jack dies, it's game over (unless it's a battle you must lose, or are allowed to lose)

The 176 characters cannot be obtained in one play through, you must play both story arcs if you want to get them all. Once you get a character, they are added to your party book. You can fill your party book up, by continuing through a new game +. Some characters can be missed quite easily, while others are easy to get. Some you just have to talk to, and others you have to prove your worth to. Each character is fairly unique, though many are one type. Recruiting them seems to be mostly about collecting, but you may use your favorites, as every one of them can be brought into battle.

There is a clock in the game, that moves along as you play. Day changes into night. Characters all have a routine that they do, some aren't available at some times. The clock starts a new day any time you sleep. Sleeping is an important part of the game, because other than starting a new day, it can also move the storyline along. Sometimes simply going to your base will advance the story. This becomes a problem, because if you don't want the story to advance because you're trying to get a character, or do something else, you can't sleep. You can get healed by Miranda, or one of the healing spots on the map, but you can't advance the clock.

Jack can also get into a solo battle with any townsperson there is. Simply by kicking them twice. Doing so will cause a fight, and win or lose, you'll continue the game as normal. Kicking characters doesn't really change their opinion of you in the long term, so kick anybody you want. You can also kick items, and boxes to find things. You can kick treasure boxes to open them.

The game has some wonderful music in it, some of it light hearted, and some of it intense. The music in the game is nice, and fits the mood almost all of the time. Each section of the town of Radiata (which is broken into the four guilds- The Warrior Guild, The Priest Guild, The Magic Guild, and the Bandit Guild) has it's own theme. Jack has his own theme as well. You can get records throughout the game of the music, and play it in Jacks Room.

The scenery is beautiful, and the character designs are very well done. With 177 characters, and counting, none of them are actually look like the other, except in a few minor instances, such as the twins. Jack is the only character capable of changing his appearance. He can do so, by using different armor. The armor he wears, determines what his clothes look like.

Jack is the only character capable of changing his appearance. This is because he is the only one that can change equipment. While this may seem unfair, with 177 characters, equipping them all could become pricey. Not to mention that changing every one of their graphics would probably be a pain to code.

A lot of people tend to complain about the save points, or rather the lack thereof. The save points are a bit spread apart, and none can be found just before the bosses. But you can find one in the towns, your base will always have one, and at times, save flags will pop up in places you don't expect them to be. Often there is a save flag before an important event, the game does well to provide you with one. In the first town, you can go to the inn to save.

The only complaints I really have about the game, are as follows. The first, is that when you go to a shop, you press one button (the circle button) to initiate the conversation. Then you must press X to say "buy". I think this was done mostly to prevent people from accidentally accepting something. But it can become a pain if you forget easily.

Another complaint, is that you have to pause the game in the middle of a scene if you want to get up and leave for a moment. This is because the text continues automatically. This isn't too much of a problem, because you CAN pause it, but it can be a problem if you have to go really quickly.

The last complaint i have, is about the games length. It's too short of a game, no matter how wonderful it is. However, this is compensated for by a bonus dungeon, and new game +. One walkthrough may only take 24 or 25 hours, but through new game +, you can spend even more time on the game. If you want to do all the side quests, the games length gets even better. You can spend sixty plus hours on the game easily through playing, recruiting, and doing the bonus dungeons.

This is a very good game, that I recommend purchasing. The game can be difficult at times to know what to do. Which is why it desperately needs an FAQ here on Gamefaqs. But the game is outstanding, and can be played without a guide easily. Finding out how to recruit all those characters on your own may prove difficult, but will increase the amount of time you spend on this game. Overall, Radiata Stories is an excellent game, that any fan of Action RPGs should like.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/13/05, Updated 09/15/05