My Review: Radiant Historia (DS)

One of the sad truths of the current generation of gaming is that there has been a noticeable lack of truly great traditional roleplaying games. That’s not to say there haven’t been good ones, but as good as Lost Odyssey, Dark Souls, and Tales of Vesperia are, this generation has been marked by disappointment. Final Fantasy XIII wasn’t what everyone hoped it would be, Eternal Sonata was kind of preachy, and Hyperdimension Neptunia is absolute shite and I’m sorry for anyone who spent money on that travesty (I kid, I kid). While the blame for this may or may not be placed on these games developers, or on shifting perceptions among the gaming community, and the situation actually seems to be looking up as of late with great titles such as Xenoblade Chronicles just around the corner, there just doesn’t seem to be many modern RPGs that live up to their predecessors. Enter Radiant Historia, a game released in 2011 by Atlus, which clearly draws inspiration from the classics of old, such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. Does it succeed as a great RPG experience, or is Radiant Historia a doomed pretender? Well, let it be known here and now- Radiant Historia is one of the best games to be released in a long time.

STORY

The land of Vainqueur, a medieval/steampunk setting highly reminiscent of FF6’s, is slowly turning to sand in a process known as ‘desertification’, and the neighboring kingdoms of Alistel and Granorg are locked in a long war over the remaining fertile land. When Stocke, an Alistelian special agent, is given the mysterious tome known as the White Chronicle by his superior before being sent out on a dangerous mission, he discovers that the book enables him to travel through time. Guided by Teo and Lippti, caretakers of the realm of Historia, Stocke must use the White Chronicle to change history and uncover a means to stop the desertification.

While Radiant Historia does make use of some classic RPG clichés, it handles them in an incredibly realistic manner, and the story is anything but derivative, instead an incredibly engaging tale of political intrigue and warfare, with Chrono-esque time travel sprinkled into the mix for good measure. The story is backed by a well-rounded supporting cast, great pacing, and well-written dialogue (which, considering Atlus’ usual localization prowess, isn’t all that surprising), but by far my favorite aspect of the story is the main character, Stocke. Stocke’s a well-developed character by himself, but where he shines the most is when the game puts you, the player, into his shoes for the many choices he’ll have to make throughout the game. These choices really help you get into Stocke’s head and understand his character, but it also adds a personal touch to the story’s events, one that turns a good story into a truly great one.

GAMEPLAY

Radiant Historia’s central gameplay feature is the ability to travel through time using the White Chronicle, but unlike similar games such as the Chrono series, the Chronicle becomes an important gameplay element right off the bat. At any point in the game, you can see where you’re at in the story, as each event in the game places a ‘node’ into the White Chronicle, and any node where you make a decision can be travelled to. From any save point, or from the world map, Stocke can head to Historia and choose a point to go to. Early in the game, you make a decision that splits the timeline into two, and you’ll alternate between these two timelines to clear obstacles in each one. For example, early in the game you’ll need explosives to clear a cave-in, but the explosives merchant was attacked by bandits and killed in the current timeline. Odds are, you won’t be able to change the outcome in this timeline, so you can switch to the other timeline until you find the solution you need. At many points in the game, Stocke will be presented with multiple solutions to a problem, and the player must choose how to proceed. While there is always a ‘right’ answer and a wrong answer that will score you a premature ending, the best decisions in the game have two choices that seem perfectly logical, and as mentioned earlier will enable the player to get a better understanding of the kind of dilemmas Stocke faces. If you do choose poorly, you’ll be warped back to Historia where you can make the choice again.  Time travel in Radiant Historia is a fun and simple-to-use gameplay feature that adds a nice sense of freedom to the game.

            When you’re not time travelling, Radiant Historia follows a standard RPG formula, with an overworld, towns, and dungeons to explore. Due to the nature of the dual timelines, you’ll often end up revisiting some areas quite often, but they’re quite expansive, and you’ll usually be able to find a new area to explore as you progress through the game. There are no random encounters- enemies appear in the field, and can be struck with Stocke’s sword for a chance at a preemptive strike. There are other abilities that can be used to interact with the environment, such as the ability to rig barrels with explosives, turn invisible to sneak past enemies, or detect hidden treasure.

            Combat in Radiant Historia is turn based, and uses the excellent turn counter from Final Fantasy X to show the order of the participants. While you can only have three members in your active battle party, all characters gain a share of the experience from each fight. Battles themselves take place on a 3x3 grid where enemies can be moved around the battlefield using skills. Enemies who are moved into the same section of the grid will be stacked on top of each other and can be attacked at once, and so a big part of the game’s strategy is cleverly manipulating the enemies’ position for the most advantageous way to damage them. By dealing consecutive hits, ‘combos’ can be built up, and when enough combos have been performed characters can perform a powerful ‘Mana Burst’ skill, which can prevent an enemy from taking their turn or unleash a deadly attack. If I had one complaint about Radiant Historia’s battle system, it would be that fights near the end of the game start to drag on for a very long time, but overall the game has an excellent and tactical combat system.  

PRESENTATION

Radiant Historia is one of the best-looking DS game’s I’ve played, with great 3D backgrounds, gorgeous hand-drawn character portraits, and excellent spritework, a blend of 2D and 3D akin to the fantastic DS Dragon Quest remakes. It really succeeds in capturing the feel of classic RPGs, while at the same time looking sleek and modern. On the sound side of things, Yoko Shimomura delivers an absolutely phenomenal soundtrack (indulge in a pair of headphones while playing Radiant Historia), but perhaps the best aspect of the game’s sound is what isn’t heard- namely, no voice acting to muck up the story, which is definitely a plus. The game does have a couple of minor technical hiccups- there’s a bit of screen tearing during some of the more intense attack animations, there’s a brief lag before battle starts, and occasionally small sound effects will cut out- but overall, Radiant Historia’s presentation is… radiant.

Come on. I had to.

CONCLUSION

Radiant Historia is a truly excellent RPG, the likes of which we haven’t seen in years. It’s been said before, but had this game been released in the 90s it would probably be held in the same regard as games like Chrono Trigger. If you’re a fan of traditional RPGs and have a DS, you owe it to yourself to play this game. With a great story, fun and well-designed gameplay, and a gorgeous soundtrack, Atlus has given us one of the best JRPGs in recent memory, one that proves once and for all that there is still room for this oft-troubled genre.

SCORE- A