White Knight Chronicles is an RPG released for ONLY the PS3 in 2008.

Developed by Level 5 Studios, the game does an overall good job of being overly cliche, but being unique at it at the same time. Not a classic by any means, but a good game nonetheless.

Graphics - 7

I am torn on the looks of this game. On the one hand, it's a PS3 exclusive that was released in 2008. I really have very little to compare it to. I guess a starting point would probably be Final Fantasy XIII? That game looks far better... hell XII probably looks better than this. However, I try to keep in mind this game was built to have a decent online community... but then again, that should have no impact on the story line graphics. 7 is probably too high... but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.

The backdrops are probably the best part of the game... although past that, the rest of this game is uninspiring graphically. There are 2 or 3 scenes that are rather beautiful, but they are too short to mean anything significant.

Sound - 5

As is the case with most RPGS... EXTREMELY REPETITIVE. At first, the music is pretty stock, and uninspiring... and the voice acting isn't much better... And when you hear the same sound byte over and over... you get pretty bored. The biggest fault though... is that since I'm a grinder, I had to deal with it worse than most gamers will.

On the plus side, they give each of the characters something unique to say while battling on the world map. However, again, it gets repetitive, as you will hear the characters say the same thing 3 or 4 times in a single half hour. Really pathetic work on the sound.

Addictiveness - 8

But don't let that detract you from the fact this is a fun game. For an RPG, the game is rather fun. It doesn't offer much challenge, but it's extremely satisfying to reach the next level. With every level you get 4 skill points to spend on new skills. These skills vary in cost from 1-5 points. You will often get 2 or 3 skills per level, and there are 8 (I believe, but don't quote me on it) skills to level up in. Swordplay, Long Swordplay, Offensive Magic, Defensive Magic, Staffplay, Axeplay, Bowmanship, and Spearmanship.

Most of the fun of this game is you get to choose who gets good at what. Do you want the main character to be a white mage who backs up as an accomplished spearman? Go for it. Do you want the traditional tank to do nothing more than cast buffing spells? All the power to you. It's your game. Choose the way you level up.

That said, the leveling is a bit repetitive at later levels. You already know all the skills, so it's just a matter of getting your guy to be ultra powerful. You won't use most of the basic stuff you learn near the 30s and 40s in level, since you have more powerful abilities in other trees.

But again, don't let that scare you off. The battle system is rather fun. It's similar to Final Fantasy XII, more so than VII. You control only one character at a time in an ATB style battle system. However, you can change this character at nearly any time. In fact, XII is a great comparison to this game. A lot about it is similar.

Depth - 7

I can't properly discuss this, since I'm told the biggest bulk is online. I have not got online, nor will I. I'm not an online gamer. I don't like people. I play games to get AWAY from people.

That aside, there are several things to say about the story line based depth.

There are around 50 disc based quests aside from the main story, each ranging from 5 minutes to an hour long. I've only played 10 of them, and I will play the others as time goes on.

Aside from that, there is little to do other than build your town, called the Georama. The Georama is unique in that you customize it the way you want. You gather materials from around the game world, and combine them together through the Papitaur Workshop to get a desired item, whether it is a house, a tree, or just foundation for other buildings to make the town look nicer.

You place residents in each house, and even better, you can visit it offline to buy items whenever you want. It's really convenient later in the game if you want to get more items.

It's not a well developed feature, but it's pretty cool in moderation.

Story - 8

Sort of confusing.

I don't like giving spoilers, but it's kind of neccessary in this case. Below, I will give a non spoiler explanation, that doesn't do a great job. After which I will place spoiler tags to keep spoilers hidden for all of you who dislike them (like me)

In a word, I could describe the story as cliche. Aside from that, there isn't much I can say without it becoming a spoiler. The game case does a better job of this, so I will simply type out what the case says.

"Create your own character and uncover the mystery and tragic story of the White Knight in this RPG from acclaimed developer Level 5..." - There's more but it doesn't matter.