Radiata Stories
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Radiata Stories is a video game from developer tri-Ace. It is published by Square Enix in the United States and Japan. Noriyuki Iwadare is the composer.
Premise and story
The game centers on Jack Russell, orphaned son of Cairn Russell, a general in the Radiata Knights and successful dragon-slayer. Jack leaves his small-town existence, with only his father's sword and training (passed on to him through his sister Adele), for the capital city of Radiata and the hope of making the Knights as his father did.
Jack makes it into the Knights, but only on the strength of his father's name. He is placed in the Rose Cochon Brigade (translation: Pink Pig), under the command of the upbeat and gung-ho Captain Ganz Rothschild, son of Gawain Rothschild, Cairn Russell's best friend—and suspected murderer, who has not been seen since the incident. Also in his unit is the Lady Ridley Silverlake, a highly competent soldier with an influential and overprotective father. Through a series of mishaps and confusions, Ridley is almost killed by a Blood Orc, but then revived by merging her spirit with that of a light elf. This ritual, called transpiritation, is performed by a light elf who was the leader of the dark elves and brother of the leader of the light elves. As a result of this incident, Ridley's father has Jack and Ganz expelled from the Knights, and has Ridley promoted to captain, in command of seasoned soldiers. Jack finds a new home in Theater Vancoor, the Warior Guild, and Ganz joins the Void Community. All is well, Jack is promoted to Sergeant, and likes the looser style of Theater Vancoor compared to the knights.
One day, Jack is summoned to the castle for a meeting. Just as he is about to leave his house for the meeting, Ridley appears at his door. She confesses that since the transpiritation (where a spirit of a light elf inhabited her body), she has not been feeling herself. She is going to the City of Flowers, the light elf village, and visits Jack to make sure she is still human. As she walks out, Jack has a key choice presented: follow her, and join the nonhumans for the war that is about to break out, or attend the meeting and side with the humans.
Jack now finds himself in the beginnings of a cataclysmic war between humans and non-humans. Jack is forced to decide whether to join forces with the humans or the non-humans, thus setting up the two distinct paths through the game, each with their own side of the storyline and ending. Regardless of Jack's choice, Ganz later joins the non-humans to be with his missing father, who has reappeared and joined the nonhumans. The plot is similar for both paths, except that Jack sees the situation from one side or the other. By the end of the game, Jack isn't sure either side was correct, and that a war might not have been necessary.
Significant characters
- Jack Russell: A brunette, teenage male with a smart mouth. The son of Cairn Russel, Jack Russell grew up in the rural outskirts of Radiata Kingdom. He aspires to become a Radiata Knight and when he his accepted into the knights (not for his ability, but his heritage) he becomes part of the Rose Cochon Brigade.
- Ridley Silverlake/Timberlake A blonde teenage girl, Ridley brusque and intolerant of inefficiency, frequently snapping at Jack for his blunders (although she appears to have deep feelings for him). Born into a family of nobles, she was trained to be a knight at a very young age. Her father, Lord Jasne Colton, has a different last name because the Silverlake name is gained through blood.
- Ganz Rothschild: Ganz, a stout, blond man, is a peaceful but somewhat unreliable knight captain. Hailing from the Rothchild Western Lions clan, Ganz was raised according to the genteel traditions of all great houses. Ganz has been a bit spoiled by his upbringing, but is still a good leader. His own father, Gawain, is missing in action. He is found often over-excited or silly, making him an entertaining character.
- Lord Larks: A middle-aged man with short blond hair. He is the Prime minister of Radiata, in charge of the knights, and responsible for keeping peace in the land. He is respectable and very methodical.
- Lord Lucian: A male, looking younger than Lord Larks, with very long, black hair, and clad in an outfit very simalir to Larks's. British-accented Lucian is another lord in the castle, and serves as an advisor to Jasne. Often in the library (sometimes ranting to himself), Lucian has a very extensive range of knowlegde thanks to his reading.
- Jasne Colton: The round, red nosed lord chamberlain of Radiata, and father of Ridley Silverlake. Jasne is very overprotective of his daughter and often sends Natalie and Leonard (Radiata knights) to keep an eye on her. He is grumpy and whiny and almost immediately after meeting him, Jack is hated by Jasne.
- Cross Ward: The cocky, grey-haired, purple clad, captain of the Noire Mouton brigade. Cross is Ridley's fiancee. He is cruel and selfish throughout the game, due to his ego and ambition. He responds to mostly anything with violence.
- Dynas: The bald, powerful, General of all the Knights of Radiata and a former subordinate to Gawain. Dynas and Cross don't seem to get along very well as they have different outlooks on how to handle a problem.
- Natalie: Natlie is the green-haired Captain of the Violet Chevre, an elite knight. She admires Jasne's love for Ridley, and while she goggles over the red-nose, hopelessly in love, Leonard (who is in love with her), is ignored.
- Lord Zane: Leader of the light elves, he absolutely hates humans except Gawain, Ridley, Cairn, Ganz and Jack (if you choose the non-human side). His identical brother, Lord Nogueria, is leader of the Dark elves.
- Lord Nogueria: Leader of the dark elves, though a light elf, himself. He is more open towards humans but still, as with every non-human, his prejudice runs deep.
- Gawain Rothschild: A stout male, sporting a large, feiry red mohawk. Nicknamed "Red Lion", Gawain was one of the best knights in Radiata, but after the death of Cairn, his best friend and comrade, he left his family and left Radiata. Sixteen years later he reappeared on the non-human side. He is Ganz's Father.
Gameplay
Like .hack and Shenmue before it, Radiata Stories places great emphasis on its persistent world and non-player characters. The capital city of Radiata alone boasts over 100 occupants (about as many as some entire games have), each with their own lives, lifestyles, jobs, personalities, homes, dialogues and schedules, which are enhanced by the game's Day/Night system. Outlying towns and settlements, including the "fairy" (non-human) cities where Light Elves, Dark Elves, Blood Orcs, Green Orcs, Dwarves and Green and Black Goblins live, are much smaller, but their occupants are likewise personalized. Finally, Radiata is home to Radiata Castle and its Knights of the realm, not to mention four Guilds (the Theater Vancoor Warrior Guild, the Bandits' Void Community, the monkish Olacion Order, and the Vareth Institute of Mages), which provide some flavor to its inhabitants.Of these NPCs, 177 of them are recruitable. Some need only to be talked to, some must be placated with fetch quests, some dueled, and some must judge Jack to be of a certain strength (in terms of levels) before they will agree to place themselves on his "Friends list," at which point the player may include them in Jack's party at (almost) any time. (See [the wikisource] for a wiki for help in getting them all.) The Friends List also provides handy capsule biographies for each character. Similar to Final Fantasy X-2, it is impossible to complete everything during any one time through the game, as a decision mid-way through the game forces Jack to choose between his human and fairy allies.
Like Final Fantasy X, there is no overworld map. Battles takes place on a separate screen in real time, though monsters appear on the world screen. The player has direct control of Jack's movement and actions in all three dimensions, though bringing up menus pauses the action. Similar to the Kingdom Hearts franchise, Jack is the only character the player can ever control; all other party members are run by the in-game AI. Unlike the other titles, the player can issue commands to individual party members, and the entire party can be ordered into tactical formations via the "Link System."
NPC party members can strengthen their single passive skill, but do not learn new active abilities or learn new ones, and cannot be given new weapons, armors and accessories, so skills and equipment are a significant criteria in choosing one's teammates. For instance, at least one Internet walkthrough author advocates the constant use of three characters with middling abilities but extremely useful accessories that enhance experience point and monetary gain.[[Citing sources citation needed]] There is also no "magic" stat, forcing the player to constantly recruit new party members as magic (healing) spells do not increase in power whatsoever.
Finally, the game provides the novel ability to kick anything in sight. Kicking furniture and other inanimate objects will occasionally turn up items or Dagols (the local currency). Kicking some NPCs several times will cause them to fight Jack, or summon guards to fight for or with them. Jack gains experience and dagol, and possibly items when he wins these duels, but will not Game Over if he loses them. Jack may only duel a character once each day. Other than a single comment at the end of the duel, the character's behavior is unchanged after the duel.
Gallery
Trivia
- The protagonist, Jack Russell, is named after the Terrier dog breed.
- His father's name, Cairn, is also a breed of Terrier.
- Considering that Tri-Ace made this game, some references to other Tri-Ace games can be found, but seldom have any significant influence in the game. Examples: Ganz sometimes wears 's Claude C. Kenni's clothes, and there is a somewhat hidden quick scene where Jack Russell can obtain Fayt Armor, which changes his appearance to Fayt Leingod from Star Ocean 3. Also of note, the character of Lenneth Valkyrie from Valkyrie Profile appears as a recruitable character, and another character from the same game, Lezard Valeth, appears as a bonus boss. Finally, a BGM track that made appearances in both Star Ocean 2, Star Ocean 3 and Valkyrie Profile is present in this game: "The Incarnation of Devil".
- In addition to the above, the name of the character Lucian may also be a reference to a character with the same name in Valkyrie Profile.
- The theme song to the Japanese version of the game, "Fortune", was sung by JPop star Nami Tamaki, who also played a recruitable party character of the same name in the game. She is also available in the English Version of the game, but unfortunately, the theme song she sings is cut entirely in the game. She can be met in a club located near the bandits area of Radiata Castle, where she sings at a certain time everyday (for the japanese version, the BGM of the club house is actually 'Fortune' being played.
- Ridley Silverlake's mother is named Sigourney Silverlake. Sigourney Weaver is the name of the actress who played as the protagonist in the movie Alien, which was directed by Sir Ridley Scott.
- The dwarves in Radiata Stories are different from the stereotypical dwarves: short and thin characters, instead of stout broad warriors.
Awards
- Jack Russell placed #6 on Game Informer's "Top 10 Heroes of 2005" list.
Cast
English
- Sam Riegel: Jack Russell
- Bryce Papenbrook: Young Jack Russell
- Stephanie Sheh: Ridley Silverlake
- Robert Martin Klein: Ganz Rothschild, Al
- Dave Mallow: Salude Larks
- JB Blanc: Lucian
- Dorothy Elias-Fahn: Adele Russell, Anastasia, Rynka, Yuri
- Michael McCarty: Dynas Stone
- Jamieson Price: Gawain Rothschild
- Beau Billingslea: Gerald
- Bob Buchholz: Caesar
- Richard Cansino: Cross Ward, Genius Weissheit
- Steve Kramer: Junzaburo
- Sherry Lynn: Adina, Elena, Lulu, Marsha
- Michael McConnohie: Jarvis
- Mary Elizabeth McGlynn: Elwen
- Gary Michaels: Reynos
- Ethan Murray: Sebastian
- Daran Norris: Genius
- Bob Papenbrook: Parsec
- Philece Sampler: Flau
- Carrie Savage: Natalie Nanette
- Steve Staley: Clive
- Skip Stellrecht: Jasne Colton
- Jim Taggert: Daniel, Elmo
- Dave Wittenberg: Nocturne, Zane
- Dan Woren: Thanos
External links
- [Official Site]
- [Radiata Stories Haven]
- [GameFAQs page for Radiata Stories]
- [IGN coverage of Radiata Stories]
- [RPGamer coverage of Radiata Stories]
- [Recruitment Checklist] (basis for wikisource)
[Radiata Stories] (disc [2]) at MusicBrainz
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