WKC:I | The Recycle Bin

White Knight Chronicles International – Off the Pot

One of my favorite pastimes in a silly sort of way is watching the metacritic scores roll in to see how the “critic” review scores line up with the “user” rating scores. As mentioned previously, White Knight Chronicles International was getting flogged by the so called pundits, but a funny thing happened as the users, presumably RPG fans, started voting – 65% (6 critics reviews) to 8.1 (36 user votes). I’m still waiting on one of the better RPG review sites to offer up a score; that should be the telltale sign of where the game actually stands.

Just for the hell of it, I decided to get off the pot; do my business so to speak and order the game. It should be here tomorrow. Worst case is that I either don’t have enough time to play the game (typical on a lot of my impulse purchases) or maybe I don’t like the game. There is always eBay, right? At least I can offer up some other than peanut gallery comments.

White Knight Chronicles International – Early Reviews Less Than Favorable

I’m closely watching White Knight Chronicles; call it research to justify a purchase. The first four reviews, not necessarily by my trusted regular reading sources, have rated the game with a ho-hum score of 69%. Although the critic score should receive a small bump later in the day when the metacritic editors realize there is an error with the GameRevolution review score (metacritic show 67%, but the actual review shows a “B-”).

It will be interesting to see how the RPG sites rate the game, and how the user votes compare to the critic review score.

White Knight Chronicles – Or how to piss off your fan base.

I still have not decided what to do with White Knight Chronicles International. I know if I purchase it I will not have enough time to play, or get my money’s worth. Besides there is that backlog of RPGs that I mentioned yesterday, but I digress.

This article from the “official” PlayStation Blog is sure to royally tick off some folks.

For those of you who are going to be investing significant time in your characters, there will be an option to remake them without having to start the game over by purchasing a special key through the PlayStation Store for only $4.99. This will allow you to redesign your avatar at any point and keep all that hard work you’ve put in intact. This feature will go live this Thursday on the PlayStation Store.

Ouch! I am sure it is considered innovative to change your character’s appearance mid-game, but charging almost $5 to make the change (and of course keep your current progression) is just a bit much. Oh well, with the cost of modern game development, I guess Sony has to figure out how to squeeze additional revenue sources from its games.

Still, I think it would have been better to wait on this announcement. Instead it sort of comes off as “F-you! We know you will pay anyway!”

Waiting for the White Knight Verdict

I am strongly considering picking up White Knight Chronicles: International Edition, but I think for now I will have to live vicariously through the reviews, opinions, and blogs of others because my back catalog of games is just too full right now.

For RPGs alone, I have (in reverse order of length of ownership) Dragon Age: Origins, Demon’s Souls, and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I picked up Dragon Age from Amazon as a Christmas present during the Thanksgiving sales, but I have not had a chance to open it yet. Demon’s Souls was an impulse purchase – I read some interesting opinions of the game and just had to preorder. Oblivion was one of my first three PS3 game purchases, along with F1 and the original Uncharted, but I have done little to explore Oblivion’s great depths and everything it has to offer.

This is where I get in trouble; building up a gaming library that sits idle collecting dust is an expensive endeavor, a waste of resources (i.e. my paycheck!). Even in the best of gaming times, when I am in a wonderful gaming zone, fully committed to quality time in front of the TV with a Dualshock in hand, along with enough free time to be somewhat carefree, my collection can often be insurmountable; I’ll never get my money’s worth or play everything. I know this is a pathetic and sad state of affairs, but it is sort of a sick form of addiction – the rush from getting a new game.

Here I sit staring at my shopping cart trying not to do the needful, while White Knight Chronicles: International Edition is calling. Will I listen?

White Knight Chronicles: International Edition

When I have time, which lately for serious RPG fun, is almost never. I have a backlog of PS3 titles that I have yet to finish, and in some cases start: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Demon’s Souls, and Dragon Age: Origins. Adding White Knight Chronicles: International Edition (WKC:IE) may be a tad overkill at this point. Still, the game looks promising.

I have written enough on the topic of online gaming that I do not need to elaborate beyond saying I am not a big fan. RPGamer thinks the game is run of the mill at best, I am actually intrigued by WKC:IE’s online components.

As mentioned earlier, White Knight Chronicles features an online mode which allows for cooperative play. Players will be able to take their avatar online to complete the aformentioned special quests, but will not be able to take Leonard and company along with them. Instead, people having difficulty with a particular quest will have to team up with other players to accomplish their given tasks. Another interesting feature of online play is the ability for players to create their own Dark Cloud-esque Geonet, which allows them to recruit NPCs to a customizable town for support and dialogue.

I am not sure if WKC:IE’s interesting twist on how to integrate online components into a single player offline game will be enough to draw me in for a purchase. Besides, I still have to ask if I even have time for this sort of game.