Inacabado, con aproximadamente dos tercios del juego completados pero abandonado definitivamente por desinterés. Escribo esto no como crítica, sino para dejar constancia de lo que ha sido un caso curiosísimo para mí, un JRPG que consiguió engancharme desde el principio y que durante no pocas horas creí sería mi título predilecto de un género que casi invariablemente me causa disgusto pero hacia el que por defecto me siento atraído una vez cada cierto tiempo por un impulso adolescente, normalmente con resultados nefastos.

Comienza el juego y no hay casa, ni mamá, ni poblado humilde. Tampoco despiertas en la cama, ni eres un adolescente, ni acompaña una melodía dulzona. Apenas rastro de lo cool o fairytale, esas dos vertientes de tono prototípicas en las que suelen acomodarse estos juegos. Más sorprendente aún: casi no hay anime. La ausencia de voces y unas ilustraciones de marcada influencia europea conforman un tono menos animesco, todavía juvenil pero más maduro y menos chirriante que la propuesta promedio. Toda una rara avis.

Y bueno, la cosa va de viajar en el tiempo, algo que suele molar. Líneas temporales, descubrimientos, hacer esto aquí para cambiar aquello allá. ¿Nos topamos un callejón sin salida? Volvemos atrás, nos movemos por otro lado, tocamos las teclas necesarias y nos abrimos camino. Y la clave de todo: su intriga. Puede decepcionar un poco, a mí me pasó, cuando uno descubre y bien pronto que solo existen dos líneas temporales a efectos jugables, que no hay verdadero manejo del tiempo ni caminos alternativos (esto no es un videojuego occidental), pero es algo que enseguida se olvida, pues todo está al servicio de una narración impoluta, de gran ritmo y conseguida tensión dramática, sorprendente sobre todo por los pocos recursos técnicos de los que se vale para lograrlo. En cierta forma y desde esa óptica, Ghost Trick es lo más parecido que se me ocurre, una especie de primo segundo, quizá el videojuego que más se le asemeje en espíritu y logros pese a la infinidad de diferencias formales que los separan. Al menos hasta el capítulo 4 de la línea temporal estándar.

Ahí el juego se la pega, se cae y no se levanta. Es tan simple que da miedo: su historia pierde interés, c'est fini. La llegada al desierto es el instante en que la trama se va por las ramas, sin llegar a lo que llamaríamos episodios de relleno pero casi. El argumento se estira, no lo necesitaba y se nota, no debía ser tan largo o no supo cómo serlo. Y claro, quitada la directa, la intriga pierde su gancho. De pronto los clichés empiezan a aflorar. Todos esos deus ex machina, tropos de comportamiento, situaciones prototípicas. Todos de golpe. Ugh.

Y las originales melodías empiezan a cansar, y el interesante y veloz y dinámico sistema de combate pasa a dar igual, y los nuevos objetivos y quehaceres ya no importan. Todo funcionaba, y funcionaba bien, mientras operaba bajo una narrativa con punch, directa, que atrapaba. Hasta que dejó de hacerlo.

Le pongo una nota decente con buena fe por lo que su primera mitad consiguió, aunque rebajada por el estrepitoso traspiés de ese capítulo 4 (ruta estándar). Tal vez la puntuación menos "definitiva" de cuantas he puesto en esta plataforma. Por eso quizá toda esta explicación.

If you like JRPGs, I see no reason to not give this game a try. To be fair, most would describe the writing as "simplistic", "too basic" or "shallow", and I wouldn't really disagree: while the cast is well characterized, that characterization is very much basic stuff, almost one-note.

Some poorly written dialogue here and there, and the way every character immediately gushes all over the protagonist is a bit annoying, but the story overall gets a thumbs up from me, the characters, as basic as they were, were fun and memorable enough to follow, and the time travel plot is interesting enough (though it did get kinda dumb at the end, but you know: time travel).

The battle system is plenty of fun, you can swap your turn's orders at will, and that's important because enemies positioning is important. I won't explain it in detail, just say that, while not super deep and strategic, is plenty good fun for turn-based fans.

Aside from that, the soundtrack is fine but very very short. You will get sick of hearing the same tunes throghout the whole game.

Non credo che nessun gioco possa definirsi perfetto, probabilmente non è nemmeno questo il caso ma rinuncerei alla mia onestà intellettuale se mi forzassi a trovare difetti in un titolo che PER ME rasenta la perfezione. Radiant historia è una perla di rara fattura, presenta un grado di complessità altissimo e un livello di qualità complessivo allucinante. È un gioco che nessun appassionato dovrebbe perdere. Solitamente non parlo mai della trama nelle mie recensioni ma questa volta è necessario dare un abbozzo: in un mondo dove il fantasy medievale si mischia al cyberpunk vestiremo i panni di Stocke, un talentuoso agente speciale della nazione di Alistel. Alistel è in guerra con il vicino regno di Granorg, una terra molto importante per motivi che si scopriranno più avanti e che è governata da una despota usurpatrice con mire espansionistiche. Apparentemente il destino della guerra non muterà soltanto gli assetti geopolitici: una calamità naturale chiamata "desertificazione" sta guadagnando terreno nel continente e se gli eventi non volgeranno in un determinato modo quest'ultima trasformerà tutto in un deserto. Stocke si rivelerà essere un predestinato, il legittimo possessore di un libro chiamato "White Chronicle", una macchina del tempo che permette di accedere ad una dimensione transitoria chiamata Historia. Ad Historia due guide dall'aspetto fanciullesco ci riferiranno del nostro ruolo nell'impedire la desertificazione e del funzionamento del White Chronicle: d'ora in poi le decisioni cruciali che prenderemo creeranno degli snodi temporali in cui potremmo tornare in qualunque momento per modificare gli eventi a nostro favore. A inizio gioco dovremo prendere una scelta importante da cui la trama si biforcherà in due archi narrativi. A complicare le cose scopriremo l'esistenza di un altro predestinato, il possessore di un libro dagli stessi poteri del white chronicle ma dall'energia oscura, il Black Chronicle appunto. Questo individuò userà il libro per interferire con le linee temporali e creerà incongruenze tra queste che necessiteranno di specifiche azioni in una linea temporale per modificare eventi dell'altra. Non c'è bisogno di dire che l'intreccio si presenta di una complessità enorme, nei vari snodi le scelte da prendere saranno difficili e ogni volta una di queste porterà subito ad un finale negativo in cui la desertificazione distrugge il continente. Ci saranno altri eventi poi che verranno modificati soltanto con backtracking nelle fasi più avanzate nel gioco e che cambieranno gli equilibri dell'intera linea temporale. La qualità della trama, dell'intreccio e dei dialoghi è altissima così come la caratterizzazione dei personaggi ed il tutto è coronato da una colonna sonora perfetta in ogni situazione. In termini di gameplay abbiamo la seconda portata principale: il combat system ci farà gestire un party di 3 membri contro schiere di nemici disposte in una matrice 3x3. Il gioco è completamente a turni, turni determinati dalla velocità dei personaggi e dalla situazione di inizio della battaglia tramite espedienti di gameplay che partono prima dell'incontro casuale, il quale può essere evitato anche con facilità ma con costo di mp o con dei buoni riflessi. I turni sono mostrati in chiaro da subito e sono totalmente intercambiabili anche se questo espone il personaggio ad una maggiore quantità di danni. I turni giocano un ruolo essenziale nella superba gestione tattica dei combattimenti insieme al sistema posizionale e alle skills. Per quanto riguarda la posizione dei nemici: quelli in prima fila infliggeranno più danni ma al contempo ne subiranno di più mentre scalando progressivamente i danni generali caleranno. Tramite skills che spostano i nemici in campo (quando possibile) e tramite la gestione dei turni è possibile fare combo e aoe, gestire completamente il ritmo della partita ed elaborare un numero praticamente illimitato di strategie, cosa resa possibile anche grazie alla diversificazione delle skills, mai troppo potenti da monopolizzare la partita e mai troppo costose da impedirne l'utilizzo a cuor leggero. È possibile davvero sbizzarrirsi con le strategie di gioco, creare pattern, combo e trappole perfette per ogni situazione. Il combat system ha dunque un grado di complessità e profondità che sinceramente non ho mai visto ed il livello di difficoltà è ottimo: i danni sono sempre bilanciati, non è richiesto grindare anche se i livelli tornano sempre utili, l'equipaggiamento e le build hanno un ruolo importantissimo, gli oggetti sono sempre efficaci e gli equipaggiabili influiscono sui parametri in termini che anche un solo pezzo di armatura può fare la differenza. Il gioco insomma ci porterà a non essere avidi e a sfruttare ogni mezzo a nostra disposizione e ci premierà con risultati evidenti al minimo cambiamento di parametri o tattica di gioco. Parlando infine del lato tecnico: di sicuro non stiamo parlando di uno spaccamascelle in quanto si tratta di un gioco ds, tuttavia il setting è molto vario e decisamente ispirato e i disegni dei personaggi sono davvero ben riusciti. Un gioco insomma che riesce ad offrire un'esperienza profonda e complessa, mai banale, toccante e avvincente e che secondo me non sbaglia mai un colpo. Un must have per tutti gli amanti del genere.

Radiant Historia is an excellent game with a great plot involving time travel. It feels like a good classic RPG, but at the same time it also features innovative concepts and interesting mechanics that make it pretty cool and totally worth playing.

The story takes place on a continent that is slowly turning into sand, wiping out everything, both flora and fauna, and this has resulted in a war between two nations fighting over the land that is still fertile. The mission of Stocke, our protagonist, is not only to end the war, but to discover why everything is turning to sand and to find out if there is a way to solve it.

The best part of the story is not the central conflict, but how it unfolds. Everything revolves around a very cool time travel mechanic. Making use of the white chronicle, we will make time travel to key events that we have lived after having received this gift. The first decision we make in the game is the one that creates two timelines, and to advance in the story we will need to travel between these two timelines to achieve in one what would not exist in the other. All other decisions do not create more ramifications, but a bad decision shows us a sudden end that would end the whole story. Me being a big fan of the concept of traveling between parallel worlds, this fascinates me, and more so considering that this game has some adventure game elements, such as unlocking secret areas or getting mobility options as we get skills in the main story, for example, there is a skill that allows us to become invisible and serves us to avoid combat.

It helps a lot that the story is good and interesting in both timelines, and it's also great that the side quests involve using the White Chronicle creatively, which speaking of side quests, there are some that are very hidden or it's not very clear how they are solved, so eventually you will have to resort to a guide to complete them all. The game is fine in terms of content and duration, perhaps the story progresses at a slightly slow pace, but I consider that rather than being a defect is something good to my taste, as it is used to build a better story and make it more impactful. It is a serious story, but still has very natural moments and interactions between characters that serve to reduce the tension generated by everything. Although I have to admit that the game could have had a couple of additional towns and dungeons, as I feel there are very few locations and it can get a bit monotonous at times, so I would have loved to have been given more variety.

Hmm... maybe another thing I would have liked would have been more freedom as well, as it is a fairly linear game, but I guess that was a sacrifice that had to be made in order to get the time travel mechanic to work well, so its linearity is very well justified. Also the top screen of the DS could have been used to display a map.

Speaking of the combat system, it is good and quite original despite maintaining the basics of a JRPG with turn-based combat system (similar to FFX), this game presents an additional layer of depth, since the enemies are located in a 3x3 grid where their position matters. We learn moves and skills to be able to move enemies from their position and thus take advantage of this mechanic, as we can gather several enemies in a single cell and attack them all at the same time, thus chaining combos to cause greater damage. It's great to experiment a bit here and try out different combinations of characters, since each one has abilities that distinguish them from the rest. One good thing is that there are many consumable items, some of which can be used to either improve our stats during combat or worsen the enemy's stats, which I liked, since we don't necessarily have to have the character with support skills in our party all the time. In general, I like the battles in this mode, as they are quite satisfying, and it avoids the combats to just select "Attack" and that's it. Most of the time it's an easy game if you know what you're doing, though by the end it can get difficult if you get overconfident. I won't deny that the difficulty and some characters could have been better balanced, since sometimes it's quite easy (as I mentioned before) or some characters can have a very low level at certain points, which makes it difficult. Something I would have liked would have been to have had the option to swap between characters or change equipment during a battle. Despite what I said before and as contradictory as it may sound, I think this game could even be ideal for RPG newcomers, so if you are not very experienced in this genre do not hesitate to try it.

Stocke, the protagonist, is something I also loved about this game. He's someone cunning and aloof, a protagonist who is actually capable and takes his responsibility and role in the game seriously, who develops very well in this story while still being who he is. Without him and his companions, I don't think this game would have been the same, and I personally identify with this type of protagonist, so that adds up to points for me. To make a quick comparison, he's similar to Cloud, only (debatably) better, although don't get me wrong, I love Cloud as a character and he's also and will remain one of my favorites. I guess this already depends on taste, but I'm sure that at the very least most of the characters in this game will leave a good impression on you. It's great that they aren't flat characters in terms of personality and motivations, and the time travel helps to see how their reactions would be if "x" or "y" event happened. The antagonist was also a great character, but I won't talk more about that, as finding out who he is comes as quite a surprise.

Conclusion
As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, Radiant Historia is an exceptional game in its genre, it's not perfect, but it makes up for it by being a very memorable and unique game, and somehow it also feels very traditional in a good way. With a story worth seeing for yourself without any spoilers.

It's a shame that this game is over, as I really liked it a lot, I'd like to see another game with all these mechanics someday, maybe a spiritual sequel or something. Although well, in some future I plan to play the 3DS version, so I have that for consolation.

I liked this game but the battlesystem was lowkey frustrating ngl.

7.5/10

Liked

Pra um JRPG não tanto conhecido, devo dizer que me surpreendi com ele, e como uma pessoa que adora todo o conceito de tempo e viagem dentro dele foi completamente instigante pra mim, adorei como a mecanica se conecta com a gameplay tendo repercussões dentro de uma história para determinar o futuro do mundo onde os próprias pessoas foram as responsaveis por terem colocado em direção ao seu iminente fim

O funcionamento da mecanica da viagem no tempo é bem simples, mas criativo, você intercala entre duas linhas do tempo para impactar na outra, onde você deve usar sua intuição como jogador e pensar em que ponto do tempo deve pular para encontrar o que deve para resolver impasses que dificultam seu caminho e assim, culminando num único destino final no jogo

Gosto da mensagem sobre como o tempo é formado por experiencias e decisões, decisões essas que, senão pensadas direito podem te colocar em uma grande enrascadas, e como essas experiencias durante o tempo vão nos moldar, fazendo tomarmos decisões de sacrificarmos algo maior e mais importante que a gente e como o tempo existe para fazermos historia

This game really delivers in all regards. The combat is well designed. All characters have their particular uses and they always gelled with each other. I never found myself tired of it and even consistently sought out battles on the field throughout the whole game. The only time it doesn't really work is for the bosses that take up the whole grid. It's antithetical to the whole system.

The story, and arguably the draw to the whole game, is very engaging. Once the core component of the split timeline was introduced I really got invested. I do wish there was more variation but that ultimately doesn't affect the narrative provided. What does affect it is how jumping between timelines when a requirement is met doesn't stop you from just skipping over the new stuff while trying to find it. There are games that do this perfectly so when I don't see it utilized it kinda bums me out.

The characters are all good. This might be an odd complaint but it irked me just enough to bare mentioning. All major characters have character portraits in game, but it seems like some just weren't given one. I don't know if it was a time or budget constraint or they just omitted them intentionally but it seemed odd to me.

The music is another stand out. There aren't a ton of tracks in the game, but much like the combat I never found myself tiring of hearing them. The battle music in particular is incredibly catchy. I do wish there was a bit more diversity. Towns having unique tracks would help.

In summary, this game never blows anything out of the water, but for what it is trying to deliver, I'd say it's a great experience.

Really good solid RPG with an interesting story nice characters and is overall not very long. Each member of the party has their own use which can be used to create numerous strategies with the game's satisfying combat system.

The highlight of the game is its time travel mechanic which is the game's biggest strength and disappointment. It was fun jumping between the two timelines, solving problems, and completing quests that require knowledge or items from different points in time. I only wish this mechanic went a little more in-depth and that there were more than just two timelines. Every critical choice in the game either continues the story or leads to a game-over type ending which is fine for some side content but would have been more interesting if it created another separate timeline. I know doing this would require a lot more time and effort on the developer's part but it would have been nice to see in a few parts. Where it stands now, time-traveling is still fun and satisfying to use in regards to the story.

Overall I had a really good time playing this game and would even consider playing the remake sometime in the future.