Radiata Stories: Уникальный мир и 176 наемников

Radiata Stories is an action role playing video game. It was developed by tri Ace and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2. It was released on January 27, 2005 in Japan and September 6 in North America. The game received mixed reception in both Japan and in North America upon release, though over time it has developed a loyal fanbase. It sold over 413,000 copies worldwide. Noriyuki Iwadare composed the soundtrack.

Radiata Stories places great emphasis on its persistent world and non player characters (NPCs) each with their own lives, lifestyles, jobs, personalities, homes, dialogues and schedules, which are controlled by the game's Day/Night system. The game provides the novel ability to kick almost anything. Kicking furniture and other inanimate objects will occasionally turn up items or dagols (the local currency). Kicking NPCs several times will cause them to fight Jack, or summon guards to fight for or with them. Jack gains experience, money, and possibly items when he wins these duels, but will not lose the game if he is defeated. Jack may only win a duel against each character once each day.

There is no overworld map during fights. Battles takes place on a separate screen in real time, though monsters appear on the field screen. The player has direct control of Jack's movement and actions in all three dimensions, though bringing up menus pauses the action. Jack is the only character the player controls directly; all other party members are run by the in game AI. The player can issue commands to individual party members, and the entire party can be ordered into tactical formations via the "Link System".

176 NPCs are recruitable. Some need only to be talked to, while others must be placated with fetch quests, dueled, recruited after Jack or a certain character has reached a certain level, or during certain moments in the game's story. After recruitment, they are placed on his "Friends List", at which point the player may include most of them in Jack's party at almost any time. The Friends List also provides capsule biographies for each character. It is impossible to complete everything during a single playthrough. NPC party members can strengthen their single skill, but they do not learn new ones, and cannot be given new weapons, armors and accessories, so skills and equipment are significant criteria in choosing one's teammates. There is also no "magic" stat, forcing the player to constantly recruit new party members as magic spells do not increase in power. Depending on the path the player chooses, they will lose certain characters that they recruited, and characters they didn't recruit will be unrecruitable for the rest of the game. Also, certain areas of the game will be inaccessible.

After completing the game, the player may continue playing the same game, unlocking a bonus dungeon, the Dragon Lair Cave. If the player chooses the option "Strong from Start", they will retain all their skills, money, and some items. All the characters the player recruited will be kept in their Friends List, but the player must recruit the characters again in subsequent playthroughs.

Radiata Stories takes place in the land of Radiata. The land has many regions linked by great bridges. In the center region is Radiata City, where the story starts and may continue, given the human path is chosen. In Radiata, humans and fairy creatures live together in peace until the story progresses. Just about halfway through the game, the player must choose a side by either choosing the Human path or the Non Human path.

The three main characters of Radiata Stories are Jack Russell, an insubordinate and happy go lucky teenager; Ridley Silverlake, a composed female Knight who was trained to be a warrior since birth and feels the pressure of expectations from others; and Ganz Rothschild, the polite and gentle Captain of their brigade who is prone to becoming overexcited. Prominent supporting characters include the Prime Minister Larks; the cunning Knight Cross Ward; Lord Jasne, Ridley's overprotective father and the Lord Chamberlain of Radiata Castle; Lucian, Lord Jasne's advisor; and Gawain Rothschild, Ganz's father and presumed murderer of Jack's father, Cairn Russell. The 300 characters and 175 recruitable NPCs of Radiata Stories were all given unique personalities and backstories. Every time a character is unlocked, he or she shows up on the player's Friends List, which also provides a summary of their history or personality. Due to the game having two mutually exclusive story branches, it is impossible to recruit every NPC during the same playthrough. Thus, the game must be played at least twice to unlock all characters' entries on the Friends List. Radiata is home to Radiata Castle, its Knights of the realm and four Guilds. Most humans in town belong to one of the guilds, while others, including many from the country side, do not claim any guild affiliation. Fairy creatures are grouped by species.

The soundtrack was composed by Noriyuki Iwadare. Prior to this, all tri Ace music was composed by Motoi Sakuraba. Keeping in line with their tradition to refer to past games, three of Sakuraba's original compositions were rearranged by Iwadare. These are "Mission to Deep Space" (also in Star Ocean 2, Valkyrie Profile, and Star Ocean 3), "An Incarnation of Devil "(Star Ocean 2, Valkyrie Profile, and Star Ocean 3), and "Highbrow" (also in Star Ocean 3). was credited with "Sound Direction" for the game. Furthermore, the soundtrack was released under the TEAM Entertainment label which is the primary promoter and distributor of Sakuraba. The original soundtrack was 2 CDs with 79 songs. One month later Iwadare released "Radiata Stories: Arranged Album" which rearranged 16 songs from the original soundtrack. The Sacramento Bee said the music was "peppy and cheerful, if unmemorable" but that the sound effects were "largely recycled from the developer's previous games, all the way back to 1999's "Star Ocean: The Second Story". GameSpot remarked that "none of the music will get stuck in your head, but you won't want to mute it either". Game Informer said the soundtrack was a "masterpiece". The game does not support Dolby Surround sound. In 2004, all Japanese preorders of Radiata Stories came with a bonus audio disc, "tri Ace Battle Sound Collection". The disc contained 2 battle themed tracks from Star Ocean, Star Ocean 2, Star Ocean 3, Valkyrie Profile, and Radiata Stories, respectively. The theme song of the Japanese version of the game, "Fortune", was sung by Japanese Pop star Nami Tamaki, who became known for her debut single "Believe", the third opening theme of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. She also played a recruitable party character of the same name in the game. The character Nami was modeled after Tamaki's likeness and her lines were voiced by the singer. It was her first single of 2005 and her 16th single overall. The Japanese television advertisement for Radiata Stories featured the song in the background. This song is found in her second album Make Progress, which also includes "Reason", the first ending theme for Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. The character's name was changed to Rachel in the English version and "Fortune" played during the ending credits.

Radiata Stories was highly anticipated in Japan receiving the "Game Awards Future" by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association in 2004 which is awarded to games that are "expected to be major hits". It was the 12th most pre ordered game the week of November 17, 2004. According to Famitsu, it was the 20th most wanted game in early October but had jumped up to the 3rd most wanted the week before its release. A Japanese reviewer noted that the game had humorous dialogue but a simple battle system which made it suitable for beginners. The game sold well in Japan where it debuted as the top selling game for two weeks, selling 152,000 copies, 54% of the ordered shipment, the day it debuted. It was the 11th best selling game the first half of 2005 and the 37th best selling game in Japan in 2005 overall selling 10,000 more copies than Devil May Cry 3 and selling about 294,000 copies overall in Japan. The North American reception to Radiata Stories was lukewarm. Radiata Stories was the top rental on GameFly the week of its debut. and debuted at the 20 most profitable game for September. Overall, it sold about 119,000 copies outside Japan total for the month of September. Radiata Stories was awarded "Game of the Month" in Game Informer in October 2005. Jack Russell placed No. 6 on Game Informers "Top 10 Heroes of 2005" list and Radiata Stories was in "The Top 50 Games of 2005" in the January 2006 issue of Game Informer and in "The Top 12 Games of 2005" by Games Radar. It was nominated for "Role Playing Game of the Year" during the 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards held by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. It was also nominated for Best Role Playing Game of 2005 by 1UP. com.

Two 5 issue manga series were released based on Radiata Stories: The Epic of JACK and The Song of RIDLEY. Both were 5 issues published between 2005 and 2007. A limited run of a boxed set of 6 figurines from Radiata Stories and Star Ocean included Jack and Ridley.