But first things first -- What is Rogue Galaxy about, anyway? Well it all begins on a desert planet known as "Rosa," where a young romantic named Jaster Rogue daydreams about traveling through space. Unfortunately for him, he's on the extreme periphery of the galaxy and the number of exciting events that have ever occurred there can be counted entirely on the lone stump of an amputated limb.
Life on Rosa continues along these lines until one fateful day when most of the known universe is thrown into a full-blown war and the planet gets caught up in it. Humdrum as it may be, the globe is rich in natural resources and it quickly becomes a hot point for every faction involved in the hostilities. Enslaved and forbidden from leaving the surface, Jaster's future looks pretty bleak until he's befriended by a Space Pirate named Dorgengoa who takes him to the stars in an effort to locate a planet that holds the secret of eternal life. Of course, Jaster and his new crewmates aren't the only people in search of it...
Obviously, the plot of Rogue Galaxy is all about high adventure in a sci-fi setting, and based on the little bits of story I've seen so far, it certainly has me intrigued. But one thing that really stood out for me as I sampled the game at Sony's Pre-E3 media event last week is how quickly the game moves along. Rogue Galaxy is without a doubt one of the most technically impressive PS2 games we've seen thus far (up there with God of War and Shadow of the Colossus -- yes really), and it does a number of very cool things worth mentioning.
To start, there are almost no load times to speak of in Rogue Galaxy at all (and the ones that do occur are so fast, they're hardly even noticeable). In fact, only beginning a new game, loading up an old save, or watching transitions between pre-rendered cutscenes are about the only pauses in the action I've seen thus far. Otherwise, movement in and out of buildings and from one location to another is completely load-free. If you're a fan of streaming technology, Rogue Galaxy does it every well.
Another impressive element to Rogue Galaxy is its graphical prowess. Better looking than all of Level-5's previous PS2 projects, the game boasts some truly fantastic visuals. In other words, the environmental and character details are of an extremely high caliber, while presenting a much more sophisticated cel-shaded look than any other title in memory. Draw-distance, special effects, and other important ocular tidbits are just as strong, and the character designs themselves are a nice blend of high-seas and science-fiction. Oh, and let us not forget the kick-ass GC story scenes... they're awesome.
Now I have to warn you. As a longtime veteran of RPGs, I can attest to the fact that role-playing games that sound too good to be true usually are. They typically run into gameplay hitches if their presentation is through the stratosphere and vice-versa (just see Kingdom Hearts II or Grandia III for recent examples of both situations). From what I've seen of Rogue Galaxy, however, Level-5 might have all its bases covered. The game packs some seriously interesting mechanical components that have me curious to see where everything's going.
Take something as simple as overworld exploration, for example. Rather than just give you a simple map and "Point A" and "Point B" to travel to, Rogue Galaxy gives players a whole lot of freedom. Users can jump into lakes and oceans and swim from one section to another, or run and jump over obstacles to get to hard to reach areas. The ability to jump carries over into combat sequences as well, and that's where things really get interesting.
Fought in real-time, battles are actually pretty entertaining. Initiated by a flash of "Warning" messages, skirmishes give users direct control over Jaster with backup muscle provided by up to three AI-controlled teammates (using preset actions, not unlike Final Fantasy XII's gambit system, only far less complicated). Players can move wherever they want in the battlefield as the combat takes place and have access to both short- and long-range weapons. To make things even more interesting, attacks can be timed together just right for combinations, but if you use too many actions too soon, you'll actually run out of initiative and have to wait for your action meter to fill again. As mentioned earlier, players can jump when surrounded by enemies and can even make use of block moves and the ability to pick up enemies or items for use as "on-the-fly projectiles."
Luckily, there's more to your battle strategy than just your own set of moves. Enemies have their own unique AI patterns and special kill requirements as well, and this is meant as a way of discouraging people from using the same old combat maneuvers over and over again (a common failing among RPGs). There's a wide array of other little nuances that we're told show themselves in later battles too, but what those might be we don't know yet.
"What about those American improvements you mentioned earlier," you might ask? Well my friends, they're pretty numerous. An all-new planet not available for the Japanese version is definitely the largest of said additions, as is a completely new sub-story to accompany it. Moreover, chain attacks no longer occur randomly as they did overseas and now they're activated manually through use of items that are dropped by monsters. More than 100 exclusive items, weapons, and other collectable goodies have been thrown in as well, and several animations have been shined up or expanded upon for its domestic release.
As you can probably tell by now, I'm pretty excited about Rogue Galaxy and the prospects it brings to the PS2's RPG world later this year. If there has been a single RPG that I've seen up to this point that looks like it could give Final Fantasy XII a legitimate run for its money, it would be this one. Whether or not it can live up to such a goal once it's out on shelves, however, we'll just have to wait and see...