Story Analysis - Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology
Oh Radiant Historia, what beautiful memories I have of you.You hooked my right from the beginning, never letting me down for a second. But why were you so mesmerizing? That's want I want to research, hoping to learn some tricks of you, the magician.
Now don't worry dear readers, I haven't forgotten you and I don't expect you to know the story of this fantastic, wonderful game that you probably should play as soon as possible. I will gently lower you in the mysterious sea of story that Radiant Historia is and together we will brave the storms of emotions that this game throws at us. Was this corny enough? Good, then let's begin.
Summary
Off to a great start: Other games give you some time and are very gentle in the beginning, Radiant Historia (developed by Atlus and Headlock )shows you the worst case scenario a soon as you start the game: The end of the world through desertification and the most depressing music I have ever heard.
Why, thank you game, now I am in the right mood. Shall I get the tissues now, since if this continues, I will be a sobbing mess. In the middle of the desert you see two characters, later known as Teo and Lippti, who talk about how they failed yet again to save the world. While they are growing tired of this, they decide to go back in time again, this time hopefully successful.
With the words:"This time the true history will be written..." the game starts for real.
It now quickly introduces you to it's main charater: Stocke. Stocke is pretty awesome by the way, but more to him when we are talking abou the characters in another post. At the moment he works as a special agent for the nation of Alistel which is at war with the kingdom of Granorg. He is sent to a dangerous mission that probably could change the tides of war but more importatnly kicks of his real adventure. His superior Heiss then gives him a book, called the "White Chronicle" and two comrades to go on his adventure.
As misfortune strikes Stocke and the other two, Stocke discoveres the true power of the White Chronicle: A way to change history, the key to Historia. Lippti and Teo show him, that he can not only go back in time with this, but change what happened. At the same time they ask of him to stop the desertification, for what he must continue to follow his path.
I will not spoil much more, but I think now the basic premise is explained enough. Next we will look at what makes this story so engaging and what mistakes the story makes.
What makes and breaks the story
Many games tell you about time travel and merely us it as plot device for poorly constructed stories. But once in a while a game finds it ways into the hands of players which understands the real potential of time travel. Radiant Historia is such a game as it allows the player to decide for himself when and where to time travel.
There are not only events in the past where a player might go again, but also a second timeline. These two timelines are in contact with each other and sometimes progress in one timeline is only possible if you do something in the other. The game won't tell you where in the other timeline the solution lies which is why you are always attentivly following the story, trying not to miss any details which might help you later.
Often in the story you will find yourself confronted with an important desicion. One answer might lead to success while the other might gives you a Game Over screen. Normally one would do anything to avoid such endings, but here you don't have to. You can always go back to the moment of you desicision and the bad endings are wonderful ways to see characters act in a way you have never seen them before. Often these bad endings are heartbreaking but they help you to get to know the characters better.
Through the design decision of letting the player time travel as he likes it really feels like this is your adventure. You feel engaged every second because you know that your choices matter, not only in the main story but in the side quests as well. While you're playing you will find many people who need help. Often the solutions for those sidequests are found in another moment of time. These side quest aren't irrelevant either, in fact some of them are a must if you want the best ending for the game, since some of them involve important side characters.
All this makes the world feel alive and as you are in one town to a different time then before, you will see how it has changed through time.But the game isn't perfect either. While the player and Stocke are always reminded of how the desertification is stopped if you make the right decisions, most of the time I made my desicions because I wanted to save my beloved characters. Only when they remembered me of the looming end of the world, I rememebered that there even was such a thing. This changes when you are near the end of the game, but before that it barely felt that important. Partly this is because the player has the choice of always time travelling whenever he wants. I imagine it is difficult to build up suspense if the player always jumps back after a conclusion only to see the other ending.
Still, the story of Radiant Historia is superb as it actually manages to always get it's suspense back because of it's stellar writing and cast.
What can we learn from Radiant Historia?
Radiant Historia emphasized something important to me as a writer, mainly how Game Design and story can support each other, making for a more engaging game then the story alone ever could. If the game had just chosen for the player where to go at which moment, the writers would have had a much easier job. But they chose the more difficult route, one that paid greatly off. But there is one more thing that Radiant Historia taught me: a great cast of characters can carry a good, but not exceptional plot. Desertification is bad and all, but please tell me again the story of how Marco fell in love, would you?
This remarkable cast is what we will look at next time. See you then!
Depressing song mentioned in the beginning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZD5XpKq7PQ
Now don't worry dear readers, I haven't forgotten you and I don't expect you to know the story of this fantastic, wonderful game that you probably should play as soon as possible. I will gently lower you in the mysterious sea of story that Radiant Historia is and together we will brave the storms of emotions that this game throws at us. Was this corny enough? Good, then let's begin.
Summary
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| Lippti and Teo |
Why, thank you game, now I am in the right mood. Shall I get the tissues now, since if this continues, I will be a sobbing mess. In the middle of the desert you see two characters, later known as Teo and Lippti, who talk about how they failed yet again to save the world. While they are growing tired of this, they decide to go back in time again, this time hopefully successful.
With the words:"This time the true history will be written..." the game starts for real.
As misfortune strikes Stocke and the other two, Stocke discoveres the true power of the White Chronicle: A way to change history, the key to Historia. Lippti and Teo show him, that he can not only go back in time with this, but change what happened. At the same time they ask of him to stop the desertification, for what he must continue to follow his path.
I will not spoil much more, but I think now the basic premise is explained enough. Next we will look at what makes this story so engaging and what mistakes the story makes.
What makes and breaks the story
Many games tell you about time travel and merely us it as plot device for poorly constructed stories. But once in a while a game finds it ways into the hands of players which understands the real potential of time travel. Radiant Historia is such a game as it allows the player to decide for himself when and where to time travel.
There are not only events in the past where a player might go again, but also a second timeline. These two timelines are in contact with each other and sometimes progress in one timeline is only possible if you do something in the other. The game won't tell you where in the other timeline the solution lies which is why you are always attentivly following the story, trying not to miss any details which might help you later.
 |
| The timeline with it's nodes and paths |
Through the design decision of letting the player time travel as he likes it really feels like this is your adventure. You feel engaged every second because you know that your choices matter, not only in the main story but in the side quests as well. While you're playing you will find many people who need help. Often the solutions for those sidequests are found in another moment of time. These side quest aren't irrelevant either, in fact some of them are a must if you want the best ending for the game, since some of them involve important side characters.
All this makes the world feel alive and as you are in one town to a different time then before, you will see how it has changed through time.But the game isn't perfect either. While the player and Stocke are always reminded of how the desertification is stopped if you make the right decisions, most of the time I made my desicions because I wanted to save my beloved characters. Only when they remembered me of the looming end of the world, I rememebered that there even was such a thing. This changes when you are near the end of the game, but before that it barely felt that important. Partly this is because the player has the choice of always time travelling whenever he wants. I imagine it is difficult to build up suspense if the player always jumps back after a conclusion only to see the other ending.
Still, the story of Radiant Historia is superb as it actually manages to always get it's suspense back because of it's stellar writing and cast.
What can we learn from Radiant Historia?
Radiant Historia emphasized something important to me as a writer, mainly how Game Design and story can support each other, making for a more engaging game then the story alone ever could. If the game had just chosen for the player where to go at which moment, the writers would have had a much easier job. But they chose the more difficult route, one that paid greatly off. But there is one more thing that Radiant Historia taught me: a great cast of characters can carry a good, but not exceptional plot. Desertification is bad and all, but please tell me again the story of how Marco fell in love, would you?
This remarkable cast is what we will look at next time. See you then!
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| This is Marco by the way |
Disclaimer: I hereby declare, that I do not own the rights to any of this images or the game. All rights belong to the owner. No Copyright Infringement Intended.
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