Rogue Galaxy [PS2/JPN]

NCS Game Synopsis
Original Release: December 07, 2005
«©NCSX» Level-5's latest adventure takes a departure from quaint fantasy worlds and heads for the heavens. The hero in Rogue Galaxy is a 17 year-old named Jester Rogue who stares at the sky and wants nothing more than to travel between worlds. Jester gets his chance when he joins a group of space pirates led by an eyepatch-wearing swashbuckler named Dorgengore who just happens to have a daughter named Kisara who takes a liking to Jester. The action starts off slow at first with introductory battles and cinemas which slowly unwind the storyline. At the outset of the adventure, Jester is completing an assignment in a town when he meets up with a stranger...

Bonus Schwag
* We received a small quantity of a beautiful and glossy 20-page Rogue Galaxy booklet which measures 12 x 8.5" and contains commentary from Akihiro Hino and Kentaro Motomura. There's also information on the game, character profiles/artwork, storyboard artwork, vehicles, weapons, and interviews with the voice talent: Hiroshi Tamaki who plays Jester and Aya Ueto who provides spirited vocals for Kisara. Unfortunately, we did not receive enough to include one with every preorder but early preorders will receive one.

NCS Game Notes™ (AVERT YOUR EYES NOW to AVOID SPOILERS)
* In the title screen, cinemas from the game appear in the four quadrants sequentially. Watch them to get an idea of the scope and majesty of the adventure.

* The introductory sequence shows a desert floor where dust blows across the landscape and Jester soon appears in the distance, mounted on a skeletal-looking beast of burden. He unscrews the cap from a water flask and chugs a bit before pouring some water on his bony beast's head in an apparent attempt to cool it down. He nudges the beast on and in the distance, a city appears.

* In the next sequence, the camera pans in on a view of a robotic humanoid named Steve and a squat creature known as Simon who appears to be a completely circular alligator in a cyborg suit if such things existed in the universe. The humanoid robot is reminiscent of C3PO with an easy-going personality and a quirky manner while the squat, fat alligator appears to be the leader of the duo. Jester enters the town while mounted on his steed with two beasts that trail him. He dismounts, gets paid by two guards, and enters a temple of some sort where a cleric is praying at the altar.

* While seated in the church, an earthquake shakes the ground and Jester runs outside to investigate. He witnesses a huge monster flying away away above him. While standing there, he is surrounded by skeletal beasts with horns and cow-skull heads who emerge from the sand. Just before the battle starts, a hooded nomadic warrior jumps into the fray to slash a few of the skeletal beasts away. The cinema then transitions seamlessly to action sequence where Jester has to slash boney creatures alongside his new friend.

* Controls
Movement is controlled through the L-analog pad and the R-analog swivels the camera around. The D-pad is only used for menu selection.

X-BUTTON / JUMP
O-BUTTON / SWORD SLASH
SQUARE / FIRE GUN
R1-TRIGGER / BLOCK

Jester responds to L-analog controller tugs with ease and attacks foes in smooth linking fashion. Multiple blows may be enacted in quick sequence.

* At the end of the battle, the game tallies the skills earned and items won from the skeletal creatures. The nomadic warrior follows Jester afterwards.

* Whenever an encounter is about to start, a siren blares and the words, "Warning" appear on screen. Soon after, skull creatures, rocky beasts, and other creatures emerge from the desert sand to mount an attack.

* A map of the local area is superimposed on the lower-right area of the screen. Jester is shown as an arrow which shows orientation and direction.

* There's an area in the town where Jester and friend have to dunk themselves into the water, swim across a channel and then climb up on the other side to continue their exploration.

* Soon after investigating a house and obtaining a silver trinket from a chest inside, the Jester's new friend takes his leave and gives him a sword and a device. As soon as friend leaves, the earth shakes and two one-horned rock creatures appear from the sand and immediately attack. Their bodies resist all damage from sword attacks since they're rocky. To destroy them, jump up and slash to slice their pointy heads which are their only vulnerable parts. Jester can jump up and then slash thrice while in midair before gravity takes hold to impart multiple hits.

* After defeating the two creatures, Steve the robot and Simon the alligator beast from earlier spot Jester and quickly assess that he's perfect for joining their gang. They invite themselves into Jester's party and follow him obediently afterwards. Steve slashes with a sword while Simon blows out fire from a flamethrower and launches missile strikes. Jester's cohorts have autonomy and they attack when monsters are afoot but there are times when they'll just stand there as if waiting for Jester to take charge and do all the slashing action.

* Save points in the game are indicated by a portal on the ground with 3 blue jewels swirling above it. Once multiple save points are encountered, Jester may teleport from one save point to another save point to traverse distances.

* Cel-shaded stylings in the cinemas are sharp and impressive to look at and don't look much different from the beautiful in-game graphics. The voice acting is also superb for all-around high production values.

Loading Times Banished?
* Level 5's Akihiro Hino directed the game and his aim was to make loading times miniscule during the adventure. The game is nearly perfect in this regard and Akihiro has succeeded for the most part but we did notice loading times where the flow of the action broke, if only for a millisecond.

We've only had an hour this morning to check out the game but from the church scene to running outside, engaging in battle, and then exiting from battle, there are few delays or breaks in the action and Jester strolls from area to area in the town without many pauses or tics. There are black screens that are spaced between the action and cinematic cut scenes but these may be construed as directorial edits to show scene changes in order to distinguish them from the gameplay action. When entering a targeted building, the moment the door opens and when hero walks in, there are occasionally microsecond pauses that may be seen but we're nitpicking here. So, the game is not perfect in extinguishing perceptible loading but given the level of detail and action on screen, the amount of loading is small and very kind to impatient gamers.