Radiata Stories 15th Anniversary is the Perfect Chance to Bring up Porting and Remastering
When I was in high school, PlayStation Magazine had a cover story that featured an upcoming JRPG that had me pretty stoked. I was so excited that I used that cover as inspiration for one of my projects in art class. The game boasted a cast of 176 recruitable NPCs! The art style was a bit more cartoony than a lot of JRPGs of the time and it promised a branching story set in a traditional fantasy setting. That game was Radiata Stories and it just celebrated its 15th anniversary of it’s January 27th, 2005 release in Japan (September 6th, 2005 for NA).
Recently in an episode of the Forever Classic Games Podcast, we talked about games we would love to see get a remake and I quickly added Radiata Stories to that list. The next day after recording that episode I heard this was the 15th anniversary on a video from Super Derek RPGs and all I could think about was what a perfect year to do a remake or even a PS2 classics release on PS4! There’s even a hashtag to help generate hype and interest for a remake, #ReviveRadiata.
Radiata Stories was a really fun and unique JRPG on the Playstation 2, and honestly one of my favorite games on the system. The action-based combat, epic story, massive cast of fun characters, and humor made it stand out from a lot of JRPGs of the time, and even today. I fondly remember looking through the official game guide at all the possible characters you could recruit and getting pumped about all the possibilities. Paying attention to each person's schedule according to the day/night cycle, kicking boxes (and people) and talking to people at the right time and place are all a part of this recruitment system and it added a lot of depth and replayability to the game. I also distinctly remember enjoying the voice acting choices; you can tell by listening that a lot of the actors had fun with their roles. A more cartoony approach allowed them to play with certain anime and video game tropes in fun new ways too.
So if you’ve played this game, take a moment to remember the Square Enix PS2 JRPG almost no one is talking about. Play it if you can and be sure to share it with others! If you’ve never played it, go watch a let’s play or stream of the game. Then be sure to go out and use that hashtag to hopefully get that remake off the ground!
Congratulations all around to those involved with the development of Radiata Stories!
Take a moment to share your fondest Radiata Stories memories in the comments!
Video games have been demonized since their inception but several studies suggest that games can be actively helpful in many applications. Juno explores if video games can actually be good for the mind.