The story of Ivanhoe is a rather important book. First of all, it represents romantic ideals. Second, it shares the chivalric code. Knights were supposed to protect women, children and ministers. They didn’t always do it, but that’s a different story for a different time. Anyway, Ivanhoe is infamous for being the archetypical knight. He even protected a woman of Jewish birth (that was a big deal back then). The idealism he represents has affected people for almost 200 years. With good old Ivanhoe in mind, I played White Knight Chronicles for the PlayStation 3.

White Knight Chronicles follows the exploits of a young man named Leonard. He’s your usual run-of-the-mill delivery boy. There are these two kingdoms that were ready to kill each other for years. In fact, less than 17 years ago, they were at each other’s throats. Now, they are trying to build a peaceful future for both sides. And Leonard’s boss sends him off to get the best wine for the celebration. So Leonard and his friend Yulie complete the job and watch the celebration inside the castle. Instead of this being a happy occasion, a group known as the Magi infiltrates the castle. Ultimately, Leonard ends up wielding a massive white knight that can quickly cut enemies down to size. Plus, the princess gets kidnapped. Leonard quickly acquires a ragtag party and finds other knights and equipment.

There is a problem with the plot. I knew from the title that it would take inspiration from high fantasy and knighthood. However, it feels like every single plot point is taken from every popular role-playing game. And then some. Watch the Princess and Leonard dance on top of the water. Have the oddest party possible, ranging from an old warrior to your avatar to the dancing desert maiden. Watch the clowns attack the townspeople (am I the only person who remembers this from Dark Cloud 2?). Gather the equipment for the knight and watch as it becomes Voltron. And no, that statement isn’t an exaggeration because transforming into the knight cuts enemies like butter. Yes, those statements are a bit silly. And White Knight Chronicles somehow merges to become its own. But the greatest problem is your character.

That’s right, folks! You create your own character to follow the events of the story. The creation elements are exceedingly robust. He can be as muscular and thin or as fat as you want. His face can be customized without any worry of plastic surgery. Anyway, he never does anything. He just stands there, deadpan. You can never exert a personality over him. You never have an opportunity to voice an answer to simple questions. I know the idea of why he’s there, but why isn’t he more implemented into the story? It makes his presence useless.

So what about gameplay? There’s the standard RPG fare: run around town, buy things and kill monsters. What separates White Knight Chronicles from the rest of the pack is somewhat simple: the massive world to explore and customization. Maps are huge, spanning acres of digital space, and you move from place to place through the map. Once you’ve been there, move onto the map screen and pop right over.

Class wise, no character is “tied” to a class. Instead, the equipment is limited by sex. Obviously, a guy cannot wear something that is meant for a woman. This means that the majority of the weapons and armor are open to everyone. Don’t want the starring ladies to be stereotypical magic users? Have them wield swords. Who do you want to be your lancer? Your magic users? You can mix and match those classes to your whims. It is the only way to truly improve your characters’ stats.

Combat is tied to this. You’re not given a “ring” or a menu to access their attacks. Instead, you place what you want to use on a hotbar. When they are ready for an action, select it. On the one hand, it’s rather neat as you don’t have to dig through menu after menu to find the action you want. It’s already there because you want it to be! On the other hand, when a character learns a new skill, you must manually place it there. The same is true if you decide to switch weapon majors.

There are two really cool aspects of White Knight Chronicles. First of all, all of your characters have action commands. These are needed to pull off stronger attacks. In fact, almost every single command in the game can be combined with other actions. What results are attacks that are stronger than your basic attack. Second, some of your characters will find knights of their own to transform into and can be activated when a character has enough action commands. Not only do they tower above the competition, but their attacks are deadly as well. They’ll revert back to normal after their magic points are used up.

In White Knight Chronicles, you have no direct control over your allies. Instead, you choose the basic behavior. Do they fight conservatively or all out? Or do you let them make their decisions? While it doesn’t damper the fun, it does make things a bit more frustrating. Seriously, who casts a fire spell on a fire elemental? One of my characters did. The system is a bit weird. You have old-school games that force characters’ control onto you. And then there are games with AI that you program. I so wish White Knight Chronicles went that route.

Graphically, White Knight Chronicles doesn’t look on par with a PS3 game, and yet it does. Let me explain. The world is bright and colorful. Trees and grass grow everywhere in a lush field. Townsfolk meander about their daily lives. The hot desert sand has cacti, and desert creatures wonder about. Caves are dank and dark. Waterfalls look downright cool and refreshing. Titans and golems and other deadly creatures tower above your allies. What constantly amazes me is how much information is present on screen at a time. This is what makes it “PS3-worthy.” There is no way a PlayStation 2 could handle this information without a major drop in graphics. However, the graphics aren’t as crisp and clean as you might want for a PS3 game.

Sound is decent. The typical fantasy sound fares are present. Music is downright pleasant to listen, though it has a tendency to sound like typical videogame songs. The desert town theme sounds like a stereotypical bazaar. The meadow tune sounds like other meadow songs. Whenever I listen to the music, I feel like I have heard it before. Thankfully, the voice acting is much better. Leonard’s voice does a good job of representing the archetypical white knight hero. Charles Shaughnessy portrays a world-weary warrior who constantly offers advice. Furthermore, you’ll hear them comment about the current goal at hand and shout battle cries. While it is nice to hear, for some, it might grind on the ears. Also, Leonard likes to yell out “This is great!” This wasn’t great when an ally’s sister just died and he screamed it out in the midst of the “boss” battle.

Overall, White Knight Chronicles is a solid RPG. Even though it borrows its elements from other games, it is its own master. I like to believe that all of those parts are meant to be homages. Everything present is well-loved in the genre: massive spaces to explore with a map, customizable characters, battles that feel epic, strong graphics and a solid musical score. As great as this game can be at times, there’s one problem: It ended up on my shelf very quickly. Do not get me wrong, I like White Knight Chronicles. But there is no hook to draw you deeper into its world. And though the $60 admission fee earns its keep, it might be a bit much for some people. So go rent White Knight Chronicles. Find its strengths and weaknesses for yourself. Discover the joys of knighthood and chronicle it for yourself.