Radiata Stories



Radiata Stories is a role-playing game developed by tri-Ace and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 2. The game is notable for its large number of distinct NPCs, each of whom have their own lives, lifestyles, jobs, personalities, homes, dialogues, and schedules. It makes for a much more realistic experience than the standard RPG towns populated with eerily identical cookie cutter residents who say the same things ad inifinitum, though the game is limited by the hardware into making the characters repeat the same list of activities every day, with a few exceptions.

Furthering the theme of realism, the main character, Jack, can interact with most objects in the game, mostly by kicking them - doing so to furniture and other inanimate objects, for example, will occasionally turn up items or money, while NPCs will fight Jack in a duel. This being Jack's primary method of interacting with everything and everyone he encounters would normally seem out of place, but it fits quite well with his personality.

While there are easily over 150 distinct recruitable characters in the game, there are only three that are central to the plot: Jack Russell, a rude, cheerful teenager who plans on being a knight; Ridley Silverlake, a smart, proper, well-off young lady who wants nothing to do with him (at least at first); and Ganz Rothschild, a polite, genteel man, who is their superior in the Rose Cachon brigade. This doesn't last long, however.

After one successful mission, what should be a simple Fetch Quest goes awry and Ridley suffers a debilitating injury to the point where she's bedridden. As a consequence for their failure to protect her, both Jack and Ganz are expelled from the knighthood because of her Overprotective Dad. From there, they both try to join Theater Vancoor, the warrior guild, but Ganz fails the test and ends up in the Void Community (the thief guild) instead. The game then allows the player to start exploring the environment a bit, and segues into the open-ended play promised on the box instead of a tedious paint by numbers RPG.

As Jack and Ganz try to adjust to their new lives, a series of seemingly unrelated incidents begins to occur. Ridley begins experiencing strange headaches and speaking in a voice that is not her own. The dreaded disease Algandars, said to be the only thing capable of fully killing the immortal elves, makes a reappearance after being gone for centuries. Tensions between the humans and non-humans skyrocket as three particular individuals become prominent in the politics of Radiata: Zane, human-hating leader of the light elves; Lord Lucian, a mysterious courtesan of Radiata Castle who displays frightening Chessmaster capabilities; and Cross Ward, Ridley's Jerkass fiancee.

Another aspect of the title is that it takes place in real time (albeit with the typical video game compression). While many games incorporate some method of this, Radiata Stories is one of the few where keeping track of the hour is crucial to gameplay, due to the fact that the majority of "free time" between missions provides only brief snatches where Jack is able to interact with other characters and the like before setting out once more. As a result, this is one of the few games where Level Grinding is difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish.

There is a character page now. Character-based tropes should be directed there.

As a last tidbit of info, Radiata Stories is also notable for its high content of humor despite having a pretty serious story.

Not to be confused with Radiant Historia, a similarly-named game that inherited a large portion of Radiata's production team.

"(Leonard explains how he and Jack are sharing the stinky, dirty Trainee's Room) Jack (camera spinning around him): NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Leonard (Beat): When you're done with the death wails, come on in. Jack (quietly): Fine..."
 * Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The Path of the Spider, a series of interconnecting tunnels that forms the sewage system beneath Radiata.
 * Aerith and Bob: Quite an extensive example, in fact; the title contains rather plain names, like Jack, Jill, Nick, and Lily; to somewhat uncommon names, such as Iris, Adina, Leona, and Santos; to downright bizarre names such as Zida, Few, Chatt, and Zeranium. All of these seem to have no racial or gender boundaries, as both humans and non-humans, males and females alike, exhibit this vast range.
 * Aggressive Negotiations: What the "bluff" at  turned into, thanks to Cross.
 * The Alcoholic: Jarvis, Jack's sergeant upon joining Theater Vancoor.
 * All There in the Manual: The surname of several characters is revealed only in the manga adaptation, the list goes:
 * Gerald Nickson
 * Thanos Benz
 * Alicia Alen
 * Jarvis Mondair
 * Daniel Arthur
 * Herz Ashabee
 * Lily Mirias
 * Nocturne Ryner
 * Exclusively Evil: The way the light elves view humans, and humans orcs.
 * Ambiguously Gay: Gil on the non-humans side is this. He's one of the light elves' strongest fighters, an assassin, and well known for his poetry. There's a side plot where.
 * And I Must Scream:
 * And Man Grew Proud: Thanos seeks a rare suit of armor that allows the wearer to fight for 24 hours straight.
 * Ancestral Weapon: The Arbitrator, a powerful sword that Jack's father, Cairn, possessed, was passed down to him by his sister, Adele.
 * Anti-Villain/Hero Antagonist: . While he might be a Magnificent Bastard, and some of his actions might make him seem to be a Well-Intentioned Extremist at best, its hard to label him as a villain of any caliber. Especially since his goals involve Sure, he tries to kill, but given that  had by that point crossed the line into being a literal Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds ...
 * Similar could be said of . As unfair as it is, humans apparently are to blame for the Algandars disease that's killing the elves and driving humans mad. If they don't hit the Reset Button then a different race is on the chopping block.
 * Aristocrats Are Evil: Anastasia, Dwight and Lord Cross. Subverted by Ridley, who is just a little stuck up at first. Ganz is genuinely friendly and goes out of his way to be polite. Lord Larks, the head of Radiata, is actually a good and compassionate leader, if a little strict. Jasne tries all he can to avoid the war.
 * Armor-Piercing Slap: Adele's favorite way of teaching both Jack and his enemies a lesson.
 * Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Jack and Ridley's relationship started with her beating him in a tournament. As teammates, they're antagonistic, but when Ridley is injuried, Jack becomes protective of her and the first thing she does after waking up is check on him.
 * Badass: More than 150 of them! Well, not really...but the guild leaders, such as Elwen, Kain, Curtis, and Nyx, definitely take the cake.
 * Badass Grandpa: Curtis, the Vareth Magic Institute's head advisor, and Fernando, leader of the Olacion Order's Old Faction.
 * Zeranium, Godwin, Ortoroz...if you're an elderly person in Radiata Stories who isn't a farmer, you will kick ass.
 * Badass Normal: Averted. Most of the ordinary townspeople are completely useless in combat.
 * Badass Preacher: Godwin, Achilles, Rocky, and Kain, to name a few.
 * Fernando is the most badass of these - his attack can reach upward of 408!
 * Bald of Awesome: Dynas, head of the Radiata Knights. Jack was on the verge of becoming his Fan Boy before he was kicked out of the knights, though he didn't like the bald look.
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Several of the Olacion Order members are these.
 * Big Bad: Subverted. The main plot is the result of a Gambit Pileup meeting a and there isn't any particular individual or group of individuals who could be considered the main source of conflicts. The most likely suspects are:
 * Cross, a Complete Monster who is mostly to blame for the war igniting when he . He also He doesn't quite fit in that in the human route he becomes an ally of Jack's - in theory, anyway - and in the non-human route he
 * Zane, leader of the light elves and, later, the non-humans in general. A racist who wants to kill all humans for personal reasons rather than He doesn't quite fit either as he mostly stays offscreen in the human path and hides his rather bloodthirsty nature when dealing with Jack in the non-human route.
 * Aphelion, Once again, not a full example as in the human route the player learns just how well-intentioned his plan is, while in the non-human route, he's a Giant Space Flea From Nowhere.
 * Big No: Jack does this a few times, both for comedy and drama.
 * The very first one is lampshaded by Leonard:

"Jack: I never had a chance at winning. Gerald: Of course not, fool. I was a swordsman years before you were born."
 * Bifauxnen: Her priest robes might give it away, but one will probably not realize Vitas is a girl if crossing her path at night.
 * Bilingual Bonus: Any French speaker gets to marvel at the names of the various brigades.
 * And a probably unintentional one: the assassin Lily is also known as "Vice," or the White Princess. The German word meaning "white"? Weiss. Now if you were Japanese, and trying to translate that to German, how would you spell it?
 * Bishonen: Felix, Franklin, Lucian, and Gil, to name a few. Especially Felix.
 * Black Knight: Jack, when he equips the Demon Mail.
 * Blood Knight: Gerald, Caesar, and Jack.
 * Bodyguard Crush: Natalie's "relationship" with Lord Jasne.
 * Bonus Boss:
 * Bonus Dungeon:
 * Camp Gay: Charlie. His description states that he likes cute people and strong warriors. There's a cutscene of him entering the ladies' restroom in Radiata Castle without objection from anyone, just after Jack is scolded by Margaret if he attempts to enter. He's also one of the player's potential alternative "love interests."
 * Canon Foreigner:
 * The Chessmaster: Lord Lucian,
 * Corrupt Church: The New Faction of the Olacion Order has decided to dedicate themselves to making money instead of helping people.
 * Oddly enough, several members are basically decent - if snobby - individuals personally loyal to their Jerkass boss, Anastasia Ryan.
 * Com Mons: There are several characters in each guild who Jack is forced to befriend as a stepping stone to the more badass leaders, who won't join unless everyone else does.
 * Convection, Schmonvection: Fire Mountain.
 * Dandere: Lily, Morgan, and the twins, Adina and Elena.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Thanos, the receptionist at Theater Vancoor.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Ridley, possibly due to her injury causing an increased dependence on others or an effect of hearing how Jack took care of her while she was unconscious.
 * The Ditz: Clive.
 * Does Not Understand Sarcasm: Parsec.
 * Don't Try This At Home: The description for the umbrella weapon suggests to not actually use it as a method of combat in reality. Best listen to that.
 * Downer Ending: Given the game has multiple endings, there had to be one.
 * The most probable explanation is that
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: Felix.
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: Felix, and possibly Lucian. The former especially has trouble with this trait in regards to other characters.
 * Dumb Is Good: Clive, a country hick, is one of the nicest guys in the game. Not only will he be Jack's friend without a Fetch Quest but he'll come to the guild and volunteer.
 * Eleventh-Hour Ranger: The most powerful characters for both sides cannot be recruited until late in the game. The human side gives the player the leaders of each guild - particularly Elwen, with an attack of 438 - as well as Natalie, while the non-humans have the two orc leaders, Galvados (460) and JJ (430), as well as the black goblin chief, Gruel (410).
 * Valkyrie takes the cake, recruitable only in the post game for both paths, she starts at lvl 77 and at 99 she got an attack of 502, to drive the point home, her race is stated as "god".
 * Epic Flail: Dynas,.
 * Even the Guys Want Him: Felix. Notice a pattern here?
 * Evil Plan: As with Big Bad, this trope is also subverted as there is no one villain's plot that encompasses the whole game. Its more all the BB candidates plans clash until only one left is to finish their own.
 * Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Fire Mountain, as well as the attack descriptions for the Vareth Institute's various staffs.
 * Eyepatch of Power: Gerald.
 * Fake Difficulty: Several stats have been tweaked to force the player to keep recruiting. For example:
 * Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: Completely inverted. There is no magic stat, so, except for healers, all spellcasters go obsolete as time goes on, as opposed to melee types who don't experience (as much) change in usefulness over time. Jack's stats are also pretty atrocious when compared to some of the other characters, with the exception of luck.
 * Fantastic Racism: Drives a good portion of the plot. Cross is a Complete Monster mostly because he is so willing to commit atrocities against entire communities of non-humans, and there are a number of hints that said non-humans were, and might still be, heavily discriminated against. On the flip side, however, there are plenty of non-humans who equally cross the line from understandable mistrust to unjustifiable racial hatred. Zane, the light elf's leader, in particular, wants nothing more than to wipe out every last human being in the world; not because they, but because he unfairly blames them for the death of his brother, who died from the Algandars disease.
 * Fish Out of Water: While Ganz may be the knight who believes the most in chivalry, he ends up at the Void Community, as mentioned previously. Justified in that he fell in with honorable bandits.
 * Gainax Ending: In the ending for the non-human path,
 * Gambit Pileup: There's the humans who want to do business by exploiting the dwarves; the dwarves who want to make more money at the expense of the humans; the elves who generally want to wipe out humanity because they don't want to be trapped in a cucoon for eternity and believe this is the solution; the orcs who just like fighting and eating; the dragons who are trying to preserve a cosmic balance, and that's without going into individuals. Cross is an arrogant gloryhound who screws everyone else for his goals. Zane is an anti-human racist who wants to commit genocide. Aphelion who wants to bump off the other dragons to save the humans. Ridley who  and Jack who wants to protect Ridley even after finding this out. All of them(except for Cross and Zane) are more or less sympathetic.
 * Game-Breaking Injury: Ridley - quite early on, in fact.
 * Gonk: Joaquel, a member of Void, stands out the most, though quite a few others exist.
 * Anastasia is probably the gonkiest of them all.
 * Gray and Grey Morality: While neither side is particularly evil, the game ultimately sympathizes more with the non-humans. Nevertheless, there are heroes on both sides and the light elves are nearly as xenophobic as the worst of the humans beings. Most of the truly evil individuals are on the human end, though.
 * Well, the only true Complete Monster is Cross; Larks and Dynas are nice enough people who unfortunately get caught in the war, and  Zane is slightly more sympathetic than Cross, arguably, but still too extreme to be anything but evil. Both sides have the good and the bad.
 * Grey and Black Morality: Rynka and Flau are honorable bandits who only steal from those that deserve it. Then there's Nocturne who takes shady assignments.
 * Hair of Gold: Ridley, and Leona.
 * Hard Work Hardly Works: Subverted. Every Hopeless Boss Fight is against people older, or at least more experienced, than Jack. Gerald personally defies it:


 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Gerald is Jet Black! Both Sasuke and Naruto are the voices of Jack Russell in English and Japanese respectively, and Orihime is Ridley in the English version.
 * Hopeless Boss Fight: The first battle against Ridley. There's also a few later where the game progresses whether the player wins or loses, with slight variations in dialogue being the only consequence.
 * Hot Shounen Mom: Rynka.
 * Hot Witch: Morgan.
 * Humans Are the Real Monsters: The whole reason the light elves and many of the other races feel hatred and distrust toward humans is because they, from the non-humans' point of view, are considered rather selfish, evil beings who are ruining the balance of the world.
 * To be fair, they're not entirely wrong
 * Humans Are Special:
 * Improbable Weapon User: Quite a few characters use various forms of cutlery as weapons, while others use either musical or personal instruments, or discarded trash. Elef, the foreman of Radiata's bridge builders, for instance, uses his iron tobacco pipe.
 * Infinity-1 Sword / Sword of Plot Advancement: The Arbitrator for the non-human path, being the second strongest one-handed sword in the game.
 * Infinity+1 Sword: Holy Sword Gram, with an attack rating of 170, obtained after beating Valkyrie, despite suposelly being a legendary sword re-forged by the gods, she had doubles.
 * Insufferable Genius: Genius.
 * Joke Character: Loads of examples, particularly those who have no affiliation with the guilds and work mundane jobs, such as farmers, doctors, nurses, and the like.
 * Joke Weapon: Many mundane objects such as an umbrella and different kinds of farming tools can be used as weapons.
 * Katanas Are Just Better: The best two-handed sword in the game is the Muramasa. The best one-handed and two-handed swords for purchase are also katana. However, The best sword period is not.
 * Lady and Knight: Jack apoints himself Ridley's White Knight  and not only protects her but lifts her spirits with endearingly corny jokes.   For her part, Ridley is a bright lady Ojou who is trying to do what she think is right, and is grateful for Jack's support.
 * Lady of War: Ridley, Elwen, Alicia, Natalie, Lily, Iris, and, to name a few.
 * Elwen particularly. Being of stunning beauty, it can be considered quite the surprise seeing a woman in such a position without making her into a Tsundere or something similar. The player doesn't see said beauty part very often, however.
 * Lemony Narrator: The character descriptions often include snarky comments about said characters' inherent flaws.
 * Lethal Joke Character: While there's likely a few more, Franz, the dark elf who challenges Gil, arguably has the only attack that knocks the Ethreal Queen off her feet. He's also quite fast and does notable damage for such a minor character.
 * Limit Break: The "Volty Blast" special attack, which is limited to a small number of individuals. This includes Jack, who can learn one for each of the four weapon types.
 * Limited Wardrobe: Averted. Not only is Jack able to change his clothing, but the vast majority of Radiata's population has both day and night attire.
 * Living Forever Is Awesome: Everyone who has immortality loves it, and Aphelion's plan involves preserving his own as a nice bonus to his main goal. However, Ganz and Ridley argue that mortality isn't bad either.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: There are a lot of recruitable characters, most of whom are, unfortunately, to some degree, useless. The player cannot recruit all of them on a single playthrough, however.
 * Lovable Coward: Star.
 * Macho Camp:
 * Magikarp Power: While there are plenty of examples, Leona is arguably the most prominent. She starts at level 3 - which is incredibly low at the point in the game which the player can recruit her - though through grinding her attack stat can reach upward of 398. Since her weapon is a magical book instead of a staff, she has the ability to fire multiple magical lasers, which can decimate even the toughest enemies.
 * The Medic: Morfinn is a literal example, coupled with some Harmful Healing due to his curiosity, several members from the Olacion Order also fit.
 * Medium Awareness:  "Why wasn't I the main character of this game?!"
 * Meaningful Name: Genius is, well, a genius. Furthermore, Kain is the High Priest of the Olacion Order; Nyx is, arguably, ; and finally, Morgan, of course, is a witch.
 * Metal Slime: The dagol tortoises, tsuchinoko, and metal tortoises are extremely rare creatures which can drop obscenely useful items upon defeat.
 * Multiple Endings: There are two possible endings for the game, depending on which side of the war the player has Jack align. One is a Downer Ending, and the other is a Bittersweet Ending. Your Mileage May Vary, of course.
 * Murder Is the Best Solution: Jack's general idea for how to solve a problem is to kill the person causing it.
 * He gets chewed out for this in the non-human path
 * Name's the Same: One of the character's called Ridley. No, not that Ridley.
 * Odd Friendship: Ganz, a knight, eventually befriends Rynka and Flau, two members of Void.
 * Our Elves/Goblins/Orcs/Dwarves/Dragons Are Different: Universally united in their . Furthermore, dark elves are, technically, half-elves, while the light elves are portrayed more closely to the standard faerie.
 * Official Couple: Jack and Ridley.
 * Ojou: Ridley starts out as type 2 and
 * Peek-a-Bangs: Lily and her mentor, Iris, have these.
 * Pink Means Feminine: Natalie's pink armor.
 * Player Character: Jack. No, seriously, this is worth noting: the player can recruit tons of individuals, but they remain just that: individuals. Jack is the game's only controllable character.
 * Punny Name: Jack Russell is an energetic young man, relatively short in stature, who is nonetheless quite fierce and not to be underestimated. It's hard to believe this wasn't on purpose. In addition to this, Adele, Jack's sister, is named Airdale in the Japanese version, while Ridley's original last name is Timberlake.
 * Rewarding Vandalism: There is no downside to kicking everything.
 * Except seeing Jack get his ass handed to him by kicking Elwen when only at level 12...
 * Robe and Wizard Hat: Morgan and Curtis.
 * Rose-Haired Girl: Alicia.
 * Ryu and Ken: Jack and Ridley, if the former's wielding an axe as well.
 * Sadistic Choice: The player cannot save both in the same ending. Similarly, if one chooses the path wherein.
 * Saintly Church: The Oralcion Old Faction are interested in helping people, in fact, Miranda fully heals Jack whenever he talks to her, for free.
 * Samurai: Caesar. Jack may count, too, if he equips the correct armor.
 * Secret Identity: Cornelia is secretly  But it's hush hush, so don't tell anyone.
 * Shout-Out: There's Ganz, who dresses up like a fatter, older Claude at one point; Jack, who can dress up as Fayt; and, of course, Cornelia, who looks similar to Sakura and Momo. Her schtick is also similar to another Momo, in fact, and in the Japanese version, her Rachel persona is a Nami Tamaki cameo. She even holds nightly concerts, singing the game's OST.
 * Anastasia's Volty Blast has her chargin' and firin' her lazer.
 * The Black Goblin Pietro is (quite surprisingly) a shout out to Dragonball Z, to recruit him, you need to beat him three times, with him getting stronger each time, at one point he states he is going "Super Goblin"(with Jack answering "Wow, you can transform?!"), and after you recruit him, talk to him again to having him saying "Me make you legendariest warrior! First, dye hair yellow! All legendariest warriors has yellow hair!"
 * Shown Their Work: The toadstool powder's description explains it is made out of Amanita virosa spores. This is an actual - and fatal - fungus that is extremely poisonous when eaten.
 * Shrinking Violet: Leona, Gene, and Rolec.
 * Single-Minded Twins: Elena and Adina, though their viewpoints differ in concerns to who is most important in their lives.
 * Small Name, Big Ego: Star.
 * Solo Character Run: The final boss is so powerful against your party members that it's easier to fight the boss alone rather than blindly spending potions on them. Being an action RPG, It's possible to kill the final boss without getting a scratch when you know its pattern (albeit taking a long time).
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: The Knight Selection Trials. At the start, the judge says it is a "completely unbiased assement of your abilities". At the end, Jack passes after getting knocked out in the first round because his dad's a national hero.
 * Third Person Person: Herz has a tendency to do this.
 * Tomboyish Name: Ridley is the best example, though a few others skirt close to this.
 * Tsundere: Morgan, Ursula, and Lily are probably the biggest offenders. Ridley may count as well, in concerns to the beginning.
 * You Are Worth Hell: The opinion of the Ancient Elf King to his queen, and Jack to Ridley. Gerald hopes to find someone he loves this much someday.
 * Unwanted Harem: Felix has a lot of male fans, much to his own chagrin. This is likely due to his looks, however.
 * Upper Class Twit: Star.
 * Violence Really Is the Answer: Fortunately for Jack, the "kill everything" approach is born out as correct more often than not.
 * Unfortunately for everyone else, the same approach is incorrect in two very big ways:
 * Voluntary Shapeshifter: Herz.
 * Walking the Earth:
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Aphelion Most non-humans (not Zane) are this in the human route, where they're Jack's enemies, as it's not difficult to sympathize with their reasons for going to war in the first place.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: Whatever happened to It was only on the verge of being permanently put down by, which Jack  in both endings. The endings seem to just forget that the original threat still exists. Sequel Hook much?
 * On a smaller scale, what happened to that necklace Nocturne stole from Bellflower?
 * The necklace Nocturne stole is the same "lucky charm" that . Recall that Flau says that they.
 * What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Many of the recruitable characters have passive abilities that are only useful in very specific situations, if ever.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Gawain says this to Jack after the latter slays the Wind Dragon, during a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
 * Whip It Good: Iris.
 * Unwitting Pawn: Jack is this for Lucian. He doesn't realize it until
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Natalie has green hair.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Ridley qualifies as a Type S, in fact.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Ridley qualifies as a Type S, in fact.