Level-5 has provided details to Sony via the PlayStation Blog about the online component of its upcoming RPG White Knight Chronicles. Once a player completes Chapter One in the story mode, they will gain access to the online section, which includes three facets of play – GeoNet, Georama, and Subquests.
Here’s an explanation of the three online modes:
The GeoNet is a social networking service for players who are online. You can meet and interact with other players in order to perform together in multiplayer quests.
Georama allows you to design your own HomeTown, which is a lobby for the online mode and contains three different fields for 18 different building combinations. You can pretty much modify everything in your HomeTown, including hedge mazes of pixel art. You can also recruit NPCs from the story mode to live in your town and you can give them a job.
The Subquest feature has you take control of your own avatar. As the story unfolds, more quests will become available and you will accumulate points which will build your guild rank. The higher you rank, the more quests and weapons are available for you. There will be 50 subquests available at launch, and Level-5 promises new ones will be added.
Voice chat has been confirmed, and the feature will be patched into the original Japanese version in the future. An additional exclusive feature for North American and European gamers is the Rogue Galaxy’s Live Talk feature. This feature, which is part of the voice chat, allows characters to issue a “huge variety” of context-specific commentary as quests unfold.
All the Japanese updates will be available on the North American and European version when it’s released in the spring of 2010.