White Knight Chronicles Intro (2009, Level 5/Sony)
3White Knight Chronicles (白騎士物語 -古の鼓動- Shirokishi Monogatari: Inishie no Kodō, lit. "White Knight Story: Ancient Heartbeat") is a fantasy role-playing video game developed by Level-5 and SCE Japan Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It is Level-5's first project for the system. As of August 8, 2009 it has sold 350,000 copies in Japan. A sequel titled White Knight Chronicles II was released in Japan in 2010. A related game for the PlayStation Portable, titled White Knight Chronicles: Origins was released in Japan, Europe and, Australia in 2011.
On June 18, 2013, the Geonet server was shut down by Sony Computer Entertainment America in North America and Europe .
White Knight Chronicles is a role-playing video game presented in a third-person perspective. The player can freely choose which character to control. Like in most other RPGs the characters gain experience points and level up, becoming stronger over the course of the game. Level-5 conceived White Knight Chronicles to have 100 hours of gameplay, a length Akihiro Hino considers to be a full length RPG, going against the pressure to make White Knight Chronicles a launch title and cutting the story short.
The game begins in the kingdom of Balandor, where Princess Cisna is having a coming-of-age banquet. Leonard, the main protagonist; his childhood friend, Yulie; and the Avatar (a new employee at Rapacci Wines, where the three work), are tasked with delivering wine for the party. Once the delivery is completed, they decide to stay for the party, which is soon raided by an evil organization called the Magi. In the ensuing commotion, King Valtos, Cisna's father, is killed by a man in dark armor, causing a shocked Cisna to regain her voice (which was "lost" when her mother, Queen Floraine, was assassinated). Leonard grabs the distraught Cisna's hand and leads her to safety in the castle's lower levels. There, they find a giant suit of armor, an "Incorruptus"; and a strange gauntlet called the "Ark". Using the Ark to merge with the armor, Leonard becomes the White Knight, which can the combat the Magi. After eliminating a large monster from the castle, Cisna is kidnapped by the Magi. Sarvain, the royal advisor, tasks Leonard to rescue the Princess with the White Knight; Yulie, the Avatar, and a "humble traveler" named Eldore join him.
The motive behind the kidnapping is Cisna's ability to unlock sealed Knights, of which she is unaware of at first. The leader of Magi is a general called Dregias, the man who killed Valtos. All that is known about him is that he is capable of transforming into the winged Black Knight, Ebonwings.