The Archetypes of White Knight Chronicles

White Knight Chronicles is a tale of a young man, a princess, and five powerful sets of armor from ancient times. Since there are a lot of archetypes in this game the plot is sort of predictable at times, and let me count the ways (or the archetypes)....

 

1.) The main protagonist is a young man that falls in love with the princess and ends up with a powerful weapon. Didn't see that coming. (And why do they say his name as 'leh-nard' even though his name is Leonard, as in 'lee-oh-nard'? Could've just spelled it Lenard, I suppose, but then it doesn't look as impressive.)

 

2.) A princess with awesome power and a connection of fate to the protagonist, not to mention the whole plot at large. The girl that gets kidnapped again...and again...and again. (SAVE HER ALREADY, YOU FOOL!!!) Damn.

 

3.) The mysterious and skilled stranger. The guy that knows everything and is the character that always gives a little background to the locations you go to. 

 

4.) A female dancer that turns out to be the spy. Why is it that you're the only one who notices she could be a spy before the actual characters do?

 

5.) The protagonist's childhood friend who likely has a crush on him. There HAS to be a female childhood friend with a cheery demeanor. I've never seen one with a quiet and gentle personality unless she's the protagonist's main love interest.

 

6.) Black Knight: Dude. If there's a WHITE Knight you bet your a*s there's a black one.

 

7.) A bad guy who's nuts and wants to rule the world. Well, I'll admit, that's a bit of a difference from actually taking over the world. But he still wants to establish 'true peace' like some of his fellow villains so...he's still an archetype.

 

In spite of all this, White Knight Chronicles has all these little twists and turns in the story that makes it interesting. Time travel, nice-looking huge bodies of armor, the dwarves that could fight these huge bodies of armor (didn't see that coming, really; aren't dwarves supposed to be little people?), bad guy has a split personality? Usually they're SO in control of themselves they give new meaning to the word 'self-centered'. Self, as in singular. White Knight Chronicles might be the game that proves you can stuff a game chock full of archetypes whose behavior you can predict until it gives you a headache, but never fear. The story just might catch you off guard.