Rogue Galaxy

I borrowed Rogue Galaxy from my friend and got quite hooked on it. I’ve been playing the game in all my spare time and have neglected my blog. Now that you’re reading this, it means that I’ve completed the game.

I like Rogue Galaxy. It was a typical RPG game which felt a little like Star Wars, a little like Treasure Planet and a little like Final Fantasy. The story is a typical RPG boy-saves-the-world plot, but it is quite charming in its own way so I managed to play through the whole game.

The Story

The game starts by talking about a huge interplanetary war waged between two large nations in the galaxy – the Draxil and the Longardia. To prevent Draxil from using the resources of Rosa, a desert planet, Longardia took control of the planet. The story opens with Rosa already being under Longardia’s rule for a few years. Jaster Rogue, a young man, is returning to the town of Salgin from a trek across the burning hot sands with some loot. He managed to capture some mish (chocobo-lookables but differently coloured) which he sells to the Longardia soldiers to earn a bit of money. Times are hard, and life is even harsher in the hostile environment on Rosa.

Jaster brings the money to Raul, the only priest in the only church in Salgin and also the man who raised Japser after he was left on the church steps. Jaster complains about being under Longardia’s tight rule and longs for the freedom of the past. Raul is more accepting of Longardia’s presence on Rosa and points out that since Longardia took over, the town suffered fewer attacks from beasts. Suddenly their conversation is interrupted by an attack from a huge beast. Jaster runs out and sees the beast heading towards the residential district. He runs off to stop the beast and meets a mysterious man who fights together with Jaster part of the way. Then he gives Jasper his sword and leaves. Jasper next meets Simon and Steve, a short, fat human in a spacesuit and a tall skinny robot, much like R2D2 and C3PO. Seeing the sword in Jaster’s hand, they mistake him for Desert Claw, the top hunter in the galaxy. As the beast is still attacking the town, Jasper does not bother to explain and the 3 of them rushes off to the residential district.

After they defeat the beast, which is a huge, powerful, rarely seen monster, Simon and Steve tell Jasper about their purpose on Rosa. They are from the pirate ship Dorgenark and at the orders of their captain, came to Rosa to look for Desert Claw with the intention of recruiting him. Jaster always wanted to travel into space and Dorgengoa is a famous pirate captain so he does not clarify the mistake and agrees to leave with them. In the morning, they travel out into the desert to the Dorgenark (a spaceship which looked like the one in Treasure Planet) which is parked secretly far away from the town. As the trio nears the ship, they are suddenly attacked by giant worms which raise up from underneath them. Simon and Steve manage to get onto the ship and Jaster is saved by Kisala, the captain’s daughter.

On board the ship, they meet the rest of the crew, including Zegram Ghart, also a hunter recruited by Dorgengoa. They set off for Zerard but is caught in a meteor shower and crashed on an undeveloped jungle planet call Juraika. To complete the repairs, Jaster, Zegram and Kisala go into the jungle to look for fire fruit to make booster fuel. They meet the natives of the planet who keep to themselves and dislike foreigners. They are very tribal and forbid the use of modern technology. The trio meet Lilika and her younger sister who help them to get into Burkaqua village. They find out that Burakqua is suffering from “dark fruit”, a fatal disease and the plan is to sacrifice Lilika’s sister to appease the Star God. Jaster and Kisala decide to save the girl and they journey to the altar of the Star God. They discover that the Star God is actually a monster who killed Lilika’s mother when she is a kid. Jaster, Kisala and Lilika team up and kill the monster, putting an end to the “dark fruit” at the same time. However because of her actions in the “conspiracy against the Star God”, Lilika is banished from the tribe. It is revealed later that it is actually the chief’s plan for Lilika to travel the stars and learn what is the path the village should take.

After the ship has been fixed, they travel to Zerard, the most technologically advanced planet in the system. Simon reveals that they have to renew the ship’s intergalactic travel pass or else they are not allowed to land at spaceports. At the Galaxy Corporation, there is an explosion and Jasper and gang are arrested and immediately thrown into prison. They manage to escape from the prison and return to Galaxy Corporation to discover that the computers are down due to a hacker so they cannot renew the travel pass. So they go to Dayton Factory, which houses the computers to stop the hacker, Jupis Tooki McGanel, a brilliant scientist who is angry at being fired. After defeating Jupis and getting the computers back up, they finally get their travel pass renewed.

They return to the ship to find that Jupis has sneaked aboard and joined the crew. Captain Dorgengoa finally reveals his plan, which is to find clues to get to the legendary planet of Eden which is said to contain lots of treasure. The crew heads to Vedan where a tablet rumoured to contain clues to Eden has been found. Being pirates, they plan to steal the tablet. Vedan is a mining town which does not get the sun so it is forever nighttime over there. They find that Vedan is controlled by a gangster family who is selling the tablet found in the mines to Valkog Drazer, the Dayton president. Jaster and gang tries to get to the tablet first but is unsuccessful. They also recruit their final member, Deego Aegis and follows Valkog to Rosa. In the ancient ruins of Rosa, Jasper and gang see Valkog placing all the tablets he has gathered onto a platform, revealing further clues.

Jaster and gang has to travel to the ruins of the 3 ancient kings to get the ancient relics. First, I went to Juraika where the ruin of the Leo King is situated. The Leo King ruins is well-known and is considered a dangerous place by the Burkaqua natives due to the presence of a mad witch. After defeating the mad witch, they discover that she is actually the wife of the Leo King. After the Leo King died, their tribe was attacked by other tribes and in an attempt to save her son, she exchanged her soul for power to keep her son safe until peace has returned to the planet. Jaster and gang discovers the baby still sleeping in his cot, untouched by the years. Of course, they also manage to get the relic of the Leo King. They take the baby back to Burkaqua village who agrees to raise the child.

Next I went to Zerard where the ancient Libra King used to rule. In the city stands the twin towers of the king’s sons. Legend has it that after the Libra King died, he gave his throne to his sons who ruled the planet peacefully for a while. Then they quarrelled and waged war on each other until they died. Upon entering one of the towers, Jaster was asked by the ghost of the Libra King to stop the quarrel between his two sons whose ghosts still continue the quarrel they had in life. After speaking to both sons, and fighting both of them, they finally see their foolishness and give Jasper the relic of the Libra King.

Lastly, the ruins of the Cancer King is situated underneath the city of Vedan. Jasper manages to gain entry into the underground ruins with the help of the orphans of those who died in the mines. After getting the Cancer King’s relic, Jaster returns to Rosa and places the relics on the pedestals, revealing the final puzzle. They are attacked by an artificial human (I don’t like him so I’m not even going to mention his name) created by Dayton. During the fight, Jaster awakens a mysterious ancient power inside him and uses it to defeat the artificial human who crumbles away to dust. Then, still engulfed by the power, Jaster solves the puzzle to reveal an opening to a labyrinth containing the secrets of Eden.

In the labyrinth, they find a robot who reveals that Kisala is actually Princess Irieth of Le Marrie Glennecia (Mariglenn for short and also known to the rest of the world as Eden). The robot also recognizes Jaster as the one who holds the power of the legendary Star King. Upon exiting the labyrinth, they see Valkog attacking Salgin, hoping to get Jaster to hand over the key to Eden. While defending the town, Raul is fatally injured and dies after giving Jaster a star pendant. Jaster discovers that the pendant contains the coordinates pointing to the middle of the Kuje Desert. As far as Jaster knows, there is nothing in the middle of that harsh desert but since Raul gave him that pendant for a reason, he decides to pay a visit there.

Near the location, they encounter a sandstorm and after passing through it, they see a place covered in green grass and flowing water. It is the hidden town of Johannasburg, unknown to the world and frozen in time. Jaster discovers that the villagers had fragmented memories of a mysterious woman who lived at the top of a hill. Nobody remembers her name or what happened to her but through the clues, Jaster manages to piece together that she is somehow related to him. He goes to her house and finds her ghost. Johanna, the ghost, reveals to Jasper that she is his mother and both of them are descendants of the ancient Star King. She also reveals that she had froze time in the town to prevent the villagers from dying from an incurable disease. Before leaving, she helps Jaster to open up the Star King’s power. Jaster returns to Rosa and find Desert Claw waiting for him. He reveals that he is actually Jaster’s father.

The Dorgenark crew opens the sealed gate and goes to Mariglenn. They find out that the planet was sealed off to prevent the whole galaxy from falling to the Rune, an evil thing that turns beings into monsters. It is also the home of Mother, the mother of all runes. There is a brief reunion between Kisala and her real mother and then it’s off to kill Mother. They find Kisala’s father who went to fight Mother and was turned into a monster. They put him out of misery and before dying, he reveals to them that they need to forge a sword made of Drigellum, which is the power within one’s heart. They proceed to Gaza Sanctuary where one by one, they awaken forgotten memories which reveals a little more about the characters’ own story and gets a Drigellum.

Using the sword, Jasper and gang defeat Mother. After she is defeated, she reveals her true form. Then the Star King takes over Jaster’s body and speaks to Mother. Mother was formerly sorceress Ilzarbelle who was in the employment of the Star King. When the Rune first slipped into the galaxy, Ilzarbelle’s greed caused her to be the first to be taken by the Rune. After so many years, Ilzarbelle no longer has any memories of herself as human and the Star King realizes that he has no choice but to kill her.

After Mother dies, Valkog appears in his spaceship to try and siphon up the rune, no doubt for use in his own plans. Needing a new host, the Rune reaches up using the pipe and takes over the ship including all those onboard, turning it into a horrible-looking fused entity of flesh and metal. Now Jaster and gang has to defeat it. Kisala’s mother appears and makes Jaster a new sword made from the Drigellum of Prayer which contains the prayers of all the people of Mariglenn. The monster is too big to fight so they split up and attack different parts of the monster to weaken it. After the last section is defeated, the lava fields splits open and the crew escapes in the Dorgenark.

The crew left Mariglenn and sees the planet transforming as time once again moves forward so that the planet is now on the same timeline as the rest of the universe. They return to Mariglenn and find that Kisala’s mother died many years ago, 50,000 years ago if I remembered correctly. Kisala is sadden by the news and decides to fulfil her mother’s wishes by taking her place as the Queen.

The ending finds the galaxy in peace and the rest of the recruited comrades have returned to their homes. Only Zegram is left and as he joins Jaster on the deck, he informs Jasper that he will be going home after the last mission. Dorgengoa joins them and tells them the last mission is to go to Mariglenn to steal back what is important to them. The screen fades to back and words appeared. The viewer is informed that this is the last mission the gang pulled off as pirates.

The End? Not Quite

After I completed the game, I am prompted to save and got a save file marked with a star. When I load it, it brings me back to where I last saved ie. before the fight with Mother. But when I leave the planet, I find a new area opened for exploring – the Ghost Ship. It was a gigantic ship, almost as big as a planet, built for a billionaire to keep his collection of rare treasures. Legend has it that it only appears once every 40 years. After fighting through the ship, the crew discovers that for some reason, time and space had gone haywire in the ship, causing it to disappear and reappear in the galaxy every 40 years. They also find the billionaire possessed by a dark shadow. After defeating him, Jasper gets the most powerful sword in the game.

That’s not all. After finishing the Ghost Ship, the player can start the Ghost Ship Extreme, which contains 100 levels, with a boss at every 10th level and an item shop at every 30th level. If the player exits the ship halfway, he has to start again from the beginning. Beat the Ghost Ship Extreme once and get an alternative costume for Kisala. Complete it twice and get a costume for Simon.

My thoughts

I like the story despite it being typical. For once, I am not so irritated with the main lead. While Jaster, like many other young male leads, is optimistic and idealist, he is also less rash and hot-headed. He comes across as someone ready for an adventure but not reckless, a thinking type of adventurer. I do get quite irritated with the hot-blooded young males, common in Hollywood movies, who rush into things without thinking. So any break away from that mold is good. I like the feeling of adventure and fun that runs through the game, much like in an Indiana Jones story. We don’t get much of that nowadays.

I do have some complaints about the story though. Throughout the whole game, the war between Longardia and Draxil is always mentioned. But actually we see nothing of the war. And when at the end of the game, Zegram said that Jaster brought peace back to the galaxy, I was in disbelief. Sure, he stopped the Rune but the war between Longardia and Draxil is not going to just stop like that because the war is not caused by the Rune. It seemed a bit too convenient that by just defeating the Rune, they also stopped the war.

It felt a bit lazy of the makers to just casually mention at the end of the game that the rest of the comrades have returned home. It would better to at least mention a bit of what happened to them after they returned. After spending a whole game with them, I do get quite fond of some of them.

I like that each planet is greatly different from each other and this is also reflected in its inhabitants. In Zerard which is the stronghold of the Longardian army, the people are safe in their town and view the war as an inconvenience. Whereas in Rosa, people are resentful of the Longardian army’s presence and just wants the war to end but not caring who win it. I’m not sure whether this is a coincidence or done on purpose but the incompetent, senile head of the Longardia army looks like George W. Bush.

Graphics wise, the game uses a technique called cel-shading which adds an outline to things so they look like an animation despite being in a 3D environment. For a PS2 game, the graphics is up there with the best. I thought the graphic style worked well with Rogue Galaxy’s story. A cool thing is that whenever a character equips a new weapon or costume, the change is reflected in their appearance in the game and in most of the cutscenes. Some of the cutscenes are made using real animation instead of the 3D engine, so the characters are all wearing their default costumes and weapons. One wonders why the game has 2 different types of cutscenes when either one of them will do.

In most RPGs, there will a healer character who is proficient in healing skills. However, Rogue Galaxy does away with healing skills so now all the healing potions are quite powerful. Even the most basic healing potion can replenish back 50% of a character’s life. With only 3 characters in the battle field at the same time, it makes sense to have no healer so that everyone can concentrate on battling.

The battles are in real-time, fast-paced and quite chaotic. I often lose sight of my character in all the action and just hack and slash away blindly. It doesn’t matter whether I chose the low or high camera view, there are times when my character will be blocked from view, either by the terrain or by other enemies. My characters also died a few times because I was so caught up in the action that I neglected to check their life bars. Luckily resurrection potions are easy to get.

The final battle is a long, long battle, all the way from Mother to the ship-monster and there’s no way to save in between. Die at one of the battles and you have to restart the whole thing, all 10 battles. The first time it happened, I felt like throwing the controller at the TV.

Conclusion

I spent around 140 hours playing Rogue Galaxy. I’ve completed the main story and Ghost Ship but not Ghost Ship Extreme. And for a while, everything else is on pause while I spent days playing the game.