
Chronology in Friendly mode is nothing less than a transformative experience, effectively shifting the game from one genre to another. That’s true on some level, but the nature of Historia’s central gameplay mechanic gives this new format its own intrinsic value. You could readily assume “Friendly” difficulty to be nothing more than an easy mode that dumbs down gameplay for casual players. Happily, Chronology contains a new play mode - the “Friendly” difficulty level - that strikes a more comfortable balance between the two by downplaying combat.

Unfortunately, the complexity present in both its story and gameplay caused those two elements to trip over one another rather than work in unison. Its story told a similarly intricate tale based around time travel. Historia featured an excellent combat setup, with a tactical format that proved both challenging and flexible. In reworking the DS RPG for 3DS, Atlus has taken the opportunity to rethink the way the game’s systems interconnect. More importantly, it gives players a new play option that remedies one of Historia’s greatest failings. What Chronology lacks in technological upgrades it makes up for with a substantial amount of new story material. Nevertheless, beneath its dated visuals, C hronology contains one of the finest role-playing adventures on 3DS - a platform that’s seen no end of great RPGs. In terms of overhauls, this is certainly no Metroid: Samus Returns. The visuals now make use of the 3DS’ higher resolution character portraits have been replaced with generic anime renditions battle icons display more detailed tactical information. It offers few technical improvements over a DS game that hardly pushed that system’s limits. This would seem to make Historia both an unlikely selection for a remake and, at the same time, a perfect candidate for one.īy looks alone, Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology for the Nintendo 3DS doesn’t do much to excite.

For all that Historia did well, though, the game as a whole never quite jelled, and the package added up to a little less than the sum of its admittedly compelling parts.

Radiant Historia, a 2010 role-playing game developed by Atlus for the Nintendo DS, had a lot going for it: a clever combat system, a complex narrative and great moment-to-moment character writing.
