2) Level-5's excellent RPG pedigree consists of Dark Cloud, Dark Chronicle (Dark Cloud 2 in the US), Dragon Quest VIII: The Journey of the Cursed King and Rogue Galaxy, as well as the Jeanne D'Arc on PSP. So it's bound to be good - we'd put money on it.
3) It'll be a mammoth 50-60 or so hours long, which puts it in the Oblivion category of epic RPGs. Must be all those cutscenes.
4) In fact, White Knight Story was originally intended as a PS3 launch game, but when Level-5 realised it'd have to drastically cut back the story to make that deadline, it refused to compromise and thankfully the game was pushed back.
5) The character creation system will be more in-depth than Oblivion's, to the extent that you can even customise your persona's facial wrinkles.
6) Level-5 was so pleased with the ultra-detailed character creation system that it actually used it to create the main protagonists and around 1,000 non-playable characters. There's confidence for you. The developer has also created in-game versions of Japanese celebs to show it off.
7) While two behemoths are slugging it out, you'll still be able to see the normal-sized human characters fighting their own battles below.
The game is nothing if not ambitious. Originally the knights were supposed to be a staggering 15 metres high, but this meant that it wasn't possible to show both the knights and the smaller characters at the same time.
9) Although this hasn't stopped the appearance of a whopping great two-kilometre turtle-like creature. A two-kilometre turtle-like creature that carries an entire town on its back. Go figure.
10) The game features an old-fashioned tale of good versus evil, even having your White Knight face off against an evil Black Knight who possesses identical powers and abilities. If Star Wars can get away with building its universe around this age-old theme…
11) There's something really charming about how old-fashioned White Knight Story is. The plot sees you rescuing a princess from a group clad in black who kill the king and burn the castle during her coming-of-age ceremony. We've seen one scene after her rescue where the main hero is dancing with her in a forest. It's so romantic you might find yourself stifling back the tears.
12) There'll be many more knights than just the Black and White versions roaming around the world.
13) Like Oblivion, you can go off and do your own thing whenever you fancy a break from the main story. Completing parts of the story will open up new areas and quests, and it's likely that you'll be able to teleport directly to any previously visited point on the map whenever you feel like it.
14) The seven metre-tall White Knight is actually a small boy called Lenard. Yes, the lucky lad's discovery of an ancient artifact in the castle's vaults just after rescuing the Princess allows him to transform into the fearsome warrior. In one crucial transformation scene he says: "Great soul awakened from the ancient, please give me your strength…" Such a polite chap.
15) OK, so the pretty corny-sounding story isn't going to win any awards for its stunning originality, but you have to admire the attempt to keep things simple and not overburden the player with an encyclopedia's-worth of impossible-to-pronounce names and places.
16) Not everyone who you meet in the game will be paid-up members of the White Knight fan club. Apparently in the past, the Knights almost destroyed the world, and the story will delve into why they exist and how they manage to influence certain events.
17) It would be too easy if your character could just transform into the all-powerful White Knight whenever he feels like it. Instead, you'll need to fill a gauge, and there's also a limit on how many times you can transform.
18 Combat is fully real-time, and the battle system is triggered automatically whenever enemies are lurking about nearby.
19) The controls are being kept as simple as possible. Other than the analogue stick, the only button you'll need to press during battles is X.
20) But White Knight Story isn't a dumbed-down, mind-numbing exercise in button-bashing. Far from it. When a fight is initiated, you're taken to the Battle Prep screen where you can choose a set of seven commands to a Palette for each character in your party.
21) This actually makes battles highly tactical, with your choice of palettes absolutely crucial depending on the number and type of enemy faced. Everyone in your party is equally important, and it means you can't just rely on the White Knight - though he does get his own separate palette.
22) You'll be able to take direct control of any character in your party at any time during a battle. The commands you issue each of your party with may also be linked together, allowing you to create combo attacks.
23) Characters can team up to perform special combo attacks. We've already seen Lenard holding an enemy while female party member Yudie, who comes from the same village as Lenard, lays into him. That's teamwork!
24) If you thought the knights looked big, wait until you see the scale of some of the bosses. They'll be introduced via cutscenes, and one that's already caught the eye is a flaming insect-like creature that looks like a distant relative of the Balrog from The Lord of the Rings. At this point, we suggest telling Yudie and third-party member Erudoa to stand back and let Lenard transform into the White Knight.
25) The cinematic CG trailer presented at this year's E3 showed off the art style and epic cutscenes, which, it has to be said, look gorgeous. Take a long, loving gander at these images snapped from the trailer, and try to contain your excitement until a confirmed release early next year.
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more dual shock!