Online play is half of the White Knight Chronicles experience, but in Japan you can only communicate with other players by typing messages. Imagine trying to type “HEAL ME!” while evading a giant troll foot from squishing you. The good news is the North American version may have voice chat.
In an interview at the PlayStation Blog, Tsubasa Inaba, US Producer of White Knight Chronicles, explains, “we realize the necessity of voice chat. We’re trying to get this in before release in the US market. We’re working on it.” That’s promising! It sounds like voice chat is well into development.
Inaba also comments on cross region play with, “we’re looking into it. We’re doing online testing domestically and also overseas. It is in our mind set, we’re just trying to make it happen.” Language barriers may complicate communication, but it’s good to see Sony leaving the door open for worldwide White Knight Chronicles online play. The US version will also contain tweaks introduced in the Japanese version on the disc. Hmm… I suppose that means we won’t have to wait for White Knight Chronicles 1st Wave then.