This is a Review from OPM that gave it a 3.5/5

Too many role-playing games take themselves very seriously. There seems to be this need for games to be filled with gravitas, to be brimming with pathos and Logos and ethos. So it's refreshing to see an RPG embrace comedy, such as last year's Shadow Hearts: Covenant or this new game, Radiata Stories.

Sure, the story seems like standard fantasy fare, with knights, elves, dwarves, and orcs all over the place. But then you notice that Jack Russell (the main character--note: not a dog) is a real wiseass and that the NPCs in his party are more of a motley crew than an adventuring fellowship. The dwarves are constantly drinking. The orcs in this world wear sunglasses. Radiata Stories wraps its standard fantasy fare with lots of goofy humor, making it a lighter, more amusing adventure overall.

Radiata also tweaks gameplay conventions borrowed from other games. It has a Suikoden-esque "recruit over 100 people to fill your party" mechanic, whereby Jack makes friends and then selects up to three of them to fight alongside him. The real-time battle system is similar to Star Ocean 3's; you run around and attack enemies in real time while issuing commands to your party members, but you control only yourself (no hotswapping like in SO3). Time passes each day, and people have set schedules (i.e., shops are open in the day, while bars are open at night; some NPCs aren't free until they get off from their day jobs), much like in Shenmue or Dark Cloud 2. Between plot quests, you are free to perform optional side quests for extra cash and party members. Finally, a major story branch in the middle of the game changes the second half (depending on which side you pick) and thus, of course, the ending.

In general, Radiata is pretty solid but marred by a few flaws. As mentioned, the combat system is like SO3's, but it's a lot simpler and feels slightly dumbed down. Also, although SO3 has too much equipment creation and customization, Radiata errs on the side of being too limited in its equipment options. It can be disorienting to run around town and try to figure out how to befriend people, especially since you also need to know when to find someone and what to give them. The gameplay seems like an interesting experiment but one that falls a bit short, while the content is what makes Radiata stand out.

Then again, I'll take a well-meaning comedy with a few mishaps over standard RPG melodrama.