is a Japan-exclusive action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix on October 13, 2005, for the PlayStation 2. It is part of the Code Age series, a franchise created by video game artist Yusuke Naora and designed to span different interweaved titles in multiple platforms and media. The series consists of Commanders, the mobile phone game Code Age Brawls, and the manga Code Age Archives. The story depicts the struggles of people surviving in a fictional "intraglobular world" menaced by impending destruction, mysterious warped creatures, and different factions warring against each other. The game focuses successively on the viewpoints of four main protagonists.
The concept for Code Age was created in 2002 by Yusuke Naora, becoming incorporated into Square Enix's polymorphic content policy of showing off their properties across multiple media. The development was handled by a group dubbed "Warhead", and featured multiple developers from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles including director and character designer Toshiyuki Itahana, and composer Kumi Tanioka. Reviews of the game were relatively positive, with high praises of its graphics and art direction but more mixed feelings for its complex and atypical gameplay.
Gameplay Code Age Commanders is an action role-playing game divided in missions, in which the goal is to fight enemies called "Coded" to reach a certain area of the map, where a boss must sometimes be defeated. The player controls one character while other allies are computer-controlled and must not die for the mission to be successful. Between two missions, the player can select in a menu numerous optional cut scenes to watch and which reveal the memories of the Coded defeated, while stages already completed can be re-explored. The game features four successive main playable characters, and items and skills learned by one is each time passed to the next.
Weapons are equipped on both hands of the characters and are used with the circle and cross buttons. Pressing both buttons in succession is necessary to execute combos. The other buttons are used to lock focus onto an enemy, guard, dash, or manually change the camera angle. The number of attacks and blocks is limited by an energy meter for each arm, which decreases after each move but replenishes with time.
A third meter increases after each combo and allows when maxed out to perform a "Code Drive" attack. Executed with the triangle button, a Code Drive triggers a brief close-up sequence in which a blue circle appears around the character. If the player presses a second button before the circle shifts to red, a powerful special attack will be unleashed. If the enemy blocks the Code Drive, a second, shorter close-up sequence is triggered. Enemies can also perform Code Drives, in which case the player's button press allows for protection rather than attack. Executing Code Drives frequently can cause the weapon used to upgrade, or the character to go into a "Code Crisis"; a mode which reduces speed and renders immune to attack, but slowly drains hit points.
Customization In addition to Coded, enemy creatures include "Otellos", which can either be defeated normally or be absorbed, mutating one of the protagonist's arm into a new form with new abilities. Depending on their types, absorbed Otellos can be used to fight, heal or be shot as a projectile weapon. Multiple Otellos can be absorbed into each arm and switched for usage, although gathering too many may result in an "Overload" mode in which attack power is boosted; but one Otello must be dropped quickly or the character's hit points will decrease steadily and continually.
Characters do not level up in a way similar to standard role-playing games; instead, stats evolve according to two coexistent systems. The "Self Evolution System" alters stats and skills depending on their usage during battle: for instance, a repeated use of left-handed attacks increases the character's left arm strength, while running around often increases their speed. The second system is the "Code Extension" mode, in which Code Points can be spent on either of the two arms or up to four body slots to increase their stats or acquire new skills. Code Points are earned after each mission in amounts that depend on the quantity of "Dropped Code" collected from defeated enemies, as well as mission clear time, and damage done and taken. When replaying completed stages, the number of Code Points earned is the difference between the player's highest past score for the mission and the new score obtained.
Plot
Setting Code Age Commanders is set in an , a fictional hollow world similar to a Dyson sphere, with people living on its internal surface. The center of the sphere is occupied by the "Central Code", a spherical structure which goes through a transformation called "Reborn" about every ten thousand years, destroying all life on the globe and allowing for the birth of a new one.
The game begins near the end of a Central Code cycle, while mankind has learned about the impending disaster and built "Arks", flying stations intended to float in the sky and house most of them in a deep sleep state for the duration of the Reborn. The operation works for one hundred years before objects falling from the Central Code hit the Arks and cause them to crash to the surface. Its passengers die or awake, now at the mercy of those who remained on the ground as well as the Otellos; a new, warped species which arose from the dropped pieces of the Central Code. The Otellos seek humans to turn them into mindless puppets named "Coded", although the mutation fails on people from the Arks and results in free and extremely evolved hybrids called "Warheads".
Knowing this, several humans seek Otellos voluntarily to become Warheads and try to protect mankind with the powers gained from the mutation. Several armed factions form with differing points of view on the way to save the world, while the Reborn still has not been completed.
Characters The events of the game unfold successively from the viewpoints of four different Warhead protagonists. The first one is Gene, a young man who becomes amnesic after the Arks accident. He is the son of professor Alvin, one of the builders of the Arks, who disappeared some time after the accident. While searching for his sister Aliz kidnapped by a strange creature, Gene is mutated into a Warhead and watches his arm turning into a weapon during a battle against some Otellos. He is assisted by a small floating companion named Pake, and is later joined by the Warhead Kilroy, who was an assistant to professor Alvin, and Meme, a mysterious but determined, optimistic young female Warhead.
The second protagonist, Fiona, is a soldier of the White Army of Guinevere, who saved her life. Commander Guinevere, a Warhead, was a female scientist who worked in the Arks with professor Alvin. Fiona is initially very loyal to Guinevere, but becomes more reluctant following the death of a friend and the commander's changing, more dominating behavior.
The third protagonist is Gerald, a member of the Black Army of Sullivan. Also very loyal, Gerald nevertheless wonders why people do not unite to face the common threat represented by the Otellos. Commander Sullivan was another companion of professor Alvin and Guinevere, and also became a Warhead. His divergence of opinions with the White Army forced him to gather his own distinct army.
The fourth and final protagonist is Haze Healy, a member of the Keepers, a faction opposed to both the White and Black Armies.
Development Artist Yusuke Naora created the concept for Code Age in 2002, wanting to create something unlike his work Final Fantasy and SaGa; a world which could play host to multiple stories. He created the concept prior to the 2003 merger of Square and Enix to become Square Enix. Code Age formed part of Square Enix's plan to develop "polymorphic content", a marketing and sales strategy to "[provide] well-known properties on several platforms, allowing exposure of the products to as wide an audience as possible"; this approach included Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and the World of Mana. Naora's concept was created independent of this policy, and he later said that while there was pressure from the company when creating Code Age as a multimedia franchise, the greater pressure was finding the right staff.
The development team was nicknamed "Warhead" and specifically assembled for the game, with its lead developers Naora and Toshiyuki Itahana belonging to the art field rather than project management. The production team of Commanders shared multiple staff with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Naora acted as producer and concept artist. Itahana acted as both director and character designer, with Code Age Commanders being his debut as a director. Additional character designs were created by Yasuhisa Izumisawa. Kazuhiko Aoki acted as planning director, the lead programmer was Mitsuru Kamiyama, and the event planner team was led by Masato Yagi. Kazuko Shibuya worked on the UI design. Translation Akitoshi Kawazu acted as executive producer.
Naora wanted to create a unique world, with the main narrative theme being how people react and behave when terrible events happen around them; he was inspired by a phenomenon he saw of people having detached attitudes to car accidents and natural disasters not experienced in person. The non-optional event scenes of the game are fully voiced. Several connections to the mobile phone game Code Age Brawls and the manga Code Age Archives were put throughout the game, so that information learnt from it could be used by players and readers of the other installments to understand the full picture. The character designs began with creating a character's hair, with their clothing incorporating contemporary references. The complex control system was intended to mimic the feeling of dual-wielding weapons in each hand. The focus on customization features in the gameplay was designed by Naora to appeal to the American market. The CGI cutscenes were created by Digital Media Lab.
Music The music was primarily composed by Kumi Tanioka, who had previously worked on Crystal Chronicles and also created the music for Code Age Brawls. Some tracks were composed by Yasuhiro Yamanaka. who also worked as an arranger and remixer. Tanioka described her work on the game as emulating "rhythmic dance music" with a melodramatic atmosphere. The music was highly frenetic with few gaps between waveforms, with Tanioka later feeling she musically attacked the game. The game had a sound staff of six, covering the arranging and remixing of Tanioka's music, sound effects and sound programming. The orchestral arrangements of the tracks "Prologue" and "Airship" were co-produced by Tanioka and Norihito Sumitomo.Tanioka, Kumi (2005-10-19). "Code Age Commanders Original Soundtrack liner notes." (in Japanese) Square Enix. SQEX-10053~4 Retrieved on 2022-04-01. Scans Due to Yamanaka's particular mixing style, Tanioka did not do all the arranging herself as she had done on earlier projects. The theme song "Memory Pocket" was written and performed by Ko Shibasaki. A soundtrack album was released by Square Enix on October 19, 2005, covering two discs and featuring 80 music tracks. "Memory Pocket" was released as the B-side to Shibasaki's single Sweet Mom by Universal Music Group on October 5, 2005, in Japan, and was included in her second album Hitori Asobi published by Universal Music Group on 2006-12-14 in Japan.
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