Rogue Galaxy is an action role-playing video game developed by Level-5 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. The game was released in Japan in December 2005, in North America in January 2007, and in most European countries and Australia in September the same year. A director's cut of the game was released in Japan in March 2007, which includes all of the added features and improvements made for the North American and European localizations. The game follows the adventures of Jaster Rogue, a young agricultural worker living on an isolated planet, who becomes involved in a galactic conflict, and learns the fate of the entire galaxy lies in his hands. At the time of its release, Rogue Galaxy was the largest game Level-5 had ever developed, both in terms of the number of staff working on it and the length of production (over three years). Both Level-5 and Sony had strong expectations for the game, hoping it would challenge the RPG market dominance of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises. Rogue Galaxy received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the graphics, range of side quests and scope of the game. Some, however, were critical of the plot and character development. Although the game went on to win several gaming awards, it did not sell as well as had been hoped, failing to meet Sony's expectations of selling one million units. Gameplay Rogue Galaxy is an action role-playing game played from a third-person perspective in which the player moves through a continuous environment, with no load time between overworld exploration and combat. Battles occur as random encounters, a la traditional role-playing video games such as Square's Final Fantasy X or Level-5's own Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. However, unlike such games, which feature turn-based combat, Rogue Galaxy uses a real-time hack and slash combat system in which the player fights with a party of three characters. The player has direct control over only one character, although which character this is can be changed at any time. The two NPCs fight independently of the player character, based on the strategy selected prior to the battle. Available strategies include fighting very aggressively, targeting a specific enemy, or not fighting at all. The strategy can also be changed at any time during the battle. Additionally, the player can issue specific orders to the NPCs during combat,