Have you completed Level-5′s White Knight Chronicles yet? Well, you may want to consider it. In an interview with 4Gamer, director Toshiyuki Kusuda announced that players must have a completed save from the first game, in order to access content from the sequel. Those who have yet to do so shouldn’t worry, as the entire story from the original title is included on the disc.

Upon starting the sequel, if you do in fact have a completed save file, you will be given some choices. Players can either start from the very beginning, which includes creating your own avatar, or picking back up from where the original game left off. If you start from the beginning, you’ll be back to Level 1, however, you will get to keep all items gained from your previous save. If you go straight for the sequel segment, you’ll be dropped down to Level 35, regardless of what you had before.

Both parts of the series have had their gameplay systems upgraded, so even if players do choose to restart from the beginning, director Kusuda feels that the experience will be fresh.

If you plan to play online with users who own the first game, you’ll be out of luck. Even though Awakening of Light and Darkness does feature both games, players will be unable to play with those who own only the original. Despite that, the social networking content such as journal entries and messages, can still be accessed across both titles.

White Knight Chronicles: Awakening of Light and Darkness will be available exclusively on PlayStation 3 in Japan on July 8, 2010.