|
"Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth", originally known as Valkyrie Profile, is a console role-playing game (RPG) developed by tri Ace and published by the Enix Corporation (now Square Enix Co., Ltd). It was originally released simply as Valkyrie Profile in 1999 in Japan, and later released in 2000 in the United States. Both were released on the PlayStation console.
Square Enix announced a port of Valkyrie Profile for the PlayStation Portable. Titled Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, the game was released in Japan in March 2006 and shipped on July 18, 2006, in North America. A PlayStation 2 prequel, titled Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, was also announced for a 2006 release in Japan. The American version was released on September 25th, 2006.
The game is based on Norse mythology. Players assume the role of a Valkyrie who must find the souls of people who die tragic deaths, shape them into powerful warriors post-mortem, and send them to Valhalla for the final apocalyptic battle between the Æsir and Vanir, Ragnarok. Each warrior has a 'Hero Value', a number representing their usefulness in Valhalla, and certain characters cannot be sent to fight in Ragnarok.
Game Features
Valkyrie Profile boasts complex game mechanics with regard to character ability development, attacks, and skill positioning coupled with fast and simplistic attack and combat execution. Much of the game consists of locating and recruiting new Einherjar (with cutscenes of the circumstances of their deaths), training them in various dungeons, and determining when and whether to send them to Valhalla to fight alongside Odin. Character development for a majority of the Einherjar consists of their aforementioned "death scenes," and dialogues between them and the Gods while in Valhalla. Such "death scenes" are dramatic and highly-emotional in most cases, oftentimes steeped in symbolism and metaphors.
Valkyrie Profile is distinct in that most of the game takes place in a 2D perspective (hence the name). Dungeon sections play more like a platformer than a traditional RPG. Lenneth Valkyrie, the player character, makes her way through these by jumping, sliding, and using her ability to throw ice crystals. These ice crystals can do a number of things, including making temporary steps and freezing enemies. They are also used for solving small puzzles. Upon contact with an unfrozen enemy, an RPG-style battle begins.
Valkyrie Profile boasts a unique take on a turn-based battle system. The two sides wage battle during alternate turns. The whole party shares one turn however each member can attack during that turn at the same time. Each enemy is given their own turn and they do not combo with one another. Each of the four party members is assigned to a particular button. Pressing the corresponding button on the player's turn orders that character to attack. Conventional fighters have three character-specific attacks, and can use those that their weapons' properties allow once per turn. Mages cast their preset offensive spells, which builds up their CT (Charge Time). Charge Time replaces MP, decreases slowly on its own and prevents spellcasting when above 0. While a mage's CT decreases, they can not perform any actions. There are exceptions to this however, in the form of certain equippable skills.
Stringing attacks together produces combos that prevent a target from defending or recovering, yield Magic Crystals, and Purple Gems that respectively boost experience and reduce CT, and add momentarily to the Hit Gauge. When the gauge hits 100%, a character with no Charge Time may release a special attack ("Purify Weird Soul") that both causes great damage and refills the gauge by an amount, possibly allowing another character to use a PWS. Such attacks cause CT to rise. Fighters again have character-specific moves, while mages typically use multi-hit versions of their selected spells; the exception are mages wielding scepters with Great Magic capabilities that elevate spells into extensive cinematics that strike all on-screen enemies. Human-forged Great Magic scepters have a high chance of breaking in such use, and the unbreakable ether-coated ones are extremely rare.
One other distinctive factor of Valkyrie Profile is that damage and statistics are not 'capped' as they are in most RPGs; later in the game, it is not uncommon to do over 1,000,000 points of total damage in a single four-man combo. With the right setup, one character is capable of doing this much damage in a single attack. The party may attack an enemy until it no longer has any available moves instead of being limited to the total DME of the target. It also has a group experience system: In addition to battle experience, "event experience" points are obtained from certain events that occur during dungeon exploration such as solving key puzzles, and are banked for dividing among the party members at a later time. This is especially useful in levelling up new characters who start off at low levels. As the battle system requires much forethought, there's an option to practice fighting against 3 types (normal, heavy and flying) of enemies. Valkyrie Profile features multiple endings; based on player performance, the difficulty level selected, and in the case of the best ending, their actions, a player can obtain one of three endings, labeled as A, B, and C. Since only the A ending actually completes the plotline, this provides an incentive to perform well.
Valkyrie Profile features a wide variety of playable characters. More than twenty are attainable in total, each with a unique set of attacks and a unique special move, save for the mages, who can learn and forget any spells up to a maximium of ten but are set apart by their stats and their initial spell lineup. The difficulty level selected at the beginning of the game determines the availability of some of these characters. Wikipedia |
|
|
