Valkyrie Profile series

The first few weeks of my holiday in Malaysia last December, I spent my gaming time playing a great game entitled Valkyrie Profile Silmeria for PS2. After finishing almost 99% of the sidequests, I move on to the prequel, Valkyrie Profile Lenneth for PSP. There's simply too many things about these games that really attract myself.

The game is mainly based on Norse-Scandinavian Mythology, story about the war between the Aesir and Vanir (and some other races) which involves the world of Asgard, Midgard, Alfenheim and Nifelheim. The lord of the god, Odin ordered the battle maiden valkyrie (Lenneth Valkyrie) to go down to the earth and search for selective human soul to become einherjar to fight for them. It is this plot which was mainly focused on Valkyrie Profile Lenneth (PSP), while the other series Valkyrie Profile Silmeria mainly focused on the conflict within Asgard and the Silmeria Valkyrie itself, and not focusing on the Ragnarok (Well, they're thousand years before Ragnarok).

So what's so special about these games? Firstly, the gameplay and battle system is simply awesome. Suprisingly, both games uses linear gameplay but still clearly manage to depict the 3D environment, a concept rarely used in rpg games. We can only move the character either forward or backward, with the junction in between, and we can jump through obstacles, doing many tricks with the crystal tricks to complete the sidequest. In addition, many sub-elements are added to enhance the gameplay. Just like Shadow Hearts with its unique Judgement Ring System, Valkyrie Profile, particularly VP2 Silmeria adapt a system called Sealstone, which will totally affect our performance in battle as well as in the field, particularly during the 2nd half of the game. These include increase attacks, enhance jumping and even change the gender.

During the course of the game, we are able to recruit ectra characters called "Einherjar", which will aid us in battle, if we chose to use them in battle. Ultimately, Einherjar is subject to be released to the Asgard to serve for Asgard army. However, while in VP Lenneth releasing Einherjar is compulsory, in VP Silmeria it isn't. But, releasing einherjar in VP2 with decent/perfect equipment will grant us very nice items, mostly which boost our stats. For example, releasing a heavy warrior einherjar with Tyrfing, Conqueror Armor, Ether Crown, Red Boots and Wind Gloves will grant us items which will significantly increase STR (strength) as well as Int, Dex, Con and Agi. Not to mention there're 4 heavy warriors, 7 mages, 4 light warriors, and 5 archers. Releasing them with perfect item set, and feed all the stat-boosting items to one character (main-story character) will make the character almost invisible. Therefore, even though it's not necessary, releasing einherjar is still a great option.

Secondly, the battle system. Battle system in Silmeria differs significantly than Lenneth (though the concept is still the same). Each character correspond to their respective button for attacks (square triangle, X, O). I only focus on Silmeria battle system since it is more interesting. In battle, we can rip the enemies apart piece by piece by attacking at the right points (well, luck plays major part in this, as well as attack setup). Bonus will be given if we knock the enemies in air or while it was knocked down. With the right combos, you can also setup some beautiful combos. By this, it means that you can do whatever you want to make it looks cool. You can simply use Rufus' Killing Thorn continuously to score 999 hits, slash and slide like Lenneth, teleport-hit and then blast with various kicks or laser like Freya, or even use archer Aiming Wisp multiple combos, which looks really cool.

Also, one special feature on the battle system is the Soul Crush system (or PWS-Purify Weird Soul in Lenneth). It's like Overdrive in FFX, Limit on FFVII or Mist Knack in FFXII. By continuously hitting the enemies, the "heat gauge" at the left bottom of the battle creen will increase and once it's full (100), characters which participate in the attacks can perform their Soul Crush/PWS. Every hits in SC (Soul Crush) will increase the damage of the next hit by 1%, so if you cumulate 999 hits = 999% increase damage! So of course using the strongest, lesser hit SC like heavy warrior' Soul Evocation will result in MASSIVE damage. Everyone have their distict Soul Crush (except heavy&light warrior and archer einherjars), and by cumulating multiple Soul Crush we usually can kill the enemies in just 1 attack phase (some bosses might survive that). And there's tons more to say about the battle...

Then the sidequests. The game offer, if not vast, great sidequest to complete. Even though it's not as much as that in Star Ocean 3, the sidequest especially Seraphic gate is quite satisfying and challenging. We need to do some trick in order to obtain all treasure chests, then need to beat certain bosses to obtain extra characters, and the best weapon in the game. Not to mention releasing the einherjar itself is considered as part of the sidequest. And once we've beat the 2nd last boss of Seraphic Gate (Etherial Queen), we have virtually obtained all available characters in the game, including Freya and Valkyrie.

Lastly the graphic of the game. The game was beautifully developed, with fantastic scenery and character design. The moves in battle was smooth, and the FMV and Soul Crush also catch my eyes. Well, not much to say here, see them for yourselves in google or Youtube or any official website.