Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria

"Well worth the six year wait, an RPG well worth praise"

Introduction:

After the release of the first Valkyrie Profile in 2000, many fans eagerly awaited a sequal. five years later our waiting ended when official news, and screenshots regarding a second installment to the series. In september, (atleast for us americans) the waiting was officially over. Was it well worth the wait..?

Story: 9/10

This is a prequel to the first Valkyrie Profile. In the original Valkyrie Profile there is a castle in which Lenneth Valkyrie invades to fight Brahms, lord of the undead. In his castle there is the soul of a valkyrie sealed away, Valkyrie Profile 2 is the tale of that valkyrie and how various dungeons were opened in the first. The story follows Alicia, princess of Dipan, a nation that rebels against the Gods using forbidden magics. Alicia has the soul of Silmeria Valkyrie within her, and often the player will see her switch personalities often.

Character Development is simply amazing, various changes in characters can turn your least favorite into your favorite, and vice versa, and not everyone is as they seem. A few characters from the first make their return to Silmeria as well, Arngrim and Lezard play major parts in the story, as well as Hrist Valkyrie,(who was only seen once or twice in the original.) Freya and Odin make their return of course, but there is another return that is quite a spoiler so will not be mentioned.

For those who remember the dramatic death scenes from Valkyrie Profile Lenneth, those no longer exist. Instead, Einherjar are aquired by materializing them from various glowing weapons found in dungeons. For example, if you see a large broad sword sticking out of the ground, you can materialize a heavy warrior. Once you aquire an einherjar, go to the status screen and you can read their story. some of them only give hints as to how they died, while others tell sad tales.

The story focuses more so on a variety of the characters rather then the first and it's main focus on Lenneth and maybe one or two other characters. Also, the characters you actually see talking to Alicia during cutscenes arn't Einherjar but living beings, which adds an interesting new twist to the story.

Gameplay: 9.5/10

Bravo, this is in fact the closest to perfection a battle system has ever been I'd say. For the most part it's real time, you run around the map as a character and your enemy moves after you. For a game of this difficulty level, this is good for you can pretty much prevent an enemy from getting a single hit on you if you play your cards right. For attacking, you assign a single character to one of the buttons, (square, triangle, x, circle) and when an enemy comes within your attack range, press which ever button. You can press them all at once, or you can do it one at a time. if your timing is right your special attack gauge will fill, and depending on who can use a SOul crush, (or finisher), press their button to unleash it. However not every character can just use one like in this game's predecessor, it's all in the weapon. This adds more depth to the battle system as you often will find some of the weapons that enable a special attack are a bit weaker then ones that don't, or they don't give you as many attacks per character (max is 3 attacks per round.)

You can also split your party into two for distracting an enemy with one or two of your four party members while the rest come behind, leaving them surrounded for you to completly obliterate them. However, attacking has it's limits,there is an AP meter that drains as you attack, use items, or cast a spell.

Terrain plays a major factor in the battle system, similar to a strategy RPG. You can often use high ledges to your advantage, but enemies can use corners to theirs and pummel your party if you back into one. Yay no more backdrops!

The only flaw in the battle system is the menu limit. Many players of Star Ocean may remember that little block ont he menu that goes off after item use. Well even if you use menu magic(like heal), you wont be able to access the item menu until the block disappears, and it often can take a bit of time when you're trying to heal each individual team mate. It doesn't work in this game as well due to the fact that healing items are a bit harder to come by, and far more expensivefor multi party healing ones.

Oh and for you destructive people out there, you can chop off enemy body parts hee hee.

Dungeon crawling is actually fun,you run around 2D sidescrolling style and solve various puzzles, often you have to kill enemies to get specail treasure chests they're blocking. also There are photons, similar to the crystals in the original these can freeze a walking enemy (outside of battle) in place, however when you fire again at a crystalized enemy you switch places with them. This comes in handy when trying to reach high ledges, or get past a passage you're too big to fit through. Battles are also not random and initiated by running into a purplish creature, (sometimes walking, running, flying, or simply floating) which if you use photons you can avoid most battles all together. I don't see why you would want to though considering the battle system is just that fun.

Graphics: 10/10

Simply breath taking. Character designs are pretty much the drawings of each character put into 3D, and quite well done. How ever what really stands out are the environments and their backrounds. Each dungeon is breath takingly beatiful and full of life. Dungeons with clean water in it look so beautiful they make you want to drink the water. Fog, and frost surrounding each area do not look like cluttered squares and the texture on the ground is just smooth and beautiful. Battle graphics are simply top notch, the lighting and flashes of light that erupt from each attack, the different styles of battle fields, and the beauty of the special attacks show that The developers definetly pushed the Playstation 2 to it's limits for this one, it's graphics will not disappoint!

Sound: 10/10

Very catchy tunes, and the music often fits greatly with the environment. Sometimes the music goes a bit too well with the environment, often making a boring area bore the player. Motoi Sakuraba is to thank for the wonderful music the game has. Sound effects are completly well done and are perfectly timed,I have yet to see a game in this day and age in wich sound effects are horrible though. Voice acting is excellantly done, and I honestly can not find a single thing to complain about with it, definetly some of the best I've seen. The only thing Im not too fond of is Freya's voice. But for the most part the voices bring the characters to life.

Replayability: 9/10

The main game is quite a bit on the short side, but is filled with enough side quests and options. With the secret dungeon (which Tri-ace is famous for *ahem*), you will find yourself fighting on for many hours, and with the multitude and randomness of the einherjar aquired one might want to replay to see
all of the einherjar. Also once the game is completed you can start a new one on a higher difficulty which increases with each play through.

Over all: 9/10

All and All, Valkyrie Profile is a wonderful game for both advanced gamers, and new ones alike. Gamers who would never touch an RPG might just find themselves loving this game. This is everything a sequel should be. It keeps the classic feel of the original but improves over many of it's faults. Also,
the ending leaves hope of a sequel with a few unanswered questions.

Rent or buy: buy or die?

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/09/06