Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria

"Is facing Silmeria, a Valkyrie, collector of fallen warriors, worth your time?"

Valkyrie Profile for the Playstation was one of the most critically acclaimed RPG's for its non-linear storytelling, unique battle system, and use of Norse Mythology. Even though Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria continues to use Norse Mythology as a backdrop, every other element in Valkyrie Profile has changed. With a more linear story and more refined battle system, is this sequel worth your time? Read to find out!

Story:

Without spoiling the story, the basic premise of Valkyrie Profile 2 takes place before the original game. Silmeria, the youngest of the three Valkyries, disobeyed Odin, the king of the Gods. As a result, he performs a spell to reincarnate Silmeria into the body of Alicia, the princess of Dipan. Unfortunately, his spell goes awry when Silmeria's soul wakes up inside the body of Alicia. Now with two souls inside of one body, Alicia is classified as insane and is soon exiled from her homeland. To make matters worse for Alicia, Odin realizes that the rebellious Valkyrie is indeed active, so he sends Hrist, the oldest and most powerful of the Valkyries, to retrieve Alicia. Escaping from certain death sends Alicia and Silmeria on a quest to confront Odin and prevent a war between the humans and Gods, which would result in certain catastrophe.

No longer within a constrained time period, the story is told in a much more linear fashion. This game is actually a prequel to the first, so no longer does the player need to worry about sending Einherijar up to Asgard, the land of the Gods, to fight for Ragnorak, or the war that will end the world. Because Silmeria was stripped of her powers as a Valkyrie, she no longer has the power to recruit fallen warriors. Instead, throughout dungeons, you will come across bows, staves, and swords of the warriors Silmeria formerly possessed. While you may want to keep all of the Einherijar you find in order to aid you from dungeon to dungeon, sending them off to Asgard will net you many rewards. After reaching a required level, the Einherijar has the option to be sent off. Depending on the equipment and skills they have, you will be rewarded with many items. In addition, the Einherijar will be reincarnated as a human you can reunite with in Midgard, or the land of the humans. As a human, the reincarnated Einherijar will provide tips, money, and equipment. While this is a nice touch, fans of the first may be disappointed to see each Einherijar no longer has a death scene.

Besides each Einjherijar lacking a death scene, these characters could be classified as “second-rate” citizens. Not only are some clones of each other, but their stats are vastly inferior to the story characters like Alicia, the light swords woman, and Rufus, the archer. This is slightly problematic because there are times when you will be stripped of many characters, forcing you to use Einherijar.

While the first game focused on Einherijar, their personal stories really did not contribute to the plot. Giving them only a few lines on the status screen or when sent up emphasizes how tri-Ace attempted to build a stronger, more cohesive plot. Nevertheless, using the story characters or Einherijar in battle will be nothing short of entertaining.

Gameplay:

The majority of the game will be spent in dungeons. Because this game has such complex battle mechanics, I will simply the game play by breaking it up into the following sections: (1) town exploration; (2) dungeon exploration; (3) battle system; (4) customization.

Both town and dungeon exploration is entire 2D with 3D backgrounds. Each town has a distinct feel, and fans of the first will be happy to see some locations make a return, like Dipan and Solde. Each town will have a few houses to explore, nonplayable characters to chat with, and the usual inn and weapon shop. Unlike the first, where Lenneth could make items (literally) out of thin air, Alicia will have to purchase items like everyone else. In the weapon shops, you can create your own weapons by collecting items found from dungeons or treasure chests.

While some dungeons are entirely optional, most are not. In a dungeon, there are a number of actions Alicia must perform in order to traverse from one side to the next. Photons, or crystals, can be shot to freeze the purple blobs, also known as enemies, which will be necessary in order to reach high ledges. If you shoot the enemy twice with a Photon, then you will switch locations. This will be necessary to reach locations you couldn't otherwise reach. Besides photons, you will find sealstones will give you or the enemy an advantage during battle. Set onto a dias, sealstones either enhance or decrease you or the enemy's stats. For example, “sharp sword law” raises your attack by 120%. If you want to use a sealstone found in one dungeon in another, then you must restore it. Throughout the dungeons are sealstone springs, which will let you store sealstones using the crystals you acquire in battle.

Unlike town and dungeon exploration, battles are rendered entirely in 3D. Four characters participate in battle, all sharing an AP gauge. To attack, dash, use items, and magic requires AP. While in the dungeon, if you press X and slash the purple blob, also known as the enemy, you will be given the initiative in battle, starting with 100 AP. However, this can work for the enemy as well. If the enemy surprises you by touching you from behind or if you fall onto it, then you will start with 0 AP. Being attacked by the enemy, walking around, holding L3, or using items will restore the AP gauge. A way to restore AP is to ‘juggle' the enemy, which consists of either knocking the enemy into the air or knocking it down onto the ground. It is essential to kill the enemy in the least amount of turns possible because you will be rewarded. The reward is more XP, or experience points, and the crystals required to restore sealstones. On the right side of the screen is a meter with five circles, which will steadily decrease turn after turn. If you are able to defeat the enemy while all five circles are in place, the battle will be considered a “direct assault”. A “direct assault” nets you the leader item as well, which could be a weapon or item. To make a battle end faster, regardless of how many enemies are on screen, all you need to do is rush to the leader. By dashing, or pressing R1, you can slide through enemy forces and obstacles to reach the leader. In each battle, one enemy will be deemed the leader.

While this emphasizes strategy, you also need precision when you attack. Each of the four characters in battle is assigned a face button, X, O, /\, or []. Each character has an up to three attacks, (which you assign on the status screen. Each attack requires a different amount of AP) depending on the weapon equipped. Properly chaining attacks will net higher combos, which fills up a gauge on the lower left corner. When that gauge reaches 100, depending on the weapon, you could use the character's special attack also known as “Soul Crush” (which was called Purify Weird Soul in Valkyrie Profile).

This is when customization comes in. Not only can you customize who is in your party, but you can also customize their skills, attacks, and equipment. Each character falls under one of four classes; light warrior, heavy warrior, mage, and archer. Mages are able to bypass even the toughest physical defense, while light warriors are good to combo with their fast, yet powerful, attacks. Archers have ranged attacks and heavy warriors have slow, but devastating, attacks. The problem with this system is the imbalance of classes. Mages, while useful in the beginning, are rendered useless by the middle of the game.

Throughout your journey, you will find runes, or accessories, that can be linked to form skills after a certain number of battles. Accessories come in four colors, which are green, red, blue, and colorless. Green, red, and blue runes are the ones that link, and each accessory has a distinct icon on it. For example, the “first aid” skill, which could heal your character after being attacked, requires two blue runes. Unlocking every skill requires experimentation and attentiveness. In addition, certain weapons have innate abilities. To equip these master skills requires CP, or capacity points. The maximum amount of capacity points is 12, while skills range from 2-12 CP.

While I admit this sounds unbearably confusing and complex, there is explanation for all of the game's mechanics in the game. Once you figure out the mechanics, tweaking with the system is very fun and will make this difficult adventure considerably easier. Besides equipping the right weapons, skills, and attacks, you will be given an advantage depending where you hit the enemy.

As I said earlier, dashing is the key to victory. Every enemy has a number of parts, with some being much more vulnerable than others. For example, some enemies will only have half of its HP if you hit it from the back. Each part is ‘breakable,' and if you successfully slice and dice a part off, you will enter ‘Break Mode'. In ‘Break Mode,' you will be given a period of time when you can execute as many attacks as fast as you can. Also, breaking certain parts will earn you items, like runes or weapons. Like, if you break off a lizard's sword, then you may get that sword. Besides the reward, the lizard will no longer have a weapon to attack with. Timing attacks, breaking parts, and equipping the right skills will keep the player engaged.

Luckily, the battle system is a hybrid between action based and turn based. The enemy will only move when you move, so you can spend as much time as you need to plan the perfect strategy.

This is a complex and difficult system to master, but the satisfaction at the end is well worth it. Never have I played a RPG with such a thought-provoking and strategy battle system where each encounter felt unique. Besides, the superb battle system, is the graphics.

Graphics:

Graphically, the game is stunning. With its Victorian European art direction to the technical prowess (supporting 480, or progressive scan), the player will be able to see the willows subtly blowing in the wind to Alicia's worried, but shy, facial expressions. This game is a technical marvel and could easily be considered one of the best looking games on the PS2. In addition, the game has stunning FMVs, albeit a few. Most of the story is told through in-game cutscenes, which still look spectacular.

Besides the great graphics, the voice acting gives each character personality.

Sound:

While the dubbing is horrible, the voice acting is not as atrocious as Valkyrie Profile. Each voice actor portrays his or her role well. From Valkyrie Profile, only one actor returns.

From the battle theme to the town music, each track is orchestrated well. With a style much different from Valkyrie Profile, the tracks range from melancholy to adrenaline pumping. Sadly, I believe the soundtrack is the weakest part of this great game. Many tracks are good, but not many are memorable.

Replay Value:

After completing the difficult 40 hour journey, you can go to the Seraphic Gate, a post game dungeon. If you beat the post dungeon ten times (but note, it gets harder each time), then you will be rewarded a very special item. Furthermore, if you save after beating the game and start a new game, the difficulty will be ramped. You can apparently do this up to fifty times. Unfortunately, in new game plus, your levels or equipment does not carry over.

Closing Thoughts:

When I first picked up this game, I knew nothing about it or the prequel. What I found is an extremely polished game with the most intriguing and complex battle system, amazing graphics, good sound, and an enthralling cast of characters.

Quickly becoming one of my favorite games, I can easily recommend this to any player. Again, I must emphasize that this game is difficult. The difficulty randomly spikes, so new players to the genre should beware. Beating this game requires dedication to fully understand the battle system, not hours of mindless grinding to gain levels. tri-Ace has proven that they can create a game that excels on every level.

9.2/10

Quick Summary (Recap):

Story: The second weakest part of the game. At first, the story may seem bland, but it later picks up to become an enthralling tale with a dramatic conclusion.

Graphics: Outstanding. The level of detail just shows how much the aging PS2 is capable of.

Gameplay: Requires both strategy and precision. The sheer amount of customization makes every battle unique. Its a shame the classes are imbalanced.

Sound: While all tracks are good, few are memorable. Dubbing sucks, but voice acting is good.

Replay Value: After the 40 hour quest, there is an incredibly difficult post-game dungeon. Also, each consequential play through ramps up the difficulty.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/03/09

Game Release: Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (US, 09/26/06)