Valkyrie Profile Series

Blade

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
I decided that since there doesn't seem to be a thread about this epic series, I should make one!

If you haven't really tried these games before or seen them in action, you haven't really Lived, Died, or Become an Einherjar! (Pronounced "Einhairiyar")

The first thing you have to know about this series is that it explores tragedies and sadness to a large degree. War, Bloodshed, Slavery, Murder, Cruelty... all are covered in this series. But it also covers hope and possibility.

The second thing you need to know is that this series is done by famous composer Motoi Sakuraba who does everything from jazz to techno and synth and everything in between. Just listen to those themes! And that prologue, it just speaks volumes! Combined with his songs, and the art by Kou and You Yoshinari (and other big artists who have worked with them)... and this series is simply beautiful aesthetically to experience. The transition between SD (super-deformed) and HD character designs (from 2D sprites to 3D models) hasn't been perfect, but it was a pleasant enough experience to make these games unforgettable and memorable.

The third (and probably most important) thing you need to know is that this series comes from an era of gaming that sincerely engages the player and challenges them in terms of Platforming, Puzzles, Battle action... and even Exploration. I have yet to find a game where one wrong jump can send you hurtling through a sea of caves only to miss a critical MISS-ABLE rare item and end up fighting crazy strong monsters instead, forcing you to bomb and reload your last game save! Not only this, but this game comes from an era of map exploration seldom seen anymore: airships flying around a 3D parallax map!

In a lot of ways, I see myself relating to the lecherous "stalker-like" attachment Lezard Valeth (a dark evil alchemist) has to Lenneth Valkyrie... though he's often portrayed as a major villain with a complex in the series, he represents guys who find Valkyries to be an ideal concept of a pure womanly warrior (a fine balance of purity, strength, and beauty). If you don't have an armor fetish like I do, you will when you experience this series (and if you just like the other facets and aren't as big a fan as I am, that's fine too).

Anyway, this thread will cover all facets of VP discussion:

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth (PSone game, PSP/PSV rerelease)
Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (Nintendo DS)
Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria (PS2)
Valkyrie Profile: ???? (Hrist?)

Resource Link (for nerds like me).

I do hope I'm not the only big fan of this series on this board!
 
Dragonslayer Ornstein

Dragonslayer Ornstein

Pro Adventurer
I love the series with every ounce of my being. I like stories where multiple characters are given fleshed out backgrounds that tie into a larger whole, it's kind of like GoT or something, though each of the dying spirits just end up as Einherjar.

Lezard Valeth is one of the most fascinating... Oh you mentioned him. He's still an asshole though, I hope you don't relate to the kidnapping and staging awful things part, haha
 
Blade

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
What I liked about the series were a few things that made it stand out from even its own type of games!

---The fact that you spend most of the game flying around the world AS the Valkryie... if you've ever played around in Airships in other RPGs from the SNES era, you'd know how fun it is just to fly around like this. I really wish more games would use this gimmick, or at least build something like it with side quests and the like around it. In the case of VP though, I could picture a Valkyrie flying around to the different worlds like Asgard, Midgard, Jotunheim, Nifleheim, and even Hel, maybe fighting flying enemies in mid-air battles, or talking to other flying beings, or doing a mail delivery system like UPS as a side quest.

---The platforming gimmicks are really charming. From being able to freeze enemies to prevent yourself from getting ambushed, to using frozen/busted enemies to make places to jump to get hard-to-reach items... Even the VP2 photon system was pretty great. VP1 lets you stand on floating shard crystals as though you were flying on absolutely nothing... VP2 lets you swap places with enemies, and if you're fast with floating enemies, you can swap mid-air with them enderneath you to get to really high spots. It even gives you an additional jump as an option... Sealstones even add to the complexity of photon shooting and jumping. I just really liked that aspect of it... and if they made another one, I'd like to see it implementing the idea of picking up and stacking treasure chests again, like the original's puzzles.


---I also liked the idea of getting EXP gems and being able to distribute your EXP strategically so that your party can release allies early to reap benefits later. Even the artifacts kinda speak volumes to the game's Norse Mythology and lore... like for example items that generate golden eggs every couple periods, or gems that are designed to convert items in to other items... it really was fun gimmicks.
 
Dragonslayer Ornstein

Dragonslayer Ornstein

Pro Adventurer
I like that you were forced to actually make decisions with the rpg elements that affect your long term progress and even the ending you got. It legitimately felt like you were given the job of being a Valkyrie as a profession.
 
Blade

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
The way they covered the story for the first game was very episodic in nature... somewhat like a mystery show:

You detect trouble (Spiritual Concentration) > You investigate whatever happened > Recover Spirits/Defeat Monsters/Solve Mysteries > Mystery Solved/Story Concludes > Recover Odin's Artifacts (or not if you want to be naughty!) > Victory Lap out of the Dungeon (all enemies disappear once you beat the boss).

Of course VP2 later made it so that enemies respawn when you re-enter an area, not to mention there was less "time-sensitive pressure" when choosing where you had to go, but the game had interesting spikes in difficulty that made you choose where you went very carefully and what sort of party you wanted to have deal with the enemies of the area.

VP2 also had a system of learning abilities that speed up in favor of low-level allies (meaning you could have 3 high level characters and 1 low level character quickly learning abilities others learned rather quickly). So choosing your allies and who to keep versus who to release and when was very important too.

I'd usually end up leveling up Einherjar first, then have them "teach" my low level main characters stuff, then release the Einherjar that could give you decent items later on and keep the ones that just gave you OTH (currency) until I could "perfect release" them later for uber stat-boosting items.

Another thing I liked was the fact you could "get all your allies back" at a later point in the game, if not Seraphic Gate.
 
Joker

Joker

We have come to terms
AKA
Godot
VP2 is a solid game, though not as mindblowingly excellent as the original (which is easily one of the best games I've ever played, ever).

PS if you're reading this thread (or even just this post) and haven't played or watched a video from VP1, you should go do so now. You're welcome.
 
Blade

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
As far as management differences between VP1 and VP2... every character has a unique, albeit "fixed" set of abilities they learn (mostly spells/attacks) from a pool of abilities. Einherjar don't exactly stand out from one another much except from the main characters. In a way they are unique in that some archers are more spell oriented like mages, while there are Heavy swordsmen who use the "right combination" of attacks for a given situation.

Management comes from learning additional skills, figuring out which Einherjar to summon through Object reading (since some give you good items on release, while others don't but have better abilities at lower levels), there's a random chance of getting certain Einherjar over others, but really you can just as easily reload your save and pick which ones you think will suit your journey best.

Character classes are pretty fixed too (Female Swordsman, Male Heavy Swordsman, Female Archers, Male Mages) but at the same time there's some variety in the form of interactions between Einherjar (like for example pairing Phyress with Celes as they are sisters who fought on both sides of an old war, you get interesting or funny conversations sometimes).

"Main characters" are often the strongest party members, but they don't start off with Skills like Einherjar do, so they are handicapped in that regard, so you have to work on them to get them stronger, that's why Einharjar are easier to level up in order to teach main characters key abilities for battles.

Also, while it's not as important, winning key boss battles quickly is a good way to get some accessories earlier, since runes are the main way to learn Skills and destroying monsters to get certain runes takes a little patience.

Weapons, Armor, and Accessories are still "created", but they cost OTH to make and are built in shops, so you have to use monster parts and other materials to get the stuff you want.

Also, releasing Einherjar with certain equipment is the best way to get certain stat-boosting items... hence why someone took the time to write a Perfect Release guide over at GameFAQs.

Most of the game is built around leveling up your party to get good items after Chapter 4, and working on getting more runes and getting stronger to take on tough bosses after that (and believe me, they are tough).
 
Blade

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
I should also mention that because of the Rune system in VP2, it takes a while for some job classes to learn abilities compared to others (for example "Break Up" is typically an ability only Heavy Warrior class can learn, but once you get the Broken Sword rune, everyone else can learn it). That goes for the Red Sword Rune, Blue Staff Rune, Red Arrow Rune... and the Green runes you pick up much later.
 
Blade

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
One of the most satisfying things I can say about VP2 is...

You get to cut monsters in to pieces...

Oh sure, there's no blood, but when you see enemy monster body parts flying everywhere.... there's something so.... I dunno, so "wild" about doing that.
 
Blade

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
I'm just gonna leave this here 'cuz SPECULATION :monster:

tumblr_m9orttu97i1rb4up5o1_1280.png
 
ForceStealer

ForceStealer

Double Growth
I have the PSP release, and it was very very cool. Really unique mechanics all the way around. I remember it getting pretty hard and I never finished it
 
Joker

Joker

We have come to terms
AKA
Godot
WHATS HAPPENING PLEADE EX0 LAIN THIS TO ME

AHZUEKWBEUZNSHSKWSBSIROZNDHE BEST RPG
 
Blade

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
I don't know if it's a Remake or what.... but it's something. It could be Vita, I hope it's PS4 though.
 
Joker

Joker

We have come to terms
AKA
Godot
Idk...they're dropping Vita and PS3 support on PS Plus games...seems unlikely they'll keep making stuff for it.

I don't ask for much, but fuck ffvii give me this game in a truly glorious way
 
Blade

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
To be honest I should NOT be surprised. Japanland is addicted to Cellphones, so of COURSE this would be on one.

In addition I should also NOT be surprised because Tri-Ace is owned by Nepro which is ESSENTIALLY a Cellphone business... :/

JAPAN I SWEAR YOU MAKE ME SO MAD SOMETIMES...
 
Blade

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
So, I'm hearing rumors about this game...

1. That it'll get new characters.
2. That it'll have an external controller adapter option.
3. That it'll be a better port than the PSP version.

Sounds good so far, but, I have no idea how I'd hook up a Controller to a Cellphone.
 
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