[REVIEW] Valkyrie Profile 2 : Silmeria [PS2][SPOILERS]

I dug out VP2 and started playing it again, decided to write a review, hopefully some of you will go out and get it, since it rocks. Apologies for any spelling or gramatical errors, I wrote this in a oner without a spell checker, but it should be readable :p
Title : Valkyrie Profile 2 : Silmeria
Platform : Playstation 2
Publisher : Square Enix, Developed by TriAce
Released : 2007

Story

Valkyrie Profile 2 is steeped heavily in Norse mythology, set in the mortal realm of Midgard and the divine realm of Asgard. Whilst it takes many liberties with the myths, it provides an exciting rpg experience that won an internet award for best game no one played in 2007.

The story follows a young girl called Alicia, estranged princess of the kingdom of Dipan. The game starts off with a sequence showing her, guided by voices in a castle trying to make her escape from a persuing valkyrie. In the game there are 3 valkyries called Hrist, Lenneth and Silmeria and this one focuses mainly on Silmeria, youngest of the valkyries.

Prior to the game timeline she disobeyed Odin and was subsequently trapped inside the body of the princess Alicia. Only 1 valkyrie can inhabit any world at any given time and the system of rebirth is known as the soveriegn's rite which transmigrates the soul from one vessel to another. However Silmeria was intended to remain trapped in the body of Alicia, docile in slumber but she awakes.

Alicia is presumed posessed and is exiled by her father whilst he sought after a cure for her posession. Alicia and Silmeria soon become friends and learn than her fathers research is in danger of incurring the wrath of Odin, lord of Valhalla. Odin is also now aware that Silmeria has awoken and sends Hrist Valkyrie to persue and bring back Silmeria to his court. She finds Alicia at her place of exile, however she escapes and sets off to Dipan to warn her father of Dipan's impending doom.

On their way they recruit a green haired main called Rufus to escort them to Dipan, at first hiding Alicia's secret, however events on the way soon cause it to be revealed. As a Valkyrie, Silmeria can materialise the souls of the fallen as Einherjar (sp), warrios of Ragnorok. She materialises the soul of a long dead warrior called Dylan to fight for them, much to Rufus's surprise and the three enter Dipan.

Upon scouring the castle they stumble across the lab of the three mages, powerful magicians appoiinted by the king himself. They encounter the youngest of the mages, a childhood friend of Alicia called Dallas who informs them that the king is looking for the Dragon Orb, one of the divine treasures who's power breathes life into Midgard, and whose power is strong enough to challenge the gods. However they are discovered and as their fate seems certain, a young apprentice called Lezard Valeth jumps to the rescue, teleporting them all to safety.

Lezard reveals that the king of Dipan seeks the Dragon Orb in order to grant him the power to perform the sovereigns rite, hoping to perform it on Odin and to then rid the mortal world of his Tyranny. The stage is now set for an epic quest to find the Dragon Orb before Odin does and to avert a war with the gods.

Text book rpg stuff, however the Norse twist breathes new life into it. It takes a bit of time for the story to develop, however once it does it takes some interesting and unforseen twists and turns before the end and will satisfy any keen rpger. The game contains a strong cast of characters who bring something different to the game, from the mighty and noble Dylan, the cocky yet fearless Rufus, the stoic and observant Lezard and the timid Alicia, along with a host of others.

The main villain for most of the game is Odin, however it takes a while before we get to see the mighty king of the Aesir, in his stead we are given Hrist Valkyrie, loyal servant of Odin and relentless persuer. When we do finally get to see what Odin is made of, he does not dissapoint, arrogant and brattish, his and his followers belief that their divinity gives them the right to rule and subdue the mortals is the underlying bone of contention, which leads some of the characters to do terrible things in his name.

I like the character development, Alicia who is timid, but when Silmeria takes control is strong willed and forceful and it is enjoyable to see how Alicia's relationship with Silmeria slowly changes her into an eventual warrior princess, fearful of no one. The other characters...their development is certainly more interesting, many are found to be hiding pretty big skeletons in their closet and when things come to a head about half way through it is such a thrilling experience.

The story picks pace and finds its strength in the later half of the game, I don't wish to give it away but just know that you are in for an enjoyable ride. Indeed its main flaw is that it is too short, it can easily be cleared in 20-30 hours which is short for an rpg, but as I will explain later it is still worth the money.

Score - 9/10

Gameplay

Valkyrie Profile 2 is a rather unique beast on the PS2 and in terms of gameplay offers up something really refreshing which brings with it a whole new set of challenges not often seen in a game of this genre. I will take the two main parts of the game and discuss in turn.

Platforming

Valkyrie Profile 2 is a 2d sidescroller, reminiscant of Mario and Sonic. You take control of Alicia and venture through dungeon and plain overcoming rather simple obstacles. Mobs take the form of shadowy figures, upon making contact will initiate combat, which I will discuss later. Alicia can fire photons, balls of light which upon hitting certain objects, namely mobs, freezes them in a crystal for a short period of time, turning them into makeshift platforms.

However if you hit a frozen enemy with another photon, you swap positions with them. Often this isn't very challenging, however there are some carefully placed treasures which require some fancy photon shooting to reach, introducing a whole new plane of challenge for the gamer that can be very enjoyable and fun to watch.

To assist in certain activities, Alicia can utilise the many seal stones present in the game. A seal stone is a stone of energy which contains buffs and debuffs. Initially you can carry only 1 (going upto 4), and carrying it makes its effects apply to your party. Some of these effects only take effect in combat, but some are used outside, things that increase your jump height for instance. However you might not want to carry one, but there are places to keep them.

They can be obtained from 2 sources, a dias which is simply a object which can hold them. However if it is on a dias, the effect will spread across a given area and apply to the mobs. So any buffs go to them. You can also place them in a shell, this just keeps it safe and doesn't effect the surrounding area. When you leave a zone sealstones are placed in their original position, unless you restore any you were carrying, using a spring. Once restored, they can be retrieved from any spring in any dungeon.

As mentioned, the platforming isn't too taxing. However, upon reaching the final save point in the final dungeon, you gain access to the Seraphic Gate. This bonus dungeon is what really takes this game to a whole new level. In short, it is fucking hard, easily the most difficult rpg experience I have ever had and one that requires geniune skill.

The platforming puzzles are so intracite and mind bogglingly difficult it will put many players off, however for those who like a challenge then you have come to the right place. The Seraphic Gate contains 5 floors, each with its own boss. Across the gate there are a number of puzzle rooms which contain some nice loot. To get to them, you need to pull off the fanciest 2d platforming ever seen since the days of the SNES and Mega Drive.

Normally I'd score this part of the gameplay at around 7/10, its different but not taxing, however with the Seraphic Gate, it gets:

Score - 9/10

Combat

So once you make contact with a foe, combat is engaged. The game goes from 2d to 3d. On your screen are the 4 PS2 buttons, each corresponds to a character. When you press any of the buttons, the character attacks using whatever attacks you have set for that character. When you attack, you consume AP (attack points). In order to attack you must get close to a mob, however there is a red patch of ground eminating from a mob, if you enter there it will attack you, so the trick is to get to it, but not in its attack zone in order to land your hits.

Once your AP is used, you can no longer attack, now it is the mobs turn, if it still lives. To regain AP, a mob must either attack you, which returns AP, or there are 2 other ways. Holding the R3 button regains it, however you cannot move, but mobs can so you risk getting hit. Or you can move around, walking replemishes lost AP. When you move, the mobs also move, but stop if you stop, so the system isn't in real time.

When you start a fight, there are 4 dots on the side of the screen, all of which are lit. As the fight ensues, these become dark. The goal is to end the combat whilst all are still lit, increasing your XP and Oath (the currency of the game). Combat ends if all your party die, if you kill all the mobs, or if you kill the leader. Most groups of mobs have a leader, whose HP bar is yellow, killing it will end combat, so the goal is to kill the leader with all your dots still lit. This is called a direct assault.

It is a refreshing break from the traditional turn based system most RPG's use. However it does often mean button mashing, which works fine for most of the game. When you attack, you increase your combo meter, fully charging it results in a soul charge, which is just special attacks your characters have. To use a soul charge your character must have a weapon which grants special attacks, these attacks are more powerful and cannot be dodged.

The combat system has surprising depth, much of which can be ignored if you just want to complete the game, however just with the platforming, the Seraphic Gate asks much more of you.

To give a brief lowdown, a weapon grants attacks. It will allow you 1-3 attacks, which can be set in the main menu. So when you hit the characters button, it uses the attack in the first attack slot. Hit it again, it uses the attack in the second and so forth.

Characters can also set skills. When you eqiup an item, it will either have a rune, or no rune. You have a grid showing your item slots, however if you equip items with the right runes you can learn skills. Once you set the runes, the skill is ready to be learned, to learn and use it you must keep those runes set and fight, each fight charges the skill, once it is at 100% it is learned and you can switch your runes for new skills. Once it is learned, it can be used at any time. However there is a limit, each character has SP, or skill points, equipping a skill consumed SP, so there is a limit to what skills you can use.

To just complete the game, you don't really need to know many. There is one called first aid which gives you a chance to heal half the damage dealt to you. Another doubles your max HP in a fight, which are useful for completing the game, but some are much more complex and their use won't be apparent until you reach the Seraphic Gate.

When you attack mobs, you can break their body parts, doing this gives a chance to drop an item. This is the main source of equipment for your team. Some loot is difficult to get, requiring precision attacks on body parts and skills that help break body parts, making button mashing a waste of time.

The Seraphic Gates has a boss at the entrance, whom you must fight in order to get access to the gate. Once you beat her, there are 6 bosses waiting, 1 on the 5 floors and an end boss (who is the one at the entrance, but much harder). You can kill these without learning too many skills, however doing that means you cannot get a direct assault, the goal of the Seraphic Gate is to get your characters so strong they can direct assault any boss, to this sets a big challenge for hardcore gamers to indulge.

Equipment increases your stats, you have a head, weapon, chest, arms, legs and 4 accessory slots. Getting the best equipment will boost your stats nicely, but not enough to direct assault a Seraphic Gate boss. The "ubering" process in this game can be a very demanding process, however there is virtually no limit to how much damage you can put out.

This is what I love about this game, most other rpgs which let you super power your characters impose a limit on their stats and damage. Not here, however to get the really big hits it takes alot of work. There are 2 ways to boost your numbers (3 actually, but I will come to that).

As you venture across Midgard you will be able to obtain Einherjar's. Each character belongs to a class, heavy warrior, light warrior, archer and mage. Once you get one, it can be released once it reaches a certain level. This sets it free, and you can no longer use it. However it leaves behind items which boost your stats, depending on how good their gear was. So the first step in making your gang uber is to get all of these Einherjar and keeping them until the Seraphic Gate. Here you can get the best items for them, release them and boost your stats more.

Of all the stat boosting items, only 1 can be bought. The golden egg increases most of your stats by a random factor between 1-10, so farming these is the other way. However this is an extremely time consuming process, as you must farm the materials to first unlock it at the shop. This means only the hardcore players will get the big numbers, but it is good that the game allows you to reach such heights if you want to put in the effort.

Once you kill all the bosses, the gate resets itself, however the difficulty level is increased. Once you clear it 10 times, you get the best weapon in the game, the only point to this being mainly for bragging rights.

A third way is a complicated mix of attacks, skills and accessories. The combat system has such depth that there are other ways to get massive boosts to your damage. However these methods are risky and often mean death if you get hit. Seal stones help in this, you can carry upto 4, carrying ones that increase your damage helps greatly. One method for example, you use a skill that reduces your HP to 1. You then fill your accessory slots with 1 that gives a massive boost to your damage if your health is low, another if you have a certain status ailment on you and the rest with ones that boost attack. You then place in the right skills, onces that boosts your attack if you are outnumbered, or for each member of your party that dies, and/or ones that boost your attack against certain types of foes.

This is complicated and challenging and takes alot of work to get right, I mention it to illustrate the sheer depth of the battle system.

Score - 9/10

Gameplay Score - 9/10

Visuals

FMV sequences are few and far between, however when we are graced with them they do look nice and polished. However this isn't where the games beauty comes from. The backdrops are stunning and even though for the most part this is a 2d game, some of the zones are a sheer joy to be in because they look so good, often enchanting in their beauty.

It was a risk making the game in 2d, which limits the gameplay and indeed the visuals, however TriAce really compensate by creating such elegant and spectacular backdrops for the gamers enjoyment. The game's looks really make it difficult not to fall in love with it, especially as you climb the world tree near the end of the game in what is a truely awe inspiring zone to look at.

My biggest complaint of the game is to do with facial expressions. Recreating facial expressions which are realistic is one of the holy grails of 3D modelling and animation, this sadly falls a bit short. There are points in the game which they try their best to impart emotion and knowledge via facial expression which fails. You do get the jist of the message but it is never as strong as it could be, which is dissapointing as the game has some cryptic clues on the faces of the characters which are slightly lost. However the backdrops more than makeup for this, it is a minor flaw.

Score - 9/10

Audio

The voice acting in this game is pretty good. It isn't spectacular, it isn't Legacy of Kain but it is still passable, the voices match with the characters and don't sound out of place. The voice actors clearly know what they are doing, and for some of the characters the voice really does alot to bring them to life, like Lezard for example.

In alot of games you can see that voice acting is an after thought, nothing special and not note worthy, some of the performances here are and they really do help to breathe life into this wonderful game.

Score - 8/10

Overall

This is an excellent RPG. It has an engaging plot and interesting characters, even though it is short it still satisfies. The Seraphic Gate really gives it a whole new dimension, giving something extra for hardcore players to get their teeth into, it takes the rather original design choices of the game and really puts them to the test allowing for an experience that is one of the most challenging that any rpg has seen in modern times.

Final Score - 8.8/10