Retro Gaming Review: A Revisit To Old Valhalla In Valkyrie Profile

My selling point has always been the story of the game. The game mechanics and graphics seem all secondary if you are already hooked by the game story. The story of the game is something you look forward to. You get intrigued by the fact that you want to know what happens next in the game. That will motivate you to move forward.

It is Retro Gaming Month here so as to be the first in the lineup of games that we will cover is Valkyrie Profile. Valkyrie Profile is an RPG game created by Tri-Ace and Published by Square Enix.It was released December of 1999 in Japan and in North America August of the following year.

These are the few games in the first Playstation that I actually invested in. I invested in money and my time to really finish the game. Valkyrie Profile got me on the Norse Mythology theme of the game. I am very curious how the lore makes its way to the plot of the story. The story will start in Valhalla where you will be Lenneth the Valkyrie that will help get soldiers for Valhalla. Those soldiers are human souls that you will ascend to Valhalla.

Valkyrie Profile is a turn-based RPG game, you will be a party of four and there will be a gauge where if you are able to max it out, you can use your finishing strike. The technique is to max the gauge all at once so the attack is stacking, if your character has less hits the gauge will not reach maximum capacity. Each of the characters has a backstory, before you will get their soul, the story of that character will be presented to you. There are some that have negative backstories, some that are rooted from a noble act. Regardless of where the warrior came from you can choose if you will send the character to Valhalla. You will earn some kind of reputation if you send soldiers and artifacts. Artifacts are items you can get along the way usually after a boss is defeated you will get those artifacts. These artifacts are powerful items as well; you can either offer it to Valhalla or keep it. If you keep the artifact there is a demerit on your reputation.

The game itself has its fair share of concepts that are a bit complicated but these for me made the game more interesting.

The Power Gauge

Though it is a turn-based game, you have an option to press all the buttons all at the same time to really rev up that power gauge to its max. The gauge stacks if the attack is a stream of continuous attack. Each party member is either one of the buttons in your Playstation controller. Triangle and X will be the members in the middle and the Square is in the front and the circle is the one at the back.The idea is that the gauge should be max out in one go so you can use your special attack or finishing strike. If the finishing strike max out the gauge, you can do another one for a different character.

Platform

What is unique about this game, there is a Megaman feel to it. Valkyrie Profile is also a platform game. You need to work with your hands to be able to get into chests and artifacts. Similar to Megaman she can climb walls but not really stick to it, the thing is Valkyrie has a crystal that you can shoot to make another platform. The crystal also stacks up and when it stacks up and shatters, Valkyrie can step on it like another platform.

Bad Ending and Good Ending

This was a thing back then. If you happen to unlock a certain kind of score in the game you go in a different direction, this is also the case for Valkyrie Profile. Remember that if you send a warrior you get some kind of reputation points that you are being acknowledged by Odin. This score determines if you will have a bad or good ending and there is one more. Along the way you will meet a warrior called Lucian. You should let him go, otherwise if you keep him at your party, you will have a bad ending, regardless of the score you have.

The game in general has all in one package. Work with your hands and work with your brains. In most cases you should  go work hard for the quests to better understand the story as it unfolds.