Valkyrie Profile Review

by Lywellyn

Valkyrie Profile is a Playstation-based RPG. It is based around Norse mythology, where Valkyrie is one of the three Goddesses. She fights under the Lord Odin for the Aesir against the Vanir. Odin has been forewarned that Ragnarok, the end of the world, will approach earlier than expected, but his forces aren't as great as they could be. He sends Valkyrie down to Midgard (Earth) to find suitable souls to fight for the Aesir as Einherjar. She can only find these souls as they are on the brink of death. It is your responsibility as Valkyrie to train these fighters before sending them to Valhalla to fight for the Aesir. If you fail, the Aesir may fall.

The graphics in this game aren't too bad. Valkyrie is a 2D side-scrolling game, but it has a kind of 3D feel to it. The opening FMV sequence is pretty good, a nice way to introduce the game before you've actually started to play it.

Playing the game is easy enough; you have one button for each character in your party. When you wish to attack with that character, push that character's button, for up to three attacks per turn. Easy enough, right? The game itself isn't too difficult, either. I have not played the most difficult setting, but to be honest, with the description of the difficult setting, I wouldn't want to ^_~ The game itself was addicting to me, it was like a good book; I just couldn't put it down! Kind of a disappointment when I was finally finished; there was no more Valkyrie to play. Valkyrie Profile is a game that's alright to play again, but it's not quite the same the second or subsequent times around.

Valkyrie Profile suffers from what I think most RPG video games suffer from: the recurring battling. Granted, Valkyrie Profile does not have the usual random battles, however, you know you must battle to level up, or it will get harder and harder as the game progresses. The battle system is a good change from the "select a command and carry it out" system like in Final Fantasy, but eventually it gets tedious and repetitive. I found myself avoiding a lot of battles just because I didn't feel like doing it.

In my opinion, the best thing about this game was the music. It was definitely a part that I thoroughly enjoyed. Even now, I still listen to the music of the game. If I had the money, I'd definitely by the OST for this game!

Enough with the wordy descriptions, here are my scores for the aspects of the game:

Graphics:	7.0
Gameplay:	7.5
Replay Value:	6.5
Music:	9.0
Difficulty:	6.0
Overall Rating:	7.5

Basically, rent it first to see if you like it, then buy it if you do!

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