Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria
PS2
Release Date: September 26th, 2006
RPG
Review by Sirus
Valkyrie Profile 2 (VP2) is a challenging, long, JRPG that will push casual rpgamers to the limit and challenge many hardcore rpgamers who have been disappointed at the lack of difficulty in JRPGS as of late. The story starts out with Alicia, the princess of Dipan. Alicia is no ordinary princess because within her resides the soul of one of the Valkyries, Silmeria. Having two souls in one body, it can appear as if Alicia has a split personality. The story in the game starts out slow but by the end of chapter 3, after a spike in difficulty, the story gets a lot more interesting. The story has many twists until the end.
VP2 takes you on a long quest through many dungeons. Battles take place on a separate plane although you can see the enemy before you fight. Enemies can be avoided by freezing them in ice and then either jumping over them or switching places with them. Freezing enemies is also useful for reaching some hard to reach items in some instances and can require quick reflexes. If you are not careful and jump on top of an enemy or the enemy walks into your back you will be surprised and battle will start with zero AP instead of 100.
Battles are a combination of the first game’s and real time battle systems like Star Ocean 3. While you move around in battle, your AP increases and enemies are able to move. What makes the battles interesting is the enemies cant move unless you are moving or holding L3 to charge your AP. Each of your character’s attacks uses a certain amount of AP. Magic and items also use AP. Battles show you the range of enemy’s attacks while you are stopped only giving you all the information you need to decide how you want to avoid their skills. If the enemy range is short enough, you can get within attack range without being in their range but if it is longer you can dash with R1 which can get you behind or beside them.
During battle, there is a bonus gauge on the right of the UI. The bonus gauge has a red circle and 4 yellow circles. If you are able to kill the leader of the enemies before the red circle disappears, you will get a leader item. You can get other items from breaking certain parts of the enemy. If you attack their arm enough, you can break it off. Not only is this visually satisfying, but each time you break a body part, you have a chance of getting an item.
Skills are learned by equipping certain combinations of equipments. Each piece of equipment has a symbol attached to it. Equipments can be blue, red, green, or grey. When you equip the right items at the same time, you unlock a skill. You must then fight enemies until you learn the skill to be able to equip it. Each skill takes anywhere from 2 to 6 skill points. You start with 4 available skill points and then you can get up to 12 as you level up.
Dungeons have sealstones scattered throughout. Sealstones can raise or lower player and enemy stats depending on where they are placed. As you defeat certain side bosses, you get larger pouches that let you carry more then one sealstone. You can pick up a sealstone that is sitting around the dungeon but you must restore the sealstone in order to carry it to other dungeons. This costs magic crystals you gain after battles and is very worth it for certain extremely helpful sealstones.
The graphics in VP2 are some of the best on the PS2. Towns and dungeons are lush with many moving parts of the background. The game also includes a few specifically impressive fully voiced Cutscenes. Voice acting is very good for the most part and coupled with a great orchestral soundtrack from Motoi Sakuraba. The game is around 40 hours long although certain side quests can make it a lot longer. In the end, VP2 is a solid, satisfying, challenging game that is everything you can want in a JRPG with a solid story and fun battles. Fans of JRPGS who are looking for a challenge will have a lot of fun with this.
Graphics: 9
Gameplay: 9
Story: 8
Sound: 8
Lasting Value: 8
Final Score: 8.4 (an average)
PS2
Release Date: September 26th, 2006
RPG
Review by Sirus
Valkyrie Profile 2 (VP2) is a challenging, long, JRPG that will push casual rpgamers to the limit and challenge many hardcore rpgamers who have been disappointed at the lack of difficulty in JRPGS as of late. The story starts out with Alicia, the princess of Dipan. Alicia is no ordinary princess because within her resides the soul of one of the Valkyries, Silmeria. Having two souls in one body, it can appear as if Alicia has a split personality. The story in the game starts out slow but by the end of chapter 3, after a spike in difficulty, the story gets a lot more interesting. The story has many twists until the end.
VP2 takes you on a long quest through many dungeons. Battles take place on a separate plane although you can see the enemy before you fight. Enemies can be avoided by freezing them in ice and then either jumping over them or switching places with them. Freezing enemies is also useful for reaching some hard to reach items in some instances and can require quick reflexes. If you are not careful and jump on top of an enemy or the enemy walks into your back you will be surprised and battle will start with zero AP instead of 100.
Battles are a combination of the first game’s and real time battle systems like Star Ocean 3. While you move around in battle, your AP increases and enemies are able to move. What makes the battles interesting is the enemies cant move unless you are moving or holding L3 to charge your AP. Each of your character’s attacks uses a certain amount of AP. Magic and items also use AP. Battles show you the range of enemy’s attacks while you are stopped only giving you all the information you need to decide how you want to avoid their skills. If the enemy range is short enough, you can get within attack range without being in their range but if it is longer you can dash with R1 which can get you behind or beside them.
During battle, there is a bonus gauge on the right of the UI. The bonus gauge has a red circle and 4 yellow circles. If you are able to kill the leader of the enemies before the red circle disappears, you will get a leader item. You can get other items from breaking certain parts of the enemy. If you attack their arm enough, you can break it off. Not only is this visually satisfying, but each time you break a body part, you have a chance of getting an item.
Skills are learned by equipping certain combinations of equipments. Each piece of equipment has a symbol attached to it. Equipments can be blue, red, green, or grey. When you equip the right items at the same time, you unlock a skill. You must then fight enemies until you learn the skill to be able to equip it. Each skill takes anywhere from 2 to 6 skill points. You start with 4 available skill points and then you can get up to 12 as you level up.
Dungeons have sealstones scattered throughout. Sealstones can raise or lower player and enemy stats depending on where they are placed. As you defeat certain side bosses, you get larger pouches that let you carry more then one sealstone. You can pick up a sealstone that is sitting around the dungeon but you must restore the sealstone in order to carry it to other dungeons. This costs magic crystals you gain after battles and is very worth it for certain extremely helpful sealstones.
The graphics in VP2 are some of the best on the PS2. Towns and dungeons are lush with many moving parts of the background. The game also includes a few specifically impressive fully voiced Cutscenes. Voice acting is very good for the most part and coupled with a great orchestral soundtrack from Motoi Sakuraba. The game is around 40 hours long although certain side quests can make it a lot longer. In the end, VP2 is a solid, satisfying, challenging game that is everything you can want in a JRPG with a solid story and fun battles. Fans of JRPGS who are looking for a challenge will have a lot of fun with this.
Graphics: 9
Gameplay: 9
Story: 8
Sound: 8
Lasting Value: 8
Final Score: 8.4 (an average)