Released: March 17, 2009 (US)/ April 3, 2009 (UK/EU) Developer: tri-Ace Publisher: Square Enix Genre: RPG/Turn-based strategy Pros: Good story premise, Unique combat system, excellent Time Vampire. Cons: Requires genuine effort to feel involved, Soundtrack has no relevance, Slow pace.
Some gamers are starting to see tri-Ace as something of a joke now when it comes to RPGs. After Infinite Discovery, and the recent Star Ocean game – both for the 360 and both very average games in terms of story – this outing (although chronologically before Star Ocean, thanks to localization) by the stricken developer is certainly a step in the right direction, but still falls short of the wonderful RPG formula that made games like The World Ends With You, and Dragon Quest V.
The story starts with two characters, Ancel and Wylfred, mercenaries in training. After a brief attack, Wylfred (You) is seemingly killed. He begs the gods for a chance to wreak vengeance on the Valkyrie that stole his father’s soul to become Einherjar, or ‘fallen warriors’ to fight on the Aesir side of Ragnarok, the Norse Apocalypse. Hel, the ruler of Niflheim (where all those that haven’t proven their worth go), hears this call and having taken a Valkyrie feather that was found at Wylfred’s Father’s corpse (bear with me), she brings Wylfred back to have his vengeance. It’s a complicated story, but once you get past the Norse vocabulary, it’s pretty simple. Any fans of the Valkyrie Profile games or people who have played Too Human will get the gist better than others, but it’s standard story fodder. What makes the game interesting is that it can offer you, effectively, a guaranteed victory. The only problem is that doing so will kill the person you select to take on the power that is granted by using the Destiny Plume, the Valkyrie feather given to Wylfred. For once, we now have a game where key characters CAN die, but they do not affect the storyline. The trade-off is that the characters are ultimately bland, because they have no real interaction with the storyline other than how they come to be traveling with Wylfred. Of course, whether you use the Plume or not, and how many times you use it if you do, has a bearing on the ending, but each ending ultimately lacks the satisfaction of a completed RPG. The combat system is a welcome change from the turn-based combat that I’ve seen as of late in the portable RPG genre. It requires timing and sequence of attacks in order to get maximum damage. Each character has a certain amount of unique attacks (determined by exchangeable weapons), which will execute in order. Timing of the button presses is crucial. As an example, if you press one button to execute an attack with Wylfred that sends the enemy flying into the air, and then use a ranged attack on that same enemy before he hits the floor, the attack will simply pass under him and be wasted. It’s not like anything I’ve seen before, and brings some variety into the game. However, the lack of a dodge mechanic makes me feel that the game is somewhat cheap when a soldier is flanked by an archer on each side, hitting you for three hits each time you, or they, attack. But, it’s equally cheap for you to do the same to them, and just slaughter each enemy one by one, which is what the game directs you to do, in order to gain ‘Sin’. If you have more than the requested amount, Hel is pleased, and shows her gratitude in items. If you get less, she gets annoyed, and does the opposite. The graphics are adequate, throwing me back somewhat to Lenneth (the PSP remake of the first Valkyrie Profile game), but they are have a style to them that does the same thing, too. The graphics themselves are 2D sprites on a 3D rendered background, which works well, although it has been tried and perfected before in other games. The Soul Crush (special move when you have a good amount of people in your party, not related to Soul Calibur in any way, shape or form) moves are over-exaggerated, but it works, and they do grasp you when they are executed. The soundtrack is weird, though. Some tracks suit the game, like the Enemy Phase of attacking and the like, but others just do not suit it at all. The sound other than that works pretty well, the sounds of the weapons and cries of the fallen warriors fit well, and sound remarkably good on the DS speakers, without the ‘noise’ in the background that comes from unoptimized sound. Technologically speaking, this game is but one of many. There’s nothing special in the graphics or sound, or even gameplay; it feels like Fire Emblem with a new combat mode tacked on, when the game is taken sans story. Heck, they didn’t even bother to include stylus control at the lowest level, with menus and such. The game itself can only be judged on actually playing it, and seeing if you can get into the game as a whole. It’s a great game for sucking up spare hours on a roadtrip, train or flight, but it’s not a game that you can stop playing, then pick up and start again a few minutes after; you need blocks of time set aside for it. This is a game that demands your time and attention, and even though it’s a rewarding experience, it’s far from a must-play.
Popularity: unranked [?]
