A Few Uncool Things about Valkyrie Profile, A Very Cool Game

After revisiting Valkyrie Profile with Elias, I think I've identified what makes it feel a little underwhelming to me.

1. Truncated characters: Most of your party members are people who have no real story or flavor outside of what their sad story paints. Which would be fine, except...

2. The mechanics make it so that most characters feel samey. The fighters have some peculiarities to their moves, the archers can shoot the enemy back row, and the spellcasters cast spells, but otherwise, most of them *feel* the same.

The fighters don't have any moves beyond "hit the enemy in melee a bunch", the archers mostly just have weak variants of the one move, and every spellcaster can learn every spell in the game, with minimal difference in competence.

Now, it's true that there are special moves to distinguish at least the fighters and archers. But truth is, most special moves don't get to fire in regular battles, and often can only be used once or twice, practically speaking. Also, all spellcasters have their (good) special moves locked behind specific rods and, more damningly, share the EXACT SAME special moves. Argh!!!

3. The levels are too sparse in events, fights, and places of much significance. They feel more like hollow theme parks than dungeons. It doesn't help that the controls for jumping the valkyrie around are so clumsy.

4. The game has too many poorly calibrated moves, magic demolishes most encounters easily and is very freely spammable. Further, the spellcasting crystals are both incredibly overpowered and easy to get with just a little bit of alchemizing.

I like the game a lot, and still think it's quite cool, but...yeah. There are definitely some serious shortcomings.

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About Me

I am Dev Jyoti Chand, a man of many interests. Chiefly, I like playing video games, specifically, strategy 4xes, strategy RPGs, and anything involving strategy. My favorite games are Master of Magic, Tactics Ogre, specifically the SNES/PS1 version, and Quintessence - The Blighted Venom. I also am very interested in learning about history, especially ancient and medieval history, and am ever curious to learn more about the world. This blog is mostly a grab bag of subjects I felt strongly enough about to dedicate words upon words. Most notable among them are a series of challenge runs of the Star Ocean 2 remake, a long form commentary on To the Moon that I am not particularly proud of these days, and, more recently, LPs of the classic Mana games . I am ever eager to talk about my interests, and am very accepting of feedback, as long as it is given in good faith. If you wish to contact me, you may do so through the following means: Shoot an email to dev221117@gmail.com Join my Dis...

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