Fighting JRPG Stereotypes #2: Valkyrie Profile
By Hailinel 19 Comments
For the second installment of this series, I wanted to put the spotlight on a game that's very near and dear to my heart. Valkyrie Profile was originally released on the Sony PlayStation and was later ported to the PSP under the title Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth. Valkyrie Profile is, for many reasons, one of the most unique games that the genre has ever seen, from both a gameplay and story perspective. Let's take a look, shall we?
Basic Premise
Valkyrie Profile puts you in the armor of Lenneth, a Valkyrie recently awakened and summoned by Odin himself to embark on an important mission. Ragnarok, the end of the world, is on the horizon, and Odin needs the souls of strong warriors, Einherjar, to serve in the final battle against Surt's forces of Niflheim. Over the course of eight chapters, Lenneth must find the souls of recently deceased warriors, train them, and send them to Valhalla, where they may be of use to the forces of Asgard.
All of this is well and good, except something else lies below the surface. Something that is only hinted at by a prologue that at first glance has little to do with the game proper at all. There are secrets being kept from Lenneth, and if the player proceeds along the proper course of action, obeying Odin and Freya's will to the letter, the truth will never be known.
Cliche Factor: Low. The end of the world is coming. It is Ragnarok, after all. However, rather than try to prevent the world's end, it is your job to supplement the forces of the Aesir army by training deceased souls and making them worthy to fight at the side of gods. And then there's Lenneth's story which, if the player digs deep enough, can twist the narrative in a different direction entirely.
The Protagonist
Lenneth is also all business. If the game is played straight, with no diverging from the path mandated by Odin, she will ultimately join in the fight against Surt at the end and help the Aesir claim victory. Yet personally, she will gain nothing. If the game is played with a different mindset, however, one that allows for fudging the occional rule and not bending to Odin's every last whim, doors open up that unveil a past locked away in Lenneth's mind. When that lock is broken, everything changes, and Lenneth learns very painfully what she had gained and subsequently lost. Her desire to rectify these mistakes can only be made if the player pursues a divergent path, leading to a completely different endgame entirely.
Cliche Factor: Even though she falls into the "amnesia" trap with her most important memories locked away, Lenneth is, quite simply, one of the most unique, original characters in JRPGs and perhaps the RPG genre as a whole. Her true complexity is hidden, and the way the game presents it makes the path to the truth that much more rewarding.
The Party
Valkyrie Profile features a large assortment of party members that join up over the course of the game that cover a broad range of character archetypes. Some are cowards, some are self-sacrificing, some are victims of their own hubris, and some simply had no choice. As Lenneth, the player watches each of these characters as they live out the moments that seal their fates, and when they die, she comes to collect. A reaper in Odin's name. What's more, the player is not expected to keep every character they recruit in their party. In each chapter, Freya passes along requests for Einherjar with specific talents, whether they be powerful warriors, mages, or simply somone with the ability to swim. If the player wants to progress, the player must fulfill these requirements to the best of their abilities by taking the Einherjar into caves and dungeons filled with demons and monsters so that they may grow stronger; sending an Einherjar to Valhalla before he or she is ready will leave them ill prepared, resulting in their true deaths.
What's more, status reports on each Einherjar sent to Valhalla is provided between chapters, allowing the player to see how their former party members are fairing in the service of the Aesir, so it's never a case of forgetting about characters entirely once they're sent on their way. They even grow in strength during their adventures among the gods, becoming more powerful over time. And even with Einherjar being sent up on a regular basis, the player still has access to enough party members that they can form a solid team capable of withstanding later dungeons; a boon for when the endgame inevitably arrives.
Cliche Factor: Party members cover a very broad range of tropes, but the way that they're introduced and ultimately leave the party is unique, particularly against other games that may feature even larger casts of shallower characters, resulting in party creation screens filled with characters you'll never use and have little reason to care about.
The Combat
Combat Style: Turn-based
In Valkyrie Profile, each party member is mapped to a specific face button on the controller. During the player's turn, pressing the face button associated with a character will cause that character to launch an attack against the targeted enemy. Equipping weapons that allow for multiple attacks allows for characters to perform combos, which in turn can be combined and mixed with the attacks of other characters. On the one hand, this combat engine makes an easy target for button-mashing. Hammer on buttons, enemies die. However, it's more effective to plan attacks in ways that their most effective, particularly since wailing on the attack buttons will only get the player so far.
Additionally, each character has a unique special attack. By hitting the enemies with chains of normal strikes, an attack gauge is filled. When the gauge reaches 100%, the player can select a party member to launch into their special attack at the expense of Action Points. If the special attack refills the gauge to 100%, another character can use their special attack as well.
Cliche Factor: Despite the game's turn-based nature, the ease of combat makes it fast and free-flowing, yet the enemies eventually punish button mashing. To truly excel, players must learn proper combo attacks, when it's best to use special attacks, and the weaknesses of specific enemy types.
Final Thoughts
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