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Lives up to the original and pretty to boot...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: September 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Beautiful gameplay and cinema graphics bring new life to the Valkyrie Epic. The storyline is every bit as compelling as the original with some new twists. Valkyrie Profile 2 is one of the last best games that will ever hit the PS2 making it a must buy. On a personal note, this game made me want to play the original again before starting it so I highly recommend playing VP1 through before starting VP2.

A good follow-up to the original

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: October 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

After realizing that I wrote this review after only a few days of play, I thought it was time to give this game the review it deserved. No, "VP2" isn't a masterpiece, but then again, it's hardly the stinker that some of the reviews have made it out to be.

Let's begin with the good:
- Story: I really don't understand what some of these reviewers were playing.VP has a pretty strong story. Sure, it slows to a crawl at times, but in the end, it's a pretty good tale. It has issues (the one point I would agree on is that time-travel usually screws up a story, and here it only serves to confuse matters), but I (being one of the five people who played the original "VP" on the PS) was quite happy to see the backstory of Dipan, one of the more mysterious venues in the original game.

- Battle mechanics: Very nice. Sometimes, battle can be overly difficult, but all in all, it's a lot of fun to play. Any RPG that offers even a semblance of strategy for battles is nice, and this game gives significantly more than that. Run up and kill the leader for a quick end to a battle, or try to beat some of the subordinates to obtain items for weapon and armor construction.

- Graphics: The backdrops are simply gorgeous. The character models are nice, but their movements are a bit stiff, particularly during cut scenes. But all in all, this is quite aesthetically pleasing.

- Extras: Tri-Ace has never disappointed in this regard, and the Seraphic Gate once again carries on the tradition of completely optional extras at the end game. It's not the magnificence that the end of "Star Ocean: Till the End of Time" was, but it doesn't disappoint.

And now, the bad:
- Control: While I love the battle mechanics, the control leaves much to be desired. While attempting to dash through an enemy's line of sight, it is very easy to get caught up on a wall or a rock, leaving you exposed to the wrath of an attack, which is often unforgiving.

- Level-grinding: I'm not a fan of a game that actually rewards a player for level grinding. I tried to beat the game quickly (and did), only to find out that if I overlevelled early characters, I would be rewarded with overpowered weapons. A big disappointment here.

- Unbalanced Difficulty: Tri-Ace has never shied away from ramping up the difficulty in a game quickly.One moment, you'll be beating on a mediocre enemy, and the next moment, it's off to the hospital (or morgue). My gripe with this has always been that the player never knows when they'll meet an overpowered group of enemies. I mean, if I were venturing into a cave and saw some overpowered nightmare, I wouldn't run up to it gung-ho for an attack. Unfortunately, our protagonists do (and often), and get their tails whipped.

- Ending: Alternate timelines, time-travel nonsense - was this really necessary? I wanted a story that tied to the original "VP"; it is completely unclear that this is the case in "VP2". I won't spoil the ending, but it disappoints.

- Item Creation: What a mess. There must be like 1,000,000,000 items in the game, and only like 50 of them can be used to make good weapons. Too much hassle.

There you have it. All in all, a solid outing. I wouldn't rank it above the original "VP", but it didn't disappoint.

Addendum: A little advice. If you aren't expecting much of a game before you buy it, don't buy it. There's nothing more annoying than reading the rants of a reviewer who had already made up his mind before even playing the game. Also, don't buy a game based on the company that distributes it. Square/Enix didn't develop this game - Tri-Ace did. It's no wonder that the people of this country are up to their eyeballs in debt.

A MUST Play for RPG fans!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: October 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

PS2 is far from dead!!

Square-Enix has done it again!!!! First off, I am going to say I love this game!!! I'm a big turn-based/stategy RPG fan. But I would say this gamefs battle system is semi-real-time with strategy elements and I love it!! I would have to compare the battle system to the likes of Parasite eve and Vagrant Story!! With the same elements still present from the original Valkyrie Profile. This is probably the best RPG I have played all year. I strongly recommend this game to any RPG fan and will definitely satisfy until FFXII!!! Now for the review:

Graphics: 5 out 0f 5 Simply amazing I knew the old PS2 still had it in her. This game has some of the best graphics you are going to see on the PS2, you may see some pixilation but hardly noticeable unless you are looking for it... The detail in the characters, background and dungeons are amazing. I really get taken back to Vagrant story when I play this game. And OMG the special attacks look ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!! Perform a special attack and your jaw will drop. I canft say anything negative about the graphics in this game what so ever especially being last generation.

Sound: 4.5 out 5 The game sounds great!!! The voice over are well done!! Battle cries are wonderful and will take you back to the original Valkyrie Profile unless of course you purchased it on the PSP then it wont take you back very farcLOL

Controls 5 out of 5 Okay I donft thing I have played an RPG with better controls. You play on a 2D screen side scrolling with outward and inward exits and entrances press up or down accordingly to access them. Anyone who has played the first one knows exactly how it works. The first new thing you will notice is the new battle control scheme. The old is you still have to press X,O, , or to correspond to the character you have assigned to that button, still works great!! The new is that now you are able to roam in 3D once you are in battle mode and this works great I explain in the Gameplay section. L2 lets you find and switch targets, and then you just analog to get there.

Gameplay 5 out of 5 Dare I say umm perfect!?!?!? First I will address the two things I loved about the original Valkyrie Profile that you will find in this sequel/prequel! 1st thing - I began to get really annoyed by RPGfs now a days that make you have to talk to nearly every single person in a town to move the story along. This is never a worry in the Valkyrie Profile series. You go to a town if there is something of importance there CG or AI takes over all you have to do is listen/read and then go shopping or if you really want, talk to the limited amount of people in that town, but it is normally just random talk nothing of real importance to the story. Or you may have to talk to some people to fnd side quest maybe? Many of the RPGfs I have tried to play lately suffered from thiscI mean who has the time to sit and play a game for hours only to be left feeling like you barely accomplished anything, cause you couldnft find the right person to move the story along?

2nd thing is the battle system, being able to press a certain button numerous times and watch that character spring in to action was always a joy. Lets you feel more involved in battle instead of just letting you sitting and watching. The new additions are GREAT additionscfirst the free roaming in battle. You can move anywhere on the 3D battle screen you want within the parameters of course. Since you are able move anywhere on the battle screen Square-Enix thought it would be a good idea to allow you to split up your party, and they were right!! Basically you have a party of 4; but you can split them up into 2 teams. Imagine this if you willcyou send one team to either fight a separate group of enemies or you can send one group to draw attention and use the other group to attack from behind taking the enemy by surprise and normally causing more damage. Strategy has been added!!! Other notable mentions: Special attacks are Stellar, Enemy Bosses are huge, and characters are very likable. Also while in a dungeon you can still turn foes to crystal and use them to aide you in reaching different areas, but dig this!! Now you can turn a foe to crystal then shoot that foe a second time to transport yourself to its position. Ex. You see an enemy on the ledge in front/above you but you cannot reach him or the ledge by simply jumping. So you shoot diagonally at him freeze him shoot a second time and you are immediately transported to his position on the ledge and he is transported to your old position. How cool is that?

Story (So Far) 4 out of 5, the story so far is great and from what I can tell takes place before the original Valkyrie Profile, I am only about 40% in to it but so far I am really drawn in to it, I cant go in to more detail for the sake of spoiling it, but it is intriguing.

Bottom Line: If you are an RPG fan you MUST have this title in your library of games, it will not disappoint. With the combination of the GREAT original gameplay, stellar graphics, intriguing story, and innovative new features this is one not to be missed. Even if you are not an RPG fan I would still recommend this as a rental.

A Good Follow Up to a Fantastic Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: October 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Valkyrie Profile is a cult classic. No matter how you look at it. It was one of those games you either loved or hated. Obviously enough people loved it enough for Square-Enix to re-release the original on the PSP and make a second one on the Playstation 2. The end result is a great game that should satisfy fans of the original.

Despite what it looks like, Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria is not a sequel to Valkyrie Profile but a prequel. This means if you've never played the first one, fear not, you aren't missing anything.

The story centers on Silmeria. She's a Valkyrie trapped in the body of Princess Alicia. Because of this it seems like Alicia has a split personality, and that she's got to be crazy or something. As a result, Alice doesn't have very many friends... if any at all. Silmeria, has been exiled by Odin, the leader of the Gods. She now wants revenge for what he has done to her, and since Alice has no friends, she agrees to help. It's an interesting story, but much like the first one, gets off to a really slow start and takes a while to pick up.

The game's story is told through beautiful cinematics Not quite the best looking game on the PS2, but beautiful enough. The backgrounds, characters and monsters are all detailed. Especially in some of the games cutscenes. The voice acting is also suitable enough for the game. The game also sounds really good.

The good news about Valkyrie Profile 2 is that there is no time limit. Fans of the first will remember that there was a time limit before the battle at the end of the game. Valkyrie Profile 2 does away with that and thank goodness it does. This gives you far more time to explore and do everything the game has to offer, and the dungeons are quite interesting.

Most Dungeons are pretty simple. It sort of plays out in an action/adventure style. You have photons you can fire at your enemies and certain objects. Your photon also reflects off some objects, and it's actually vital to use this in some dungeons. So the photon isn't just there, it's essential. Even more interesting in Valkyrie Profile is the battle system.

Battles are contact based. In battle you've got your characters on one side and your enemies on the other. At first it seems like battles take place in real time, but in reality, the enemy only moves when you move. This gives you more than enough time to plan out a strategy. Each enemy has an attack zone. If you're in it, you'll be attacked. In most RPGs getting attacked is no big deal. In Valkyrie Profile 2 it's much more than just a big deal. The difficulty of this game escalates really fast. You'll quickly find yourself overwhelmed by some of your enemies. Luckily there is a solution. Most battles have a leader. If you defeat the leader you win automatically without having to worry about defeating the others. It helps if you want to end the battle quickly, and especially helps when your party is being decimated. Still, the battle system calls for complete strategy on your part.

They say it takes about 40 hours to complete Valkyrie Profile 2. However, you'll find yourself spending most of these hours leveling up to take on new challenges. As I mentioned, the difficulty level rises fast. Meaning you'll probably do a lot of battling in a dungeon before moving on to the next. Even worse, you'll have to backtrack out of a dungeon once you complete it. Even worse than that, enemies respawn when you reenter a room. The good thing about this at least, is that the dungeons aren't overly long. Again, however, you'll spend quite some time leveling up.

In addition to inside battle, outside battle is just as interesting in dungeons. You'll often come across sealstones. When you pick them up they grant enhancements to your party. They can be either positive or negative. For example your strength could go up by grabbing one... and go down by grabbing another. Carrying it puts the effect on your party. However, you can also put the effect on your enemies by setting the stone on a dais. Needless to say, you'll want to put the negative effects on your enemies... unless you're looking for a harder challenge than the game already is.

Outside of dungeons and battles you can learn plenty of skills throughout the game. When you buy equipment, you can link it together to give your characters special skills. This is a lot of fun to play around with. Although, it should be said, it gets tedious to set it up after a while. The game shows you which skills you've created through your equipment, but there's no way for it to auto-equip with the stuff that gives you that skill. At first this is no problem, but then as your characters start to build up and your list gets longer, it becomes a pain to set up all these skills again. It comes down to way too much time in the menu when there shouldn't have to be.

Valkyrie Profile 2 is overall a pretty satisfying game. If you can get past the sluggish story (which really does turn out to be really good in the end) then you'll find yourself in love with this game. It's different from the first one, but not so much that old fans will find themselves disappointed. Actually it's quite the opposite. If you liked the first game, then by all means, pick up this one.

The Good

+An interesting story
+Beautiful graphics
+Excellent music score
+Good voice acting
+Large cast of playable characters
+Interesting skill system
+Just all out fun to play

The Bad

-The story is slow
-Really steep difficulty level, a lot of the game will no doubt come from you spending time leveling up in dungeons before moving on
-The skill system is interesting, but not being able to have your equipment auto-equip is really annoying when you've got a lot of characters and a lot of items in your inventory--equipping your characters shouldn't be a tedious chore

Solid, but contains the pitfalls of most tri-ace games...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 37 / 41
Date: October 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

My experience with developer tri-ace's games dates back to the original Playstation era with Star Ocean:The 2nd Story. Like most gamers on this side of the world, this was probably the one of the first tri-ace titles that had and created enough of a buzz to form a niche of fans. The other game, which is credited with a simular yet even bigger buzz, was the original Valkyrie Profile.

Unfortunately, the yield from the initial pressing run of that game was so low (so tri-ace wouldn't lose to much if the game didn't sell or catch on) by the time I had heard the hype surrounding VP and wanted to give the game a try it was much too late... copies of the game were selling at astronomical prices on e-bay much like how sealed copies of Final Fantasy VII are selling now. Because of this I was ecstatic when a sequel - which in this case is actually a prequel - was announced so I could finally experience what I had missed out on the first time in one form or another. Granted, VP2 is not a complete carbon copy of the original, but the majority of the gameplay elements cross the game/generation gap, so in essence this game should probably give you an idea of what the original itself was like.

So, would I say that I was blown away or impressed by what I missed out with missing the original VP? Not really.

To start with, the game is simply beautiful. There are some dazzling effects, from leaves and grass waving in the breeze to various types of weather pounding some of the locals. This is what one should expect from a last generation PS2 title. Sure, every once in a while the battle camera might clip some polygons so it looks like your characters are standing on air, but that is so minor it doesn't matter. The only gripe I have is I wish the characters weapons changed depending on what they currently have equipped. However, since the character designs are so dependant on the default look of the weaponry, the above simply wouldn't work very well.

Combat is Valkyrie's claim to fame, much like it is in other tri-ace games like Star Ocean. This is a good thing, considering the amount of time you'll spend in battle mode leveling up the game's massive number of characters (of which only a handful are actually involved in the story, the others just seem to be there). At a quick glance, the battle system seems to be a button mashers dream, but like a good 3D fighting series (Soul Caliber or Tekken) those who know what their doing will always get further or have less difficulty as things can be difficult enough. Other combat related issues also sprout up: reviving an ally requires you to be near the ally's body and status effects are so not your friend - especially when the whole party is inflicted at once (especially with poison) *shutter* .

As fun as combat is, there are quite a few hitches to be aware of, such as wasting AP on a dash and getting nowhere because your party is caught on the edge of "something" in the environment or when party members become separated for the same reason, limiting your attack options until you take the time and go back and get them. This becomes especially aggravating when you're trying to finish battles as quickly and efficiently as possible to receive experience and crystal bonuses. The change from a 2D fighting environment in VP to a 3D one in VP2 works, but the above issues make you yearn for 2D battles of the original which would probably be devoid of these problems.

The game's skill system is another area that initially seems interesting and clever but quickly becomes quite cumbersome. You'll form rune words with your equipment and accessories to unlock new "potential" skills. Note the word "potential" in the previous sentence. Unlocking a new skill doesn't grant the character the skill automatically - only though battle can the skill be used and permanently learned. At first glance this is a good thing since it prevents abuse (think FFIX skill system here), but the player then quickly finds out it "may" (well, usually) take a long to learn said skill. Instead of being awarded a set amount of points towards your skills after an enemy defeat like in most normal RPGs, a percentage earned towards potential skills based on the average level of your current party and that of the enemy(s). Because of this you'll constantly be seeking out stronger and stronger enemies and you'll hardly ever find an "undeniable great place" to level up. You'll also be contending with the never ending equipping and unequipping of equipment while doing this and often means your party is usually far from wearing the strongest available equipment at all times - something that is usually a given in most RPGs.

Traversing dungeons is probably the most noteworthy aspect of VP2 after the battle system. The first few are a complete cakewalk and teach you the ropes, the later ones can really test you sanity and your brainpower. Correct sealstone usage and photon know-how go a long way towards completely clearing them of all their contents. Kudos to tri-ace for the awesome auto map feature - features like this need to become an industry/genre standard!

In the sound department, Motoi Sakuraba makes a rather subdued yet solid entrance, seeming to ditch his rather unique yet unorthodox style of composing. It's not until much later until you hear a piece and you know "yeah, that's Sakuraba, no doubt". The voice-overs are good, but at the same time just a few tiers above decent.

Valkyrie Profile 2 also falls victim to problems that are prevalent in other tri-ace games. Some moments of unbalanced gameplay creep up on the player as the difficulty goes up a few notches without much warning. The story is once again slow to start (is this even a surprise anymore with tri-ace games?), and some of the story twists you can see coming a mile away (the one revelation at the end of Chapter 3 was so freaking obvious!).

All this said is Valkyrie Profile 2 worth playing if you've never experienced VP? Yes. However, now having experienced it, I honestly think I could have had waited for a price drop instead of buying it on day it came out. Despite this, I still look forward to playing the re-release of the original on the PSP.

Never got to the first and I don't care

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I never played the original and don't really want to. This game was such a treasure to find with it's phenomonal music and graphics, engrossing gameplay, twisted plot, and the variety of characters possible to play. I have lost a lot of sleep over this game and I'm not even half way done.

If anything, it has some of the best show of PS2 graphics I have seen-something to expect from a Square-Enix production. The wind moving through the environments, the water trickling, the sort-of dream-like haze in the towns. It all culminates into an eye-pleaser if nothing else. But the gameplay and game engineering is also top quality. The character designs are very diverse with many periods of time and cultures represented. There is a fairly even mix of female and male characters as well as classes like archers, light warriors, mages, ect.

The menu navigation and ability to load different game data at anytime (other than combat) is a serious perk that many take for granted. You can keep loading a game when you don't get the einherjar you want until the randomized selection gives you the perfect group you are looking to adventure with. The ability to instantly travel to any location on the map without lengthy travel from location to location keeps the pace nice and brisk giving you only what you want, buying equipment and battles.

The difficulty is right where it needs to be, if you do a quick run game, you will have a tough time beating the boss. It's nice not to have leveling forced on you but rather as an elective thing so that you can get through the story when you want to. The battles are clever, mixing tactical RPG with action making it very engaging and actually fun. There is a degree of button mashing, but then again, it's not a static or boring as the your turn, my turn, cast a spell, drink a potion. It's actually combat, like it should be.

I can't praise this game enough...I don't care how good the first was, it can't be better than this one. This will certainly go down as a best title for the PS2. If I had any complaints, it would be the recycled voice-commentary for different einherjar and the fact that they really aren't involved with the main story-line. Oh, and since they would be stupid not to make a third one, customizable armor would have been the cream of the crop. VP2 is a solid offering for the last PS2 has to offer.

I dont know about this VP

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: October 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I bought this one the same time I did Baten Kaitos Origins and I can say it don't hold up to the original but comes close. you can tell Square had their hands in this one, I liked the 2-D style of the first one the 3-D graphics are very impressive but dont really fit with the gameplay. My 4 star overall comes again from the battle system. It holds true to the 1 button controls 1 character but the movement system needs to go. it uses a full range system like Star Ocean but changes to the "attack view" to do the fighting similar to the original. Ultimate Magic and those really awesome super moves are still intact. Im not far into the game and they already have 2 characters from the original star here and thats Arngrim and Lezard Valeth, which is cool they were 2 of my favs, i cant wait to see all the characters. If the make Valkyrie Profile 3: Hrist I would like to see a return of the hand drawn sprites and the riddence of that movement system. `

Lots of fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 8
Date: November 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Square Enix is the best rpg developer on the planet. Valkyrie is as much fun as ffs 1-10,graphics,sound,control,and fun are all present in Valkyrie Profile 2. I highly recommend this title.

A Valkryie convert!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I was skeptical when I checked this game online but after reading the reviews of RPG gamers and experts alike, I decided to purchase this game. It didn't took a long time to find out that I got so engrossed with the game and the gameplay strategies involved.

I highly recommend this role-playing game to anyone! If you decide not to play this RPG, all I can say is you lost the chance to experience one of the best games ever.

Nice Sequel, Same Annoying Dialogue

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

At first, I thought this game was amazing. The visuals are done very well and the game itself plays exactly as I hoped a sequel to Valkyrie Profile would. However, the same problem the first game had is here in Valkyrie Profile 2: The voice acting during battles is somewhat annoying, repetitive, and doesn't always make sense.

The good news about this is that you're given the option to turn off the voices in battles if you want to. It wouldn't be as annoying if the characters were saying things that didn't sound so dorky all the time; things like "Might makes right, think about that." When I hear this, I just laugh at it, because I can't take the game seriously anymore; this is a flaw because the game itself has a very serious atmosphere to it.

The other problem with the dialogue in the game occurs with the various einherjar that you find in the game. You'll start to notice that many of the characters are saying exactly the same thing during battles, but there is a different voice actor for each character. To me, this shows a lack of personality between characters. It's sort of annoying when you discover a new character just to find that their personality is exactly the same as the last character you found--this is actually a new flaw that wasn't in the first game.

The only other flaw I noticed with the voice acting is in the cut-scenes. The voices don't flow evenly with the mouth movements. There are times when you'll hear a character talking, but their mouth never moves at all. Most gamers would agree that this is simply laziness on the developer's side and it makes it more difficult to enjoy the game completely.

So, if you can look past some of the basic flaws and try to enjoy this game as a work of art (the visuals are very well done and the surround sound/music is fantastic), then this game is well worth the price and I recommend it for anyone who has played through the first game.

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