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> Results: Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth
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Most games released at the wrong time simply crawl under a rock to die. Not so for PlayStation One gem Valkyrie Profileﾗreleased in the shadow of the pending PlayStation 2 console release, this game built a cult following and became a ﾑ$100+ on eBay' game. It is easy to see why the game remains so popular years after release because it's still a unique experience featuring an engaging story and clever combat system. Combining real-time and turn-based combat in a streamlined system allows for massive bone-crunching combination attacks that can destroy a powerful enemy in a single round, the battles of Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth are at once fast paced and exciting, yet provide time for strategic planning during each turn.
The original game is intact on Sony's portable system, and only a few additional cinematics have been added. Unfortunately, the rest of the work in porting the game only serves to take away from the experience. Load times are long in most areas, and the game seems to almost incessantly need to access the game disk for something. Also, the graphics and sound are ported with mixed results. Many of the graphics look great, especially the highly detailed backgrounds and the same is true for the exciting soundtrack, but the character graphics in particular look quite bad. The constantly repeating battle calls and other dialogue also become very tiresome before the end of the first chapter. Despite these things, Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth easily ascends to the throne of ﾑbest PSP role-playing game', and offers many hours of gameplay as well as plenty of replayability as you attempt to unlock the best ending on the hardest difficulty in order to explore the secret dungeon.  
There is only one way to join Lenneth as one of her Einherjarﾗdie. The end of the world, Ragnarok, is approaching and you must gather brave warriors to help Odin battle the forces of evil. By gathering up powerful warriors and artifacts as you explore the world and sending them to Valhalla to fight alongside the gods, you ensure that the forces of good will be victorious. This all sounds like Norse Mythology, but it is more like the ﾑmade for TV version'. It's based on Norse Mythology with some very liberal license taken along the way. In other words despite similar names and places, any resemblance to actual Norse Mythology is vague at best.
Because you control a Valkyrie, you are witness to many deaths through the game in acts of sadness and desperate loss. Your search for noble warriors involves using a special power to scan the mortal world for those about to die, but this involves hearing bits and pieces of their final moments. When you visit their homelands, you see the unfolding events that lead to their death. Some of this can be quite touching, as there are some plaintive cries of youthful voices. There are some positive things that the structure of the game imposes on the playerﾗdiscipline and tough choices. The world will end on schedule. This is not like the typical role-playing game where some ultimate evil being awaits you, but feel free to slay some more rats or pick some berries to get a few more potions ready. There are a fixed number of chapters with a set number of time periods per chapter. Each action you takeﾗsearching, visiting towns, entering dungeons, restingﾗcosts you time, so you need to manage it wisely. You also need to pay attention to what Odin wants. He needs warriors with certain characteristics, so you need to groom the ones you choose. Warriors get experience and levels through battle, but you also gain extra experience by completing quests such as cleansing This review edited by Dave Long Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Browse Amazon.com's selection of "valkyrie profile" themed games Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth |
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