Educate me about Valkyrie Profile

[Second Duke Revier]

To all Valkyrie Profile fans, I present a few questions:

1. If I liked the concept of the first Valkyrie Profile game, which other game in the franchise would I like the most?

2. Is there a recommended order to playing the games?

3. How much are the dangling threads from the end of Valkyrie Profile 1 touched upon, and in which games?

 

[Mogri]

1. It really depends what you liked about the first game. Structurally, nothing else is like it, either within or without the series. If you liked the setting/lore but not the battle system, Silmeria is a good next pick.

2. Not really. Silmeria is a prequel/sequel to Lenneth (time travel is involved); either will spoil plot elements from the other. Covenant of the Plume is a side story that doesn't really touch on much in either game.

3. Silmeria addresses some unanswered questions from Lenneth. You probably won't find closure on everything.

I haven't played Valkyrie Elysium.

 

[Oathbreaker]

Valkyrie Elysium is for all intents and purposes separate. It's sort of its own character action game and not really at all like the Profile games except in its thematic trappings. Odin, Valkyrie, Midgard, etc. If you don't want an action game, this one won't be a good buy for you.

Silmeria is what I would recommend if you liked pretty much any primary part of the first game conceptually. The battle system at its core is very similar, but they put each battle in a 3d field like a Tales of game, with far more meaningful design considerations like enemy positioning, hazards, part breaking on giant enemies, etc. It also expands on the party and reward system and has an even more extensive post game.

Covenant of the Plume is what if a VP sidestory was Final Fantasy Tactics with a twist. I think it's fun enough if tactics games are your jam but it has no real bearing on the rest of the series except to further elaborate on some concepts that don't get much more than a mention otherwise.

Tri Ace never gave much closure to any of them except the way Covenant of the Plume ends. The story stuff in Silmeria was very promising in terms of what else it opened the doors for them to pursue in future narratives but they opted for Star Ocean instead.

 

[Octopus Prime]

Beyond anything else, I appreciate CotPs central gameplay mechanic even if it wound up being a little more lacking in execution than I'd hope; your character is to be given a boon from the Goddess of death by wreaking as much evil in the world as possible (not a spoiler, this is in the tutorial mission), and the best way to do that is to perma-kill your party members in exchange for a temporary, *gigantic* stat boost. Failing to hit the minimum Sin threshold in a mission causes gigantically powerful enemies to appear in the next level to force you to sacrifice someone.

The second best way to accumulate Sin is to continuously beat down already defeated enemies, so most maps involve gathering your force around an enemy that's nearly dead and just absolutely wrecking house on them, which *really* slows things down in a game that's already in a genre not known for being fast paced, which you'll need to do since sacrificing too many people locks you into the Bad Ending

 

[Mogri]

And sacrificing way too many people locks you into the "Asgard nukes you dead' ending, which is great.

 

[Daikaiju]

Oh, I have that game and the guide. Stuff conspired to keep me from finishing it...

 

[Octopus Prime]

And sacrificing way too many people locks you into the "Asgard nukes you dead' ending, which is great.

And even the standard Bad Ending involves Hela pointing out that your master plan for killing a Death Goddess was to hit her with a sword a bunch.

which she immediately mocks you for because seriously Now.

 

[Gaer]

If you liked the first VP's gameplay, then the only one I can truly recommend if VP2: Silmeria for PS2. It doesn't hit the high notes of VP for me, just cos of the shift in story/character style; it isn't bad tho just not PERFECT like VP was.

But the battle system is the organic growth of the innovative system of the PSX game with the added third dimension, I enjoyed it immensely.

 

[Vaeran]

If you or a loved one are suffering from Unfinished Battle with God Syndrome, you may be entitled to Prosperity's Compensation