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For RPG gamers, the wait for Valkyrie Profile sequel is over with the June 2006 release of Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria. The last release, Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, was in 1999 and it breed a new life into the RPG genre, for its combination of RPG and side scrolling action, which delivered a unique gaming experience and attracted so many fans. Still, I consider the graphic of Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth as ordinary for the then console’s technology.

Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria comes up with many new and interesting stuffs. New elements are added, resulting in fascinating gameplay.

Perform your team combos by tapping on the four main buttons.

Graphic

I must raise my hat (OK, I don’t wear any) to Tri-Ace for the new visual of one of my favourite series. Sure, oppositions abound from longtime fans who yearn for a 2D gameplay. But it was the fruit of Valkyrie Profile team’s hard labour that changed my mind and even made me enjoy the realtime 3D graphic visual.

Gamers will enjoy the beautiful and life-like background combined with illuminating light. More stunning graphic will be available to you once you reach the Valhalla (realm of the gods). The animation is impressive for both background and the characters, paying heed to every small details.

The same details can be seen during the battle mode. Whenever the player strikes a part of the enemy’s body, that part will be glowing indicating a hit. If you’re persistent enough in beating the crap of the enemies, you’ll see their body parts torn to pieces.

Movies are beautifully rendered in real time.

Story

The story of Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria takes place some hundred years prior to the event depicted in Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth. In Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria, we meet Silmeria, the youngest and kindest of the three Odin’s Valkyries, who were taken prisoner by Brahms after his last battle with Odin. Brahms finally let Silmeria go, but for some reasons Odin imprisoned her soul into the body of Alicia, a princess of the Dipan kingdom.

Long time has passed when Silmeria soul suddenly awakened, and yearning to become one again with her imprisoned body. And so Odin dispatched Valkyrie Ahly to stop the Silmeria’s final awakening for it will spell a terrible fate for the world.

Odin’s fear come into being when Lezard, a cunning and powerful mage, use Silmeria’a awakening to fulfill his own ambition of becoming immortal and possessing the power of the gods.

Confront other Valkyries.

Game Play

Retaining the same gameplay with its predecessor, this game treat the players with unique combination of side-scrolling action and RPG. The side-scrolling is used during the exploration of cities and dungeons, each one of them is opened up in a linear fashion for every mission or assignment finished.

The batlle mode requires the player to be active, which means the possibility of attacking or getting attacked depends on your enemy’s or your range. Player will be equipped with AP (Attack Point) which can be used to attack, dodge, use item, or learn magic. AP will decrease each time the player use it and increase when the player moved or get attacked. Battles will be held in arena-like places, with player can use some walk around or dash forward using L3 button.

Weapons come in four basic types: sword, broad sword, bow and staff. As usual, weapons and items can be purchased in every town, while getting a hold on some special weapons is a prerequisite for some special status. For example, if you want to gain a minimum level of 40 before the end of Chapter 3, you’ll need Valkyrie Favor, Dragon Slayer Modified, Bahamut Tear and Splitting Sword Farewell.

Unfortunately, not every purchased weapon or the one you get from slaying a monster will give your characters the ability to perform Soul Crush.

Nibelung Valesti!

In battle mode, you can control up to 4 characters including Alicia. Every character is represented with one of the four main buttons. This way you can perform a team combo by tapping the main buttons for a maximum of three times, depending on the attack patterns attached to each of your characters. When the heat meter reach 100, you will get a chance to perform a Soul Crush.

Every explored dungeon contains a sealed stone that can cast different effects on your characters, the enemies and the dungeon itself. The effects comes into being whenever you put the sealed stone into an altar inside the dungeon.

Characters

The main character in Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria is Alicia, a Dipan princess who carry the soul of Silmeria. As the story evolves you will see the conflict of Alicia’s and Silmeria’s souls inside Alicia’s physical body.

One interesting feat in Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria is the high number of playable characters, including the three Valkyries and Brahms. As a prequel to Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, you can also play both Lenneth and Silmeria before approaching the end, inside a dungeon called the Seraphic Gate.

Plenty of playable characters.

Conclusion

Simply put, Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria is a game that make up to its promises, a game worths of your time, money and your PS2 console. My only cons is the amount of time required to increase your characters level. Other than that, I don’t have any negative opinion regarding this game.

That’s all and have a nice game.

Developer : Tri-Ace
Publisher : Square-Enix
Japanese release : Jun 30 2006
US release : Sep 30 2006