I’m a fan of Square Enix’s current technique of releasing a gradual quantity of smaller-scoped Japanese RPG initiatives. They won’t all be absolute masterpieces, however they don’t must be. Sure there are darlings just like the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster re-releases, NEO: The World Ends with You, the Live A Live remake, and the quite a few remasters of the SaGa collection and Legend of Mana, however the initiatives that get me most are those which can be both a brand-new IP altogether or spin-offs which can be very completely different from the prevailing IP they characterize.

Several that come to thoughts are Dungeon Encounters, the Voice of Cards collection, Triangle Strategy, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, and The DioField Chronicle. Obviously, none of those are massive AAA video games; they’re nowhere close to on the identical stage as Final Fantasy XVI with regards to improvement and manufacturing prices – and that’s superior. These comparatively smaller titles are allowed to experiment extra because of the smaller dangers they inherently incur.

Valkyrie Elysium falls below this group. It is a religious successor / spin-off to the Valkyrie Profile collection, however it is extremely completely different from these video games. I used to be surprisingly keen on Valkyrie Elysium after I first performed its demo in my preview, and now I’ve accomplished the total recreation totally.

My speedy response to individuals asking what I consider Valkyrie Elysium after all of it is just “it’s ok.”

The speedy factor that separates Valkyrie Elysium from its predecessors is that it’s an motion RPG. Players are in full command of the brand new Valkyrie and have interaction with enemies in real-time. I got here away impressed with how enjoyable the battle system is in Valkyrie Elysium. While I’ll at all times stay keen on Valkyrie Profile’s iconic turn-based fight encounters within the first two video games, Valkyrie Elysium does a wonderful job evolving that system in an interesting method.

Similar to Valkyrie Profile, gamers will spend chunk of Valkyrie Elysium recruiting a crew of Einherjar, fallen warriors summoned by the Valkyrie to help her in battle. There aren’t as many Einherjar in Valkyrie Elysium as in earlier video games, however the utility all of them convey is invaluable. 

In Valkyrie Elysium, gamers start fight encounters alone,however Valkyrie can freely summon Einherjar into battle at the price of a few of their Soul Gauge. These Einherjar will combat on their very own for a restricted period of time earlier than leaving the battlefield, although individuals can select to right away resummon them if they want. You may even tweak how lengthy an Einherjar will keep on the sphere in trade for consuming extra of the Soul Gauge upon being summoned.

There are three Skill Trees that gamers can stage up for the Valkyrie, and a number of the unlockable abilities auto-summon Einherjar into battle upon doing sure actions in the midst of fight. These vary from totally finishing a primary assault string, guard breaking an opponent, getting knocked again by an enemy, and way more. Auto-summoning consumes much less of the Soul Gauge, although the assigned Einherjar gained’t keep as lengthy both. Only as much as two Einherjar will be totally manually summoned at any given time.

Each Einherjar has an assigned ingredient, and summoning them will imbue the participant’s weapon with stated ingredient. If two Einherjar of differing components are on the sphere concurrently, then the participant can toggle between these two components. Executing a Divine Art magical spell with a weapon’s matching ingredient will additional energy it up. 

Hitting elemental weaknesses is a crucial a part of Valkyrie Elysium’s gameplay, as a result of its enemies can get fairly aggressive. Repeatedly exploiting their weak spot will refill a separate bar above foes that can put them in a “Crushed” state – gorgeous them briefly. Bigger enemies and managers can additional be put in a secondary “Immobilized” state, which extends that stun interval a bit extra, although any foe that recovers from being Crushed or Immobilized will likely be proof against their elemental weak spot for just a few moments.

Combine that with a handful of various weapons that every one play distinctly from each other and I discovered myself having a good time taking part in out Valkyrie Elyium’s battles moment-to-moment. There’s a gratifying weighty feeling to the arsenal on the Valkyrie’s disposal on this title. When blows join in an assault string, the visible and audio suggestions is satisfying; it’s a small, but essential, element in making impacts simply really feel rewarding. As I beforehand talked about in my preview, permitting the usage of the Soul Chain grappling hook to go from enemy-to-enemy is completely pleasant.

Much of my enjoyment in Valkyrie Elysium’s battles will also be attributed to the magnificence of the Valkyrie’s fluid animation transitions as she assaults. As the battle dynamics consistently change with new enemies spawning often, having the controls be as tight and responsive as they’re was important. The solely side that aggravated me on this regard is the lock-on system; typically the sport wouldn’t lock-on to the enemy that I wished or would take too lengthy to cycle via enemies to lock-on to a particular enemy. This turns into a little bit of a difficulty for a number of larger foes, since every of them may have a number of elements that every will be locked onto.

As gamers regularly use a weapon in battle, that weapon’s proficiency bar ranks up. A number of abilities on Valkyrie’s talent timber would require that sure weapons attain a sure proficiency rank to unlock them. At first, I believed this may be a ache to grind out. I later realized that leveling their proficiencies up didn’t take too lengthy, and it was a compelling incentive to experiment with completely different weapons as effectively. There are even just a few weapons I initially dismissed solely to return to them later and located them gratifying after increasing their transfer units.

Separate from their proficiency rank, weapons will be enhanced via supplies earned in chests and battles. These identical supplies are additionally used for unlocking Skill Tree nodes. I used to be a bit skeptical about how a lot of a balancing act this may be, however Valkyrie Elysium just about showers gamers in these supplies afterward. Maxing out Skill Trees and totally leveling just a few weapons is a breeze. 

In truth, I’m undecided why there’s a Character Point restrict for the Valkyrie. Many abilities have some extent price hooked up to them that gamers can toggle them on or off; in principle, this may recommend that folks should be conscious of what skills they wish to take into battle and must select to not convey some so as to keep throughout the Character Point cap. The actuality is that there are precisely sufficient Character Points to have each single capability within the recreation geared up and/or toggled on, so there isn’t a motive why that mechanic needed to be there within the first place.

Aside from the gratifying battle system in Valkyrie Elysium, I sadly discover each different side to be both mediocre or merely serviceable. The story is barebones and predictable: amidst a dying world, Odin duties the Valkyrie to purify souls on Midgard all through just a few areas to forestall Ragnarok. Along the way in which, the Valkyrie meets a number of Einherjar after discovering their relics and going through off a corrupted fragment of their soul in thrilling boss battles. A mysterious Valkyrie will get in the way in which of their plans and her phrases have the participant’s Valkyrie query the motives of Odin and such. Valkyrie Elysium’s story is easy and uninspiring for essentially the most half, with some slight nods to the unique Valkyrie Profile in odd methods. It tries to considerably retain the melancholic really feel that’s core to the collection, however I really feel that it comes throughout as too lifeless.

This is generally attributed to the Hollow Blossoms in Valkyrie Elysium. These are collectible flowers which can be marked on the map. They are the lingering voices of an individual that has already handed away; when the Valkyrie interacts with them, it’s merely a small little bit of dialogue of a faceless, anonymous NPC speaking about effectively, something. It is tough to care in regards to the world at giant in Valkyrie Elysium in contrast to in prior Valkyrie Profile video games that supplied a a lot clearer and extra poignant presentation in portraying its denizens.

The smaller-scoped nature of Valkyrie Elysium surfaces in some disappointing methods, too. While persons are launched to the backgrounds of the Einherjar they recruit on a primary stage within the story, a considerable amount of their characterization and histories are tucked away behind non-obligatory recollections that may be seen from the Collectibles menu. These are merely small situations performed out via textual content and voice appearing alone, virtually like listening to a drama CD. I’d have favored to see these get a bit extra consideration and acknowledgement from the story itself, as a result of because it stands, these are very straightforward to gloss over as a result of the sport itself hardly emphasizes them in any respect.

Plenty of Valkyrie Elysium’s aspect quests are small, considerably boring, endeavors. Players receive them from marked NPCs on a map as they play via predominant story missions after which the aspect quests are separate entries on the mission choose display once they return to the Valhalla hub base. Side quests use the identical map as their corresponding predominant quest, however are sectioned off to a a lot smaller portion of it. They’re typically fast to finish with lots of them amounting to only “kill all the enemies” with little or no variation. Their rewards are, not less than, value it more often than not from higher-level Divine Arts to objects that improve the cap on the Valkyrie’s Health, Soul Gauge, and Arts Gauge for spells.

My whole playtime of Valkyrie Elysium took a bit below 20 hours. The recreation does have a number of endings, although the stipulations for different endings are depending on actions taken within the remaining chapter of the sport. There isn’t any New Game+ after finishing it, however individuals can nonetheless receive the opposite endings as a result of loading a accomplished save file will take them again to Valhalla earlier than the ultimate chapter. The stipulations are “reset” on this case, to allow them to play out the ultimate chapter once more and select to do issues in a different way that can alter what ending they get.

Valkyrie Elysium is an okay recreation with a enjoyable battle system. Its largest energy is that it’s enjoyable to play when there are enemies on-screen. Everything else about it’s comparatively lackluster. This new tackle the Valkyrie collection is a strong gameplay basis whereas leaving a whole lot of room for enchancment in lots of different areas. Still, I feel the builders at Soleil have executed a good job as newcomers taking their very own interpretation of the collection. I don’t assume I’d need Valkyrie Elysium to fully overtake the Valkyrie Profile collection transferring ahead, although I’d be pleased with a peaceable co-existence as every strives to enhance themselves – provided that Square Enix greenlights extra Valkyrie titles, in fact.

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