[PS2] Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria

I got the game earlier today, actually. Too bad Disgaea 2 has been taking up all my time. Mindless leveling ftw.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

It's even more depressing if you were a fan of the first game who actually wanted a sequel. Anyone who pirates this game, and actually waited and salivated over the thought of a sequel should be shot if they aren't willing to pay for it now that it exists. =P

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I miss the stories for the einheriar, it feels slightly half-assed this time around. Nothing else in the game bothers me, though I also missed the faster paced music for dungeons from the original game. The music here is still good though, and some of the tracks especially sound really amazing.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Keep playing, you will see everything you want to happen, happen. This game is awesome fan service but it manages to pull it off in a way where it isn't awkward or fakey. :D

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

The person who does Freya is a woman, but her voice actor does several male characters too. So it's kind of the same but at the same time not really. You just got it somewhat backwards.

Most amazing jew boots

Very minor spoilers...

Spoiler:

You only lose Rufus briefly, so you can level him without fear.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Leveling that high so early on also kinda kills the entire games difficulty though... so if you really enjoy the gameplay I don't especially recommend doing that because even boss fights will be over in like two attacks. =P

FELIPE NO

Explaining about Lezard would spoil too much of the game. VP2 is not "just a sequel", though...

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Guest

So I just beat the game.

Spoiler:

The ending sucked, it was too short and left enough plot holes to barely make it a prequel. Ok now that I got that out the way, on to the real reason it was lame. They didn't explain anything, nothing about how VP2 connects to VP1. I always wondered how Brahms acquired Silmeria, and figured we'd find out in the ending. Not only was it not explained, we're left wondering how the hell Brahms and Odin survive to be in VP1 at all. Arngrim's the new guardian of the Dragon Orb and Rufus becomes the new king of Asgard, how does this play into Lenneth's timeline? Its like none of events of Chapter 5 and 6 ever happened in Valkyrie Profile 1, except the Valkyries being reincarnated. Lezard's presence was evident, he came from the future using Dipan's time machine after Ragnarok. Other than that, everything else is a complete mess. Maybe I missed something.. something huge, but how the hell is this a prequel again?

And I'm very confused. ._.

It isnt just a prequel though, thats why.

Spoiler:

Lezard going back in time clearly fucked with the timeline and changed the course of the future entirely. I dunno how they will manage to explain it, if they ever will at all... but with the way things ended up, there better be a VP3 to iron out this awkward chain of events. (or at least try)

Also, if you beat the last battle without Valkyrie in the party, you get a weirder scene in the ending, where you can see a young looking Lezard in the background in that scene with Alicia. Forboding sequel hint or just something to fuck with our minds? Eh, who knows.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Aquas

I still have brown hat Mithra. I gotta dump his ass. Had him forever.

You know what I wish this game had more of? Dialogue between the main characters. It's so slim, you only get it in cutscenes. In a different perspective, one that imagines that the game time is real time, and that it's okay for the main characters to only talk that much, it might make SOME sense. But you'de think they'd have more to say to each other. It's like based on the cutscenes, Alicia's confidence has grown fuckin' 1/16th since the beginning of the game.

Seriously, there is no main character dialogue besides those in the cutscenes. NONE. What's up with that? Silly Tri-Ace.

Due to this, I think I've automatically chosen not to use the main characters, sorely due to the fact that their personalities don't grow! The cutscenes are very suggestive. In the Crawsus Forest Ruins cutscene you see Arngrim and Dylan chatting in the background, while Leone and Alicia's voices are the only ones audible. Tri-Ace is telling us that Arngrim and Dylan are having some kind of, perhaps manly "shoot the shit" dialogue, but you don't get to know what it is. I don't see any reason than obsession of a specific character to not use a trifecta of Einheriar to feed Alicia stat points. I'm convincing myself that the game actually wants you to feed Alicia the Einheiriar bonuses, and hoping that you find one Einheriar that you do indeed like and would keep longer than their free level.

I finally found one of those Einheriar, Lydia is a pretty stylin' 'n young Archer who has 100% resistances on a lot of stuff. Pretty nice.

This isn't entirely true. Well, at least not in chapter 5+ with Alicia and Rufus. I think this game really jut focused on them and not really anyone else. They both have a fair share of dialogue between each other at that point onward, and are the only characters truly fleshed out by the end of the game.

How ya doing, buddy?

Is anyone else actually replaying the game already? I wasn't going to, but for some reason I am easily amused by the ability to control the music. Plus, hearing the original VP battle music is neat. I am too easily amused. =(

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Er, are you carrying the sealstone which breaks weapons at 1/5 ratio? 300% attack but 1/5 weapon break rate.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

12 CP is the cap.

I was speaking idiomatically.

You don't need to level at all... I was severely under-leveled compared to most, and using the double experience orb + Double check in the right boss fights would jump me 3~5 levels at a time, which was plenty honestly. Release the characters you aren't using; the stat boosters give more to your stats than leveling actually does.

Levels = near worthless save for more DME and to reach the proper release levels. Sure, you could wait and "perfect release" for the most boosters at the end, but why make the game unnecessarily more difficult your first time through? Just release them as you are able (but keep two of your favorites for when the story characters leave; Adonis and Phyress for me) and you're levels/stats will be fine to make it through the game.

Just need to make proper use of status effects / Seal Stones and try really hard to hit enemies from behind. I was in the late 30s and early 40s at the end of the game and still didn't have any trouble with the last boss. Toughness+Survival are the only two skills you NEED and learning skills is faster when you are underleveled anyway should you choose to learn more than that. =)

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Yar, you are not really expected to get those special weapons. They really do break the main game entirely and remove any sense of difficulty the game might have otherwise had. I really suggest not bothering with it your first time through the game, but eh, its really up to you.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Scarletdeath

I suggest otherwise. This is not a game worth replaying a second time, and I'm a perfectionist when it come to games. If you're like me, I suggest get those weapons. You play a game to enjoy it, not to challenge yourself. What is there to challenge yourself to begin with. This game is already easy, no harm making it even easier AS A REWARD TO YOUR "HARD WORK".

I like how you post as if you speak for everyone when you really only speak for yourself. Obviously some people ENJOY being challenged, otherwise why would pretty much every tri-Ace RPG to date have multiple levels of difficulty?

Besides that, who are you to say this game is easy? You overleveled your ass off and you used weapons you weren't meant to have. You seriously have about as much a right to call this game easy as someone who sharked themself to level 99.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Spatula

VP2 has multiple levels of diiffculty? I'm not too sure.

It get's increasingly difficult everytime you beat the game. Same for everytime you beat the Seraphic Gate. The first time everything is about 120% harder with maybe 3X the amount of HP. It has much smaller boosts everytime afterwards, and keeps getting harder up until your 50th time through the game. (Seraphic gate only has 13 levels of increasing difficulty)

I admit, it wouldn't be worth it to play it 50 times through (I've never played a game that many times before...) but the second time has the largest boost anyway and may as well be considered "hard mode". Plus you get lots of cute random music to play with by holding L2; like a 16bit Star Ocean 1 version of incarnation of the devil. Adorable.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I love this picture too. Dylan looked quite badass in it. Same artist that did a lot of the artwork from the original game. At least the scene style artwork. It definitely reminds me of the groupshots I saw for the original game. Too bad my desktop is widescreen or I'd use the wallpaper I snatched the avatar from. =/

It'll take awhile to level everyone. I did it (or rather, am currently in the process...) in my 2nd run through just cause the completionist in me has to see them at least one time, and it's starting to irritate me. I actually find it's faster to level them solo at the Chateau Obsession since Arngrim, Dylan and Lezard at least can 1 or 2 hit kill the leader enemies there so the fights take like 4 seconds. (150% fire damage, 120% attack sealstones)

I probably wouldn't have been even half as bothered by the earlier comments either, if he hadn't have called the game easy after admitting to using the overpowered weapons. One of the greatswords Dylan drops off has 850 attack power and allows SC. That right there just entirely breaks the game. You will be able to kill pretty much every boss in one chain of SC combos and that's ridiculous.

It's even more ridiculous when you realise, you will probably be spending more time grinding for the weapons than you would have spent going through the rest of the game as normal, too... Especially considering that you would still reach 40+ just leveling casually by the end of the game. If I had stopped to level I could have probably gotten in the mid 50's even but I didn't feel it was necessary since the last boss didn't really put up too much of a fight even at 43 (I think?) so, eh.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

the 999 hit combo video isn't from a Japanese person, it's from tri-ace fanboy at gamefaqs. He imported the game and still sticks around answering questions and posting help videos.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Our version talks just as much in battle. You can use certain Einherjar in battle in conjunction with others to stimulate brief conversations that can (on small occasion) explain a tiny bit more about their histories/backgrounds. Celes and Adonis for example, have a talk which shows he died by her hand when he was alive. =P

Easiest way to get crystals is to air combo to shimmy them out of the enemy. Use whatever attacks you can to get them up in the air and try to keep them there as long as you can.

How ya doing, buddy?

Reincarnation is a prominent theme in both games.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Scarletdeath

You speak as if EVERYONE wants a challenge while you're actually speaking for yourself.

Lol, okay. You aren't even worth my time to argue with.

You can scream at me in PM if you want, but I'm not gonna let the topic derail into something fitting of the sewers, just because you can't control your tumultuous emo rage.

Originally Posted by Aquas

Spoiler:

Kind of a weird twist, Lezard's love for Lenneth. Was this apparent in the previous VP at all? Personally I've played little of Valkyrie Profile 1, about 5 hours worth. So I don't know. Lezard is a weird villian for Tri-Ace. Albiet, the villian is still hell bent on changing the known world for a greedy cause. Lezard's cause is his infatuation with the Valkyrie Lenneth. I liked him as a villian though, his voice actor rules, IMO. I rather enjoy Rufus' woes for Alicia sacrificing her spirit, and the cutscene that follows after the credits. Nice touch, I must say. He totally wanted her, but now he gets to wait some more... aw.

Spoiler:

It isn't that weird of a twist. He was totally infatuated with her in the first game, and went to some pretty messed up measures to try and be with her. He played a very large role in the A ending route of the game. You get a taste of his twisted behavior at the end of Chapter 4 if you go through his tower.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

[delete]

FELIPE NO

How the hell did you even wind up with that much HP before beating the game?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Vash

Spoiler:

The ending was beautiful visually, despite it not having the same amazing graphics as the opening. I never played VP1, but this game has pursuaded me to find out what happens next, so I'll be purchasing VP1 for the PSP. It was a little unclear though...
1. Rufus takes Gugnir and returns it to Valhalla(?). Doesn't Odin somehow return for VP1? Where is he?
2. Brahms turns mortal and dies...but I've heard people say you fight him in VP1, even though he dies is Lezard's world which isn't Midgard(?).
3. Arngrim returns to Midgard with the Dragon Orb and restores the land(?).
4. The souls of Alicia, Hrist, Silmeria, and Lenneth disperse. The three Battle Maidens return to Valhalla and Alicia just...dissapears(?).
If anyone can explain these to me, that'd be great. Also, Lezard is is VP1 if I'm not mistaken, is there any contention between him and Lenneth throughout the story (since he had that creepy obsession with her)? Over all a great game, if FF12 can top this game's visuals I'll be very impressed and surprised.

VP2 was just as much a sequel as it was a prequel.

Spoiler:

Basically, Lezard went back in time and fucked everything up, so the future is no longer certain, and it's likely if they ever make a third game it will be about Lenneth dealing with the new and possibly better/worse future.

Foolin' with time is always confusing though, since if the events of the original game never happened, how could Lezard have even went back in time to ruin things in the first place? I think somewhere in the ending events they tried to explain that time is a pretzel and so altering the past wouldn't neccesarily ruin the future, but simply create an alternate future in some awkward way. The ending text did mention that there is another future, one that rests in Lenneth's wings, though, which is why I assume if there is a third game it will be about her again probably scoping out the alternate future Lezard's meddling created.

How ya doing, buddy?