With Heritage Of War being my entry point into the Growlanser series, I was eager to try its sequal but since it never released outside of Japan, it never got released in English. Thankfully though someone who goes by the name of Risae released a translation for the game allowing English speaking individuals such as myself to experience the game’s narrative and understand all of the menus. The translation is as you would expect from a fan translation, it’s pretty rough in spots with some noticable errors but it doesn’t detract from the overall experience as it’s still easy to understand what is being said.
Now the thing about Growlanser Precarious World is that despite being titled “Growlanser VI” it feels more like an expansion pack for Growlanser Heritage Of War, the fifth game in the series. For this reason, I highly encourage checking out my review of Growlanser Heritage Of War and if you haven’t finished playing Growlanser Heritage Of War or want to play it at some point, you may want to do so before continuing on with this review. Much like Pokemon XD Gale Of Darkness, Growlanser Precarious World is a sequel that re-uses almost all of the assets from its predecessor, so you can expect to see a lot of familiar locations and listen to music from the previous game, including the final boss theme of all things which feels really awkward given the fact that it plays so often in this game. There are some new locations of course as there’s a new continent to explore but most of the soundtrack is reused from the previous entry, with even some of the new towns reusing tracks from Heritage Of War. That’s not to say that there aren’t any new tracks as there are a few that were added to the game and the new tracks are enjoyable ones. I particularly like the new dungeon theme they added (titled Left Behind according to the translation), which addressed one of my criticisms with the previous game’s soundtrack having bland dungeon music.
The field music, while not as catchy as the one in the previous entry is also a good one and is quite relaxing to listen to while roaming around, those who prefered the catchier theme of the previous game (titled Daydreaming) will be happy to know that it returns in Precarious World when roaming through the original game’s continent. Visually speaking though, there is absolutely no difference besides the new assets that have been added. So it still looks like a late Playstation 1 game released in 2007, which may explain why this was the final installment in the Growlanser series but Satoshi Urushihara’s artwork is as good as ever.
Speaking of which, the combat system of Precarious World is exactly the same as the combat system of Heritage Of War. Absolutely nothing was changed about this system so all the fun and frustrations you experienced in Heritage Of War will return here. Just like in Heritage Of War, some of the missions are downright cruel while others are an absolute cakewalk. I found the missions that occur during the game’s half way mark to be the most difficult personally as you find yourself doing back to back missions with ridiculous defeat conditions that will certainly test your patience. There are also a few stealth missions thrown in as well which I personally wasn’t a fan of but thankfully the game does give you some leeway by giving you a warning if you are dangerously close to being seen but the signt range is rather ambiguous which makes it difficult when you consider how tight the patrol routes can be. The section where you have to sneak past a bodyguard to investigate some crates was rather annoying for me in particular as even if the bodyguard isn’t facing you, he can still detect you if you are within a certain range of him and like I said before, the range is ambiguous so it lead to some needless trial and error to get through.
While the plate system remains moreorless the same as it does in Heritage Of War, the ability to manually change the plate’s flow has been removed. Instead the flow is dictated by your character’s equipment, which means there are two flows now instead of just the one. This means that you have to be a little more careful when changing your equipment, though you can purchase switcher charms to change the position of the plates to put them into the flow should you wish to and they are reletively cheap. While it may seem like a minor inconvenience, it doesn’t affect the game all that much and having two flows allows you to level up more of your plates at once as well as giving you more bonuses, which is a good trade off.
What I am mixed on however is the new gem synthesis system. While the ability to combine multiple accessories into one is cool and all, I do think that they could have come up with a better way of doing it. It’s tedious having to constantly remove your equipped gems just to add more gems to strengthen them, then reequip them again until you get a new gem, then you have to repeat the same process over and over again, which is tedious as hell. Given the fact that the plate system alone requires a lot of management, keeping up with the gem synthesis on top of that is a huge undertaking that even I found myself unwilling to put myself through. So I spent most of the game with low level gems since I didn’t want to have to go through the tedious process of re-equipping them constantly to synthesize, not to mention that without impact potions, you have to enter battles to create impacts, so you can’t just synthesize immediately without impact potions. On top of this, the game likes to throw gems at you like candy, as well as letting you make gems with materials, which wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t for the goddamn inventory limit. So get ready to have to constantly filter out all of your gems upon acquiring new ones.
Inventory management sucks
It should also be noted that there is a lot and I mean a lot of missable content in this game. Now while the same could be said for Heritage Of War, it’s even more of an issue in this game as even the game’s bonus dungeon can be completely missed if you didn’t finish its side quest prior to certain events occuring and that’s before we even get to the character side quests which also have a crap ton of easily missable stuff in them. If you’re looking to get everything in this game then a guide is an absolute must. Even with a guide, I still failed a lot of side quests and some of the character’s ultimate weapons since I picked the wrong dialogue choices in conversations, which should give you a good idea what it’s like doing them without a guide. Conversely in Heritage Of War, I managed to get absolutely everything on my first playthrough. I cannot stress how much I was kicking myself when I figured out I locked myself out of getting a character’s ultimate weapon, it’s a good thing I’m not a completionist, because if I was, I’d be livid.
Now the story of Growlanser Precarious World is a lot less grounded than its predecessor and this comes at the cost of it adding needlessly generic and crazy concepts to a narrative that didn’t need them to begin with. I wouldn’t say that the game tarnished the narrative of its predecessor but it was a bit of a shame to see the story take such a radical, yet unoriginal turn, especially considering the fact that Heritage Of War’s story was particularly well crafted. It’s definitely not a terrible story by any stretch, just not one that lives up to the lofty expectations set by its predecessor. I think the pacing of the story is definitely on point though as it maintains your attention throuhgout, just like it did in Heritage Of War. I think a lot of that is owed to the missions and how their objectives tie in with the narrative as they add a personal stake to your character’s success in their struggle. While it can be annoying to watch that stupid NPC get killed, causing you to fail the mission, knowing that it’s a possibility makes the game feel tense as you are always monitoring the situations closely to prevent casualties or other disasters from occuring and this makes you feel more involved in the overall experience than your average JRPG as it challenges you to do the right thing as opposed to just focusing on beating the enemy while leaving your comrades for dead. The same applies to Heritage Of War also.
You can still be a dick though
The characters are likable enough but I didn’t find them to be as interesting as Heritage Of War’s cast. The good news is that the previous game’s cast will occasionally make appearances in the game and some of them may even join the party temporarily as guests which is nice. There’s also a nice surprise that fans of the previous game will no doubt be happy about but I won’t spoil what it is, let’s just say that there’s no shortage of fanservice in this game. Growlanser Precarious World’s story is rather plot focused and there’s quite a lot of exposition to explain things as the game’s narrative likes to make things extra complicated in order for the plot to make sense, not to mention the fact that the story likes to throw a lot of deus ex machinas at you which kind of cheapens the experience a bit, especially given how grounded its predecessor was. With all that said however, I don’t want to paint a negative picture of Precarious World’s story because it is still an enjoyable story that will at the very least keep your interest from beginning to end. If this was an anime or manga, my criticisms would certainly carry more weight to them but this is a videogame and therefore, the story is sufficient enough to deliver what is expected from a JRPG. Just don’t get your hopes up and expect the story to be on the same level as Heritage Of War’s, because it just isn’t and that’s perfectly fine.
Despite having a few gripes with Growlanser Precarious World, I still enjoyed my time with the game for the simple fact that I enjoyed Growlanser Heritage Of War and Precarious World is basically more of that. I think for that reason alone, I can easily recommend this game to most people who enjoyed Growlanser Heritage Of War. Just don’t go into it expecting it to be as good as Heritage Of War because if you do, you will be disappointed. Just keep your expectations in check and you should enjoy this game. If you didn’t enjoy Growlanser Heritage Of War, I can say for certain that you won’t enjoy Growlanser Precarious World either as it really is just more of the same for better or for worse. At least it’s not a train wreck like some direct sequals, I’m looking at you Tales Of Symphonia Dawn Of The New World. While it may be sad that the Growlanser series ended here, I can at least say that it ended on a good note with Precarious World.
Nice to know the fan translation is in REAL English, not that fake English the Americans use.
Plot/Story: Good
Visuals: Satisfactory
Music: Satisfactory
Gameplay: Great
Lifespan: Decent Length
Difficulty: Easy – Medium (depends on the mission)
As we all know, the 2000’s was a time where seemingly every game franchise tried to cater to broody rebellious teenagers, with even games like Jak 2, Pokemon Colosseum and Shadow The Hedgehog taking their respective franchises in a whole new direction to pander to this crowd. Atelier was no exception, so out with the wholesome innocence and in with the edge! Now somebody at the board meeting clearly took the phrase “we need to give this game more edge” too literally as the solution to this was to simply name the protagonist of the game Edge and boy oh boy does he live up to his name.
Of course it is, JRPG characters get all the cool names.
Now like all edgelords, they each come in different varieties. You have the angry ones, the broody ones, the flamboyant ones, the snarky ones and of course the cool, calm and collected professional ass kicker who doesn’t say a word but you know that they are the coolest motherfucker on planet earth. Well Edge Vanhite is on the milder side of the edgeometer, he’s a dude with a no nonsense attitude and he’s a bit of a dick but deep down he has a heart of gold, you know, that kind of edgelord. He’s kind of like a milder version of Ryudo from Grandia 2 but without the wisecracks and a little broody. Of course hes accompanied with not one, but two hyperactive super peppy happy go lucky girls to balance things out so you can clearly see what sort of shenanagins you’re going to encounter in this game’s story.
Atelier Iris 3 is split into two parts. You have the main story and sort of like an interlude where you do missions unrelated to the story that have their own side stories. As you’d expect, this brings about a lot of padding and you are forced to partake in these “missions” to progress through the story, which may seem kinda tedious, and it is but the game does try to put some effort into them by giving the missions their own side stories revolving around the game’s NPC’s whom you are helping out. While there were occasionally some funny moments, I felt that these missions do more harm than good as they bog the game down needlessly. On top of this, because these missions happen in an interlude between chapters, it’s easy to forget the events that occurred in the previous chapter due to all of the missions being completely irrelevant to it, making it difficult to keep up with the main story, not that it matters because the main story isn’t really all that brilliant to begin with. In a way it kind of reminds me of how Resonance Of Fate handled its progression as just like that game, it feels like a slog getting through each chapter due to the sheer volume of fluff to get through. This is without a doubt the biggest issue with Atelier Iris 3 as a whole and it is the thing that will ultimately make or break the game for you.
Stop being so edgy Edge!!!
Each mission will take you to one of five alterworlds to explore and these worlds are huge, filled with lots of secrets and items to harvest. The weird thing is though that each time you enter one of these worlds, there’s a time limit. I personally never found the time limit to be too taxing but it is a strange design choice nonetheless. The worst case scenario is that you get sent back to town when the timer runs out and while it may seem like a bit of a nuisance, it doesn’t prevent you from revisiting a second time. I find that once you know your way around the alterworlds, it does get a bit easier to traverse through them quickly and upon gaining new abilities you can use your powers to access new areas, sort of like a metroidvania game in the sense that it encourages backtracking. Given the fact that alchemy is the primary focus of these games, getting players to backtrack to find secret recipes and items to create new items is a good idea and with each mission requiring you to backtrack to each area anyway, it doesn’t feel like an additional chore to go off the beaten path to discover something new, even with the time limit in place, I find that the game gives you plenty of time to explore the alterworlds.
One interesting thing about the alterworlds is the fact that there are different colored enemy blobs that trigger encounters. You have blue blobs for easy enemies, red blobs for tougher enemies and white blobs which are kind of the in-between. While attacking white and red blobs will trigger encounters, attacking blue blobs will kill them instantly and may drop materials, this doesn’t give you any experience or money though but it can be handy to bypass all the easy battles. There are also giant red blobs which are kind of like mini-boss enemies but not quite mini-bosses, they’re just enemies that are slightly tougher than the others and typically have a lot more health. There are also some even bigger red blobs that are tied to hunt quests that may show up in certain areas. My issue with these enemies is that the game doesn’t mark their location on the map, only the area that they are in is mentioned, so you have to go looking for them yourself which is a pain. Thankfully these quests are optional and aren’t required to progress through the main story.
One area that Atelier Iris 3 particularly excels in is the combat. Atelier Iris 3’s combat works closer to that of Mana Khemia than it does the previous entry, Atelier Iris 2, which felt more like a Grandia game. There is a turn order that can be manipulated like in Atelier Iris 2 but it works a little differently as you have attacks that have knockback properties that can push enemy turns back a bit. Attacks build up a charge gauge which can be spent on special moves like in Atelier Iris 2, however Atelier Iris 3’s new burst mode not only fills your charge gauge up to max but it also increases the damage dealt by your attacks by an insane amount. Just like the charge gauge, all of your attacks increase the burst gauge and this includes special moves too, encouraging players to play more aggressively to fill the burst gauge. I really like the whole “thinking outside the box” approach to combat that this brings about as it discourages players from spamming the same moves repeatedly and instead consider the situation as well as the amount of charge they have. It should also be noted that weaknesses and resistances affect the rate in which the burst gauge rises, so it may be better to use abilities enemies are weak to to build the gauge up faster. If players fail to fill the burst gauge however, the enemy attacks can decrease it so you can’t always count on getting burst mode but if you do, it will make you absurdly powerful to the point that it pretty much lets you steamroll most encounters.
Given the fact that this is an Atelier game, it goes without saying that there’s a crafting system. Atelier Iris 3’s crafting isn’t too different from Atelier Iris 2’s crafting, you simply combine ingredients together to make an item but can also replace certain ingredients to make completely new items or add another property to the pool of properties available for the item. Properties are effects that are applied to the item such as being able to gain an extra hit with a regular attack if applied to a weapon or the ability to regenerate health as well as stat boosts. It’s a very simple system but the ability to change ingredients and choose properties makes you think a little more than the average crafting system you see in most games nowadays. Those looking to craft absolutely everything will spend an insane amount of time in this game hunting for ingredients and recipes as there’s quite a lot to be found, as well as certain recipes requiring Iris to visit certain places to come up with alchemy ideas.
While the combat, alchemy and exploration may be fun on paper, I feel that the overall structure of the game lets it all down as you spend a lot of time going back and forth between each alterworld doing all kinds of errands, which can get pretty monotonous after a while as they have you visiting the same places constantly. Each time you travel to an alterworld, you have to start in the exact same spot and work your way through to the area you need to be in to do each quest, sometimes the game is generous enough to let you fast travel to places but other times it feels like the game is sending you on a wild goose chase for some mundane errand just to add even more needless padding, expecting you to fight all the enemies and explore along the way. This just doesn’t work for a game this long as you get sick of it after a while. In an era where fast travel is mocked for being the norm, Atelier Iris 3 showcases the exact reason why it has become a staple in gaming to this very day. I do not see why the developers had to needlessly pad this game out, I could have settled for only having 5 alterworlds with all of their subsections as I honestly do not mind the idea of having few dungeons that are vast and full of secrets but for a game this long, it feels criminal. This game should have been 5 chapters long tops, the fact that I had to go through 10 chapters, having to follow the same structure for each and every one of them save for the final one is unbelievably absurd.
It’s a good thing that the game’s soundtrack is nice to listen to, because you will spend the entire game listening to the same few songs on repeat time and time again. While the music does change a little when reaching certain areas in an alterworld, some alterworlds have the same song playing throughout. There are some nice battle tracks too but like the alterworld tracks, you’ll be hearing them a lot, so they should be good. Now that’s not to say that the soundtrack is on the same level as Atelier Iris 2 and Ar Tonelico but there’s still a good mixture of catchy, serene tracks to accompany you as you bop around all of the alterworlds. The voice acting on the other hand is a mixed bag. On one hand you have Kirk Thornton voicing Ash, who is totally not Vergil, on the other hand you have the worst role that Jessica Straus has ever played, Nell. Now anyone who knows Jessica Straus knows that she tends to voice a lot of older characters in games and this is probably why. While her voice work for older characters tends to be pretty good, her voice work for Nell is rather grating.
Me if I have to listen to Nell’s voice ever again
Now this might be a weird thing to say given its age but Atelier Iris 3 might quite possibly be the best looking Atelier game I’ve seen in regards to visuals. I feel that the sprites hold up extremely well and while the landscapes are the usual blocky roads, there’s a lot to love about the aesthetic design of some of the backgrounds and clutter throughout the levels. I particularly love the design of the Grimoire Castle as you enter it, it has that absurd sense of scale that you’d expect from a Vanillaware game. Like the music though, you’ll be seeing the same locations often so it’s a good thing that the game isn’t lacking in the aesthetic department.
I think that Atelier Iris 3 has been widely ignored by the majority of people as while Atelier Iris 2 and Mana Khemia tend to get mentioned a lot, Atelier Iris 3 has been ignored. I think the structure of the game might be the biggest reason for this, that and the fact that the story, while servicable isn’t going to keep you on the edge of your seat, no pun intended. It’s definitely not a game that you’re going to want to binge through. You’ll find it a lot more enjoyable if you only play it for short sessions at a time, doing the occasional quest every so often but don’t expect to finish this game quickly and if you do, brace yourself for some serious burnout because you’ll have had enough of this game by the end, believe me. I think the same can be said for Atelier Sophie as well, though that game has way more problems than this one does and it wasn’t half as enjoyable as this game was. I haven’t played many of the Atelier games so I can’t compare them all but if you enjoyed Atelier Iris 2 and you want more of that, Atelier Iris 3 might be worth giving a try so long as you keep your expectations low. Atelier Iris 3 is still an enjoyable game, it just overstayed its welcome for me.
She might if she accidentally trips and falls backwards off the EDGE.
Star Ocean The Divine Force is best described as being the best possible outcome for the series. As someone who has played all of the mainline Star Ocean games up to this point, I recognize that each game has its ups and downs. In the comparison article, I brought up the many criticisms I have with each individual game in the series but I managed to enjoy all of them despite their shortcomings and this is mainly due to the fact that I absolutely adore the Star Ocean formula. Star Ocean The Divine Force feels like an attempt to address many of the criticisms I had with the previous entries, while also bringing something new and fresh to the Star Ocean formula.
What makes the Star Ocean formula so appealing to me is how it manages to constantly excite you with its subsystems. Going into a Star Ocean game, I expect to experience a lot of character management and Star Ocean The Divine Force doesn’t disappoint in this regard. The skill books found in previous entries are no more and have been replaced with a skill grid for each character, allowing players to learn skills in any order they like as opposed to having to find skill books or visit skill shops to unlock new skills like in the previous games. This allows for considerably more freedom in regards to how one chooses to build their characters. On top of this, you still have the ability to level up skills with SP acquired from leveling up your character like you can in previous entries, so you still have the freedom to strengthen your character’s skills in any order you please without feeling gated off to anything. I didn’t find the skill grid to be all that restrictive either since each skill you learn connects to numerous other skills, giving you plenty of choice in regards to what skills you want to learn first, within reasonable boundaries of course. Honestly, this may quite possibly be the best skill system in the series as there are very few boundaries as opposed to previous entries and the system is easy enough for newcomers to understand, albeit a tad overwhelming but if it wasn’t then it wouldn’t be a Star Ocean game.
For the first time in 21 years, Star Ocean The Divine Force employs the original item creation system that was used in both the first two entries and Blue Sphere which is a real treat for fans who have sorely missed the simple, yet addictive process of discovering new items at the expense of raw materials. When Star Ocean Till The End Of Time released, this system would be replaced by the convoluted Invention system, which was so terrible that they ditched the system entirely in Star Ocean The Last Hope which instead used a more conventional crafting system that you see in so many games nowadays and while it was considerably less aggravating than Star Ocean 3’s invention, it felt rather generic and uninteresting by comparison to the item creation found in the earlier games. I feared that this system would return in The Divine Force and while the game kind of does bring back the concept of recipes used to craft certain items, it is no longer required of players to follow these recipes when partaking in item creation allowing them to freely make items without having to fulfil a strict criteria, which I strongly prefer over The Last Hope’s more restrictive system. On top of all this, there are a few changes made to item creation. Players can now choose to retry a failed item creation up to two times with each one, which helps to mitigate the need for save scumming when a valuable material fails to produce the desired item.
In previous entries, part of the fun of item creation was visiting all the different kinds of stores in towns to purchase materials and ingredients to create certain items. All but one town in Star Ocean The Divine Force has but a single merchant and while this does make shopping for items more convenient, it is a bit of a shame that there’s no reason to enter different buildings in towns save for story related purposes and finding a few items in people’s houses. The game more than makes up for this however by placing purple crystals around town for players to collect, these crystals can also be found outside of towns too, particularly in field areas which are considerably larger than the field areas in the previous entries, even Star Ocean The Last Hope’s field areas are dwarfed by the ones in Divine Force and that game had some pretty huge field areas for the time. These crystals can be used to level up DUMA, a robot companion which the entire game revolves around. DUMA can be used to get from A to B quickly but it also has an important functionality in battle. By upgrading DUMA, you can learn skills that relate to both field navigation and combat. Much like character progression, you are free to upgrade DUMA in any way you please, giving you even more to manage, as if the character management alone wasn’t good enough.
Mission Failed… We’ll get em next time…
Private actions return and this time upon entering a town you have already visited (so long as it is not connected to the story) the party will automatically disband, leaving you with only Raymond or Laeticia to control. During this time you can interact with your party members like in Integrity And Faithlessness without having to move to the whistle icon beforehand. While most private actions involve conversing with the other character like you would a generic NPC, there are a few that play cutscenes with background music of their own like in The Last Hope. It’s nice to see a good mix of both this time around. One issue I do have with the private actions in this game however is that there is no way to tell how many private actions are available in town. Back in Star Ocean Integrity And Faithlessness, there was an indicator that showed how many private actions you had left to do before you had to stay at the inn to refresh them. This feature is completely absent from The Divine Force which is rather aggravating as you try talking to every single character after every story interval in towns to make sure you aren’t missing anything, only for most of them to repeat the same lines of dialog relevant to the plot at the time of interacting with them. Sometimes it’s easy to tell as they usually have their own spots but these spots tend to change as the plot moves on making it even more difficult to find them. Sometimes you will see characters stood together which makes things a little easier. Fortunately many of the game’s private actions are entertaining enough to make seeking them out worthwhile.
If private actions aren’t your thing, there’s yet another distraction for players looking to kill time in towns in the form of a new minigame titled E’sowa. This minigame has you collecting pawns that represent characters from previous games which is a nice callback. At first the game can seem a bit complicated but upon learning how it works, you realize that at the start of the game, many of the stats do not matter as you can abuse the smaller boards by surrounding as many empty spaces as you can to essentially place your opponent into submission, rendering it impossible for them to place a pawn. The same can happen to you however and it can feel a bit frustrating if it happens because you could have a ton of health but without the ability to place a sufficient amount of pawns, all you can do is sit there and wait till you are defeated as there isn’t usually an easy way to turn things around when things go sour unless you just happen to have assassin pawns, which can be difficult to acquire early on. I did find that later on, E’sowa did become a bit more challenging and fun. The desire to collect all the pawns and reach the highest rank is definitely alluring, so I found myself playing way more E’sowa than I had anticipated. The way this ties into the gameplay is that pawns can be equipped as accessories or be used through synthesis to extract its valuable factors. If you don’t like E’sowa for some reason then you do have the alternative option of crafting the pawns through item creation but I find that approach to be very difficult if you are looking to acquire a particular pawn that may otherwise be easier to obtain by winning an E’sowa match.
All your favorite Star Ocean characters return in E’sowa… but unfortunately so does Lymle.
So as you can see, there’s a lot to do in both towns and field areas, making visiting new locations just as exciting as it is to level up your character to invest skill points in whatever you choose. The feeling of excitement brought about by these two things is ultimately what sets Star Ocean apart from other Action RPG’s as it truly is the core of what makes these games enjoyable. Star Ocean The Divine Force not only maintains the standards set by previous entries in this department, it improves each and every one of them and for that alone, I’m greatly impressed with what this game brings to the table already. There is one thing however that Star Ocean often gets outshined by its competitors in the genre and that is the game’s combat system. While the combat in the series isn’t necessarily bad outside of the third entry, I find that tri-Ace seem to have been fighting an uphill battle against Tales with each and every game in this department and while a few games arguably match their Tales counterparts, most of them fail to reach the standards set by the Tales games released around the time they came out. Due to Star Ocean Integrity And Faithlessness having a rather archaic combat system for the time, being based on Till The End Of Time’s combat system and all, a major change was needed in order for future entries to stand the test of time. Star Ocean The Divine Force addresses this issue by completely reworking the entire combat system whilst adding something fresh to help it stand out from its competitors.
For starters you now have an AP gauge which governs how often you are able to take actions in battle. The AP gauge may feel similar to that of fury from Star Ocean Till The End Of Time but unlike that game, the AP gauge can be restored when moving, much like in Valkyrie Profile 2. Speaking of Valkyrie Profile 2, the attacks are mapped to the face buttons, much like that game. The only difference is that the X button is used to jump, every other face button allows you to input a sequence of up to 3 actions much like how Valkyrie Profile 2’s characters each have 3 moves of their own that trigger in a linear fashion. There is also the ability to hold down one of the buttons to perform a different action, which is kinda similar to how you could press a direction on the d pad mid combo to scramble attack in Valkyrie Profile 2, letting you mix between the linear combos to make more free flowing combos should you wish to do so. There is a lot of potential to be had with this system and it allows for much greater flexibility than previous entries in the series. The question is, is any of this flexibility meaningful? While I can’t say that the moves aren’t spammable, because they most certainly are, it is interesting to note that many of the attacks learned by each character comes with a unique factor that makes it specialize in certain situations. Some attacks have I-frames while others can deal extra damage to downed enemies to name a couple of examples. I find that this helps to make combat a little bit more interesting than just button mashing because you may be able to find an opportunity to utilize a different move for a better effect.
Sweet Chin Music!
The main draw of the game’s combat lies in your new robot companion, DUMA. With DUMA you are able to do numerous things both in and out of battle but in battle it serves as a means of closing in on enemies at high speeds with a VA attack. You can also use it to provide passive buffs by switching to estery cage mode but you will be unable to use the VA attack, nor will you be able to increase the VA gauge with attacks. This means that you will be unable to utilize blindsides which can be performed by initiating a VA attack and changing directions when facing an enemy that is readying an attack against you, making it very different from how blindsides worked in The Last Hope as instead of evading an attack, you are instead closing in on an enemy with a VA attack. This speeds up the pace of the combat considerably as you are no longer charging up your rage gauge waiting for the enemy to approach for an attack, instead you are approaching them, only to change course to take them off guard. Blindsides not only grant you bonus damage but they will also immobilize the enemy for a brief period of time. It is also possible to blindside multiple enemies at once in this game which can be even more rewarding as your allies can take care of the other immobilized enemies while you focus on the one you targeted. Blindsides also increase your maximum AP capacity in battle which allows you to perform more actions, making it a critical skill to utilize to maximize efficiency in regards to your actions. The estery cage is handy in situations where enemies cannot be blindsided like the worms you encounter in the mines area as it helps to protect the party by giving them a huge defense boost, among other things. It can also be useful when you are in a tight spot and the AI are having trouble staying alive, which will happen a lot in the later portions of the game as there are very few commands available to give to the AI. The only options you have are to split up or focus on a single target, that’s it. There’s no option to keep distance from enemies so if you want to do that, you’ll have to do this yourself by removing all of the chain combos and positioning the character away from the action, which is hardly ideal but sometimes it is necessary.
It is worth noting that there is no MP in this game unlike its predecessors, so you can’t just rely on MP regeneration and repeatedly use healing spells to keep your party alive, you will have to use items if you want a good chance of surviving. Those who choose to place Nina in the party will have the ability to heal and revive the other party members. The MP restoration items now serve to replenish AP instead, though I found that my AP replenished fast enough on its own anyway, plus without the quick usage skill, you will spend a considerable amount of time waiting for the item to trigger, it is highly recommended to equip that skill on your most used character as soon as possible. There is also an auto healing skill that really comes in handy when you’re running low on healing items, equip that skill as well if you have it and be sure to max it out when you can as it makes a huge difference. If you’re finding the pace of the combat to be overwhelming or you need to change targets, you can enter stop mode (which is the touch pad button on the PS4 controller) to stop what you are doing in the middle of battle to change targets, assess the situation, use items and change the AI behaviors without having to do so in real time. It’s a good thing that this feature exists because much like in Valkyrie Elysium, the lock on button is mapped to R3 but with stop mode this is hardly an issue.
If you use a VA Attack on an elevated target, you can reach great heights and can attack foes while airborne
The good news is that most of the inputs for actions in battle and on the field can be customized should you wish to use a more convenient layout. Personally I switched the dodge button to circle and the circle moves to L1 because I found it to be more convenient personally. Having the freedom to change the inputs is always a good thing and given the fact that many of the Star Ocean games use triggers for their special moves, should you wish to play the old fashioned way with the triggers instead of the face buttons, you can. Sadly though you are still unable to change the lock on inputs which is a tad disappointing. Nevertheless there are some other features worth noting such as the ability to break off enemy body parts like in Valkyrie Profile 2 and this often leads towards item drops. Certain larger enemies have different targeting points you can switch between and sometimes it is better to target a specific part for greater effect. It should also be noted that if your inventory of a certain item is full, any of those items that are dropped from enemies will be sold automatically which is a convenient way of dealing with excess items, the same also applies to items made in item creation too, so instead of these items simply not appearing in your inventory despite been shown as being acquired, you at least get some kind of reward for it.
There is a downside to inventory management though and that is the fact that at times certain characters will leave the party and upon doing so, the game will unequip their accessories constantly (Edit: Patch fix incoming for this issue). Now there are a crap ton of accessories in this game, many of which will likely be pawns acquired from the E’sowa minigame so it can be a pain having to navigate through all of them. While there ways to sort the inventory to make things a little easier, if you’re looking for a particular accessory, it can still be a pain trying to find it. I do understand why they did this though since it means that if the characters that left kept their accessories equipped, you would lose those accessories until they came back (Edit: Once again, Patch Fix), so in a way it’s kind of a double-edged sword. It should also be noted that the text size in this game is absurdly small which can make the tutorials an absolute pain in the ass to read. Considering how much different this game plays when compared to its predecessors, this can leave even long term fans confused if they struggle to read the tutorial text. There are also times where enemy encounters become glitched and won’t recognize you, though it’s more of a minor nuisance than anything. Other than that, I really don’t have much else to complain about in regards to the gameplay as pretty much everything else works about as well as any Star Ocean game should.
Now Star Ocean has never been known for having the greatest of narratives so with all that in mind, I was rather impressed with how the story was handled in The Divine Force. It starts off quite slow but in a good way as it introduces you to the world and the characters. Around the half way mark, things start to get a lot more plot heavy and while that’s great and all, it does disrupt the game’s pacing a little as you’ll find yourself in situations that involve constant back and forth between areas to watch cutscenes with very little going on in the gameplay department, which can feel like a slog, particularly for players who want to get back to the action. To make matters worse, during these sections party members will come and go and due to the way accessories are handled, this can get pretty infuriating (Edit: Once again, they’re patching this issue). I get that they were trying to build up to a huge story moment but I think they could have trimmed it down a little and still had the same effect.
The latter half of the game’s story is when things start to get a little complicated as it introduces some new concepts with a ton of exposition to explain them in greater detail which was pretty hard to follow. I did find the concept itself to be interesting however and the way it tied into the theme of the narrative was really well done. Ultimately, the story as a whole was gripping enough to keep my attention, which is all I really need in a Star Ocean game as the meat of the experience lies more in the gameplay rather than the story. It’s definitely more ambitious than the previous entry that’s for sure and is up there with Star Ocean Till The End Of Time’s story in regards to how interesting it was to me. One thing that I did find lacking though were the game’s villains as while the story tries to give them interesting motives, they fall completely flat due to the fact that they present themselves in the most generic way possible, making them very hard to take seriously.
The game more than makes up for the villains shortcomings with its diverse selection of playable characters. They even brought in some new races to make things even more interesting. The characters truly are the main appeal of the game’s story if you ask me as while the plot itself is interesting, it’s the characters themselves that make it work because you genuinely care about them, unlike The Last Hope where the characters were so ridiculously absurd that I just couldn’t take the story seriously. It certainly helps that the male lead, Raymond is a lot more cool-headed and mature than many of the other male leads in the series, he can also be rather snarky at times which adds to his likability. After suffering through characters like Fayt Leingod and Edge Maverick, who are considerably more unlikable, playing as Raymond feels like a breath of fresh air, without a doubt the best male protagonist in the series hands down. My favorite character though would have to be Midas since I found him to be the most relatable character out of all of them. Not only is he dapper but he’s also surprisingly swole for a semiomancer in his older years. I greatly resonate with his bluntness, as well as his cynical attitude, even though it brings nothing but trouble for the party, his rebellious nature makes him stand out from the rest of the cast as he is pretty much an anti-hero, which is a very common trope for many younger characters but it’s nice to see an older character embody this trope for once. The rest of the characters are also likable in their own way and bounce off of each other’s personalities really well, which is especially important in a Star Ocean game, given the fact that they tend to have numerous private actions.
The characters not only have great personalities but they also look great aesthetically as well, Akiman definitely made some interesting looking characters this time round. It’s definitely an improvement over the previous entries, even though I did like the artwork for Integrity And Faithlessness as well. He is definitely my favorite of all the Star Ocean artists by far, though I know that not everyone will agree with me on that. What I really enjoyed about the visuals the most in Star Ocean The Divine Force is the environments. I have heard countless people complain about the graphics being outdated for the time but I don’t care what those people think, visually speaking, this game looks absolutely stunning and is without a doubt the best looking game in the series hands down. The level aesthetic absolutely nails the otherworldly feel in ways that other games failed, such as the existence of floating islands in the sky which can be reached by flying to them with DUMA for a better view of the landscape. In addition to this, there are some absolutely gorgeous skyboxes to build on that otherworldly feel with what appears to be two moons in the sky, definitely one of the best skyboxes I have seen in a videogame for sure.
Nice view, wish I had someone to throw…
The soundtrack is best described as being grandiose. I particularly enjoy the music that plays in the more futuristic locations the best as they kinda have this electronic rock hybrid to them which I really enjoyed a lot. While it may not be Motoi Sakuraba’s best work, it’s definitely a solid soundtrack nonetheless, though I wouldn’t say it is my favorite soundtrack in the series. Some songs stand out better than others but the ones that stand out the most are fantastic. Ultimately though, the music does an incredible job at bringing the game’s environments to life and that’s all that really matters.
Star Ocean The Divine Force has everything a Star Ocean fan could possibly ask for. While it may not be a perfect game, it does revitalize the Star Ocean formula and for that alone, regardless of its flaws I find it impossible to dislike this game. The question is however, how well does this game hold up with the other games in the series? In retrospect I kind of released my comparison article too early as I never expected this game to come out but after playing this game and seeing how well it holds up against all of the classics, I’m going to have to change my answer. As good as Star Ocean The Second Story is, I honestly feel that Star Ocean The Divine Force is the better game overall. Sure Star Ocean The Second Story has a lot more item creation specialties and character endings than The Divine Force and is still an outstanding game for its time but I honestly think that The Divine Force beats it as my all time favorite Star Ocean game for the simple fact that it successfully managed to do what no other game in the series could. It is the only game in the series so far that manages to have a great story, the best looking visuals in the series, my favorite cast of characters in the series to date and most of all, the best combat system in the series hands down. In other words, it succeeds in all four areas. If this is the last Star Ocean game we will ever get then I can at least say that the series ended in the best way possible.
Ok so I’ve just about had enough with this bullshit. Star Ocean The Divine Force releases in 8 days, 8 fucking days and Square-Enix still hasn’t listed the system requirements on the Steam Store page, on top of this, the game has denuvo DRM and apparently there will be in game purchases according to the ESRB which I only noticed on the Playstation Store page for the game which I decided to check because I wanted to see what Sony were charging for it because it’s common knowledge by now that the Playstation Store is a rip off and I’m going to get into that first because before I went to look up the price for the game on the Playstation Store, I was expecting it to be £54.99, which was still higher than the price on Steam but I knew Sony would inflate the price like the scum they are so I went in expecting it to be higher. Turns out that Sony exceeded my expectations as the price of a digital standard copy of Star Ocean The Divine Force on the Playstation Store is… *drum roll* £59.99!
I know, it caught me by surprise too, I never realized that Sony would stoop so low as to charge more than the physical copies on their store, which are only £54.99. Sure with postage in consideration it’s the same price but this is still daylight robbery and we all know that Sony has a monopoly, they’ve already been accused of it, it’s out there, go look it up Sony have a monopoly over their console’s digital market, I’ve known this for years and it’s the main reason why I refuse to buy from the Playstation Store. Thing is though, it is still an avenue of purchase to consider and for that reason, I had to bring it up. Hopefully this alone will tell you why this isn’t a viable option of purchase. Next up we have physical PS4 copies and I don’t even know where to begin with this. On Gamefaqs, people have mentioned that Amazon have delayed the game till November, only to bring it back to October 27th. Like I get it, there’s a lot of complications with postage right now, the Royal Mail are on strike, I get it. Thing is, this is just confusing to me, if I order a physical copy of the game (which cost the same as a digital Playstation Store copy when you include postage) then I will not have access to the game on release and this will greatly hinder the progress of my review of the game. Unlike most of these mass media outlets and popular content creators, I do not have the luxury of being able to apply for a review code. This is for two reasons, firstly I am a small content creator, secondly this is Cynical Gaming Blog, essentially making me the enemy of all videogame publishers, why would they send me a free review code when I trash these companies time and time again? So this means my only option is to get the game day 1… which is easier said than done.
Now obviously the best case scenario would be to get the game on Steam so that I can play it on PC, since it would be so much more convenient for me to do so as it means that not only is it easier for me to record footage it’s also easier for me to screencap too. On top of this, I’d be supporting more PC releases of Japanese games by buying from steam and showing Square-Enix that there is an audience for those games on PC. On top of this, it would mean that there would be 1 more physical copy available for physical game collectors who play on consoles as I would be buying digitally, which has limitless availability. In addition, the price for Star Ocean The Divine Force on PC is £49.99. I never thought that I’d be happy to see that price tag show up for a game since it used to be £39.99 for a brand new release, remember those days?
Sadly inflation is a thing now and well, they’ve coerced us into paying more… as per usual. I wish It was that simple for me to do that, I mean given the fact that I am a self-employed retailer (this blog doesn’t make me any money, let alone a living just thought I’d put that out there), I understand better than anyone how hard it is to inflate prices simply due to the fact that while inflation goes up, the disposable income of others does not and I always try my best to make prices fair and affordable, going as far as to avoid buying inflated stock to maintain a fixed price. Of course big corporations aren’t going to do this since they don’t give a shit about their customers, particularly game Publishers. They’re only good at one thing: taking and I’m getting fed up with it. None of this would be an issue if the games themselves were improving like they were back in the day but videogames have been going downhill since 2010 and continue to get worse and worse by the day (which is evident by my review of Valkyrie Elysium, a game I paid £54.99 for, more expensive than my copies of Valkyrie Profile 1 & 2 combined only to find out that it was inferior to both of those games), save for a few, yet they charge us more!? What the absolute fuck is wrong with this industry? Why do we eat up this bullshit time and time again? I swear there’s more to it than inflation, the Playstation Store prices greatly suggest this.
Regardless I will accept £49.99 for now as a reasonable price for the sake of this article, assuming that it’s merely inflation but it’s impossible to know that for certain. All I do know is that the way Square-Enix have handled the PC version of Star Ocean The Divine Force is absolutely abysmal. Not only do we have to deal with Denuvo DRM yet again but the system requirements for the game, which should be announced prior to release are still unconfirmed even though the game is releasing in 8 days, what the fuck Square-Enix!? Despite this however, they are more than happy to relieve us of our hard earned money in exchange for a game that we don’t even know will work on our hardware. Not everyone has the best, most up to date PC and because of this, it is important to list system requirements so that people know in advance whether or not they are able to run the game so that they can make necessary modifications to their system in advance prior to release or they purchase the game on console if they happen to have one. With the way things are right now, it is impossible to know whether or not the game will run and while some have speculated that the recommended requirements will be around the same recommended requirements that the PC’s being given away in a Japanese contest by Intel, it’s difficult to know what is in the thing unless you understand Japanese and even then, what are the minimum requirements? We don’t fucking know!!!
So as you can see, I am in a bit of a situation here. I don’t usually try to get reviews out early but I have noticed that doing so yields better results as people are more likely to read reviews of games if the games are new and relevant and considering the fact that two of my favorite franchises had releases back to back this year, I’ve wanted to cover both of them, despite the stressful situation I’ve been going through in real life. Thing is that Square-Enix are making this needlessly difficult for me. I want to support more Star Ocean games and with tri-Ace’s terrible financial situation under consideration, it is urgent that I purchase the game so that I can at least show to Square-Enix the value that tri-Ace brings to the table as well as getting them out of this mess. I don’t give two flying fucks about giving Square-Enix my money if it wasn’t for tri-Ace I’d just wait for a cheap review code to show up on G2A just to spite them for being greedy bastards. Thing is, this isn’t a matter of boycotting, it’s quite the opposite. Buying this game digitally on steam means that I am supporting Square-Enix’s bullshit but that is a necesarry evil to keep tri-Ace afloat and it is so unbelievably conflicting. Thing is though in this situation, I feel that I have to let Square-Enix win because tri-Ace is one of the last hopes this industry has to bring us quality games. While Valkyrie Elysium, was one of those “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situations in regards to buying it, Star Ocean The Divine Force is very similar in the sense that you either watch tri-Ace disappear from the industry or prevent it at the cost of allowing Square-Enix get away with their bullshit. I am so sick of the distain that this company has for its PC market, they didn’t even give PC users access to a Demo, it’s ridiculous. Is there any hope for this industry at all or are we all fucked?
Please note that written part of this article mess is rough and was originally used as a script for the video, I kept it here in case people would rather read than watch the video but there maybe a few errors in the script as a result since some parts of the script I skipped past for numerous reasons, some I have deleted but I may have forgotten others. I recommend watching the video instead.
Original Script For The Video
Part 1: The Importance Of Ulterior Motives & Lenneth’s Story
By now I feel that enough people have played Valkyrie Profile 2 and because of this, I need to get this off my chest once and for all. Now if you read or watched my review of the game, you might have found the personal side of things to feel a bit shallow and there’s a reason for that, as I was aiming to review the game and not spoil the experience for those getting into it. Now you all know by now that I consider Valkyrie Profile 2 to be the greatest game ever made and while my review did mention a few reasons as to why, I never really delved deep into an explanation of what makes this game better than the rest. To do this, I must go into deeper plot details and explain the events that occur later on in the game so I must warn you all that there will be huge spoilers covered here.
Firstly I want to address a few issues the game has in more detail, if you watched the review then you will know exactly what I am talking about in regards to story but to be more specific, the reason why the game’s narrative is such a slow burn is because of the infamous Chapter 3. While Chapter 1 and 2 act as introductory sections, Chapter 3 presents players with what may quite possibly be the worst macguffin hunt of all time. Now I should clarify that Valkyrie Profile 2 is not the only sole offender here as many other games suffer from this trope but Valkyrie Profile 2 does it in the worst way possible as when you reach the end of Chapter 3, you quickly find out that everything you have been doing up until that point has been a complete and utter waste of time from a plot perspective.
From a gameplay perspective however, Chapter 3 is a very important section of the game as it provides an opportunity for players to invest time and learn the complex gameplay systems that the game presents them with, as well as presenting them with some gorgeous landscapes to explore, each accompanied with an equally impressive musical score. I will be touching on the importance of this later but to sum it up briefly, the written narrative of Valkyrie Profile 2 is definitely not the main attraction here. People who play Valkyrie Profile 2 looking for a deep, engaging narrative are going to be bored to death in Chapter 3 and understandably so, the game doesn’t cater to those people in the slightest. Exploration on the other hand is where the game shines the most and I don’t mean this in the sense of having the freedom to go where you please, rather the feeling of wanderlust that comes from investing in the game’s world, be it gazing at the gorgeous landscapes, enveloping yourself in the sublime music or reading into the lore and backstory of the many einherjar you recruit, piecing together a set of events that occurred in years past to illustrate the worlds historical legacy. All of this is vital to get the most out of this experience as it makes the scale of the game feel so much grander than it would had you just perceived it as a set of cutscenes split apart between battles. Valkyrie Profile 2 cannot be viewed as such, though its incessant usage of cutscenes can feel a little deceptive in that regard. This is why it is so important to take your time with this game, it really isn’t a long one as it has been completed in less than an hour by speed runners which is considerably short for a RPG.
Another thing I want to address is the reason why I suggested that people should probably experience Valkyrie Profile 1 first and the reason for this is how Valkyrie Profile 2 ties directly into the first game and does so in two ways. Both games are completely different experiences that are designed to suit the character who is central to the story. While Lenneth’s story is mostly about exploring an enigma, Silmeria’s story opens up considerably by comparison, expecting you to understand the ways of the world and the situations that occurred in the first game. Players who witnessed the C ending of Valkyrie Profile would know that the gods Lenneth serve are not quite as benevolent as the player was led to believe, those who got the B ending spent over 30 hours only to be told that their work is done, implying that their presence in the game was no longer necessary nor welcome, thrown straight into an anti-climactic credits sequence directly afterwards with a brief hint that the game isn’t over and they have to restart the entire game all over again. Upon finishing the A ending of Valkyrie Profile, the truth is revealed, the gods were using you the whole time but it’s too late to do anything as the world is on the brink of annihilation and you have to stop it before it’s too late, this ending is the one that ties directly into the events of Valkyrie Profile 2 which takes us to the second reason why I recommend people to experience the first game beforehand, the fact that while the timeline Valkyrie Profile 2 takes place in is prior to that of the events of Valkyrie Profile 1, it is very much a sequel as it is not a mere retelling of events that happened, it is a changed timeline, influenced from events of the first game.
So what you see in Valkyrie Profile 2 is essentially a time paradox. Not only that but the entire story of Valkyrie Profile 2 revolves around preventing the events of the first game from ever occurring. If you never played the first game, then you will never understand the importance of this as the events that occurred in the original timeline directly lead towards the devastation of Midgard in the first game, which is a notoriously grim world where humans suffer through miserable lives, begging for death, only to find that death may quite possibly be even worse than life. Valkyrie Profile 1’s story is all about questioning not only the meaning but also the value of life and does so in the most brutal and unapologetic way possible to the point that it might as well be considered to be the most depressing game ever created, as while the game never gives players a definitive answer, it does lean closer to that of nihilism and hopelessness to the point that players experiencing it may even be susceptible to dark thoughts themselves. It’s definitely not an experience for everyone but it is one that is necessary in the realm of videogames, one that I respect greatly as it doesn’t sugarcoat anything. When you consider the fact that the main driving force of the second game is to prevent all of this from happening, players who have played the first game will be considerably more invested in the story as they are emotionally driven to stop all of this misery and bring hope to the world… assuming that hope can even exist in the first place.
Part 2 – The Tragic Princess
Valkyrie Profile 2’s story isn’t centered around Lenneth Valkyrie this time round. Instead you play the role of a human princess named Alicia. At first you would think that it would make more sense for the titular Silmeria to play the role of protagonist, however this isn’t the case and by the time you reach the end of the game, you will soon come to understand why Alicia is the protagonist as she is essentially the character that you the player are going to connect with the most. On top of this, her entire character is the core that links everything together, making her an important character. Before I go into detail on later events, I feel that I should give a brief summery of Alicia’s backstory and the events leading up to the climax of the emotional rollercoaster that is Valkyrie Profile 2.
Despite Odin’s attempts to reincarnate Silmeria into a human to punish her for her rebellious intent, the transmigration failed and Silmeria remained conscious within the human body of Alicia, who Silmeria was originally supposed to be. Silmeria did not stay dormant however, her desire to get revenge against Odin for his misdeeds causes her to take an assertive position over Alicia at times and it is implied that Silmeria’s commanding presence was a threat to the royal family’s authority. Because of this, Alicia was forcibly exiled by her parents and lived a life in solitude for many years. Silmeria continued to assert authority over Alicia’s consciousness leaving Alicia completely helpless, essentially making Alicia a slave to Silmeria. Silmeria was eventually found by Hrist and therefore, Alicia is forced into dangerous situations against her will in order to prevent Hrist from killing her and releasing Silmeria’s soul to be brought back to Asgard. Alicia spends the entire first half of the game doing Silmeria’s bidding and this leads her on a hunt for the Dragon Orb which is where chapter 3 takes place.
At the end of chapter 3, it is revealed that Hrist Valkyrie was masquerading as Leone and after stealing the dragon orb from Alicia, it is presumed that she will launch an attack on Dipan due to her earlier threats. In chapter 4, the group arrives in Dipan to confront Hrist but unfortunately they arrive at a timely moment where Hrist is just about to execute the leader of Dipan’s people, King Barbarossa in front of all of his subjects in order to make an example of what befalls those who oppose the gods. Despite having sent Ull to keep Alicia from witnessing her father’s death, Alicia arrives to stop her anyway but before she can do anything, Hrist gives Arngrim the order to activate the guillotine causing Alicia to witness her father’s decapitation.
To make matters worse, the three mages who were assisting Hrist in the execution out of fear take ghoul power in order to prevent Hrist taking them as Einherjar, this includes Alicia’s childhood friend Dallas, who is forced to drink ghoul powder against his will by Walther. After consuming the ghoul powder, the other two mages leave but Dallas stays behind telling Alicia that her father whom she was exiled from at an early age due to her ties to Silmeria, was trying to separate Alicia from Silmeria using unlawful methods in order to make Alicia free from Silmeria’s control so that Alicia could live as a complete person. Dallas also revealed that the king had to sacrifice many lives in order to do so and that his love for his daughter was his motivation for doing it.
Immediately after this revelation, Dallas begins spazzing out in front of Alicia due to the effects of the ghoul powder as Alicia is forced to watch as her childhood friend loses his mind and becomes a demon. Dylan, who is possessed by Brahms’ soul at the time, forces Dallas to flee leaving Alicia to mourn not only one, but two brutal deaths of people she cared for. This immediately causes her to search for her mother, the last person Alicia cares for who stayed in the castle during the attack. Unfortunately for Alicia however, the Queen’s grief over the loss of her husband caused her to take her own life. After one of the guards reveals this information to Alicia, Hrist appears and tells Alicia that she would have killed her mother anyway causing an enraged Alicia to attack Hrist.
It is then that a pivotal point in the game’s story occurs where Alicia and Silmeria are forcibly separated, Brahms’ soul manifests from within Dylan to try and prevent this from happening but is captured by Freya, Lezard also disappears leaving Alicia and Rufus in the ruins of a fallen kingdom. It is at this point that Rufus decides that he is going to go to Yggdrassil in order to attain the power of the gods and fight Odin to save Midgard.
So Alicia has not only lost her family and friends but she has also lost the person who ruled her entire life. This essentially puts Alicia in a state of desperation, having lost everything that mattered to her and with nobody to lead her, Alicia pleads with Rufus to bring her along. Rufus refuses stating that humans cannot reach Yggdrasil but Alicia insists and Rufus decides to take her as far as she can go.
This is a pivotal point in Alicia’s character. It is important to understand that Silmeria’s dominance over Alicia has essentially removed Alicia’s ability to act for herself. She has grown too used to relying on other people as a result and this is why she chooses to go with Rufus, not because she wants to save the world but because without someone to lead her, she would become as helpless as a dog abandoned by its owner. Alicia is now in a position that she has never been in, now sure many of us face the daunting task of having to choose which direction to take our lives in but this is an extremely difficult task for Alicia in particular considering the fact that she has literally zero independence. This is the core of Alicia’s character and is what ultimately leads to what would be her biggest challenge, the events of chapter 5.
Part 3 The Calm Before The Storm
Alicia and Rufus must traverse through the tranquil Forest Of Spirits to reach the gates of Bifrost, leading to Asgard and thus Yggdrassil. The forests are a land left mostly untouched by Humans and it is home to the elves who’s purpose is to protect the gates of Bifrost from mortals and others who dare threaten the Aesir on Midgard. The song titled “The Wavering Of Another Age” plays throughout this dungeon and it is a very calming song with a catchy rhythm. While the song does befit a tranquil forest that has existed for countless years, its primary purpose is to provide a brief moment of respite to lighten the mood after the events of chapter 4.
Upon reaching the gateway to Bifrost, Rufus enters through with ease, Alicia however finds herself unable to go through with him and this causes her to repeatedly bash the gateway in frustration to the point that her hands turn bright red from all the bruising. This is the first time the player sees any form of emotional response from Alicia since before fighting with Hrist and it heavily emphasizes how terrible her current mental state is but why now? Why does she choose now of all times to express her inner frustrations? Because she has finally seen the reality of her situation and therefore her delusions of purpose are finally starting to fade, Alicia has lost all reason to live at this point and the only thing keeping her going is the mission presented to her by Silmeria because it’s the only way she knows how to live. This scene in particular resonates with me on a more personal level as it kind of reflects my own approach to life, just mindlessly flailing my way through it. I’m sure many others can relate to this as well, that feeling of being completely powerless, yet you keep going despite all the odds being stacked against you, which is precisely what this scene illustrates. Though it is true that life can take its toll on all of us, you can clearly see that the circumstances of Alicia’s life throughout this entire game have been particularly grim, which makes this scene hit all the more harder. It is at this point that Alicia tells Rufus to leave her behind because she finally realizes that she is nothing but a burden to him.
By now, Rufus is aware that something is not right with Alicia and because of this, he decides not to leave her behind because deep down he knows that she is reluctant to leave him. Her actions at the gateway spoke louder to him than her current words. She needs to go with him and he knows it… but it’s impossible. Suddenly they are found by one of Heimdall’s men and are rescued by an elven archer. It is at this point where the elf reveals to Alicia that it is impossible for humans to reach Asgard, unless they were to become an einherjar or turn undead. Upon hearing this, Alicia suddenly proposes the idea of becoming undead and Rufus suggests using his ring to prevent Alicia from decaying since the ring is what has kept Rufus alive this whole time as he should have died many years ago from old age. The player then has to go through the most tedious section of the game which involves backtracking all the way to Dipan’s laboratory to get the ghoul powder and back to the Forest Of Spirits. Which just goes to show that while I consider Valkyrie Profile 2 the greatest game ever made, it is far from perfect, the section afterwards further emphasizes this.
This is where we reach what I consider to be the most memorable section of the entire game and the belly of the whale of Alicia’s story. Despite Rufus’ reluctance to go through with this, Alicia immediately swallows the ghoul powder without hesitation, showing just how reckless her current mental state has lead her to become. This leads to what may quite possibly be the most intense portion of the game where Alicia and Rufus both find themselves on the other side of the gateway. Due to the effects of the ghoul powder, Alicia is in a weakened state and seeing no other choice, Rufus removes his ring and places it on Alicia’s finger to prevent her body from fully decaying but in doing so, Rufus collapses due to the ring being the source of his life energy. Without the ring, Rufus will also begin to decay and die, this leaves Alicia with no other option but to make her way through the dreaded Ravine Caverns in order to save Rufus’ life and make it to the realm of the gods.
Part 4 The Bridge Between Heaven And Hell
Ravine Caverns is without a doubt the most intimidating dungeon in the entire game outside of the Seraphic Gate. It is so infamous that popular youtuber DavidVinc put it on his top 10 worst playstation 2 dungeons of all time list and for good reason, you have 8 minutes to get through the longest dungeon you have encountered so far. Now if you bring up the map for this area you will see a single tiny room, that’s where you are and you will see an icon showing the entrance, on the other side you will see the exit and loads of empty space in between. All of that empty space is filled with small rooms similar to the one you are in and there are multiple layers to this map as there are paths that go up and down leading to other rooms, some leading to dead ends, others leading to treasure chests rigged with traps and others lead to sealstones. Put simply, Ravine Caverns is a huge maze and you are not ready for it. Now I’m sure that there are some people who managed to get through this dungeon first time without a guide but I certainly didn’t, I pussied out because I desperately wanted to get through the ordeal of navigating this treacherous maze in one piece. Thankfully you are able to use photons to bypass most enemies but that won’t save you from reaching a dead end having to backtrack to another path in hopes of making it to the end in time. I hate this dungeon with a passion and the game knows that I hate it because… well, the music.
The Ravine Caverns is certainly a grim place, filled with poisonous swamps that will poison your entire party if you step in them. It’s not exactly the most notable dungeon in the game in the visual department but the music is without a doubt the most fitting song I have ever heard for a dungeon. It’s an intense, emotional piece fittingly titled “Life Which Desires Death”. Considering the nature of the game’s story, this title perfectly describes the context of the game’s story at this point and the song perfectly expresses the emotional state of both the protagonist and you as the player, getting through one of the most painful experiences in the game. Only when you understand the context of the game’s story and have experienced the pain of trudging through this horrendous dungeon yourself will you truly appreciate this piece of music.
So all in all, Ravine Caverns is an intense moment for both the player and Alicia, in fact you could take Alicia or the entire narrative out of the equation and this section of the game would still leave a lasting impression on you. It is an emotional journey that invokes a strong sense of panic and desperation that will stick with you throughout the entire dungeon.
Upon reaching the other side of the Ravine Caverns, a scene plays where Alicia is assisting the crippled Rufus all the way to the exit. The irony of the short and scrawny Alicia dragging this tall elf guy is certainly apparent here but that’s kind of the point. This part of the game shows that Alicia has grown as a character and not a single word has been said since the start of this section but no words are needed as you, the player watched her navigate one of the most treacherous and intense dungeons ever, you could feel her struggles and her will to become stronger just by playing the game and taking in the ambience. Valkyrie Profile 2 shows that some things are best expressed without words and Ravine Caverns is pretty much Alicia’s equivalent of Rocky’s training montage which you, the player got to participate in, which further bolsters the player’s connection to Alicia’s character.
Part way through the cutscene, a new song plays titled “Turning Back Is A Mistake”. If you understand the context of the story then the title of this song is also rather fitting as turning back at this point is impossible. This brings about a massive shift in tone as this song heavily emphasizes a state of tranquility. This is further emphasized by the location itself. Bifrost is the bridge that crosses between the realm of mortals and the realm of the gods and what a sight to behold it is. After the many perils that players went through to reach this point of the game, Bifrost provides the player with a brief moment of respite and while there are a few enemies to fight along the way, the dungeon itself is fairly straightforward. There is also a healing point as well as a save point upon entering this location. My one criticism with this section of the game would be the fact that there are several enemies to fight here as while I do love the combat of Valkyrie Profile 2, I would have preferred to have walked through a combat free zone here. Thankfully you can return to this point in the game and take in all the sights without being interrupted by mandatory battles.
Bifrost is best described as being an aesthetic masterpiece and this is thanks to the phenomenal transitions that create a fantastic illusion that players can easily miss. While Bifrost is a very short dungeon that can be traversed very quickly in game, the clever use of transitions in this area does a fantastic job at showcasing the scale of this gigantic bridge. As you approach from the entrance, the bridge slowly begins tilting upward until you reach this unusually trippy visual effect that surrounds the entire bridge, this visual effect allows for a massive transition to be made as if you look very carefully after entering this section of the bridge you will see a sphere in the background. It took me ages to figure out what that sphere was but then I was amazed to find out that it was actually moon, the entire moon was in the distance and I could barely see it due to the weird visual effects that surrounded me.
Needless to say that continuing further along the bridge caused yet another transition to occur, this transition would be the one that transitions from the center of the bridge to the Asgard side, suddenly you are presented with several floating islands in the distance, many of which have water falling through the edges. It quickly becomes apparent to the player that they are miles away from Midgard and have finally made it all the way to Asgard. Now on a personal note, ever since I started playing the first Valkyrie Profile and seeing Asgard for the first time, I wondered to myself, can you actually go there and explore those islands? Sadly the only time you can explore Asgard is right at the end of the game where it is in ruins. So I personally felt that reaching Asgard in Valkyrie Profile 2 was a dream come true, sure it is only a few screens of nothing but gorgeous landscapes with only a single merchant and two dungeon entrances but the moment I arrived in Asgard, I couldn’t help but stand still amongst the flying petals and take it all in.
The music that plays in Asgard titled “A Stable Float” was the perfect track to accompany this section of the game as it somehow manages to be even more more tranquil and relaxing than the music that played in the previous area. Asgard presents the player with a brief moment of respite before they make their final trek to the top of Yggdrassil and what a moment it is. One thing is for certain however, it is not Asgard alone that made this part of the game so impactful, rather the journey as a whole makes reaching this point of the game feel so damn satisfying. I could stand in Asgard and take in its incredible views forever but the game is far from over. The emotional rollercoaster continues.
Part 5 – The Final Climb & Climax Of Chapter 5
With both the Dragon Orb and Brahms soul in the palm of his hand, you would think that Odin would be content with leaving Midgard alone. This is not the case however, as the Sovereigns Rite used to separate Silmeria from Alicia was a forbidden magic that only gods were permitted to use. Now that humans have gained the knowledge on how to perform the Sovereigns Rite, Odin feels that it is necessary to destroy Midgard and dispose of humanity before they become a greater threat, threatening to slay any einherjar who oppose him in the process. Originally however, this was not the case. In the first Valkyrie Profile, the deterioration of Midgard which led to the poor state of the world was caused by the fact that the Dragon Orb was no longer on Midgard. It is likely that the Dragon Orb provided sustenance to the world and without it, a great famine would be brought about that would cause devastation. The people of Coriander began selling their children into slavery, likely in order to afford the rising prices of food. Orphans turn to thievery in order to make a living and help the struggling elderly. Lack of resources brought tension between nations, meaning the demand for mercenaries was higher than ever as war could break out at any moment. All of this was the result of Odin acquiring the Dragon Orb, though this does not become apparent until the end of the first game. In Silmeria, players are expected to know this and therefore, Odin is already set up to be the game’s antagonist. Sensing Alicia and Rufus’ presence, Odin decides to take matters into his own hands, deciding to slay them himself.
The next dungeon, Yggdrassil is without a doubt my favorite dungeon in the entire game. Unlike the Ravine Caverns it isn’t an ordeal to get through but at the same time, it isn’t a total cakewalk as Yggdrasil makes full use of the game’s photon system, offering some somewhat tricky platforming to mix things up. The whole dungeon feels like a really satisfying excursion that showcases every single aspect of Valkyrie Profile 2’s phenomenal design at it’s best. Part of me considers Yggdrasil to be a strong contender for my favorite dungeon in a JRPG for this very reason. The music that plays in this location is titled “No Knowledge Of Wisdom”, a song so powerful that it quickly invokes an exciting feeling but simultaneously illustrates the struggles the player will face as they carry out the daunting task of making their way to the top of this colossal tree.
Visually speaking, the entire dungeon is a spectacle, not that it should come as a surprise at this point but the visual backdrop of this level in particular is so impressive that there is an entire cut scene dedicated specifically towards acknowledging just how incredible it looks, so much so that it serves as the perfect opportunity for Alicia and Rufus to reflect on their entire journey up to this point, using the wondrous landscapes surrounding them to show just how far they have come throughout their journey, reminding players yet again that they have accomplished feats that no mortal could ever hope to achieve. All of this builds up to the climactic finale of the entire story, where Alicia and Rufus team up against Odin. Those who played Valkyrie Profile 1 will relish in the sensation of finally being able to settle the score for all of the terror he has brought to Midgard in the first game. This is the man who tricked the player into doing his dirty work only to find out that you were working for a scumbag who views humans as nothing more than farm animals. You are finally challenging the lord of the gods in what would have been the game’s final confrontation in the game’s original timeline.
Needless to say, the battle ends in Odin’s favor as his powers vastly outclass those of Alicia and Rufus, though interestingly enough, you can actually win the first battle if you are strong enough. The result is always the same regardless of whether or not you are victorious as Alicia and Rufus get the ultimate reality check in the form of a serious beating. Rufus tells Alicia to run away but Alicia refuses to budge, refusing to abandon the dying Rufus. It is at this point that a familiar face shows up. It turns out that Lezard survived the events of chapter 4 and snuck his way to the top of Yggdrassil and seeing no other choice, Alicia begs Lezard to assist her against Odin but what can a mere mage hope to do against the might of the all father himself?
Part 6 – This Is No Mere Mage
It isn’t uncommon to see videogame protagonists as the underdog as it allows for said character to not only be relatable but it also opens up the potential for character growth. A good example of this would be Alicia’s story up to this point. Throughout the game she has played the role of an underdog and has faced many tough adversaries on her way to stop Odin’s tyranny. However it is not by Alicia’s hand that Odin’s reign is brought to an end.
During the fourth chapter of Valkyrie Profile, one of Lenneth’s spiritual concentrations leads her to Flenceberg where she will recruit a mage named Lorenta into the party. This is a critical point in the game’s story that cannot be skipped over if players wish to complete the A ending. It is here where players first encounter a mage named Lezard Valeth. Now considering the fact that Valkyrie Profile takes place many years after the events of the second game, people may be confused as to how Lezard Valeth exists in this world but all shall be explained in due time, for now I wish to cover the events of Lezard’s past, leading up to the events of Valkyrie Profile 2’s final chapter.
In the first Valkyrie Profile, Lezard is best described as being the ultimate underdog with a trick up his sleeve. At first glance, he seems like a delusional madman who’s threatening presence poses no threat to a goddess like Lenneth Valkyrie. As a human, Lezard’s power is no match for Lenneth’s, much like all the other foes she has face in previous chapters. What makes Lezard stand out from the rest however is that he is fully aware of this fact and thus he presents the first major obstacle in Lenneth’s path. Lezard’s depiction in the first Valkyrie Profile is a far cry from the cool-headed mage that he in in the second game. Instead he is portrayed as a despicable madman with a crude and twisted sense of humor, as is shown by his interaction with the captured elf, twisting her words into an implication of sexual desire between her and Lezard’s homunculus, bringing further upset to the helpless elf. Not only does this scene give player’s a taste of Lezard’s disturbing characteristics and his psychological prowess but it also puts Lezard into a position of power right from the get go, a position that players would be quick to assume to be short-lived. This assumption is immediately crushed when Lezard lures his former teacher, Lorenta to his tower where she would suffer tremendous torment, only to face a bitter end. I simply adore this scene as it shows just how calculated and intellegent Lezard truly is, while further showcasing his twisted nature. Despite his deep understanding of how to manipulate the emotions of his victims, it isn’t directly stated whether or not Lezard truly revels in the suffering of others. While it is heavily implied that he does, his actions actually serve a more practical purpose than one might initially believe. Lezard knew that It wouldn’t be enough to simply kill Lorenta or her husband, he had to make sure that his actions brought him enough infamy in order for him to become closer to his prize. As an underdog, Lezard first has to prove his worthiness as a villain, therefore Lezard does what he does best, in order to attract the attention of the one whom he desires most, a trick to lure the unsuspecting heroine into his clutches. This was never about Lorenta, nor was it about torturing elves. All of these horrific acts were merely a means to an end, Lezard beckons Lenneth into his foreboding tower, where the two would finally meet each other face to face.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
Sun tsu
It is at this point where Lezard reveals his plans to Lenneth, all the while expressing his adoration for her. This is the first foe who shows a deep interest in Lenneth, not as a goddess but as a person. Lezard clearly knows much a lot about Lenneth, and despite beating him in a fight, Lezard manages to get away, leaving her with a single provocative line in retaliation, showing that despite being defeated in a fight, Lezard ultimately got one up on her by showing her that he knows more about her than she knows herself, Lezard has essentially exploited Lenneth’s ultimate weakness, something she has to contend with throughout the game. In addition, this shows just how confident Lezard is in the face of such a formidable adversary because according to the famous quote of Sun Tsu, those who know their enemy and know themselves need not fear a hundred battles, whereas those that do not know themself or their enemy will succumb in every battle. Lezard is essentially the ultimate foil to Lenneth and thus he is essentially her greatest rival, therefore despite his mortality, he has proven himself to be more powerful than Lenneth could possibly believe and as is typical of a goddess who is known to bring evil to its knees, even she refuses to accept that a mere human could be such a threat to her but little does she realize how far he is willing to go to achieve his ultimate dream.
Later on, a character named Mystina, an acquaintance of Lezard is introduced. It’s heavily implied that Mystina is heavily interested in Lezard, whether it be romatic or lustful is unknown, though she decides to use astral projection to explore his tower with the intent of stalking him. What Mystina finds inside the tower not only blows her mind but she is disgusted to find a homonculus of what appears to be a very young girl, leading to her assumption that Lezard is a pedophile. Now Lenneth is far from being an underaged girl, heck she has expsted for countless years so it’s obvious that Lezard clearly likes women of his own age but it is possible that he may have expressed an interest in minors for research purposes… if you know what I mean. This clearly paints a picture of what type of character Lezard is. He is so sick and twisted that you wouldn’t want to know his secrets even his he told you. This disgusts Mystina so much that her opinion of Lezard changes completely. However, Mystina still believes that Lezard can be of use to her as she recognizes his knowledge better than anyone, so she kidnaps the lifeless homunculus in order to blackmail Lezard, showing that despite not seeing any truly despicable acts from her, she and Lezard are both cut from the same cloth, creating an interesting relationship between the two, a relationship of mutual respect, yet distaste for one another. Both Lezard and Mystina recognize the need to rely on one another in order for them to reach their own agendas, though it goes without saying that Lezard is always one step ahead of her the whole way, with the philosopher’s stone’s knowledge, much like Lenneth, Mystina too is vulnerable to Lezard’s superior intellect. Lezard takes great pleasure divulging the truths of the world to Mystina, after all, he is showcasing his knowledgeable prowess which essentially allows him to stroke his own ego, going even as far as to express his ultimate desire to her, leaving Mystina completely baffled at the idea of a man getting to take ownership of a goddess but before she can react, Lezard casts a spell on the machine she is is in, freezing her to death and cackles madly to himself.
Now for players who saw the B ending, this would be the last time they would see Lezard in the game and if they didn’t enter the Tower Of Lezard Valeth in Chapter 4 or exited it for whatever reason, the mystina recruitment scene wouldn’t have been available either, nor would Mystina be recruitable. This means that in order to view the rest of Lezard’s backstory, you will need to make sure to get the A Ending. The A ending is filled to the brim with story which is a harsh contrast to the game at large. What makes the A ending so interesting however is not Lenneth’s characterization that is brought about by the final scenes, rather Lezard’s sudden appearance that shockingly has him working together with Arngrim and his former victim, Mystina in order to restore Lenneth’s boddy after it was taken by Hrist. This leads to several events, once again showcasing Lezard’s crude sense of humor, while also showcasing his knowledge. It is these traits that ultimately makes Lezard stand out from the other villains in the series and in a way it kind of makes him somewhat of a lovable rogue. Not only is he very much an underdog throughout this entire game being a mere mortal and all but he has the charisma in both Valkyrie Profile 1 and 2 that makes him so compelling, to the point that if you ask any Valkyrie Profile fan who their favorite character is, there’s a good chance that many would say Lezard. In fact I would personally consider Lezard to be my all time favorite character in gaming and I’m hoping that this analysis of his character can help you understand why he is my favorite. There are many insane characters in games such as Albedo from Xenosaga, Kefka from Final Fantasy 6 and Mugetsu from The Bouncer but none of them can even remotely compare to the greatness of Lezard Valeth.
Upon finishing the first Valkyrie Profile, right after the world is destroyed and brought back to life under Lenneth’s control, the end credits roll and a screen saying “fin” shows up, making you think that the game is over and it’s time to turn the game off, those who leave the screen on long enough will be treated to a scene with Brahms. This scene is particularly interesting to me as it suggests that Brahms has ulterior motives which could open up the possibility of a sequel perhaps, who knows? What’s really important is that right after this, Lezard shows up. Now you would assume that Lezard came back under Lenneth’s control as she is the creator but you’d be wrong. While it was thought that the Dragon Orb killed ever single being on midgard, only three survived, Brahms, Silmeria and Lezard. How Brahms and Silmeria survived is unknown but Lezard’s cause of survival was the philosopher’s stone, by destroying it, he was able to protect himself from Loki’s Dragon Orb, allowing him to survive the armageddon that everyone else was crushed by. With his memories in tact and without Lenneth’s hold over him, Lezard is free to do whatever he pleases but as horrifying as that may seem, he is still a mortal human, surely he can’t subjugate a powerful goddess like Lenneth, especially now that she has the power of creation in her hands, what could he possibly do accomplish his dreams?
It is at this point that the primary antagonist of the entire series has been replaced with the true antagonist of the series. Finally after all of the buildup from the first game, Lezard takes up the moniker of main antagonist, from the previous main antagonist no less. I love this as not only has Lezard’s entire backstory built up specifically for this moment but it just goes to show just how meaningless this entire fight was, as you have merely replaced one evil for another. Thus a whole new arc of the story begins and immediately after, the situation is bleak with Alicia not only losing her ring but also Rufus thanks to Lezard’s soul transfusion spell infusing Odin’s soul into Rufus’ body before his death. Luckily for Rufus he is able to communicate with Alicia as a soul, though he requires materialization to become alive again. So from this point on, Alicia is on her own, much like Arthas was when he was separated in Azjol Nerub, Alicia now has to brave the perils of Yggdrassil by herself as she tracks down the ring used to sustain her life back on Midgard so that she can use it to materialize Rufus. Upon doing so, the game presents a brief moment of triumph as a new song plays in Yggdrasil titled “Start Up From Prolonged Darkness” which is full of energy and pumps players up for the second arc of the story, vanquishing the treacherous Lezard once and for all.
Part 7 – A New World Awaits
By the time players reach the final section of the game, Lezard has taken center stage as pretty much everything revolves around him. Alicia, who barely had any of the story revolve around her, save for chapter 4 and 5, finds herself once again as a third wheel in the conflict as Lenneth appears to resolve her differences with her old nemesis. With the power of Gungnir in his hands, Lezard creates his own utopia in the form of a new world tree, proclaiming himself as god and what a utopia this is. The Tower Of Lezard Valeth, which was an important dungeon during the mid portion of the first game serves as Valkyrie Profile 2’s final dungeon. While its appearance is drastically different to that of the first game’s dungeon, it is heavily implied by Mystina that the tower is capable of moving between dimensions and with Lezards new found powers, its likely that he is able to completely alter its appearance to his liking. The Tower Of Lezard Valeth consists of 4 layers, each with its own unique backgrounds and battle arenas as well as different music for each layer. One might argue that the tower is a reflection of Lezard’s subconscious thoughts or his desires and as twisted as he is, this wouldn’t surprise me. While each song that plays inside the dungeon is a different variant of the same song, the tone in both the visuals and the music is so drastically different for each layer, making for a truly unique final dungeon in terms of conceptual design. Each of the four landscapes are gorgeous and the music that accompanies each of them is especially powerful. Both of them help to invoke feelings of terror, dread, sadness and pride, with each layer representing said feeling.
The first layer features a shattered world, full of debris and rubble. Within its background lies a gigantic dragon shaped statue amongst the chaos. The music titled Climax Comming From The Abyss invokes a strong sense of urgency which is somewhat familiar of the first game’s soundtrack in tone but in Valkyrie Profile 2’s style. Being the first layer of the tower makes the feeling of urgency fit all the more because there are three other layers to get through and Lezard isn’t going to wait around for you, this layer may also reflect Lezard’s destructive nature in regards to how he handles his victims.
The second layer, features a vast barren landscape, neighboring a dying woodland with a river flowing through the foreground. the music titled “A Pile Of Griefs” is considerably slower in tempo but many of the notes are considerably more emphasized by comparison, bringing about a foreboding, tense and intimidating atmosphere. This layer likely reflects Lezard’s unwavering confidence and the fear that comes from dealing with a confident adversary envelops you in this layer. Both the music and the landscape capture a feeling of hopelessness, with all the dying fauna unable to thrive in an environment consisting of both extreme heat and water. This is a land where nothing survives but despite this fact the landscape is still gorgeous to look at.
The third layer is a huge contrast to the previous layers, now you are above the clouds and there are several floating islands with waterfalls, accompanied by a gorgeous starry sky in the background, this area has a noticably more tranquil, yet melancholic tone to it, which is further emphasized by the music that plays which is titled “weakness”. This song is arguably one of the game’s more definitive tracks as it carries a feeling of gentleness throughout, which is a feeling that I find the game itself revolves around as a whole. This feeling of gentleness is quickly followed by a more somber tone, hence the melancholy. This layer possibly represents Lezard’s inner frailty as a human, a reflection of the underdog he once was, completely powerless before the goddess he wished to own.
This is fittingly positioned just beneath the fourth and final layer which plays my favorite song in the game titled “ascend into the true faith”. This is hands down the most epic and grandiose piece of music I have ever heard in a videogame, so much so that it was at this moment that I realized that Valkyrie Profile 2 would become my all time favorite game. The landscape appears to be considerably more ornate than the previous layers as both the platforms and the trees are draped in golden nectar with glittering gold particles fluttering from the sea of clouds below. While the music kind of speaks for itself with its sheer epicness, the landscape further emphasizes Lezard’s narcissism, as this is after all his utopia so of course the very top of the tower where he resides is going to be as regal as possible, befiting the coronation of this new god perfectly.
At the very top of this incredible world tree the three Valkyries confront Lezard, only to be completely outmatched by his newfound powers, rendering the once powerful Valkyrie sisters into crystalized toys and I say toys specifically because that’s pretty much what Lenneth is at this point which is evident upon entering Lezard’s inner sanctum where the epic music fades to silence as you are forced to bear witness to Lezard’s moment of triumph as you run through the hallways surrounding the center of the room with nothing but Liam O’Brien’s legendary voice acting to accompany you. This is such a powerful moment in the game as you finally get to see Lezard get what he wants, showcasing not only his colossal ego but also further showcasing his mad obsession with Lenneth as he gloats to her about her being unable to stop him, while simultaneously fawning over her. This follows the final battle of the game where Alicia, Rufus, Arngrim and Brahms team up to free Lenneth from Lezard’s clutches. I should note that there are some plot holes brought about by some of the game’s dialogue at this point with both Lenneth and Alicia claiming that Lezard has destroyed worlds which we never see happen, however this narrative flaw can easily be overlooked when you consider the fact that Gungnir is responsible for the world’s stability and eventually the world would face annihilation is kept away from Asgard, which is enough of a reason to confront Lezard.
Upon releasing Lenneth from her crystal, Alicia absorbs the souls of the 3 fallen Valkyries and undergoes a huge change. Not only does Michelle Ruff completely change her tone of voice to reflect this change but Alicia’s appearance changes also, making Alicia noticeably taller than she once was, showing that she has finally taken control of her life, therefore, it is finally her time to shine so that she can save the lives of others. Now Lezard Valeth, the big bad that had already taken over the entire universe and created his own utopia, is thrown into a state of panic at the sight of this new threat to his reign. These two underdogs who have received ultimate power shall now enter what is quite possibly the most epic confrontation in a videogame ever to decide the fate of the universe. The final boss fight of Valkyrie Profile 2 is simply put phenomenal. Not only does Liam O’Brien deliver some of the hammiest lines you will ever hear him say in any videogame but you also get to listen to the fittingly titled “Unrestrained Struggle” throughout the entire boss fight, a song that is both intense and playful in tone to perfectly match Lezard’s twisted nature, as well as an evil laugh that could even rival that of Joker himself. All of this makes for the greatest final boss battle I have ever experienced in my life and if you happen to lose the fight, Lezard will take great pleasure in detailing the agony that he will put you through as punishment for stealing Lenneth away from him which is a neat little touch. Let’s just say that you really don’t want to lose this battle but you probably should just to witness more hammy voice acting from Liam O’Brien.
Unfortunately however, your reward for beating Lezard is a remarkably bittersweet ending, where Lezard unleashes a final blow that causes Alicia to disappear along with him. Not only that but the game ends with the three guys that were left over as they discuss what to do next. It is a shockingly uneventful ending as the only highlights are the deaths of Alicia, Lezard and Brahms, the other two take the remaining two treasures and head off through the water mirror. It is then that the credits roll and the game is over, that’s it, there’s a brief epilogue after the credits, but it’s nothing substantial. The question is, underneath all of this, what does Valkyrie Profile 2 mean to me?
Part 8 Finale – What Valkyrie Profile 2 Means To Me
It’s important to note that Alicia’s death happens as a result of the reckless pursuit of her desires. Alicia’s fate was sealed the moment she consumed the ghoul powder, she committed a suicidal act and did so without any hesitation or fear but her willpower prevented her from dying until she accomplished what she set out to do which is why she made it clear near the end of the game that she would become the vessel of the 3 valkyries, knowing that she would die in the process. Even with Brahms insistence on becoming the vessel himself, Alicia insisted that she had to be the one. In truth, Alicia’s situation was no different from Brahms’ as she was already undead, just like him, she merely continues to live through willpower alone. Alicia and Brahms death at the end of the game symbolizes that the mission was complete and that both of them could finally accept their fate. The truth is, Alicia wanted to die the whole time as she literally had nothing left to live for but much like Broxigar Saurfang in Warcraft’s War Of The Ancients trilogy, Alicia wasn’t going to just throw her life away for nothing, she wanted to devote the remainder of her life towards saving midgard and was more than willing to die for that purpose, heck she specifically wanted to sacrifice herself for a good cause, even though those around her tried to stop her from doing so. It is here that Alicia’s suicide mission would finally end and the result of this is a world where “man etches fate anew”, hence the subtitle in the logo of the game. So to answer the question, Valkyrie Profile 2 is the retelling of a tragic story, painted in a sublime facade of beauty. Unlike the first game which paints its world in a more transparently grim tone, Valkyrie Profile 2 does not. The narrative themes strongly contrasts with the beauteous presentation of the game but the emotions brought about said presentation heavily reflects the tone of the narrative to the point that you can’t help but feel connected in Alicia’s experience regardless of whether or not you care about written narrative in games. While the same could be said for the first Valkyrie Profile game, I appreciate the second game so much more simply because it told its story a more interesting way due to it’s slightly lighter tone acting as a facade.
It is also important to remember that in the original timeline, it is likely that Alicia’s journey ended at the top of Yggdrassil, failing to accomplish her mission, which leads into the events of the first Valkyrie Profile where the world is dark and grim as a result. Valkyrie Profile 2 is best described as being in a neutral state, which is strongly conveyed by the visual style of the game as unlike other games which use a vibrant colour scheme to bring their environments to life, Valkyrie Profile 2 relies solely darker colours to blend in with its gritty atmosphere. To makes up for it’s lack of vibrancy, Valkyrie Profile 2’s impressive usage of shading, lighting and detail brings the best out of its limited colour scheme, bringing about a rather unique tone, a realistic depiction of a world where everything is neutral, nothing more, nothing less. Valkyrie Profile 2 is not a lighthearted game, nor is it a depressing game, it is set in an imperfect world with a brutal history that just happens to be in a state of tranquility around the time the events of Valkyrie Profile 2 take place. If you bothered to read the biographies of the various einherjar you acquired over the course of the game, you would be well aware of this brutal history and the visual style carries this feeling too, albeit a lot less potent than what the einherjar backstories depict. This is due to the world’s tranquil state, a world that is trapped in a constant state of tension and terror is enjoying a brief moment of respite before the impending doom that would later be seen in the first Valkyrie Profile. This is why experiencing both games back to back is vital to truly appreciate the Valkyrie Profile series as both games work in each other’s favor to create one of the most interesting worlds in videogame history. That being said however, there’s a strong separation between the world and the story. I think that the visuals do a fantastic job at conveying this as its neutral tone feels completely distant from the events of the narrative, save for the Ravine Caverns of course. There are some gorgeous looking landscapes in this game which feels strange when accompanied by such a somber plot but surely there’s a reason for this harsh contrast, one might say that it brings about a depiction of apathy. While the first Valkyrie Profile’s world is clearly in turmoil with its dark tone, the apathy brought about by Valkyrie Profile 2’s atmosphere is far more brutal as it makes Alicia’s suffering feel all the more isolated as the world around her does not express the same amount of pain, whereas the first game’s world does, as everyone is suffering. In that regard Valkyrie Profile comes across exaggeration of bleakness, whereas Valkyrie Profile 2 comes across as the grim reality of isolated suffering in a world where many remain content. Sure the citizens of Dipan suffered the loss of their home but the people of other nations are completely unaffected by the events of chapter 4, continuing on as if nothing ever happened, turning a blind eye to it all in the selfish way that we humans typically do. This also explains why Alicia and Rufus have a strong connection as while his situation is nowhere near as grim as Alicia’s, Rufus goes through struggles of his own, dealing with his own anxieties which is heavily amplified by the death of Rousallier, who appears to be connected to Rufus in some way. By sharing in each other’s pain, they are able to combat the apathy surrounding them. This brings forth a thin layer of hope in their nigh hopeless situation.
What makes the Valkyrie Profile series so great is the fact that it is one of the few JRPG series that actually challenges you to think for yourself rather than have the game tell you what is right and what is wrong. The value of humanity truly is subjective and while the game doesn’t push a negative stance in the main story, the conclusion, coupled with the einherjar backstories strongly suggests that the answer is no. Unlike most JRPG’s whish have a happy ending, Valkyrie Profile 2’s ending is fiercely neutral, in fact the entire ending of the game is spoiled by the game’s subtitle on the logo of the game “The Destinies Mend Rifts In Time As Man Etches Fate Anew”. What does this actually mean you ask? Well it means exactly what it says, mankind shall decide the fate of the world now, it is in their hands since the gods are no more. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Well if you read all of the einherjar backstories that occur prior to the events of Valkyrie Profile 1, you will clearly see that even at the height of Midgard’s prosperity, humanity has always suffered and history has a habit of repeating itself, so when you consider that fact, Valkyrie Profile 2’s ending is not a happy ending at all, quite the contrary. It was all for nothing. Sure you killed both tyrants… but it won’t be long before another tyrant shows up. Were the sacrifices worth it in the end? Alicia sacrifices her life for nothing but a pipe dream, and considering the fact that every single playable character in the main story dies at some point, were any of their sacrifices worthwhile? My answer is no. Does this mean that humans are destined to be miserable forever? Well that’s not an easy thing to answer because there’s so much nuance involved. Some of the game’s NPC’s appear to be content with their lives, so you can’t answer with an absolute yes or no. All you can say for certain is that virtually nothing will change and for that reason, the sacrifices were worthless because the real enemy is and always will be humanity. Valkyrie Profile 2 deliberately detaches players from it’s world, sure you can talk to NPC’s to get an understanding of the state of the world but you never truly feel connected to the world because you are constantly getting distracted by the mission presented to you, a pointless suicide mission that would inevitably fail. At the same time however, you can’t help but feel that the journey is worthwhile. Valkyrie Profile 2’s world is absolutely gorgeous for a reason, it is a reflection of our own world. Many of us forget this as we are too distracted by our daily lives to notice just how gorgeous the world truly is. The true value of life comes from the bounties that the world presents to us. The trouble is that many of us never find those bounties because circumstances separate us from the world. If you take all the supernatural stuff out of the equation, instead focusing on the game’s themes as well as the state of the world, it is an accurate reflection of reality, hence the reason why Valkyrie Profile 2’s realistic art style is so fitting as it is suppose to reflect the beauty and harshness of reality, though with a tad of polish and shine to reflect the supernatural aspects that make the game’s universe more interesting. I find the 2d perspective really helps to amplify this as each of the locations are created in separate layers that are blended together, much like a painting in the sense that it is an illusion crafted from a paintbrush where all the layers blend into each other to create a landscape as opposed to a 3D game where the goal tends to be to make the game look as close to real life as possible which doesn’t give off the same feeling that Valkyrie Profile 2’s visuals do and that, along with the games gritty, yet striking art style is what makes Valkyrie Profile 2’s visuals so special to me, hence the reason why I call it a work of art in motion, because it’s environments literally come across as an animated painting.
At the end of the day though, Valkyrie Profile 2 is just a videogame, it’s not supposed to truly mean anything and a lot of what I say here is subjective but the game is thought provoking enough to make me say all of this stuff and ultimately, that is what matters. The Valkyrie Profile series as a whole left a lasting impression on me, particularly Valkyrie Profile 2 and I wanted to share it with you all just so that you can understand just how passionate I am about this game and why it is and always will be my favorite game of all time.
Cynical Gaming Blog 