March 27, 2024 by terry309 in JRPG, PS2, Review, Terry 309 and tagged Atlus, Career Soft, Growlanser, Growlanser VI, Import, Japan, JRPG, Precarious World, PS2, Review, RPG, Strategy, Videogames | 1 Comment

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)

Would You Replay? Maybe

Overall: Great

Video Review:

Giving it another chance – Jak 3

February 18, 2024 by terry309 in Opinions and Thoughts, PS2, Terry 309, Videos and tagged Jak 3 | Leave a comment

Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm Review

December 1, 2023 by terry309 in JRPG, PS2, Review, Terry 309 and tagged Atelier, Atelier Iris, Grand Phantasm, Gust, JRPG, PS2, Review | Leave a comment

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.

Atelier iris 3 suicide is the only answer

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.

Plot/Story – Mediocre

Visuals – Good

Gameplay – Great

Music – Good

Lifespan – Too long

Difficulty – Easy

Would You Replay? No

Overall: Satisfactory

Video Review:

Musashi Samurai Legend Review

February 10, 2023 by terry309 in Beat Em Up, PS2, Review, Terry 309 and tagged Brave Fencer Musashi, Musashi, Musashi 2, Musashi II, Musashi Samurai Legend, Review, Samurai Legend Musashi, Square-Enix | 1 Comment

Square-Enix seems to enjoy alienating their fans in regards to how they handle their IP’s, with games like Valkyrie Elysium and the 3rd Birthday both managing to upset long term fans of both series, it’s no surprise that Musashi Samurai Legend, the sequel to Brave Fencer Musashi would also upset a lot of people for the same reason. Now I feel that I need to address this first because I spent a lot of time criticizing Valkyrie Elysium for being a bad Valkyrie Profile game and for this reason, I can truly relate to fans of Brave Fencer Musashi who hated this entry. However I want to point out that there is a huge difference between Musashi Samurai Legend and Valkyrie Elysium and that is the fact that Square-Enix developed Musashi Samurai Legend in house and the game was made by the same guy who made Brave Fencer Musashi, Yoichi Yoshimoto. Valkyrie Elysium on the other hand was outsourced to a company named Soleil despite all of the previous entries of the franchise being developed by tri-Ace. With a completely different company working on a game, it’s expected that the experience will be completely different as each developer has their own approach to game design. With the same guy working on Musashi 2 however, it’s strange to see such a drastic redesign of a concept that people already loved.

On the surface, Musashi Samurai Legend appears to be a clone of Kingdom Hearts but that’s mainly due to its aesthetic style as opposed to the actual gameplay mechanics besides the ability to pick up green orbs to restore health which just happened to make a reappearance here. While the gameplay may appear comparable at first with them both revolving around real time action with a leveling system slapped onto it, they aren’t really all that similar in terms of mechanics. Musashi 2’s gameplay is peculiar to say the least. The controls for this game are truly puzzling as your main attack button, square performs a fixed combo while triangle just swings whatever secondary weapon you have equipped in a slow vertical swipe that is completely useless in battle but is mainly used to open up these circular prison things. You would think that they would utilize the triangle button for something more important like additional moves to mix up your combo or some sort of defensive mechanism but no, the triangle button is completely wasted on some arbitrary move. Thankfully, the game does utilize both L2 and triangle for special moves, giving it some purpose but why do we have to press both buttons to use them? These attacks in particular are connected to your secondary weapon and are used to gain access to certain locations or operate contraptions located in the world, though they can still be used in battle, to varying results. These attacks also consume MP so you won’t be using them too often, which means that you’ll spend most of your time pressing square.

Musashi’s katana can cut through metal

That’s not to say that Musashi Samurai Legend doesn’t have any technicalities of its own as contrary to what one may think, Musashi Samurai Legend does have some mechanical nuance thrown in to keep its combat interesting. The downside however is that the game doesn’t execute them in a way that brings about any real challenge and the awkward controls bring about messy inputs. For example, players can cancel the downtime of their basic 5 hit combo into other attacks such as a stab or a spin attack, unlike Dynasty Warriors however, you don’t cancel into moves with triangle, instead you have to input a command via the game’s analog stick. What this means is that to perform a spin attack you have to spin the analog stick around which can be tricky to pull off when in a pinch. This sort of input complexity could have easily been avoided had the developers allowed the use of triangle for cancel moves but sadly this isn’t the case. There is also a timed counter mechanic similar to Onimusha’s criticals that allows you to counter attacks when pressing the attack button just as you are about to be hit. Unlike Onimusha however, the timing for these attacks is extremely generous, making them so easy to pull off that it’s barely a challenge. These attacks are also not instant death moves either so you won’t get that same satisfaction that you would get in Onimusha but since the timing isn’t half as difficult, it makes sense that you won’t deal as much damage.

On top of this the game also features the ability steal system that first appeared in Brave Fencer Musashi but Musashi Samurai Legend does things a little differently as it functions closer to that of Castlevania Curse Of Darkness’ steal system or Swords Of Destiny’s sword time in the sense that you must lock on to an enemy, bait them into attacking you, then press the button at the right time to bring results. The same is true for the counter system as well but enemies that have moves will have a blue light inside the lock on cursor to indicate that there is something to be learned from them. It should also be noted that to do any of this you must fill up a focus gauge. I cannot understand the necessity for such a gauge but it exists and you need to be mindful of it should you wish to perform any of these maneuvers. Regardless the mechanic is at least interesting and is kind of what sets this game apart from other beat em ups out there. The issue with the combat system is simply the fact that it just does not work as well as you would expect as I spent most of my time cancelling the first combo strike into itself because if your attack is delayed for a second, you are able to strike again with minimal animation frame use which allows for more consistency in terms of damage dealing as the first hit of the combo is noticeably quicker than the last. With that in mind, most of the combat pretty much comes down to just pressing square with a few cancels via complex inputs. This is hardly ideal for a beat em up but the flexibility brought by the ability system does add some more utilities to make the combat a bit more interesting outside of just performing square combos. In a way though, the combat feels more comparable to the combat found in action platformers or action puzzle games along the lines of Legacy Of Kain and Zelda than it does a beat em up, which begs the question of is Musashi Samurai Legend really a beat em up?

You cannot steal moves or counter until the exclamation mark appears.

At its core, it pretty much is a beat em up as you’re mostly going to spend your time slashing enemies with your sword but there are a few puzzles and platforming bits here and there, though the same could be said for the Devil May Cry games, except those games generally have a more technical combat system than Musashi Samurai Legend. Some of Musashi’s abilities do play a part in puzzle solving and getting around the levels which does give them that additional utility but the game clearly doesn’t revolve around this aspect, which to me is a good thing because I’m not a huge fan of puzzles in videogames but this, combined with the lackluster combat mechanics makes the overall gameplay feel rather shallow. One might assume that the game has metroidvania elements with the addition of items and weapons that allow you to access new areas but I found those areas to be few and far between. Musashi 2’s levels are rather linear and tight with the odd side path to find treasure which is ideal for someone like me but isn’t what many people look for in a metroidvania. So the result of this is a beat em up with a messy combat system. Like I said before, Musashi 2 has a leveling system as well as the ability to buy items and equipment but so does Onimusha Dawn Of Dreams and if I was to compare the two, I’d say that Onimusha Dawn Of Dreams is the better game, granted Musashi does let you choose which stats to focus on when leveling up to allow for a bit more freedom but this does very little to make up for the game’s failings in the combat department.

Musashi Samurai Legend strikes me as a game that doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be and feels like a mishmash of different genres despite leaning closest to that of being a beat em up. To make matters worse, the lock on, which doubles as the focus ability is very short in range and does not focus the camera. To focus the camera you have to press R3 which as I’ve mentioned before, isn’t ideal. I found myself rarely using the evasive moves for this reason as to use it, you need to be locked on but some enemies have long ranged attacks which you cannot evade from a distance. So much like in Chaos Legion, I spent most of my time jumping to avoid attacks as opposed to actually evading, almost as if I was playing a Napishtim engine YS game. The bosses of Musashi feel like they were ripped straight out of Zelda and function in the same way. They have patterns and a weakpoint to locate. Once you find that weak point, it’s just a case of rinse and repeat till you win. The latter section of the game does mitigate this a little as you fight mostly humanoid enemies but for the majority of the game, this is how many of the boss fights go down. I’m not a fan of this style of boss fight as it feels less about understanding the combat mechanics and more about trying to figure out how to actually deal damage. This once again begs the question of whether or not Musashi 2 is in fact a beat em up because it doesn’t feel like one at all. If anything, Musashi 2 is best described as being a Zelda game but with greater emphasis on combat than puzzle solving. At some point though, you have to draw the line as to what is and what isn’t a beat em up and Musashi 2 goes beyond that line I’d argue. Hopefully this paints a clear picture on the type of game Musashi 2 is.

Musashi 2’s story In a nutshell

The storyline is whimsical and silly throughout. There’s nothing really all that special about it but its quirkiness kept me mildly amused throughout so it did its job well enough. The plot is pretty much the same as The Bouncer, minus the bar and fist fighting of course. An evil corporation deploys ninjas to kill everyone and they steal the tits, you know the usual shit. So like every hero you gotta go and get em back. You’ve seen it all before, but you gotta love how tongue in cheek the game is about it all. Comfort food never tasted sweeter. You have the secret meetings where everybody sits atop a seemingly bottomless pit on an elevated chair to discuss evil matters, you know, like every videogame. On top of this you have a huge whale that just happens to embody a shopping mall that apparently every sane being in the universe lives in with giant robots, ninjas on motorcycles and jet powered surf boards you know, all the stuff every adolescent dreams about. On top of all this you have what is without a doubt the most dangerously based gameplay mechanic known to man, the ability to pick up women and use them as melee weapons. I kid you not this is a thing and you’ll be doing it a lot because apparently the women in this game are insufferably accident prone, either that or they’re just looking for an excuse to be carried by their samurai gigalo, which is arguably more likely given the fact that one of them just happens to be a powerful sword fighter, seriously Musashi even considers charging for this at one point, he be opening up an escort service one of these days I swear.

Musashi 2 brings the best out of Tetsuya Nomura’s art style by opting for cel-shaded character models as opposed to the more realistic looking characters that most of the games he works on tend to have. I think this is the best decision they could have possibly made because the characters look more-or-less the same as their artwork and this allows them to blend in perfectly with the vibrant, colourful levels you explore throughout. I think that Kingdom Hearts would have looked so much better had it opted for this art style choice. The death animations for enemies is also rather neat as they will split into pieces when you hit them with a killing blow and your choice of attack for the killing blow will alter how the enemies are split when defeated, which is a nice touch. The soundtrack has a good mix of intense and relaxing tracks. While not all of the tracks are great, the ones that are more than make up for the ones that aren’t. I’d say that the soundtrack is equally as impressive as the visuals with all things considered, it’s definitely one of the things that gives the game its appeal.

So as you can see, Musashi Samurai Legend doesn’t really have all that much going for on paper in the gameplay department and while it may seem like I’m trashing the game, I actually enjoyed playing through this game a lot. The thing is though, Musashi 2 is such a mess of a game that has a lot of potential to be good. Sadly though the game falls flat on its ass and this frustrates me to no end because I really want to express my adoration for this game but I just can’t, there’s no way I can defend a combat system that is this badly executed regardless of how interesting the mechanical nuances are as I’d just be lying to you. Musashi 2 is a mediocre game that shows promise but fails to deliver the goods, there’s just no getting around that fact. In a way though, the result of this leads it to feel like one of the most definitive 2000’s games out there. The 2000’s was a time of discovery and experimentation. Musashi Samurai Legend finds itself in the midst of all this and this is likely what lead to the game’s negative reception as it really did not stand out at the time but going back to it in the year 2023 has been a trip down memory lane.

Musashi Samurai Legend took me back to a time where I was innocent, a time where games brought excitement to my 12 year old mind, a time where the vast majority of games strived to be edgy and cool to cash in on the counter culture that was prevalent at the time. At the same time, Musashi Samurai Legend presents you with the familiar concept of dumping players into vibrant and colorful worlds to do stuff in, that are considerably more tighter in level design as opposed to the games you see today. Once again, the first Kingdom Hearts comes to mind here. The whole game feels like that raw nostalgic 2000’s experience in its purest form but with absolutely nothing else going for it. Whether you should play it or not ultimately depends on whether or not you enjoyed playing games in the 2000’s, I mean who didn’t? Let’s be honest, it was the best time to be a gamer, the golden age of gaming. How can you not love the 2000’s? There are better games out there but Musashi 2 does have some cool ideas and concepts that makes it worth trying at the very least, if you’re looking for some comfort food. For everyone else, you’re probably not going to care about this game much at all.

Story/Plot: Satisfactory

Visuals: Good

Gameplay: Mediocre

Music: Good

Lifespan: Quite Short

Difficulty: Easy

Would You Replay? Maybe

Overall: Satisfactory

Video Review:

The Emotional Rollercoaster Of Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria

September 16, 2022 by terry309 in JRPG, Opinions and Thoughts, PS2, Terry 309, Videos and tagged Analysis, Review, RPG, tri-Ace, Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, Video | Leave a comment

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.

Growlanser: Heritage Of War Review

January 26, 2022 by terry309 in JRPG, PS2, Review, Terry 309 and tagged Anime, Atlus, Growlanser 5, Growlanser Heritage Of War, Growlanser V, JRPG, Real Time, Story, Strategy, Team Career | 9 Comments

It sucks that the only game in the Growlanser series to make it to PAL territories was the fifth game but at least the story of Heritage Of War appears to be completely standalone, requiring no knowledge of the previous games in the series, so I was able to dive straight in. Now I have seen gameplay of previous entries before and it seems somewhat different from what Heritage Of War has to offer, however I am unable to judge which has the better combat system, all I will say is that Growlanser Heritage Of War is best described as being an enjoyable mess. The game has a lot of great moments for sure but there are numerous problems that can make the game somewhat aggravating at times. I will say though that most of them are minor issues that don’t really ruin the experience for me, though I can see them being quite bothersome for some.

I think the best thing to cover first would be the game’s combat because it truly is a double edged sword in so many ways. Unlike previous entries where you had to input commands for every character, you can now freely move your main character in real time, giving the illusion that you are playing something along the lines of Final Fantasy XII, however your other party members will either act on their own or require commands to be input by the player and the result of this can be a mixed bag. Sometimes characters will be unable to move when told to because there is an enemy in the way that interrupts the move command, forcing them to auto attack, other times they will be staggered, which means you are unable to give them commands at all, including having them move, this can not only make them completely unusable for the rest of the fight if the staggers stack but it can also mean that they are unable to move away from danger, leading to them getting killed very quickly. In situations like these it is often better to revive them just so they can start with an empty stagger gauge which sounds counter intuitive but in these situations it really is better to let them die than waste heals on them. Sure you could move your main character to attack the enemies that are hurting them but that isn’t always possible in certain missions. Ultimately though, I didn’t really find this to be too much of a nuisance personally as I was able to find ways to circumvent these issues.

Other things that can be considered a bit of a nuisance at times is being blocked by certain enemies… or allies, though on the plus side, you can use this to your advantage to block enemies too. The whole combat system is rather unintuitive in how you are expected to utilize its mechanics but if you can get over this, there’s a lot of fun to be had in regards to coming up with interesting, albeit unusual strategies to complete certain missions. Speaking of which, pretty much all of the major fights are classed as missions and these missions have certain conditions that can lead to varying results. Sometimes you can fail a mission and get off scott free, other times you will be greeted with a game over screen. It’s difficult to know which conditions will lead to a game over and which will simply let you carry on after a failed mission. There are also the mission clear and mission complete conditions. Mission Clear is what you get when you don’t fail a mission, whereas mission complete yields more bonuses to experience, money and character affinity but to get a mission complete you have to satisfy additional conditions on top of merely preventing a failed mission.

This is where things get kind of complicated because there is no indication of what conditions are required to get a mission complete and one mission in particular requires you to prevent an object from being thrown twice which is an absolute ball ache. The thing about this mission that sucks is that the conditions for reaching a mission complete are unknown to just about everyone, even the guide on GameFaq’s doesn’t tell you how to get it. That being said however, if it wasn’t for a guide, I would have no hope getting any of the mission completes because there is no way of knowing how to acquire them. There is a conditions section in the main menu which details the conditions required for victory as well as the defeat conditions but that’s it. For this reason I highly recommend using a guide for this game just to find out what the mission complete conditions are before a fight, that way you can set yourself up for a greater challenge with greater satisfaction upon completing a mission. You don’t have to read the boss strategies if you don’t want to, I mean it’s more fun to come up with your own after all so don’t feel like you’re cheating by using a guide because if you skip past the strategies section then you’re not spoiling the challenge for yourself.

Growlanser Heritage Of War - Fuck Off Issac Ya Nobhead!

It’s always satisfying to see this show up on screen

The missions themselves are a mixed bag, some are laughably easy, some are really challenging and satisfying to overcome, while others are cheap, frustrating ordeals which can be quite bothersome, especially for those not following a guide, particularly the mission where you have to prevent the object from being thrown twice, fuck that mission. There were many times where I had to follow a guide just to figure out how to complete a mission after failing it previously and found out that it was actually a lot easier than I originally thought. For example, the very first mission requires you to save all of the allied soldiers on the map, at first it sounds like the hardest mission ever since the number of enemies on the field are so overwhelming that by rescuing one of them, another will likely die. Upon reading the guide, I found out that you can simply walk up to them and grab the item on their corpse which apparently counts as “saving” them. It felt like a slap in the face after I had spent hours trying to come up with an effective strategy to rescue them all whilst preventing a mission failure. There are many other missions later on in the game that have this problem and it can be extremely aggravating to deal with.

That being said however, some of the missions are actually quite fun to do. There’s a great variety of missions available to you throughout the game, some of which are made considerably easier if your characters have certain skills available to them but can be quite difficult if they don’t. There’s quite a bit of freedom to come up with your own strategies to deal with situations and this is where the main appeal of the game’s combat comes into play. I found the huge scale battles to be the most fun missions personally as you felt like you were completely overwhelmed, these missions can take seemingly ages and can often feel like a battle of attrition at times but this makes it all the more satisfying to see a mission complete appear on the screen after a long struggle. The ability to move around freely with your character while your allies obey your commands makes for a more dynamic experience than your average strategy game and this does wonders for the game’s pacing as regular battles on the field go by so quickly you’ll barely get to hear the battle music play out. This carries over to the missions as well as while they do emphasize strategy, they don’t feel like a slog to get through like your typical tactical RPG since every character moves and acts quickly. If you’re looking for a fast paced strategy RPG then Growlanser Heritage Of War might be the game you are looking for but if the issues are too bothersome, it may be better to play a synchronized time strategy game like Valkyrie Profile 2 or Resonance Of Fate. Of course Growlanser doesn’t suffer from the same issues real time strategy games suffer from as there are only 4 characters to manage as well as the fact that you are able to pause the game whenever you want, so you can take your time to plan things out. Overall, while the system works well enough, you kinda have to accept the messiness of it to be able to enjoy it.

I hope you like character management, because there’s plenty of it to do here.

Now another thing that may seem daunting at first is the plates system. Now I absolutely adore this system since it allows for so much freedom in how I can customize my characters abilities, the downside is that it can be rather tricky to get used to and can feel quite overwhelming at times. Characters will learn skills so rapidly that it can feel like a chore changing your plates every 5 minutes. Thankfully any knack points received after killing enemies will not be wasted if you forget to change your flow from a maximized plate path and they will carry over when you change flow to another plate path, filling in all of the plates that aren’t maximized in that path. So there’s no pressure to constantly fiddle around with the plates. Later on you can buy items which allow you to swap and replace plates as well as the ability to change the direction of the plate’s path, so if you make a mistake, you can always correct it later. It should be noted though that it’s important to stack multiple plates in order to maximize the potential of a skill, though it’s important to be aware that there is a level cap for each skill, so be sure not to waste too much space by placing too many of the same plates. Any plate that is currently in the flow receives a buff, which can make the moves located in that plate considerably more powerful than others and this can make certain missions a breeze if you exploit them, that being said however, once you change flow to another set of plates, these buffs will disappear and will make the skill considerably less useful, so it’s important to change the flow to reflect the strategy you wish to utilize in a fight. With all this in consideration, I think that the plate system shouldn’t prove to be too troublesome for people who are well versed in the deeper JRPG character management systems out there but newcomers may be turned away by the complexity of this system, though I would argue that it’s nowhere near as complicated as Valkyrie Profile 2’s rune system and so long as you don’t focus too much on figuring it out, I don’t think it’s a huge deal, especially since the difficulty of the game outside of a few missions is surprisingly easy.

Visually the game looks like an early 2000’s Playstation game which may be off putting to some but i honestly didn’t mind this personally. Now sure, I get that many people prefer to have character sprites over these dated looking character models but as someone who grew up with Playstation games in the 2000’s, it doesn’t really bother me. Some of the locations can feel a bit grimy but I suppose it fits in with the gritty nature of the game’s narrative. While the visuals may be dull for the most part, the anime artwork more than makes up for it as it has that 90’s anime vibe that is so incredibly striking, you forget about all of the bland landscapes and dated character models. Honestly though, I wouldn’t say that the visuals are terrible as a whole, though outside of the anime artwork, there’s nothing particularly noteworthy about them.

The music is one of those cases where it gets the job done but doesn’t particularly excel in any way. There are some catchy tracks to listen to throughout the game which is nice and all but some of the music is kinda bland, particularly in dungeons, my god, those dungeons have such boring music. Thankfully the towns have some much nicer tracks. The field area music in particular has an insanely catchy song, probably the catchiest song in the game, which is good because you’ll be hearing it a lot. Much like the visuals, I can’t exactly say the soundtrack as a whole is terrible but it doesn’t particularly stand out as being something special.

What surprises me the most about Growlanser Heritage Of War is how the game handles its story. It’s always great when a game’s story is told from multiple perspectives and Growlanser Heritage Of War manages to do this so damn well that I honestly found it to be the most engrossing aspect of the game. Not only does this allow for so much world building, but it also allows players to become attached to all the major characters prior to the events of the main role to make the experience of the main story so much more impactful. There’s so much nuance to these characters in how their values shape their actions, as well as the emotional responses they present in each situation. It really makes the characters feel human, in the sense that they are both morally ambiguous and flawed. Even the villains, as despicable as they may be can be somewhat sympathetic with their ideals, despite their horrible actions. I really like how the game doesn’t shy away from letting the player make their own judgments as opposed to pushing for a biased stance on things, especially since it all ties into one of the most thought provoking plot twists I’ve ever seen which may or may not cause you to rethink your judgment. On top of all this, the story never drags for too long and is broken up evenly with gameplay sections. There are also a lot of choices you can make in the game that can affect your affinity levels for each character and this ultimately affects which endings become available to you.

There’s some choice words in the translation, which are always nice to see.

I should also note that there are numerous side quests, some of which are completely missable which is yet another reason why I recommend using a guide because I found myself having to reload saves due to being unable to get certain character’s ultimate weapons due to missing a certain event or item. Early on this can mean a lot of backtracking is required but later on there is a fast travel option that comes in handy. The side content is definitely worth doing as you can get some great rewards for doing it, plus some of them involve side stories that can be interesting to see too.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing Growlanser Heritage Of War despite having a few minor frustrations with it at times. It’s definitely a game you need patience for in order to fully appreciate what it brings to the table. I think you kinda need to go into this game expecting something a little different, if you’re looking for a more conventional JRPG experience, I don’t think this is the ideal game for you as it clearly caters to people who want something fresh. Then again, if you are looking for something fresh and aren’t bothered by the game’s messy design, it may be worth a shot.

Growlanser WELL EXCUUUUUUUSE ME PRINCESS

They just had to throw that in there didn’t they…

Plot/Story: Excellent

Visuals: Satisfactory

Music: Satisfactory

Gameplay: Great

Lifespan: Decent Length

Difficulty: Easy – Medium (depends on the mission)

Would You Replay? Maybe

Overall: Great

Video Review:

Growlanser VI: Precarious World Review

Check out my review of Growlanser Heritage Of War’s Japan only direct sequal, Growlanser VI: Precarious World

Urban Reign Review

December 16, 2021 by terry309 in Beat Em Up, PS2, Review, Terry 309 and tagged Beat Em Up, Combat, Fighting, Namco, Review, Tekken, Urban Reign | 4 Comments

There are a lot of noteworthy weapon based combat games in the 3d beat em up genre but aside from God Hand, most hand to hand combat games tend to get ignored by a lot of people. It’s weird how hand to hand beat em ups used to be really popular in the 90’s with games like Streets Of Rage and Final Fight but when they became 3D, people lost interest for some reason. Now I’ve played numerous 3D beat em ups and I can safely say that Urban Reign has the greatest hand to hand combat in a 3D beat em up I have ever experienced and yes I even think that this game manages to surpass even God Hand in this department, yet unlike God Hand which has a dedicated cult following, Urban Reign gets ignored. Maybe it’s because the story of Urban Reign is so forgettable due to the fact that there are barely any cutscenes, just a narration before every fight to explain the context but who on earth cares about that, I wanna see some action!

So let’s cut to the chase and get straight into the combat mechanics, they’re so simple that anyone can pick up and play the game with ease but believe me, you’re gonna need to learn them fast because this game doesn’t pull its punches in its difficulty. You have a decent variety of strikes and grapples on offer as well as an evasive maneuver to avoid enemy attacks but utilizing these abilities properly is essential if you want to survive in the later portions of the game. At first you may find the game to be pretty straightforward in difficulty but after about 5 missions, the difficulty escalates a ton and you really have to start thinking more carefully about how you want to approach enemies. The good news is that there are plenty of tools at your disposal and crowd control isn’t as difficult as you may be led to believe as when you’re surrounded by multiple enemies at close range, the grapple attacks you perform will differ from attacks you perform against a single target to allow you to better control the crowd with a double attack. These crowd control moves are very flashy and satisfying to pull off but you have to time them well because if you do happen to get surrounded, it’s likely that you’re going to get beaten down quickly. So you can’t just button mash your way through this game, you have to strategize when and where you perform your attacks.

Face rearrangement is on special offer, buy one get one free.

Some stages have environmental objects that you can knock enemies into for extra damage so you will usually want to position your enemies around them. You can also run up walls to get behind enemies quickly or follow up with an aerial attack to take them off guard. You can pick up weapons and batter your worthless enemies till they can no longer walk. This is just the beginning of the intricacies that make up the game’s wonderful combat system. Eventually you will unlock new abilities like the ability to perform grapple attacks against airborne enemies and these are my favorite moves to pull off as they are considerably more rapid that the usual grapple attack, plus there’s nothing quite as satisfying as powerbombing an enemy after an uppercut juggle combo. It’s important to take note of what moves you are using in battle as certain moves will damage certain body parts, kind of like in some of the modern wrestling games out there.

Damaging each body part makes it easier to deal more damage when hitting that body part, so you are encouraged to attack the same body parts over and over again to further weaken them. I can’t say that I’m personally a huge fan of this since it encourages you to use the same moves over and over again but believe me, you’re going to need to do this a lot because certain missions require you to damage a specific body part until it is red. These missions are the worst part of the game and really get on my nerves. Fortunately this system can be overlooked for the most part, I mean if you want to exploit it then by all means do so, however I find that mixing up my moves is not only more fun but is also necessary since depending on where your enemy is and what they are doing, certain moves may be favored over others. For example, an enemy attacking you with high attacks will miss you if you hit them with a low strike. Low strikes do not deal half as much damage as middle strikes though as they don’t allow for air juggling. High strikes tend to knock enemies further back a bit but other than that, I don’t find them to be too different from low attacks and can be harder to connect. Ultimately with grapples, none of this matters, just pick one and stick with it, just be mindful that enemy body parts have varying levels of resistance so you will need to vary up which regional attacks you use for maximum efficiency when fighting against numerous enemies and it’s important to pay attention to which body parts have received the most damage so that you can use the correct move against them.

Somebody set us up the bomb

What makes Urban Reign so challenging is that enemies are capable of pretty much everything you can do but they often outnumber you which can make for some tricky engagements. I often find that mixing up a combination of low kicks and short regional strikes is a good way of keeping the enemies at bay at first but eventually they’re going to overwhelm you and at this point you will need to utilize your special attacks. By pressing triangle and circle simultaneously with any directional input you will perform an attack that gives you temporary I frames at the cost of some of your special gauge which charges up as you receive or deal damage, this is a great way of getting back up off the ground when surrounded but can also be fantastic at dealing heavy damage to enemies. You do have to be aware however that enemies can do this to you as well and they often start with more special gauge than you at the beginning of a fight, which can be a tad aggravating as it can be hard to punish them when they have the clear advantage since they can counter you with a special attack at any time. If you see the enemy glowing white then you know that they’re going to counter you so it can be a good idea to move out of their way, though this can be difficult to do, especially when you are surrounded. The evasion system isn’t exactly the easiest to get used to as deflecting attacks requires you to press the direction that represents the region of which you are being attacked, though if you time it well you can instantly evade an attack with the single press of the square button. This can be tricky to do however when faced with numerous enemies but it becomes essential when fighting a single enemy as they will relentlessly bombard you with attacks which is why crowd control is so essential. The good news is that most attacks in Urban Reign do not completely stagger you, allowing you to deflect at attack right after being hit and this has a huge impact on the defensive play, you rarely ever feel as if you don’t have control of what’s going on in game which is one if the game’s biggest strengths.

Later on you will find yourself tagging along with allies who will help you against overwhelming odds. Therefore you will want to assist them as much as you can. I find that spreading out isn’t often the best strategy, especially since you can perform unique attacks with your partner when they are close by. Using low strikes to crowd control definitely helps in these fights, as they usually hit multiple enemies at once, giving your teammate more breathing room and giving you an opening to assist them by further damaging whomever it is they are fighting. Of course you still have to be aware of the enemies you have knocked down and be ready for when they come back. Depending on the mission, you may want to focus on just one of the enemies but in a lot of missions, you will want to spread out the punishment, particularly missions where you have to take everyone out since you don’t want to get attacked from behind. It’s all about trying to get that vital opening to begin delivering heavy damage to an enemy and hopefully wipe them out before the others catch up to you.

Who ordered a second helping of Diamond Cutter?

As you can probably tell by now, the combat is extremely frantic but the combat is so buttery smooth, responsive and flexible that you never feel too weak. There is always a way to bounce back and unlike God Hand, you won’t find yourself fighting any health sponges in this game, plus the controls are vastly superior. Sure the game lacks the flexibility and customizable aspect of God Hand’s combat but it feels considerably less clunky and more polished by comparison. I was so engaged by this game’s combat that I played 30 missions in a row none stop and had to force myself to stop playing, this rarely ever happens in most games and unlike God Hand where I get disengaged due to fatigue, Urban Reign never gets tiresome, you just keep wanting more and part of that is due to the fact that it is considerably less button mashy.

The controls aren’t perfect though and do require a bit of getting used to. If you’ve played any of the older wrestling games released in the 5th console generation then these controls may seem familiar though I personally dislike how the strike button is on the opposite side of the evasion button and while there are different button configurations in the options, none of them are intuitive but over time you’ll get used to them. It should also be noted that the game doesn’t have fixed camera angles so you may find yourself being attacked from off screen at times. While it can’t always be helped in team fights, it’s often a good idea to lock on to enemies in one on one encounters to keep them on screen at all times. The pacing of the game’s combat is so fast that you barely get the chance to even touch the right analogue stick but at times you may want to if you are at a safe distance, just so that you can get your bearings when your back is turned to your enemies. Sometimes running away is your best option as it can not only give you breathing room but you may find a dropped weapon on the ground nearby that you previously were too close to the enemy to pick up. Some enemies also drop items that restore your health and special gauge so bear that in mind as well.

During the games later missions, you’ll often find yourself in seemingly impossible encounters against multiple strong opponents. In addition to this, some boss fights from previous stages may end up returning with a buddy to give you a hard time. While some of these missions let you bring in a teammate, others do not. At times I found myself in situations where I had to play dirty, spamming dash attacks on a single target just to stay mobile and knock them away from their teammates who would otherwise maul me to death with their weapons. The enemy AI often do a fantastic job at working together to take you out and when you’re on your own, this can be a real pain. Thankfully, upon completing a mission you are given skill points to upgrade your character however you please, allowing you to increase damage from certain attacks as well as regional resistances to protect you from certain attacks. Because of this, you are always growing stronger but so are the enemies, so it doesn’t really feel like you are getting stronger. Therefore the skills you choose to increase will ultimately impact what your strengths and weaknesses will be in later fights.

Urban Reign pushes players to their limits and this makes performing cool combos and well-timed maneuvers all the more satisfying. Even though the combat does suffer from some minor flaws, the flexibility and challenge of the game’s combat will keep you coming back for more. You will get beaten up a ton in this game and will often end up doing the same mission 5 or 6 times till you get the win but the game is never unfair in its difficulty, after all, the enemies you fight are only as capable as you are and while they do occasionally get a head start in some missions, once their special gauge runs out, they will be just as vulnerable to a beat down as you are. It can be pretty damn satisfying to toss around that one guy who kicked your ass so many times.

Say hi to the floor for me

Every mission can be restarted at any point, including after failing a mission, so the game never feels too punishing, nor does it waste your time. There’s never a moment when you aren’t fighting people in this game as there’s no emphasis on exploration in this game whatsoever and since the story is just a brief narration before each mission, you probably won’t pay any attention to it. This strangely makes the game feel all the more engaging as there’s never a moment where you aren’t doing anything and after every fight, you just want to get back in the action. The pacing of Urban Reign is so damn good that you just can’t put the game down.

Visually speaking, the character models and the environments are exactly what you would expect from a 2005 release. They look detailed enough for the time but don’t stand out as being amazing. The animations are arguably the best part of the game’s visuals as they look fantastic. Many of the game’s attacks have that cinematic flair to them which makes you feel like you’re playing out a scene in an action movie. It’s hard to find hand to hand combat that looks as intricate as this in a 3D Beat Em Up.

The music is best described as being hardcore. I hope you like metal because there’s no shortage of it in this game. It fits the nature of this game so damn well that I honestly cannot imagine it having any other soundtrack. It certainly does a fantastic job at keeping players engaged in the action. While it may not be the sort of soundtrack you’re going to listen to outside of this game too often, it certainly does a fantastic job at getting you pumped for the action.

If you are a fan of any kind of action game then you are going to absolutely adore Urban Reign. It is without a doubt the most definitive beat em up experience there is as it is just raw combat throughout. If you are a fan of classic wrestling games then you will definitely feel right at home with Urban Reign’s control scheme and movesets. It’s a game for people who just want to get straight to the action as it cuts out all the fluff that other games in the genre have, for better or for worse, allowing the game to focus exclusively on its combat. Now because of this, many would compare this game to fighting games and quite frankly, they aren’t wrong to think this way as the game was developed by the people who worked on the Tekken and Soulcalibur games. Unlike those games and other fighting games however, Urban Reign doesn’t rely on adding needless input complexity to add artificial difficulty to the game, essentially making it the greatest fighting game ever created and will always be the greatest fighting game ever created because game developers are still continuing to make fighting games needlessly complicated.

Everything that makes fighting games fun is here in Urban Reign, the challenge, the mind games, they’re all there. The only difference is that the game is arguably more accessible than any fighting game ever will be and yes it does have a multiplayer mode to enjoy with friends. This is why fighting games are full of DLC nowadays, because fewer people buy them nowadays due to the fact that they are too complicated and are stripped down due to developers pandering towards the e-sports community, so they need to recuperate the sales losses each year. Perhaps if they made another Urban Reign instead of Tekken 8, it might actually appeal to a broader demographic, while still being just as fun to play. You don’t need a billion moves to have a fun experience and Urban Reign proves this. This is the biggest reason why I have grown to dislike fighting games, they’re focused too much on their competitive nature, not enough on their fun factor. They need to play more like Urban Reign. Heck can we just eradicate the entire fighting game genre from history and direct these people to Urban Reign so that developers can actually learn what good game design is?

Story/Plot: Who the hell cares!?

Visuals: Good

Gameplay: Exceptional

Music: Good

Lifespan: Decent Length

Difficulty: Hard

Would You Replay? Yes

Overall: Excellent

Video Review

Demon Chaos Review

December 1, 2021 by terry309 in PS2, Review, Terry 309 and tagged Action, Beat Em Up, Demon Chaos, Europe, Genki, Hack & Slash, Ikusagami, Musou, PAL, PS2, Review | Leave a comment

As you all know by now, I enjoy a good mindless beat em up, therefore it’s natural to presume that I enjoy musou games. Demon Chaos, known as Ikusagami in Japan is one of the more niche musou games out there which is likely due to the fact that it was only released in Japan and Europe, so this is yet another one of those beat em ups that America never got. Many musou games are known to take place in historic time periods and Demon Chaos is no exception. Like Samurai Warriors and Sengoku Basara, Demon Chaos takes place in the sengoku period, though as is evident by the game’s title, there are demons involved, which makes it similar to Onimusha in terms of setting. Unlike Onimusha however, the way the demons are handled in the story feel more like an afterthought as the game’s story is centered primarily on the events of the sengoku period. Despite this however, you spend the entire game completely detached from the conflict amongst men and are mostly concerned with the demons that flood the battlefields. This can make the story feel a bit dry at times since the demons themselves are pretty bland and uninteresting, despite taking center stage in all of the missions. I’d argue the events of the sengoku period are far more interesting but they don’t really play a huge part in the game’s story which is a shame. Those of you who are familiar with the sengoku period will be glad to see many historical figures and some of them look very similar to their Samurai Warriors counterparts, particularly Mitsuhide and Nobunaga but before you get your hopes up, you don’t play as any of them in this game. Demon Chaos has you controlling the most badass musou character in the history of musous, Inugami, a wolf man who would crush Lu Bu, Tadakatsu Honda, Orochi and even Keiji Maeda in a matter of seconds, possibly by accident due to the fact that the combat in this game is absolutely insane.

If there’s one thing I have to praise about the combat of Demon Chaos, it’s that it may quite possibly be one of the most empowering experiences I have ever had in a 3d beat em up. The satisfaction of mowing down thousands of demons in seconds never gets old. The moment you see a large clump of red dots on the minimap, you can’t help but feel excited because you know that you’re going to build up a huge hit count. Initially, Inugami is pretty weak since he uses a basic 4 hit combo with square and a finisher which can be activated with either triangle or circle. The circle finisher consumes part of Inugami’s spirit gauge so it’s often smarter to use the triangle finisher to conserve your spirit. The reason for this is that you can press r1 to go into rage mode which sends Inugami into a rampage, slaughtering thousands of demons in seconds. You will constantly use this ability throughout the game as it is the most efficient means of eliminating demons, of course you won’t be able to stay in it for long since rage mode consumes your spirit gauge and once it is depleted, rage mode will end so you will want to be careful where and when you trigger it. The regular combos don’t really do much outside of building up your spirit gauge so you won’t be relying on them that much, especially when enemies drop items that fill up your spirit gauge, allowing you to continue your rampage. Put simply, it’s a very bare bones, simplistic combat system that is drizzled in visual carnage to cover up the fact that you are doing the same thing over and over again, making it the most unapologetically musou experience you can get and this is what will ultimately make or break Demon Chaos for you.

So much carnage, you can barely see anything on screen

Like many other musou games, Demon Chaos involves working together with AI controlled armies to complete certain missions and during these missions, you will need to protect your troops to prevent them from dying. What differentiates Demon Chaos from other musou games is that the primary purpose of the player’s character is to protect the armies, not themselves and while Inugami can certainly die, it’s mostly a rare occurrence due to the fact that most enemies can barely harm him. Because of this, you are encouraged to be as aggressive as possible, so long as you aren’t recklessly mowing down troops on the opposite side of the map while your army is struggling to survive against the hordes you left behind. The good news is that you never have to worry about being comboed to death like in the early Dynasty Warriors games but the bad news is that your AI companions are excrutiatingly weak and frail, so you have to babysit them in every mission. In a way though, it’s not too far off from the average musou experience in that regard, except the core of Demon Chaos’ gameplay is mostly the tactical aspect of completing missions with as few casualties as possible and this is ultimately what maintains the longevity of the player’s engagement.

Most missions involve you escorting the armies to a blood crystal in order for them to destroy it and eliminate the demon spawns in that area. Other missions however require you to escort them to a specific location before they either die or the time runs out. Thankfully you do have partial control of your AI companions as you are allowed to lead the armies by pressing R2, having them follow wherever it is you move to. Now in theory you may wish to deactivate the lead command when clearing out the large waves of demons to prevent casualties and while you can, should you wish to lead them a second time you have to be in the proximity of the army to get them to follow you which I found to be rather aggravating, so it’s often better to keep leading them at all times. Later on, you get access to the stop command which has all the AI troops move to the closest pillar without you having to deactivate the lead command which comes in handy should you wish to go out and break through a few clumps of enemies, as well as finding some hidden weapons in containers laid around the map without your troops getting killed trying to follow you.

Now thankfully, the game does offer some utilities to assist you in protecting your pathetic soldiers in the form of pillars. Pillars can be placed just about anywhere on the map so long as the terrain isn’t man made. Of course you cannot place them amongst a horde of demons but you can place them near your AI companions. Once you place a pillar, they must be constructed by the AI first before they can be utilized, during this time you will need to protect the area around the pillar, since demons can destroy the pillars if they aren’t protected. This is where the circle ability comes in handy. It causes an explosion that annihilates a ton of enemies in a small area for a small portion of your spirit gauge. While it may not be as useful as a finisher, I found it extremely useful on its own due to the fact that it’s the best way to protect nearby pillars when you have low spirit. Now of course you could use rage mode if you wanted to and eliminate everything but chances are, you won’t have enough spirit to activate it.

The pillars come in 3 variants and are all used to support your AI companions efforts. The first of which is the life pillar which heals all of your companions. The second being the fire pillar which helps deal extra damage to blood crystals in order to destroy them quickly, saving you time when you have to destroy several of them (which you will). The third and final pillar is the bow pillar, which acts as a turret to use against nearby demons in order to help you destroy them. There will be times where you will be attacked from different angles and this is when the pillars come in handy as you can only be at once side of the battlefield at a time, so while you’re mowing down enemies on one side, the pillars will help protect your armies on the other side. Constructing pillars does costs EP though so you cannot build limitless pillars but I found that the game gives you plenty of EP, so it’s worth constructing as many pillars as possible, without wasting your EP by letting demons destroy them before they can be of use. This adds a minor tower defense aspect to the gameplay that is more important than you would initially think as being the unstoppable badass that you are, you’d likely presume that you can eliminate all the enemies before your troops can be harmed and while that may be true for the first couple of stages, in later stages it isn’t quite that simple as the difficulty goes up a ton, as does the enemy count, so the more you play, the more you kill and the more pillars you’ll be placing. It gets pretty frantic at times but that’s kind of what makes the game so engaging to play, though it can get a tad frustrating, particularly due to the fact that failing a mission will get you sent back to the title screen, so you have to restart the entire mission from scratch. There have been times when I reached the end of a mission, only for all of the AI troops to die at the end, thus failing the mission, which was annoying as hell.

Speaking of frustrating, you will occasionally encounter greater demons throughout the game and these enemies exist as the game’s equivalent of officers in Dynasty Warriors, though there are considerably fewer of them. These enemies can be extremely deadly if you don’t take them down quickly as they can kill a lot of your soldiers. they can also pose a huge threat to Inugami himself since their attacks can take away soul power. Soul power is essentially Inugami’s health and he can only sustain up to 5 hits from a boss before he dies, sometimes even less depending on which weapon he is equipped with. Now he can be healed by the priestess Aoi but she is also vulnerable to these attacks and you have to be careful not to let her die as well. Of course there is the possibility of finding soul recovery items too which can come in handy if you can get them but if you aren’t fortunate enough to find these luxuries and Aoi is dead, all you can do is mash square and pray that they die. There is a guard button which awkwardly has Inugami crouch and unable to move. This can be activated by pressing triangle, it’s hardly useful due to the fact that you are completely stationary when using it. It’s not practical to go in and out of guard to protect yourself from enemy attacks, let alone the fact that pressing triangle after an attack has you performing the finisher move instead. It’s a waste of a button if you ask me, as it could have been replaced with an evasion ability or something. Honestly the greater demons are the worst part of the game since they do not blend in well with the game’s mechanics. Every fight against them just feels sloppy as your entire moveset is built around mowing down hordes of enemies rather than a single health sponge. This is particularly noticeable when you enter rage mode as you’ll suddenly start sliding around the battlefield, making it hard for your hits to connect to the greater demon.

It goes without saying that having numerous enemies on screen takes its toll on the visuals, though the fact that they managed to fit so many enemies on screen is such a technical feat that I think it’s fair to overlook the bland level aesthetic. Surprisingly enough however, the character models are actually somewhat decent. It does help that Inugami’s character design really makes him stand out, with his huge white hair that kinda makes him look similar to the Samurai Warriors’ depiction of Shingen. I’m kind of a sucker for crazy hair like this in games. In a way he also kind of resembles a white haired version of Brahms from Valkyrie Profile but if he was a wolf instead of a vampire. The soldiers and demons look decent enough though the demons remind me of the insects you fight in the Earth Defense Force games for some reason, albeit not as big and in greater quantities. The game features numerous CGI cut scenes and while they’re serviceable, they don’t hold a candle to the animated cutscene that plays when you boot up the game, which is absolutely stellar. Honestly I was pleasantly surprised by the game’s visuals as a whole, of course I would never consider it to be one of the most visually appealing games on the PS2 but I would certainly commend it for being able to render so many enemies on screen and still look presentable.

The game’s music is decent enough, I mean it’s not amazing but it gets the job done. Many of the tracks have an oriental vibe that fits the setting pretty well. I particularly like the relaxing song that plays in many of the cutscenes when Aoi and Inugami are present, but I found that many of the other tracks didn’t stand out as much. It’s certainly not a bad soundtrack though I can’t see myself looking up any of the songs any time soon. The voice acting is entirely in Japanese which isn’t surprising considering the fact that the game was never released outside of Japan and Europe. It’s not really a huge deal though since it does fit the setting of the game, though it would have been nice to hear an English dub, even if it was terrible, at least it would give me something to laugh at.

Ultimately, I think the best way to describe Demon Chaos as a whole is that it is overly simplified and messy but that’s kind of why it works. It’s definitely not trying to be a refined or technical action game, rather it plays to its strengths by keeping things simple, yet offering enough utility to get players to think about what it is they are doing and strategize their maneuvers in order to complete each mission. It’s certainly not a game you can fall asleep playing, though it can certainly feel that way if you aren’t a fan of musou games. The same could be said for other musou games honestly. Part of what makes these games engaging is the fact that you are under constant pressure due to the mission objectives and Demon Chaos elevates that to the next level thanks to the pillar system, since you have to think more. On the downside however, this comes at a severe cost of flexibility which is ultimately what will turn most people off from this game and honestly, I don’t blame them. Even I come to expect more flexibility from action games than this and I’m usually quite tolerant of mindless beat em ups but at least Demon Chaos manages to do what it sets out to do and does it well enough that outside of a few minor issues, it’s actually strangely enjoyable for me. I think that if they added too much complexity with the pillars, it would probably get on my nerves but the careful balance of simple combat and simple tactics blends together surprisingly well. You could say that Demon Chaos is a guilty pleasure of mine as I can’t imagine many people enjoying this game due to its overly simplified gameplay. Even musou fans will likely be turned off from the lack of characters and varied movesets but who knows, maybe there is someone else out there who will enjoy this game despite its flaws. I hesitate to call Demon Chaos a hidden gem but at the same time I think it may appeal to a few individuals, particularly those who enjoy mindless gameplay like I do so if you are one of those people then you may want to give this game a shot.

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Plot/Story: Good

Visuals: Satisfactory

Music: Satisfactory

Gameplay: Great

Lifespan: Decent Length

Difficulty: Easy – Medium (depends on the mission)

Would You Replay? Maybe

Overall: Great

Video Review:

Plot/Story – Mediocre

Visuals – Good

Gameplay – Great

Music – Good

Lifespan – Too long

Difficulty – Easy

Would You Replay? No

Overall: Satisfactory

Video Review:

Story/Plot: Satisfactory

Visuals: Good

Gameplay: Mediocre

Music: Good

Lifespan: Quite Short

Difficulty: Easy

Would You Replay? Maybe

Overall: Satisfactory

Video Review:

Original Script For The Video

Plot/Story: Excellent

Visuals: Satisfactory

Music: Satisfactory

Gameplay: Great

Lifespan: Decent Length

Difficulty: Easy – Medium (depends on the mission)

Would You Replay? Maybe

Overall: Great

Video Review:

Story/Plot: Who the hell cares!?

Visuals: Good

Gameplay: Exceptional

Music: Good

Lifespan: Decent Length

Difficulty: Hard

Would You Replay? Yes

Overall: Excellent

Story/plot: Mediocre

Visuals: Satisfactory

Gameplay: Satisfactory

Music: Satisfactory

Lifespan: Decent Length

Difficulty: Easy – Medium

Would You Replay? No

Overall: Satisfactory