Better than the first? Mayyybeeee...
lol schizo.I love Valkyrie Profile. Its a fantastic game. However, I think it has been a little overrated. I think the battle system was different enough and the story, while it delivered with some pretty bleh voice acting half the time, seemed 'mature'.
IMO the story in the original VP made me feel miserable. I do not find the definition of life in misery, I dont find it deep and enlightening. By the 4th character exposition I was rolling my eyes and skipping a lot of the story. Its just not the stuff of heroes.
Granted, I never beat VP, I got to the tower that is some kind of maze and got incredibly frustrated.
The point is, VP2 plays to everything I want in an RPG. Epic story, solid characters that arent mired in fundamentally useless exposition thats more emo than a death cab album. Plus there's no TIME LIMIT. Thank GOD.
Granted, the stuff changed has made the game weird and will turn a few away. To quote a previous thread:
*The Combat System - Retains the same system at attack, even switches to a 2D field. HOWEVER, the overall battle is in 3D, which means the system in VP2 is more about movement within the field.
You are supplied with a mini-map in each battle that shows each enemy as well as their attack range and arc. If you stay out of these as much as possible, and attack the sides and backs of enemies, the battles in between boss fights are cake.
There ARE situations where you can start in a battle in a tough spot, which is a pickle, I admit. However the DASH move, the cornerstone of the new combat system (IMO) will get you out of this pickle if youre fast enough. Dash consumes AP, the same AP your attacks use. So in the event you spend all your AP attacking one enemy and another is behind you, there is a chance you wont have enough AP to dash out of the remaining enemies attack range/arc.
So it comes down to this odd sort of balance. Dash too much and you dont have enough AP to attack, attack too much on small enemies and larger groups might overwhelm you. Speaking of groups, each group has a LEADER, the leader generally drops the items if you do a really big attack. Additionally you can end a battle immediately by going straight for the leader, this is called a DIRECT ATTACK. A big time saver or a way out when you dont wanna flee.
There IS a way to charge AP in a battle, so if you plan things right, AP isnt a big problem.
VP2 also has a TEAM system, where you split your party of 4 into 2 teams that can roam the battle independently. First off, the camera while roaming in a battle is a little wonky, so the team thing, for this reason doesnt really pan out that often. As I understand it a few of the bosses can be cheesed with the team system but it is clear the TEAM system was created for the 2P experience. That's right, two people can operate in a battle.
I dont suspect its split screen because honestly the POINT of splitting up the team is to surround one enemy, not attack enemies one on one.
*You dont materialize items anymore, there is a shopkeeper in town that can MAKE items. You do get more 'items' during battles depending on your successful attacks on a leader. I havent had much of a chance to see if the shopkeeper can make anything valuable.
*No more Periods, thank god. That's right, FUCK ODIN! I love VP, but I hate time constraints.
*Again, no more character exposition. The characters in the game are stored within the princess, so they are already in her service. However, their souls have decayed which means they cant exist outside of the valkyrie. As you level them up they get stronger and eventually can exist outside the big V. I suspect once they are fully materialized their stories will be explained through cutscenes.
*OMG 3D graphics. Those aren't jaggies, thats shimmering, and there's a lot of it. Blame the ps2. That aside the game is visually stunning. It might actually be in a persons best interest to play it through composite tho, the shimmering is pretty bad I suspect with good video definition. I have it running on an LCD with a native res higher than a normal tv, so it adds a very subtle blur to all my PS2 games, which really cuts down on the obvious video flaws of the aging ps2 hardware.
*Voice work is MUCH improved. Leagues better.
*The big V can still create crystals, however along with jumping on top of them, trapping enemies, you can also use them to teleport. Hit it once it freezes, hit it twice you switch spots with it. This is the cornerstone of the first dungeon's 'puzzles'.
I am now roughly 10 hours in an still in the ruins. Yes, I am grinding every character I have to at least level 10 before progressing, because missed opportunities make for frustration later. The game is not 'hard' once you get a hang of the battle system and keep your levels up. Money is easily attained, and the items you use to 'discover' skills are easy to gather and monkey with.
50 hours of my life..gone
So I haven't even finished half of Disgaea 2. To be honest I suck at NIS games in a very important way. I dont know jack shit about power leveling. So my 50 hours does not equal that of an experienced NIS fan.
The thing is this, I have given up on the story, I have discovered a new much more WORTHY quest. its the quest to level my Rarity 1 sword to level 100. Im at level 47 right now and its gettin hard.
Each journey in my characters get stronger, but I keep having to grind low level yam starches to get gency's exits for my sword quest. Also when I remort characters I have to run them through another item to get them up to snuff to survive in my Sword Quest. Lots of bumps in the road.
I'll go back to the story, I will, but thats probably like 10 hours from now. Lol. THIS SWORD WILL BE THE ULTIMATE! Of course I havent even mentioned all the pirate treasure maps I need to enter.
ASIAN PEOPLE EAT DOGS SEZ CAPCOM!
ookami! VP2 and a certain pokeman title have derailed my progress on this game a little bit. Im close to Act 3 and will probably grab my bottle o booze and hardcore it Friday night.
I would like to say I found the whole kidnapped sparrow story interesting mostly because its particularly morbid. I mean people want to eat dog, thats fucked. I just cant imagine eating a dog. The dark miasma that eminates from them as they run at you with the butcher knives is just teh creepy.
Pokemanz Mystery Obsession
Sure, it looks like a GBA game. Sure the RPG gameplay is older than dirt, but Pokemon Mystery Dungeon totally appeals to my RPG tastes. Lots of dungeon, lots of loot, lots of things to collect and party members to enhance. THINGS TO DO.
The main story is just the beginning. The end game is chock full of 99 level dungeons and legendary pokemon to defeat, it has proven a true challenge to the hardcore PC gaming type bred on Nethack and the like.
As for the story: Best story in a pokemon game yet. Its actually kinda dark. Id say more but I would be giving it away. People go wtf, its a pokemon story whats to give away, but I think if you play this game you will be surprised its a pokemon title. Honestly.
This game also gets much harder than the traditional pokemon titles. It starts out easy, and gives you plenty of points to take advantage of leveling opportunities, but if you miss those youre looking at some tough spots. The endgame is the true challenge apparently. I can't wait
My team consists of:
Charmander: Xenu
Treecko: Treecko
Aron: J.Travolta
Magnemite: Tom Cruise
Dig and SEED BULLET are my two favorite attacks in the game so far. SUCH PAIN. BAM!
And finally, a word from our sponsors...BUY THIS!
