Gaming Signal: PREVIEW: Valkyrie Prophile: Lenneth

PREVIEW: Valkyrie Prophile: Lenneth

I ended up with some money to burn in the form of an expiring credit at a well-known internet game store AND a trip to India (from Boston) in my future. So what did I do? I turned that credit into the PSP game Valkyrie Prophile: Lenneth and charged up the batteries for a long flight.

The game took a long time to get into - but once I did, I was pleasantly surprised. The game starts with nearly an hour of cut scenes and in-game exposition, but the once the action commences it becomes rather fun RPG. Typical of Japanese imports, some things are inscrutable but add to the overall charm.

This Square Enix game has a lot of role playing depth that works well on the PSP. It's a pretty straight-forward port of an old Playstation game (hint to developers - the PSP rocks these games) with some 3D cut-scenes thrown in. The cut scenes are awesome looking, by the way, but don't really fit the rest of the games art style.

In any event, this is a very strange and unique RPG. The story is the first of its kind - you play a Valkyrie tasked by Odin to search out and find recruits for the side of Asgard in an upcoming battle. You do this by finding the potential recruits, stealing their souls, training them up in the various dungeons (finding key artifacts along the way), and eventually sending them on to fight for Odin. If this sounds like it has some dark overtones it is because the game definitely has a mature spin on things. A child committing suicide, for example, and becoming a recruit is just one of the many of the games darker elements (see my comment on the Japanese-style.)

Some of the game acts and feels like a platformer - once you enter a dungeon you move Lenneth around by jumping and climbing between levels. You also can create ice blocks that are needed to climb you up into hidden areas of the map. This almost plays like a Mario game - except that when you touch an enemy you don't lose life, but instead go to the combat screen.

Combat plays out like a turn-based RPG, sorta. Each character (and you can have up to 4 at a time) can execute an attack on one or more opponents and you select that attack for each one. However, while your side has their turn you can attack in a particular sequence to fill a damage bar and allow you to execute a combo finishing move that does uber damage. There are basically 2 types of characters - melee and spellcasters. The melee characters can utilize bows if they want, however doing so generally limits their effectiveness in exchange for the range. So - a little Mario, a little Mortal Kombat, and a little turn-based RPG. Hmm...

Between dungeon fights you have to spend some amount of time improving your characters by spending the skill points they earn to either teach them new skills or improve their effectiveness. You also have to manage the inventory of items (armor, weapons, potions, etc.) that you collect as well as take advantage of the fact that in certain places you are allowed to fabricate those items directly from the Material Points you collect for clearing out dungeons, pleasing Odin, or by de-materializing unneeded items. If that sounds like a lot to do - it is. But for an RPG fan like me, it's the kind of thing you expect and enjoy (what is one persons tedium is another's depth I suppose.)

I haven't finished it yet after about 15 hours of gameplay. I'm looking forward to seeing the various endings that are available (which depends on what level of difficulty you pick) trying this game out over the long haul.