Valpro my luuuuv

• Pipomantis
• Thursday, October 4, 2007 | 11:48 AM
• 6 comments

PSP

Ohhh, I love it. Ohhhh yeah I really love it. Valkyrie Profile is just la crème de la crème of what you can possibly find in the world of RPGs. Some years after a PS edition unavailable for us poor europeans, the PSP get some oldie love with the remake of that masterpiece, now called after its heroin: Lenneth. But I feel you, doubtful, staring at me strangely, thinking "Pipo, my good Pipo, why are you as enthusiastic as a big fat pig while talking about this game ?". Let's analyse.

In before anything, we'll put the game in its context: Valkyrie Profile was released in 2000, a time where Squaresoft's RPGs were the best in terms of sales and technical realisation, eg Final Fantasy 8. At the time, Valpro was kinda original. 2D graphics in the 3D eran no CG (Tri-Ace preferred tasty anime cinematics) and, most of all, no @%#£§ random fights. Really original, though.

Plus, the combat system was original and well-crafted. When everyone was praying Final Fantasy's Active Time Battle or Dragon Quest's turn based combat, Tri-Ace developperschose a system halfway between turn-based and rythm-game. Yeah. Each character is assigned to a button and has his own precise timing according to his weapon or his magic. The aim of this system is to do the best combo possible in order to get to the "purification phase", where the characters unleash astonishing furies showing off for your eyes.

And as if it wasn't enough, the scenario is also great. Mature and dramatic, it avoids all cheapy, "pen in the ass" clichés alla Final Fantasy. You play as Lenneth, a Valkyrie which "recruits" the dead to train them and to send them to Valhalla in order to help Odin winning the Ragnarok, ultimate holy war in the country of the people drinking in human skulls. So, each character have his own background, hopes, loves... and death. Always depressing, never crybaby, Valkyrie Profile takes the story with multiple little scenes more than a big lyrical story.

And, beyond all those innovations, there's the ambiance. Etherial, delicate, but nonetheless warlike, it is helped by nifty graphics and splendid musics performed by Motoi Sakuraba, which just made one of the greatest score in RPG history, far from bland pianos and uninspired compositions from the last Final Fantasy games.

But let's get back to our subject, the PSP remake. Is it good if you never had the ability to taste this touch of god? Of course, and even more when you know the actual price of the game (not far from $150). But, what for the gamer who even got the A ending (impossible to have withouth a walkthrough on your knees)? Not so much to be honest. The only really new thing is that the anime cinematics are replaced with (quite beautiful) CG. On the other hand, it nothing but a downgrade. The graphics are a bit blurry, it is strangely impossible to sort the inventory, and there are some slight interface problems (not more than in the original game, but it's still annoying).

But honestly, I don't give a damn about those little flaws. Because here we are talking about one of the best RPGs on Earth, battling with Crono Cross for the title of best Playstation RPG. We are talking about plain happiness, about tears of joy, about excellence. We are talking about Valkyrie Profile.