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Complete Over-haul!
In an act of redemption, since I seemed to piss off quite a few Pokemon/GTA fans, here is a completely clean, non-judgemental reason why YOU should play Valkyrie Profile - Covenant of the Plume
Graphically - The Opening scene is one of the most beautiful CGI's I've seen on a DS since Metroid Prime, and that was all of like, 15 seconds. This opening is full fledged beauty. And as far as Special techniques go (I'll get into those during gameplay), the graphics on those are just absolutely epic, a lot better than most summon sequences on the DS.
Gameplay wise - The fighting style could be described as "Tactical", but there are so many spins on it that I'VE yet to see on a DS Tactical RPG (and I've played quite a few). Yes, you still move on a grid, and it is turn based, unlike Luminous Arc where a character's turn is dependent on their speed. But when it comes to attacking, you're actually involved in it.
Example would be, you move up to the enemy, and select attack. Well now you and the enemy move to an off screen field where you press the characters assigned button to initiate an attack. You are limited to a number of times you can attack, which is based on what weapon you have equipped. The weapon you equip also determines if you can use a special.
That's another spectacular thing about the fights; the Finisher specials. Basically, if you can manage to get the attack gauge up to 100, which goes up slightly every time you land a hit in the fight, you can activate a finisher combo that just blows you outta the water. Getting the combo meter up is the tricky part, your attacks have to be timed perfectly, or get several team members to surround one monster and just pound him into the ground.
And there in lies the fun, third aspect to fighting. Each character get's a turn to move, and attack, but what if a character is standing right next to a monster another team member goes after? Well, in real life they'd tag team that son of a gun and lay waste. And that is how it works in VP. By this logic, you can have every character attack at least twice per round, if you can play them in the right spots.
There are a lot of other aspects to battle, but to explain them all would take all day, so if you're curious, you should really check it out for yourself. And of course, there's more than just battles, you travel from town to town via the world map (you don't walk, you just pick your destination and bam you're there) And shopping is done in towns, just as always.
Audio - The music isn't NEW-AGE or revolutionary, but it is catchy. Especially during tense scenes or the Ally's round in the fights. There are also small bits of voice acting during special attacks and other events, but VERY minimal.
The cons of this game
-Touch Screen: And that's the problem. There is none, or at least they didn't incoperate it into the game. Some look at this as a blessing, but I like touching my options. Just a personal preference I suppose.
-Text: I absolutely HATE the fact that the entire game is written in "ye olde english". If you need an example of what I mean, think Shakespeare. I don't hate Romeo and Juliet, but I didn't get a lot of what they were saying without reading it 2-3 times over. Same thing here, and that kinda makes the game seem slower.
-Using the Black Plume: During battle, you are given the chance to activate something called the Plume, a black angel's feather, and cast it onto your allys', allowing them EPIC strength and possible new combos. The downfall? When the battle is over, THEY DIE! FOR GOOD! Like, you DON'T GET THEM BACK! WHAT?! I just whooped some serious monster butt, NOW I LOSE MY CLOSEST FRIEND?! Greeaaattt. I absolutely hate this concept of the game. And you can't cast it on enemies or guests in your party, only allies. The advantage to this, as they explained, is that you can gain knowledge of new combos to use with other party members later. So don't get too attached to anyone, okay? xD
-Sin: This is brought into the game later, but not much later mind you. Basically, consider it like the Laws of FF Tactics. If you don't obtain a certain amount of Sin by the end of the fight....well I haven't seen the ramifacations of it yet, but I'd imagine it takes a toll on the EXP/Coin/Loot you get. You obtain sin from two methods. The first one is by casting the Dark Plume on an ally. The second, is by over-killing an enemy. The best way to do it is to hardly hurt them alone, then get your entire party to gang up on him while he's weak. Of course, that involves risking lives, because enemies will also try to gang up on you. so leaving party members out of range for tag-teaming can turn against you.
Other than that, the game is pretty good. I can look past the Text, and the Sin, but I really think I'm going to hate this Dark Plume deal.
So there you have it. If you find free time after beating Pokemon Platinum and GTA, and are looking for a good Game to pass the time, Definitely try this out!
In an act of redemption, since I seemed to piss off quite a few Pokemon/GTA fans, here is a completely clean, non-judgemental reason why YOU should play Valkyrie Profile - Covenant of the Plume
Graphically - The Opening scene is one of the most beautiful CGI's I've seen on a DS since Metroid Prime, and that was all of like, 15 seconds. This opening is full fledged beauty. And as far as Special techniques go (I'll get into those during gameplay), the graphics on those are just absolutely epic, a lot better than most summon sequences on the DS.
Gameplay wise - The fighting style could be described as "Tactical", but there are so many spins on it that I'VE yet to see on a DS Tactical RPG (and I've played quite a few). Yes, you still move on a grid, and it is turn based, unlike Luminous Arc where a character's turn is dependent on their speed. But when it comes to attacking, you're actually involved in it.
Example would be, you move up to the enemy, and select attack. Well now you and the enemy move to an off screen field where you press the characters assigned button to initiate an attack. You are limited to a number of times you can attack, which is based on what weapon you have equipped. The weapon you equip also determines if you can use a special.
That's another spectacular thing about the fights; the Finisher specials. Basically, if you can manage to get the attack gauge up to 100, which goes up slightly every time you land a hit in the fight, you can activate a finisher combo that just blows you outta the water. Getting the combo meter up is the tricky part, your attacks have to be timed perfectly, or get several team members to surround one monster and just pound him into the ground.
And there in lies the fun, third aspect to fighting. Each character get's a turn to move, and attack, but what if a character is standing right next to a monster another team member goes after? Well, in real life they'd tag team that son of a gun and lay waste. And that is how it works in VP. By this logic, you can have every character attack at least twice per round, if you can play them in the right spots.
There are a lot of other aspects to battle, but to explain them all would take all day, so if you're curious, you should really check it out for yourself. And of course, there's more than just battles, you travel from town to town via the world map (you don't walk, you just pick your destination and bam you're there) And shopping is done in towns, just as always.
Audio - The music isn't NEW-AGE or revolutionary, but it is catchy. Especially during tense scenes or the Ally's round in the fights. There are also small bits of voice acting during special attacks and other events, but VERY minimal.
The cons of this game
-Touch Screen: And that's the problem. There is none, or at least they didn't incoperate it into the game. Some look at this as a blessing, but I like touching my options. Just a personal preference I suppose.
-Text: I absolutely HATE the fact that the entire game is written in "ye olde english". If you need an example of what I mean, think Shakespeare. I don't hate Romeo and Juliet, but I didn't get a lot of what they were saying without reading it 2-3 times over. Same thing here, and that kinda makes the game seem slower.
-Using the Black Plume: During battle, you are given the chance to activate something called the Plume, a black angel's feather, and cast it onto your allys', allowing them EPIC strength and possible new combos. The downfall? When the battle is over, THEY DIE! FOR GOOD! Like, you DON'T GET THEM BACK! WHAT?! I just whooped some serious monster butt, NOW I LOSE MY CLOSEST FRIEND?! Greeaaattt. I absolutely hate this concept of the game. And you can't cast it on enemies or guests in your party, only allies. The advantage to this, as they explained, is that you can gain knowledge of new combos to use with other party members later. So don't get too attached to anyone, okay? xD
-Sin: This is brought into the game later, but not much later mind you. Basically, consider it like the Laws of FF Tactics. If you don't obtain a certain amount of Sin by the end of the fight....well I haven't seen the ramifacations of it yet, but I'd imagine it takes a toll on the EXP/Coin/Loot you get. You obtain sin from two methods. The first one is by casting the Dark Plume on an ally. The second, is by over-killing an enemy. The best way to do it is to hardly hurt them alone, then get your entire party to gang up on him while he's weak. Of course, that involves risking lives, because enemies will also try to gang up on you. so leaving party members out of range for tag-teaming can turn against you.
Other than that, the game is pretty good. I can look past the Text, and the Sin, but I really think I'm going to hate this Dark Plume deal.
So there you have it. If you find free time after beating Pokemon Platinum and GTA, and are looking for a good Game to pass the time, Definitely try this out!
