Valkyrie Profile is one of the most unique RPGs ever made...
This is the most 'unique' game I have ever played, it is a rarity, few have ever played the superior US version (Only 709,000 copies were sold worldwide, 636,000 of which were sold solely in Japan, the other 73,000 in North America.)
Suffice to say this game has some of the most incredible artwork and 2D sprite animation (hair/clothes moving, ice breath, wind blowing, details are astonishing) I have ever laid my eyes on, beautiful backgrounds, beautiful characters, the gameplay and just about every aspect and concept in this game is so unique, it fletches out the structure and goal like no other RPG has ever attempted.
I never even realized while playing it, that it is some game almost no one outside JP has ever played that was released in 1999-2000, it's just that bloody good to this day. VP also has some of the fastest paced and most furious clicking involved in any RPG battle system coupled with 2D platforming aspects where you can shoot crystals several times to different effects to step on and they offer a multitude of ways to navigate the environment. You also have perfect control over your movements (mastering the intricacy of all the controls takes practice) and even the slightest nudge gives response based on how hard you pressed.
Unlike other RPG's, the towns cannot be interacted with outside concentration/recruitment phases and NPC's barely say anything, this makes you feel that the developers never really fully realized this game's potential and makes the world feel bland. The difficulty setting is a total mess, it doesn't affect monster stats but EXP gain and basically you get the most dungeons, items and characters available to you on hard. Also every character starts at level 1 which means they'll have better stats with certain level up-items.
I played on medium which only has 1 unique dungeon per chapter instead of 2 in the last half of the game which leaves you with many periods to spare and nothing to do. But the most unsatisfying aspect of playing through VP is that unless you play on hard you won't get the full experience on your first play-through. And everyone is likely to get the B ending which barely has any dialogue on Disc 2 unless you use a walkthrough beforehand to get the special triggers for the A ending.
I watched the special scenes of the A ending on youtube and they are essential to understanding the true meaning behind Valkyrie as well as getting the full story. It's just that you have to drop your seal rating to below 37 during chapter 7 which is something you'd never do unless you read about it beforehand thus the developers intentionally screw you out of the true ending of the game.
You never really get to see/know much about the characters after their recruitment/sublime death scene nor the Valkyrie Lenneth (Only the A ending fully reveals her) which I must say is the best representation of a woman in a video game I have ever seen, actually many of the characters are quite appealing, the artwork alone helps with that. I like playing as a strong female for a change ^_^
It's not based on sex appeal like so many other games but shear beauty, Lenneth is strong, noble, authoritative and has an appealing personality to me at least, not to mention her long silver hair almost stretches to the ground which helps establish her uniqueness. Whomever made the artwork for VP created something that gave it much personality, every single character is different and unique even thou some characters don't perform well in combat.
There are some absolutely stand-out scenes in VP, they are delivered to you in a way that at least I can't compare to any other gaming medium, like the weeping lilies/flowers flying across the screen like a captivating dream :)
The bad side is that there isn't enough of them (especially in the unsatisfying B ending), nor enough development between Lenneth and Lucian or Lezard, I'd even like to see more interaction between the characters in general but hey for such an unique game made by Tri-Ace over 12 years ago it sure leaves much to be dreamed after, no video game is without imperfections just like humans aren't.
There's much to pick on story-wise (the pacing is way off) and while the English script, translation and voice acting is among the very best for it's time, the scenes often leave you wondering what just really happened? This is not a bad thing in itself as it doesn't state the obvious and is more sublime. It's also sad that the talented voice actor of Lawfer, Arngrim, Lezard and Barbarossa (Maddie Blaustein) passed away in 08...
In the end VP just feels so innovative and refreshing compared to everything, I really like it, it's serious storytelling narration, great fast-paced combat, the replay value, the amount of configuration, the voice collection and the rock-inspired soundtrack which quite honestly is as unique as the game itself. Great stuff, I like most of the characters to but overall VP is a bittersweet experience so unique and different that it's not really comparable to other RPG's but it certainly is a very memorable game.
I realize no one will ever read this since the last reviews where years ago, it's kind of sad to know not many people in the world will get to experience a game like Valkyrie Profile, it's highly underappreciated but I for one will remember it for a very long time.