Customer Reviews

Valhalla Knights

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

You start off by making a hero, male or female, then choose your race. Initially it may not seem like there is an overwhelming amount of character customization in terms of looks but there are TONs of different items and they all change your appearance. You also have the option to change your job which will dictate what skills your character can learn. Upon leveling up you are allowed to allocate skill points, nothing new or special there. In addition to your main character you are allowed to bring up to 5 additional characters with you in to battle. These characters can be essentially whatever you choose (Cleric, Mage, Fighter...), you simply hire them from the corresponding guild.

This game plays a lot like a dungeon crawler like Diablo 2 or Titan Quest DVD-Rom only instead of hacking and slashing you actually get in to encounters. The enemies are visible which eliminates the annoyance of random battles. The battles play out actively like Star Ocean Till the End of Time, which elimates menu droning. Having 6 characters can throw off your attacks at times which can suck but ultimately having those extra characters often helps far more than it hurts.

Since the game is very much like a dungeon crawler the story is kind of lame and takes a back seat. The focus here is in the gameplay whether it be leveling or collecting treasure. You can take missions to give you more of a reason for your treasure hunting but at the end of the day you're still doing a lot of dungeon diving, leveling, and collecting until you feel that you're ready to move on with the game. On the plus side there are a lot of items and they're randomized. You could spend a long time in this game collecting treasure just to customize your looks.

The difficulty can be a little wonky at times. One minute you'll be king of the hill and the next encounter can be your doom. This eventually becomes less of an issue when you realize you need to go all out in battles, and when your level and equipment improves. This may turn off new RPG gamers quite a bit but this will be an easy adjustment for folks who've played their fair share of RPGs.

The graphics are pretty solid. The game runs smoothly with a minimal amount of loading. Sometimes the environments can seem slightly repetetive and sterile but this is only rarely the case. It would also be nice if you could travel away from the city, but at least they made up for this by making the city big and detailed. All in all a good showing graphically.

In summary, I like the game quite a bit with my only personal gripe being the spotty difficulty. This game has its fair share of flaws though. Unless you're willing to look past the fact that this game isn't very story driven then I would say give it a pass. I can only hope for a sequel to this game though. They have laid the groundwork for what I feel can be a great series and they really don't have too many flaws to engineer out of the game to bring it from good to great.

Okay first let me say that I am an avid RPG fan, I just love them. With that said I will also say that I almost traded this game in twice!! I thought it was too difficult at first, but it wasn't it was just me trying to be selfish and go through the dungeons alone. The Graphics, the Battle system and character customization with new great weapons stopped me from trading this game in both times, but now it is also the game play Let me tell you why and give you some tips to be successful.



Onto to the review:



Graphics: 5 out 0f 5 this game looks great not amazing but simply great, the backgrounds, and characters look clean and crisp!! No Jagged edges period!! Definitely one of the best looking PSP Games out.



Sound: 4 out 5 the game sounds okay, some voice over would have been nice, but really not missed much.



Controls/Game play 5 out of 5 Okay first let me list the known gripes as well as likes that go with that gripe. 1. It is a Dungeon Crawler PERIOD, so some thought it to be too repetitive; I didn't because of the difficulty level. Simply because you may step in to a dungeon that you just simply are not ready for and get your but kicked quick. For this is what made me love this game sooo much, I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I went back to a dungeon more leveled and equipped up and made mince meat of monster that had kicked my butt 5 levels earlier. 2. There is only one town PERIOD. This town is where you save, rest, get missions, equipment, etc... this is also where I disagree with critics, I have played numerous amounts of RPG's and so many times I wished I didn't have to run back and forth in town trying to find the right villager to talk to, to make the story progress. So having only one town to visit and almost no one to really have to talk to but mainly the guild before you progress to the next step made me really enjoy this game. 3. The lack of a GREAT (still okay) story but on the flipside there isn't a whole lot of dialogue to read either. 4. Bosses ARE DIFFICULT which in turn makes it all the more satisfying when you level up, come back for him later and rip him a new one. Controls are solid, the game kind of plays like Final Fantasy XII, where you set what behaviors you want your party to do in battle sit back and watch them carry out there orders, NO battle menu button pressing (TG), but at any time you can control anyone of your 6 party members manually (recommended for bosses). Also Character customization is great in this game sort of like Monster Hunter Freedom, whatever you buy and equip you will actually see it on your character...sweet!!



Some tips are: 1. Spend every drop of money on new characters, DO NOT try to go in the dungeon prison alone. 2. Change Job classes often I'd say about level 10 for each till you got about 100 or more hit points for each character (something I wish I would have know earlier in the game). 3. You MUST have a Healer in your party or do like I did and change classes until everyone in your party can cast healing spells. 4. If you are looking for a bit of a cheat find the game save the starts you at the beginning with money and 6 advanced job class cards. Trust me when I say this only helps for the beginning of the game, this game is still difficult if you don't level up!! You MUST LEVEL UP to get through this game PERIOD. 5. Carry lots of Rebirth Flasks once you can afford them.



Story (So Far) 3 out of 5, the story doesn't suck but it is definitely not enough to keep a hardcore story-driven gamer interested, but luckily the addictive Game play makes up for it. I will say though that the middle of this game is great!! Trust me the story takes and interesting twist.



Bottom Line: If you are looking for a challenging game, with good graphics and a style of game play that hasn't been done well on this system then I highly recommend this game...once I got the hang of the controls I was and still am addicted and can't stop playing it.

It's a hack and slash dungeon crawler game with an above average amount of customization. That is, until you realize everyone should be a healer in some sub-job, and you should keep changing class to get more points in strength. You control only one person in your party, and combat is 'real time' sort of like the Star Ocean series, but more simplistic. Basically your character runs around and tries slash the enemy with their weapon or spends all their time healing your party. You have one combo attack -- push the attack button twice. Extremely repetitive. Maybe if you loved Final Fantasy XII, you'll like the combat system. I didn't.

The biggest problem is how you move the characters. The directional buttons don't work in this game. You have to move everywhere using the roll-o-ball covered in fabric below the directional pad on your PSP. For me, this is so awkward I no longer wish to play the game. It is terrible because the game's camera keeps trapping you in corners, and you end up going in diagonal directions half the time you want to go straight.

The story is bland (your main character has amnesia, and frequently says "..."), and the monster variety is extremely low. Think lots of similar enemies with color variations.

The difficultly is medium, in part because getting experience is a real grind. (As in like 20xp or less per encounter when you have a full party). Pick a healer and a fighter and your party is basically set.

My recommendation is NOT buying this game. Try Dungeons & Dragons Tactics if you want a deep tactical game, and Dungeon Maker II: The Hidden War (basically dungeon maker I republished with a few more upgrades) if you want a hack and slash dungeon crawler.

The game is fun at the beginning as long as you pick a fighter and a healer otherwise you'll get beat constantly. If your healer runs out of mp then you are screwed. The game is fun overall but it can be really annoying when you get wiped out and lose half your money so save it constantly so you can just quit before you die and reload. The enemy magic casters do a lot of damage and if you are fighting three of them then you will die.

The game itself is unique and fun. It offers a play style that I have not ever experienced before. I'm not a gaming officionado, so another, similar style probably exists, but I don't know of it. It's addictive, though, and I'm into it. However it's got glitches. Make sure you save often, as it is prone to freezing up on you so that you lose your progress. If it were made better, it would be a really good game, but due to the bugs...kinda dampers gameplay.

I love RPGs but I'm not much of a dungeon crawler. The battle system is fun but it gets old fast. Everything else is just for show. Other than hiring other characters, gold is pretty much pointless. You get most of your armor from drops. Quests only reward you with gold and add nothing to the story or the world. You don't gain anything from talking to the towns people. You have a shop to sell unwanted items, a guild to take quests and change party, and Inn where you end up every time you die, a church to revive k.o. members, a pub that shows your rank.
In each area you are tasked with unlocking the path to the next area and sometimes fight bosses. You'll spend more time walking from one place to another. You can't warp to the later levels so you'll have to walk all the way back from town if you want to grind your levels (and thats all you do in this game)
The graphics are nice.
I hear you have more character customization options in Valhalla Knights 2.

Valhalla Knights is an excellent RPG to arrive on the PSP system. Fans of the Final Fantasy series will greatly enjoy it in its similarities. I highly recomend this game to anyone who owns a PSP.