Review #321: Silent Hill - Book of Memories

 Memories I'd like to forget, that is!

 Fact: People hate change, particularly when it comes to Gaming. A ton of games get a ton of flak, and don't even get a fair chance, when it's a established franchise trying or doing something widely different. Silent Hill Book of Memories is not a survival horror game, it's not even a horror game, it's a dungeon crawling RPG. It's also a bad game, but not because it's different but because it's not a good game period.

 The game starts with you choosing a trinket, a class and customizing your character's look. You are never told what the trinket does, or how each class is different from each other, which is just dandy, so lemme tell you instead: The trinket gives you a passive boost, like extra defense, and the class only makes two of your starting attributes better. After that is dealt with, you are treated to a short cutscene that set ups the game: You get the Book of Memories, a book that allows you to alter the past, and in doing that, alter the present. And that's about it. There's not a lot of story, and it's told almost exclusively through short, confusing notes and some audio clips. Y'know, in previous games you'd get newspaper cut outs, scribbled pieces of papers and what not as notes, here you get dull, brown notes that sometimes are hard to figure out who they were written by, because it turns out you find notes written by yourself as well. It's very confusing, and it's not even interesting. There's also about six different endings, most which are rather bittersweet, which, on a Survival Horror game, would've been fantastic, but in this game, they just feel unsatisfying. That said, the game has an 'endless mode', which apparently is made up of 500 randomly generated floors, after finishing the 21 floor storyline. On a good dungeon crawler, that would've been a fantastic post-game. If only....

 Alright, so the story is a blunder, no big deal, this is a game after all. It's... it's not very good. Basically, you go from identical looking corridor to square arenas to identical looking corridor to another square arena, over and over again. And they are randomly generated. It's all very, very uninspired and it quickly grows old. There's about seven different themes for these areas, but the areas are so samey that it wouldn't even have mattered if there were a thousand different themes. You have a flashlight in this game, which makes enemies more aggressive, but you also need it to reveal highlighted objects, and these highlighted objects can be looted for. It's a necessity because you need keys, and keys are hidden away in these objects. Most of the time, it's not too bad, I just kept the flashlight on all the time and kept checking all the objects, not because of the loot, since there's nothing of worth, but because I needed the keys... until you get to the Blood themed levels. These interactive objects are highlighted in red. Objects in the Blood themed levels are red, so it's pretty easy to skip a key. And skipping a key means, potentially, having to reexplore the entire dungeon, which can take a while, and it doesn't even offer interesting views to make the backtracking enjoyable. You may also come across 'phantom rooms' during the initial 21 zones, and just as with the character creator, you don't get any hint as to what you have to do on each. There's some that still remain a mystery to me on just what was I supposed to do to get the Light/Neutral/Blood outcomes.

 Most people play Dungeon Crawlers for the loot, if you do too... you won't like this game. Weapons lack modifiers, so a knife will always be a knife. They are also meant to be disposable, they break pretty easily, although you can carry a few wrenches to fix them. A modern day dungeon crawler sounds like an interesting idea, getting guns, shotguns, planks of wood, knives, fire axes, etc, but in practice? The weapons are dull. They should've added modifiers, should have made it exciting to find weapons. Like a poisoned plank of wood! Or a fire axe that's actually on fire! But nope, boring, dull, mundane weapons you are not supposed to grow fond of. Later on you'll also find 'objects' that can be equipped on your stats for boosts. These objects reference items from all over the Silent Hill universe, but references a good game do not make. Weapons come in two varieties: Two handed weapons, like pick axes, shotguns or hammers and single handed weapons, like pistols, uzis or knives. You can make any combination of single handed weapons, like having a pistol on the square button and a knife on the triangle button... or you can dual wield uzis(Although you have to fire them one at a time). The combat itself is... it's alright. There's nothing special, just hack away enemies and carry on on your merry way. You can dodge, block and parry with the circle button if you so wish. There're no skill trees, passive or active skills to learn as you level up, but you can buy a few special powers done by holding the R button and another button. There's no depth, no nuance to the combat.

 But what really kills the game are the interface and the touch-screen controls. Touch screen controls are a fantastic idea, when optional. Here you must use them to pick up weapons, provided the game actually registers that you are close or even on top of the weapon. Using health packs, or swapping weapons from your inventory is all done through the touchscreen, in real time, and it works as well as you'd expect: Accidentally closing the bag when trying to heal, healing when trying to reload, etc. The game can have a hard time registering what you pressed, and it doesn't help when you are frantic while about to die in the midst of combat. To be fair, ever since I downloaded the patch, it seemed to have started registering my inputs better, but still. Most of the menus are also navigated through the touchscreen, which is relatively annoying seeing how small all the buttons are. But the kicker to the whole experience are the loading times, which, for a handheld game, are unacceptably long.

 Public Service Announcement: You should probably download the patch. By itself the game is already relatively challenging, add to it accidental deaths due to the game not registering you touching the health packs. Well, originally, dying meant restarting the entire level, losing all your progress and having to endure the whole loading process again. With the patch, all your progress through the level is kept, you just need to go back to where you died and retrieve your health packs, ammo and wrenches. Well, a few of them, I always went from a full 9 stock of each to 2-3 of each, which can be crippling. And from what I read, it seems poison traps could instantly kill you before the patch, oh boy, having to endure that on top of the already messy interface, and having to go through the entire loading screen again.... Just, just download the patch.

 The game employs a rather weird karma system, that goes from 'Blood' to 'Light', and it affects the ending as well as the powers you can use. What makes it weird is how you obtain it: Enemies come in three varieties: Blood, Light and Steel. Blood enemies leave Light blood upon defeat, and Light enemies leave Blood... Blood, walking over these puddles of blood are what tilts your Karma meter in either direction. It's a mess. Literally. You actually have to avoid blood puddles if you want to have a particular Karma, so not only do you have to avoid monsters, avoid invisible traps that can't be deactivated, you also have to wait until the puddles of blood go away. And sometimes, you might come across Invincibility traps that make whoever steps on it invulnerable for 10 seconds, so you also have to add trying to reactivate them yourself or make sure the enemies don't walk over them. Does that sound like a fun game mechanic? Because it's not, it only adds even more annoyance.

 I think the game's biggest mistake was building the game around the franchise instead of doing it around the genre. The Dungeon Crawler genre thrives on the addictive nature of gathering loot, something that's missing here. Where are the skill trees? Passive skills? Active skills? Where are the large hordes of enemies? All we get are uninspired weapons that are meant to be disposed of, trying to force the flashlight to add unrewarding busywork to the game, a Karma system that doesn't work very well, repetitive puzzles at the end of every flippin' world. Having enemies, weapons and objects referencing every single Silent Hill game can only take you so far. References are fun, when the game IS fun, but they can't make a bad game any better. At all. I knew they were trying too hard the moment they use Silent Hill 3's best line: 'Did they look like monsters to you?' In Silent Hill 3 that line had a lot of weight, of ambiguity to it, that made sense in that game, and gave the whole ordeal, and future ordeals in subsequent Silent Hill games, a completely new twist. Games about horror, psychological horror at that. Here it just feels like misguided pandering, since the game isn't trying to scare you, it's not trying to make you think, it's a game with no depth either on the story or gameplay front, so using that line, verbatim, was nothing more than a cheap, cheap reference, that instead of making me smile, made me feel more cynical about the entire game.

 To say that I disliked Book of Memories is an understatement. I don't like it because it's 'Silent Hill in name only', I don't like it because it's not scary in the slightest, I dislike it because it's a bad game, period. Repetitive and uninspired gameplay, with design choices that clash with each other make the game a chore to play. They tried to add Dungeon Crawler elements with Survival Horror elements, but it just doesn't work like that. Look at the GBA Lord of the Rings games, look at TMNT's 3DS Dungeon Crawlers, they made dungeon crawlers first and then put the franchise on top of it, even if they didn't do their respective franchise justice, they were still fine, fun games on their own, which is what really matters in the end. The Silent Hill elements should have come second. Strip the Silent Hill elements from Book of Memories, and what have you got left?
 3.0 out of 10

Review #320: Silent Hill Downpour

 When it rains, it pours.

 Downpour was the second Silent Hill game to be released during the first generation of HD consoles. As with any post-SH 4 game in the franchise, it was not developed by Team Silent. It's... It's an interesting game, it has some rather neat ideas, a relatively engaging plot and a couple of flaws. There's also a lot of rain.

 The main character is Murphy Pendleton, a prisoner who you join on the day he's being transferred. As luck would have it, disaster strikes, the prisoner bus spins out of control and crashes right on Silent Hill. But that's OK, because Silent Hill is one hell of a Therapy Session, and Murphy has a lot to come to peace with. I really liked the plot, it's a very mature, serious story that deals with a rather large variety of themes which I'd rather not even mention as not to spoil anything. I also liked the way its told, not only through cutscenes, but through various paper clips and notes found throughout the game, I enjoyed piecing together Murphy's past myself, even before the game made it more explicit through cutscenes. That said, there were a few... weird moments, with certain characters popping at just the most opportune moments, but I'm willing to let them slide. As per usual for the series, there's a lot of alternate endings, however, the way you act through the game not only changes the ending, but also some of Murphy's backstory. Some would call it cheap, but me, personally, found it an interesting idea. It makes sense for a... meaner Murphy to have had committed more serious misdemeanors in the past than a Murphy who's being nicer. I dunno, I think it works. Where the game does suffer is monster design. Both in behavior and design they are all very... humanoid, with predictable movements and robotic animations. Silent Hill has had always had enemies that reflected the psyche of a character, being the hero or an antagonist, here.... they look pretty generic and uninspired. That said, there's this 'Wheelchair Monster' that actually falls right in line with what most of Silent Hill has to offer, and is actually related to the hero. The game really could've used more designs like that one.

 You'll spend most of your time running throughout the streets of Silent Hill. While you could simply go straight away to your destination, exploration is rewarded with sidequests. You may come across certain open doors(or windows!), NPCs or even notes that trigger them. Not all of them are equally rewarding, but some of the are very memorable, like this one scene where you have to spin a music record backwards, and you get to see a murder scene in reverse. It's very creepy, creative and, in a very twisted way, cool. That said, some of the quests can be very vague, there aren't many pointers or hints, and Silent Hill is rather large, so it can be a bit of a pain solving these by yourself. As a matter of fact, sometimes even getting to your next plot-related objective can be tough, since Murphy won't always mark the next destination on the map. When all is said and done, I liked the idea behind the sidequests, although more hints would've been nice, and I actually enjoyed most of the puzzles in the game, even if a few of them were reused, like the 5-lock vaults.

 Then we've got the combat, which is serviceable. Murphy can either carry two guns, or one gun and a melee weapon. Guns work as you'd expect, and you can walk while you aim and shoot, which bears mentioning seeing how many survival horror games root you to your spot. Melee combat is a bit... spotty. You can both attack and defend with your weapons, but you also have to keep in mind that they will eventually break. You shouldn't worry too much though, as the streets and building interiors are littered with weapons, so you'll never find yourself defenseless. And in the very rare case that you do, Murphy can always count on his weak fists to help him put some distance between himself and the enemies. Still, combat never really felt... smooth, most of the enemies gained super armor after 2-3 of your strikes, forcing you to block incoming attacks. It's hard to explain, but it doesn't feel very well. Regardless, it's not terrible, it simply lacked more polish. Lastly, the way swapping equipped weapons work is a bit weird, as equipping your gun will make Murphy drop his melee weapon, instead of storing it or somethin'.

 The graphics may be a bit bland, with some rather jerky animations, and the voice acting left a lot to be desired, but they actually nailed the atmosphere. They actually spooked me once or twice, as a matter of fact. While the Horror is at times a bit different from what one would expect of Silent Hill, the Silent Hill brand of horror is definitely present in the game, with otherwordly rusted environments making themselves present every now and then, plus, your trusty radio is always there to warn you that danger is nearby... even if you can't see it. Still, where this game's style differs from the other Silent Hill's is that this is probably the most 'mundane' of them all, with mostly humanoid monsters, in a very grey/blue/brown city. You could probably argue that the art direction they went with was a bit soulless, and I'd agree a bit. Luckily, the game makes up for it with some truly frightening scenes.

 Sadly, it seems like the game is a bit broken. From what I could gather, it seems the PS3 is the worst version, although a patch came out, which is how I played it. Still, sometimes the framerate can take a huge hit, mostly, but not exclusively, when the game is saving or loading, which isn't unheard of, but whenever you earn a trophy the game might even freeze for a second or two. It's a bit worrisome at first, since you think that it's a honest to goodness freeze, but you get used to it eventually.

 Downpour is far from being perfect, but its a genuinely creepy, fun game. I liked exploring Silent Hills, I liked solving its puzzles, I liked figuring it out Murphy's story and I liked the story itself. With a little more polishing the close-ranged combat and the techical issues, and a little more time spent designing better monsters, it could've been a really great game. Regardless, one's gotta acknowledge all it does right as well: The fun, sometimes challenging puzzles, some of fantastically creepy scenes and moments, the interesting story and how its told and, of course, how well they managed to create a creepy atmosphere that lasts all the way through to the end.
 7.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Silent Hill - Downpour

 I think it's OK to call myself a fan now?

 Since it's raining right now, and since Book of Memories is so bad, it felt appropriate to play this game now. Having sunk one hour in it already, I already stand on a somewhat solid ground on how I feel about the game.

What I liked:
 - The atmosphere. Recently, well, somewhat recently, I've started to appreciate games that take their time to build the atmosphere. Kinda like Twilight Princess, in which you spend about an hour doing mundane tasks before you even get your first blade. Well, it's about 50 minutes here before you see the first enemy, and all the while before that, the game builds its atmosphere perfectly. Exploring abandoned, worn down buildings, and then getting your first experience of Silent Hill's Darkside. And the environments feel pretty Silent Hillish. It's a tiny bit different from previous games, but you can still tell the strong Silent Hill influence.

What I didn't like:
 -Wielding weapons is a bit cumbersome. Dumb things like taking out your gun making you drop your melee weapon. It's not terrible, but it feels a bit unpolished.

 - The combat and the monsters. Both things are tied together, but... enemies block attacks now. Yeah... it feels a bit weird, because they do it with their arms. And it's tied together because enemies... they feel uninspired. Silent Hill 3, 4 and 0rigins, and from what I remember 2 as well, had these weird creatures that moved in jerky, unnatural yet organic ways. You could say that they felt like twisted life forms. These enemies, at least the ones I encountered, move in a very robotic fashion. Swipe, Swipe. opening. And then you Attack, attack, they block, so then you block, they swipe, you either attack or block the next swipe, etc. It feels very predictable and robotic. They aren't as creepy as previous monsters in the franchise.

- The graphics. Truth be told, I don't care about graphics most of the time, but the character models look a bit subpar, and the humans' animations look jerky.

 Regardless, while I have more bad things to say about the game than good ones, I'm still enjoying the game. The atmosphere is really well done, which makes up for the disappointing enemies, and who knows, they might get better eventually, I mean, I only encountered one enemy type after all! And while the combat system is robot, it's not necessarily bad, just mediocre.

Now Playing: Silent Hill - Book of Memories

 W... what the hell is this... this thing??

 Look, I'm the kind of guy that is open to change. I'm open to franchises trying new things, I'm open to introducing new characters, to reboot games with entirely different premises. I am. As long as the game is competent, as long as the game is fun.

 Silent Hill Book of Memories is a mess. Let's start with the first thing that pops up in your face when you start the game: You have to select a trinket from about 8. You're told nothing about what these things are or what the hell they do. I thought I was picking a savefile. But whatever, maybe it's done on purpose, pick something and let it have a hidden bonus to your character. Whatever. Then you go into the character creator, and you have to pick a class from the very, very descriptive names such as 'Preppy', 'Goth' or 'Rocker'. How the hell am I supposed to know that Rocker gives you a plus to strength and vitality, or that Jock has better strength and dexterity? You don't. Best design choice ever. Ever.

 And don't let me get started on the menus, they are a mess, cramping a ton of options and choices between a lot of tabs. And as per usual, very little of what is what is told to the player. Just what is the 'VOIT' option on the 'Options' menu? and why is it grayed out? will somebody tell me? Please? And menus are explored with the touchscreen. Genius. Touch controls on menus work great as an alternative, since sometimes, it's more convenient. Not here, where buttons are very, very small. Menus are a mess, plain and simple. And the touchscreen is used to pick up stuff from the environment, for whatever reason. I hate it. And since I'm at it, the graphics. The graphics are terrible, my character's neck had missing polygons that let you see the bed through them. On the opening cutscene. Seriously, Konami, seriously?

 And then we get down to the gameplay. It's a Diablo clone. I love Silent Hill and I love Diablo. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles did it, and that game was a blast! And this game was developed by Wayforward, it can't be bad, right? Right? It's pretty bad. Something I really like when it comes to dungeon crawling RPGs is getting all this different weapons, with different modifiers and seeing them on the character models. Here you do get different weapons... slabs of wood, knives, mauls... but without modifiers. It's pretty mundane stuff, which makes sense in a Survival Horror game, but it's downright lame on a dungeon crawling game. And apparently weapon types get stronger the more you use them, not that it matters since weapons break after a while. And y'know, that's borrowed from the other Silent Hill games, where it makes sense for weapons to be discarded just like that. But on a dungeon crawling game? Seriously? I like getting bigger, better, shinier weapons, not having a ton of dull, repetitive weapons that are meant to be discarded and disposed off.  What makes Dungeon Crawing games so addictive is growing stronger, getting better weapons and armors. There aren't even armor pieces in this game, it seems. Like what the hell, TMNT on the 3DS felt like a Diablo-lite, well, this is like a Diablo-lite-lite. Seriously.

 I only cleared one Zone, but everything seems to imply that there're no skills or active/passive skills... seriously? Look, Silent Hill games did their own thing, and they did it right. And I understand why they decided to borrow things from those games for this one, as to not alienate players, or to remind them of previous games... but things like disposable weapons that are meant to be discarded doesn't mesh well with this game. They should've done what TMNT did and build the game around the genre and not around the franchise. This feels like a poorly put together game that isn't too sure of what it wants to be. It's a Dungeon Crawler at its core, but it's missing its best elements. It tries to be a horror game, but it just isn't scary, having the flashlight affect the enemy's aggressiveness makes no sense when the game is built around defeating enemies. Why even have the flashlight? I mean, seriously man, it's such a useless mechanic. And if certain parts of the game, later down the line, force me into avoiding certain enemies... then they're doing something wrong, because this genre is about mowing down enemies, not avoiding them. And the loading times, sweet Jesus, the loading times...

 I really don't understand what they were thinking when they came up with this game. Maybe Wayforward was making another game and Konami coerced them into slapping the Silent Hill name on top of it? Maybe Konami wanted to take Silent Hill into this new direction but Wayforward tried to compromise by shoehorning Silent Hill enemies that made no sense on this genre? I... really don't understand. Who is this game meant to please? People that love the survival horror genre? They won't be happy with this game. People that love Dungeon Crawlers like Diablo? This won't satisfy them, it's missing some of its best, most addictive features. People that like both Silent Hill and Dungeon Crawlers? Not only is that audience smaller than the other two, but both Silent Hill and Dungeon Crawler elements don't mix well together, so it won't make them happy either.

 Silent Hill Book of Memories, so far, is nothing less than a mess. Conflicting ideas and a horrible interface... I really can't see this game getting any better.

Review #319: Silent Hill 0rigins

 Did they seriously go with 0rigins? With a 0? Seriously?

 After Silent Hill 4 Konami decided that the only direction they could take the franchise was backwards, and with that, I mean back in time. Taking place before the first Silent Hill, and developed by a different studio based outside Japan, Silent Hill 0rigins manages to capture the spirit of the franchise, and offers new insight into Silent Hill's sweetheart, Alessa. Even if it slightly contradicts a few events from the first game.

 Supposedly, you find out about a certain accident that saw a house burned down with Alessa inside during Silent Hill 1's story. Well, this game pick only a few moments before that fire, with Travis Grady stopping in the middle of somewhere to follow a little girl who leads him to the burning house. Travis, being the good guy that he is, rescues the girl and passes out, only to find himself inside Silent Hill. The roads are blocked, the girl is, supposedly, dead. And someone is guiding him somewhere. And like every good Silent Hill protagonist, Travis has his own demons to face, literally. I've read some people call the story a bit derivative of Silent Hill 2, which I didn't play in its entirety, but there's a Pyramid-head like enemy, and a few enemies that represent the same things they did for James. Still, I liked the story, I found it to be perfectly in line for the series, and I also really liked the enemy design and how it tied to Travis, particularly the Carrion enemies, who are reminiscent of a twisted take on Roadkill.

 Gameplay is standard Silent Hill fare(well, at least the couple I played, 2 and 3), having Travis go from area to area. Unlike, say Resident Evil, while the entire game takes place in Silent hill, each 'section', or 'level', or however you want to call it is clearly defined: The Hospital, The Sanitarium, the Theater and the Motel. Each level is one relatively long, self-contained area filled with puzzles and enemies. Each building also comes in two flavors, when Travis comes in front of a mirror, he will warp to the 'Mirror world' version of the stage, while the layout remains the same, enemy and item placement will be different, and certain doors that were locked before will now be open and vice versa. And that's the game's main mechanic, traversing both versions of an area in order to collect the information and items required to clear puzzles and then make your way to the boss. And to the game's credit, some puzzles can be rather hard. To the game's... discredit, however, unlike previous games, there's no difficulty toggle, so you'll have to deal with the same puzzle difficulty and enemy difficulty, which, y'know, I'm fine with it on practice, but I like it when games let you tailor the difficulty to your preferences.

 Now then, as for the combat... it's a bit of a mixed bag. Something that I really like with Silent Hill games is that melee is almost always a viable strategy. Not always the best or the most efficient, but it can get the work done. They went the extra mile in this one, Travis can PUNCH HIS ENEMIES TO DEATH. Travis. Can. Punch. His. Enemies. To. Death. Badass. Or you could turn off your flashlight and try to sneak or run your way through, but I digress. There's a reason for Travis' fists of death, close-range weapons actually break this time around. Not that it really matters, since there's hundreds of them, and Travis has infinite inventory space to carry typewriters, iron wrenches and even slabs of wood. Then there's also a large variety of long-range weapons... The game might seem hard, because enemies re very resilient, and the enemies start tough from the start, probably a byproduct of being on a handled, and therefore trying to have a more distilled, experience, but by the end of the game you'll be overflowing with healing items, guns and melee weapons.

 The game had a few audio issues, it seems like... either the voice samples lost quality or something, as you'll hear how certain parts of certain dialogues suddenly go up in volume and lose some sharpness. And while, most of the time, you can put the camera behind your back with the L button, there's a few forced fixed camera angles that will mess you up. Lastly, I played the PSP version, and sometimes it felt like... the audio disappeared when it shouldn't have? I'm not entirely sure though. That said, I've read that the PS2 version is a bit of a bugfest, so pick your console carefully.

 I loved Silent Hill 0rigins, I really did. It's almost surprising, considering how it came from a different development team, and on a handled device! Yet they managed to capture the feeling of the series perfectly. I found myself easily engrossed in the game, waiting for nightfall and dimming the lights, as to get the best atmosphere possible. It's not a perfect game, particularly if you compare it against Silent Hill 3 and 4, it doesn't have as many spooks, and the combat is a bit wonkier than on those games. But even then, all things considered, it's a game I enjoyed. A lot.
 7.5 out of 10

Now Playing: Silent Hill 0rgins

 Did Konami really, REALLY titled it '0'rigins? Seriously? I guess they did...

 So there I was, thinking to myself 'Sigh, I really have to play Mass Effect? That'd mean leving my room. Sigh', so I did the only thing that made sense: Started Silent Hill 0rigins.

 So far so good, I just cleared the Hospital section, and the game is relatively fun. I hate how it seems like you can't kill enemies while in the Darkside, I lost a bunch of health and a few melee weapons to the nurses. Speaking of nurses, I found it interesting how they decided to open up the game with the nurses so soon!

 It seems to run at a pretty consistent framerate, sometimes clearly going over 30, goddamn, PSP games usually have framerate issues!

Review #318: Valkyrie Profile - Lenneth

 It has seen better days.

 Valkyrie Profile was a fun little JRPG on the PSone, one that was produced in rather small quantities, so good luck finding it for cheap! Luckily, there's this PSP port of the same game available on the cheap. Valkyrie Profile has... it has certainly aged a bit, but it's still a relatively fun little adventure while it lasts.

  The story pits you as the Valkyrie named... Valkyrie. At least until you learn her real name later down the line(Not like you could easily figure it out...), and she is tasked with bringing Einherjar, souls of fallen men, to Nibleheim in order to fight the Vaenir and prevent Ragnarok, The game features about 20 different playable characters, all with their own backstory and.. and that's pretty much all the character development they'll ever get. Y'see, the game is divided in 8 chapters divided into 28 periods each, and during each chapter there's different dungeons to explore and different Einherjar to recruit, but before getting them, you are treated to their last moments. The game can get pretty depressing, seeing them die, betrayed, tortured or by sacrificing themselves... And the writing is pretty sharp, so it's easy to like these characters. As for the overall plot, it's easy to forget that it's actually there, as there's not a whole lot of story outside the end of the world and the different Einherjar. There's also three different ending, but only ending A gives you any kind of closure, and it delves into who and what Valkyrie is, as well as revealing more about the gods... basically, aim for Ending A.

 There's three difficulty settings: Easy, Normal and Hard. What changes the most are which dungeons are available, Easy has mostly straightforward dungeons, while Hard has the most complex ones. Easy is actually the hardest difficulty settings, enemies don't give much experience points, equipment isn't as good and you don't get the best characters, plus, you lose access to ending A. Besides dungeons and a few characters exclusive to Hard, the real difference between Normal and Hard is that on Hard, every character starts off at level 1... which can actually be a good thing, since there's a few items you can use to boosts their stats on leveling up, allowing you to have some pretty tough party members. There's also a bonus dungeon, unlockable on Normal and Hard, by using the last Save Spot in the game, but the only way to get the extra goodies, like bonus characters, is to use the 8 Flame Jewels, which are only found in Hard Mode, and hopefully you found them all, cause there's no going back to previous dungeons during this bonus dungeon.

 Where the game shined the most back in the day was with its combat system, you make a party of four, and each character is tied to a different face button. Depending on which weapon they have equipped, they can deliver up to three different attacks, and you want to create combos in order to fill a gauge that allows you characters to unleash powerful super moves. It bears mentioning that, while it's relatively fun, it's a bit more slower paced than it sounds. Until you get the really good weapons, battles can take a while, not due to their difficulty, but because of all the damage enemies soak, or them deciding to block and/or dodge your attacks.

 Dungeons are explored in 2D, and Valkyrie can create crystals as platforms, or even break them to boost herself, which in theory lends itself to some interesting puzzling and jumping. In theory. I played the game on hard, which means I got the most complex dungeons, and they can be downright terrible as level design goes. From labyrinthine roads, that you must go all the way back on foot upon defeating a boss, to the game demanding more precision on your jumping than the controls allow. Maybe the PSP isn't very comfortable when it comes to jumping from moving platforms or disappearing blocks or what have you, but at least on this console, dungeons can be a pain in the neck.

 The worst part about the game is getting the A ending, it's impossibly convoluted and has oh so many ways for the player to screw up. Basically, up to chapter 7 I advise you to get a FAQ and follow it to a tee. There're no hints whatsoever as to what you have to do. You have to learn about the Seal gauge, and somehow you must figure out which events trigger it to lower. And you also must avoid doing key scenes until a certain chapter unless you want to lock yourself out of the A ending. And there's absolutely no hints about it, but Lucian must be sent to Odin during chapter 5 or 6. Having to second guess myself why consulting a FAQ just to make sure I don't screw up is not my idea of fun, and Ending B is so boring and dull, that the only way to get a satisfactory ending is with Ending A.

 As for the PSP port, it's based on the Japanese release of VP, which means item sorting is out, not that I really needed it, but it would've been convenient. The Graphics can get relatively blurry as well, it didn't bother me too much, but it doesn't look as good as the original PSOne version. And lastly, this port introduced about 15 CG cutscenes. I was afraid they'd look terrible, but they are actually pretty alright. A bit out of place on an strictly 2D game, but they are not bad at all.

 Valkyrie Profile - Lenneth has certainly aged a bit. Dungeons can get pretty annoying, at least on hard mode, both due to the nature of some of the puzzles as well as to the precise jumping and reactions it demands, and locking the A Ending behind such convoluted means is downright mean. But even then, there's plenty of fun to be had if you don't mind its age and its rather slow pace.
 7.0 out of 10