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Valkyrie Profile:
Platform: Playstation Publisher: Enix Developer: Tri-Ace Projected Release Date: TBA 2000
Norse mythology makes for some of the best reading around. Reading tales about Loki, Ragnarok, Odin, and Valhalla can be just as entertaining as they are fascinating. Enix and Tri-Ace must agree as their new title, Valkyrie Profile is based on the old Norse myths.
In the game, a war is waging in Heaven so Odin sends one of his daughters, the Valkyrie, down to the Earth to find 24 fallen warriors that will fight on Odin's side in this war. The Norse believed that to die in battle meant that their souls would go directly to Valhalla where they would be able to fight as warriors in eternal battle. It is the Valkyrie's job to train these fallen warriors for the war.
The most tempting approach that players will want to take is to take their sweet time and strengthen their warriors to very high levels, so they can really kick some butt in Heaven. The problem is that if they take too long Odin will run out of manpower and the war will be lost. On the other hand, if players send their warriors up too fast, they'll be inexperience and end up being defeated. There is a very delicate tightrope walk to be had in this game as player need to learn just when is the right time to send their warriors up. When a warrior is sent up, however, they cannot be brought back down to Earth, nor can they be controlled by the player. The player can only check on them to see how they're doing.
The battle system is very interesting, as it is a cross between being turn based and real time. Controls are very simple. Choose one of the four characters in your party with one of the four major buttons (square, circle, X, or triangle), since each character is controlled by one of these buttons. Hit the X button and the warriors represented by the X attacks. Now here's where the real time elements come into play, as the attacks are performed in real time. For example, a warriors could start an attack by throwing an enemy into the air, then follow up with an air attack that would score a hit, or use a ground attack which would obviously miss.
Between the warrior management and the interesting battle system there will be plenty of things for players to keep an eye on for this game. With some eye popping graphics thrown in for good measure, Valkyrie Profile is looking very promising.
Previewed by Kaspian May 13, 2000
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