Sega has published new screenshots of Valkyrie of the Battlefield for the Playstation 3. The game is developed from the team behind Sakura Taisen and Shinobi with an unconfirmed release date at this time.

Hit the link to view more images.

If there’s one thing Square Enix is better at than making classic RPGs, it’s making classic RPGs that end up going for ridiculous prices on eBay. Valkyrie Profile was no different, released for the PlayStation to decent reviews but a small production run back in 2000, and now routinely commanding prices of over $150. Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth is an enhanced PSP port of the original game which, as well as making the game available to those who missed out the first time, adds new content to entice fans of the original to play it again.

Valkyrie Profile is an RPG set in the world of Norse mythology, casting the player as a valkyrie named Lenneth, a servant of Odin, the chief god. Traditionally it was the job of the valkyries to lead the souls of warriors who die in battle to Valhalla – a sort of heaven for heroes – where they would be able to fight for Odin in the climactic battle at the end of time: Ragnarok. It becomes apparent that this apocalypse is imminent, and so you must go to the human world to train and recruit warriors to fight with the gods.

At its most basic level, Valkyrie Profile is an RPG – you have exploration, dungeon crawls, and, of course, combat. Each chapter that makes up the main quest has a time limit within which you can choose whether to explore and search for items, or to simply raid the nearest dungeon to get some experience and loot. There are numerous events going on within each time period that Lenneth can choose to get involved with, so progression through the game is rarely linear. Despite this freedom the game is a constant race against time, meaning that the pace is constantly high. 

With the battle to end all battles being waged in the afterlife, Lenneth’s questing obviously has a greater purpose, that being to find warriors to recruit for Odin. This unfortunately means that they have to die, but you are shown in advance which characters are in the latter stages of their existence. By the time they’re pushing up daisies they can be recruited into your growing entourage, and from then on are levelled up until they become sufficiently powerful to leave you in order to head upstairs and fight against ultimate evil. The story is suitably morbid (it’s about people dying, after all), and each of the characters has a unique tale to tell.

In total you’ll find a couple of a dozen characters to enlist and are free to choose which ones you want to keep, which ones you think are levelled up sufficiently, and even which ones you want to ignore completely.

Described in these terms, Valkyrie Profile can sound like a mix between Suikoden and Final Fantasy Tactics, but where it differentiates itself is in the dungeons. Played from a side-on scrolling perspective, players not only have to deal with frequent battles against roaming enemies (thankfully visible on the screen and not in random battles), but also some fairly devious puzzles and hazards more commonly associated with a 2D platformer. It’s nothing if not a break from the expected RPG conventions while remaining just traditional enough to avoid alienating Square’s loyal fan base. 

Valkryie Profile’s presentation has been improved from the PlayStation original, as a direct port might have trouble matching the finesse of some of the new PSP titles out there. The most overt addition in this respect is a bevy of new CG cutscenes – 30 minutes of them in total – which serve to illustrate the story and link it with the upcoming PS2 sequel, Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria. The graphics have also been subtly tweaked to take advantage of the widescreen dimensions of the PSP screen without harming the sprite-based charm of the original.

Despite the fact that ports of older games are becoming an all too familiar sight on the PSP, this is one that should be worth the effort. The PlayStation original has always been rare, and an enhanced port should provide the ideal opportunity for those who missed out on the limited production run and can’t afford a small fortune to check it out. It’s a proven and unique game that should be worth a look for fans of Square and RPGs in general. ]]> Mon, 10 Jul 2006 10:39:42 -0500 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/valkyrie_profile_2_screenshots_fly_in http://www.gamebump.com/go/valkyrie_profile_2_screenshots_fly_in http://www.gamebump.com/go/valkyrie_profile_2_screenshots_fly_in# This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.The original author is Evan Lahti.

With the game hitting Japan in just three days, we've added new images from Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria to the database. The screenshots give us a look at two of the game's principal characters. Expect the title to receive localization in time for a September release in the United States.  

]]> Mon, 19 Jun 2006 15:18:00 -0500 Tim Grube http://www.gamebump.com/go/valkyrie_profile_lenneth_screenshots http://www.gamebump.com/go/valkyrie_profile_lenneth_screenshots http://www.gamebump.com/go/valkyrie_profile_lenneth_screenshots# This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.