Ridiculous coincidence #5,300,234,343,234.5:
Less than a week after I post a reader review for Valkyrie Profile, news is leaked that Square-Enix is working on the game's sequel, and that the game is due for release in Japan next year.
Given that I had never really expected any sort of follow-up, the news of this sequel, or prequel, rather, is better than I ever could have hoped for. The excellent experience that I had with Valkyrie Profile was enough to make me proclaim it my favorite game ever. The news of this new game, which will apparently focus on elements that were only briefly touched on in the original, knocked me so flat that I could hardly describe my joy without breaking into overused hyperbole.
Suffice it to say, Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria has me excited with an anticipation that I haven't felt since I was a kid. It's like when I saw those first few screenshots of Final Fantasy VI in Nintendo Power. While there have been other games that I've gotten relatively excited for over the years, that excitement has always been tempered down to the level of "Oh, hey, that looks cool." There's only so much excitement can be built, particularly when it's anounced that a series like Final Fantasy will be receiving yet another sequel. It's hard for me to build a lot of enthusiasm simply because I've seen what's come before, and that future games in the series were a foregone conclusion.
As a better illustration of this, when I first saw the theatrical trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, I just about crapped myself with excitement, and shamelessly dived right into uber-geek mode. Yet, while the movie more than met my expecations, my enthusiasm for the following two films never really reached the same high. I knew that they were coming; that fact had been known from the very start.
Yet, for Valkyrie Profile, I considered the idea of seeing a sequel to this game as really nothing more than a pipe dream. Sure, the game has received fun references in later Tri-Ace titles like Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, but a full-fledged sequel just seemed difficult for me to grasp. For one thing, the story felt complete. For another, the game originally came out in the U.S. in 2000, near the end of the PS1's lifespan. If the developer had anything further to tell, wouldn't they have decided to make an announcement by now?
It turns out that I was wrong, and the result is the most pleasant surprise the gaming industry has ever given me. It will take something undeniably brilliant in every respect for any other game to trump the sheer joy that I've felt since yesterday. Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Xenosaga can all sit down and wait, because right now the only RPG that I consider worthy enough to be on my radar is Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria.