A game not like a normal rpg. Takes time and skill to master but well worth the buy. a must have rpg for psp!!
Lenneth becomes the next Valkyrie of Earth(midgard), and is given the power to decide a person's fate after death. If she feels your soul is worthy, she chooses you to become part of her team as an Einherjar. Ragnarok is drawing near so Odin sends you to midgard to gather powerful warriors for his army against the enemy. You play as Lenneth, the Valkyrie. You listen to people's story at the point where their death is close and show yourself before or after the moment they die. You also seek out places that need to be purified; so areas where monsters have taken over and corrupted the area. plot line - The plot line is new but also somewhat accurate to the Norse Myth. It gives you a solid, easy to understand story and pulls you into the struggle of the end of the world. You have what is called 'periods' and 'chapters'. There are 24 periods in a chapter and 8 chapters in all. so giving you 192 periods before the end of the world. Certain towns and dungeons take away a certain amount of periods. Usually towns take 1 period to complete while dungeons 2-3. pointers - it's best to only journey to towns and dungeons where you need to clear out in that chapter..always return to the town where you got someone to get special items. It's best not to waste periods. You'll need them.
Music - The music sounds much like Enix's other major title, Star Ocean the second story which came out about the same time as the original Valkyrie Profile game. They have changed the music a bit but much of it is the same. It's still some of the best rpg music, giving you songs that fit certain dungeons, towns and situations. Battle System - this is actually quite easy to get the hang of..you pick four party members, each are designated with either the X, circle, square or triangle buttons, and you attack. Strategies and combos help gain you more damage and magic crystals which raise your experience gained. The battle system is very unique but it's actually easier then some unique rpg battle systems to learn and master. Using stuff like slayer weapons special to certain monster classes, or using big magic that monsters are weak against becomes a must to kill enemies off quicker. Equipment - VP: Lenneth features a new system where certain weapons have a certain percentage of breaking, preventing you from maxing out your characters with the best weapons at the start and makes you think more strategically on when and where to use these weapons. For example: Constantly using the Dragon Slayer will cause it to break and being a unique weapon that kills pretty much all dragons in a couple hits, it's hard to come by so you only want to use it when absolutely necessary. No Shops - Unique to this rpg is the fact that there is no 'shops' or 'shopping' in this game. Instead you get materialized points to use to buy your healing items, equipment, etc and certain stuff becomes available only in later chapters or after you perform certain quests. Again, helps prevent maxing out your characters and raises the difficulty level of the over all game. Experience - Leveling up is harder to do in this game. There isn't a dungeon where you can sit and level up for hours in...once you enter and defeat all the enemies in a dungeon, u have to exit and re enter for the monsters to appear. This uses up period points and only having 24 in a chapter, prevents massive level gaining. Unless you are on Easy mode, the experience is harder to come by. It's challenging to gain levels. Especially when you start to get more and more party members. characters - There is a lot of character development, background stories to each character and unique character traits in this game. There are 25 characters in all (Including Lenneth and Freya who stays in your party for a little while then leaves.). You basically get to see a bit of each characters back story and the point of when they die. Each character is unique both character wise and battle wise. There are basically three classes: Warriors, Archers and Sorcerers. There are sub classes within them such as spearmen, swordsmen, etc. Unlike some rpgs, VP:Lenneth allows you to get into the characters and with so many to choose from, one is bond to catch your interest. Unfortunately, sometimes you just get to love a character so much and you have to send them away to Odin out of your party.
Sending to Odin - Again, to stop from maxing out your characters, you often have to send your best warriors to odin just as you were getting used to them and start with a fresh batch of new ones. You get all your warriors for the final battle, but the battles leading up to it can be problematic if you send the wrong characters up. Choose wisely.
Graphics - Improvement? There is a bit improvement of the ps1 version a bit better rendering of the standard look of the characters and instead of anime cut scenes, you have more 3d in depth cut scenes. The background visuals are also an improvement.
Extras - multiple endings (three - A,B and C), different characters acquired at certain difficulties; optional dungeons. Overall - Basically, this is a must own PSP title. If you own the PS1 version, renting this one for PSP would probably be better because a lot of the game is the same with some extra cut scenes, an extra ending and some extra optional places. It's a beautiful, solid, rpg game that can be challenging for those who find they are 'bored' with standard rpgs. It's an amazing game, and very well done! Between 20-40 hours of gameplay, taking maybe only an hour to get used to the new system and the difficulty level only being midranged (if not on hard mode), makes VP:Lenneth an outstanding rpg game! Personally, one of my favourites and a must play/must own for any rpg game lovers!