Valkyrie Elysium Review (Blackbirdx61)
First off as a fairly casual hack and slash player, I am really liking this game so far. The combat is pretty intense and its definitely no face roll. The bosses and sub-bosses can be particularly nasty, till you figure out their vulnerabilities. Valkyrie reminds me of Vindictus when Vindi was good. The Mobs are dangerous as they should be, without being ridiculous and that is a huge plus for me. In chapter two you find your first "Einherjar" allly, the Soul of a dead warrior, who you can summon to aid you in battle. Believe me you will be happy to have him at your side soon enough.
The game is very story driven, a big minus for me most of the time, but the story is pretty well written and the voice acting is very good, so in this particular game I find myself listening to all the dialog, and not skipping scenes.
I do wish it were easier, smoother to change spells before a battle, as sometimes it is vital to have the right spells equipped, and the system is a bit awkward and counter intuitive; but there are limits to what one can do without a full keyboard.
There is a good bit of map checking as well, if you just follow the beaten path you'll miss a lot of your power ups and you will want them later, so that rather breaks the game flow and the immersion. In the same vein, you will want to pick up your subquests..,
"In most role-playing games, deviating from the story's main path may lead to optional content — sidequests — that can then be completed for a reward. It's not so much that Valkyrie Elysium rewrites the book on this approach; rather, it does them in a somewhat obtuse way that can trick first-time players into inadvertently skipping these sidequests entirely." ~ The Gamer.com
While it definately breaks the narrative flow of the game to stop between Chapters and do subquests, they are necessary to level your weapons, and Einherjar allies; again something that is more important than the game makes clear on it's own. I had to visit 3rd Party sites to figure out why my party seemed so underpowered. Now you know.
The game art is pretty stylized, but I find I prefer it that way, "Realistic" game art looks old in just a few years, and IMHO Valk will still look good say 5 years from now.
You may have trouble finding the main menu. If you are directed to the + button, but don't have one that is for an Xbox, on a PS Controller try the options button; that is where I found the menu. The Devs definately should have been more clear on this point; as I have found this question in several online forums, usually unanwsered.
Valk, is a Play Station Port so you will want to use a controller. In my own experiance, controller support has been iffy, sometimes I have to toggle steam enabling 2 or 3 times before the game responds to my controller, but that is really the biggest bug I have encountered, and the gameplay has been so worth it.
Ultimately even with a few warts, if you play games to fight Uglies, Valkyrie Elysium is well worth your time, and your dime.