Valkyrie Profile (video game)

Lore & Background

Valkyrie Profile was released on December 22, 1999 in Japan and on August 29, 2000 in North America. The game follows Lenneth, a valkyrie, as she travels through Midgard collecting the souls of slain heroes, called einherjar, to serve as companions for Ragnarok. She trains them by fighting monsters and performing quests, and gradually learns about her original human life, which was removed from her memory upon becoming a Valkyrie. The game features a unique turn-based battle system where each party member is assigned to a controller button, and combos can fill a Hit Gauge to trigger special attacks called 'Purify Weird Soul.' Dungeon exploration plays like a platform game, with Lenneth jumping, sliding, swinging her sword, and shooting ice crystals to solve puzzles. Travel on the world map is in 3D third-person perspective, and entering towns switches to a 2D profile view where Lenneth disguises herself as a human.

Reader's Guide

Valkyrie Profile is significant for its innovative blend of platforming and RPG mechanics, as well as its deep, complicated gameplay system. The game is divided into eight chapters, each with periods that the player must budget for visiting towns, dungeons, and recruiting einherjar. Sending einherjar to Valhalla with appropriate hero values and skills satisfies Odin and Freya, while keeping too many artifacts can lower Lenneth's Evaluation and trigger the worst ending. The game has three difficulty levels—Easy, Normal, and Hard—each with different available einherjar, dungeons, and quests. It also features three endings, with the 'A' ending only available on Normal and Hard difficulties. The game's legacy includes an enhanced port for PlayStation Portable in 2006 titled Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, and two prequels: Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria for PlayStation 2 and Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume for Nintendo DS. The PlayStation Portable version received an enhanced port for Android and iOS in March 2018, and a re-release for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 using software emulation on December 22, 2022.

Did You Know?

• The game sold over 700,000 copies.
• Dungeon exploration plays like a platform game, with Lenneth jumping, sliding, and shooting ice crystals.
• Each party member is assigned to a button on the controller (Square, Triangle, Circle, or Cross) for combat.
• The game has three different endings, with the 'A' ending only available on Normal and Hard difficulties.