Ok, I finished the Valkyrie story and started on the next one (Pooka) and...ok, there's a lot going on! I was finally able to figure out how to use the special powers I'd been spending points on (the ones that use the power bar - that reloads not too slowly). The OTHER special abilities used PP points that are much fewer and harder/longer to refresh.
And, was it fun - for sure - I guess I got the most out of the experience enjoying the way the maps were set up and slowly understanding the game's combat system and how to engage with it. Yes, a few fights were hard (didn't clear in the 1st pass) but this was all entirely my fault since I wasn't paying attention to my hit points and should have been chugging/using fruit and potions more often. I was playing on Normal (not hard nor easy) but still. Worth it? Yes. Am I excited to play the other 8 characters or so? Not so much. I think it's 8...the saved file has a bunch of stars and when I cleared Valkyrie, one star went "light" and the others stayed the same so I'm assuming it's one star per character/story.
I picked this game up in Italy many years ago only because I knew it was famous/critically well-received but I had no real knowledge of it before I plopped in a few days ago.
And wow, I'm glad I did buy it - I don't think I'll play it all because it seems really long - and I'm really enjoying how it does things differently. And, it reminds me of other Vanillaware games I've played (something Crown on PSVita?). The game seems to be an action RPG where the RPG part is all about levelling up and unlocking new powers and things, and the action part is a fast-paced combat with different moves and jumps and things - all taking place on a 2D screen/environment.
The overall premise is neat as well - you start as a little girl in a library, there's a cute cat, and a book on the floor. The book is "Valkyrie" and is basically the first section of the game - the story of a character who's a valkyrie and the stuff she goes through and does. This book as (so far) 5 chapters - each taking place in a different part of the world and, from another book on the library it looks like there will be a few more books to play and that their storylines will overlap/intersect in what I presume are interesting ways.
Here are a few things I've found interesting:
(a) Vanillaware's games famously (often?) have character designs that are hypersexualized - with female characters with huge bosoms and male characters with hypermuscled bodies. I have not seen the former in this game, though the latter does appear. I'm kind of thankful for that tbh.
(b) It seems like most of the levelling up in the game happens not through combat. Rather, it happens in the context of eating stuff! (and there's whole systems for planting seeds, eating fruits, finding recipes, buying meals, and more). A lot of the healing items (potions) will also increase your base HP a few points, which is interesting as it means that somtimes it's worth "wasting" items even when you're not wounded...
(c) Each chapter has a map of connected areas - some areas with multiple exit points and such - but each area is "circular"- they're all 2D mostly wider than tall (some areas are taller than wide, but none of the areas are that large - at least so far) - and if you continue moving, say, left, you eventually come back to where you began. This is even represented with a little circle in the bottom right of the screen - and the UI does a pretty good job and helping you know where you are. It's a simple system that seems really counter-intuitive or confusing, but I was surprised by how quickly it made sense.
Finished!
(didn't take that long, tbh - I think I logged two hours on steam all told?)
I just wanted to comment that I only just realized that all of the game's (Steam) achievements are quotes from the bible! And... they're quite something I must say. I think my favorite is the one you get when you slap a bishop on the butt (the bishop faces away from the screen as the pray):
Spank the Bishop
But --- I say to you, not to resist the evil, but whoever shall slap thee on thy right cheek, tur to him also the other. - Matthew 5:39
I sort of wish I had seen this earlier - since I might have had more time (will?) to spend playing it. But, it's interesting...I mean - it's a turn-based tactical game with different kinds of units and some neat ideas. Weirdly (or interestingly) it eschews a grid in favor of continuous movement, BUT it also has a nice graphical rendering of range and stuff - so you're never (so far at least) in a position where you moved thinking you'd be in range to attack but were not.
The game's action economy is also interested - you have set number of orders you can issue regardless of the number of units you have (I think you can't issue more than one order per unit though, even if you have very few units). So, you have to be careful and what to do/whom to move etc. Furthermore one of (IMO) the game's key features is that skull-eating system. When you kill an enemy their skull is left behind on the battle field. If one of your units eats it, then you gain some health back. If you eat three skulls the "morph" (upgrade) into a much stronger unit with two actions. It's a big boost - but, it costs an action/order to eat a skull - so, it's not always a good idea in that sense. And, while the healing is useful, it might not save the day especially if you're exposed to an enemy attack...
I only got 4 missions in (I think, it might have been fewer?) and it was fun, especially once I got to the missions where you can start summoning new units as well!
