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PSP
Valhalla Knights -
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NCS
Game Synopsis
«©NCSX»
In an alternate reality where cities float and magic
weaves through the world, humans, elves, dwarves, and hobbits populate
the land and live in harmony. That is, until
the monsters arrived. Led by a mighty horned dragon
known as the "King of Monsters," paradise was lost
and strife touched all corners of the world. The
races of the world all marshaled for war and years
of conflict raged across the land. The bloodshed endured
until the hero Rastil led a party of warriors and
beat the King of Monsters down in a climactic battle
where the beast was sealed away. As it was
contained, the blood of the King of Monsters seeped into the
soil
and cursed the world. From this dreary scenario, a
young hero suffering from amnesia enters
the world and hopes to recover his memory.
Perhaps along the way, the hero will find a way to
bring paradise back to the land.
Valhalla Knights plies the 3D role-playing trade with adequate
visuals and conventional adventure game basics such
as quests, character classes, level raising, and
party members. The character creation system allows
four primary classes - fighter, mage, priest, and
thief. From these four foundation archetypes, other
classes may be created such as archmage and samurai
when a character levels up and attains skills and
attributes. At the outset of the game, players may
only select a male or female human as the
protagonist but elves, dwarves, and hobbits are
available for new characters that are created in the
guild.
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NCS
Game Notes
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In the intro to the game, a fluffy feather drifts
slowly downwards before it is replaced with a cinema
of a bird sailing through the air. The bird passes
through a town and images of four racial archetypes are
shown: Hobbit, Elf, Dwarf, and Machine. The
bird finishes its travels and drops another feather
into the waiting hands of a blue armored maiden
below.
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On the title screen, a magnificent city with slow
rotating clouds in the background serves as the
backdrop to the Valhalla Knights logo. An old
fashioned air ship of some sort flies across the
screen from time to time.
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At the outset of the game, the camera pans in from
above on a roaring dragon. The camera then scopes out the
beast from the front and shows two heroes facing the
dragon
known as the King of Monsters who wreaked havoc on
the land. Soon afterwards, a party of six
warriors are running around and beating up on the
dragon who soon succumbs to the rain of blows. It's
possible to switch between the various characters by
pressing the SELECT button but once control is
handed over to the particular character, no attacks
may be effected. Jam on the face buttons all you
want but your
selected hero will just stand there and raise his
arms to the side as if trying to emulate a cross.
The other characters do attack however and are more
than enough to drop the dragon and destroy it. This
sequence shows the battle between Rastil and cohorts
against the dragon to set up the background story.
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After the introductory battle which recounts an old
conflict, it's time to create a new character.
Players may choose a male or female. The male
character wears two pairs of bracers on each arm and
bracers on his ankles. He also wears a shirt with
only the right strap connected to his shoulder so
that the left side of his chest is bared. The female
character is a blonde Brunhilde-type who also wears
the same amount of bracers as the male lead and wears a blue
outfit. Her hair is braided at the top with a red bow. The appearance of the main
character cannot be altered and it's either male or a
female described above.
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In the name entry screen, press the R-TRIGGER to
scroll between katakana, kanji, and English character
entry. We named our male hero "HOBBIT" because he sort of
looks like Frodo.
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After creating and naming the lead character, choose a
class from four possible options: Fighter, Magician,
Priest, and Thief - these are listed here in the
order that they are presented in the game for
the convenience of our non-Japanese readers. From these four classes, the
other classes such as Ninja, Samurai, and Knight may
be evolved to as a character levels up in skill.
Next, 3-8 attribute points may be
allocated to seven qualities, some of which affect
HP and MP.
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The game begins
with a view of the beams on the ceiling as the hero
or heroine apparently wakes up from bed. The hero is inside a inn with multiple beds in the same room and a
fireplace at the front. Sunlight streams in through
the windows and for a while, hero stands there in a
state of introspection and holds a internal dialogue
with himself as he recalls recent history.
CONTROLS
L-ANALOG..........Movement
TRIANGLE..........View character stats, manage
inventory, etc
SQUARE............Crouch. May be used in conjunction
with analog nub
X-BUTTON.........Interact with NPCs, open doors
L-TRIGGER........Focus in on object
R-TRIGGER........Center camera
To crouch and move stealthily, press and hold the
SQUARE button and move around with the analog nub.
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Once control is handed over to the player, walk to
the chest in the back of the room and realize that
it can't be opened. Next, go through the door and
speak to the innkeeper behind the counter who looks
awfully like Toruneco... a gruff and demanding
interpretation of Toruneco.
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Upon leaving the inn, a stranger points out the guild
across the street which
has two banners above the door and the weapons shop
which has a shield with weapons in front of it. The
player starts off with 500G and the best investment
is to enter the guild and create a character. Each
new character may be male or female and be a hobbit,
elf, dwarf, or machine. We created a hobbit priest
for the benefit of free healing. The first character
creation costs 500G so it's going to be a party of
two at the outset.
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During battles, the priest will
automatically cast a healing spell whenever either
character is hurt. The first destination is the town
prison which contains 8 jail cells and a chamber.
Inside the cells are assorted slimes which may be
destroyed for experience and simple treasures. The
entrance to the prison also has a chest which yields
300G but other than that, gold is fairly difficult
to obtain. A great addition to the game would have
been a casino since a 100G stake can be spun into
99999G in short order. When it's time to create a
third character, the cost is hiked to 1000G and we
recommend adding a mage if one is not already in
your party. The mage casts powerful offensive spells
which take care of the tougher enemies later in
the game.
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The prison contains a number of slime which make
squishy noises when they move around. When a battle
starts, a flash of light appears and the battle
screen loads up where hero and comrade run around and
attack by pressing the X button. Attacks only knock
off small amounts of HP but the slime also only
cause 2 to 3 HP worth of damage. After each slime is
destroyed, it'll give up a treasure chest of items.
With a priest on hand, players may explore the
prison freely and get
healed without having to go back to the town inn to
sleep off any damage. Each time a slime is killed,
it only garners a measly 20EXP and the next level
for either character is attained by reaching 555 EXP
which means a lot of hacking and slashing to earn
some points. Luckily, the slime auto-regenerate and
you can hang out in the prison waiting for them to
appear.
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A helpful feature in the game is the ability to
set the disposition or goals of a character. For
example, a priest can be set to attack and heal with
the priority on attack. When this is set, the priest
will join the hero when monsters are encountered and
only heal when the occasion calls. If the emphasis
is switched to heal only, the priest will hang back
to preserve his own HP and cast healing spells on
damaged cohorts. All dispositions may be set for all
characters for full user control.
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To lock onto a creature during battle, press the L-trigger.
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The computer AI that controls partners in the
game is relatively good. It will make a character
attack and then step back before attacking again
which helps it avoid some counter attacks from
monsters.
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Character MP automatically regenerates as
time passes.
MP is the fuel that allows priests and mages to cast
spells.
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In the town square, the player can run through a
group of four birds that are pecking on the ground and send them
scattering away.
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A map automatically appears on the upper right
corner of the screen whenever the protagonist
moves. Stand still and it disappears after 4
seconds. After entering a new area, the map is blank
but it will be carved out gradually as the
hero explores and fleshes it out.
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The merchants in the game are a motley lot including
a buck-toothed older woman in the guild, a lackadaisical dullard
with a buzz cut in the tavern, a buck-toothed hook-handed bald guy
with a nervous tic at the weapons shop, and the aforementioned Toruneco
clone who plays an innkeeper.
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The cathedral features a glassine floor which
reflects everything inside including the stained
glass windows for a nifty effect. White hot sunlight
streams through all of the windows.
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In the character management window, the Play Time is
counted down in the upper left corner of the screen.
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Jobs may be accepted at the guild which consist simple tasks
such as courier runs or dangerous jobs where the
hero has to descend into a dungeon and recover a
valuable treasure or item. The pay scale increases
with more difficult missions.
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A party may consist of 6 characters.
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A total of 48,000 weapons and items may be equipped
and used in the game.
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Over 150 types of monsters roam the world with
slimes providing the first wave of adversity
followed by more exotic creatures such as golem,
minotaur, vampires, and enemy samurai
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As a hero levels up, he may change job classes based
on his starting class.
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Up to 2 players may join in a cooperative game
through ad hoc mode.
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This document and photos are ©NCSX 2006. All rights reserved. No
reproduction in whole or in part of this document
may be made without express written consent of
National Console Support, Inc.
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