Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume

true Name: Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume Genre: Tactical RPG Platform: Nintendo DS <img src="/contributed/1238524673o3RsU1Eqjz.jpg" width="430" height="377"> Though the Valkyrie Profile series has been around for almost a decade, I have never played the PS1 original, its PSP remake, nor the 2006 sequel that came out for the PS2. As the first game in the franchise on a non-Sony system, Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume is also my introduction to the series. Because it was published by Square Enix and developed by tri-Ace (of Star Ocean fame), I expected an addictive tactical role-playing game. Even though I wasn’t a fan of tactics games in the past, I have seen so many innovations in the genre in the last year that I am now more than willing to give tactical RPGs a try. Though Covenant of the Plume employs some interesting battle aspects and has high production values, it wasn’t quite the engaging experience I wanted it to be. Even though I was unfamiliar with the Valkyrie Profile lore, playing the previous games does not appear to be necessary to follow Covenant’s story. Instead of focusing on the famed Valkyrie Lenneth, the protagonist is instead a young soldier named Wylfred. Wylfred lost his father when he was ten years old, and his younger sister subsequently passed away due to illness; he attributed the loss of his family to Lenneth, and has made it his mission to get revenge on the Valkyrie. Wylfred is also in the midst of fighting a war, and has been given the power of the Goddess’s feather, which he soon finds is a mixed blessing. <img src="/contributed/12385238756lDu4JST1q.jpg"> The cut scenes and music in Valkyrie Profile: Convenant of the Plume are wonderful. The opening is as epic as you would expect a handheld Square Enix game to be, and looks gorgeous. The accompanying soundtrack more than gets the job done, and is actually very pleasant. Since sounds are often the easiest thing to overlook in a handheld game, it’s always nice to see that such an important detail was not ignored. After seeing some less-than-stellar-looking games on the DS lately, Covenant serves as a reminder of what the system is actually capable of. While the plot has its interesting moments, especially considering the choices you make in battle, I thought that, overall, the story was not as strong as it could have been. Wylfred is sometimes difficult to like as a protagonist, and I found it hard to really feel any attachment to him or to the rest of the narrative. Unfortunately, this isn’t unusual for tactical games. I was actually reminded of Final Fantasy Tactics during the early hours of Covenant; Tactics also had less focus on plot than battle, and the world map is similar as well, with new locations showing up sporadically and battles lying in your path. Unfortunately, the fighting in Covenant isn’t as addictive as that in Tactics. <img src="/contributed/1238523849GDevMjGZBv.jpg"> There are some good ideas at work in the battle system, and it’s clear that tri-Ace really tried to make the fighting unique. However, the different aspects just don’t come together as smoothly as they should. The battle screen is presented as an environment broken up into a grid, and the positioning of characters plays a big part in attacking, defending, and supporting; that’s pretty much tactics 101. Once an attack is made, though, the game goes into a separate battle screen, in which characters are mapped to specific buttons. At that point, the attacker or attackers have a short amount of time to attack, which the player does by mashing the buttons that represent each character. After that, it is the enemy’s turn to attack. The fighting is reminiscent of several other role-playing games, and seems like an odd mishmash that doesn’t quite fit together. What makes role-playing games great is adding layers of strategy to a basic battle system, and Covenant definitely attempts to do this. In addition to the aforementioned tactical and button-mashing elements, there are two unique features that come into play: the Destiny Plume, and the need for Sin. As mentioned earlier, Wylfred is in possession of the Plume, the feather of the Goddess, and using it in battle allows him to unleash the potential of someone he truly cares about. This can make his teammates extremely strong, but there’s a pretty big catch: they will die immediately afterward and be lost forever. It’s a big price to pay, and the number of times you use the Plume will help decide which ending you get. <img src="/contributed/1238523860P8Vr8D2p5i.jpg"> Using the feather also helps you gain Sin, of which a certain number is required in each battle. If you don’t get enough Sin, you will anger the gods and be forced to fight one. Sin is usually collected by doing damage to an enemy after he or she is defeated. That’s right, you can’t just kill your foes, you need to get Overkill damage, and usually a lot of it at that. Instead of making things more strategic, this can make fighting a chore, as you struggle to not just kill enemies, but basically continue to attack their lifeless corpses. As I said, unleashing the power of the plume will also grant Sin, but at the cost of your teammate’s life. As such, each choice you make in the game can carry a heavy consequence. There were a lot of solid ideas at work in Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume, but unfortunately, they just did not come together in a seamless, enjoyable way. Battles are awkward, the plot is sometimes on the dull side, and you may accidentally make a game-ending decision without realizing it. That being said, there are still plenty of things to enjoy about the game, and though the battle system isn’t the best, it’s still unique. Fans of the series will likely still find plenty to enjoy here, but may have trouble getting into it. Covenant is not a bad game, but on a system overwhelmed with RPGs, this one really needed to be exceptional to stand out. Instead, it falls a bit short of greatness.   <img src="/contributed/1234545016EmekicHmF2.jpg" width="275" height="175"> <img src="/contributed/1204908946PhJqwa60Wv.jpg" width="275" height="35"> <a href="http://www.gamerankings.com/"><img src="/contributed/12049090913D6uenyIJz.jpg" width="111" height="42"></a><a href="http://www.metacritic.com/games"><img src="/contributed/1204909164Gepk74pXtB.jpg" width="154" height="51"></a>   Related Articles: <a href="/gamer/sarah/reviews/article/legacy_of_ys_books_i_ii_ds">Review: Legacy of Ys: Books I & II - DS</a> <a href="/gamer/sarah/news/article/valkyrie_profile_coming_to_nintendo_ds">Valkyrie Profile Coming to Nintendo DS</a> <a href="/gamer/sarah/news/article/square_enix_mistranslated_no_ffxiii_in_2008/">Square Enix Mistranslated, No FFXIII in 2008</a> review

2009-03-31T14:45:41-04:00

Name: Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume Genre: Tactical RPG Platform: Nintendo DS <img src="/contributed/1238524673o3RsU1Eqjz.jpg" width="430" height="377" /> Though the Valkyrie Profile series has been around for almost a decade, I have never played the PS1 original, its PSP remake, nor the 2006 sequel that came out for the PS2. As the first game in the franchise on a non-Sony system, Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume is also my introduction to the series. Because it was published by Square Enix and developed by tri-Ace (of Star Ocean fame), I expected an addictive tactical role-playing game. Even though I wasn’t a fan of tactics games in the past, I have seen so many innovations in the genre in the last year that I am now more than willing to give tactical RPGs a try. Though Covenant of the Plume employs some interesting battle aspects and has high production values, it wasn’t quite the engaging experience I wanted it to be. Even though I was unfamiliar with the Valkyrie Profile lore, playing the previous games does not appear to be necessary to follow Covenant’s story. Instead of focusing on the famed Valkyrie Lenneth, the protagonist is instead a young soldier named Wylfred. Wylfred lost his father when he was ten years old, and his younger sister subsequently passed away due to illness; he attributed the loss of his family to Lenneth, and has made it his mission to get revenge on the Valkyrie. Wylfred is also in the midst of fighting a war, and has been given the power of the Goddess’s feather, which he soon finds is a mixed blessing. <img src="/contributed/12385238756lDu4JST1q.jpg" /> The cut scenes and music in Valkyrie Profile: Convenant of the Plume are wonderful. The opening is as epic as you would expect a handheld Square Enix game to be, and looks gorgeous. The accompanying soundtrack more than gets the job done, and is actually very pleasant. Since sounds are often the easiest thing to overlook in a handheld game, it’s always nice to see that such an important detail was not ignored. After seeing some less-than-stellar-looking games on the DS lately, Covenant serves as a reminder of what the system is actually capable of. While the plot has its interesting moments, especially considering the choices you make in battle, I thought that, overall, the story was not as strong as it could have been. Wylfred is sometimes difficult to like as a protagonist, and I found it hard to really feel any attachment to him or to the rest of the narrative. Unfortunately, this isn’t unusual for tactical games. I was actually reminded of Final Fantasy Tactics during the early hours of Covenant; Tactics also had less focus on plot than battle, and the world map is similar as well, with new locations showing up sporadically and battles lying in your path. Unfortunately, the fighting in Covenant isn’t as addictive as that in Tactics. <img src="/contributed/1238523849GDevMjGZBv.jpg" /> There are some good ideas at work in the battle system, and it’s clear that tri-Ace really tried to make the fighting unique. However, the different aspects just don’t come together as smoothly as they should. The battle screen is presented as an environment broken up into a grid, and the positioning of characters plays a big part in attacking, defending, and supporting; that’s pretty much tactics 101. Once an attack is made, though, the game goes into a separate battle screen, in which characters are mapped to specific buttons. At that point, the attacker or attackers have a short amount of time to attack, which the player does by mashing the buttons that represent each character. After that, it is the enemy’s turn to attack. The fighting is reminiscent of several other role-playing games, and seems like an odd mishmash that doesn’t quite fit together. What makes role-playing games great is adding layers of strategy to a basic battle system, and Covenant definitely attempts to do this. In addition to the aforementioned tactical and button-mashing elements, there are two unique features that come into play: the Destiny Plume, and the need for Sin. As mentioned earlier, Wylfred is in possession of the Plume, the feather of the Goddess, and using it in battle allows him to unleash the potential of someone he truly cares about. This can make his teammates extremely strong, but there’s a pretty big catch: they will die immediately afterward and be lost forever. It’s a big price to pay, and the number of times you use the Plume will help decide which ending you get. <img src="/contributed/1238523860P8Vr8D2p5i.jpg" /> Using the feather also helps you gain Sin, of which a certain number is required in each battle. If you don’t get enough Sin, you will anger the gods and be forced to fight one. Sin is usually collected by doing damage to an enemy after he or she is defeated. That’s right, you can’t just kill your foes, you need to get Overkill damage, and usually a lot of it at that. Instead of making things more strategic, this can make fighting a chore, as you struggle to not just kill enemies, but basically continue to attack their lifeless corpses. As I said, unleashing the power of the plume will also grant Sin, but at the cost of your teammate’s life. As such, each choice you make in the game can carry a heavy consequence. There were a lot of solid ideas at work in Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume, but unfortunately, they just did not come together in a seamless, enjoyable way. Battles are awkward, the plot is sometimes on the dull side, and you may accidentally make a game-ending decision without realizing it. That being said, there are still plenty of things to enjoy about the game, and though the battle system isn’t the best, it’s still unique. Fans of the series will likely still find plenty to enjoy here, but may have trouble getting into it. Covenant is not a bad game, but on a system overwhelmed with RPGs, this one really needed to be exceptional to stand out. Instead, it falls a bit short of greatness.   <img src="/contributed/1234545016EmekicHmF2.jpg" width="275" height="175" /> <img src="/contributed/1204908946PhJqwa60Wv.jpg" width="275" height="35" /> <a href="http://www.gamerankings.com/"><img src="/contributed/12049090913D6uenyIJz.jpg" width="111" height="42" /></a><a href="http://www.metacritic.com/games"><img src="/contributed/1204909164Gepk74pXtB.jpg" width="154" height="51" /></a>   Related Articles: <a href="/gamer/sarah/reviews/article/legacy_of_ys_books_i_ii_ds">Review: Legacy of Ys: Books I & II - DS</a> <a href="/gamer/sarah/news/article/valkyrie_profile_coming_to_nintendo_ds">Valkyrie Profile Coming to Nintendo DS</a> <a href="/gamer/sarah/news/article/square_enix_mistranslated_no_ffxiii_in_2008/">Square Enix Mistranslated, No FFXIII in 2008</a>

8941

8069

2009-10-07T20:56:43-04:00

2009-03-31T14:45:41-04:00

11836

7.0

valkyrie_profile_convenant_of_the_plume_ds published Valhalla, I Am Coming Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume - Nintendo DS

2009-10-07T20:56:43-04:00

763