Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga - Nintendo Wii

The negative press on this game is overwhelming and it has probably kept some people from buying this game. I am going to address some of the "problems" frequently discussed regarding Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga and set the record straight.1. "The graphics are horrible and too dark! I can't see anything!" (one critic even went so far as to say he could barely see the outline of his character while playing the game)Don't believe this rubbish. Sure, the graphics aren't as good as Super Mario Galaxy, but they aren't horrible either. Just check some screen shots and you will quickly discover that your character is very easy to see. There are some rather dark colors used for the scenery, but they don't interfere with the game. Some enemies do camoflage in the grass and dark colors, but that's not a problem. It's just part of the game and it gives you incentive to pay attention to your surroundings (just like in real life). The only time the screen gets overly dark is when it becomes nighttime, it rains heavily, or both. Doesn't that make sense, though? If you walk outside in heavy rain or in the dark your visibility is limited. Valhalla Knights just tries to be realistic in this regard. I have no need to increase the brightness of my TV to accomodate Valhalla Knights (as another critic claimed was necessary), so I can only assume that critics are playing on 30 year old tvs or they are blind. It's one thing to say that you prefer bright colors to the darker shades of Valhalla Knights, but to say that you can't see anything and that you run into walls on accident as a result is just ridiculous.2. "The controls are slow and clunky! Fighting is a chore because of the poor fighting mechanic!"At the beginning of the game this is true to a certain extent. You miss your enemy as much as you land a hit because you attack very slowly and your accuracy is in the dumps. Combos are executed very slowly, and enemies can land several hits before you even get one. However, as you level up your stats (you get skill points to allocate each time you level up) this "problem" is solved. Increasing Dexterity raises accuracy and increasing Speed raises attack speed. It won't be long before you land a hit almost every time and attack at an improved rate. Furthermore, equipping longer weapons gives you better range and different attack styles (thrusting swords use fencing moves, knives use short swings, etc.) and shields give you a good chance of guarding against your enemies. Patience will lead you to being a formidable opponent for virtually any monster.3. "Boring quests keep the game from being interesting! Killing rabbits and fungi is a joke!"I've heard multiple people complain about these two quests. Well, guess what. Those are the first two quests in the entire game and are used to make sure you are ready for the bigger quests that open afterwards. One has you meeting up with a mercenary--one of several that you can later hire to accompany you in your adventures (one mercenary at a time, of course)--and getting to the top of one of the mountainous areas in the game (no small challenge considering how weak this guy is when you first meet him). Another sends you looking for a troll that killed the father of a young boy. Trust me, there's plenty of variety and more than enough interesting monsters to fight--Ogres, Dragons, Zombies, Fairies, etc.4. "The sound effects are annoying (specifically the sound of your footsteps) and make it difficult to enjoy the game!"I didn't think anything was wrong with the way my footsteps sounded when I started playing. In fact, after reading these complaints I figured I would go back and listen to see what I was missing. Naturally the footsteps weren't annoying to me at all. And if they are annoying to you then just turn down the sound effects volume in the options menu.In my humble opinion, I really think the people that are bashing this game didn't even try to give it a chance. The longer you play the better the game gets, and I loved it from the very start. The only real problems I have come from the incomplete instruction manual. Several semi-important features don't seem to be explained and required lots of experimentation on my part to figure out. For example, in order to access more than one item from your belt (items that can be used by pressing the "1" button rather than by going through the inventory screen, which doesn't pause the game BTW) you have to HOLD DOWN the "1" button which lets you see all items in your pockets, then you let it go and hit the "2" button to switch which item is available to be used with the "1" button (normally "2" is used to change the camera view). Also, to switch to your secondary weapons you have to hold down "B" (normally to attack) and hit the "-" button. There are also some items I am unable to equip and I don't know why. I'm still trying to discover this issue.Otherwise I love this game to death. You can choose classes, learn skills, customize stats, customize appearance, master physical and magical combat, use bows (haven't tried this yet), and fight cool monsters. The story may not be anything spectacular, but it doesn't need to be. Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga is a great game without it.EDIT: I now know why I couldn't equip certain items. Armor is devided between females (Red triangle) and males (Blue triangle), so that's not a problem. Now that I have beaten the game I can also say that the experience is truly wonderful. There's a classical feel about Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga, and it kept me hooked. Hopefully more RPGs like this one will come to the Wii in the future.

This game had such potential. I'll start off with the things I liked.1. When you change equipment, your character's appearance also changes. I can't stress this enough. All too often I run into games, even on systems that should be advanced enough to accommodate a variety of appearances, and your character always looks the same regardless of what they're wearing.2. Melee is straightforward.3. You have a vast storage space, which allows item and money transfer between save files.4. Travel using the portals is pretty easy.5. The story isn't too intrusive.6. You may hire a mercenary to aid you in the field.7. You can choose from 4 different races.Now, I'll say the bad about each one.1. Much of the better looking equipment Requires CP to equip. The really high defense armor, and large powerful weapons require monstrous quantities of CP. There are some weapons you will get in the middle levels of the first chapter that depending on your build you may never get to try. While I find CP an interesting concept, the allowance you have as a character is far too low. It requires ridiculous Min/Maxing to be able to equip a full suit of plate armor. While I understand Full Platemail is very heavy, I also can't help but remember it is DESIGNED to be WEARABLE. The Low CP would make sense if you were allowed to exceed it with penalties to movement or accuracy, but you simply cannot exceed it. At all. Ever. Also, certain weapons slow down your movement, this appears to have no bearing on how much of your CP is still free from use. Meaning you can run around with 17 CP, only 5 of which is used by a two-handed sword, and you will still stagger like a drunk mule when you first start to run.2. Melee is highly repetitive, damages your weapons, and rarely feels natural. Thanks to the slow rate of MP regeneration, I may never try the magic alternative. Most enemies thankfully will attack you until they're very near death, but some will flee with two or three hits remaining on them, and you will be forced to pursue, which means disengaging your target lock, because otherwise you move like a herniated tortoise. The special attack varies from weapon to weapon, which is good, but most specials are obscenely slow, and have recovery time before you can attack again, or even move. Some of the only useful specials I've encountered are the Area Attack ones, because otherwise I would easily be able to wrack up the same damage with a series of standard attacks.3. Compared to your house inventory, your character inventory is tiny, and there is no way to access your house inventory from anywhere but the main village. Your character inventory isn't so pathetically small, until you take into account that aside from quests, looting is pretty much the only legitimate way to make money. Also, you don't know what some items are until you have them appraised at a merchant. So if you have something you think might be an improvement on your regular equipment, you have to hang onto it, even though it may be worthless. While there are cards that appraise everything in your inventory, they only stack to 5, and still won't tell you everything you need to know, because there's no way to directly compare equipment bonuses outside the equipment selection screen. And naturally, the game will not allow you to change your equipment outside of a town. Even within the Equipment selection screen, not all status changes will be accounted for. It doesn't tell you if your HP, MP, or CP will change as a consequence of a stat bonus. You have to switch items, and view your character status on a difference screen.4. You will almost always want to travel by portal when you have the money. The world is just that boring. The large zones coupled with few interactive features make the world feel even smaller than it is. The minimap is just a bit too "mini" and the overworld map gives you only the vaguest notion of where you are. I can't stress enough that there are almost no interactive features, just monsters and the occasional barrel or crate. The environment is pretty empty, and what's added for atmosphere is usually inaccessible. I wouldn't mind pretty things I couldn't reach so much, if the game actually sported a First Person viewpoint which I could employ to enjoy it all. The absence of the First Person PoV is even more apparent when you realize there are extremely high flying, DANGEROUS, animals that you often can't see looming overhead until they launch a fireball in your face.5. What story there is that does intrude is shallow and pathetic. I honestly couldn't give a rodent's keester about most of the characters, and there's aren't many characters to begin with. The towns are like a stage backdrop, with no more than 7 or so active townspeople. Everyone else is hidden away behind doors and gates that won't open, like reclusive agoraphobes. In the Dwarf village there are open doors that I can plainly see, but never enter. They don't have a lot of variety in the casting, either. A defining trait of three different characters in Vestlia is that they drink a lot. And in Nolz they have two dwarves that do pretty much the same, except they're also xenocentric, so there's that. But they're not even bigoted in an interesting way. It doesn't add nuance to their personality so much as it provides a context for an early obstacle in the game, and is toned down when it's no longer needed.6. The mercenaries are worthless. Sure they add a little extra DPS, and can help you take down monsters which are vulnerable to an attack type you're not proficient with, but that's if they survive that long. In my experience, they NEVER heal themselves. Which means they're stuck with just natural regeneration. And natural regeneration stops anytime you MOVE. So you have to stand still and WAIT for them to heal. Accomplishing nothing else until they do. Now, you don't HAVE to wait for them to heal, but if you leave them behind, passed out on the dungeon floor, then it doesn't matter how much they regenerate while you're separated, the moment you load a new area, they will be at 1 hp again. What's even more annoying is that my character is often loaded down with excess restoration items, but the game won't allow me to target allies with them. I would have killed for a Priority command, or Gambit system like what was in Final Fantasy 12. The little control you have over them is woefully insufficient to keep them from constantly dying. And the one mercenary I do want hasn't shown up yet. Where's my Combat Butler!?7. You do not get to select any of the races but male human until chapter 2. And even then, you may only select 1. This is my primary reason for not yet completing the game. I can't decide which of those races I will eventually want to play. Overall the game doesn't seem that hard. I just got to a certain point, realized that when I finish Chapter 1, I'll have to decide which of the races I'll get to play as in Chapter 2, and couldn't decide. I would normally try one, and if I didn't like it, try another. But here's the problem, the game only has 3 save files. Even if I played through chapter 1 three times, to unlock as many races as possible, which I'm not sure will suffice, I don't know what happens when I erase one to create a new character. It would be all fine and dandy if I could copy the save file to my SD card or GC memory card, but the game file cannot be copied. Theoretically, I am trapped at unlocking only 2 of the 4 possible races for the 2nd chapter. I don't even know if this will be a problem though, because there is so little support for this game online. I found two FAQs, and neither of them really addressed my questions. Normally a game this old would have half a dozen Walkthroughs, whether or not they're really necessary, but I can't find anything that comprehensive. All I can find are lists of items, where to find what monsters, what those monsters drop, where to unlock classes, lists and descriptions of class skills, and some info on how stats are derived from the core attributes. All useful information, even if some of it should have already been included in the manual, but not what I need at the moment.As a final note, I've realize many reviewers have already mentioned the poor quality of graphics. While I do find them sub-par for the Wii, perhaps even on the level of a high end GameCube title, they don't bother me too terribly. What does bother me is the fact that the arms on my male human character have absurdly thick wrists. I find it incredible that they didn't just add a few polygons and fix that.

Style de jeux excellent, histoire avec multiple génération unique et très accrocheur. Combat évoluer, avec ou non, un compagnon de voyage. Très long jeux, même pas encore fini pour ma part....