Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria Producer Interview
Via IGN
July 25, 2006 - Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria is the eagerly awaited prequel to 2000's Valkyrie Profile (as well as the recently released Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth for the PSP). Set a hundred years before the events of the first game, Valkyrie Profile 2 tells the story of Alicia, a young princess who's been possessed by the spirit of a Valkyrie named Silmeria. As she travels throughout the world, Alicia gains a number of companions and even discovers her relationship to Einherjar, the souls of fallen warriors, thanks to her connection with the battle maiden.
We recently had the opportunity to interview Yoshinori Yamagishi, the Producer of the Valkyrie Profile series, to find out some more details about Silmeria. What's the battle system like? How are Einherjar managed in the game? Will there be a Valkyrie Profile 3? All the answers to these questions are below.
IGN: Can you tell us a little bit about the story behind Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria?
Yoshinori Yamagishi: Well, Valkyrie Profile 2 is essentially set a hundred years before the original Valkyrie Profile. The first title was based around death, with Lenneth collecting the souls of the dead to fight alongside the gods right before Ragnarok - it was a much darker theme. Since Silmeria is set a hundred years before, it's a much lighter and brighter storyline. This basically resolves a lot of the mysteries left behind from the first Valkyrie Profile: it was a completed story, but there were a lot of things that would leave players wondering, "How did that happen?" Silmeria resolves a lot of those questions.
The background of the story is about Silmeria, who is a sister of Lenneth, but her soul and the soul of Alicia reside in one body, in Alicia's body. The plot revolves around them, and the battle maiden and the human form each take turns to appear, so it's the conflict that occurs from this situation that makes Silmeria so interesting. The opening scene essentially tells the story of Alicia: she had been locked away in a castle because people thought she was crazy and demonstrating multiple personalities when it was actually the possession by Silmeria that was the cause of the behavior. Hrist, the third sister goddess, comes after Silmeria/Alicia and they escape, which is how the story begins.
Meet Alicia, the princess of Dipan.
IGN: Excellent. While I know it's a little premature to ask this question, could we assume that there might be a third story that would center around Hrist, the third battle maiden?
Yoshinori: When Valkyrie Profile was made, there weren't any specific plans to make a sequel to it, or a prequel, in the first place. But, an idea came up, and was a good one, so we went through with it. So there really is no plan for Valkyrie Profile 3, but if there's a desire with the team, and there's a great idea that comes up, then obviously we won't look away from it either.
As an example, one of the ideas that came up was connected to the switching back and forth between Alicia and Silmeria. Because there are two souls living in one body, when Alicia and Silmeria switch, you can actually see physical changes on the character. You'll notice different facial expressions, a different stature and different movements: the changes are really obvious, but that was a lot of work involved to make sure that the two characters had different and subtle nuances. Alicia has a much softer demeanor, while Silmeria has a tougher, sterner personality.
IGN: It appears that Rufus, the first ally that Alicia comes across, was inspired by Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Was that intentional?
Yoshinori: We've gotten that a lot! It was never planned; it just happened. That comparison is probably because of how he's dressed - the beads in his hair, the ornaments. However, speaking of what he's wearing: all of the costumes are programmed to move naturally. They all have gravity. They'll move, they sway, they have weight to them. You'll notice with Alicia, for instance, that the direction that the grass sways in the wind is the same direction her dress will blow, so everything is accurate to what you'd find in real life. The same can be said about things like windmills turning or light wrapping around everything, which looks very natural.
Really, this isn't Jack Sparrow's latest adventure...
IGN: Very cool…So, considering that the game is set 100 years before the events of the original Valkyrie Profile and Silmeria isn't collecting souls to prepare for Ragnarok, are all of her party members still living, or will there be dead warriors that she will collect over the course of the adventure?
Yoshinori: All of the characters joining your party that are involved with the storyline are still living; however, the Einherjar do exist, and are sub-characters in this plot. Because Silmeria has been resurrected and joined with Alicia's soul, all of the Einherjar that she had with her previously have been resurrected within her. So it's really more of a story of releasing these Einherjar, but they do join your party and you do fight with them.
IGN: Would they be more akin to a Summon, like Ifrit or Shiva from the Final Fantasy series, or a different kind of magical character?
Yoshinori: It's slightly different than a Summon because you already have all of them with you; it's just a matter of finding their belongings in the maps that you encounter, and by touching these belongings, you are able to resurrect them outside of your body and have them join your party. So it's slightly different than a Summon, but it's definitely something that you have to actually bring out.
IGN: Okay, so once you've found their actual belongings, how do you exactly determine which Einherjar you have with you at that point in time? For example, is it based on the item you equip or the piece of armor you have?
Your Einherjar are now scattered in items around the world.
Yoshinori: When you do touch these items to resurrect these Einherjar, the resurrection is actually at random. So there's really no way to pick which one you're going to get. Each artifact that you'll find will have a different Einherjar, but sometimes there are four different ones that could possibly come up. Now if there's a certain one that you want, you'll need to reset the game and see if you can get that one when you reload the game. No one person will always have the same party, but the fun part about that is each Einherjar has its own specific traits. You'll have to work around each character's strengths and weaknesses to build a party around that.
IGN: How many Einherjar are in Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria?
Yoshinori: In Valkyrie Profile, there were 16 Einherjar. In Silmeria, it's around the low 40s, but because of the randomness of the resurrections, you won't get all of them. Now, to add to the overall balance of the game, it's ideal if you strengthen your characters, have them for a while and then you release them. If you want to hold onto them, it won't affect completing the game, but there are good things that come your way when you release them - perks if you will.
IGN: I noticed during an earlier fight sequence that battle is a little more active than the original title: depending on the zone you're in, enemies will or will not attack you. Is the battle sequence still turn based, or is it much more active based on the sight of the monsters that you fight?
Battles are more strategic this time around.
Yoshinori: The battle system was meant to be kept very similar to the first game: a character to each button setting, etc. Basically, we wanted to add mobility to the system, so you have the ability to move around the map, which adds strategy to the game. The battlefield is widened and is in 3D, and the attack range for the enemy is shown in red. If you stand in those areas, you will be attacked. The best strategy is to figure out how to move without being in those areas and still be within range to attack. Once you get into range of the enemy, just like the original Valkyrie Profile game, the button commands will show for those characters that it's assigned to, and then you will start your attack. Now, if you step into the red areas, it is turn based, but the monsters will attack you.
The amount of times you can attack is shown by AP. Every time you make a movement or an attack it decreases. For instance, if I dash, it will take up a certain amount of AP. Now, there's also a leader in each pack of enemies. If the leader is defeated first, the battle ends automatically. You'll also notice a gauge on the side of the screen, which is basically a timer. While there is no time limit, if you defeat the leader before that timer runs out, the remaining time turns into bonus points. Also, each body point on the enemy, whether it's an arm, tail, head, or a shield, has its own HP, and you can attack it by where you position yourself. It's like a fighting game: what you strike is what you damage. If limbs come off, certain items will appear as well.
IGN: So will Silmeria and her party still perform "Purify Weird Soul" attacks when their Hit gauge is full?
Yoshinori: When you fill the hit gauge, there will basically be a similar attack to the original game. A lot of the same movements will return, like the Nibelung Valesti. Earlier on, in the game, it's simply referred to as Purification. Just like in the original game, there are a number of combos that you can trigger based on the order of the buttons that you press.
Now, one of the new things in Silmeria is the ability to split your party: You can do two and two or three and one, but either way, you can use one group to distract an enemy and the other to sneak up and attack, or attack from the front and back at the same time. This gives you much more leeway in the manner you want to carry out your strategy.
IGN: Returning to the characters themselves: will there also be skills that you'll need to acquire for each character or character traits that you'll need to level up?
Yoshinori: The skill system is a little more complicated this time around, because you're actually creating your skills based on what's equipped. So the combinations of these items will start to create the skills that you can actually use and build on.
IGN: Will you still create items in Silmeria?
Yoshinori: You either purchase it or have a store create it, but you won't create the items yourself. Now when you fight monsters, you'll want to target their body parts so you can break limbs off to create weapons or armor with.
No more item creation -- Alicia's going shopping in town.
IGN: So when you take an Einherjar to a specific location, is there anything that winds up happening: do they recognize where their life used to be or that the particular place was where they died, for instance?
Square: It doesn't happen as an event when you visit towns, but once you release an Einherjar, they will be somewhere in the world. That's another part of the game, where you can actually find these people living a life in the real world.
IGN: Thanks for your time!
Also Be sure to check out this video I found with some nice in game footage which is Here!
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valk 2 ill have to check that out!!! thanks for the news!!!
valk profile is the best game ive played on psp so far illl be sure to get this one as well i love the psp vs. it has all you have come to expect from a square enix title :) its shiny and glimours while still delivering a gr8 battle system and storyline not unlike squares final fantasy series this is the kind of game that makes you take that paid vacation you have been saving up ;)
