More On: E3 2008

One of my more surprising demos was my thirty minutes spent at the Xseed Games booth on the main floor of the pavilion. I had a chance to demo both Valhalla Knights 2 for the PSP and Retro Games Challenge for the Nintendo DS.

Valhalla Knights 2 has taken the traditional RPG and twisted it around a bit with a new battle system that new-age RPG gamers will most definitely enjoy. Utilizing a system that eliminates random battles completely, your characters roam freely in dungeons and open worlds, fighting endless amounts of monsters. The way they have changed this is that you can see a group of monsters, usually shown as a singular monster on the screen, and the battle is engaged when you make contact with the monster. Upon doing this, you are transferred into the battle screen where you fight multiple monsters. The battle itself is live-action, so it has done away with the turn-based fighting system. Another cool thing that Xseed has added to this game is that monsters will actually level-up along with you, so even if you go back to a beginning area where you first started out, those monsters will actually be on a similar level as your characters.

As with all RPGs, Valhalla Knights 2 utilizes a level-up system, so you fight your monsters, gain experience, strengthen your characters, rinse, repeat. However, what differentiates this game is their twist on the Job Class system. You can change the jobs of each of your characters based on what their strengths are. So, if someone is proficient with strength, you will see on the status screen what their best jobs could be. Of course, leveling up the job class system is completely customizable.

There wasn’t much to dislike about the game itself, but if I had to put my finger on one thing, I would say that battles can be a little chaotic. You control one primary character in your group while setting individual tasks for your other characters. I find it to be similar to Final Fantasy XII’s gambit system, just minus the gambits. You can set up what are known as behavioral patterns, but you won’t be penalized if you forget to do this. The AI will take care of the rest if you haven’t set up these patterns for your other characters.

Valhalla Knights 2 will give you the chance to complete around 80 quests, which is double the amount of the original version of the game itself. It gives PSP owners plenty to enjoy if you’re looking for that RPG on the go. Valhalla Knights 2 is slated for a release date of September 29, 2008.