-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
VP2 impressions
- Thread starter duckroll
- Start date
It's here! It's here! 
Um, basically I concur with all that duck and co have said so far. Once you get past the fact that VP2 is structured more like a typical RPG than Lenneth was, and that the plot's a little on the slow/generic side to start with, it's pretty damn awesome.
It's also very hard if you're a weaksauce gamer like me. I was doing fine, but the dungeon I'm in (very early on, I've only played for about 3 hours!) has introduced one of the new game mechanics - the Orb system, whereby you have field-of-effect systems that operate in certain areas of a dungeon that you can change by inserting different Orbs into special holders. Flailing around with my useless sub-preschool Japanese seems to have ended up with me picking up an Orb but having no idea where it's gone, and all the monsters in this dungeon just take forever to kill. Since it takes AGES to level up, although money is relatively plentiful (equipment is expensive a la FFXII, but healing items and inns aren't) I tend to go in, fight for a bit until everyone ends up nearly dead, then run out, head back to the nearest village and rest/restock. So yeah, I'm crap at games; however, VP2 isn't annoyingly hard (like I found Vagrant Story
) because the battle system is a joy to play with even if you are getting creamed and everything seems manageable; I'm not out of my depth because I don't understand all the systems (well, maybe partly, but not entirely...) but because I haven't thought through things probably or whatever, which is a much nicer way to play.
As far as import RPGs go, VP2 isn't the most friendly; given that you're mad to import without any Japanese at all, I'm assuming if you're interested in importing you must know at least crappy otaku words and some compass directions. Compared to Tales games which are generally piss easy to understand (I started replaying ToDII for fun over the weekend, which has amazingly simplistic Japanese because everything out of Kyle's mouth is pretty much the same...), VP2 is pretty complicated; since the cutscene direction isn't quite as well-done as FFXII it's also not quite so easy to work out/make up what's going on if you're unsure. With that said, if you've played Lenneth then Silmeria will make a fair whack of sense, and if you're desperately sad and bored
you can always reload saved games to go back over cutscenes to try and catch bits you've missed.
Um, basically I concur with all that duck and co have said so far. Once you get past the fact that VP2 is structured more like a typical RPG than Lenneth was, and that the plot's a little on the slow/generic side to start with, it's pretty damn awesome.
It's also very hard if you're a weaksauce gamer like me. I was doing fine, but the dungeon I'm in (very early on, I've only played for about 3 hours!) has introduced one of the new game mechanics - the Orb system, whereby you have field-of-effect systems that operate in certain areas of a dungeon that you can change by inserting different Orbs into special holders. Flailing around with my useless sub-preschool Japanese seems to have ended up with me picking up an Orb but having no idea where it's gone, and all the monsters in this dungeon just take forever to kill. Since it takes AGES to level up, although money is relatively plentiful (equipment is expensive a la FFXII, but healing items and inns aren't) I tend to go in, fight for a bit until everyone ends up nearly dead, then run out, head back to the nearest village and rest/restock. So yeah, I'm crap at games; however, VP2 isn't annoyingly hard (like I found Vagrant Story
don'thurtmeplease
As far as import RPGs go, VP2 isn't the most friendly; given that you're mad to import without any Japanese at all, I'm assuming if you're interested in importing you must know at least crappy otaku words and some compass directions. Compared to Tales games which are generally piss easy to understand (I started replaying ToDII for fun over the weekend, which has amazingly simplistic Japanese because everything out of Kyle's mouth is pretty much the same...), VP2 is pretty complicated; since the cutscene direction isn't quite as well-done as FFXII it's also not quite so easy to work out/make up what's going on if you're unsure. With that said, if you've played Lenneth then Silmeria will make a fair whack of sense, and if you're desperately sad and bored
like I am
You've likely placed it in another pedestal or fountain or whichever one of those allows you to stock your orbs. If you find one of those, you should actually have a list of orbs stored within on the right side of the screen and the orb you are carrying on the left. All of the points are shown on your map, I believe.
Kurosaki Ichigo
Member
I wonder how it is going to do sales-wise...
Seeing the first one performance...
ヴァルキリープロファイル 99.12.22 PS
311,630 -> 97,282 -> 54,055
634,958 (49.08 %)
It had good legs for RPGs. Silmeria should start over 400k if it wants to match those numbers, I don't think it'll have legs but it should have its fanbase to secure some strong sales. Doubtful if it'll surpass 500k mark...
Seeing the first one performance...
ヴァルキリープロファイル 99.12.22 PS
311,630 -> 97,282 -> 54,055
634,958 (49.08 %)
It had good legs for RPGs. Silmeria should start over 400k if it wants to match those numbers, I don't think it'll have legs but it should have its fanbase to secure some strong sales. Doubtful if it'll surpass 500k mark...
Kurosaki Ichigo said:
Disappointment will await us all. I've heard that on the first day Silmeria sold less than half of the initial shipment - about 180k..... that means that Square Enix expected less than VP1 numbers.... oh well.
Edit: More impressions will come, I'm 20 hours in the game now and it's REALLY rocking now.
duckroll said:Disappointment will await us all. I've heard that on the first day Silmeria sold less than half of the initial shipment - about 180k..... that means that Square Enix expected less than VP1 numbers.... oh well.
Edit: More impressions will come, I'm 20 hours in the game now and it's REALLY rocking now.
Is VP not popular in Japan? I realize it's not "popular" anywhere, but I heard they marketed it pretty well and we saw pictures of the launch party looking relatively lively.
Y2Kevbug11 said:
VP is pretty damn popular in Japan. A PSP port of a 6 year old PS1 title with no sequel or spin-off since then selling over 70k is no joke at all. If Square Enix shipped over 300k as an initial shipment and it sold less than half at debut though.... that's no a good sign. ^^;
Woo, I can't post impressions but I can give you guys really neat videos I find!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YWFXGViJ7A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxunQnxqoXM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr54_ZLuy3Q
These are videos of some of the crazy platforming skills. It's a bit of a spoiler with the area its in, or not? Just a precaution!
Also another fun super spoiler vid!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YWFXGViJ7A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxunQnxqoXM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr54_ZLuy3Q
These are videos of some of the crazy platforming skills. It's a bit of a spoiler with the area its in, or not? Just a precaution!
Also another fun super spoiler vid!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3ehLeKrskU&search=valkyrie%20profile%202
Shouta said:
I used airmail, took 6 days.
Airmail isn't always slow, but it does depend on who it comes from. Videogamesplus.ca can ship me games by airmail in three days, and I've had eBay shipments from Hong Kong (legit!) in similar time.
Worked out what I'd done with the Orb thing and finished off that dungeon now; loved the boss!
Haha @ Shouta. You could have just gotten it @ kicks on friday Airmail could take up to a month depending. I only go airmail with playasia when its some discount order or something that I'm not getting at launch. EMS FTW. I'm acutally going UPS express for PSU. Must have it first day!
edit: actually worse about airmail is.. IT COULD BE LOST.oint and laughs: :lol Never go cheap on shipping really, international airmail is like going UPS ground. I had an unpleasant experience with yes-asias free shipping for shin onimusha. IT NEVER CAME! I had get them to resend another copy and paid extra for EMS. Funny though, in the month it took to get to me, the damn domestic version was already out :lol Maybe airmail is more reliable, but yes-asias free shipping is scary.
Airmail could take up to a month depending. I only go airmail with playasia when its some discount order or something that I'm not getting at launch. EMS FTW. I'm acutally going UPS express for PSU. Must have it first day!edit: actually worse about airmail is.. IT COULD BE LOST.
oint and laughs: :lol Never go cheap on shipping really, international airmail is like going UPS ground. I had an unpleasant experience with yes-asias free shipping for shin onimusha. IT NEVER CAME! I had get them to resend another copy and paid extra for EMS. Funny though, in the month it took to get to me, the damn domestic version was already out :lol Maybe airmail is more reliable, but yes-asias free shipping is scary.So back on VP2.
things I like at this point:
-Battle system
-Art
-Music
-combos
things that I feel indifferent about:
-towns
-Story
-Dungeons (so far, VP1 dungeons >> VP2 ones, but the VP2 ones are fine)
-dead people
things I don't like all that much:
-Skill learning system
-horrible hit detection on dashing
-magic
-lack of multiple difficulty levels with their own dungeons
The game is very good on a tech/statistical level, but at the same time there doesn't seem to be much of a pull that makes you want to keep playing beyond to increase your attack damage numbers. Not that the story is bad, in fact it's perfectly fine so far, but just the pacing of the game is wierd and it feels a bit disconnected like its just a bunch of areas that you go from one to another to another and fight things.
Also the game is much more balanced than VP1, but that also makes it less fun since it's harder to break VP2 and destroy everything. Mages have been NERFED by only allowing 1 magic spell OR ITEM for the ENTIRE PARTY each "check round". In VP1 I'd use 2 mages/2 fighters and at the very start of each battle have both mages fire off their strongest all-party spells, which would either kill all enemies or leave the enemies with low life for my fighters to clean up on. Can't really do anything like that in VP2. Poison Blow is useless in VP2 :\
Another thing is that in VP1 you never had to grind...ever. If you used the right party you could play straight through VP1 and enjoy it without doing dungeon exp grinds. But in VP2 it's more traditional "difficult rpg", which means that it's not all that difficult but it just requires you to grind a decent amount or you'll be underpowered. This especially comes up with the dead people that you basically are forced to grind and level in order to get their stat bonuses items when you send them off (which are needed or you'll be underpowered).
And the dash hit detection is stupid. Like 99% of the times you'll take any damage will be when you weren't expecting it and you go "WTF!?! How!!?" and then you look back and see one of your guys got caught on a box in a corner and is now half the map away from the rest of your party. That's even more fun when you dash in and start your attack only to realize you're missing an attacker and you can't actually kill the enemy that you thought you could and the enemy kicks your ass back in response. In the worst case scenarios you can suddenly find yourself total ****ed all of the sudden because a dash didn't work and you just wasted AP and you're fighting some super boss or something where that really mattered and you die. Of all the things in VP2, this is the only "legit" issue with the game and it's just some crappy AI programming (like we haven't seen that with Tri-Ace before ^^.
So yeah, it's looking to be a great game, great rpg, and between this, FFXII, and Devil Summoner 2006 is on track to be a much better rpg year than 2005 with its letdown trio of Legendia/SH3/Grandia3. It's no VP1, and it doesn't quite pull you in, but it's very respectable in it's gameplay structure and there is a lot of stat management for those who enjoy it.
things I like at this point:
-Battle system
-Art
-Music
-combos
things that I feel indifferent about:
-towns
-Story
-Dungeons (so far, VP1 dungeons >> VP2 ones, but the VP2 ones are fine)
-dead people
things I don't like all that much:
-Skill learning system
-horrible hit detection on dashing
-magic
-lack of multiple difficulty levels with their own dungeons
The game is very good on a tech/statistical level, but at the same time there doesn't seem to be much of a pull that makes you want to keep playing beyond to increase your attack damage numbers. Not that the story is bad, in fact it's perfectly fine so far, but just the pacing of the game is wierd and it feels a bit disconnected like its just a bunch of areas that you go from one to another to another and fight things.
Also the game is much more balanced than VP1, but that also makes it less fun since it's harder to break VP2 and destroy everything. Mages have been NERFED by only allowing 1 magic spell OR ITEM for the ENTIRE PARTY each "check round". In VP1 I'd use 2 mages/2 fighters and at the very start of each battle have both mages fire off their strongest all-party spells, which would either kill all enemies or leave the enemies with low life for my fighters to clean up on. Can't really do anything like that in VP2. Poison Blow is useless in VP2 :\
Another thing is that in VP1 you never had to grind...ever. If you used the right party you could play straight through VP1 and enjoy it without doing dungeon exp grinds. But in VP2 it's more traditional "difficult rpg", which means that it's not all that difficult but it just requires you to grind a decent amount or you'll be underpowered. This especially comes up with the dead people that you basically are forced to grind and level in order to get their stat bonuses items when you send them off (which are needed or you'll be underpowered).
And the dash hit detection is stupid. Like 99% of the times you'll take any damage will be when you weren't expecting it and you go "WTF!?! How!!?" and then you look back and see one of your guys got caught on a box in a corner and is now half the map away from the rest of your party. That's even more fun when you dash in and start your attack only to realize you're missing an attacker and you can't actually kill the enemy that you thought you could and the enemy kicks your ass back in response. In the worst case scenarios you can suddenly find yourself total ****ed all of the sudden because a dash didn't work and you just wasted AP and you're fighting some super boss or something where that really mattered and you die. Of all the things in VP2, this is the only "legit" issue with the game and it's just some crappy AI programming (like we haven't seen that with Tri-Ace before ^^
.So yeah, it's looking to be a great game, great rpg, and between this, FFXII, and Devil Summoner 2006 is on track to be a much better rpg year than 2005 with its letdown trio of Legendia/SH3/Grandia3. It's no VP1, and it doesn't quite pull you in, but it's very respectable in it's gameplay structure and there is a lot of stat management for those who enjoy it.
Bebpo: How far along are you now?
Also about your mage complaint..
Also about your mage complaint..
you'll eventually get an item that lets you bypass that. But like I said, I'm wondering how far are you. I havent seen much of an issue with dash, you really just have to tread carefully. Oh and poison blow seems quite useful based on what Ive seen/read actually.
My biggest complaint. I absolutely hate dealing with it. It slows the game down quite a bit too, as you need to sit there and figure out how to avoid getting your characters stuck (and even with such care taken, they'll still get stuck).
I personally feel that they should have represented the player with just ONE character on screen and only brought out additional characters (on the field) when it was required. If you attack, for instance, the other four could appear. Or, if you wish to divide your party, they could appear at that point. The fact that some of their animations are sampled at 30 fps makes them look akward at times too.
FateBreaker
Member
Bebpo said:
And this is why I listen to Bebpo. Grandia III and SH3. got high scores, but I personally didn't think they were all that. Heck, Legendia has a better plot, art and music than those two, even.
Heh, so very true.duckroll said:
Hey, it DID have great music and art direction...but that doesn't make a game.
In regards to VP2 art direction, I was thinking...
If this game were running in 720p, featured slightly better textures (and filtering), and some minor touch ups here and there...it could easily pass as an XBOX360 title (though they'd probably drop it down to 30 fps with tearing just to fit in).
dark10x said:
Yeah there's something really questionable about the IQ that keeps holding the game back graphically. I'm 22 hours in, just started chapter 5. There were a few great cutscenes which DEFINITELY looks so beyond PS2 awesome like KH2 and FFXII, and when they zoom in on the characters and faces they look REALLY good. Unfortunately on the whole the image quality sucks and everything looks blurred and nowhere as detailed good as the models and textures actually are.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Bebpo said:In the worst case scenarios you can suddenly find yourself total ****ed all of the sudden because a dash didn't work and you just wasted AP and you're fighting some super boss or something where that really mattered and you die. Of all the things in VP2, this is the only "legit" issue with the game and it's just some crappy AI programming (like we haven't seen that with Tri-Ace before ^^
This bothers me the most in sections where the enemies have thin cones, but their attacks destroy parties. Just because some guy got caught on a corner, your whole party gets caught when he runs right through the cone to get back to the party.
In general, the game is fun, but I don`T feel compelled to keep playing. VP1 was far more compelling, and at the moment, it bothers me that I`m spending most of the time grinding.
I`ve been playing NSMB and KOFXI far more than VP2 so far, but it`s a game I will play every so often until I finish it. Unlike VP1, I don`t have the burning desire to finish it. It`s hit a sort of "meh" roadblock. I want exp orb back. *cry*
That's why 480p + 16:9 = suck
4:3 mode looks a lot better, but that's 4:3 mode. Tough choice there.
That's a good way to look at it.
I've been pretty busy lately after work, so I haven't had much time for gaming. However, VP2 has been a great pick up and play kind of game (which is why I've been playing it over lunch). In a way, that's not such a bad thing.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
dark10x said:
I have time to play, but I don`t like spending my evening sitting in front of my tv grinding. I just feel like I`m wasting time. I enjoy the game, but it will be a casual playthrough, unlike Rockman ZX, Persona 3 (I`m an SMT junkie) and my other games.
Hmm? What does he sound like (comparison)?MoxManiac said:
I own the JP version of the original (only played the US version for a couple hours a few years back). His Japanese voice is quite good, actually. I'll have to check on the original again, but in VP2, his voice actor seems to be same person who voiced Jade in Tales of the Abyss (among many other things).
Similar threads
- Poll