Reviewed: October 26, 2008
Reviewed by: Jason Flick

Publisher
XSEED Games
Marvelous Entertainment

Developer
K2
Marvelous Entertainment

Released: October 1, 2008
Genre: RPG
Players: 1-2

6
7
5
7
6.0

Supported Features:

The story of Valhalla Knights 2 takes place in a kingdom that been sent into utter chaos as the Goddess of Judgment descends from the skies, angel wings and all, and unleashes monsters (such as angry rabbits) all over the kingdoms. When all hope is soon lost the kingdom is saved by the Witch of the Crystal, who manages to injure the Goddess despite being completely outmatched.

Sometime later the player finds out that Goddess worshippers are being sought out as heretics for committing crimes against the world. In the clouded judgment of the hunters, the orphanage where you, the main character, reside is attacked and burned to the ground. You and another orphan are saved by a group of government sanctioned adventurers known as Latroci. After that fateful day you move to Bilbos in the Kingdom of Weiselheim and train to become a hero with the goal of tracking down and eventually defeating the Goddess once and for all.

For those of you who played the original Valhalla Knights, this title will seem very familiar. Not much if anything has changed in the interface from the first title so don't expect any fancy upgrades this time around. The first thing players get to do is create a character from an onslaught of options that vary from Race, Gender and Special Features. You then get to choose your Job Class and distribute Bonus Points within the various Character Attributes. After that it’s on to the adventure.

Once players get real control of their new character they must find their way to the castle where they must undertake the exam to become Latroci. The objective is to find out the purpose of the stone in which they are given. However the road to that discovery and even the rest of the story is a dangerous one as there are monsters at every turn.

One of the things that I found out early, albeit the hard way, is that you cannot venture throughout the hazard zones alone. Sure you can manage by yourself in a few fights but when you are pitted up against several creatures in a fight then the tides can turn very quickly. Upon dying you are revived in the last two you visited, and relieving you of half the gold in your possession. But there is cure to the gold robbers at the Inn that can be found with a quick trip to the nearest Guild. Here players can create their very own ally party members for a price. You can have up to 6 members in your party, including yourself, with you in battle at once.

The character creation mode in the Guilds will allow you to create and tailor your allies the way you see fit. As you progress in the Valhalla Knights 2 you can tailor your own character and those of your team with more advanced Job classes like Anchor, Samurai and Enchanter. So if you’re tired with one class you can switch later on.

Character Development is an important aspect of any RPG and Valhalla Knights 2 is no different. Every time you can a level you gain Bonus points, which you can allocate to one of 7 different attributes such as Strength, Speed and Resistance. By adding points you can enhance these 7 areas to increase your character’s HP and physical attack power, evasiveness, magical resistance and much more.

While I find that Valhalla Knights 2 is a little better than the previous title with all of the tweaked areas. However I soon found this title to be nothing more than tiresome trudging from dungeon to dungeon, which in the earlier stages will result in some rough deaths. The storyline itself while it is there is lost among all the menial quests and backtracking.

Graphically, Valhalla Knights 2 is a bit of a tossup. On the one side the detail on the characters, monsters, armor and weapons are impressive especially in battle. The thing that subtracts from this title the most however are the environments. To say that the environmental graphics are downright terrible would be a lie. There are parts of this title that are fairly decent. The areas such as the Slums and other locations are the true problem and it doesn’t help that you must traverse through them all the time.

The sound department of Valhalla Knights 2 is another wash. The sound effects are decent but the background music is uninspiring and repetitive. For me, as a gamer, music is a very important aspect especially in RPGs. Getting a player in the mood to fight is key and this title definitely lacks that quality.

For those that seek a bit more fun, Valhalla Knights 2 offers a multiplayer mode via Ad-Hoc mode. Up to 2 players can join up to complete specially made quests for network play. Each player can bring 3 of their characters in to the quest. Each player is allowed to control their own parties, travel the dungeons and trade items upon completing the quest. Players can also go up against another with up in a 6 on 6 character battle. Each player must wager an item or gold. The player who meets the requirements for victory then wins that item or gold.

All in all, Valhalla Knights 2 is an okay title. While it has several good points including a large character creation system with tons of items, armor and weapons. The multiplayer might add a bit of added incentive to RPG fans but in the end Valhalla Knights 2 is nothing more than an enhanced version of the original. This title retails for $30 dollars at most retailers, but I recommend renting this title first to try it out.