Valhollian (or Zanma Chou Okugi Valhollian, roughly meaning "Super Secret Demon-Killing Valhollian", with Valhollian being the name of a resistance) is a little-known strategy game developed by "Datt Japan" (who have been around since the mid 80s), and published by "K and P" (which stands for Kamata and Partners) in 1998. While not particularly prolific at game development and most known for "Hyper Planet", Datt Japan was feeling rather ambitious when they designed Valhollian, though, as pointed out by some Japanese sources, ambition alone cannot make a great game. The game's general story deals with two warring countries, the warrior nation of Balt and the magical nation among demons, Lafalue. They have opposed each other for many years until one day, the high priestess of the magic nation and king of the warrior nation joined together to form a truce which lasted for years. Eventually, two boys were born. The first-born child was gifted with great magical power but bore an evil heart. The second-born child was kinder but he lacked the ability to use magic. Relations between the brothers were strained as the younger brother (the main character, Ray Brightforce, also known as Prince Ray) was trained as a knight and is to be the successor to Lafalue's throne while the older brother (Yumil Brightforce) was snubbed despite possessing the true power to rule. Jealous of his brother, Yumil rallies an army of demons and those unhappy with the current regime and plots to take over both lands by utilizing his great magical aptitude and manipulating supernatural forces. Valhollian bears a few original elements as well as traditional tile-based SRPG conventions, but exaggerates some of them by expanding them to levels not typically seen in a game of the genre of the time. Characters can wear up to five pieces of equipment, get triple-digit stats, and move much greater distances (where a move stat of seven is low and a move stat of eleven is high and maps are "large" and tiles "small"). In addition, characters possess a variety of special skills that are learned upon leveling up which costs skill points (which are limited) and their uses vary from damage to resurrection to teleportation to multi-actions to opening treasure chests from anywhere, and more. Lastly, characters can "Combine Attack" and have "Combination Levels"; what this means is that two characters can join up to attack foes with greater accuracy and damage and also get higher bonuses as their relationships improve. Some character pairs even have special little conversations at certain Combination Levels. Valhollian even has 3D combat scenes as well as 2D animations that can be turned on or off. The 3D characters look distinct from each other and quite good for their time, though sadly only standard attacks and combinations are in 3D and most characters have a "Three Stage" attack. Special attacks, combinations, and careful movements are the key to success as enemies evade quite often and often greatly outnumber you (you can fight up to about fifty enemies on some fights), and battles naturally take ages as a result, making the 3D battles a novel addition that you will quickly disable. The first half of the game is very trying and has the game nicknamed as "Save, Reset & Load: The Game", but once characters start learning a few skills, you can take a few less precautions. If even one character dies in battle, things become disproportionately more challenging and there's even one point in the game where you can kill an ally (who is a bit of a "secret character"), which you don't want as every ally counts. Near the end, bosses can be easily overwhelmed by a few special attacks. The audio/visuals as a whole are decent but limited (limited 2D/3D effects and small soundtrack). The game's actual dialogue however is rather childish and basic (one site even deemed it agonizing due to its lack of sense and disregard for honorific terms) and does little to shed light on the game's characters or settings. Valhollian on the surface looks like an instant classic, but as a whole is a rather frustrating game that is difficult to see to completion. Its story and characters are generally unappealing and the gameplay is fairly lopsided and repetitive (lacking mission objectives, as each map is basically about killing all enemies), but there are some redeeming qualities to it. This is a video showing some things. Enjoy.

• published: 10 Mar 2012
• views: 1783