Valkie 64: A not so perfect start
(This review was written before several updates to the gameplay.)
Valkie 64 is a game that emulates the aesthetic of the N64 Legend of Zelda games but fails to fully cross the finish line in a similar vein to either Ocarina of Time or Majora’s Mask, and, sadly, falls flat at even the halfway point. While it captures their looks to the point that it would not be out of place with the games of the era, it sadly lacks many of the gameplay and story touches that make the N64 Zelda titles such classics and so beloved by fans. If one would compare it generously to said titles, then It would be compared to forgotten titles from the era that one may remember fondly years later. None of this is to say that Valkie 64 is a poor or bad game, but more that Valkie 64 is lacking in various places that leave one wanting, but it does setup the building blocks for later sequels to be proper challenges or complementary pieces to the N64 classics that defined 3d gaming.
Valkyrie 64 begins with a simple premise. Long ago the forces of chaos and the forces of order engaged in a grand war that left the Goddess of Chaos sealed away, her forces destroyed and all but one soldier of the Goddess of Order remains; the titular Valkie. Centuries later, Valkyrie is called upon by the Goddess of Order to face the regrowing forces of chaos and reseal the Goddess of Chaos once more. A simple setup that in most cases would be filled through fun and/or interesting characters in order to help build a connection with the world and help keep the player interested in the fate of the world. Sadly, this is where Valkie 64 first begins to stumble. While Zelda has various characters with unique designs and/or personalities, Valkie 64 has fairly standard designs with barely any personality to the named and somewhat uniquely designed characters. Compounding this issue is the fact that most NPCs exist for side quests and to spout exposition about the area. In a vacuum that is acceptable, but the quests feels less like one is helping the people living in these lands because they care about the NPCs and more because one needs the heart pieces given at the end of each quest due to combat difficulty. The story remains simple and so do the NPCs, but because they remain as such the game lacks a personal connection with the player.
Now a fairly standard story is perfectly fine, plenty of games have simple tales and are just meant to give context to the gameplay. This however, is yet a victory for Valkie 64 that sadly does come with issues. Gameplay for Valkie is very simple, the player only has one method of attack; a sword swing that can be aimed vertically or horizontally depending on which button is pressed; A dodge mechanic akin to Zelda’s in which Valkie will jump in a direction the player holds before pressing the jump command, though there is no rolling around the enemy. Normally this works just fine, but there is a problem in that without blocking mechanics or abilities the player has no way to create an opening for themselves to attack enemies as the dodge moves the player too far away to create opportunities to attack. Often this can result in fights ending up as a game of happy slaps as the player just rushes into the enemy trying to get a hit in before they enemy can retaliate. This also carries risk of damage as an enemies attack animation does not seem to cancel once an enemy is struck, causing the player to still take a hit despite appearing to cause the enemy to flinch. Combat sadly feels more tedious come the fourth area of the game as damage feels pitiable even when the player obtains damage boost items. Adding to this, sword swings cannot be mixed as damage resets upon changing swing direction. All these factors cause the swordplay to become increasingly tedious and just not worth the hassle.
While combat is a similar affair to the Zelda games, puzzles are all but missing in Valkie 64. The dungeons presented in Valkie 64 attempt to follow as similar format to the Zelda titles, but the lack items to use prevent the game from having any sort of intricate room layout that could take advantage of items akin to a bow & arrow, or weighted boots, to name a few. This delegates almost all the puzzles to stepping on swtitches or defeating all the enemies in the room. Lacking any sort of interesting or taxing puzzles makes the already weak combat come off even worse as there’s nothing to help kill the monotony come mid-to-late game. The exception to this is the fourth dungeon which has an interesting gimmick of the inner temple constantly rotating, leaving the player to travel all around the outer circle of the temple to find access other portions of the inner areas; and the temple requires 3 mini-boss type enemies to be slain before the boss key can be obtained. It’s a shame that an interesting dungeon is left for the very end, but it does showcase that Malte Galde will be able to make amazing games in the future.
Of course at the end of each dungeon, like Zelda, is a boss, and these bosses are 50/50. In some, such as the forest and desert temple, the boss is a creature that on the surface has no connection whatsoever to the dungeon, whereas the ice and lava dungeon are larger versions of the creatures introduced in the dungeon. Sadly they all fall into the same combat as every other enemy in the game: move away from their hits and try to get a swipe in after or before they swing, all the while you may still take damage. It’s a damned shame as each boss has unique designs that could make for interesting boss fights, but the bosses have nothing different from previous enemies and follow the same combat pattern. In an attempt to add fake difficulty all the boss arenas include various hazards and enemies scattered around to chip away at your health while you try to harm the boss in the same repetitive combat you’ve been doing throughout the entire game. It comes to head when the final dungeon is just two floors of several dozen mooks that you whittle down bit by bit and then fight a boss that works the exact same. It’s a damn shame since the game clearly has an interest in creating fun and quick combat through its focus and dodging and differing strike types, but it’s held back by those same mechanics not working out due to minor issues in hit detection and lack of ability to diversify sword swings. Add a lack of alternative gameplay types and objectives and the game quickly loses its appeal and quickly becomes a boring grind.
At its core, Valkie64 has potential and that is both praise and condemnation. Its aesthetic is near one-to-one to the N64 style and clearly showcases an understanding of fun hack-and-slash gameplay but is held back by technical issues, lack of gameplay diversity and interesting characters. Valkyrie64 can be seen more as the building block to an amazing Zelda-like in the future. Is this game great? No, but I wouldn’t condemn it. It’s clear that work was put into getting the Ocarina of time aesthetic right, and with time, effort, and learning from the flaws in Valkie64 then I see no reason to not believe a great Zelda competitor can be made by Malte Glade. I eagerly await the Glade’s next project and hope it becomes a greater success.
Valkie 64 is a game that emulates the aesthetic of the N64 Legend of Zelda games but fails to fully cross the finish line in a similar vein to either Ocarina of Time or Majora’s Mask, and, sadly, falls flat at even the halfway point. While it captures their looks to the point that it would not be out of place with the games of the era, it sadly lacks many of the gameplay and story touches that make the N64 Zelda titles such classics and so beloved by fans. If one would compare it generously to said titles, then It would be compared to forgotten titles from the era that one may remember fondly years later. None of this is to say that Valkie 64 is a poor or bad game, but more that Valkie 64 is lacking in various places that leave one wanting, but it does setup the building blocks for later sequels to be proper challenges or complementary pieces to the N64 classics that defined 3d gaming.
Valkyrie 64 begins with a simple premise. Long ago the forces of chaos and the forces of order engaged in a grand war that left the Goddess of Chaos sealed away, her forces destroyed and all but one soldier of the Goddess of Order remains; the titular Valkie. Centuries later, Valkyrie is called upon by the Goddess of Order to face the regrowing forces of chaos and reseal the Goddess of Chaos once more. A simple setup that in most cases would be filled through fun and/or interesting characters in order to help build a connection with the world and help keep the player interested in the fate of the world. Sadly, this is where Valkie 64 first begins to stumble. While Zelda has various characters with unique designs and/or personalities, Valkie 64 has fairly standard designs with barely any personality to the named and somewhat uniquely designed characters. Compounding this issue is the fact that most NPCs exist for side quests and to spout exposition about the area. In a vacuum that is acceptable, but the quests feels less like one is helping the people living in these lands because they care about the NPCs and more because one needs the heart pieces given at the end of each quest due to combat difficulty. The story remains simple and so do the NPCs, but because they remain as such the game lacks a personal connection with the player.
Now a fairly standard story is perfectly fine, plenty of games have simple tales and are just meant to give context to the gameplay. This however, is yet a victory for Valkie 64 that sadly does come with issues. Gameplay for Valkie is very simple, the player only has one method of attack; a sword swing that can be aimed vertically or horizontally depending on which button is pressed; A dodge mechanic akin to Zelda’s in which Valkie will jump in a direction the player holds before pressing the jump command, though there is no rolling around the enemy. Normally this works just fine, but there is a problem in that without blocking mechanics or abilities the player has no way to create an opening for themselves to attack enemies as the dodge moves the player too far away to create opportunities to attack. Often this can result in fights ending up as a game of happy slaps as the player just rushes into the enemy trying to get a hit in before they enemy can retaliate. This also carries risk of damage as an enemies attack animation does not seem to cancel once an enemy is struck, causing the player to still take a hit despite appearing to cause the enemy to flinch. Combat sadly feels more tedious come the fourth area of the game as damage feels pitiable even when the player obtains damage boost items. Adding to this, sword swings cannot be mixed as damage resets upon changing swing direction. All these factors cause the swordplay to become increasingly tedious and just not worth the hassle.
While combat is a similar affair to the Zelda games, puzzles are all but missing in Valkie 64. The dungeons presented in Valkie 64 attempt to follow as similar format to the Zelda titles, but the lack items to use prevent the game from having any sort of intricate room layout that could take advantage of items akin to a bow & arrow, or weighted boots, to name a few. This delegates almost all the puzzles to stepping on swtitches or defeating all the enemies in the room. Lacking any sort of interesting or taxing puzzles makes the already weak combat come off even worse as there’s nothing to help kill the monotony come mid-to-late game. The exception to this is the fourth dungeon which has an interesting gimmick of the inner temple constantly rotating, leaving the player to travel all around the outer circle of the temple to find access other portions of the inner areas; and the temple requires 3 mini-boss type enemies to be slain before the boss key can be obtained. It’s a shame that an interesting dungeon is left for the very end, but it does showcase that Malte Galde will be able to make amazing games in the future.
Of course at the end of each dungeon, like Zelda, is a boss, and these bosses are 50/50. In some, such as the forest and desert temple, the boss is a creature that on the surface has no connection whatsoever to the dungeon, whereas the ice and lava dungeon are larger versions of the creatures introduced in the dungeon. Sadly they all fall into the same combat as every other enemy in the game: move away from their hits and try to get a swipe in after or before they swing, all the while you may still take damage. It’s a damned shame as each boss has unique designs that could make for interesting boss fights, but the bosses have nothing different from previous enemies and follow the same combat pattern. In an attempt to add fake difficulty all the boss arenas include various hazards and enemies scattered around to chip away at your health while you try to harm the boss in the same repetitive combat you’ve been doing throughout the entire game. It comes to head when the final dungeon is just two floors of several dozen mooks that you whittle down bit by bit and then fight a boss that works the exact same. It’s a damn shame since the game clearly has an interest in creating fun and quick combat through its focus and dodging and differing strike types, but it’s held back by those same mechanics not working out due to minor issues in hit detection and lack of ability to diversify sword swings. Add a lack of alternative gameplay types and objectives and the game quickly loses its appeal and quickly becomes a boring grind.
At its core, Valkie64 has potential and that is both praise and condemnation. Its aesthetic is near one-to-one to the N64 style and clearly showcases an understanding of fun hack-and-slash gameplay but is held back by technical issues, lack of gameplay diversity and interesting characters. Valkyrie64 can be seen more as the building block to an amazing Zelda-like in the future. Is this game great? No, but I wouldn’t condemn it. It’s clear that work was put into getting the Ocarina of time aesthetic right, and with time, effort, and learning from the flaws in Valkie64 then I see no reason to not believe a great Zelda competitor can be made by Malte Glade. I eagerly await the Glade’s next project and hope it becomes a greater success.
Comments
Post a Comment