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Valkyrie Profile
Written By: Zhou Tai An

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Valkyrie Profile Walkthrough 
Version 1.3

by Zhou Tai An (kain@pacific.net.sg)

This is non-profit only. You don't have to e-mail me to ask for permission
but I'd appreciate you dropping a note if you found the guide to be at all
useful. If anything it'll at least encourage me to write more and better.
^_^

******

Arrghhh...it finally happened. My Playstation went and broke down. You can 
probably tell what's coming up - yes, I now have no way of updating this thing 
further until I get a new PSX, which is never. :(

However, don't despair. What I've decided to do is compile and add whatever
information I already have, then turn it over to my friend (who has a working 
PSX) to complete. However, he's not as hung up on the game as I am, so certain 
sections will suffer (maps, for instance) a bit. Which you shouldn't blame him 
for in the least - after all, this is my FAQ. So while the FAQ will eventually 
be completed, it won't be as good as I thought it would...that's life, I guess.

That aside, you've probably realized that this thing has grown and will continue 
to. I've got some excellent info from Japanese sites which I plan to slowly add 
- keep watching! A lot of the information is at this point unsorted/uncompiled 
(and lying in various states of disrepair about the FAQ) which I WILL sort out 
in future; I just wanted to get another update out first.

A final note : I'm kinda busy, so I probably won't be checking my info as
thoroughly as I should, so please mail me about any corrections or 
misinformation you find. Heck, tips and tricks wil be just as welcome, 
actually.

On with the show!

(BTW, for best viewing, use WordPad and wrap to window, which is how I wrote 
this. If you're using a Mac or other systems, then sorry (I hate Bill Gates too) 
but I've not much experience with other text viewers.)

******

Contents :

1. Game Explanations

a) Fighting System
b) Chapters and Periods
c) Controlling Valkyrie
d) Other Stuff

2. Tips and Hints
a) Endings

3. Notes on Norse Mythology

4. Walkthrough

5. Character Section (includes moves, quote translations and evaluations)

6. Item, Spell, Skill and all and sundry Charts\Lists

7. Credits

******

1. Game Explanations 

Here is where, I well, explain the game to all you non-Japanese speaking
gamers out there. Actually, even if you know Japanese you'd do well to read
this stuff since it's chock-full of hints, strategies and Vitamins A and B.
Anyway, just scroll down already.

---

Fighting, Combos, Finishers and generally doing in the Enemy.

Yes, there is ANOTHER FAQ dealing with this but I'll give it a shot anyway - 
after all, I spent about half an hour reading up on the fairy's explanation 
of battle, so...

Let's get one thing straight about combat in Valkyrie Profile first - COMBOS
ARE THE KEY. To virtually everything - that's why they're in caps, folks. 
Exactly why they're so important will become evident as I continue the 
explanations, but do keep this in mind; it'll help.

You begin fighting by...attacking the enemies! Okay, that was a no-brainer. 
Actually, attacking in sequence is more like it. Each character can attack
a set number of times (only once at the beginning of the game) and the button 
displayed at the top of the screen corresponds to each fighter. The sequence in 
which you press them determines the order of attack. (note that you can press 
buttons simultaneously) Later on, as you gain more attacks, you can stagger this 
sequence any way you wish.

Sounds simple? Far from it. Just like in fighting games, timing is REALLY
important here. And when you throw in Combo Guard and Guard Crushes...well,
I'm getting ahead of myself. Timing first.

All characters and attacks move at different speeds; Rofar with a spear and
Valkyrie with a sword are in no way the same. So, you've got to coordinate
your fighters well to succeed in battle. You'll have to experiment to gain a
better feel of the system, but most attacks work pretty much the way you'd
expect them to - for instance, bows take time to string but arrows move fast, 
sword strikes are quick while spears need to be aimed.

Got that, then? Now to talk about combos. Why combo? Here are plenty of 
reasons :

1. You get the stones, man, the stones. These come in two types - Magical
and Violet Flame. When enemies are hit while in the air, Magical Stones are 
produced, while on the ground you get Violet Flame ones. 

What's so good about these rocks, you ask? Magical ones net you a 5% experience 
point bonus per stone, and each Violet Flame one restores a CT point (more on 
that later) essential for both Finishers and spells.

2. Like in fighting games, once the first hit connects, so does the rest of 
it, which makes fighting bosses a whole lot easier. (Watch for time delay, 
though - different enemies have varying periods of hit-stun after which they can 
recover.)

3. You need to score consecutive hits in order to drive the green Hit gauge
up high enough for you to enact Finishers, which do mucho damage to the 
enemy.

Comboing itself is quite a difficult proposition, though, because you've got
to watch out for Combo Guards. This is when a wall, magical barrier or some
sort of defense appears in the front of your target, shielding it from your
assault. It's basically blocking but for combos instead - as you might 
expect, strong foes do this more often. I'm still researching this, but there 
are ways around a Guard :

1) Guard Crush it. More on this below.

2) Fake out your opponent. By this, I mean leading with a low slash and then
striking with a higher one immediately after; at least, that's one example.
I haven't been able to find many concrete examples of this but it should
work more often than not.

3) Use magic. It's very difficult to block and since only the first hit counts 
in a combo, all the better. It also has the added advantage of knocking down 
quite frequently.

4) Hit either fast or hard. I've found that if you slip in really quickly your 
enemy has no chance to block your shot; conversely, you can also hit with  such 
force that blocking is useless. This *seems* to work...more research needed.

5) Use Wait Reaction. Yes, that little flying bird or bat all magic users have 
actually cannot miss and cannot be blocked either - nevermind that it does 
pitiful damage, it's excellent for beginning combos. 

You can also Guard Crush, which involves hitting with so many strikes at a 
single time that your target's guard is well....crushed. (Hopefully, so is
he\she.) The number of strikes seems to be more of a determinant than their
relative power or speed in Crushing, so take note. Guard Crushing also has one 
BIG advantage over all the other methods listed above - a Guard Crushed foe is 
instantly put into dizzy status for the next round.

The most important thing to remember in Combos is that the first hit counts.
Once that hits you can continue with the rest of the sequence without fear
of reprisal. (At least until enemies get the advanced skills...but then by
that time you should have too.)

Just like in fighting games, talking about combos and executing them are two
whole different things - the section below address the latter. It is also 
under HEAVY research (even more than most of the material above) so I'd
gladly appreciate any help or assistance.

Alright, here we go. (If you're just reading for an overview of the combat
system I suggest you skip this for the time being - it can get technical at
times.)

For better combos, try to link together your attacks so that they all hit at
more or less the same time; no more than a second of lag. This requires some 
fancy fingerwork at times since you've got to be pretty precise with the 
button presses...

Some things which I've noticed that could be of help are :

a) If possible, start your magic-users up first and then follow with your
fighters, both of them acting in concert. By this, I mean having 2 mages and 
then 2 fighters attacking, not one at a time. 

But on a quick note, it's not always a good idea to start with the mage; as 
noted, if there is too long a lag between the character's attack and the end of 
the combo, he or she won't be able to rack up the hits with Finishers. Later on, 
if you want all or most of the hits from the fighter characters to connect 
properly, it must be noted that most spells lack the duration to allow the mage 
to throw a Finisher at the end of it all if the spell is the first attack to 
hit.

b) Know the relative speeds and properties of your attacks. For example, 
Aluze will pause slightly before swinging, Belinas has a triple-hit (but 
slow) rush forwards that can hit in the air etc. It can be very tedious indeed 
mastering this field of knowledge, but it's invaluable if you're serious about 
comboing. Use the move details I've provided in the Character Section to assist 
you.

c) Get Splash. This skill allows you to emulate the glow of energy around
fighting-game characters fists and feet (and in fact, looks a lot like the 
mirror-images all weapons in Soul Calibur have) adding lots of potential
hits, especially to attacks which are mulit-hitting to begin with. Throw is
also very useful, but I generally only give one character that skill since
too much will cause extended periods of air time which can throw (no pun
intended) your combos off.

d) Arrows don't combo very well - actually, they do, but tend to add very 
little Energy to your Hit gauge. Something to consider. 

Now that we've dealt with combo tactics, let's move on to combo patterns.
Here are some I consider quite useful :

1. The Steamroller. The theory behind this is simple enough - hit hard and
fast enough to push the enemy back to the end of the screen and unload heavy
multi-hitting attacks there. For this one, you've got to have one juggling
attack and enough power to knock back the enemy; and of course the 
aforementioned multi-hitting strikes.

2. Precision. For this one, you get a character who has really powerful
multi-hitters (Lucio and Bram come to mind) give them accessories which cause 
more items to appear when hitting the enemy, and set up the blows with your 
other characters. Requires some thought as to whom and what you're going to use, 
though.

3. Air Time. Another simple approach. Get lots of people with upwards-hitting 
attacks and Throw (maybe one archer for sniping) and then hit, wait, hit, wait 
and hit again. Good for netting Magical Stones for experience, but watch your 
timing.

4. Masher. The reverse of the above; a straightforwards rush with plenty of
ground-pounding attacks. You might want an air attack or two to ensure that
your target is in full stun animation before launching the brunt of your
assault, though. Great for recovering CT, but watch that your hits don't push 
the enemy out of range.

Lastly, we've got Finishers. See the green Hit gauge that appears whenever
you strike an enemy? If that fills to 100 or above during an attack, you get
the chance to rip out a Finisher, an attack that does simply massive damage.
Of course, the only way you're going to get that gauge is by scoring lots of
hits, which is why you need to combo (see above)

Let's assume for the sake of argument that you've gotten the 100 points (since 
the methods of obtaining them is another topic altogether) A screen (with some 
riduculously bad English) will appear displaying what Finishers are available - 
the ones that aren't will be greyed out. You won't have time to read it 'cause 
the timer's ticking, though. Press the respective button\s to execute your 
Finisher and marvel at the eye candy.

But wait! You can actually continue mercilessly hammering at your opponent
if the Finisher pushes the gauge up to a 100 again! Because of this,
multi-hit Finishers tend to be more useful. There's also a very strong second 
factor in their favor - at above 50 Hits, Finishers will start doing double 
damage. It's even possible to chain 4 Finishers together for truly massive 
damage...since there's a lot more to be said on this topic, see the Tips and 
Hints section for more info. Also note that unless a character has 
participated in the actual attack, he\she will not get a chance to execute a
Finisher at all.

Final notes : Character weapons and power levels DO influence the effects of
a Finisher, and magic-users get lots of different ones since each spell they
have has a Finisher version. 

(looks up) Done? No, we're far from done. Still got CT and magic to go. Hang
in there. And stop groaning.

CT first. There are the little red blinking dots that appear below each
character's life total (DME). You don't like them, because having CT means 
no executing Finishers (for fighters) or using any magic at all. (for mages)

But how do you get it in the first place? Either by using Finishers or 
casting spells (see the relation here?) Having CT is a lot worse for mages 
than for fighters, though, since the former can't do anything whereas the
latter can still attack. (Just no Finishers.)

By obtaining Violet Flame Stones (see why I told you combos were important?)
you can decrease your CT gauge, but each Stone will only net you a point of
recovery and you can't control who gets the Stone\s; the computer does. Also, 
you automatically lose one CT point at the end of each turn, but that's a slow 
process. To speed this, either get Fairy items, which decrease the amount of CT 
needed to perform moves (with a Fairy Earring equipped, Amy and Jun can uses 
nigh-unlimited Dragon Dreads and Senkoujins respectively) 
or use a Charge Break potion, which decreases DME to get rid of all CT - very 
worthwhile later on, especially for magic users.

Whew, I think that's it.

---

Chapters, Periods and Ascendance :

Valkyrie Profile uses a somewhat strange system here. Unlike other RPGs, you
can't run around gaining experience indefinitely. ^_^ You see, each chapter
is divided into a set number of Periods, which are used up as you enter
towns, dungeons or complete events. There's no real great rush for time, but
you need to maximize your effectiveness more than in other RPGs.

Especially since you've got to get some heroes ready for Odin. Each chapter,
Frei will give you a list of what she needs in a hero. You can, of course,
send up characters who don't meet these requirements; you'll simply get less
of a reward each time round. You see, depending on the number of quality of
souls sent up, you'll receive varying amounts of Materialize Points and even
Artifacts. You'll also influence the ongoing war in the Higher Realms to 
some degree, although I have yet to discover what effect this has on the 
game yet.

You've also probably figured out that since you can't gain Materialize Points 
normally (the only other way is by getting treasure chests from enemies and 
selling back their items - see why comboing is important?) this is quite an 
important phase of the game. While we're on that note, it's also important not 
to waste all your MP during a Chapter since getting some before the Sacred Phase 
is quite tough.

There's also the Seal Rating. This is viewable only through the Status screen 
and measures how much Valkyrie is under Odin's control - the lower the better. 
An understanding of this is vital to getting the good ending...

---

Other Stuff :

1. Artifacts are special items for which two choices apply - send them back
up to Odin and gain a point of Worth or keep them and lose 5. Decisions,
decisions...Well, my advice is to keep them good stuff and send the crap
back up to the big guy up there, especially since the point values stay the
same exactly the same no matter what the Artifact is question is. Depending
on your preference, it might actually be an idea to keep a lot more than you
send back since having character Ascend will also improve your Worth -  be 
careful not to let it get too low, though, or it'll affect your ending. 

2. Weapons can and do break often. Be sure to save when using the really
powerful ones, and note that Element Scepters, which allow use of Super 
Magics, tend to break often. A strategy I use is to equip my characters with
completely unbreakable weapons when levelling-up or travelling normally and
only use the good ones on bosses. Works for me.

3. There is a Practice option in the menu screen which is very like Training
Modes in console fighters - you get a monster to beat up, it can't damage 
you and has unlimited life. Basically it's for combo practice and quote getting.

4. I guess I should explain the Human Charisteristics section for each human
character, right? Well, they're basically good and bad points about each 
character which reflect their Heroic Capability (and personality, for that 
matter) such as Loudmouth, Resolute, Filial, Hates Men, etc. My advice - just 
level all of them up 'cause there's no great difference between one and the 
other. 'Sides, the higher a score you have the more rewards you'll receive when 
the character finally makes his\her way up to Valhalla.

5. All spells have an Ultimate version which can be accessed by equipped the 
chosen mage with either an Element\Ether Scepter or a Sacred Staff : Unicorn's 
Horn and being able to use a Finisher. (i.e, 100 Energy on the Hit gauge) These 
typically hit all foes and do massive damage, but add a whole lot to your CT 
bar. They're generally worth the sacrifice, though, since they usually wipe out 
the entire enemy force at one go.

6. If Valkyrie dies in battle, so will the rest of your characters if she is not 
revived within 3 rounds. She is also the only character to auto-recover from 
death - after battle, if she was killed, she'll be back with one HP.
 
---

Controlling Valkyrie :

1. Make controlling Valkyrie a fine art. This is a very action-game based RPG 
(in fact, the Easy setting's description is "for those who find action games 
difficult, pick this") and good control of your main character will be 
essential to obtaining a lot of chests\items later on. By no means necessary
but it'll make your game a lot easier.

Warning - the below will get very technical at times. I'm an old-school
platform gamer, so expect some tendencies to show. ^_^

a) It is possible to dash off ladders and catch them in mid-air as well, but 
you must have superb timing. For both, make sure to press only the desired
direction (Left or Right for the former and Down for the latter) with NO
other buttons interfering. And no, you may NOT hold the button down. A quick
press does the trick - nothing else.

b) The magical energy fired when the Square button is pressed does nothing
unless it connects with a surface of some kind.

When an already-formed Crystal is hit with another blast, a slightly larger
one is made; the increased size is very useful in the right circumstances.
Also, when hit a third time, the crystal will then break, catapulating Valkyrie 
back a horizontal distance farther than her dash - again, effective if you know 
where and how to activate this. Note that this only works for the crystals 
formed with the Down button.

However, the ones detonated on a wall will form a platform of sparkling blue
energy (a bit hard to see) which will slowly float down. Yet another way for
our heroine to get around. And furthermore, the crystals can also prop 
objects up as well as be picked up and thrown! (Only the broken shards can
be thrown, though - complete ones are too heavy.)

Slashing already formed crystals creates crystal shards, and so does jumping  or 
staying too long on ones formed on walls. You then can pick up the shards and 
throw\drop them wherever you wish; handy for that extra bit of height at
times.

You can also freeze enemies to use as stepping stones, and even push them
when they're frozen, but no slashing allowed. Furthermore, you can't freeze big 
monsters, such as the Dragon Zombie and Manticore.

Last note - you can only have three full crystals at any given time. Creating a 
fourth will result in the first shrinking into nothing.

c) Valkyrie has VERY little control in the air. She can't turn well and has
is not able to adjust her direction much at all. Keep in mind when jumping 
from\to high heights and tricky positions.

d) For pin-point dashes, turn the Auto-Dash on since EVERY movement will be
at dash speed, allowing you much finer control.

e) Now, on to jumping. Valkyrie has two jumps, one dashing and one 
stationary. The former covers a lot more distance but is harder to control,
and you'll be using the latter mainly for precision leaps. Learn the 
differences and exploit them. Just like in action games, holding Down and
pressing jump will make Valkyrie drop down one level. 

f) Pushing and pulling is achieved with the sword slash button and something
to push and\or pull. The rest should be simple. (I'm only mentioning this
here since most action games don't allow you to pull.)

g) Slashes slow Valkyrie for a split second - it's not very noticeable nor
important, but there you are. They also make her pause in the air a bit.
She can also slash upwards while on the ground, and downwards while in the
air. 

i) After a long fall, Valkyrie takes a split second to recover.

Thus ends the basic game info. And there was much rejoicing.

******

Tips and Hints :

1. MAKE SURE you hit enemies with a sword slash instead of running into them. If 
not, they get either a free round OR you start the battle with each
character having one CT point, both Very Bad Things, especially later on when 
monsters can wreak havoc on your party. (Not that they couldn't 
before - it just makes things easier for them.) 

2. You can't slash or use crystals on ladders. Be warned. You can, however, if 
dextrous enough, jump off the ladder, slash and then get back on, but this 
requires lightning reflexes.

3. You will not be able to get the best ending (A) if you play on Easy. Hard 
Mode, while much harder (like duh!) does net you extra scenes, story info and 
characters.

4. Boxes break if dropped from a height or if thrown. This should be obvious 
enough, but I thought it worth a cursory mention at least. And yes - the items 
inside do break if you drop them, so don't.

5. Watch the terrain around you carefully, 'cause you might miss things. 
Also, pay attention to the flashing arrows that help you move around - they're 
easy to ignore if you're rushing around too fast. That's the problem with rich, 
textured, backgrounds - hard to see stuff. (As long as it's not like FF8's Where 
the Hell is the Exit syndrome I'm not complaining, though.)

6. It's generally not worth spending time Resting while on the World Map 
unless you have serious status ailment or Dead characters who need assistance 
because you will use up Periods doing so. Simply get into a fight and use 
healing magic while in there. Feel free to rest if you need to waste time, 
though, especially at the end of a Chapter, since you don't get yourself cured 
by Frei. (Though I'd much rather use the time to gain a few levels myself.)

7. Get AWAY from trapped chests before they explode, unless you like taking
unecessary damage. However, in tight spaces it might be better to take the 
hit rather than jump away and not be able to return. Keep in mind that the 
explosion does throw you back a bit, which can be tricky on ledges.

More on traps, though, which come in four not-so tasty varieties :

a) Gases are released quickly and can only be avoided by ducking.

b) Explosions give you plenty of time to jump away or otherwise dodge them,
so no problems here.

c) Arrows are damn fast and you need to jump over them.

d) And the unavoidable trap - the Monster in the Box. Nothing you can do about 
this, and they start with a free turn too. Oh well.

8. You recover fully after a level-up. Small details like this have saved
many an ass. 

9. You CAN buy items in a dungeon; find a Save Point, stand on it and 
access the menu.

10. Angel Curios, despite having a 30% Breakage Rate, seem to be extremely
resilient for some reason. They also auto-ressurect a dead character in
battle. Do the math. Conversely, some powerful weapons which have low 
Breakage Rates shatter the very first fight you use them, so save often...

11. When you obtain the Blue-Grey Scarf, watch your levelling-up very 
carefully since it gives a whopping 100 CP to whomever it is equipped on 
upon level-up. I suggest you use your Event Experience to manually level-up
your characters slowly, (switching the Scarf as needed) as they near their
required experience for the next level. The Life Bracelet, which adds 300
DME, is also a worthwhile item.

12. As promised, here are more Finisher strategies : 

There are four things to consider when using Finishers - damage inflicted,
Hit gauge energy added, number of hits and CT cost. The first and last should be 
simple enough to understand, but the other two need a little elaboration.

You see, each successive Finisher executed will begin at a lower Hit gauge
rate than the previous one; i.e, the first Finisher will always hit, but the
second one starts at about 60-80 Hit energy, then next at 40-50 and so on.
(I don't have exact numbers just yet.) Therefore, you need to consider how
much Hit gauge energy each Finisher will add to the bar if you want to link
all four. I divide Finishers into roughly three types in this respect -
Short (Void Extreme, adds 30), Medium (Eternal Raid, adds 56) and Long.
(Finality Blast, adds a friggin' 80 points. You can basically chain anything
after this) Quick mention - Ultimate Magic adds a LOT. A sample Finisher 
sequence might go as follows :

Begin with Void Extreme, which will hit. You're down to about 60 Energy. 
Follow with a magic-based Finisher, say Shadow Servant, which adds about 42.
Now at 40-50 - use Finality Blast, which allows you to end with your final
attack irreguardless of what it is.

Now, that wasn't too hard, was it? The number of hits each Finisher scores
becomes important when you realize that Finisher damage doubles after 50
Hits. Put all the above info together and you should be well on your way to 
trashing your enemies.

13. This is not really a tip (more like a tidbit) but you can press the L1
button to have all the text already read displayed on the screen again. Of
course, this is useless unless you can read Japanese.

14. All characters in the game have a special item they can obtain, usually
by going back to the same spot you recruited them from. These range from the
near-useless (Rourry's War Goddess Pendant, for instance) to the powerful.
(Aluze's Dragon Slayer) I'm including a list of the ones I've been able to
find in the complete Character Section.

15. A good levelling-up strategy early is to get a bunch of multi-hitters 
character and one mage (for healing) to go fight a Dragon Zombie. Then, just
beat up on it and try to accumulate as many Magical Stones as possible, 
healing when need be. When you're done, simply use a Holy Crystal and\or Dragon 
Slayer and kill it. This works very well if you can get super multi-hitters like 
Shining Bolt, or even if you can't, lesser attacks like Spinning Edge and Triple 
Blast. The max amount of Magical Stones you can get per battle is about 40 (i.e, 
4 large crystals or 200% more experience) though, so don't push it.

Another strategy that works later in the game is finding some big bad guy with 
tons of experience (like a Dullahan Lord) equipping unbreakable low-level 
weapons which all hit three times (for maximum combo opportunities) and then 
using a mage to heal. When you're done, spend a round equipping your normal 
weapons and kill the bugger.

16. Avoid using multiple enemy attacking magics or high CT ones as your base
magic in battle, because the game will use the full cost of the spell and 
only give you two hits (or so) on one enemy. 

17. Unless you haven't already figured this out, you can change the order in 
which characters use their attacks via the Tokugi (Special Skill) option in the 
menu screen. Simply press the Circle button. Choosing which attack becomes your 
counterattacking move can also be done.

18. Just like in fighting games (I'm going to have to cut it with the 
comparisons soon...) once a dizzy enemy is hit with ANY attack, it won't be any 
more. Frozen enemies also tend to take less damage (due to the ice covering, I 
suppose - nice touch) and stoned ones even less. 

19. Teleporting monsters can still be hit when they form their warp space around 
them. Just step up and whack. The downside is, those monsters also tend to 
teleport *into* you, and that counts as a surprise attack, so be careful and use 
the Timer Ring to make things easier.

20. After using an Eye of Heaven (you only need one; do whatever you want with 
the spares) you can then press L2 in any dungeon to look at the map. Holding 
Square and a directional button then lets you rotate it.

21. Be very careful about countering - sometimes, enemies will use longer, more 
complex strings of attacks where countering will result in you taking more 
damage instead of dealing it as you rush right into a second hit. Exercise some 
caution and have a judicious eye.

22. Not that you'll be doing this very often, but if you absolutely HAVE to get 
past\to a certain area and a powerful, non-freezable enemy is blocking you, you 
do have a solution - running. Enter battle and right after - you'll be back on 
the main screen and - tada - no enemy. Useful when you've lost your Dragon 
Slayer and can't get past those nasty Dragon Zombies...

Now for some highly useful information compiled by Wilfred How - very worthwhile 
reading if you're shooting for the good ending :

---

Modifiers for Estimated Worth:
Send artifact: +1
Keep artifact: -5
Send no one  : -20 to -25 (unsure)
Enter Sacred Phase without Nibelungen Ring on: -2 (not sure if applies 
beyond the first time)
Satisfy all/most conditions : +30 to +40 (unsure)

Modifiers for Sealed Value:
Recruit character: -2
Meet Bram (and don't fight him): -10 (I think)
Send up character: +12 (this applies even to Lucio)
Recruit Meltina: -15 (!!)
Recruit Lucio: -20 (!!)
Meet Lucio/Claire: -10 (?.. I really forgot this one..)
Enter Sacred Phase without Nibelungen Ring on: -2
Enter Suzuran Meadow: ??
Meet Bram and fight him: ??
Recruit Liseria: ??
(might be others)

The items you get from Odin are not dependent upon who you send up that 
chapter, but how all the people you've sent up are helping the war. i.e., 
after sending up about 3 people, you can rest back on your laurels and still 
enjoy reasonable rewards for a chapter or two. The Materialize Points, 
however, *do* seem to be dependent upon who you send up that chapter.

The Golden Chicken is like some kind of weird investment. The Golden Eggs it 
produces can (a) be used for a possible random stat increase, (b) be 
exchanged for 4000MP and (c) be transformed into Life Bracelets, which you 
can actually send up to Odin for a +1 in Estimated Worth.

The Dryad Bark artifact can be turned into a Dimension Slip with the 
Transfomation Jewel. Fun. ^_^

In Hard mode, training in the Abandoned City Dyban becomes veeerrry 
profitable. Simply because a lot of the harpy enemies have been replaced 
with Evil Eyes that drop Orichalcum (*not* Orihalcon) and Headless Dolls, 
and most importantly give about 18000 exp. each. With either Lucio or 
Badrac, you should be able to reap enough Magical Stones before they die off... 
and if you meet two at once, it's even easier, because they also have the Sosei 
ability. ^_^

******

Endings :

(there are spoilers here, most obviously, so DON'T read if you want to find all 
this out for yourself)

There are three endings to this game, nicely titled A, B and C. A is the one 
you're shooting for, but requires that you satisfy a whole list of conditions. 
(detailed below) B simply is the "normal" ending, attainable easily, and C only 
comes about if you have less than 30 Estimated Worth at the end of the game and 
no chance at ending A.

If you want that, though, here's the list :

- Take off Nibelungun Ring.
- Go back to Suzuran field in Chapter 3.
- Go to Jerabelune in Chapter 4 to see the Lucio event.
- Visit Bram's Castle but do NOT fight him. (same chapter)
- Fight Rezard Valis.
- Recruit Meltina.
- Send Lucio up before the end of Chapter 5.
- Revisit Suzuran field in Chapter 7.

*finally, you must have a Seal Rating of less than 30!*

******

Notes about Norse Mythology :

If you've haven't already noticed (impossible since it's staring you straight in 
the face) Valkyrie Profile is based on Norse mythology. A lot of it.  However, 
since not all the references are immediately obvious, I'll provide some 
explanations and definitions.

Nothing here a direct bearing on gameplay; it's just to enhance your enjoyment 
of the game. Also, there will be SPOILERS here, so watch out!

In case you didn't hear me the first time :

***SPOILER ALERT***

***SPOILER ALERT***

***SPOILER ALERT***

With that done...

Let's start with the Valkyries. The game's intrepretation is not too far from 
the truth; in reality, Odin did send the Valkyries down to Midgard in order to 
collect souls, but they only brought brave warrior souls deserving of place in 
Valhalla back, not just anyone. 

Odin was indeed the Creator God, but he also had only one eye from throwing the 
other one into the Well of Ymir to gain the All-Knowledge. He was also most 
assuredly not a half-elf, but did wield the Holy Spear Gungnir. Furthermore, he 
had a much grimmer aspect about him and certainly didn't lounge about indolently 
on a throne like he does in the game. Also, his wife was Frigga, and NOT Frey.

Frey was supposed to have been the MALE, much lesser powerful god of the elves, 
and Sif Thor's wife. (not only that, Freya wasn't the younger sister of Frey in 
any case and was actually OLDER than Frey, I think) Freya apparently also slept 
with Dwarves to acquire the necklace Brishingi which Frey owns in the game.

The gods's race was that of the Aegis, not Arks, and their enemies the giants of 
Jotunheim. (Got that last part right, but I don't know where the Van name came 
from.)

Surtur did indeed oppose Odin and wield the element of fire, and there's an item 
in the game related to Ymir, Lord of the Frost Giants. Loki has more or less the 
same story 

(rest of section pending further play)

******


Here we begin the actual walkthrough; but before that, some notes :

1. So sue me, I like the game so much I actually broke my word and started doing 
full-scale maps. Sigh. If only Square made stuff like this, I'd play their games 
again. ^_^ Keep in mind that like the actual walkthrough, these are very sketchy 
since it took me a while to figure out a suitable mapping scheme and I only 
started half-way through the game. Will be improved in the next few updates.

Here's my mapping key. (This is long, but you'll have to read it to understand 
the maps; sorry, but that's the way things work around here, matey.)

/ = Screen break; door to next screen, any screen shift.

| = Routes leading from one area to another. 
|
|

[] = Solid walls, the kind you can't pass through.

1. 2. 3. etc = Room numbers, the details of which will be below the 
corresponding maps.

(Area A, B etc) = New areas. Because of space requirements, I'll by making use 
of these a lot. Hopefully the maps will still be navigatable.

SP = Save Point. For when you desperately need to save and can't be bothered 
reading through the room descriptions.

* = Enemies present. For easy levelling-up, you can just run through the dungeon 
and bash enemies. I'm not including chests since I assume the first time you're 
going through the dungeon, you'll want to get everything and therefore will be 
reading the room details I slaved for hours to create. 


Now, an important note - the maps do NOT reflect the actual size and shape of 
the rooms. I'm sure you can see why; I'd have to be an ASCII wizard with 
absolutely no semblance of a social life to come up with those. So you're going 
to be dealing with a lot of "imaginary space", or in simple terms :

			  |
			  |
/              /		]

and

     |
     |
/  /  ]

being entirely the same. Because I need space to write stuff, like so :

           Teleport A
		   |	
/ SP, * /		   ]	

and in this case I need to space it out, so I can't condense it all into a neat 
little box. Also, you'll have :
   
 (to Area A)
	|
/    SP	/

where Area A is another whole mess of maps which would otherwise spill over and 
interfere with the map already being displayed. I'm sure you can see the 
difficulties involved...


Capisce? Nevermind, it'll all become clear in practice.


2. Since it'd take too much time to do full-script translations, I'm sticking to 
the format that worked so well for me while I was translating Xenogears - a 
basic narrative style but with added details. I'll also provide the general 
speech patterns for all the characters in the Character Section found after the 
walkthrough so you can get a better grasp of their personality.  

Prologue 

After the credits roll, we see a young girl fetching water at the stream, 
anxious not to get back late. As she makes her way back to the village, she
bumps into some men and flustered, asks them whether their clothes have been
splattered by the water. They ignore her and her mother comes up and slaps
her, saying not to offend "the guests" and ordering her back into their
cottage to tidy up.

Platina (the girl) receives a surprise visit in the night from her beloved,
Lucio (well, they're definitely close, but I'm not sure whether they're
attached per se) who tells her to quickly run away. Platina is surprised at
this and doesn't know what to do until the arrival of her mother forces her
into a premature decision - she follows Lucio out the window. 

(Some background information first. The village from which Platina hails 
doesn't like female children as they present a hassle due to their dowry 
payments, whereas male children are able to work. Platina is also not her
"mother's" real daughter, but found and adopted, which explains how is she
treated. Now, on with the story.)

Justifiably distressed at being dragged out of bed at an ungodly hour of the
night, Platina questions Lucio, who appears very agitated indeed. After some
confusion, the truth is revealed - Platina is about to be sold off to the
black-suited men who were at her house earlier. When asked how he knows this. 
Lucio replies that the very same men came to his house before...and next day, 
his younger sister was gone. So he's escaped with Platina. Once that has been 
cleared up, Platina hugs Lucio, telling him no matter how far they go, she's 
happy as long as she's with him. (Awww...)

The two journey for some time, with Platina wondering what will happen to 
them. Finally, they reach a field of flowers, which Platina promptly runs
into, saying how pretty they are. The joy is cut short-lived when Lucio 
discovers that the entire field is full of Suzuran blossoms, whose poison will 
kill them in short order if they don't get away. However, Platina shocks him 
(and me, for that matter) by expressing a desire to stay. "If I sleep here, will 
I die peacefully?" Not exactly the most romantic of dialogues, but she has her 
reasons - she's tired of all the suffering she's endured, trying to be nice to 
parents who hated her. Though the times spent with Lucio were happy ones, she 
has had enough and wants to rest in peace with him here, sharing this moment 
forever.

Despite Lucio's efforts, the poison and her unwillingness to resist have
gotten to Platina and she collapses. Lucio then slumps forwards, giving out
an auguished cry that echoes through the night...


Walkthrough


Now the game begins proper. You're not going to be able to save for QUITE some 
time, so make sure you have no pressing appointments, kettles on the boil or 
angry Archdemons at your door before beginning.

The camera opens on something who looks like Valkyrie in church a in wedding 
dress -- CG, fades to her against blank screen, then wedding dress fades and 
background fades back into Valkyrie standing amidst a field of flowers 
reminiscent of those in the Prologue. "How nostalgic..." The female warrior then 
walks to a castle (Valhalla, actually) where she is greeted by none other than 
Freya, younger sister of the goddess Frei - somehow, I'd expected her to be a 
little less...bouncy for a goddess. ^_^ Valkyrie remarks that Freya still seems 
to address everyone like they were guests, upon which Freya jumps into her arms 
and gives her a heartfelt hug saying how great it is to see Renas again... Renas 
then mentions that she should enter.

Upon entering the the castle, Valkyrie finds herself in the presence of Odin
and Frei - after exchanging polite greetings with the latter, the two women
embrace, saying how long it's been since they've seen each other. Their 
reunion is cut short by more pressing matters, though - Odin appoints Valkyrie, 
as the one of the three Goddesses that control fate with the highest divine 
potential, to descend to the Lower Realm,  Midgard to gather strong souls to aid 
with Ragnarok. The Divine Race of Van has also begun to move against them, which 
complicates matters.

Using his godly might, Odin will then bestow upon Valkyrie (her full name is
Renas Valkuria, actually) a new costume. (Being a god must have it's perks.)
Frei tells her she's going as well, so they're off; to a rocky cliff 
somewhere, to be precise. 

After some conversation, Frei tells Valkyrie to use her powers of sensing.
She does so (Valkyrie has a unique ability to feel the desires, pain and
anger of the dead and dying) and after a short movie, heads off, but not
after mentioning the need to understand the 'heart' of the people that are to be 
recruited, leading to a musing about the need for a heart.

Scene shift to a bunch of soldiers fighting a Lesser Harpy, (one of them 
mentions that it's strong; not that it seems such when you're fighting it) but 
not for the Guy with the Big Sword (a mandatory character in RPGs since Cloud) 
who gets rid of it in a hurry along with another soldier named Rofar. The Harpy 
should pose no problem at all, even if you're not used to the battle system yet.

The man (whose name is now revealed as Aluze) now returns home and has a
chat with his younger brother, Roy, whose paintings he says are worthless
since they can't even be sold for money. Roy defends himself by saying that
this is what he does since his leg is busted and hesitantly counters by 
telling Aluze not to fight or kill anymore, which the latter says is 
impossible since they won't have any money for food.  A brief flashback about 
food (for the two) occurs and Aluze goes off to bed. Roy mentions that he paints 
because having no freedom of movement, he seeks other kinds of things.

Immediately after the flashback, Roy apologises for questioning his elder 
brother but Aluze shrugs it off and proceeds to place the money he's earned and 
a Gold Statue on the table. Upon being asked what the significance of the statue 
is, Aluze laughs and remarks sardonically that it's supposed to bring good 
fortune - he got it "a big-shot" for killing a bunch of strong people. 


A clinking sound is heard...which turns out to be of a royal scepter falling to 
the ground. The scepter belongs to the princess Jerad who has having a royal 
(pardon the pun) argument with her prime minister, Ronbert over her temperament 
and duties. It ends with Jerad shouting for silence and going off to see the 
troops, having decided that her minister is a pompous ass. (More or less.) It 
ends with Jerad flinging scepter again...sigh...

A flashback of an earlier scene follows. After some military propanganda, the 
King calls their strongest warrior (Aluze, of course - you've got to be strong 
to carry that sword around) to receive his due rewards; the money and statue. 
Aluze, after making a brief speech, suddenly has an attack of philosophical 
blues (hmm, must be the sword - he's contracted Cloud Syndrome!) and smashes the 
statue, denouncing the king as faking him and being generally pathetic. Despite 
the fact that his words are probably true, the princess screams at him that he 
will die ten thousand times for insulting her father and sics the other 
mercenaries on him...well, she would have if they'd dared to attack, that is. 
Aluze then saunters out.

Back in her room, Jerad is wondering how she can humble Aluze and avenge her
father's honor when she comes up with...a plan! Sheesh, someone tell her
that princesses NEVER come up with good plans...anyway, you're now back with
Aluze, so bring him to the door where he will have a short talk with 
"Shera", no, "Sara", no, "Angela" who offers him a job. When she leaves, Roy
asks him whether he's really going to take up the offer - Aluze considers
this.

The next day, the two meet at a foreign restaurant, where "Angela" proceeds
to order half the menu, much to Aluze's amazement. However, there is a
considerable disagreement about the food (mainly arising from Jerad's
inability to recognize foreign food as different) and after tellng the cook
that he will die ten thousand times, the princess passes out on the floor
from the wine.  

(The funny bit is still where she tosses back the wine without knowing it's 
wine -- then she passes out immediately after she threatens with 'ten thousand 
deaths'. Aluze then raises his head (where he's been hiding his face from 
embarrassment all this time) and goes "Wha...that was sake...right before the 
waitress asks him to settle the bill. ^_^)

Always the gentleman (NOT!) Aluze brings "Angela" back to his house, where 
she promptly rolls over and her glasses slip off as he is talking with his 
brother revealing her as the princess, which shocks Aluze a bit. Another short 
chat with Roy follows, then Jerad starts talking in her sleep about how Aluze 
will - you guessed it - die ten thousand times. The realization dawns upon Aluze 
as he listens to her mumbling in her sleep, that Jerad is not really doing this 
because she's out to get him; because what child would want to stand and see a 
parent ridiculed? The princess then awakens and realizes that night has fallen 
while she's been unconscious; she rushes off in a hurry, but not before asking 
Aluze if it will be fine for her to tell him the details of the job tomorrow, to 
which he replies in the affirmative.

Now we're in a bar. A man named Badrak is talking to an Agent about a job he's 
been offered. After some haggling, Badrak decides to accept the additional 
hassle of a partner in exchange for more money - after all, he reasons, it's the 
cash that's important.

You now FINALLY get control of Aluze. But can you do anything? Can you even save 
the game? Nooooooooo. Anyway, just exit the house, walk around a bit and go 
right back in. Roy will tell Aluze there's someone come to talk about the job, 
and Aluze tells him he took it. Badrak turns up soon after and after somemore 
chatting they set off with their cargo.

Badrak, being a talkative guy, tries to make Aluze loosen up but to no avail. 
One important thing comes out of his efforts, though - we learn that Badrak only 
took the mission because of the money and the prime minister Ronbert's urging. 
Aluze expresses some interest in this and they talk for a while unless there 
conversation is interrupted by Altorian soldiers who inspect the cargo, which 
prompts the two to run off, but not before Aluze recognizes the girl as the 
princess.

As night falls, the two have a conversation in which Ronbelt is revealed as a 
Vilnoiran spy and that he manipulated both Aluze and Badrak into doing his dirty 
work for him - transporting the princess to Vilnorie so he could start a war. 
Aluze is thinking about how he can do the traitor in when he seems to hear Jerad 
asking him for help in his mind.

Things are not so simple when the next day begins with the sounds of battle - 
Aluze rushes in to see two knights dead and a mysterious brown beast about. 
Stooping down to catch the dying words of one of the knights, Aluze discovers 
that Ronbert gave 'medicine' to the knights, to give to the princess.. only that 
the 'medicine' is actually, as Badrak identifies, an infusion of Ghoul Powder, a 
substance that turns humans into monsters; commonly used by necromancers -- 
Ronbert's "plan B" for getting rid of the princess and making sure he's not 
discovered. Badrak, ever the opportunist, declares that this is Altoria's 
problem, not his, and flees.

So now it's Aluze versus the Brown-Skinned Beast! Round One...fig- showing total 
disregard for audience participation, Valkyrie and Frei appear to dispatch the 
two ghosts while Aluze can't believe his eyes at seeing a goddess. He initially 
tells them not to kill the Ghoul, but Valkyrie, with a few simple words, more or 
less tells him that there is no choice. Despite the winged maiden telling them 
that he's too weak for such a monster, Aluze joins the fray and kills the beast. 
(Easy battle. Just attack and that's it.)




You're now in your first dungeon. After Valkyrie says that she feels the 
presence of the living dead here, you can (finally!) go save and proceed deeper 
into the mountain when you feel like it. During your time here, Frei will appear 
and give you instructions regarding different aspects of play, but since I've 
already explained most of them in the previous parts of this walkthrough I do 
not feel compelled to translate any one of them. ^_^

(A few of the Ghasts here are labeled as Gibbons and vice versa, because I, in 
my overweening perispacity, didn't notice that both Ghast and Gibbons start with 
the letter G! Doh.)

(to Area B; must have key) [ 2. (*) ]
		|			  |
entrance / 1. (*)				  / (to Area A)

1. (Shadow, LV) 
2. (Shadow, 2 LV) Bag - Eye of Heaven

(Area A)

[   2.   ]
    |
[ 1. (*) ]
    |
(to main)

1. (Shadow, Ghast)
2. Bag - Iron Ore. Once you have this, head back to the door in the main area to 
proceed.

(Area B)

     (to main)
         /    
        /
    [ 1. (*)  / 2. (*) ]         
	   |   \
         |    \
(Area C) |  [ 3. (*) ] [ 7. (*) ]
    |    |			  |
[ 4. (*)   / 5. (*) / 6. (*) ] 

1. (Shadow, 2 Ghast) (Shadow, G) (Shadow, 2 G) Chest (Bomb) - Plant Seeds, Chest 
- Immortal Writings
2. (Shadow, 3 LV) Chest - Plant Seeds, Chest (Bomb) - Plant Seeds, Chest - 
Treasure Search. You can only enter the second half of the room once the pillar 
has been broken in 3. below.
3. (Shadow, 3 G) Destroy the pillar here for 500 Event Exp. 
4. (Shadow, 2 G) (Shadow, 3 G) 
5. (Shadow, LV, 2 Gh) Chest (Bomb) - Element Scepter. Be careful not to fall off 
the boat now, children. 
6. (Shadow, 3 Gh) 
7. (Shadow, 2 LV) Chest - Foxglove, Chest - Fire Lance. I suggest you use the 
Fire Lance on Jerad immediately. 

(Area C)

[    1. (*)   ]
       |
(back to Area B)

1. (Shadow, LV) (Shadow, G, Gh) Chest - Belladonna, Chest - Cris Stone, Chest - 
Savory, Chest (Bomb) - Angel Curio. (This is the green one.) You're going to 
have to do some serious crystal jumping here for the chests...

Monsters :

Ghast (Leather Armor, Long Sword) 

The only real thing to look out for here is the Treasure Search item, which is 
found by climbing the wall (with crystals, obviously) of one of the rooms. 
Alternatively, you can save yourself a lot of fingerwork by transmuting a Lapis 
Crystal into one. Also find and use an Eye of Heaven to get an on-screen map. 
Journey on until you find a Save Point and then move one more screen to the 
right to face...

Your first boss. Of course, NOW is the time Frei decides that you have to prove 
yourself and show your power etc etc etc...she does loan you a Reitel Pallasch 
for the battle, though. Valkyrie tells the Elder Vampire that he has no business 
messing with the souls of humans and proves it by trouncing him roundly. Grab 
both Artifacts and leave the place.

(Do remember to strip Frei of all her equipment before she leaves - also, you 
might want to blow all her CP on learning Identify so you can save on a few 
Spectacles since she won't be back. Actually, you can't equip her stuff on 
anyone else since it's all personalized equipment, but it's just the principle 
of the thing.)

Frei then leaves to return to Odin after explaning the Chapter\Period system and 
leaving behing a fairy who will give you more details about the combat system. 
Now that Valkyrie's on her own, she has to begin her mission of finding strong 
souls to send back to Valhalla. She does that by pressing the Start button to 
use her Soul Sense - and it's off to 

A man and his female companion are walking down a flower-lined street


There is a partially-hidden passageway that is easy to miss in this
installment of the Forgotten Caves. Above the cave section with the Mithril
Ore, you can climb the wall up to the right - form a large crystal at the
cliff edge and one on the wall itself and ascend. Be careful, though, since
the other side doesn't give you much space to jump and there's an enemy on
the ledge below.

You will find a chest behind a curtain. Now, after you open the chest, pick
it up and throw it away to reveal ANOTHER chest - timer's ticking, so be 
fast. While we're on this topic, a lot of chests later on in the game tend
to be hidden behind each other, so keep your eyes peeled.

Mind that you must examine the body of the dead magician to obtain the tool
with which to close the water gate. If you don't, Valkyrie will just stand
around near the pentagram and look dumb.



Manticore - Broken Spear, Broken Sword, Broken Bow
Harpy - Evoke Feather
Wise Sorsaria - Stone Touch, Evoke Feather
Blood Sucker - Predator Claw
Dragon Tooth Warrior - Breast Plate, Rapid Bow
Fatal Glimmer - Poison Blow
Dragon Zombie (2) - Broken Armor, Broken Spear
Dragon Zombie - Headless Doll, Broken Armor

Treasures :

(1) Eye of Heaven, War Hammer
(2) Writings of Immortality
(5) Bastard Sword, Golden Gem, 

Tower of Rezard Valis -

In order to progress, take Elevator down to Area A and from there Elevator C. 


	   roof
	 /      \
	/	   \
entrance	stairs down to tower

Elevator A  Elevator B	back to roof
    |	           |           |				
[   2. /             1. (SP)        ]


---Elevator A section---

Elevator A1 / 2 Chests 

 
[ 2. (*) /        3. (*)         ]    
    |                      |
    |   Elevator A2   (to Area A)
    |       |
[ 1. (*)         / 4. ]

1. Dragon Zombie.

2. (Shadow, 2 BS)

3. (Shadow, DTW, BS) 

4. Chest.

(Area A)

[ 1. (*) /     ]
   |		|
   |	 (to Area B)
   |
   |  Elevator C (to main)
   |      |          |
[      /		        ]

1. (Shadow, 3 BS) (Orb, 2 FG)

(Area B)

  Elevator A3 (to Area A)
       |          |
[ 1. (*) /	           ]

1. Manticore, 2 Chests

Elevator A4 / Torture Chamber


---Elevator B section---

[ 2. (*) /       1. (*)         ]
                  |         |
(to Area A)  Elevator B1    |
    |			          |
[ 3. (*) /	 	              ]

1. (Orb, FG, BS) (Mage, WS)
2. (Shadow, 2 BS) Manticore 
3. (Shadow, 2 BS)

(Area A)

[ 1. (*) / 2. (*) ]
     | 
 (to main)

1. Manticore.
2. (Shadow, DTW) (Shadow, FG, DTW) Chest


[      /  1. (*)	    ]
   |		       |	
   |			 |
   |  Elevator B2  |
   |       |	 |
[      /              ]

---Elevator C section---

[ 1. (*) /			]
           |     |
      Elevator C |
		     |
(to Area A)	     |
     |	     |
[        2. (*)		]


1. 2 Dragon Zombies, Chest (Teaching of Asa)
2. Manticore 


A - Shadow, 2 DTW
B - Mage, WS, BS 
C - Shadow, FG, DTW

Bunch 1 - (Orb, 4 FG) (Mage, WS, BS) 
Bunch 2 - (Mage, WS, 2 BS) (Mage, 3 WS, DTW) (Shadow, 3 BS) 
Bunch 3 - (Shadow, 2 DTW, FG) X 2
Bunch 4 - (Orb, FG, BS) (Mage, WS, 2 BS) (Orb, 2 FG, WS)

1. (Knight, 2 RF) (Knight, RF, LB) Chest (MitB) - Predator Claw
2. Chest (MitB) - Reduce Power
3. Chest - Stun Magic
4. (Mage, 2 N) Chest (MitB) - Ranseur 
5. (Blob, 2 LB, RF) (Blob LB Chest - Ether Scepter, Chest (MitB) - Reduce Guard
6. Chest - Dark
7. (Knight, 3 RF) Chest (MitB) - Belladonna (Note, room has multiple exits)
8. (Blob, LB) Chest (MitB) - Eye of Heaven, Chest (MitB) - Resist Magic
9. (Mage, 4 N) (Mage, 2 N)
10. Save Point
11. Chest - Stun Check 
12. (Knight, 2 RF) The jump here is tricky. Form ice crystals at the bottom of 
the left ledge and use the floating crystal trip to make it easier. 
13. (Mage, 2 LB, N) (Mage, 2 RF, N) (Mage, 2 RF, N), Chest - Lapis Stone, Chest 
- Resist Damage, Chest - Ether Scepter. (This room has two parts, the bottom 
half is accessible through the door at the lower end of Room 14.)
14. (Knight, 2 RF, LB) Chest (MitB) - Plant Seeds, Chest (MitB) - Estoc, Chest - 
Darkness Arrow  
15. (Blob, 3 LB) (Knight, 2 RF, 2 N) Chest (MitB) - Reduce Power, Chest - 
Savory, Chest (MitB) - Cris Stone. You'll need to defeat all the enemies in the 
room to get it open again and earn 10000 Event Experience. Also, you can come in 
here to fight as many times as you want, but you'll have to kill everything 
again. 
16. (Mage, 2 LB, N) X 2, Chest (MitB) - Reduce Guard, Chest (Gas) - Beast 
Slayer.

Be careful of the many ladders and ledges in this place which make it 
difficult to strike enemies with your sword. Re-read the section on 
controlling Valkyrie if you're having trouble. 

Rip Forager : Standard soldier type enemy. Easy enough. (Estoc, Footman's Axe.)
Lettuce - Bolt Sake : Irritating 'cause they like to retract their eye and
can't be hit while doing that, plus they're small and can avoid high 
attacks. Magic and precision strikes will resolve both problems - their low
HP is their weak point. Watch out for their Equipment Break attack. 
Necrophilia : Despite the somewhat...misleading name, these are just normal
mage enemies, a bit weaker because they cast Dark Saber and Icicle Edge instead 
of more powerful attacking spells. Be sure to kill them fast because they CAN do 
damage if given time, though, and then to concentrate their 
attacks on a single target. (Cross Aerade, Lightning Bolt) 

Now, head to Valnova and we'll meet up with our old friend Badrak, who, as he 
says, has gotten himself into some serious trouble. Someone has evidently been 
stalking him and thought our intrepid agent-for-hire knows this, he is too late 
to prevent a dagger blow being dealt him.

We shift to an obvious flashback where a woman named Gina is scolding him for 
always being asleep - do your work, she says. A sleepy Badrak asks her if she 
knows what work he does and to let me go back to bed. Gina continues talking 
until a pajama-clad Badrak (not a pretty sight, let me tell you) walks into the 
street, saying that he didn't think the war would be like this. Gina then talks 
about the flowers growing outside his house - Badrak isn't very interested until 
she mentions that they're like cacti; blooming only during the night, and that 
if you make a wish during then it will be fulfilled. Badrak considered...then 
proclaims that he's wasting his time rearing such boring flowers. (Obviously not 
the budding (to excuse the pun) horticulturalist, our Badrak...) Gina angrily 
replies that they're not boring and that everyone is wishing for the war to end 
- Badrak goes back to bed.

We then see Badrak walk into a bar, which after some conversation with the Man 
Cowled in Black is revealed to be the Valnovan Thief's Guild. Badrak is told 
that there's no work now and that he should come back tomorrow. Outside, Badrak 
expresses his frustration at having no money by venting a few choice words. 

We switch now back to a dying Badrak (you knew this was coming) who's mumbling 
uncontrollably about how he's going to die. Moments before death, he calls for 
someone to help him - the screen goes black and there is a replay of his words, 
then he finds himself face to face with Valkyrie - and promptly decides to dance 
a jig and he's going to be taken to Valhalla! Valkyrie coldly informs him that 
no, he's not going to Valhalla, and after some confusion (and panic on Badrak's 
part) that he's being sent to Hades since Odin has no need of one such as him. 
Badrak is understandably a bit shaken by that announcement and offers to show 
Valkyrie in his memories that he was a worthwhile guy after all. Valkyrie says 
to go ahead - after all, SHE isn't the god of death.

Badrak starts off by telling her that he killed an old man - reason to go to 
hell, according to Valkyrie. Badrak then says - no, no, you've got the wrong 
idea - he was a spy! A kidnapper! A handler of stolen goods! Buyer and seller of 
women! Valkyrie gets a little bored and prepares to leave, telling him not to 
waste her time. 

Image of the flower from before, accompanies by very nice CG of it blooming and 
Gina's words. Badrak then says that he's got something, and proceeds to recount 
events of 3 to 4 years ago, when he was working in Valnova, protecting someone - 
[protecting slaver -- slaver boh lui, so he took the girl with him when he left] 
a girl bought by a slaver. Basically, what he did was end up freeing the girl at 
a church (telling her it was his house) to spite the slaver, whom he found 
irritating. After a bit more conversation, Valkyrie agrees to take him.

After that, it's off to ANOTHER Forgotten Caves section. Boy, people here must 
have bad memories...anyway, 

[ 2. (*) / 1. (*) / - entrance
     \
      \
    3.  / 4. ]

1. (Skull, 2 MGF) (Shadow, 2 LD)
2. (Shadow, 2 LD, GM) (Shadow, 2 GM, LD) (Skull, 2 CF, B) X 2
3. (Orb, 2 MGF) (Shadow, 2 I, GM) 
4. (Shadow, I, 2 GM) 

Inferia (Breast Plate)
Monstrous Glow Fly
Lesser Demon
Grape Mist 
Calent Fish
Banshee

Depending on whether or not you sent Lucio up during Chapter 5, there will be a 
story scene. Should you send him up, you ask? Well, Lucio is one of the 
strongest characters in the game (thanks to Shining Bolt and good overall stats) 
but you'll only get the normal ending if you do so. Anyway, here is the scene - 
it contains spoilers, so you might want to skip it first.

It begins with Valkyrie and Lucio (surprise) on a cliff - in fact, if you pay 
attention, you'll realize it's the cliff Frei and Valkyrie were seen atop at the 
beginning of the game. Valkyrie is telling our bright-eyed, brown-haired boy 
that his heart is in chaos; if he ascends like this he will be courting death. 
Lucio replies by asking her whether or not they can visit the village again - 
upon further questioning, he reveals the story of him and Platina, requesting 
that Valkyrie accompany him as he makes a trip back to his birthplace. She 
acceeds and the scene shifts to Lucio walking about the village, pointing out a 
few choice spots from his childhood memories until then end up at Platina's 
house, where you discover Lucio blames himself for not speaking out in protest 
against Platina's parents' cruel treatement of his beloved childhood friend.

Continuing the tour, Lucio even brings Valkyrie to the forest they ran through 
"like this, we ran" - he says, taking her hand and re-enacting events of time 
past as he continues with his story. Finally, they're back where it all began - 
the field of Suzuran blossoms, looking as beautiful but as deadly as ever. Lucio 
once again blames himself for taking Platina here - if she hadn't, she would be 
alive now. Suddenly, he asks Valkyrie to take off her helmet, a request to which 
she complies - yes, it's true, whispers Lucio. "You look just like her." 


At Chapter 6, they're only two more Chapters to go! A note at this point to 
players who like to level-up like crazy - it's not really worth it until you get 
to the Dragon Halls or Jotunheim Castle, because the enemies hence won't be that 
strong. Anyway, use your Soul Sense as per normal and you'll be directed to the 
Lost City, [Diban].

The scene opens on something right out of an opera - the fallen king, Barbarossa 
(now we get a Suikoden reference) bemoaning the death and devastation that has 
befallen his beloved town and people. For even his trusted advisors, Gain, and 
Voluce have deserted him...his speech is cut short by the arrival of Valkyrie 
and he switches to insults instead, calling her 

This is where things get a little complicated. First, you have to go outside the 
castle to

Once you've activated the switch on the bookself, you'll find that Valkyrie has 
enteed a hidden room of sorts. Sensing someone, she calls out, saying that she 
isn't with the others and that whoever's here has no need to fear her. A woman 
named Malbeth will appear, who's eventually revealed to be Barbarossa's wife. 
She will tell Valkyrie she thinks this destruction was visited upon the kingdom 
because the three mages tried to overstep the bounds of humanity to become gods. 
Taking out a crown, she will entrust it to Valkyrie - even though she doesn't 
know anything about her, something tells her that since they're both females she 
won't refuse this; after all, her husband would have wished to be a king even to 
the end.


With Duvan behind you, your next Soul Sense leads to Firan again. Here, you see 
a young girl apologizing for her power not being enough. The woman next to her 
says that it's not a matter of her power being enough - do you know how many 
people have been driven mad by your songs, she asks.

The screen goes black and a voice is heard telling Shiho that it is the glory of 
a soldier to die in battle bravely - forgot the old woman's words.

Opposing side soldiers talking about Singing Princess

Shiho's past - she has taken what she's been given by god, but she wants what 
others have; sight. Now that she has also given up her music, Suou asks her what 
she wants..."death." (What IS it with this game and suicidal females with long 
hair?) Suou, unable to deal the killing blow, instead opts to bring Shiho back 
with him to his camp, telling his commanding officer that he's captured the 
enemy singer...whereupon the moustached man remarks that she's quite beautiful - 
"but..." - slashes her the very next second.

- entrance / 1. (*)

1. (Shadow, ZD) (Skull, 3 MGF)

Monstrous Glow Fly - Ordinary Shape

The Save Point here is tricky. Form an ice crystal, then shatter it directly 
under the tip of the left ledge and jump from the ladder to it. 

Another difficult jumping point. Make a crystal near the entrance to the room, 
then make another one, shatter it and place the broken shards on top of the 
first. From there, you should be able to jump to the chest.

Lesser Demon - Lamellar
Holy Chalice

Barbarossa - (no item -- or at least you can't get it)
Life Stealer - Something CLaw, Trikabut 
Victrai - Flamberk, Full Plate
Harpuria - Prismic Missile, Poison Blow
Wise Sorsaria (2) - Dark Saber, Shield Critical
Voluce - Fairy Ring

appears to be someone denoucing Suou adn telling that his armor which hides his 
true self is fit

Back to present times, a samurai talking to Suou notes that he's 

Screen goes black, and Suou asks Shiho what he should do.




Forest of Spirits

(to Area A)    [ 8.      / 9.(*) /       ]
   |              |    |            |
   |              | (to Area B)     |
   |			|  	            |   
[ 7.(*) /    / 6.(*) ][		           ]
	   |	  |		  |
	[ 5. (*)  / Boss /       ]
              |    |	  |
Elf Village / 3. (*) / 2. (*) / 1. - entrance
                |		  |
Spring      /	   / 4. (*) ]
  		    |
		(to Area C)

1. Chest (Arrow) - Eye of Heaven
2. (Plant, 2 CB) (Plant, 3 CB)
3. (Plant, 4 CB) (Plant, 3 CB)
4. (Blob, 2 CV) X 2, Chest - Timer Ring, Chest - Prevent Sorcery, Chest - 
Reflect Sorcery
5. (Crab, 2 CM) X 2
6. (Crab, 2 CM) (Crab, 3 CM) X 2, Chest - Prevent Sorcery
7. (Crab, 3 CM) (Crab, 4 CM) X 2, Chest - Lucerne Hammer
8.  Chest - Ignite Javelin 
9. (Plant, 3 M) (Plant, 2 M) X 2 Chest - Wassail Rapier 

4. The second chest is high up in the branches, and the third on the branch to 
the far right of the screen - jump from the uppermost one branch to get it. 

6. Invisible chest, again near the far right. You must be facing left to get 
this one, though.

You'll need some fancy foot (and crystal work) to get to the boss...well, maybe 
not THAT fancy. Simply make enough crystals for you to ascend the branches and 
get to that purple ape at the top. 

(Area A)

[         1.(*)         ]
   |                  |
[ 2. (SP) / Boss ] (to main)


1. (Wasp, 3 CB) X 3 (Wasp, 2 CB) X 3

2. (Wasp, 2 CB) (Wasp, 4 CB) X 2, Chest - Reduce Power, Chest - Golden Egg

(Boss is the Cockatrice.)


(Area B)


 (to main)
    |
[ 1. (*) / Boss ]

1. (Plant, M X 3) (Plant, M X 2), Chest - Golden Egg, Chest - Lapis Stone, Chest 
- Evoke Feather

Last Chest is located the same place the one with the Golden Egg is - search 
carefully.

Boss is the Venom Spider

(Area C)
  
            (to main)
	          |
[ 3. / 2. (*) / 1. ]

1. Chest - Cross Aerade. Again, this is pretty much invisible. It's located in 
the grass at the right. 

2. (Blob, 3 CV) X 3 (Blob, 4 CV)

3. Chest - Cure Plumes, Chest (Arrow) - Sacred Garb : Sylph Red. The Sylph Red's 
in the tree to the left, and it's VERY hard to see indeed. You also can't get up 
without using ice crystals. 




Croshipp Bane

Clod Viscious (Composite Bow) 

Crustacean Monster (Wassail Rapier, Fine Halberd)

Mandragora (Prevent Sorcery, Shield Critical) 

Forgotten Caves :

entrance - 1. (*) /    / 2. (*) / 4. (*) / 5. ]
				  |
			     [ 3. ] 


1. (Shadow, M) (Skull, Harpy)

2. (Shadow, 2 LS) (Skull, 2 LM, WS)

3. Chest - Iron Ore

4. (Skull, 3 MV) (Shadow, WS, V)

5. Chest - Broken Sword, Chest - Element Scepter

Lizardman

Monstrous Vermin


Jale :

The scene opens on a girl (Jale) who wishes to join a group of knights by 
doesn't want her true gender or identity revealed. After some pleading, Farn, 
the Knight Leader agrees and takes her on, but only after she reveals her real 
name to him. The screen goes black and shifts to another time when Jale is 
practicing swordplay and is told by Farn that she's improved tremendously...a 
whole lot better than that useless bunch of young men over there, in fact. Jale 
reminds him that 1) he's not supposed to reveal anything about her and that 2) 
she's commanding under him and he should speak to her more formally - which his 
reply of "got it, got it" shows he doesn't. The scene ends with both laughing at 
Farn's reply.

We now switch to more serious times, which has Jale angry at being unable to 
move against a man named Magnus, who she wants to kill for something. She is 
also trying to thank Farn for all he's done but he brushes it off as nothing. 
Jale has a sudden attack of conscience and thinks that all she's done is 
manipulate Farn into helping her (by training and letting her join the knight's) 
so she can kill Magnus. As Farn attempts to console her, Magnus's men arrive and 
they have to leave.

Now we meet the mysterious Magnus, who is protected first by an unseen wall and 
then a purple-haired spellcaster who dispatches Jale's team, Farn and all, with 
one spell, a charming that leaves all but Jale under his control. He then 
proceeds to taunt her for a while, laughing at her futile efforts to confront 
him and her "use" of Farn to do so. As Jale vehemently denies his claims, 
swearing to kill him as she does so, the mysterious stranger speaks - turns out 
her name is J.D Wallace and she's the one in control of Magnus. She then taunts 
Jale much like Magnus does, but with considerably more style and flair. Just 
then, Valkyrie makes her appearance (you were wondering just when she'd show up, 
right?) 

******

Now we're at Chapter 8, and the end is near. But first, you have a few more 
events to clear, the first being the Dragon Halls. Proceed straight down to the 
picture of the Tower at the end and examine it twice - the second time should 
yield the Full Moon Stone, which you should then bring to the first exit up and 
place inside the statue. 

Continue along as normal (note that the Dullahan Lord you can fight gives you 
TONS of experience - in the 100000 range. Make SURE you kill him slow and get 
lots of Magical Stones, because he's not that powerful.) 

(Full Moon)

1. (Knight, GB) X 2

2. Chest (Bomb) - Eye of Heaven, Chest - Wassail Rapier. 

3. Dullahan Lord, Chest - Lapis Stone

4. (Mage, 2 MHL, GB) X 2  Chest - Lapis Stone

5. (Mage, 4 MHL) 

6. Statue Room

7. Permanent Chimera

8. Chest - Cris Stone, Chest - Guard Reinforce.

9. Chest (Bomb) - Savoury, Chest - Prismic Missile.

--- (Daymeal Stone)

1. (Lizard, 2 N) X 2 Chest (Gas) - Ether Scepter. 

2. (Lizard, 3 N) X 2

3. (Mage, 2 MHL) (Mage, 2 MHL, D) Chest (Bomb) - Bolt Sake. Death Painting. 

4. Chest (Bomb) - Lucerne Hammer, Chest (Gas) - Burn Storm. 

5. Statue Room. Simply place the statues in the same positions as they were in 
the first room and the door will open. 

6. Emperor Painting.

--- (Black Point)

1. (Mage, 2 MHL) (Mage, 2 MHL, D)

2. (Blob, 3 U) (Blob, 2 U) Chest - Cool Damsel 

3. (Knight, GB) 

4. (Mage, 3 MHL) Chest (Gas) - Shield Critical

5. Statue.

6. Chest (Gas) - Dragon Slayer, Statue

7. Chest - Lighting Bolt, Chest - Cris Stone

8. Chest (Bomb) - Might Reinforce, Chest (Bomb) - Spell Reinforce. Statue. 

--- (Three Day Moon)

1. (Mage, 3 MHL) (Mage, 4 MHL) - Painting Room 

3. P Chimera, Chariot. 

--- (Black Stripe)

1. (Knight, GB) X 2 - Door Room

2. Hanged Man, Chest (Gas) - Ignis Javelin

--- (New Moon)

1. Chest (Bomb) - Eye of Heaven

I believe the order of numbers differs from game to game. 

24. It's generally better to use spells which affect your own charisteristics 
(Might and Guard Reinforce, for instance) than your enemies', because those are 
dependent on your own power (which can only go up) than on your enemy's ability 
to resist (which can vary, sometimes not in your favor) Of course, there are 
exceptions, but it's a good rule of thumb to remember. 

25. Enemies can hit you as you come out of doors, Lizards can't be frozen.

Gleishi Bone (Damask Sword, Lucerne Hammer) - Not half as tough as the Dragon 
Tooth Warrior when you first fought him. Just do the usual and this guy will go 
down fast.

Dullahan Lord (Broken Bow, Broken Spear) - Experience Heaven! You can even get 
Broken Spears for transformable cash if need be. Weak attacks make him ideal for 
levelling characters up.

Mage High Lord (Might Reinforce, Prevent Sorcery) - Above average mages. These 
will actually post some threat to you depending on exactly what level you are 
at, but one Reflect Sorcery and they're as good as dead. Take the opportunity to 
try and get some Might Reinforces from them since the spell's hard to find. 

Dragonewt (Broken Armor, Broken Spear) - Easy pickings at this point in the 
game, especially if you've gotten the powerful weapons and armor available 
by now. 


Unicellular (Broken Bow, Broken Sword) - Again, standard slime-type enemies, and 
again, standard Equipment Break warnings apply. Besides that, nothing out of the 
ordinary.

Once that's over, we move on to Jotenheim Castle. It doesn't really matter who 
you send up for this Chapter since you'll get the exact same amount of 
Materialize Points and all your characters back after all the gods finish 
talking. (Which is basically chatter about the upcoming final battle and 
congratulating Renas...funny how all the gods don't seem to match their Norse 
equivalents. ^_^) Anyway, after that, you'll be in Jotenheim proper. You might 
want to keep an outside save because you can't exit the castle.

There's only one kind of enemy here - the warriors of the Divine Race, Van. 
(Well, they also tend to come with Wise Sorsarias.) However, you might or might 
not have noticed a simple little fact; they're weak against poison. Therefore, a 
Glare Sword will kill them outright and Poison Blow does TONS of damage as well. 
(Not to mention also killing the irritating Sorsarias.) This, as you might 
expect, is an excellent way to gain levels, especially since all enemies here 
ressurrect themselves if you leave the screen. 

******

Character Section :

---

The format I'm using is like this :

Personality : Self-explanatory. Also includes speech notes for each of the
characters.

History and Background : Very brief so as to avoid spoilers.

Special Item : The item each character can obtain, usually from the same
place you found them.

Evaluation : Relative strengths and weaknesses of the character. 

Below all this will a listing of all attacks and descriptions of them. Attack 
format is as follows :

Something-Or-Other Slash - 2 Hits / Up, Down / 15 Energy

means that the attack hits twice, once in an upwards direction and then in
the reverse, and adds 15 points to your Hit gauge. All moves will also be listed 
in order - that is, Air Slash comes before Shining Bolt since it's Lucio's first 
move.

---

VALKYRIE (Renas Valkuria)

Personality : Valkyrie tends to be, as her on-screen potrait might suggest, cold 
and unyielding; very much a servant of God and given to proverb-sounding lines. 
However, she does have a warmer side, though it doesn't show much. She speaks 
with an authority weighted by divine might (especially when talking to new 
souls) but this does lessen on occasion. All-in-all NOT your
typical RPG hero\ine...

History\Background : Being the main character of the game, Valkyrie has a long 
and involved past, most of which is supposed to be secret, so you'll have to be 
content with the little bit at the beginning of the Walkthrough. ^_^

Special Item : None

Evaluation : Valkyrie MUST be in every fight in the game, so you don't get to 
choose whether to use her or not. However, her fighting power more than makes up 
for it. A very balanced character, not strong like Aluze or multi-hitting like 
Badrak, but otherwise quite powerful. She is also the only character in the game 
able to use two weapons, either the sword or bow.

Bolt Slash (1 Hit / Forwards / 25 Energy)

Valkyrie runs forwards and delivers a head-to-toe slash.

(Basic sword attack, nothing much to say. Sets up well for most combos.)

Moment Slide (1 Hit / Up / 15 Energy)

Vertical Raid (1 Hit / Up, Up / 24 Energy)


ALUZE 

Personality : Extremely uncommuncative, to the extent of often giving only one-
word answers. Most of this silent wolf act stems from his awesome battle ability 
and inability to open up, both of which make talking and interaction difficult. 

History/Background : One of the (if not THE) most feared and powerful warriors 
in and around Altoria. Seems to be related to Kashel, Amy, Grey's etc group in 
some way.

Evaluation : Aluze is one of those characters who can't be sent up to Valhalla 
at all...which means that he's a major character! And all major characters are 
powerful! Well, more or less. 

We don't know whether it's the hair, the high-fiber diet or just the big sword 
(chicks dig the sword) but Aluze is one helluva powerhouse. Add that to the fact 
that he's with you from the beginning of the game and you're going to need a 
fighter like him...chances are that when you get other characters, you'll still 
be using him because he'll be at a much higher level. Good moves and dammably 
high HP - his only real weakness is against sorcery, which can be helped by 
having him max out Resist Magic.

Moves -

Spinning Back Knuckle 

Aluze spins around and lashes out with his fist.

(Fast, combos well, good counter.)

High Wind 

Aluze grunts and swings that huge meat cleaver of his forwards.

(A bit slow, but the Energy addition and damage make up for that. Works well in 
combos and to finish them.)

Wrenching Swing 

Aluze yells and brings his sword over his head and down onto his enemy's - with 
a sword that big, that's gotta hurt!

(SLOW, but powerful. It also pushes forwards the enemy by a great deal, even 
more with Splash added. Useful if the enemy has already been pushed back and you 
need a distance attack to whack it. Takes a bit of getting used to.)

JERAD

Personality : Haughty, proud and insufferably snobbish - she's a princess - what 
do you expect? Has a helpful and kind side too, as events show. Oh yes, and a 
penchant for calling people impolite and killing them ten thousand times. ^_^

History/Background : The princess of Altoria. What else there is in this 
department is revealed during the first part of the game. 

Evaluation : She's going to be your first magic-user, and since her stats aren't 
all that bad she does a pretty good job at it. You can switch her for Yumeru 
(who has a higher RDM, if you can stand the voice) or Meltina later, (who's more 
powerful overall) but depending on how much you've trained her, it might be a 
better choice to stick with the princess after all.


ROFAR 

Personality : Calm and soft-spoken for the most part, intensely loyal to his 
friends and own beliefs. Your typical RPG knight.

History/Background : Rofar is a Knight of Altoria, and his father seems to be 
quite high up in the social structure; he's the knight captain. Admires Aluze 
and his fighting skills, to the extent of risking his life trying to rescue his 
younger brother.

Evaluation : He's a decent spear-user, but seriously outclassed by Amy later on. 
Then again, Amy has problems with timing and comboing, so you could pick 
him...if all the later fighters you get weren't stronger. All things considered, 
he's pretty average.

Smash Axe

Trisect Strike

Rofar lunges forwards with his spear.

(Not as powerful as Spinning Edge, but then again, not as hard to use either. 
Stick this on the end of combos for a few extra hits. Be careful as like all 
spear moves, there is a slight startup lag and it pushes back quite a bit.)

NANAMI

YUMERU

JUN 

Personality : Cold and resolute, in a lot of ways the traditional samurai. Is 
willing to sacrifice for others, though he himself is plagued with self-doubt at 
times. In battle, fights with an icy determination which is a bit unnerving.

History/Background : A samurai from Firan, which seems to be the Mandatory 
Oriental Locale in this game.

Evaluation : A surprisingly decent fighter. Like most samurai, he uses some 
element of iaijitsu (sword techniques where the emphasis is on drawing the 
weapon so fast that the opponent cannot retaliate) in his fighting, so he's got 
very good speed. (Though bad lag during execution.) Doesn't really have the 
power of Aluze or any of the heavy-hitters, but his Finisher and well-balanced 
nature stand out - basically, if you want a fighting character, you could do 
worse than Jun.

Senkouzan

Jun strikes with his katana twice in a cross motion.


Jun pauses, then blurs *through* his enemy, slashing as he goes.

Senenbu 

Jun does a step/half-turn and lashes out with his sword, using his lower body 
for more momentum.

(Slow, but the real thing you have to watch out for is Jun stepping past his 
opponent and slashing nothing. 

Senkoujin (Thousand Light  - Bladelight)

Jun disappears and strikes once, then teleports behind his enemy and strikes 
again, and then front to hit again, and then again, and again, and again and 
againandgainandagainandagainandagainandagain in a whole mass of sword blows, 
finishing with an uppercut. 

(This move really rocks once you equip him with a Combo Jewel, which allows each 
hit of a Finisher to add two more Energy - which in Jun's case is a lot since 
Senkoujin does a whopping 15 Hits. It's also pretty light on CT and is quite 
quite damaging as well.)



AMY 

Personality : Hot-tempered and fiery, quite befitting a Dragonkin. Speaks with a 
masculine tone and won't back down to anyone, as her death scene shows. She has 
shown herself to get along with her comardes and has had a few mellow moments, 
though.

History/Background :

Evaluation : Is very powerful, but her moves are difficult to use and combo with 
without some degree of skill\practice. Other that than, an excellent choice as a 
fighting character, since her Finisher only takes 2 CT to use and she has above-
average stats.

Round Kick (2 Hit / Forwards, Up / 6 Energy)

Amy kicks forwards in a slow arc and then brings her spear to bear on the enemy.

(Slow startup, best used at the start of a combo. Funky timing.)


Sonic Edge

Amy pauses, then hurls her spear forwards.

(Please tell me how she follows up with Spinning Edge if she's already throw the 
spear. Anyway, I hate this move because it's so bloody slow it throws my entire 
combo timing off. Besides, Amy can't follow this up at ALL - she needs someone 
to set up for her. If you can get around this major restriction by all means use 
it. Since she does throw the spear, the move covers the entire screen.)

Spinning Edge (3 Hits / Forwards / 24 Energy)

Amy readies herself then rushes forwards, spear first.

(Excellent if you can get it to hit - it has considerable lag (though not as bad 
as Sonic Edge) and weird timing. Makes up for it by doing 3 hits and great 
damage, though. Try to get a weapon which allows Amy to use Round Kick and then 
Spinning Edge; you'll find it a lot easier.)

Dragon Dread (1 Hit / 45 Energy / 2 CT)

Amy either summons a dragon or transforms into one and launches a massive blast 
of energy.

(Good Energy gain and damage for a 2 CT move, but it only hits once. One of the 
factors that makes Amy worth picking.)

GREY

Personality :

Background/History :

Evaluation :

Moves :

Laser Edge

Grey does a straightforwards downwards slash.

(Yet another standard sword move. Grey has very slight lag at the beginning of 
this, although the actual slash is fast.)

Plastic Cannon

Grey pauses for a second, then rushes forwards, trailing after-images and sword 
drawn, as a pillar of blue ice erupts behind him. As he is rushing, two icicles 
fly out of his sword to auto-track and later hit his target.

(Despite the incredibly-stupid sounding name, this is actually one of the best 
sword moves in the game, owing both to the speed of the rush and the twin 
icicles. Why? Because the rush knocks the enemy high enough, and the icicles 
keep him there, for powerful moves like Shining Bolt, or (in more mundane 
circumstances) the rest of your attacks to hit. It's also not too slack in the 
Energy and damage departments. Make sure the weapon Grey equips allows him to 
use this.

JALE

Grim Charge (1 Hit / Forwards / 25 Energy)

Hind Edge (1 Hit / Back / 10 Energy)

Eternal Raid (7 Hits / Forwards / 56 Energy / 2 CT)

******

Translations :

---

Before we begin, another note. (Yes, I'm a note person. Live with it.) A lot
of battle quotes (most specifically the ones used by gods and samurai) tend to 
have weird-sounding translations more often that not. That's because I'd prefer 
to do the line literally and get more meaning out of it than try to convert to 
totally into English and risk the essence getting lost...however, for most of 
them where this is not intergral to the understanding of the line/s, I will 
abandon the original sense of the quote instead and give you a nicer English 
translation. Here are examples :

1. "Sono mi ni kizare!" could also be rendered as "I will obliterate you!" but 
I've chosen my version since it keeps the original wording, which I feel 
important in this case.

2. However, for something like "Mada yaru ki ka?" translates literally to "Still 
got the inclination to do it?" while "Up for more, eh?" is shorter, more succint 
and gets the meaning across better. At least I happen to think so.

Anyway, I hope you get what I'm trying to say here. ^_^

Seriously, though, most Finishers tend to have a Biblical\religious feel about 
them, which accounts for how the lines sound. Try to appreciate them for what 
they are and maybe you won't be scratching your head that much and wondering 
"NOW what is ths guy talking about?"

And before I forget - no, I'm not doing all the quotes. I'll note down all
the ones I have, and submissions will be gladly accepted (as will be 
corrections) but I'm NOT going quote hunting in a Tri-Ace game. I've heard
that terrorists use that as a method of torture worldwide.

---

Key :

*indicates nature of quote - fighting, winning etc*

(defines quote; against strong opponent, during Finisher. Kinda like a sub-
category)

"quote"

("translation")

? I missed a word or two.

??? Either I don't have all of the quote or I'm not too sure of my 
translation or both. 

I'm not doing any quote which is a sound ("Arrgggh, Hyaa! and Oof!" come to 
mind) but I will indicate how many attack\evade ones there are. All quotes will 
be listed from the left to right in the order they appear in the voice 
collection screen.

Also, if you didn't know, netting all the quotes for a single character will let 
you view a full-screen picture of him\her by pressing the Square button.

---

Mini-Glossary :

Shingi - Literally, "Divine Technique". Special war skills used only by the
gods.

Ougi - Literally, "Secret Skill". Denotes either a powerful (often hidden)
skill of a particular fighting style\school (or one self-created) or the 
"sucession technique" of said school - a move which, when learnt, proves that 
the person using it has mastered his\her fighting style completely. Most Ougi in 
this game take the first definition, though. 

Hissatsu - Literally, "Sure-Kill Technique." It more or less means "Special 
Move" but to clear things up I've included this definition.

Kami - God, god, gods or spirit. I've rendered it as "God" most times, but you 
should know there are various interpretations. Hope I haven't offended anyone...

---

VALKYRIE :

*begin fight*

??? "Shi wo, saki wo yuku mono-tachi yo!" ("Come to me, those who have embraced 
the arms of death!")

(against strong opponent)

??? "Ware to tomo ni ikiru reigen-naru yusha...ide yo!" ("Ye brave ones who 
journey by my side...come forth!")

? "Tamashii wo botoku tsumi wa omoi...sou wa sho no moto ni messei yo!" 
*note - this is 2 blocks*


*Finisher*

"Sono mi ni kizare...Shingi! Nibelung Valesti!" ("I annihilate thy form...
Divine Technique! Nibelung Valesti!")

(after)

"Owatta no ka... ("It's over...")

"Kimi ni tsukui michi nado nai." ("There is no way to save one such as you.")

"Aruki-beki basho ni kaere!" ("Return from whence you came!")

"Kore ga unmei." ("This is fate.")

(not dead)

"Mada iki ga aru no ka?" ("Still breathing?")

"Kore ijou wa muimi da to wakaranai no ka?" ("Don't you know it's useless past 
this point?")

"Kurushimu dake da to iu no ni." ("To say that this is but pain...")

"Naruhodo...kono gurai de wa shinenai no ka." ("I see...looks like you won't die 
from this.")

*winning*

??? "Reiki wa nakimono wa tada messuru no mi!" ("The fate of the soulless ones 
shall be nothing more than an eternal death!")

"Tamashii no sokubaku  

"Yoku yatta...Einferia-tachi." ("Done well...Einferias.")

*evade* 

"Mikitta!" ("Saw that!")

"Tsujiru mono ka?"

"Sono teido ka?"

*upon death*

"So...sonna..."

"Augggh!"

"Hyaaauggh!"


FREI


"Jouka wo shite ageru wa...Shingi! Ether Strike!" (I shall cleanse thee...
Divine Technique! Ether Strike!")



AMY 

"Karada ga atsue...chikara ga mezameru! Ougi : Dragon Dread!" ("My body 
burns...and the power awakens! Secret Skill : Dragon Dread!")

"Uso..." ("No way...")

"Taoshita to omotta no ni..." ("I thought that would kill...")

"Nagai wa muyou ka..." ("No use letting it drag...")

"Koitsu...dekiru." ("This one's...good.")


ALUZE

*begin battle*

"Yousha shinee ze." ("Not gonna be a quick win.")

"Kantan ni taorerun ja nee zo." ("We're not going down easy.")

"Valkyrie...tekagen shinakute ii no ka." ("Valkyrie...let's go easy on 
them.")

"Ikuzo!" ("Let's go!")

(against strong)

"Nakanaka tegowai aite da." ("Pretty strong foes.")

*Special Moves*

Finality Blast - 

"Teme no kao wo miekita ze...Ougi! Finality Blast!" ("I've seen enough of your 
face...Secret Skill! Finality Blast!")

(after)

"Igai to tanoshikatta ze." ("Was more fun that I thought.")

"Damatte kiero!" ("Shut up and die!")

"Maa, konna mon darou." ("So that's it.")

"Hontou ni shinjimau ka yo." ("So you're really dead.")

(not dead)

"Hou, omoshiree ja nee ka." ("Hmm, interesting.")

"Mada yaru ki ka." ("Up for more, eh?")

(winning)

"Wareware amaku mitara kou naru mono da!" ("It's gonna be like this if you
underestimate us.")

"Aite ga warukatta da." ("That was bad, man.")

"Abaretai nai. Sasatto tsugi ni ikou ze." (There's no need to get 
violent...let's get right to the next guy.")

"Nametan ja nee. Ore ga dare da to omotteru kai?" ("Don't play around. You
know just who I am?")



JERAD

(a short note - Jerad's stock phrase is "burei mono" which literally means 
"impolite one" This is understandably difficult to translate in certain 
instances, hence this note.)

*begin fight*

"Kore wa kyoteki dewa nai no ka." ("These aren't that strong.")

??? "Burei mono ga, banshi ni atai suru zo!" ("Impolite morons...you merit ten 
thousand deaths!)

"Shinbatsu wo kurabashite kureru wa!" ("Receive the wrath of Heaven!")

(winning)

"Shikashi, taoshite mo taoshite mo kiri ga nai no!" ("But they just keep 
coming, don't they?")

"Nakanaka shibutoi yatsu ja, kono!" ("Persistent, aren't you?")

"Minna no mono, yoku yatta!" ("Everyone, you've done well.")

Any Finisher - "Kore ga shinbatsu ja!" ("This is the punishment of Heaven!")

(after)

"Dou ja, mita ka?" ("So, saw that?")


BELINAS

Special Item : Oshihana

"Kore wa kyoteki da!" ("This is a strong enemy!")

"Kore wa kami no mi wo sasageta, watashi wa kami no teki wo kiru no mi!"
("As God commands me, all who oppose will die!")


"Mita ka, watashi no waza wo?" ("How was the sight of my skill?")

"Nan no...kore wa yudan dekinai aite da..." (What is this...I cannot let my
guard down against such a foe.")





ROURRY

*begin fight*

"Minna-san, ganbatte kudasai!" ("Everyone, do your best!)

"Ganbarimasu!" ("I'll do my best!")

*winning*


Layer Storm -

"Kami no na no moto ni!" ("In the name of God!")

"Kore de dou da!" ("How's this?")

*winning*

"Minna-san, sasuga desu ne." ("I'd expect nothing less from you all.")

"Boku yo...mou gambaranai to." ("I need to try harder...")




ROFAR 

*begin fight*

"Kono chikara...Valkyrie-sama no tame ni!" ("The power that I wield is for 
the Lady Valkyrie!")

"Yudan wa kimotsu desu yo!" ("There's no letting our guard down!")

"Boku no ude ga...tsuyou suru no ka?" ("Think you can get past me?")

*Special Moves*

Just Stream - 

"Kono ichigeki de subete wo taosu!" ("I shall defeat all with this one
strike!")

"Kore de dou da!" ("And how's this?")

(after)


"Jibun no michi wo kiri-hiraite miseru!" ("Watch me forge my own path!")

"Kusou...mada

*winning*

"Minna-san, daijoubu desu ka?" ("Is everyone alright?")

"Ikimashou, Minna-san!" ("Everyone, let's go!")




JAKE LINNAS

Special Item : Raven Slayer (found in his house in Clairmonferan)

*begin fight*

"Aite wo shite arou ka." ("So, you wish to be my opponent.")

"Aite ni totte fusoku wa nai."

"Graaagggh!"

"Sonna bakana..."


KASHEL

"Kore wa yabasou ka." ("This looks bad.")

"Kore de ore wa kimeru!" ("I'll finish it with this!")

YUMERU 

"Otousan...okaasan!"

JUN 

"Mirai wo ubawareta kibun wa dou da?" ("How does it feel to have your future
stolen away?")


*begin fight*

(against strong opponent)

*Finisher*

(after)

(not dead)

*winning*

*being hit*

*attacking*

*evading*

*upon death*

*begin fight*

(against strong opponent)

*Finisher*

(after)

(not dead)

*winning*

*being hit*

*attacking*

*upon death*


*begin fight*

(against strong opponent)

*Finisher*

(after)

(not dead)

*winning*

*being hit*

*evading*

*attacking*

*upon death*

*******

Lists Section 

---

Magic List :

Magic is what all the non-fighting characters in the game use to deal damage. 
(Well, they also use these little critters that fly, but nevermind...) And 
because it sometimes gets quite complicating, you're going to have to listen to 
my explanations. So there. They're only a few things to remember anyway :

All magic has Cast, Base, Finisher, and Ultimate versions. Cast is when you 
manually cast the spell from the Select menu during battle - depending on spell, 
this may or not hit all enemies, but ONLY if Cast will it have this ability. (I 
will include which do and don't in the list.) Base is when it's cast using the 
mage's corresponding attack button, it which case it tends to be weaker than if 
you cast it normally but can combo and become it's Finisher version, which is 
usually just multiple castings of the same spell. (So I'm not including separate 
descriptions for these.) The Ultimate version is another matter entirety and has 
a whole different visual effect, always hits all enemies, does lots more damage 
and costs 2 CT more. That's about it...now for the spells.

Burn Storm - (hits all)

CT Cost : 3

Energy Added : 50

Hits : 2

Description : A explosion of fire occurs under each enemy. Short and simple.

Ultimate version (Efreet Caress - adds 50, 1 Hit) : A fountain of flame forms 
below the enemies, reaching out and around the top and sides of the screen to 
cascade down in the middle.

Alright at the beginning of the game, especially against undead and for 
softening up a bunch of foes, but gets outmoded fast by more powerful magic. 
Even with it's Ultimate version this spell isn't much. Ditch it ASAP.

Fire Lance -

CT Cost : 3

Energy Added : 40

Hits : 2

Spears of flame launch from the mage's hands to strike his/her target.

Ultimate version (Calamity Blast - adds 20, 5 Hits) : A metoer strikes the 
ground, breaking into multiple pieces which also hit for damage.

Good attack magic early on, but do consider using something else as the game 
progresses. Very average indeed in terms of power (yes, this applies even to the 
Ultimate version)...the low cost is a plus, but how much of one? I'd rather use 
stronger spells anyday.

Cool Damsel

CT Cost : 3

Energy Added : 45

Hits : 3

Description : An ice spirit appears next to the enemy and slashes three times. 
(More for Cast and Finisher version) All strikes will hit in roughly the same 
area, so don't move your target around too much or won't get all the hits.

Ultimate version : (Absolute Zero - adds 64, 4 Hits) Crystals of ice form around 
your enemies and basically all over the place, building upon each other until a 
massive one has been built at the center of the screen, whereupon it shatters.

Evaluation : Decent enough power for the CT cost, and Absolute Zero is nice. I'd 
again much rather use a more powerful attack spell (like Lightning Bolt) but 
this one's good for when you want to conserve CT. It also seems to be one of the 
best spells for the purpose of knocking treasure chests and the like out of 
opponents.


Icicle Edge (hits all)

CT Cost : 5

Energy Added : 15

Hits : 3

Description : Shards of ice rain down upon the enemy. This spell can cause the 
Freeze effect.

Ultimate version (Delta Strike - adds 56, 2 Hits) :

Evaluation : Pretty good. The Cast version will be your main means of attacking 
all enemies early on, and it still does enough damage on it's own to be useful. 
It, however, seems to have a regrettable tendency to miss completely if the 
target is moved too far from its original location, as is the case with spells 
such as Ignite Javelin. Ultimate isn't too hot (no pun intended) but overall 
it's a nice little intermediate spell.

Lightning Bolt (hits all)

CT Cost : 8

Energy Added : 24

Description : Three bolts of crackling electricity are released from the 
spellcaster. Tends to make the enemy Faint as well.

Ultimate version (Brutish Bolt - adds 52, 4 Hits) : A huge dragon of pure white 
energy forms in the background and then bursts out into the enemies.

Evaluation : One of the more powerful attack magics, my premier choice when I 
really want to do some damage. Despite the sky-high CT cost, the sheer power of 
the spell makes it work either as Cast, Base OR Ultimate equally well - can take 
out entire enemy groups if your spellcaster is powerful enough. Be careful when 
using it in combos, though; it's got very fast execution, which though is a 
definite advantage requires good timing.  


Dark Saber -

CT Cost : 3

Energy Added : 15

Hits : 3

Description : Three finely crafted dusky purple-black blades form out of nothing 
and spear the target of the spell. These auto-track to make comboing easier.

Ultimate version : (Final Cherio, 1 hit)

Evaluation : (Ultimate version: sucks.)


Shadow Servant - (hits all)

CT Cost : 3

Energy Added : 45 

Hits : 3

Description : Formless spectral shapes appear below the target\s of this spell, 
rising up to deal damage and throw them through the air. Semi auto-track target.

Ultimate version (Meteor Swarm - adds 50, 7 Hits): The screen swirls to a view 
of a large field of stars, before beginning to swirl back down, following the 
track of a falling meteor all the way down to your opponents, who then suffer a 
large number of such meteors slamming and exploding at their feet.

Evaluation : A good attack spell. Will probably be your premier choice when you 
first get it until you switch to Cross Aerade or Lightning Bolt later. The 
shadows generated also tend to hit enemies in the air again, which leads to a 
Magical Stone or two; nice bonus. Note that Meteor Swarm is probably one of the 
best Ultimate magics -- too bad it's only attached to a above-average spell.

Ignite Javelin 

CT Cost : 3

Energy Added : 20

Hits : 4

Description : Four spears of glowing green fire lance down from the heavens to 
impale your foe.

Ultimate version (Seraphic Lost Light - adds 31, 3 Hits) : Huge beams of bright 
energy rain down upon your enemies. 

Evaluation : Not too bad. With good damage and a powerful Ultimate version, 
gives even the reigning favorites Cross Aerade and Lightning Bolt a run for 
their money. However, it loses out in the long run because it's difficult to 
combo with Ignite Javelin properly - there's a substantial lag before the spears 
actually strike and when they do, they don't track the opponent, so it's awfully 
easy to mess up your combo or totally miss altogether. In addition, Seraphic 
Lost Light only hits 3 times, which is a downer. Think before picking this one.

Cross Aerade - (hits all)

CT Cost : 6

Energy Added : 30

Hits : 3 (4 on large enemies)

Description : Three shining white lights are summoned to crash into an enemy.

Ultimate version (Celestial Star - adds 70, 7 Hits) : Masses of golden-white 
feathers form in space before trasmuting themselves into rays of holy light 
which then blast down in a blaze of glory. (You can tell I like this spell. ^_^)

Evaluation : Ah, here we are at the good stuff. Cross Aerade, having a good 
Base, Cast AND Ultimate, is truly multi-purpose; the only real flaw the spell 
has is the somewhat high CT cost and the fact that the lights are a bit slow - 
watch your combos. Besides that, great damage, holy elemental properties and an 
EXCELLENT Ultimate version (Celestial Star kicks absolute ass) make this an 
attack spell to keep.

Stone Touch 

CT Cost : 3

Energy Added : 5

Hits : 1

Description : Grey gas erupts below the target of the spell.

Ultimate version (Carnage Anthem - adds 48, 3 Hits) : A roiling mass of lava 
thunders down from the left of the screen to engulf the enemies.

Evaluation : Despite the measly, pitiful 5 points this adds to Energy, it's not 
really that bad a spell because of it's added effect. It's not called Stone 
Touch for nothing. ^_^ Good in combos because the gas forms fast. It's really 
personal preference for this one; the stoning effect occurs often enough to make 
it useful, and the low CT cost is handy, but I prefer solid damage myself. As 
for Carnage Anthem, it's about average for an Ultimate. Okay damage, bad hits. 
You decide.

Poison Blow - (hits all)

CT Cost : 3

Energy Added : 5

Hits : 1

Description : A cloud of purple gas bubbles from the ground to cover the target 
of the spell.

Ultimate version (

Evaluation : Like it's close relative Stone Touch, (above) this spell has 
limited uses. Me, I cast it with only one purpose in mind - killing mages. But 
it's worthwhile to keep in mind that Poison Cloud does more damage, comes out 
slightly faster, and hits more reliably than Stone Touch does.

Prismic Missile

CT Cost : 10 

Energy Added : 50

Hits : 5

Description : From a spinning circle of power around the mage's hands come five 
streaks of multi-colored force which track them slam into the enemy.

Ultimate version (Gravity Press - adds 48, 5 Hits)

Evaluation : Let's make it simple - there's a good point and a bad point about 
this one. The good is the damage done by both versions and how easy it   is to 
combo with it. (All the streaks auto-track, remember?) The bad should be obvious 
- prohibitive CT cost. If you use this, prepare to have your mage sitting out 
the rest of the fight or using a Charge Break; trust me, the wait is LONG. 
Because of this factor alone I prefer - you guessed it - Cross Aerade, (or 
Lightning Bolt, which is another power/high CT cost spell) but if you're sure 
you're going to kill your opponent or need the extra boost in power go ahead and 
use it. It's also worth bearing in mind that Prismic Missile has a small 
(emphasis on *small*) chance of causing a variety of status ailments, ranging 
from Faint to Curse. (The only spell to add this effect.) 


---Support Magic---

All support magic is influenced by two things : your statistics and the enemy's 
magic resistance. I'm also not including most of the earlier categories as 
they're now redundant. (I can just see Shield Critical giving you Energy...) 

Reduce Power 

CT Cost : 1

Duration : 5 Turns

Description : Lights flash over your enemies and the message "Power Down" is 
displayed.

Evaluation : Don't use this much as I'm a straightforwards "attack and kill" 
kinda guy (and face it - 4 Finishers in a row don't usually leave much of the 
opposition standing) but it could be useful in prolonged battles or if your 
enemy is too strong.

Reduce Guard

CT Cost : 1

Duration : 5 Turns

Description : Lights flash over your enemies and the message "Guard Down" is 
displayed.

Evaluation : Excellent spell. On a high-powered mage, really weakens the 
enemies' defensive potential - invaluable on tough foes. (like Blood Bane) Also 
can be used as a last-ditch measure to defeat Dragon Zombies with no Slayer. Be 
sure to cast this when fighting powerful enemies and\or bosses. However, the 
effectiveness of this drops tremendously on highly magic resistant enemies or if 
you're using a lousy mage, so keep this in mind.

Might Reinforce

CT Cost : 3

Duration : 10 Turns

Description : Lights flash over your party and the message "Power Up" is 
displayed. 

Evaluation : Because this spell adds to your power and doesn't depend on the 
enemies' resistance, it's generally more reliable, but hard to find. I usually 
go ahead and use Reduce Guard because of the lower cost anyway (my Meltina has a 
3000+ Magical Power, you see...) but this one does last longer.

Guard Reinforce

CT Cost : 3

Duration : 10 Turns

Description : Lights flash over your party and the message "Guard Up" is 
displayed. (Do you sense a trend in spell descriptions here?)

Evaluation : Very useful indeed against bosses that do a lot of physical damage, 
but not so good elsewhere. Again, I don't use this much as I focus on attacking 
as my main priority.

Spell Reinforce

CT Cost : 3

Duration : 10 Turns

Description : Lights flash...you know the drill by now.

Evaluation : Utterly useless. Why? Well, you're only going to be having one mage 
in your party (unless you're suicidal or REALLY bad at comboing) and it's not 
worth the extra turns spent casting this when you could be doing other stuff. 
Sell or transform this one the moment you get it.

Sealed Critical

CT Cost : 6

Duration : 3 Turns

Description : Large green diamonds appear around your enemies, seemingly 
trapping them inside, before they turn translucent and vanish, leaving the 
message "Sealed" if the spell is successful.

Evaluation : This spell's usage is definitely limited, and it doesn't always 
work, but it can save your butt if does. What Shield Critical does is prevent 
enemies from using their special attacks on you - note that prevents, and 
therefore allows them to TRY to use special attacks and fail, using up a turn. 
As you can see, against enemies with deadly abilities (such as Life Stealers and 
Mandragoras) this can be devastating. On the downside, it has a high CT cost and 
worse still - doesn't work all the time. A good addition to a mage's arsenal, 
but keep Charge Break handy for this one.


Prevent Sorcery

CT Cost : 5

Duration : 5 Turns

Description : 

Evaluation :


Reflect Sorcery 

CT Cost : 5

Duration : 5

Description : Lights fla - arrghhh!

Evaluation : Much more useful than it's counterpart, Prevent Sorcery, since it 
always works. Downsides are, again, the high CT cost and the reflected magic 
being weaker in nature. Use this against mage-type enemies for an easy win, but 
note that this only stops magic and not special attacks.


Cure Plumes

CT Cost : 5

Description : Feathers slowly drift down around your party members as sparkling 
lights heal them.

Evaluation : A must-have. This spell is irreplacable and utterly essential, 
mainly because it's the only healing magic in the game.

CT Cost : 5

Duration : 5

Description : 

Evaluation :

CT Cost : 5

Duration : 5

Description : 

Evaluation :

CT Cost : 5

Duration : 5

Description : 

Evaluation :



---

Skill Lists :

---Reaction Skills---

First Aid :

This is a must-have. At Level 8, it restores a quarter of your total HP per use, 
which is a whole lot on hulking masses of HP like Aluze - and it activates 
often. This is an invaluable skill at any part of the game due to it's frequency 
and overall effect (who wouldn't want more HP?) - max it out quick.

Cure Condition :

Decent. It's useful at lower levels and once you max it out, can restore ANY 
status affliction. (except Faint) Plus, it ALWAYS activates if any party members 
is currently not at normal status. The downside to this skill is that even if it 
activates, it doesn't work often and that it gets really counter-productive at 
the game progresses - simply use a Prime or Noble Banish to get back into 
fighting condition and you won't need to waste a skill slot with this equipped.

Throw :

Cheap, effective and long-lasting; that's Throw for you. (Gaah, sounds like an 
advertisement.) It costs only 25 CP to master and helps with combos till the end 
of the game - however, I find that equipping more than one character with it 
results in far too much air time for the enemies. A good skill overall.

Adept Illusion :

I don't bother with this since I don't even plan on letting my mages get hit at 
ALL (if they are, I'm not doing well and might as well reset the game) but I 
suppose it could be useful enough. No comments here.

Dancing Sword :

Same evaluation as above.

Guts : Characters will be automatically revived once they die if activated.

If you're using this, be sure to get it to a high enough level because it's not 
too good otherwise. Also, since it requires you to die to activate it, it's not 
really one of my favorites either, and it's frequency doesn't exactly make you 
immortal. (You also come back at only one HP.) The real use of this skill is 
when fighting in the Seraphic Gate, where the bosses will kill you so many times 
Angel Curios eventually break.

---Support Skills---

Splash : Causes green waves of energy to fly out of characters' weapons when 
they attacking, adding to damage and hits.

Another must have. Despite the high CT cost each level has, this skill is really 
worth it in the long run since it more or less doubles the power and Energy gain 
of your attacks when it's fully maxed out, not to mention making combos a lot 
easier besides. Trust me; this is one of the truly essential skills. Having both 
this and Throw equipped is nice...

Combo Counter : Prevents combos from being done on the character.

I don't see why anyone would want to give up the offensive power of Splash for 
this since enemies don't use that many combos anyway, but I guess it's low CP 
cost is a plus. Perhaps you could use it when you're fighting really hit-
intensive opponents - I don't know. You all try it out.

Slanting Rain : Increases bow damage.

A handy, all-around skill to have for your archers. It has a low cost and 
straightforward application. At later levels you might want to consider 
switching them to Noise Arrow or Triple Distress for the added effects though.

Noise Arrow : Has a chance of causing "Silence" status on enemy magic-users when 
hit.

If you pump this up high enough, the chance of silencing becomes high enough to 
make Noise Arrow quite a worthwhile investment...especially if you're firing 
after a well-placed spell. Me, I cast Reflect Sorcery and solve ALL my problems, 
but your mileage may vary.

Triple Distress : Has a chance of causing "Guard Down" 

Even better than Noise Arrow at higher levels due to the variety of ailments 
that it can inflict, but the above still has

Stun Magic : Any magic that hits will have a chance of causing "Faint" status.

Another high-coster, but quite useful even if it's success rate is kinda low.

Wait Reaction : The mage with this equipped gains a familiar (bat, bird or 
dragon) which hovers around him\her and attacks while the CT bar is still full. 

You MUST have this skill. Unless, of course, you LIKE seeing your mages sitting 
around doing nothing for most of the battle. Even if it wasn't the only skill 
that magic-users could fight with, it'd still be excellent for two reasons - the 
familiar flies fast and is both easy to combo with AND unblockable, and 
secondly, it tends to cause Faint as well. Yes, I know it costs a bomb (all the 
good skills do, right?) but you'll see that it's well worth it to max this out 
ASAP. 

Concentration : This skill uses some of the mage's DME to enable Ultimate magic 
to be cast without the extra CT cost.

If you're going to be using this, make SURE you max it out, because the DME cost 
at lower levels is prohibitive. Actually, I don't really see the use of this 
since Ultimate Magic tends to blow all the enemies to pieces anyway - besides, 
you can simply use a Charge Break to restore ALL your CT for a lower DME cost 
overall, so why bother?

Mental Reaction : Uses some of the mage's DME to reduce his\her CT bar to zero.  

Basically an automatic Charge Break. Like Concentration, max this out to prevent 
the DME cost from being counter-productive. I prefer Charge Breaks normally so I 
can use the skill slot from something else, but this skill saves you the extra 
turn needs to use it.

---Stats Skills---

These can be roughly divided into three categories - 1) Important ones you'll 
want all your characters to have (Resist Damage, Magic Power etc) 2) ones that 
are good to have anyway (Trick, Fight etc) but that you should pass on in favor 
of 1) above if you're strapped for CP and 3) seemingly useless ones that I have 
no idea as to what the heck they're for. (All the Intelligence skills.)

Also, no explanations for most of these since it should be obvious what they 
are.

Tactics : Good for a late INT boost, also one of the skills highly in demand for 
Einferias who Ascend.

Hear Noise : Agility boost only. Power this up if you've nothing else to do.

Resist Damage : Get this powered up FAST, especially for magic-users. 

Resist Magic : Essential for Heavy Fighters like Aluze and Kashel because their 
high HP has a tradeoff; horrible magical defense. Useful on everyone else as 
well, even mage. 

Hit :

Avoid : 

---

Transformation Lists :

---

Spells :

(all spellbooks can be sold for 200 MP)

Name			Price		Transform 		Gem		HCGem		
Prismic Missile 			Lightning Bolt	Stone Touch	
Shadow Servant 			Dark Saber		Cross Aerade
Evoke Feather			Shield Critical
Fire Lance				Burn Storm		Icicle Edge	
Burn Storm				Fire Lance 		Cool Damsel
Cool Damsel 			Icicle Edge		Burn Storm
Cure Plumes				Ordinary Shape
Prevent Sorcery			Reduce Power
Reduce Power			Reduce Guard
Poison Blow				Stone Touch		Lightning Bolt 
Ordinary Shape 			Cure Plumes
Reduce Guard			Prevent Sorcery
Icicle Edge				Cool Damsel		Fire Lance
Reflect Sorcery			Prevent Sorcery
Stone Touch				Poison Blow		Prismic Missile
Cross Earide			Ignite Javelin 	Shadow Servant
Lightning Bolt			Prismic Missile	Poison Blow 
Dark Saber				Shadow Servant	Ignite Javelin
Guard Reinforce			Spell Reinforce
Ignite Javelin						Dark Saber



Crystals :

Holy Crystal			Shadow Crystal    "     "
Shadow Crystal			Flare Crystal     "     "
Poison Crystal			Holy Crystal	"     "	
Ice Crystal				Thunder Crystal
Thunder Crystal			Poison Crystal 
Flare Crystal			Ice Crystal 



Weapons :

Broken Bow 				Long Bow		Rapid Bow		Cranequin
											Crossbow
Broken Sword			Long Sword		Bastard Sword     Glare 	
										Guard
Broken Spear			Glaive		War Hammer		Sensou :
											Crimson 	
										Edge
Broken Armor			Chain Mail 		Breast Plate	Glare 	
										Sword
Element Scepter			Book of Gold 	"      "		"     "
					Refining	
Ether Scepter			Book of Gold 	"      "		"     "
					Refining		

(All Swords till Sinclair Saber will become Flare Gems, and from then on Flare 
Crystals.)

(All Katana till Jisento will become Ice Gems, and from then on Ice Crystals.)

(All Two-Handers till Striking Sword...you know the drill. Thunder.)

(Spears till Halberd - Poison.)

(Bows till Fire Crossbow - Holy.)

(Staffs till Alchemy Wand - Shadow.)


Artifacts : 

Text of Damascus Refining     Fairy Earring
Star Reflection Mirror        Dalis Insence
Dalis Insence                 Star Reflection Mirror
Holy Chalice			Life Bracelet
Captivating Statue		Life Bracelet
Fairy Jar (?)                                 Orihalcon

Skills :

Throw					Splash
Splash				Throw
Trick Step				Noise Arrow
Auto Item				Cure Condition
Cure Condition                Auto Item
Dancing Sword			Adept Illusion
Triple Distress								Last Trial 


Golden Egg				Life Bracelet
Predator Claws			Poison Crystal   	"     "
Ghoul Powder			Ice Crystal       "     "
Lapis Stone				Enemy Search			Last Trial
Life Medicine			Cris Stone				Icicle Guard
Cris Stone				Malice Search			Scarlet Edge
Trikabut				Flare Crystal	"     "
Teachings of Asa			Lapis Stone
Black Pearl Dust			Skill Potion	"     "	Material Potion
Bolt Sake				Shadow Crystal    "     "
Belladonna				Combo Potion      "     "	"     "
Headless Doll			Scout Orb		Haste Ring	Pearl of Life
Immortal Writings				Lapis Stone 	Icicle Sword 



Item Descriptions :

------
Swords
------

These, courtesy of Steven Bruck, should help you with the lists above.

   Name:             AP:     Hits:    1  2  3   AT:  HIT    Notes
  -------           -----   ------    -  -  -   ---  ---    -----
Viking Sword         70       1       O  X  X   30   32
("B[L"O\[h)

Long Sword           98       1       O  X  X   35   31     5% Chance.
("OE\[h)

Antler Sword         100      1       X  X  O    7   27
(A"g[\[h)

Houken Grim Gaudy    100      1       X  X  O    1   30     Kills Thunder.
(󌕃OKEfB)

Broad Sword          130      1       X  X  O   20   26     6% Chance.
(u[hE\[h)

Bastard Sword        290      1       O  X  X   50   48     6% Chance.
(oX^[hE\[h)

Worn Sword           300      1       O  X  X   12   40
(["\[h)

Naken:Flare Baselard 300      1       X  X  O   60   52     Fire Damage+50%.
(-tAEo[[h)                                    5% Chance.

Falchion             350      1       O  X  X   37   20     5% Chance.
(t@VI")

Sinclair Saber       600      1       O  X  X   20   65
(V"NA[ET[x)

Lightning Edge        70      2       O  O  X   62   40     Lit Damage+90%.
(Cgj"OEGbW)

Grishmeld            150      2       O  O  X   21   45     
(NV}h)

Naken:Moon Phalax    200      2       O  X  O   20   37     Holy Damage+50%.
(-["t@NX)                                     5% Chance.

Seiken:Lost Seraphic 200      2       O  X  O   45   74     See [1].
(XgEZtB)

Naken:Ruin's Fate    400      2       O  O  X   27   60     Dark Damage+50%.
(C"YEtFCg)                                    5% Chance.

Estoc                570      2       X  O  O   45   62     8% Chance.
(GXgbN)

Silvaicia Sword      620      2       O  X  O   40   70
(V"@Cc@[\[h)

Damascus Sword       700      2       O  X  O    5   82     3% Chance.
(_}XNXE\[h)

Flamburg             700      2       O  X  O   35   53     4% Chance.
(tExN)

Wassail Rapier      1120      2       O  X  O   65   65     7% Chance.
(W[ECsA)

Glare Sword         1200      2       O  X  O    1   85     Kills Dark, 
(OA[E\[h)                                          Chance to Stone

Icicle Sword        1200      2       O  X  O    1   85     Kills Ice,
(ACVNE\[h)                                        Chance to Freeze 

Youken:"Chrome Ray" 1800      2       O  X  O   49   77     See [2].
(dNA)

Naken:Flame Fein      60      3       O  O  O    1   25
(-tFCEtFC")

Radiance Sword       170      3       O  O  O   64   64     Holy Damage+90%.
(fBA"XE\[h)

Pallasch             200      3       O  O  O   26   65  
(obV)

Dragon Slayer        200      3       O  O  O  100  175     Kills Dragons.
(hS"XC[)                                        5% Chance.

Demon Slayer         200      3       O  O  O  100  175     Kills Demons.
(f["XC[)                                        5% Chance.

Beast Slayer         200      3       O  O  O  100  175     Kills Beasts.
(r[XgXC[)                                       5% Chance.

Scarlet Forge        230      3       O  O  O   62   67     Fire Damage+50%.
(XJ[bgtH[W)

Retsutou:Farwell     320      3       O  O  O   47   62     See [3].
("t@[EF)

Reiter Pallasch      400      3       O  O  O   16   82
(CeobV)  

Ice Coffin           550      3       O  O  O   64   92     Ice Damage+50%.
(ACXRtB")

Sentou:"Silvance"    800      3       O  O  O   30   75     Holy Damage+50%
('M"V"@"X)                                          Undead Damage+10%

Valkyrie Favor      1600     3       O  O  O   29  102     
("@L[tFCo[)

Maken:"Gram"         2000     3       O  O  O   44   92     Kills Dark.
(O)

Maken:"Levaithan"    2200     3       O  O  O   40   90     Decreases Enemy
("@"eC")                                        Defense.

Shinken:Gran Reviver 6000     3       O  O  O   75   95     See [4].
(_O"XE"@Co[)

Maken:"Dyne Slave"   8000     3       O  O  O   35  100     Kills Dark.
(_C"XC")

Heretic Sword       20000     3       O  O  O    1  215     See [5].
(ľ "_al")

Notes:
------
[1]-Holy Damage+90%, Gives a 10% Increase in the Appearence of Mystic Gems.
[2]-Dark Damage+50%, Normal Attacks+70%, Finishers+50%.
[3]-Every Attack increases this weapons power by 5%(to a Max of 200%).
[4]-Kills Dark, Every attack takes 8% of the enemies HP.
[5]-Strongest Weapon in the Game. Full Name is Sword of the Heretic : "That 
which cuts down the gods (i.e, God Slayer)". You can get this by compeleting 
Seraphic Gate ten times.

--------------
Accessory List
--------------


   Name:             Effect:
  -------           ---------
Active Gem          Increases appearence of Violet Flame Stones by 50%+3.
(̎)

Angel Curio         Will auto-ressurect a dead party member. 30% Chance.
(G"WFELI)

Angel Lips          Teaches how to have the upper hand in negotiating.
("Vg̐O)

Blue Gray Scarf     When you gain a Level, you get a CP Bonus of 100.
(ŠDF̎)

Bracelet of the     Decreases Poison Damage by 90%.
Basilisk
(oVXN̘r)

Bracelet of Life    When you gain a Level, you will get a 300 DME Bonus.
(̘r)

Coin of Happiness   Increase your EXP by 50%.
(K̃RC")

Combo Jewel         Adds two more Energy per hit, Finishers included.
(R"{EWG)

Creation Gem        Increases apperance of Magical Stones by 50%+3.
(̎)

Curse Check         Prevents you from being Charmed. Holy Damage-50%.
(J[XE`FbN)

Dimension Slip     Allows Valkyrie to avoid all enemies. Valkyrie Only.
(B"W"EXbv)

Demon Sketch Book   A Book that conatins pictures of demons.
(G')

Enemy Search        This will cause a red orb to circle arround Valkyrie
(Gl~[ET[`)  whenever there are enemies near. Valkyrie Only.

Energy Ring         Raises your Combo Gauge+2.
(GiW[E"O)

Fairy Earring       Reduces your CT by 1.
(tFABEsAX)

Fairy Ring          Reduces your CT by 2.
(tFABE"O)

Fire Bandana        Will cause courage to gush forth.
(̃o"_i)

Freeze Check        Prevents you from being Frozen. Ice Damage-50%.
(t[YE`FbN)

Haste Ring          Will lower you CT Gauge by 1.
(wCXgE"O)

Heal Earring        Every turn you will recover 10% of your DME. 
(q[EsAX)    Females Only.

Heal Ring           Every turn you will recover 5% of your DME.
(q[E"O)

High-Level          Allows you to make the highest level items. Valkyrie
Transformation Gem  Only.
("zϊ̕)

Holy Ring:          Defense +100. Frei Only.
"Brisingal"
(ƒu[V"K)

Lapis Pendant       Reduces Water Damage by 50%. Female Magicians Only.
(ʗڗ̌)

Rolled Leaf         One puff will cause a person to be at ease.
(ɏt)  

Learning Ring       Increases EXP gained by 30%.
([j"OE"O)

Magic Bangle        Raises you Magic Attack Power by 30%.
(}WbNEo"O)

Magic Charm         Protects against a Magical Attack. 25% Chance.
(}WbNE`[)

Reflection Mirror   Will Cause 50% of Magic to Bounce back at the Enemy.
(-̋)

Malice Search       This will cause enemies which are actively trying to 
(}XET[`)    attack you to flash red. Valkyrie Only.


Material Earring    Raises your Max. Divine Material Energy by 15%.
(}eAEsAX)

Material Gem        Raises your Max. Divine Material Energy by 30%.
(}eAEWF)

Monster Picture     A Book that contains all the names of monsters and their
Book                characteristics.
(})

Mighty Check        Protect Against all Status Ailments. Holy Damage-90%.
(}CeBE`FbN)

Nibelungen Ring     Reduces Dark Damage by 50%. For Valkyrie Only.
(j[x"Q"̎w)  

Paralysis Check     Prevents you from being Paralyzed. Lighting Damage-50%.
(pCE`FbN)

Pegasus Letter      Gives Information about the Legendary Horse.
(x"n̂Ă)

Pearl of Karla      Teaches Swimming.
(J̐^)

Petones Textbook    Teaches the importance of Life.
(yglX{)

Phoenix Feather     Will Revive you if you Die. 10% Chance of Breaking.
(s'̉H)

Pressed Flower      Reduces Poison Damage by 90%. Fighters Only.
()

Poison Check        Prevents you from being poisoned. Poison Damage-50%.
(|CY"E`FbN)

Power Bangle        Raises your Physical Attack Power by 30%.
(p[Eo"O)

Protect Charm       Protects against a Physical Attack. 25% Chance.
(veNgE`[)

Protect Jewel       Raises your RDM by 30%.
(veNgEWG)

Crack Ring          Makes all of your attacks, "Guard Crush".
(NbNE"O)

Rabbit's Foot       Increases your Luck.
(ETM')

Rainbow Candy       Increases the sense of Taste.
(F̈)

Rally Shell         Gives Far-Reaching Knowledge.
(E̊Lk)

Resist Charm        Protects against all Status Attacks. 25% Chance.
(WXgE`[)

Resist Jewel        Raises your RST by 30%.
(WXgEWG)

Bracelet of Life    When you gain a level you get 300+ DME.
(̘r)

Scout Orb           Reduces the chance of the enemy striking first.
(XJEgEI[u)

Skull of Depone     Gives Knowledge on the Undead.
(f|[l"W)

Stun Check          Prevents you from being Stuned. Fire Damage-50%.
(X^"E`FbN)

Transformation Gem  Allows you to make different items. Valkyrie Only.
("zϊ̕)

Trap Search         Will show chests in different colors if it is trapped.
(gbvET[`)  Valkyrie Only.

Treasure Search     Will cause a Blue Orb to surround Valkyrie whenever
(gW[ET[`)there is treasure near. Valkyrie Only.

Tri-Emblem          Fire Damage -90%, RDM +1000, Evade +200, Defense +25.
(gCEG"u)

Timer Ring          This will cause enemies to move at 1/2 speed. Valkyrie
(^C}[E"O)  Only.

War Goddess Pendant Reduces Dark Damage by 50%. Male Fighters Only.
(퉳̃y"_"g)

******

Credits :

1. Wilfred How, for contributing lots of miscellaneous information all over the 
place and double-checking this FAQ often enough. 

2. Steven Bruck, who FAQ helped me out in gameplay aspects and for his Weapon 
and Accessory lists.

3. Lucky Dan, for some more notes on Norse myth.





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