Great Video Games

The lands of Eldar have long been known as the origin of chaos, a place where monsters and demons wreak havoc, indiscriminate in their madness. Legend tells of how the Spirit King, whose coming was heralded in by a meteor shower, gained control of the creatures and waged an unrelenting war upon civilization. Order and life were brought to the brink of destruction, but an alliance of the four races was able to drive them back and seal the evil. Centuries more have passed and once again the lands are slowly being overrun by the reemerging monsters. Without a known cause or even a united front to repel them, it would seem that this time, Eldar will fall. It is up to the main character to take up the forgotten mantle of the hero, reunite the races, and confront the hordes of monsters. The third in the Valhalla Knights series created by the development team K2 (Tenchu series) and Marvelous Entertainment Inc., Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga marks the series jump to home console as it debuts on Wii. Boasting a revamped graphics engine with real-time battles playing out on the field map, the Valhalla Knights experience is refined and improved while keeping the customization and exploration options that the series is known for intact. The series expands further as two players can now play and explore the world of Eldar together online via an internet connection.

User Reviews about Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga

When you first start Valhalla Knights your character is slow and weak. Every time you level up you have to go to the status screen (by pressing down on the D-pad) and distribute your status points. This will make your character stronger and faster. The character you pick at the beginning effects the game more then it seems. If you pick to be a fighter then you will be stronger with swords (it's one of your skills), but if you pick to be a Mage then you won't do much damage with your sword so you need to use magic to do anything significant (the magic is sometimes very helpful against guys with strong physical defense but with a weak Magical defense). One complaint is that at the beginning you have to rely on your mercenary a lot (Cassius).

A lot of people complain about the graphics. In my opinion, the graphics are quite good compared to other games. They complain about how the fog and heavy rain makes it hard to see, but isn't that the point of fog?

Overall I think this game requires patients, if you play the game for a while then it will start to become fun and addictive. -- Good Game

The negative press on this game is overwhelming and it has probably kept some people from buying this game. I am going to address some of the "problems" frequently discussed regarding Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga and set the record straight.

1. "The graphics are horrible and too dark! I can't see anything!" (one critic even went so far as to say he could barely see the outline of his character while playing the game)

Don't believe this rubbish. Sure, the graphics aren't as good as Super Mario Galaxy, but they aren't horrible either. Just check some screen shots and you will quickly discover that your character is very easy to see. There are some rather dark colors used for the scenery, but they don't interfere with the game. Some enemies do camoflage in the grass and dark colors, but that's not a problem. It's just part of the game and it gives you incentive to pay attention to your surroundings (just like in real life). The only time the screen gets overly dark is when it becomes nighttime, it rains heavily, or both. Doesn't that make sense, though? If you walk outside in heavy rain or in the dark your visibility is limited. Valhalla Knights just tries to be realistic in this regard. I have no need to increase the brightness of my TV to accomodate Valhalla Knights (as another critic claimed was necessary), so I can only assume that critics are playing on 30 year old tvs or they are blind. It's one thing to say that you prefer bright colors to the darker shades of Valhalla Knights, but to say that you can't see anything and that you run into walls on accident as a result is just ridiculous.

2. "The controls are slow and clunky! Fighting is a chore because of the poor fighting mechanic!"

At the beginning of the game this is true to a certain extent. You miss your enemy as much as you land a hit because you attack very slowly and your accuracy is in the dumps. Combos are executed very slowly, and enemies can land several hits before you even get one. However, as you level up your stats (you get skill points to allocate each time you level up) this "problem" is solved. Increasing Dexterity raises accuracy and increasing Speed raises attack speed. It won't be long before you land a hit almost every time and attack at an improved rate. Furthermore, equipping longer weapons gives you better range and different attack styles (thrusting swords use fencing moves, knives use short swings, etc.) and shields give you a good chance of guarding against your enemies. Patience will lead you to being a formidable opponent for virtually any monster.

3. "Boring quests keep the game from being interesting! Killing rabbits and fungi is a joke!"

I've heard multiple people complain about these two quests. Well, guess what. Those are the first two quests in the entire game and are used to make sure you are ready for the bigger quests that open afterwards. One has you meeting up with a mercenary--one of several that you can later hire to accompany you in your adventures (one mercenary at a time, of course)--and getting to the top of one of the mountainous areas in the game (no small challenge considering how weak this guy is when you first meet him). Another sends you looking for a troll that killed the father of a young boy. Trust me, there's plenty of variety and more than enough interesting monsters to fight--Ogres, Dragons, Zombies, Fairies, etc.

4. "The sound effects are annoying (specifically the sound of your footsteps) and make it difficult to enjoy the game!"

I didn't think anything was wrong with the way my footsteps sounded when I started playing. In fact, after reading these complaints I figured I would go back and listen to see what I was missing. Naturally the footsteps weren't annoying to me at all. And if they are annoying to you then just turn down the sound effects volume in the options menu.

In my humble opinion, I really think the people that are bashing this game didn't even try to give it a chance. The longer you play the better the game gets, and I loved it from the very start. The only real problems I have come from the incomplete instruction manual. Several semi-important features don't seem to be explained and required lots of experimentation on my part to figure out. For example, in order to access more than one item from your belt (items that can be used by pressing the "1" button rather than by going through the inventory screen, which doesn't pause the game BTW) you have to HOLD DOWN the "1" button which lets you see all items in your pockets, then you let it go and hit the "2" button to switch which item is available to be used with the "1" button (normally "2" is used to change the camera view). Also, to switch to your secondary weapons you have to hold down "B" (normally to attack) and hit the "-" button. There are also some items I am unable to equip and I don't know why. I'm still trying to discover this issue.

Otherwise I love this game to death. You can choose classes, learn skills, customize stats, customize appearance, master physical and magical combat, use bows (haven't tried this yet), and fight cool monsters. The story may not be anything spectacular, but it doesn't need to be. Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga is a great game without it.

EDIT: I now know why I couldn't equip certain items. Armor is devided between females (Red triangle) and males (Blue triangle), so that's not a problem. Now that I have beaten the game I can also say that the experience is truly wonderful. There's a classical feel about Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga, and it kept me hooked. Hopefully more RPGs like this one will come to the Wii in the future. -- Let's dispel some myths about this game