Valkyrie Profile is not so much a game as it is a series of short stories, and not so much a series of short stories as it is a game. Interactions feel more like tracing curiosities than anything quite so overt as to be called an interaction. As structured interaction is almost entirely menu-driven, stories take place in an entirely different yet abstractly parallel realm. Instances of one discussion fade into combat, yet the combat itself can become part of the discussion. There is a difficulty in resolving the two as each plays scenes entirely differently.
Though not unique to Valkyrie Profile, it is an early game which experimented a great deal with relationships within the context of a game. The player is always intended to be an observer, not so much a guide. Characters who are on certain terms might say things to other characters in battle or change their interactions based on character compositions. Characters in the right place at the right time greatly affect how the story theoretically ends, though as the game is part of a trilogy it would be more accurate to say that the characters affect how the game resolves.
The take on Valkyries as tied entities is also a historically interesting connection, as it is not inaccurate, yet at the same time is inaccurate, as their status historically is unclear. Perhaps the Valkyrie’s taking on human properties, yet also being in conflict between their human sensibilities, perhaps their femininity, and their duty to Odin as warriors, is represented in Valkyrie’s difficult position as a maiden who simultaneously controls fate while also retaining human longing. Valkyrie Profile is often a story of such realities, of the problems and conflicts between duty and femininity, in the stories relating to females, or masculinity, in the stories relating to males, as well as the unfortunate circumstances that we continually place ourselves in when making choices between the two.
The continued history of the unresolved conflict between the individual and the society is elicited often through these tales of personal suffering, personal longing, and there is no clear answer ever given to the problems. Rather, they are continually recapitulated by many segments of societies, from all walks of life, and while each one takes on a distinct approach to the character within Valkyrie Profile, it only serves to display a shared understanding of human suffering. A dark message perhaps, darker still that there is no salvation from suffering in death, but the discomfort allows us a glimpse of internal resolution of problems we ourselves wrestle with in relation to identity. Unequivocally, Valkyrie Profile shares some of the best stories of any game ever created.
Recommended: Yes