The Masterpiece Square Enix Doesn't Care About - Valkyrie Profile 2

Rush Hour | Valkyrie Profile 2 Review

Check out this fascinating interview with the Valkyrie Profile 2 developers: https://shmuplations.com/valkyrieprof...

It's becoming more evident by the day just how big of a mistake consoles were for this industry. So many top shelf games are going to be lost to time. Valkyrie Profile, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Parasite Eve, Einhander, and countless more, all stuck on consoles from the past. And what are you going to do? Pay a ridiculous amount of money for a second hand copy?

But instead of breathing new life into these games that need ports, modern publishers are content to "remaster" and "remake" The Last of Us twice within a decade. Port Red Dead Redemption to the Switch for $50. Bring Skyrim to every single electronic device in existence. Popular games will forever remain within arm's reach, but what about the ever-expanding ocean of niche games?

Even if you own a working copy of Valkyrie Profile 2, and a working PS2, getting the game to run can be a mission. Tri-Ace used some bizarre voodoo magic to get their games to work on the PS2, and they're very prone to disc-read errors. I own two copies of Valkyrie Profile 2, and replaced my PS2's laser with a brand new one, and it still spits out errors constantly just for Tri-Ace's games.

And Square Enix has no love for this series. Fans made a 4K patch for Valkyrie Profile 2, while Square commissioned a gacha that died after one year, and a run-of-the-mill action game from a studio whose specialty is mediocre action games (their staff worked on Devil's Third and Wanted: Dead).

Even if you have no intention to play this game, I think it's worthwhile to remember unique games like Valkyrie Profile 2 every now and then to stay sane in this era of regurgitation. We may never see anything like it ever again.

0:00 Games lost to time
1:00 The mistreatment of Valkyrie Profile
2:24 Publishers play it too safe nowadays
4:07 Vanillaware is incredible
4:44 Tri-Ace: masters of action rpgs
5:36 The beauty of strategy games
6:53 The wonderful depth of limb destruction
8:27 One part combat; one part platformer
9:29 Recruiting characters
10:55 Gameplay that rewards good execution
13:16 Valkyrie Profile 3 exists
14:17 Valkyrie Elysium is fanfiction
15:27 Publishers don't care about games; fans do