Straturday Knight Reaper

Another chill one today! An artefact of these being weekly is that some weeks the weekend is just a weak end and there’s not much straturday to go around. I’m going to be recouping and playing some splatoon, how about you?

Ok, one cool thing. I sold off some old DS games over Christmas, but one I held onto so I could replay it was Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume. It’s a strategy rpg spin off of a series I never played, but I remember coming across it on sale in a game shop and picking it up on a whim, back when that was a thing people did.

Anyway, it’s a small, solid Square Enix title with hit-and-miss graphics and a very melodramatic, dark fantasy story about an emo boy getting revenge on the valkyrie who took his father to Valhalla. The central conceit is that as you progress through the various stages and gather allies, you can sacrifice them to further your personal goal. Said ally gets super powerful for that one battle, and then gets a somber death scene at the end, permadead. It’s an interesting decision, and one you’ll be forced to make as the game is decently challenging.

My favourite mechanic from this game though is Sin, which you “reap” by dealing damage over an enemy’s total HP. A defeated enemy disappears at the end of a battle round, but until that round ends you can keep doling out hits, generating Overkill which gets converted and fills up your Sin meter (doing the sacrifice thing auto-fills it).

This makes for really good gameplay! Now even weak enemies provide interesting decisions, you’re not just mowing them down because you know how easily you can kill them, but thinking about how much you can kill them. You have to think about which unit attacks when, based on their damage output. And do you leave that stronger enemy alive for one more round just so that you can overkill them next turn, or take them out while you have the chance?

Each level has a Sin threshold you’re encouraged to reach which gets you bonus items from the buxom french maid who accompanies you on your quest (accurate to the Norse sagas? Historians, weigh in below). And while there’s no penalty in the moment for not reaching a level’s goal, miss the target too many times and you’ll unlock the bad ending for the story.

Inspired by this mechanic, I tried to fold in something similar to the solo miniatures fighting game I’m working on. Feels like something with a lot of potential juice to it.

Hopefully a bit more hobbying time next week. In the meantime, have you looked at my zine quest project yet? Nearly 1/3 funded already!

Until next time, happy hobbying x