Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of The Plume Review

Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of The Plume, or Covenant for short, is the third game in the Valkyrie Profile series. And in a way it's a return to it's roots. The Playstation 2 game Silmeria was a radical departure from the beautiful sprite art and the addictive battle system. Thankfully that returns in Covenant with a bit of a twist. You see, Covenant is a Strategy RPG akin to Final Fantasy Tactics.

However unlike most strategy games when you engage an enemy in combat you transitions into the traditional Valkyrie Profile combat system. For those of you unaware, this is a turn based combat system where each of your party members are assigned to a face button, and when you push that button the character uses their various attacks. Combine these with other characters' attacks to combo and juggle the enemies. Needless to say it's an interesting mix, but I found it quite enjoyable.

Sadly there really isn't much strategy involved in the battles. Most of them can be solved by having your four party members move in a group, surround an enemy, and slaughter it. Still it's quite fun, and not all that challenging - which if you know me is always a plus. Those looking for a hardcore SRPG should look elsewhere though.

Enough about the gameplay though, let's talk about the story. The game's protagonist Wylfred has vowed revenge against the Valkyrie who took his Father's soul to Valhalla to become an Einherjar. This tragic event lead to the downfall of Wylfred's family, thus ruining everything Wylfred held dear. Many years later Wylfred is working for a mercenary group with his friend Ancel, when Wylfred is felled by an enemy. He hears a voice and is offered a deal with Hel the Queen of Nifilheim. She allows Wyl to live and provides him with a dangerous ability - The Destiny Plume. This Plume has the ability to sacrifice Wyl's valued allies in order to gain power that will allow him to defeat the Valkyrie. Thus Wyl sets off in search of war in order to fuel this dark power.

The story has three main branches that split off depending on how many times you make use of the Plume's power. There's a good ending, a normal ending, and a bad endings. Obviously the more you use the Plume the worse the ending you're going to get. However thanks to a new game+ option, you're allowed to replay the game with all the benefits of using the Plume on a bad ending path in order to make the good ending path easier. The story - regardless of the pain is very dark and deals with a lot of political strife and betrayal. Again, very akin to Tactics. This is a good thing as far as I'm concerned, since the story in Tactics was one of it's best parts.

To accompany the dark story, the music is very music and atmospheric. The tracks are also a throw back to the original Valkyrie Profile, which again is a good thing since that game, as well as this one, have awesome music. And as I mentioned briefly before the game is full of beautiful sprites and gorgeous portraits of each character. The music, the visuals, the story - they all help compliment an extremely enjoyable gameplay experience.

Like most tri-ace games, this one contains a bonus dungeon known as the Seraphic Gate which is full of all kinds of treats for fans of the series. The characters you can get to join your party there are awesome.

I'd say this game is best suited for Valkyrie Profile fans, but SRPG fans might find the game enjoyable too if they don't mind a relatively easy ride. At the very least, I really enjoyed this game and you can probably expect to see it on the Game of The Year list.