Favorite Valis game?

[esteban]

Black Tiger confirmed my points, but then he EXPANDED the scope. Damn. There is nothing I can add.

Oh, wait, I can add this tidbit:

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEAM RED ALERT.

http://www.pcenginefx.com/forums/index.php?topic=15242

CHALLENGE: In that old thread, nobody had any suggestions for what U.C.V. stood for (cross in graveyard stage). Read my two suggestions and then tell me you have a much better solution.

[Punch]

Yuko, let me show you some fancy action now !!!

[ParanoiaDragon]

United Cross Variation, Universal Crevice Vernacular, Unitarian Cranberry Vagabonds, Ungulate Cursory Velociraptors, Uber Christmas Vinyl, Utterly Confused Vindicators, Urban Cabin Virgin, Uptown Cheapskate Vultures, ................

[ClodBuster]

Your charming vagina.

[esteban]

(U)ncle (C)ock's (V)agina

[Spooky]

Some final thoughts on the computer versions of Valis II.

MSX2

Couldn't bring myself to finish it, only got halfway. Runs noticeably slower than the others, and the scrolling is even more janky than the PC-98. The weakest of the lot by far.

PC-98

Controls the best out of the three, but unfortunately it's all for naught. The PC-98 was ill-equipped to handle demanding action games such as this, so while the earlier levels are easier than the X68K due to the improved controls, the extreme choppiness makes the later levels unbearable. Good luck dodging anything on those last couple stages; your best bet is to keep using the freeze spell before enemies have a chance to come on-screen.

That said, it does have the best soundtrack of any Valis game, bar none. So it's not completely without its merits.

X68000

I take back what I said about Valis I PCE being the closest this series ever came to achieving greatness. Valis II X68000 is the closest it ever came.

They royally goofed the floof with the jump physics and handling, so most people won't even bother getting past Stage 2. If you are able to suffer through that initial hurdle, you'll find a most enjoyable game waiting for you on the other side. There's no real platforming challenges after Stage 1, and by Stage 3 your HP meter will be adequately leveled up, so the sub-par controls are of little consequence. You can almost see the difficulty curve as being inverted from the PC-98; smooth sailing from the second half onward.

The later sections benefit greatly from the X68000's superior scrolling and added autofire. Goes without saying that it's the nicest looking of any version of Valis II, (perhaps of any Valis game period?) though the music is a slight step down from the PC-98. The changes they made to enemy placement and level design are all for the better. Basically, Valis II X68K gets everything right... except for the gameplay. Still, I'll have to concur that it's a standout game in the series, if not mainly for its ambitious nature.

[EmperorIng]

Damning praise? Ha!

I have to somewhat agree; I might like Valis II on the x68k more than Valis I PCE now, even with its bad jumping controls. Right you are in that the first two stages are the biggest hurdle to getting into the game, but aside from the labyrinthine castle level (stage 5), the game proceeds smoothly. The glitchy attack spam that happens whenever you are hit is both funny and useful for killing bosses in seconds.

I think I prefer the stronger, meatier synths of the x68k, but that's a bit subjective. I think it's probably the best Valis soundtrack, with PCE-CD Valis II coming in second place. The effort put into the game makes me think it was Telenet's attempt at making the next big hit; too bad they were Telenet or they might have succeeded.

It's a game that people who are ostensibly fans of the series owe it to themselves to play, and to wonder why the series didn't try to iterate on its design, instead favoring the bland PCE Valis II as the template for future games. Valis III, while enjoyably stylish, lacks its predecessor's intensity.

[esteban]

CONCLUSION: One of these years I will have to play the X68000 and PC-98 versions.

[escarioth]

i love valis but im not a great fan

but i really love the music back from the snes.
as for turbografx games, between the 2 i have here.
i really enjoyed valis II
but got myself stuck around the end of valis III ( harder then the previous one ._. )

so i will say that i like the III since its more challenging

[EmperorIng]

Just a bump to share a few thoughts on Valis IV.

Spooky said the game was "painfully average." My feeling is closer to "painfully frustrating." While there are occasional good moments within levels, I seem to remember many more instances of enemies popping into existence and knocking you into a pit, unless you had memorized their spawn point and planned accordingly.

Ultra long levels combined with damage sponge enemies, with a dash of slow and sometimes-unresponsive attack controls (Amu's bird often decides it wants to home in exclusively on the space above enemies) - oh boy. I have to LOL at anyone who says there is a "strategy" to the game. Yeah, maybe in the broadest sense of "move out of the way of an attack, retard," but Castlevania this is not. Hope you don't die (and thus be stranded on a boss with the weakest weapon and no magic) and mash II and slide out of the way (oh, make sure you have Reina because you'll want those sliding invincibility frames to abuse). My reward for this effort was a credits scene with a musical number that repeats the same four bars over and over again; this is in stark contrast to an otherwise excellent soundtrack.

I think if the game was shorter and had been better tweaked in difficulty and balance, it would be a much stronger title, but I guess that's a complaint you can lob at every entry.

I played every Valis game that matters, perhaps sans trying out the Famicom game or getting into the nitty-gritty of the Genesis ports. You can now use this official, indisputable quality chart to decide which of these games are worth not-buying-and-just-burning (answer: all of them).

//OFFICIAL VALIS POWER RANKINGS//

UPPER QUALITY:
Valis II X68000
Valis I PCE-CD 

MIDDLING QUALITY:
Valis III PCE-CD 
Valis IV PCE-CD

LOW QUALITY:
Valis II PCE-CD

//OFFICIAL VALIS POWER RANKINGS//

[grolt]

Just a bump to share a few thoughts on Valis IV.

Spooky said the game was "painfully average." My feeling is closer to "painfully frustrating." While there are occasional good moments within levels, I seem to remember many more instances of enemies popping into existence and knocking you into a pit, unless you had memorized their spawn point and planned accordingly.

Ultra long levels combined with damage sponge enemies, with a dash of slow and sometimes-unresponsive attack controls (Amu's bird often decides it wants to home in exclusively on the space above enemies) - oh boy. I have to LOL at anyone who says there is a "strategy" to the game. Yeah, maybe in the broadest sense of "move out of the way of an attack, retard," but Castlevania this is not. Hope you don't die (and thus be stranded on a boss with the weakest weapon and no magic) and mash II and slide out of the way (oh, make sure you have Reina because you'll want those sliding invincibility frames to abuse). My reward for this effort was a credits scene with a musical number that repeats the same four bars over and over again; this is in stark contrast to an otherwise excellent soundtrack.

I think if the game was shorter and had been better tweaked in difficulty and balance, it would be a much stronger title, but I guess that's a complaint you can lob at every entry.

I played every Valis game that matters, perhaps sans trying out the Famicom game or getting into the nitty-gritty of the Genesis ports. You can now use this official, indisputable quality chart to decide which of these games are worth not-buying-and-just-burning (answer: all of them).

//OFFICIAL VALIS POWER RANKINGS//

UPPER QUALITY:
Valis II X68000
Valis I PCE-CD 

MIDDLING QUALITY:
Valis III PCE-CD 
Valis IV PCE-CD

LOW QUALITY:
Valis II PCE-CD

//OFFICIAL VALIS POWER RANKINGS//

I liked reading that, thanks. Interesting that the best and worst game is both Valis II. What makes the ports so different?

[EmperorIng]

Read a few of the posts in the last couple of pages. Both games are completely different, made by different teams. All they share in common is the name and a few of the same characters.

[stinkoman]

Do the PC Engine versions require knowledge of Japaneses to play or is it pretty straight forward?

[Mathius]

Do the PC Engine versions require knowledge of Japaneses to play or is it pretty straight forward?

Unless you are interested in story details you'll be fine with the Japanese versions.

[EmperorIng]

You don't even get the complete series story in English anyhow, so you might as well just watch cutscenes on youtube if you are really in to it.

I actually suspect that despite their awful dubbing, the English Valis II and III are fairly faithful to their source material. Knowing the general outline of the games' plots, they probably just do a straight translation of all the game text (e.g. the flavor conversations pre-boss fight, cutscene text), except with NEC's famous in-house team of amateurs.