Mysteries and Memories Are Uncovered in the PSP Action/RPG “Valhalla Knights”

by Louis Bedigian

“You are able to switch to any of your party members on-the-fly during the real-time battles.” 

“There was a massive battle years ago,” starts Jimmy Soga, Assistant Localization Producer on the upcoming PSP RPG, Valhalla Knights. The results of this battle, he says, lead to a hero sealing the Dark Lord away. One day a youth (the main playable character) appears, regains consciousness, and has no idea what is going on. The character can be either male or female, and you will learn of its significance – and discover lost memories – as the character develops. 

“The youth seems normal, “Jimmy continues, “other than the fact that a mysterious man named Noir, who no one can see or hear other than the main character, gives various advice and tips. The youth goes off to search for his/her lost memories with the guide of the mysterious friend who seems to know the youth’s past. What lies ahead is the discovery of his/her memories which ties into the future of the land.” 

Since the game started as a Japanese RPG, it'll need to be translated into English and other languages before being brought into other territories. How do you begin the localization process?

JS: Localization is something we take very seriously here at XSEED Games. Localization goes beyond simple translation; it needs to immerse players in the English game as much as it immersed native players who played the original game. The very first thing we do before anything else is to thoroughly play and finish the original game. We then start the translation process by creating an English glossary of all the key characters, locations, items, spells, etc., which all the story translations will be based on.

Tell us how the process works. I would assume the first step is to translate the entire script, and then program the translated script into the game?

JS: As I mentioned before, we will play the game, translate the scripts while checking where exactly in the game the scripts are used, send the translated scripts to the developer where they input the new script, and then we’ll finally receive our first English build. We then move into the quality assurance phase where we test the game for crash bugs and polish the English text to make sure there’s no typos, everything we initially translated shows up where we thought it would, and to see if the English is displayed in a pleasant manner (like having each text window convey a complete thought rather than cutting off in the middle of a sentence and bringing up a new text window to complete the final two words of a sentence.)

Roughly how long would you say it takes to localize a video game for new markets? What is the hardest (and/or longest) part?

JS: It can take anywhere from four months to almost a year, depending on how much text is in the game and the scale of the project. The hardest part will be the voice-overs if the game has it. Since voice recording takes so long, we usually have to start the process before the rest of the game files have been completed, meaning that we have to be very careful about finalizing all the voice lines even though the full story hasn’t been translated yet. Voice-overs are also very expensive so usually only one shot to get it done right. 

Valhalla Knights uses a party setup where six characters can go into battle at the same time, and the player will control one of them. Could you tell us more about how this works? Will you be able to switch between and control the six characters or somehow influence the moves they perform?

JS: One of the coolest features that this game offers is the character control system. You are able to switch to any of your party members while moving on the field map and depending on the character’s race and job, you will have different attributes such as speed, stealth and faster MP recovery.

You are also able to switch to any of your party members on-the-fly during the real-time battles. If there’s a particular move you want a certain character to perform, you can simply switch over to that character and do it manually. As soon as you switch over, the AI will take over the character you were controlling to ensure that they won’t be standing there doing nothing.

Judging from the screenshots, it appears that the battles take place in a circular environment that's separate from the rest of the game. Is this the case, and if so, are you transported to this screen upon enemy encounters?

JS: That’s correct, rather than being restricted to a small environment on the field map since you will encounter enemies in a narrow hallway at times, you are seamlessly transferred to a battle screen where you can have free range of movement.

Are enemy encounters random, or can you seek out or run from enemies before battle?

JS: All the non-boss enemies are roaming around in the field map. If they spot you they’ll come after you, even following you across various rooms and hallways depending on their aggression factor. Each enemy has a range of detection which is visible on the filed map, so if you can avoid that then you can avoid being detected. You can also crouch down to lower their range of detection to try to stealth your way past enemies. Also, if you surprise an enemy on the field map from the back then it counts as a Back Attack and you will start with an advantage when battle starts. However, the enemies are able to do the same so you need to be careful.

What will the exploration aspect be like? What will the world look like outside of battle?
 

JS: The world outside of battle is in 3D, so chances are if you can see it then you can move to it. You will explore all the traditional RPG mainstays such as dungeons, forests and castles, as well as some unique places such as a machine city and an old ninja village.

Is the game entirely 3D?  Will players be able to control the camera?

JS: Battles and the whole overworld take place in full 3D and the graphics are stunning. The camera can be reset behind the character at anytime by pressing the R button. The L button will switch the camera to a first-person view, though that is more to look around in the field map or for targeting during battles. You cannot move while in first-person view.

The six characters you'll battle with – do you get them at the start of the game, or is it a gradual process?

JS: You will first start off by yourself. You can acquire more party members by hiring them at the guild or completing certain quests.

Typically RPGs offer more playable characters than the ones that actually wind up in battle. Will you be able to acquire, at least temporarily, more than six characters in this game?

JS: Though each party member you hire becomes progressively more expensive, you can hire a lot more than what your battle party can hold if you’re willing to spend that much gold.  There will also be points where other characters will be at the guild and willing to join your party free of charge, so be sure to check back there often.

What can you tell us bout the different characters? How do they come together to fight for one cause?

JS: The main character initially starts traveling to try to retrieve his/her memories. The characters you hire (create) at the guild are like mercenaries so they do not play a big part in the story since they are only helping the person that hired them. The other characters that join your party of their own free will throughout your adventures each has his/her own reason for doing so, which will be revealed while playing the game.

Who is the main character in this game? He's searching for lost memories -- will this be a big part of the story? Will there be any flashbacks?

JS: The main character is a human named Escart. You get to choose if you wish to play as a male or female human character as well as change the name, though it will not affect the story. What the main character finds out about him or herself during their travels will be a big part of the story, so can’t give too much away just yet.

Will each character have his/her own class? For example: will there be one magician, one sword fighter, one melee, etc.?

JS: The job classes you can assign are endless. If you like you can have a party that only consists of fighters or mages. Plus each character can have up to 2 sub-jobs in addition to their main job, which increases the variety and the uniqueness of each player’s battle party. 

What about character customization? What things will you be able to change about each character?
 

JS: You are able to select the race, gender and job class of additional party members you hire (create). Each major body part, such as the head, chest, legs, hands, etc., can be equipped with armor or a weapon and each item will change the looks of the in-game character model.

Can you tell us about the different weapons you'll be able to use? Will they be upgradeable?

JS: You will get to see a variety of weapons in this game. I won’t get into too much detail since there’s so many, but some of them include swords, bows, wands, axes, projectile launchers and chainsaws. Each weapon is not upgradeable, but a good adventurer can find a lot of better equipment which some of the tougher enemies drop. Backup weapons can also be equipped on a character and can be switched out almost instantaneously during battle. For example, if your thief starts running low on HP during melee combat with a sword, you can back him away and switch to a bow and arrow to continue with ranged attacks from a safe distance.

A lot of recent RPGs have tested out new leveling systems – some successful, some not. Does Valhalla Knights have its own as well, or is this game more traditional?

JS: Valhalla Knights indeed has a very unique leveling system since sub-jobs play such an important part in building physical attributes due to the Bonus Points you receive whenever you level up.  Let’s say that your level 10 fighter has a strength level of 25 and you switch out their main job to being a mage. By the time your mage reaches level 5, you could have received another 15 Bonus Points which where all allocated to strength. So now when you switch back to a fighter as your main job, though you are still only a level 10 fighter you will now have a strength level of 40 instead of 25.

I think you can see how beneficial building a new job is, especially since it’s much easier to level up from level 1 instead of from level 10.  The good thing is that even though the character’s main job level will go down temporarily, his/her physical attributes will stay the same so you’ll be able to do about the same amount of damage even with a much lower level in your new job. 

Before joining the cast of an RPG, this warrior earned his living as a butcher.

Valhalla Knights is rarity in the world of action/RPGs in that it offers network play. Talk about this, and how the gameplay will differ when in a competing or co-op environment.

JS: Valhalla Knights offers a 2-player versus mode as well as a co-op mode. The versus mode is pretty self-explanatory where 2 players duel it out. Each player can have up to a 6-character battle party, and an item or amount of gold must be wagered beforehand which will go to the winner. Obviously having a real-life person as an opponent rather than the computer makes for some intense matches as they try to fully exploit your weaknesses (such as immediately going after your priest), and as I mentioned earlier, a character’s level can be deceiving and not a good indicator of their strength since they could have raised their physical attributes by building up a lot of sub-jobs. Never underestimate an opponent just because the battle party they set consists of “low level” characters.

The co-op mode features 30 co-op missions exclusive to the multi-player mode. These missions usually consist of clearing a level of all monsters, but these monsters will drop a lot of great items which can be carried back to your single-player game. Though each player can only have up to 3 characters in their battle party, the two adventurers each travel separately on the co-op level and can choose to engage the enemies together or separately since they are not bound to each other.

Thank you for your time.

JS: Thank you for having me.