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Single-segment speed run of Valkyrie Profile on Easy Mode achieving ending B, done on September 14 2006. Available in five versions: low/normal quality DivX, and low/normal/high quality H.264 MPEG-4.
Author's comments:
This single-segment, Easy difficulty, B ending run has the fastest known time for a full Valkyrie Profile speedrun.
One quick tidbit: There are 3 endings in this game: The C ending (bad), the B ending (default), and the A ending (best). So this run finishes the game with the "regular" ending.
I got started on this project over a year ago. This is my favorite video game of all time, and it's not even remotely close; as such, I wanted to give it due respect by taking the time to make a truly high-quality run. I believe I have accomplished this.
Do note, though, that this run probably skips more of the game than any other at SDA. I only enter one dungeon besides the first and last, and I recruit only one extra character. As such, the run does not really show WHY this is such a great game; there is no substitute for playing it yourself.
This is really a collaboration between myself and Kevin Juang (a.k.a. Enhasa), as we have spent countless hours on AIM working through strategies for this run. Over this time, we have completely changed our whole route several times.
Basically, VP is a rather non-linear game. It is divided into 8 chapters, each of which contain several characters to recruit and dungeons to visit. Doing this costs you "Periods", of which you only have so many in each chapter. You can go through these characters and dungeons in whatever order you would like, or you can rest to completely skip chapters if you so desire.
You are somewhat limited, though, by your "Evaluation" rating. Essentially, the goal of the game is to level up characters and send them to Asgard. Since recruiting characters takes lots of time, I don't do this, and thus my evaluation decreases throughout the game. If it drops to 0, and you enter and leave a dungeon, you will trigger the C ending. This means I cannot afford to enter any dungeons after Chapter 4. Note that if your evaluation is 0 when you enter the final dungeon, you're fine.
With all of this in mind, there are many possibilities for a speedrun, and this is the reason we spent so much time working on this. The final strategy you see here is pretty much optimal.
Also, to explain Easy mode: The enemies actually are not any easier than on other difficulty levels. What is different is that the first dungeon is quite a bit shorter, and enemies give you much more EXP. There are also much fewer characters and dungeons available, but that does not affect this run at all.
At the start I set text speed to Fast, which helps in a couple spots, and change the controls strictly for personal preference.
The first half of the run is pure plot. Feel free to skip it if you wish. I skip text that fast by holding R1+O (default R1+X).
The first dungeon is pretty self-explanatory. Sliding is marginally faster than running when you exit a room with it. As for the boss...in this game you can transmute certain items, which turns them into other items. I bought a few weapons and turned them into magic gems, which I then used on the boss. Note: After I taped this run, tri-Ace Fanboy alerted me of a very minor improvement: Use Thunder Gem + Flare Gem on the vampire. This works if you have Arngrim and Jelanda use the crystals, due to an odd glitch: The Attack Trust (damage consistency) of your character's weapon will affect the damage of gems and crystals as well.
After this, I recruit Belenus then visit the Forest of Woe. I said earlier that I don't want to recruit characters, but Belenus is more than worth the time spent because he is the best fighter you can get for a speedrun. His "Purify Weird Soul" attack (basically, each character's super move) is stronger than that of anyone else in Easy mode. On Normal and Hard there are a couple characters who can potentially deal more, but they are not feasible for speed for a variety of reasons.
Forest of Woe has 3 treasures I need: The Icicle Edge spell, and two Element Scepters. Icicle Edge is transmuted into Frigid Damsel, a good attack spell; Jelanda starts with the very worst spell in the game, Fire Storm, and needs something better to handle the final boss. The Scepters are transmuted into Tomes of Alchemy - an item that instantly kills all normal enemies in a battle and increases the amount of EXP you earn from said battle. They also cause chests to drop almost every time.
One last Chapter 1 note: You use Spiritual Concentration to find the characters and dungeons. The order in which these things appear is random to a certain degree. I got Belenus and the Forest in the first two tries, which is a huge time-saving stroke of luck.
After this, I skip the rest of the game and head straight to the final dungeon, Jotunheim Palace.
To start off, I buy all the best weapons and armor available and give them to everyone. I also buy some Noble Elixirs (completely heal party) and Charge Breaks (reduces Charge Time, will explain later), then some accessories. Power Bangle and Magic Bangle increase attack by 30%, and Stun Checks add Fire defense and protect you from getting dizzied. I also buy some Halberds and transmute them into Poison Crystals, which cast a very powerful poison spell. Finally, I transmute all the necessary items and teach Frigid Damsel to Jelanda.
Later on, I acquire the Ether Scepter because it has insanely high magic attack and defense, AND allows Jelanda to cast a special PWS version of her spell, Absolute Zero. It can break, but this is not as bad as it seems due to a glitch - if it breaks, you still keep the magic attack and defense.
The tall enemies in the rooms with icicles can be avoided on the way there, but not on the way back (the icicles push you into them). As such, I just slash them since this gives you first attack. I use a Tome of Alchemy on the first one, and this is supposed to give me a chest; shockingly enough, it didn't for the first time ever. I quickly came up with a backup plan that worked like a charm - in the next forced fight, just combo enemies to knock a chest out of them. The chest contains Sap Power, which I transmute into Sap Guard. This spell reduces an enemy's defense by 50%, and it is key to defeating the final boss quickly.
Then we have some more platforming, including my most notable mistake of the run, then a quick fight. The Mithril Golem has a lot of HP and casts a spell that raises his defense. He gives a boatload of EXP, so I use my other Tome of Alchemy on him. This raises my levels past 25, which is where I need to be to survive the boss.
Some more platforming, then final save point. I equip the Ether Scepter, teach Jelanda Sap Guard, then raise everyone's skills with all my extra Capacity Points from leveling. Survival increases HP, Fight increases attack and magic power, and a bunch of other skills also raise magic power.
Now for the battle against Surt! I start off casting Sap Guard and using some crystals. I then perform a full combo with all 4 characters; as the hit counter increases, so does the damage, which is why I have Valkyrie using a bow.
Quick note on PWS combos: The 3rd PWS in a chain receives a damage boost, and the 4th receives an even larger boost. Thus, you want your two strongest characters to act in those spots.
Next, I heal and use Charge Breaks. See, after performing PWS's, your characters have Charge Time; they cannot perform PWS's again until their CT is 0, and mages can do nothing at all until they reach 0 CT. Charge Breaks reduce HP to remove CT, allowing me to combo again as quickly as possible. I do this the next turn.
Now, I make mistake here by giving Valkyrie a Charge Break. As it turns out, she just barely gets killed by Surt's spell; had I known this I would have just ended the turn. As it is, I combo with other 3 characters to almost kill him. Then we use some crystals, then Jelanda dies, and my last 2 charcters use crystals to kill him with little HP left! A fittingly dramatic finish, indeed...
Even with the bad luck with chests, and my couple mistakes, this run is still faster than my other attempts due to the rare event of only using two Spiritual Concentrations in Chapter 1. That is a significant time-saver.
What will be most impressive about this run, to those who have played this game, is that I did not use Guts, Auto Item, or Lucid Potions, and in a single-segment run no less. Like I said, it took much effort from myself and Kevin to figure out exactly how to accomplish this.
I think that about sums it all up! Currently Kevin and I, along with a few others, are planning a single-segment run of the A ending. This is quite a task indeed, as you fight 3 final bosses who are all harder than Surt, but with Guts and Auto Item I think it can be done.
Final shoutouts:
| Movie Files | DivX | MPEG4 | Ogg Video | 512Kb MPEG4 |
| ValkyrieProfile_SS_EndingB_Easy_103.avi | 317 MB | |||
| ValkyrieProfile_SS_EndingB_Easy_103.mp4 | 317 MB | 307 MB | 316 MB | |
| ValkyrieProfile_SS_EndingB_Easy_103_HQ.mp4 | 919 MB | 306 MB | 316 MB | |
| ValkyrieProfile_SS_EndingB_Easy_103_LQ.avi | 108 MB | |||
| ValkyrieProfile_SS_EndingB_Easy_103_LQ.mp4 | 107 MB | 233 MB | 315 MB |
Captured by Nate.
![[item image]](http://ia331324.us.archive.org/3/items/ValkyrieProfile_SS_EndingB_Easy_10328/ValkyrieProfile_SS_EndingB_Easy_103.gif?cnt=0 "[item image]")