Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria review

The more efficient your attacks, the more likely you'll be able to pound valuable treasures out of your foes' corpses... so pay attention. Most enemies have multiple limbs, each with its own bounty to reap. Each element of the battles reinforces another: how you approach enemies determines what angle you attack from, which affects which limb you'll hit and which treasures you might uncover. It's addictive, to say the least.

But that's hardly all. Underpinning it is a system of skills (unlocked by futzing about with your equipment - this could be more interesting) and the unusual fact that you recruit and dismiss tons of characters throughout the game. So you might find yourself with a largely different party every couple of hours. You don't have to go crazy to succeed at this game, but it sure does help.

Story is one place the game is less than amazing. Though the characters look stunning and the world is believable, the weak lead (a naive girl named Alicia) is a problem. Even though the other characters are cool, the fantasy yarn veers too frequently into the generic, and the title character, Silmeria, doesn't have the determination in her voice to make things believable. She sounds more like a Starbucks assistant manager chewing out an employee over a screwed up order than a goddess commanding warriors. Fortunately, the cutscenes don't drag. It's faint praise, but it counts for a lot.