The following segment will contain a few spoilers. None however should be too revealthing as spoiling the game is not the purpose of this review.
The game offers a story mode where a little girl known as Alice is reading her grandfather's book in her attic. Each books represents a story of a certain hero who was involved into a plot much more bigger than what they expected.
The first book, is the story of Gwendolyn.
Gwendolyn is one of Odins children. During the war Odins daughter Grizelda, falls in combat from a warrior who uses the power of darkness. Gwen arrives late to prevent her sister's death but as
a dyng gift Grizelda gives her spear made of a special sipher to her sister. Gwen falls from the knight but to her suprise he spares her claimming that there's been enough blood shred and claimming her life would be
pointless. Gwen is desperate for her father's recognission and tries to offer her best services to him . Odin request of her to fetch him the witch of the forest as she knows the secret to use the Cauldron a weapon
capable of bringiing the world's end. Gwen succesfully does so, but out of the blue Odin appears and reveals that the witch is called Velvet, the last survivor of the Valentine tribe and that she was his daughter from another mother. While Odin
was trying to find a way to learn the Witch's secret. Velvet was kidnapped by Odins right hand man and was going to be used as a sacrifice to a Dragon. Gwen rushes to save her sister, however her acts were
againts the Lords order and as a punishment she was set into a deep slumber, and who ever awakes her, should become her housband and she should make everything possible to make him happy despite whether or not she agrees, a punishment
every valkyrie has to follow. Gwen awakens and sees the black knight infornt of her. Since he awaken her she is his. Nevertheless the black knight Oswald treats her with respect, he claims he doesn't want her to love him because
of the rules of the spells and that she is free. Needless to say that had an impact on Gwendolyn. He gives her a ring as part of his promise to do his all to protect her, and tells her he has to go on a mission and that he will be back.
Gwen recognisses the ring as the key that can awaken the Cauldron. She proceeds to visit her father's kingdom, however everyone seemed to be trying to kill her. After succesfully proceeding deep in the kingdom she was told that the one
who requested her death was her own father, Odin himself. Gwen senses that something is not right and procceeds to find Odin.Once she reached her throne, she sees her father however he was possesed by Brigan, Odins former right hand who was sent
by the queen of the dead to stop Odin. Gwen defeats the posseseed Odin. The lord witnesses the ring on her hand and request Gwendolyn to hand it over. She hands it over to him and he explains his deal with Oswald. Odin restores
her honor and commends her. After learning all of this Gwen refuses to stay with Odin and returns to her new home waiting for Oswald who has been gone for a while. She was inform he went to the fire kingdom to which she goes.
She meets the inferno king and learns about what happened between him Odin and Oswald. Gwen saves Oswald from deaths hand and was also informed about his fate and his connection to the queen of the dead. Gwen returns to the
kingdom and was informed that the fairy kingdom has the ring of titrel. She goes there and begs queen Mercedes to give her the ring but she denies and they fight. Gwen returns to her house and was told that Oswald was claimed
by the queen of the dead. She has only one solution, to ask her dad to show her the path to the world of the dead. She goes to Odin begging him to show her the way. He accepts , but only if she hands him the ring. For the first time Gwen
denies Odin's request to hand himt the ring before going to the Netherworld. She finds the Queen and request Oswald's return. The queen denies and they fight. Gwen uses her all to best the queen but runs out of power. Odin comes to their rescue and
brings them back. He then asks the ring but Gwen denies and claims that he can have the ring after he kills her. Odin was annoyed but Oswald's interfierence prevents him from doing anything and so he lets them both go. Oswald and Gwen are now
together and they confess their feelings.
The next Book becomes available for the Alice, and it's the Pooka prince Cornelius.
The story begins by introducing the player to the new hero, prince Cornelius of Titania who seems to be in love with the witch of the forest Velvet, something that the king does not aprove. The two argue about it but they go to bed as it was late.
The pince awakens into a new form and in the world of the dead known as Netherworld. The form is known as Pooka, Pooka are people who are cursed and they have the shape of beasts. A mysterious voice gives the prince a sword and wishes him good luck.
The sword was made of psypher and with it he succesfully reaches the queen of the dead placen with the help of another dead person in exchange of helping him escape as well . He succesfully beats her and manages to escape into Odins kingdom where he is captured.
Cornelous tried to tell them he is the prince of titania but they do not believe him. Princess Grizelda claims his sword. They tell him, that if he is who he claims to be he should fight Brigan and claimed his horn. They hand him his sword
and he ventures around to find him. With that being done, Odins allows him to pass through his kingdom. He returns to Titania where he sees his body walking around. He approaches his father, who didnt recognise him with his new look. The prince explainsthe dialogue
they shared when last seen each other. The prince seemed to slowly believe his story howver the moment Cornelious showed him his new sword he seemed to be frightened and calls his guard. Confused and shocked he escapes from Titania and rush to the
forest to meet with his double ganger who went to break Velvet's heart. He finds his double ganger and beats him up, Turns out it was Velvets twin brother Ingway. The two didn't echange much as the prince left and went back to Titania before Velvet
sees him. A wizard recognise him though his new form and tells him to fight off a dragon because it's been attacking thie kingdom. He succesfully does so, and he is soon informed that Velvet was captured and was in trouble .
He reaches his location and the first thing he noticed was that his enemy was the guy he helped escaped from the nether and that now he is plotting the worlds end. Thinking that he beat him, the prince rushes back to titania to fight off the sorcerser
and his pet dragon who kidnapped Velvet. With an unexpected help he manages to rescues her. He tries to escape before Velvet awakens but she recognise him and request that he stays by her side.
This is the point where the third book becomes available.
The story of fairies and Mercedes. The story of Mercedes begins with the war between fairies and Odins troops. Her Mother the queen hands her crossbow and tells her to go frog hunting.Unfortunatly the war went wrong for
the fairies and The queen has fallen. Before passing she entrust the kingdom to her, and that if anything were to happen her Cousin Melvin was there for her support. A dragon attack the kingdom and she approach the dragon to save
her kingdom. She fights off the dragon and came across a wise frog who seems to know alot about the world. The frog helps her and in return he wants a kiss so that his curse can be undone. She dodges the deal saying she wasnt ready. She retutns
to the castle and she sees Melvin with a certain knight chatting in the distance. She was informed that Melvin was trying to claim the kingdom for himself as Elfaria the former queen should ve made him the king and not
her daughter. Things though end unexpectedly as another dragon attacks the Land. The dragon demands that who ever slayed the previous dragon should meet him ontop of a mountain otherwise he will burn every single part of the forest.
Mercedes knows she is the one the dragon wants and sets off to meet the dragon. The dragon mocks her and fights her off, but to no result as the new queen was more than a match for him duo to her crossbow psypher. The frog arrives to her
and tells her things are bad within the kingdom. A major fight between Melvin's followers and hers ended, however the loses were sever . Mercedes flies to Titania to seek aid but she was not welcomed. The wizards attacked
them and with the help of the frog they manage to beat them off. The frog was heavily injured and Mercedes gave him a kiss revealding his identity. He thanks her and sets off for his own journey,
claiming that Mercedes should wake up and realise she has to act like a queen. The two take different paths claimming that they should meet again. Mercedes is ready, and seeks a solution to take down Odin. She travels to the world
of the dead to find Brom, the blacksmith who made the psypher weapons. The queen of the dead tries to stop them but fails. They return to the kingdom . Brom claims he needs a certain flame from the fire kingdom in order to empower
the weapon. They go to the fire kingdom and get the fire however the king of the area is mad and tries to stop them but it was pointless. With the new weapon,the young Queen finds all of the warriors willing to fight .
and attacks Odins troops. Mercedes not only beat Odin but also broke his weapon. She then demands that he should return to his land, to never ever set foot on hers,and that he should give her the ring and that in doing so his life
will be spared. Odin hands the ring over and left. Queen Mercedes was now a name to be remembered.
With Mercedes ending, Alice gets a new Book to read, The black knight.
Oswald was given the scyther blade by Melvin and was task to kill the friendly dragon ontop of the mountain. Before he slayed the dragon, the dragon tried to tell him to be aware of the blade and that Melvin is not his father, and
explains what happened to his father. Before leaving his last breath the dragon tells Oswald to follow the blue bird if he wishes to have a happy ending. He returns to the fairy kingdom and was sent from Melvin to seek
Odins secret in the palace. Whilst in the palace Oswald, learned that Odins troop planned on attacking the fairy kingdom and he also notices princess Qwuentdolyn. Qwen leaves the scene but a blue feather drops on the ground. He
returns to the fairy kingdom and tells him of his findings. The battle was soon going to take place and Melvin tasks oswald to join the fairy forces. Oswalds doing the best he can to defend the kingdom however, A majia aka a Grim reaper
appears infront of him, informing him that his time was up. Oswald was confused, he was told his life was traded for the power of darkness, and because of that, his time was up. Oswalds defeat the reaper, and since he was tired
he return to the Palace. He found a dying Melvin and proceeds to ask him questions seeking answers. Melvin told him how he was just a tool to him and nothing else. Oswald was tired physically and broken mentally and a majia claimed
his life. He awakes in the nether , hutned by all those he killed. Oswald was ready to give up, but he saw a vision of a blue bird. He gets up on his feet with little to none motivation and proceeds that false dream. He comes across
the queen of the dead who torments him as his blade, the spypher can't harm her as it was forge from here, and neither his powers of darkness can touch her as they are originated from here. An unexpected appearance of Odin in the nether,
leads the queen to command Oswald to kill him and that in exchange she will stop tormenting him. Feeling that he is onced again being used Oswald proceeds to find Odin and defeats him. Oddin offers him a new deal, spare him and he should
show him the way back to the world of the living.Back in the kingdom Odin, bargains with Oswald in order to kill a dragon. Oswald denied a tower, a second weapon made from scypher and money but agreed on his daughter's Gwen hand.
Oswald ventures to the dragon's area and kills him. By doing so a ring drops of the dragons head, Odin demands the ring but Oswald denies as it was never a part of their deal, and if Odin goes back on their deal he is ready for round two.
Odin tells Oswald where he hid a sleeping Gwen, andOoswald goes to find her. The sorcerers of Titania steal Gwen away from her bed and Oswald rush to her rescue. He defeats the three wizards but he was told that the princess was in another castle,
the kingdom of fire. Again Oswald goes there and meets the inferno king who was mad as Gwen was meant to be his wife, and that their wedding was a political stand. Annoyed by how he and Odin see of Gwen as a puppet without feelings he
defeats the king who seemed to be in love with her. Oswald takes Gwen but offers his services to the inferno king, saying he would come for his aid if he is needed. The black knight then gives the kiss to the Valkyrie princess and breaks the spell.
With that kiss Alice gets the fifth book with Velvet's Tale.
Velvet's tale begins with the promise Cornelius made to see her again. Ingway Velvet's twin reminds her that their bloodline is cursed to die so she should not keep her hopes up. She goes to a dragon claimed to know all to seek help.
The dragon tells her that her fate was already written however in the Netherworld there is a clue to help her change her fate. However he cannot say much, as soon a black knight will come to claim his head in order for the fairy kingdom
to see the black Knights dark powers. Velvet leaves and with the help of a sorcerer makes her way in the Nether in order to search for a sacred text . The queen of the dead finds them and tries to stop them from escaping by sending her reapers.
Odin appears in the nether and saves Velvet. Velvet notices a skeleton figure claimming to be the former valentine king and her grandfather who escaped the nether and seeks to use the Cauldron again to destroy the world. Velvet makes her way
to the fairy kingdom and request the ring for the Cauldron from queen Mercedes. She denies and the two fight. Velvet defeats Mercedes and takes the ring. Mercedes tells her that ring will bring the world's end and that the prince of Valentine
her brother gave them the ring. Suprised by that Velvet get the rings and leaves. She tries to talk with Ingway but he shuts her off. Velvet makes her way to the Cauldron and and puts it to sleep. She then goes to the dragon's mountain and sees
the all known dragon slayed and another one close to it. The dragon attacks her without letting her talk. Velvet beats the dragon thanks to her scypher and then the two talk. Velvet says she was told by the dragon before he died that she should
come here and find the new one. She hands him over the ring and tells him to protect it. The dragon was suprised but told her that Odin's troops are near by. She told him that they were hunting her and that she would surrender to them thinking
that the ring was saved inside the dragon's belly. Odin's people decide to offer Velvet as a sacrifise but Gwendolyn betrays Odin's commands and save her. By doing so Gwen was cast a sleeping spell. Back in the pooka village Velvet was told about
Gwens fate and she wants to find her and help in any way she can. She meets Odin and her grandfather at a random place. The three fight and Odin and Velvet win the fight with the king gving the 7th and final verse of the curse spell to her.
She then return to the pooka village and was told that prince Cornelius was transform into a pooka. She decides to visit Titania to see what was happening but falled in the trap of three Wizards and a dragon. She was rescued by Oswald .
Ingway ventures to the queen of the dead and they agreed that he will take her army to take down Odins kingdom. A big reveal happens then
The fifth and final hero book ends and then Armagedon is revealled as the final playable book for Alice.
This book will not to spoiled but lets just say that the book holds information about the prophecy stating the worlds end. A great book that reveals the end of each of the heroes tale.For those who wish to get the true ending in Armagedon
they should use Prince Cornelius first, Oswald second, Mercedes third,Velvet fourth and last but not least Gwendolyn. However for more trophies another run should be made, however the order of the heroes should differ from the one before.
Finishing Armagedon, will give Alice the last book that is pretty much cutscenes. Finishing the game, unlocks 2 more capabilities. The first one, is simple but significant and it allows
any of the heroes to access the vault of the other heroes. This is done by oppening the box and pressing triangle to swap inbetween them. The other one is the Churning Rift of the World. This is a dungeon where the player can select any of the
five heroes and fight a total of thirty boss levels. However the player cannot access the vault nor the shop to purchase healing items. The player should be ready for a tuff challenge.
The final thing that should mentioned is that there is a gamemode known as Classic gamemode where the player can experience the 2007 Play station 2 game without the polished and improved new gameplay and graphics. For example PP and Pow are the
same and the crafting of potions differs.
Thats alot of story and as someone may have noticed the stories interconnect with each other through out the game. In order to tackle this the game offers a selection where all the acts AKA chapters are placed in the right order. The chapters can be seen as a drop down skill tree, but also in a vertical drop down menu. The players are also given the oportunity to sit down and spectate the entire story in the form of cutscenes.
The gameplay differs between the characters but some stuff remain the same. Every hero moves around with either the keypad or L3. X is used for jumping and when pressed again it double jumps. Holding down X allows some of
the heroes to hover up in the air. Cornelious spins his blade, Oswalds fades out through a dark portal, Velvet uses her chains to swings like spiderman, Gwendolyn flies in a straight line for a while and Mercedes can
fly for as long as she wishes, and unlike Gwen she can go up, down,left and right at will. R1 is used for dodging and cancelling out attacks. Dodging gives invincible frames. R1 is used to absorb phoson enemy and square
is the main mellee attack. Each hero has a square up and and square left/right specials. They also have a charged attack with square down. Triangle is used to open the menu. During that the player can equip items,
drink potions, use alchemy spells and others.O is used for special abilities. The player can reaceive special abilities from exploring the map. Some are passive, some use POW energy and others use PP energy. Both Pow and PP bars
can be seen top right above and below the health bar. The skills other than the passive ones re equiped in the special attacks. Casting the attacks can be done through L1 that opens a menu with all the skills,however,
they can also equip them in fast slots like Circle and a direction, or circle and a direction given using the keypad. For more spells in quick slots the game offers the option to equip spells in ''elite'' button combinations
such half circle + O,quarter circle + O and other combinations mostly found in fighting games. Magic abilities mostly use PP, while close combat attacks use POW. Theres also additional skill trees that use lvl points to purchase.
These skills are all passive, some of them buff the recovery speed for PP & Pow, others increase damage when certain conditions are met and others give the player the option to buy or craft stronger potions by using less ingredience
and spent less money. Experience is gain by fighting enemies or by eating food. Food can be aquired from fruits, restaurants and others. Players can plant seeds and then use L1 and square to release phozons to grow the trees.
Around the world there's plenty of recipees the player can gather in order to cook. After a certain point in each hero campaign the Pooka village becomes available where the player can spent Pooka coins instead of cooking ingredience
to eat a certain dish.
Each hero has 7 chapters of story, and each of the chapters has a total of seven acts. The first two acts are usually cutscenes, the third one is playable level until the Boss room is found. The fourth is usually a cutscene of the
hero comming across the boss of the level, the fifth one is boss encounter and then it is followed by two other cutscenes again. During the levels there is always items to be found around each corner. Each of the map consist of two mini
bosses, one challenge encounter and the final boss. Each of the map also has rooms where onced cleared will reward the player with a Psypher skill but also there is a hidden room that also has a secret psypher skill.
Potions can be powered up by fusing them with berries, each level is shown on the side of the potion bottle.
The Art style is unique like every single Vanillaware game. The hand drawn animation looks gorgeous and the character design of George Kamitani makes each of the character unique. When the game is finished the artbook
becomes available with different drawings.The music selection is suprisingly good and the characters are lovable. A very nice thing about the game is the fact that the entire game is full on voice acted.
There is no cutscene that does not include voice acting.
In terms of collectables this game doesnt have as many but does it has it's fair share. There are two main collectables in the game.
Odin's Sphere Leifthrasir seems to be perfect however it is far from it.
The main problem with the Game comes from the way that the story is told. Since the five heroes stories interconnect, it is important to state that some boss encounters if not all, happen over and over and over again. The main difference
is the approach to each one. Some boss battles are fun to do them again and again but some others are simply not as enjoyable. For example, dragon fights and fights with other heroes are fun as many times as it takes
but the sorcerer fights are a different tale. It is not that they 're hard, but it is because they keep running around through teleportation and they keep using their invincible frames to dodge attacks. In other words
when playing the game someone should be ready for the reuse of landscapes and reused boss levels.
This is a video showcasing and reviewing the game, with my personal opinion.