Opinions on Valis III vs. Valis II?

[nullity]

Now that I've cleared Valis II, i'm starting on Valis III. My journey has just begun, but already I've noted that the cut scenes are a bit more animated and interesting, as are the character sprites. I love that the gameplay is a bit more diverse than last time around (magic, sword charging, slide move...) but there is something missing that I can't yet put my finger on. Valis II was by no means an innovative title by standard of gameplay (quite the opposite) and Valis III seems to be far more developed on that front, but i'm a bit put off by things like the obligatory push-back-on-hit that sends you plummeting off cliffs to your death, or the abundance of hard to make long-jumps that send you plummeting off cliffs to your death (despite Yuko's apparent ability to fly as shown during the intro mini-level when she catches the Valis sword).

I'd be interested to hear anyone else's take on this. I'll be giving it more play time and updating this thread as my opinion evolves.

[Svarta Tigern]

I enjoy Valis III for both Turbo-CD and Genesis more than Castlevania IV, Bloodlines and Dracula XX.

Valis II is great and benefits from not getting sucked into preconceived notions of how games were supposed to play or the checklists of things a game from any of the few defined genres must have.

Valis III has a nice balance between the music and visuals and the character designs and cinemas really tie everything together, creating an engaging experience and certainly infinitely more so than twirling at Paula Abghoul and Fred Ascare. Valis III isn't that tough, you just have to get a feel for how each character plays and be patient at times. You can't just plow through any enemy or blindly jump across every pit as you come across them. Games of the 16-bit gen suffered too often from leaving game design as the lowest priority and instead strive to just be different than and stand out against the previous generation. Valis III, even a bit rough as the earlier PCE version is, benefits from not being suppressed by that mentality, while still feeling very pleasingly 16-bit.

Valis II meanwhile stays very faithful to the kind of platforming and straightforward enemy encounters of the 8-bit generation and is more satisfying gameplay-wise for me. They just designed a platformer with enemies in-between and then added 16-bit aesthetics.


I know it comes up every time this game is discussed, but are you aware of the slide technique and Yuna's ability to freeze enemies, turning them into platforms?

[nullity]

Yeah, I figured out the slide thing not too long after making that post. I don't recall freezing any enemies, but had heard that it was possible. I really need to go back and play this game some more. So many games, so little time!