Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga

Company: Nintendo

Publisher: Marvelous Entertainment, XSeed Games

Developer: Marvelous Entertainment

Genre: Action Role Playing
Platform: Wii
ERSB Rating: T for Teen

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Objects:
The objects in the game are armor, avatars, weapons, and enemies. The objects are determined because they interact with other game objects in complex ways. Their relationships will be explained further in the blog.
Properties:
Within Valhalla Knights, there are only 4 objects that have properties: Main avatar, weapons, armor, and enemies. The properties are elemental: Earth, Ice, Fire, Wind, and Posion(in the game its called Toxic). For example, a weapon such as a great sword can have a fire property cast on it, thus making it stronger against ice enemies. Conversely, if the enemies have the earth properties, fire will do little or no damage at all. The game allows the player to create an avatar endowed with the same opppositional powers: for example, an avatar can be developed with strong fire resistance which means he will strong against ice, but weak against earth. Armor only increases the resistance powers while decreasing the opposing resistances.

Behaviors:
The behavior for the Avatar, created by the player, includes: walking, running, fighting, talking, casting magic, using items, creating items, and swimming. So, because of the range of behaviors available, the progression of the game is much less predictable in its outcome and gameplay.
Relationships:
The avatar begins as a blank slate, and the player must choose a job class for him : thief, ninja, swordsman, knight, chainsaw, priest, mage, fighter, and bard. Only certain classes can equip and use certain pieces of armor and weapons. For example, a bard cannot use a 2-handed sword, this sword is only available to the swordsman, and the knight. Another relationships seen in Valhalla Knights is in the form of hit points, and basic damage. As mentioned above, the different classes can only equip certain armor/weapons, so that means they all have different levels of hit points and basic damage, thus making them strategically different.
Economies:
Valhalla Knights contains a complex market. When the player creates his avatar, he also begins the game with a small number of resources: little gold, minimal armor, and a single weapon. Then the player must take on low-level quests that are found at the guild and this earns him a menial amount of gold. In addition, any items or parts of the monster that the player finds on the quest, can be used to make more complex items. For example, the player can find mythril and use it to make mythril weapons. The player can make the complex item and sell it to the system agents (shopkeepers, NPC's etc) to increase their gold. Then once the player has more gold they can take on higher and more challenging quests.
Information Structure:
The information structure in this game is very poorly executed. The player will receive a quest from the guild that says to find a certain person. However, it does not tell you where that "person" is, so the player has to search through the huge world of Eldar looking for this person. If the player does manage to find the person, he or she will give you additional information on your next course of action. However, most of the time the additional information is useless and the player is on his own. If a player is not determined to play out the game, he will give up and move onto a new game.
Control:
There are many types of control in a video game. For instance, how the game physically controls, and it can also mean what the avatar/player has control over in the game. The physical controls are what a wii rpg gamer would expect from the wii mote:

• The + and - uses the selected skills
• The left and right buttons on the directional pad rotate the camera
• The down button on the directional pad opens the menu and is used to navigate through it
• The up button is used to navigate through the menus
• The A button is used for weak attacks, talking to other in game characters, and targeting a enemy for magic
• The B button is for strong Attack, shooting arrows, and closing menus
• The C button is to sprint and to pick up Items
• The Z button resets the camera
• The 1 button uses selected items
• The 2 button changes camera views
• The control stick on the nun chuck moves the actual in game avatar
• Swinging the wii mote triggers the avatars special attack

In addition to the physical control, the player has direct control over the avatar in the game. This allows the player to have influence on the state of the game. In addition, this gives the player direct control over their selection of items: potion, elixirs, arrows, smoke bomb,etc. The player also has free control over in-game decisions that affect how the story plays out.