Dark Rose Valkyrie Reviews
There are some good ideas in Dark Rose Valkyrie, but it’s hard to notice them beneath all the superfluous mechanics. The overly-complex battles and filler missions slow the experience down, forcing players to constantly go back through the same locations, fighting the same enemies. The concept of a random teammate turning against the party is a fantastic hook, but you’ll likely be bored of the gameplay and characters long before it comes into the story.
There is a reason to buy Dark Rose Valkyrie. Play it so that you can see the investigation segments, put that system into your own game and create the world’s next Danganronpa.
All in all, Dark Rose Valkyrie is a flawed game. It’s a disappointing game. It’s a game that falls prey to every single issue Idea Factory is known for…However if you like Idea Factory’s games (Unlike me), then this may very well be your new favourite IP from them…It’s certainly for a niche market, having not sold well even over in Japan shipping only 12,000 copies at retail on the first week of release back in 2016, however if you’re in that niche market, you could find more positives than I could.
From beginning to end, Dark Rose Valkyrie feels as if it has every flaw of the JRPG genre combined into one package. The characters are stereotypical instead of memorable, the story sort of… sits there, and the battles are slow, and depend more on grinding than tactical thinking. Apart from all this, Compile Heart's creation is audio-visually unimpressive, a technical mess, and feels as if it hasn't spent the right amount of time in the oven.
Despite its interesting premise, Dark Rose Valkyrie is hard to recommend.
An alternative vision of the Japanese reality of the late twenties, threatened by Chimeras. Bad game, which even passionate fans of the JRPG genre should ignore.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Dark Rose Valkyrie offers opportunity for excitement, but ultimately fails to deliver. Weak concepts and a suite of poorly crafted gameplay systems sink an otherwise semi-interesting premise. This is a frustrating and slow slog all the way to the end.
Even though Compile Heart had a couple interesting ideas with this game, its execution failed to bring out its true potential. And despite having two Tales of series members on board, their involvement couldn't stop Dark Rose Valkyrie from wasting people's valuable time. At least Fujishima's character designs continue to look gorgeous.
Despite the cool combat system and character designs, Dark Rose Valkyrie simply lacks in several other areas. The gameplay grows repetitive, the optimization is not the greatest, and the graphics are rather subpar.
Dark Rose Valkyrie can't be recommended because of its technical shortcomings. In this state, it resembles an unplayable semi-finished product instead of a full game.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
For everything it had going for it Dark Rose Valkyrie ends up being a missed opportunity. It threads on the well-beaten path of its predecessors. The few new noteworthy changes such as picking out the traitor among your ranks, engaging combat and the relatively enjoyable story do make for a small breath of fresh air, but they are let down by the somewhat lackluster execution.
Despite the promising names behind the title, Dark Rose Valkyrie stumbles over its own ambitions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the parts of the game that were the responsibility of the Tales series veterans, the art and the writing, were the most successful, but where other collaborations have been able to balance each party's strengths an diminish their weaknesses, that's not the case here. Rather than find collaborators who could help balance Compile's consistently lukewarm gameplay design, this joint effort substitutes Helvetica for Times New Roman instead of fixing 10 pages of typos.
Overall, Dark Rose Valkyrie is trying to be a game that will supposedly surpass all the other JRPGs but instead it flops hard with all the mess it created. It’s trying to be too many games all at once and it can’t seem to decide what it should be that it loses its identity among all the features. What could have been a breakout game became a game that I would easily want to forget.
An interesting product if you are looking for a more classical turn-based fight style, out of the musou-typical japanese games, but also a boring experiencie that becomes too long unless you are a big fan of the "Tales of" characters.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Dark Rose Valkyrie shows that Compile Heart can create a fun combat system. Although they still need to brush up their skills when it comes to the presentation and overall story for the game.
Dark Rose Valkyrie is a bit of a mixed bag.
There is a decent story, complex combat system, plot twist with the traitor and interrogations, as well as well-designed and beautifully-drawn characters, including sexy b**ches and girls who think they are boys. But outdated graphics and lack of explanations, recurring quests and a huge amount of grinding only cause a persistent irritation. After Persona 5 you can play it only with a huge amount of spare time. Which is a pity because Dark Rose Valkyrie could've been a decent JRPG or at least a very good visual novel.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Dark Rose Valkyrie doesn't blow the doors off the hinges, but it does serve as a much improved JRPG over what has been a largely tepid series of releases from Compile Heart and others. The story is fine, the battle system is fun and unique, and exploration is a large part of the adventure. While there are some cliches and rehashed elements throughout, Dark Rose Valkyrie represents what a top end-formulaic JRPG can be.
Dark Rose Valkyrie has some exciting aspects, but may fall short in the overall package.
Dark Rose Valkyrie is a great addition to the JRPG fans' library on PlayStation 4. While this game certainly isn't going to be for everyone, it is going to appeal to the diehards who are itching for more Compile Heart games, those looking for a deep system with their next roleplaying game, or anyone looking for a unique mechanic with the traitor and interview system. Playing through Dark Rose Valkyrie has made me extremely excited for Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online when it releases in the west this winter.