I don't know if anyone is interested, but here are some of my impressions of Valhalla Knights 3 so far. I'm about 5 hours, 45 minutes into the game, so I'm still pretty early (Level 6 Thief).
Graphics:
Very solid.The Vita isn't a PS3, or a high end PC, so I personally don't care about aliasing, or sub-native resolutions. I think the character models are good, with funny, creepy faces, but they're fine. Environments so far are detailed, and look good as well. I wasn't expecting Uncharted, or even Gravity Rush from VK3.
Story:
Interesting premise, but I'm not terribly deep into the story yet. It kind of reminds me a bit of Way of the Samurai, minus the Choose Your Own Adventure aspects, with a bit of Gladiator Begins thrown in. The text only presentation, and the cutscene animations straight out of the PS2 era are charming to me. I like warring gang storylines anyway, and setting the game in a prison reiminds me of cheesy 80's action movies. In short, it's enough.
Gameplay:
It's very, very grindy. I'm usually not a big fan of excessive grinding in games, but in this one, I actually don't mind it as much, since I'm usually playing the game on the bus ride to and from work, and have a good hour to kill each way.
The combat is fairly straightforward and simple so far, and a little clunky at first. I'm sure it will open up more once I start unlocking newer skills and doing some cross class stuff. The game is also very hard. I've died more than my fair share of times, so saving often is a must. No autosave is a bitch, but it's not a dealbreaker for me. I've been in the habit of regularly backing up my saves for years now, so it's not a new thing I need to learn here.
Overall, I am pleasantly surprised with this title, especially after the first game (which I somehow got for free this week; it's possible I bought it a while back, and forgot? I have no idea). Then again, I went into VK3 with quite literally no expectations at all. I had no intention of even buying the game this week, but after watching about a minute or two of a gameplay video I was sold.
Can I recommend this game to others? Eh, I don't know. I'm enjoying it, but I tend to have a high tolerance for a lot of the things that drive people crazy about these types of games. I don't think it's worth $40, but I also don't regret spending $40 playing it. In short, make up your own mind about buying it or not, dammit!
Pros:
Story/Setting
Combat is satisfying, if clunky sometimes
Old school, PS2 Way of the Samurai or Gladiator Begins (PSP) feel
Funny dialogue and characters (maybe not intentional)
Visuals are pretty solid and well done.
Cons:
The single setting could be a turnoff.
Grind heavy.
Awkward hostess mini-games are awkward (but I still play the fuck out of them on the bus, gawkers be damned).
Just asking but how was the performance, any drops anywhere or smooth sailing since the start?
