Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

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Sengoku Strider
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Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by Sengoku Strider »

Don't believe this has been posted here yet, Limited Run have got physical editions up for preorder of the Valis collection, complete with reversible covers letting you relive the hideous Western Valis III cover all over again:

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https://limitedrungames.com/collections ... rs-edition

The collection contains the first three PC Engine games. I own Super Valis IV on SFC, but I've never played the PCE version which is different in a number of ways, so it's a shame that's not included for whatever reason.
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mamboFoxtrot
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by mamboFoxtrot »

Yeah, kinda odd they wouldn't just make it a Complete PC Engine Anthology
They do mention "a new English localization", which I'm guessing is just for Valis 1 here since 2 & 3 already had English versions; so, maybe they just didn't want to bother localizing 4 yet? Who knows :V
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EmperorIng
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by EmperorIng »

Valis IV kind of broke me with how bad and cheap its stage design was, Valis games all have that problem (the Reiko fight in Valis 1 on the Genesis is almost entire down to luck and practically unwinnable at low power, the Rogles fight in PCE CD Valis 1 is practically unwinnable at low power, the river ruins section of Valis III). But every stage of valis iv is just a kick to the nuts with enemies cheap-shotting you. Drove me mad and I could never muster the energy to do my big write-up in my linked PCE CD thread.

I would have of course included it for completion's sake, but it's a real loss not to have the superior home-computer Valis II, particularly the X68000 version. Don't get me wrong, it plays like ass and has some of the worst i-frame (or lack thereof) and jump controls I have seen in a game, but the game has got STYLE man. Play the fan translation and get immersed in a grimy, grim, unpleasant little story with lots of edge. The PC Engine version of II is so neutered in comparison, considering it was their first attempt at a CD game and barely off the 8bit days.
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Sengoku Strider
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by Sengoku Strider »

mamboFoxtrot wrote:Yeah, kinda odd they wouldn't just make it a Complete PC Engine Anthology
They do mention "a new English localization", which I'm guessing is just for Valis 1 here since 2 & 3 already had English versions; so, maybe they just didn't want to bother localizing 4 yet? Who knows :V
Yeah, Valis 1, but also I believe these games use the Japanese vocals with subtitles, as opposed to the TG-16 voice acting.
EmperorIng wrote:Valis IV kind of broke me with how bad and cheap its stage design was, Valis games all have that problem (the Reiko fight in Valis 1 on the Genesis is almost entire down to luck and practically unwinnable at low power, the Rogles fight in PCE CD Valis 1 is practically unwinnable at low power, the river ruins section of Valis III).
Have you played the SNES Valis IV? I remember it being pretty easy and getting through it in a weekend.
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drauch
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by drauch »

I like this series a lot, but no doubt they have their problems. Cool that it's getting any sort of release in the first place, but hollllly god, 90 bucks is bonkers.
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Sengoku Strider
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by Sengoku Strider »

drauch wrote:I like this series a lot, but no doubt they have their problems. Cool that it's getting any sort of release in the first place, but hollllly god, 90 bucks is bonkers.
That's just the collector's edition. The standard version is $40:

https://limitedrungames.com/collections ... collection
SuperDeadite
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by SuperDeadite »

I actually prefer MSX Valis 2 over X68000 Valis 2. It just looks brighter, more colorful, and the MSX's PSG drums give it that weird extra kick.
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pablumatic
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by pablumatic »

I'll place an order.

Should have included IV in some fashion, but I'm guessing development cost on this collection was kept very low since there's not even a Playstation version coming. Just shows how dominating the Switch is in Japan for small-time ports like this.
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by Creamy Goodness »

EmperorIng wrote:Valis IV kind of broke me with how bad and cheap its stage design was, Valis games all have that problem (the Reiko fight in Valis 1 on the Genesis is almost entire down to luck and practically unwinnable at low power, the Rogles fight in PCE CD Valis 1 is practically unwinnable at low power, the river ruins section of Valis III). But every stage of valis iv is just a kick to the nuts with enemies cheap-shotting you. Drove me mad and I could never muster the energy to do my big write-up in my linked PCE CD thread.

I would have of course included it for completion's sake, but it's a real loss not to have the superior home-computer Valis II, particularly the X68000 version. Don't get me wrong, it plays like ass and has some of the worst i-frame (or lack thereof) and jump controls I have seen in a game, but the game has got STYLE man. Play the fan translation and get immersed in a grimy, grim, unpleasant little story with lots of edge. The PC Engine version of II is so neutered in comparison, considering it was their first attempt at a CD game and barely off the 8bit days.
IIRC the version of Valis I played was III on the PCECD and the level design killed me as well. The levels were unecessarily long. And after a slog of a level you had to fight a hit sponge of a boss. Played it for a bit then said forget this. The saving grace was the soundtrack, but it had that issue that a lot of PCECD games have where the music volume is way too low.
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Sengoku Strider
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by Sengoku Strider »

Limited Run just sent out notice that a second collection is up for pre-order, which I think is kind of dodgy considering they haven't even shipped the first one yet (despite having it listed as a Q3 release):

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Adding to the dodginess is their product description not even saying which versions these are, I had to search elsewhere.

Valis: The Fantasm Soldier (Mega Drive)
Syd of Valis (Mega Drive)
Valis IV (PC Engine)

Syd of Valis being the weird localized title of SD Valis, the terribly received cutesy MD remake of Valis II.
MD Valis I was also poorly reviewed (except for Gamepro, they loved these games for some reason). I've never played the PCE version of IV, but...
EmperorIng wrote:Valis IV kind of broke me with how bad and cheap its stage design was
...I dunno if this is the version of IV to get. I did pick up a copy of the SFC version of IV again...my rosey memories of it did not hold up. It's not terrible, I dunno if the stages are the same as the PCE version, but I thought they were just bland and utterly uninspired. Like the 2nd level has you running through massive expanses of nothing, just copy-pasted greco-roman pillar tilesets.

There are still a bunch of Valis games out there, like they didn't include the MD version of III here despite it coming out before the MD version of I. Or the aforementioned SFC version of IV, Famicom versions, Japanese PC versions, etc. So I'm kind of morbidly curious to see how far they're going to milk this one, three ports at a time.
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Sima Tuna
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by Sima Tuna »

Maybe they could try actually making a good Valis game before attempting to milk the franchise.
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Air Master Burst
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by Air Master Burst »

I always wanted to love Valis because it combines several things I love (magical girl side-scroller is usually an auto-buy for me, and a classic series on the Genesis? INJECT IT INTO MY VEINS!), but holy fuck are they janky as shit. I've tried various versions of the different games over the years and not one of them has grabbed me. Is there a consensus "best" Valis I should be trying?
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by __SKYe »

Sima Tuna wrote:Maybe they could try actually making a good Valis game before attempting to milk the franchise.
The entire series was about milking the protagonist/magical-girl setting. :)
Most games are pretty bad and wasn't the last game released a porn game or something of the like?

EDIT: Not the last game apparently, but yeah...
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Sengoku Strider
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by Sengoku Strider »

Air Master Burst wrote:Is there a consensus "best" Valis I should be trying?
Here, Retrocore compared them all (except FM7, hopefully you don't do all your gaming on an entry level 8-bit pc from 1982), take your pick:

Battle of the Ports - Valis: The Fantasm Soldier (夢幻戦士ヴァリス) Show #351 - 60fps
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EmperorIng
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by EmperorIng »

That video is fun. For me the best version is far and away the PCE CD version. The genesis version has a kickin' soundtrack but it plays like shit unfortunately, and I beat it.
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pablumatic
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by pablumatic »

Is that LRG Valis IV PC-Engine release translated? I'm guessing not since there's been no mention of that anywhere.
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cj iwakura
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by cj iwakura »

I'm glad that these LRG releases are looking increasingly crappy. I don't care about trinkets and cheap display items, I just like artbooks and OSTs.
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BrianC
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by BrianC »

Odd choice of games., especially Syd of Valis. Odd localization that one. US box art came from a PC Engine board game named Naritore the Sugoroku '92 and has Cosmic Fantasy characters that are nowhere to be seen in Syd of Valis/SD Valis.
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Sengoku Strider
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by Sengoku Strider »

Nintendo Everything mentions that this collection includes the MSX version of the first game as well, which is interesting. Though pretty rough looking, based on that Retro Core video.
EmperorIng wrote:That video is fun. For me the best version is far and away the PCE CD version. The genesis version has a kickin' soundtrack but it plays like shit unfortunately, and I beat it.
Yeah, that's pretty much the conclusion he reaches in the video. I haven't played it yet, so I didn't want to interject anything myself.

He did comparison videos for Valis II & III as well, if anyone's interested:

Battle of the Ports - Valis II: The Fantasm Soldier (夢幻戦士ヴァリス II) Show #352 - 60fps

Battle of the Ports - Valis III (ヴァリスⅢ) Show #353 - 60fps

pablumatic wrote:Is that LRG Valis IV PC-Engine release translated? I'm guessing not since there's been no mention of that anywhere.
LRG's site only says Languages Supported: English, but that could easily be a generic placeholder so I dunno. I can't even find an announcement of any Western release for it at all, aside from LRG. It looks like someone did ask LRG if the games were translated on Twitter on Friday, but they haven't answered yet.
BrianC wrote: Cosmic Fantasy characters that are nowhere to be seen
Nor anyone named Syd. Their rationale was making it an acronym for Super Yuko Deformed, and then used only that name on screen, all of which is less comprehensible than if they just did nothing.

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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by BrianC »

Sengoku Strider wrote:
BrianC wrote: Cosmic Fantasy characters that are nowhere to be seen
Nor anyone named Syd. Their rationale was making it an acronym for Super Yuko Deformed, and then used only that name on screen, all of which is less comprehensible than if they just did nothing.
At least the dumb Syd thing was in game. The US box art had nothing to do with the game (especially since it's from a different game), aside from Yoko and the characters being SD.
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Re: Valis: The Phantasm Soldier Collection

Post by Bloodreign »

I like the series (outside of that porn game, that can die in a fire), won't call them perfect by any means, but I enjoy playing them when I am in the mood for it. On the other hand, I don't hate SD Valis (Syd can go die in a fire as a name), but I also don't love it. I don't own the PCE CD versions of any of the 4, but I have the first 3 on the Genesis, and the 4th game for SFC.
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