Battles are real-time and can involve up to six party members (and just as many enemies). You can control any character you want during battle, with the A.I. picking up the slack. The A.I. is impressive and as of yet hasn’t pulled any boneheaded moves. At the same time, managing your team during battle is important, especially if you want to take care of enemies efficiently.
Quests follow a general plotline that gets you from place to place. At the same time, you can always take on short sidequests from the guild, giving you the opportunity to discover new treasures, money and the all important experience points. Sidequests take place in the same locations as the story-based quests, allowing you to play around in a area for short bursts, while still staying close to your main objectives when you have more time to play.
Compared to previous RPGs on the PSP, Valhalla Knights looks to offer a new direction that so far is welcome. We’ll have more on Valhalla Knights in the coming weeks.