A playthrough of NEC's 1992 action-platformer for the TurboGrafx CD, Valis III. Valis III was the first game in Telenet's classic series to not appear on 8 and 16-bit Japanese computers, and it was a big step forward - many people consider Valis III to be the best of the original series. Peace returned to Vecanti and Earth following the defeat of Magus at the end of Valis II ( • Valis II (TurboGrafx-CD) Playthrough ), but this peace was short-lived. The Dark World is now being sucked piece-by-piece into a void, and its leader, King Ramses, has decided to forcefully take Vecanti and Earth for his people before they're destroyed completely. Once again, Yuuko is forced to take up the sword of Valis to fight a new threat. But this time, she doesn't have to go it alone. She is joined Cham, a tough visitor from the Dark World, and by Valna, a powerful mage from Vecanti who had been captured by the enemy. Once the plot makes them available, you can switch between the three warrior maidens with a press of the select button. Yuuko feels similar to the way she did in Valis II and is the most balanced of the trio. Cham is powerful and fast, though her Belmont-like whip strike has a limited range, and Valna is physically weak, but her magic is more versatile and has better range than the other two's attacks. The attacks are now based on a charge system (remember The Legendary Axe and Astyanax?), and each girl has her own unique magic spells (based on ice, fire, and lightning) that can be triggered at any time providing she has enough MP. The levels were designed with these differences in mind so you'll often find that one character is better suited than the others to tackle a situation, making them an overall nice improvement over Valis II's. The game is also much more difficult than its cakewalk of a predecessor was - the aqueduct level where you have to freeze enemies in mid-air will make you want to tear your hair out, I promise. The gameplay isn't the only thing to have been overhauled for the better, either. The graphics are a huge leap forward for the series. It's still using the memory-starved base TGCD system card, but Telenet had clearly learned some things since Valis II: the cutscenes feature some gorgeous art with a fair bit of animation, there is a lot more variety to the in-game graphics and enemy designs, and the backgrounds are better detailed and animated. All of it is backed by yet another excellent CD soundtrack, too, though the voice acting is still super hammy. And there's even a special Godzilla cameo! Look at the city skyline during the first boss fight and you'll spy his silhouette against the flashes of red light. The Sega Genesis version was a reasonable adaptation but it loses a lot in the move to a cramped cartridge, so I'm glad that this was the version that was included in the recently released Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection. Great game! _____________ No cheats were used during the recording of this video. NintendoComplete ( punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
