5) Upgrading
a) Party Assist allows you to boost party stats using unequipped party members and weapons.
b) Potential Force acts much like the Sphere Grid from FFX, where you can unlock nodes sequentially to raise character stats. You can also raise the number of attacks a character performs per round from the default of 3 to a maximum of 6.
c) Hero Value raises when you win battles, but only applies to Lenneth and other immortal characters. This is a new mechanic, so I'm not too sure what it does.
d) Limit Break raises the characters maximum possible level. Characters default max level is 25. Items can be won or bought that raise the cap:
Level I: 40
Level II: 55
Level III: 70
Level IV: 85
Level V: 99
A Key of Guidance resets the character back to level 1 again, but the 99 levels of stat boosting carry over, so you can raise the character another 99 levels on top of the first.
e) XP Beads raise the characters levels. The larger the bead, the bigger the boost.
6) Combat
Your default party consists of four characters. Lenneth is the default leader, but any other other recruited Valkyrie or other immortal can take her place. You can even have a party of just Valkyries! You can also bring in another player's favorite character to deliver bonus attacks.
Your characters' primary weapons will determine elemental attacks and special moves they can do. Some special moves can heal or buff, so those can be as important as offensive abilities.
You will be placed in a maze-like level, with platforms connected by paths. You often can choose several branches, some of which are mutually exclusive. Moving from platform to platform costs a fixed amount of AP. You can usually explore each platform for the same amount of AP, which will trigger a chest or a fight. Platforms will either have a visible opponent, a chest, or nothing. Opponents appear in three types:
Black (Weak)
Red (Medium)
Purple (Boss)
To get 100% completion of a level you need to fight all the enemies, although you may have a Crystal or two that you can use to eliminate a Weak or Medium opponent.
In combat you can toggle between Auto and Stop
Auto has the characters attack opponents nonstop using regular attacks until they are all used up or all the opponents are dead.
Stop pauses the regular attacks, but you can still trigger special attacks.
Special and regular attacks both use the same counter, so using one leaves less of the other available. Regular attacks reset each round, but special attacks are exhausted unless you characters rest within the level or leave the level. Because of this, it is advisable to use regular attacks for small fry and save the special attacks for bosses.
7) Characters
Characters I have are in bold.
From the Original Valkyrie Profile
Lenneth (Sword) The Valkyrie and Choser of the Slain. This is how she appears in this game.
Creation Valkyrie (Sword) Lenneth as she appears in the good ending, if (SPOILER)her mortal memories return.
Summer Lenneth (Sword) Lenneth in a swimsuit.
Snow Maiden Lenneth F. (Sword) Lenneth in winter garb.
Silver-Haired Bride (Sword) Lenneth in a bridal gown.
Awakened Lenneth (Sword) Lenneth as a winged goddess.
Awakened Lenneth (Sword) Same as above by drawn by a different artist.
Freya (Staff) Lenneth's supervisor and Odin's right-hand woman.
Summer Freya (Staff) Freya in a swimsuit.
Christmas Freya (Staff) Freya in a Christmas outfit.
Frei (Heavy Sword) Freya's kid sister.
Christmas Frei (Heavy Sword) Frei in a Christmas outfit.
Hrist (Heavy Sword) The Dark Valkyrie. Lenneth's grim and fanatical sister.
Arbiter Hrist (Heavy Sword) Hrist with wings and floating shields.
Mystina (Staff) A vain sorceress and rival of Lezard's. Instrumental in unlocking the good ending.
Scholar Mystina (Staff) Mystina in a robe.
Arngrim (Heavy Sword) A fearsome musclebound warrior. Any resemblance to Guts from Berserk is purely coincidental.
Arngrim F. (Heavy Sword) Alternate outfit for Arngrim.
Jelanda (Staff) The brash and bratty princess that runs afoul of Arngrim.
Lucian (Sword) A young warrior that loved a village girl named Platina, who looked an awful lot like Lenneth.
Groom Lucian (Sword) Lucian dressed as a groom.
Lezard (Staff) Everyone's favorite entertaining psychopathic necromancer and alchemist. He's really into Lenneth and wants her no matter the cost.
Trancendental Lezard (Staff) Alternate outfit for Lezard.
Calamity God Lezard (Staff) Lezard unlocks some fearsome powers.
Aelia (Heavy Sword) A brash dragonian warrior who turns into a red dragon when unleashing her finishing strike.
Yumei (Staff) A half mermaid that wants to find her human father.
Shiho (Staff) A blind singer who regrets her voice is used for battle.
Ethereal Queen (Staff) Ruler of the Seraphic Gate Dimension, the bonus dungeon.
Halloween Queen (Staff) Ethereal Queen in a Halloween costume.
Odin (Heavy Sword) Ruler of Asgard. In this game, looks like a long-haired bishonen.
Supreme Deity Odin (Heavy Sword) Odin looking older with short hair as he appears in VP 1.
Loki (Sword) Trickster god. Helps to care for half-breed children in this game.
D. God Loki (Sword) Powered up version of Loki.
Thor (Bow) God of Thunder.
Brahms (Heavy Sword) Honorable Lord of the Vampires
From Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria
Silmeria (Bow) The third Valkyrie and sister to Lenneth.
Summer Silmeria (Bow) Silmeria in a swimsuit.
Blessed Silmeria (Bow) Silmeria with wings.
Alicia (Sword) A princess that happens to be Silmeria's mortal form. They act as separate people.
Bride Alicia (Sword) Alicia in a bridal gown.
Valkyrie Alicia (Sword) Alicia appearing as a Valkyrie.
Divine Knight Alicia (Sword) Alicia in angelic armor.
Divine Knight Alicia (Sword) Same as above drawn by a different artist.
Rufus (Bow) Half-elf archer who loves Alicia.
Groom Rufus (Bow) Rufus dressed a groom.
From Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume
Wylfred (Sword) Grim protagonist who hates Lenneth. He blames her for taking his father's soul after he died in battle and everything bad that happened to his family after.
Celestial Armor Wylfred (Sword) Wylfred in his father's armor.
Ailyth (Sword) Servent of Hel, the goddess of the underworld. Appears a friendly maid to help Wylfred in his revenge quest.
Garm Ailyth (Sword) Ailyth in her (SPOILER)boss form.
Ailyth the Shackled (Sword) Ailyth in chains.
Exclusive to this Game
Lucia (Staff) A blind half-mermaid that sings song magic. Basically a mash-up of Shiho and Yumei.
Sennah (Sword) A young girl bent on revenge who trained under a master swordfighter.
Jeanne (Bow) A young archer who idolized her brother and fought disguised as a man. By wearing a hat and covering her face.
These three will form your initial party until you replace them with other recruits.
Dark Flower Sennah (Sword) What Sennah would have become if she had fallen in with pirates instead of training with her master.
Ingrid (Heavy Sword) A half-berserker girl who befriends Lucia.
Summer Ingrid (Heavy Sword) Ingrid in a bathing suit.
Altveer (Sword) A headstrong prince of Trachia, the evil nation in this game, framed for murder.
Halloween Altveer (Sword) Altveer in a Halloween costume.
Anelian (Staff) Altveer's calm older brother, also framed for murder.
Alfio (Heavy Sword) a warrior.
Alice (Staff) Trachia's secret weapon (SPOILER)against the gods.
Snow Fairy Alice (Staff) Alice in a snow costume.
Summer Alice (Staff) Alice in a swimsuit.
Klaus (Heavy Sword) A cautious and cowardly man who wears a faceless set of armor he never removes.
Peppo (Bow) a circus performer who carries the soul of her brother.
Cloe (Sword) a mercenary dragonslayer.
Mercurius (Sword) a shapeshifter.
Kurt (Heavy Sword) A cheerful and carefree pirate.
Caradoc (Sword) a master swordfighter and mercenary who trains Sennah.
Kokuyo (Heavy Sword) a Replicant created for Hrist who longs to be given a name.
Kokuyo (Heavy Sword) same as above with different artwork.
Hakurei (Sword) Another Replicant Valkyrie with memory loss.
Eventide Hakurei (Sword) Hakurei in a different outfit.
Eventide Hakurei (Sword) Same as above drawn by a different artist.
Thalia (Heavy Sword) A brash swordfighter.
Summer Thalia (Heavy Sword) Thalia in a swimsuit.
Rebecca (Bow) A serious archer.
Sadamitsu (Sword) A samurai.
Gloria (Sword) A swordfighter.
Marge (Bow) An archer.
Abel (Bow) A young rich kid kidnapped for ransom, but befriends a barbarian warrior.
Swordfighter Kabo (Sword) A pumpkinheaded warrior.
Magician Kabo (Staff) Kabo acting a mage.
Elle (Sword) A shieldbearer considered a good luck charm by her troops.
Leone (Sword) A swordfighter.
Ais Wallenstein (Sword) Another swordfighter.
Hestia (Staff) A magician.
Amelia (Staff) A friendly succubus.
Victorie (Heavy Sword) Abarbarian warrior who befriends Abel.
Kamose (Staff) A softhearted prince of a nation where the royalty hoards advanced technology to appear divine.
Ilisa (Bow) a forest creature that can shapeshift into a human form.
Golden-Garbed Leny (Sword) A kindly elderly nun that cared for orphaned half-breeds with Loki. Her past younger self.
Hawkeye Bedelia (Bow) An elderly master archer as she appeared in her youth.
Maya (Bow) A logical tactician for Trachia that can flawlessly calculate odds in battle but is not good at relating with people.
Yukata Maya (Bow) Maya in a hot springs yukata.
Nachi (Bow) A holy preistess that can pray for good fortune.
Ranvald (Staff) A homunculus that longs to live as a normal human.
Daline (Staff) A necromancer who uses an artifact to bring back the dead for a price.
Maximillian (Bow) A family-oriented archer who cares deeply for his daughter.
Kachina (Staff) A half-Rhinemaiden who's touch is deadly.
Malvina (Heavy Sword) A headstrong princess who rules a country under siege by Trachia.
Vargo (Heavy Sword) A reckless warrior who fights to protect his sister.
Nelja (Staff) A magician.
Norn (Staff) Goddess of Fate. Can see the future.
Spring Goddess Norn (Staff) Norn in a robe.
Christmas Norn (Bow) Norn in a Christmas outfit.
(SPOILER)Proginator God Sephiroth (Staff) No, not the guy from FFVII! Odin's humble manservant who has a tragic backstory.
From Star Ocean
Cliff (Heavy Sword) A character from Star Ocean 3.
Reimi (Bow) A character from Star Ocean 4.
Myuria (Staff) A character from Star Ocean 4.
From Fullmetal Alchemist
Edward Elric (Sword) Everyone's favorite alchemist. Just don't call him short.
Alphonse Elric (Heavy Sword) Edward's brother, who's soul animates a hulking suit of armor.
From Bravely Default
Agnes (Staff) A mage.
Ringabel (Sword) A fairy.
From Crash Fever
Qilin (Staff) Actually a Kirin, since her game is based on the Four Sacred Beasts myth.
From Other Games
Olberic (Sword) An honorable swordfighter.
Primrose (Sword) A combat dancer.
Aemo (Staff) A young magician.
Tyro (Staff) A small mage apprentice.
Rinne (Bow) An archer.