Valkyrie Anatomia: The Origin is the latest Square Enix mobile game drawing from classic series. What is interesting is while it is a gacha game where some characters can be earned at random from banners, there are times when it can feel a lot like Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia. It can feel like the point of the gacha portion is to get these extra weapons for your party members, since each one can have one main weapon and two subweapons, and you have more chances to get Einherjar in other ways for your party.
First, you really only have two active Einherjar present in a party at a time in Valkyrie Anatomia: The Origin. The fourth character is the favorite character of someone else playing the game, hopefully giving you a chance to pull in someone stronger than your current party in to help you out. You can also have one Einherjar as a support as a fifth, offering a skill to use in a fight. (This character also gets experience from fights.) If you have three Einherjar, you are in a good place to get started. Then, once you start getting extra characters and needing to limit break them so you can raise their levels, you can temporarily Divine Transfer up to three of them to Valhalla to get bonus XP for the characters who are active in your party and increase your rank among other players.
The easiest way to get Einherjar is through the main campaign. Jeanne is the first character you’ll get this way, as this archer shows up in the tutorial. After that, you get chances to recruit Sennah and Lucia. Once you have restored your first god in the Goddess of Fate storyline, you get a chance to recruit Kurt, Cloe, and seven others. There’s this division where we get to recruit a few characters, then learn more about the gods and Odin’s motives, before getting another chance to recruit. If you really want to rush through things, getting Valvalois as soon as possible is a big help. He shows up after the Goddess of Fate block and joins in “A Home to Return to.” One of his skills is Explorer, which reduces the amount of AP you need to use on a map to search and such. Sennah is also handy because of Assault Drain, as that skill will heal your health each time she gets a critical hit as it levels up. (It pairs well with Snipe, her other skill that increases her critical rate by 1% at the start of each turn.) Sennah also has Survivor, which makes resting to restore health on maps cost one less AP, which is handy.
Getting an Einherjar from an event can be a little more work. Two characters are immediately available as part of the global launch. One is Lenneth F (Archer) from “Visitor from Afar,” a generally good version of the Valkyrie who uses a bow as her main weapon. She has Divine, which increases all abilities by 4% if the Purification Gauge is at least at level one, Heroism, which makes damage taken increase the Purification Gauge, and Snipe, which increases her odds of getting a critical hit by 1% each turn up to 20%. She’s generally a solid party member. Liu is warrior that comes from the “Lies and Truths” quest. She’s okay, and her Resist Ice skill is helpful if you are going to be facing certain enemies. She’s really there if you think you might want more crystals, since Pure Crystal increases the rate of crystal collection when the Purification Gauge is at least at three. This other version of Lenneth is handy almost immediately, while Liu might work better when you are starting to grind for crystals or face tougher enemies.
Finally, there are the Artifacts. Artifacts can be found in gachas and give you additional Side Stories that allow you to recruit certain characters. (You will get one ticket to get one guaranteed Artifact weapon as part of the opening missions.) Once you have one, you go to Equipment, then Item List, to head into Tribute Artifacts and offer a fully leveled one up to Odin. These are the hardest heroes to acquire. Naturally, as part of the global launch, the Grand Open Divine Weapon banner running until April 10, 2019 is giving people a greater chance of getting Valkyrie Profile 2‘s Alicia (Queen’s Sword) and Rufus (Old Bow) as Einherjar. Your mileage may vary on these Einherjar. I ended up pulling Sadamitsu with my Guaranteed Artifact banner ticket, and he seems like a strong general attacker. He has a Surging Gale skill that increases his strength and sometimes gives him an extra attack, plus he does extra damage to god enemies with 100 Judgments. Icy Formation is a hit-or-miss skill, since it is really only best when the enemies are weak to ice attacks.
Valkyrie Anatomia: The Origin feels like a game that could give people who aren’t willing to spend lots of time pulling on banners for Artifact Einherjar a way to collect an assortment of allies. There are quite a few Campaign Einherjar to choose from, and it isn’t too difficult to start bolstering a party there. Limited time quests also appear to give people an opportunity to get different versions of Lenneth, new original characters, and eventually other people as well. Yes, a number of desirable people are going to show up through banners. Arngrim, a series staple, is only available through those right now, and the launch banner was kicking things off by increasing the odds of Valkyrie Profile 2 characters showing up. It seems like it could be fair for people who want to start and play a short while, though people who may stick with it for a long time could end up seeing gacha characters becoming more and more of a focus. At least at the outset, it can sometimes feel like the party members given for free are fine and the focus is on using gachas for weapons for them.
Valkyrie Anatomia: The Origin is available for Android and Apple iOS devices.
