Move over XCOM. Sit down Fire Emblem. Get the F outta here Disgaea. The king is coming back baby!
With the recent announcement of Valkyria Chronicles 4, I thought I’d start a discussion on all things Valkyria! Are you an OG PS3 fan or did you jump on with the PC release or console remakes? How do you feel about 2 and 3, if you played them?
I played the original game at release, but never finished because I had only rented it at the time. I ended up buying it on Steam a last year and falling in love all over again. I then immediately played 2 on Vita, and while it isn’t as impressive as the first, it still creates its own compelling rhythm with segmented battlefields. I didn’t even mind the anime-ass high school story!
I’ve been itching to play 3, but sadly there’s no Western release. Has anyone played it? If so, is there any way for a Western player with no Japanese knowledge to enjoy the story/actually play the game? I am willing to get into some illicit shit if need be to play VC3.
There is a fan translation of 3, but what I’ve seen of it is so bad that I’m honestly not sure it should be recommended unless you really wanna play it.
But I’d have to say that I don’t find 2 & 3 really good at all, going handheld just made them go into more silliness and silly pandering than the cheesy but earnest VC1.
Oh wow, that looks pretty intense to get 3 running with the patch. I might just sit that one out.
Also, I feel you about the silliness inherent to 2, although the portability aspect (with the accompanying ability to play in bed) made the game for me. Do you think the series can get back on track with 4? A full console release should at least remove some of the gameplay limitations inherent to the PSP.
The streaming community I used to frequent adored the first game which convinced me to get it. I liked everything about it but restarted twice & have never finished because I always get stuck at chapter 7.
VC2 had some really neat ideas about class progression, and I liked having a large set of characters that felt more unique than even VC1 managed.
They also fixed the issue around Command Points forcing the same squad in every mission, which I felt was a huge flaw in VC1. I like Rosie and Largo just fine, but having to take them on every mission just meant I couldn’t use the rest of my squad as much.
I do think the hardware really hampered it, though, as the small maps really affected class balance, and the mini-tank chassis was just stupidly powerful due to only costing 1CP to move.
The story was also pretty rough, trying to be both a war drama and a high school drama at the same time, which I really don’t think worked out. The story could have worked a bit better in another setting entirely, like a Girls und Panzer style fake combat scenario, but still wouldn’t exactly be great.
For all its flaws, though, I enjoyed it and would consider picking up a remaster.
I would 100% buy a VC2&3 collection, though, since I never got around to playing that one.
A Coming-of-Age Story in a Time of War – Valkyria Chronicles 4 takes place in the same timeframe as the original Valkyria Chronicles, but focuses on a whole new cast of main characters. Players will take command of the eager, young Commander Claude Wallace, engineer/heavy weapons extraordinaire Riley Miller, hotheaded Darcsen Raz, ice-cold ace sniper Kai Schulen, and more. Together, they will experience the painful realities of war–but will the bonds of Squad E’s friendships survive the frozen battlefield?
The Next Generation “BLiTZ” Battle System – The part overhead turn-based strategy, part RPG, and part real-time 3rd person shooter “BLiTZ” battle system returns to the field. New features include an explosive new class called the Grenadier, numerous offensive/defensive battleship support options, chances for a unit to have a “Last Stand” action before death, and more. Plus, fight the imperial threat with more units on larger-scale maps than ever before.
CANVAS Aesthetics – The series’ signature hand-drawn visual style is back and overhauled for the newest generation. Inspired by watercolor compositions, the CANVAS Graphics Engine blends visual elements of reality and imagination to create an expressive world filled with colorful emotions. Watch the journey of Squad E unfold like an interactive painting!
The Return of a Legendary Composer – The illustrious Hitoshi Sakimoto, original composer of the Valkyria Chronicles series and countless other emotional epics, returns to provide a sweeping orchestral soundtrack for the game.
I really enjoyed 1 and 2, although each had its own flaws.
My biggest problem with the first game was there were a few maps where strategy just didn’t factor in. You HAD to do certain things in certain orders, and if you deviated from them you failed. Instead of being an actual test of strategy, it was just blindly fumbling onto the correct order of operations and executing. I liked that 2, to my memory at least, mostly ditched this, but they also added multiple map levels which was less than ideal.
All told though, I really liked both games. They’re the sort of charming mix of anime bullshit and jank into a generally positive and touching story. So many funny little touches made it really endearing, like Welkin talking about how much he loved being outdoors and getting his stat bonus while inside a rickety old tank.
Also, I may or may not have immediately weeded out every member of my squad with the “Darcsen Hater” trait by marching them directly into enemy fire and refusing to rescue them with a medic. I regret nothing.
Oh man, that’s the first I heard about the DLC. I’m more than on board with seeing how the VC1 characters are doing. That said, I’m a bit bummed that the militia has to keep fighting after all they’ve been through. One of my favorite parts of VC2 was seeing Welkin and Alicia settle down and live a peaceful married life. They deserved it.
Since the game takes place at around the same time so I don’t think it’s going to be impacted by the end of VC1.
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Looking at the images released so far, it seems like they might be going back to the source in more ways than one.
The sniper lady on the new team seems to be inspired by an unused concept from the first game.
I loved what I played of the original. Got stuck on a mission somewhere kinda early to mid game I’m guessing. It’s the mission with a huge tank, right after you meet the baddies on a spiral staircase, and I just lost it several times before kinda deciding I was just missing something, and I haven’t gone back.
I want to. I shall. Then I can hope they port everything I guess.
There are a couple of boss missions like that, honestly you’re much better off just watching a tutorial and following it for those missions because they are not fun at all. It’ll let you move on to the rest of the game which is much more enjoyable and flexible.
The remaster of Valkyria Chronicles was the first thing I bought when I got a PS4–I had been dying to play the game forever. Having said that, as one who traditionally has enjoyed handheld tactical RPGs, I really struggled finding the time to sit down and play the game. Something about the pacing and playing it on a home console… I dunno, it felt like a much bigger time commitment than pouring hour upon hour upon hour into, say, Fire Emblem during my morning commutes or something like that. So, the fact that this is being released on the Switch seems awesome and makes me want a Switch all the more.
You hit the biggest issue with the game. The stupid boss battles. There’s an easy way to win that’s basically necessary if you don’t want your troops to die when Selveria decides to show up and bring stupid anime magic into the game. If I remember you keep everybody on the east side of the giant tank and she won’t ever try to shoot you.
It’s such a shame that the otherwise brilliantly fun game occasionally dips into missions that ruin a lot of what makes the core gameplay fun. Hopefully VC4 will fix this, I’d honestly would be happy if the Valkyria mechanics were kept purely to changing the weather conditions rather than showing up to be a near invincible killing machine.
I was so pumped to get Valkyria Chronicles 1 when I got my PS3 a couple of months after it released. Went looking for it to discover that nobody in the Best Buy-type stores actually knew what the game even was. The local EB only ever got one small shipment, but now they were saying that the game had already been discontinued. Ended up buying a used copy off of eBay.
I played the Japanese demo for Revolution this summer and promptly had no interest in that game anymore. Glad to see that the key staff were (presumably?) working on VC4 instead.
